Tea Pot

Tea Pot from the 1930's and worth about $50.00.

Flower Vase

I don't know anything about this flower vase that mother had except that it says 'handpainted in Japan' on the bottom

Silver Sugar Bowl

All of the silver dishes belonged to my mom before she married my dad. She said they were given to her my a friend of her dads when she was a teenager.

Silver Cream Pitcher

Silver Salt and Pepper Shakers

Gravy Dish

No information on this

Cup and Saucer

This cup and saucer is marked on the bottom that it belonged to my grandmother, Alma Coe Green Williams. It also has a sticky tag on bottom that says 'Made in Japan'. I have no idea of it's age but I really like it. Notice the saucer has cut outs around the edge.

Lost China Dishes

This is my set of china dishes. We certainly couldn't afford anything like this at any time during the 40 years we have been married. But I was lucky enough to find a set. No, I didn't buy them at a yard sale or anything, I actually found them.
We moved into a house in about 1976 and there was what I thought was a dog house in the backyard. It was only about 4 feet tall, but about 6 feet long. We just thought it was what someone had cobbled up for a dog house considering the height of it. There was even a sort of door on it. My dog didn't seem interested in going in it and I didn't want her to until I had a chance to clean it up some. In a few weeks I did deside to clean it so that it could be used. I moved the piece of board acting as a door and crawled in since I couldn't stand up right in it. To my surprise there was a large cardboard box in the back of the short shed. I had hubby crawl in and do a check for spiders, snakes, and dead bodies of any kind and he came back out pulling the box after him. Inside the box was this set of china dishes. There are a couple of the salid plates missing but other wise it is the complete set. It is made my Imperial China and the pattern is called Whitney, but couldn't find out when it was made. I found it on the internet under several sites for older china and it is running about $10 per piece now. I would guess that is about what it sold for new.

Tin Tray

This was a tin tray that belonged to my mom before she met my dad. It has tulips in the design and the handle had other flowers on it. It says it is made by Rodney Kent. Apparently he made a lot of beaten tin items back in the 1920' and 30's. I also have a round plate by him with no design. I found lots of his work on the internet.

Cowboy Drink Pitcher

Mother got this little kids milk, or drink pitcher for me when I was about 2, I think. Which would have been in 1953. (Now I'm telling my age) The hat comes off to pour the drink into the pitcher and then the spout is the little gun that the cowboy is holding. It was well used my me and my sisters. Mostly for milk and kool-aide. I have no idea where she might have got it but my bad memory says it was something she ordered through a mail advertisement, but I could be wrong. With my love of all things western it has long been a prized possession. I allowed my son to use it on special occasions as by then it was showing signs of wear. The paint is almost gone from one eye.

Manure

Had a huge pile of horse manure that just kept stacking up higher and higher each day. Of course that happens when you have horses. The estimate is 50 pounds per day per normal sized horse.
So about every 6 months or so I put an ad on Craigs List saying that I have aged manure for gardens, compost piles, and worm beds. Usually in a week or so all that aged manure is gone. Just wish so of the people that want the 'aged' stuff would get the 'fresh' stuff and let it age in their yard instead of in my yard.
See www.craigslist.org where you can find just about anything you want. Both free and for sale.

Cliff Above Jemez Creek

This cliff is above the creek where we like to go walking.

Jemez Creek Rest Area

Jemez Creek

Took the dogs and when to Jemez Creek for a walk the other day.

There are several rest areas along the road that have acess to the creek for hiking and fishing. There are nice paths for walking. On this day we noticed the water in the creek was really low allowing us to see a lot of rocks we can't normally see. We also saw a few trees that some beaver had been cutting down for food or for damn building but no sign of a damn any where here like we see higher up in the mountains.

Beaver Tree

This tree had been cut down by a beaver near the creek. You can see the marks where it chewed on it with it's long front teeth.

Beaver Cuttings

We found a couple of trees along Jemez Creek where at least one beaver had been busy cutting down trees. In this photo is where it had worked on a tree with all the woodchips around the tree.

Winter Trees

Cottonwood trees near Jemez Creek.

Frosted Leaf

We got up one morning and there was heavy frost on everything. Of course i had to take photos. It is common other places but not hear to have frost like this.

Frosted Wood

Frosted Oat Seed from Hay

Forsted Rope with Oat Seeds

Frosted Rope

Ribbon Attact

Wiley cat being attacted by a Christmas ribbon

Cat in the Wrap

Wiley cat playing with Christmas wrap paper and ribbons on Christmas morning.

New Moose

this is a new wooden moose that my sister sent me at Christmas.

Christmas Moose

One of my 4 Christmas Mooses that I use to decorate at Christmas.

Cat Playing

Wiley playing in papers in a box.

Camafloged Cats

Our 3 black cats hiding out on the couch taking a nap.

Nap Time

Jade and Ziva napping

Winter Cleaning

The weather was warmer today. Up to about 50 degrees but still a bit of a wind chill with the brisk breeze we had. But water buckets had to be cleaned as they were getting dark with the alge that grows on the sides of them even in the winter. Of course Hubby always wants to say something to me when I have my head in a 25 gallon water bucket scrubing on it. (empty of water, of course) And all the horses and ponies like to sneak up on me and push on me looking for treats in my pockets making me think they are going to push me over into the bucket. I knew when Stormy and Trave came up to me today. But when I went on to Stars pen and bucket she really sneaked up on me. It makes me think of all those funny little clips in all the movies where someone is butted by a goat or donkey and pushed into some sort of big bucket or mud puddle. I'm sure one of these days one of them will succeed in making me fall in, not that I would really fit it the bucket. I call it a bucket but we buy 50 gallon plastic barrels that have had soap in them, cut them in half and use for water buckets for the horses. Low cost and easy to use and clean.

Sandia Mountains in Snow

Taken from my backyard these mountains look really close but they are over 50 miles away. The cities of Rio Rancho and Albuquerque are over the little hill and under the mountains.

Snow

I took this photo from our kitchen window looking over to our neighbors house.

Not the Moon

The big white spot is not the moon. It is a snowflake as it comes down. The other dots are not stars but more snowflakes.

Snowflakes at Night

Lee took this shot of my dads elk antlers about midnight the night it snowed. The white dots are snowflakes.

Snowy Tree at Night

Snow in Backyard

Bull Skull

Dogs Playing in Snow

Ziva

Blury in the Snow

Stormy

Traveler

Dirty pony playing in the snow.

Tuffee & Murphy

Tuffee, the border collie, and Murphy, the cat.

Light Post

We have a motion detector light on this post which is set out from the house to turn it's self on when we are walking to the horse pens at night. It snowed on it right after we Lee put garland and lights on it for Christmas

With Snow

Our motion light in the evening after it snowed.

Lights on Post

this is the light post with the Christmas lights

Outside Lights

Lights on the tree and swing just outside the front door.

Christmas Star

Old Bird

this is a very old Christmas decoration that my mom gave to me when I first had my own home. She had the birds long before I was born, so I am not sure how old they really are. Maybe early 1940's.

Tree Lighted at Night

Tree in Daylight

A Tree?

I think my 3 black cats thought I had gone nuts for putting up a tree in the house even if it was an artificial one. They helped me decorate it and then undecorated it.

01/01/2011

We had a record low of 4 degrees at 7 am. Don't know what the low had been earlier. Cold enough that the cold water to they washing machine in the garage was froze for a bit until I could thaw it by turning the dryer on for an hour.
Then about noon we went out and did a lot of cussing to get super big chunks of ice out of the horses water buckets so we could give them some fresh water. Buckets are 25 gallon each with most of a bucket of water frozen solid. We have 5 gallon heated buckets for when it is cold and even they froze over about an inch last night. Coldest I can ever remember it being here, and I think news said it was a record low for New Years day.
Only supposed to get down to about 14 tonight. That will be 10 degrees higher than last night.

Tumbleweeds?

On the national news this morning the newsperson was talking about 40 mph winds blowing tumbleweeds across the freeways in Los Angeles, CA. Why is it that if it happens in New York, Florida, or LA it makes the news but weather most other places never does. We have winds like that with tumbleweeds blowing across the roads frequently but no one mentions it on a national news. We are having a blizzard in the 4 Corners area of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorada and it is right now hitting Albquerque and Rio Rancho but national news could care less.
The wind is blowing the snow sideways, and that wind has a heck of a bite to it even though it is still about 28 degrees. We got all the horses fed, and since it's trash day the trash is out before it hit, but I caught a glemse of one of the neighbors trash blowing down the street cause they can't put the lid down on their trash can. So I guess the rest of us will have to pick it up and put it in our trash cans for next week when we can get out to get it.
For now I am staying in the house. Finally convinced the dogs they really didn't want to stay out in that stuff. Had to dry them off when they came in. They fuss over who is going to get dried first. Both of them really like it when I take an old towel and rub it over them. They will carry their towel around on their back for a while afterward. Ziva wasn't sure about it when i first did it to her but soon she was loving it.
I hope the horses are staying in their shelters.

!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

• Wishing Everyone All
• over the World a
• Merry Christmas
• and
• Peace to All

We Pay Fireman to What?

Today while in the store I got to see what the fireman of our community are really like. I got in line behind a group of fireman. (mind you each time I go to the store regardless of what time of day it is the fire truck, rescue squad, or several cop cars are sitting outside the door) I stood there and stood there waiting and waiting while four fireman took there good ole' time buying their one or two snacks with credit cards that would not work in the machine, making the cashier have to punch in the numbers while they laughed and gossiped. (do these men not carry a couple of dollars in cash on them?) After about 15 minutes of this one of them turned to me and said he was sorry to take so long and grinned. I couldn't help but say I was about to pass out from having to stand so long in an overheated store,(walking through a store and standing in line waiting seems to make my back, legs, knees, and feet hurt worse than about anything I have to do) and that my frozen foods were melting. This caused them to laugh and snicker. They didn't care at all that they were holding up a handicapped woman using a cane besides frustrating the cashier worse and worse. They were acting like a group of disrespectful teenagers.
These firefighters want my respect for what they do but won't give me any. Do they really think that I can expect them to help me if my house should catch on fire or if I have a serious medical problem or accident.
Do we really pay men to act this way while they are on duty in a public place?
WHY?????

After the Snow

We got about 8 inches of snow from that storm. It sure was needed. The ground is still wet and muddy. For once I would rather put up with the mud for a while instead of that awful blowing sand we usually have. It is wet enough I won't have to water anything for a while except the critters. It is cool enough in the day time I can actually get out and do something like playing with the horses for a while instead of trying to pass out from the heat. And yet it hasn't been freezing at night since we had the snow. A bit unusual. But I'm not complaining about it. The days have been a bit cloudy instead of our normal bright sun which can be a little depressing but is so rare here that I can take it for a while.

SNOW!

We may not have snow for Christmas but we have snow now a week before Christmas. Started as rain early, early this morning changed to snow about noon and have about an inch in some places now. Hard to keep a 7 month old pup cooped up when she wants to get out and play in that white stuff that she has never seen before. She seems to really like it and has learned to let me dry her off when she comes in. Had to let her out to play as I couldn't seem to play her down here in the house. She won't learn to play fetch with a ball for some reason.
So good to see the rain and snow as there was a forest fire down by Reserve and some grass fires somewhere else. I was so very very dry and had fire warning everywhere.

Just One Clerk?

I sent off 4 small packages of Christmas presents today. And I swear I'll never do it again. It isn't the having to buy the present it's the having to wrap it, then find a box the right size to mail it in. And worst off all is the trip to the Post Office. I can't understand why the PO is always wanting to raise the rates they charge for mailing packages and letters. I just spent $45 to mail those 4 small packages. Thats about $11 each. That does include the minimum $50 insurance. I found out last year if you don't have insurance on a package the PO laughs at you and says 'tough luck' if the package doesn't make it where it was going. It was my fault for not putting insurance on it, not theirs for making sure it got there even though I payed them to do so. Not only do I have to pay them and buy the insurance to make sure they get it to it's destination I had to stand in line for an hour while 1, I said one, clerk worked the line. I felt sorry for the guy but why can't the post office hire a few more people to wait on all their customers that want to mail all those packages that won't all get where they are going. Just one clerk! All of us in line kept saying the same thing Just one clerk! Where does all that money go that we pay to have those packages and letters delivered.

Face Forward and Fall

I fell again today. Got up about 6:30 and put dogs out. Tuffee didn't want to come in which is usually. But I don't think she should be out when it is only 25 degrees because she is used to being in the house at night. But she has always been bad about not coming in when I want her to, only when she wants to. I stepped out onto the concrete slab that is our front porch and when I did my knee did it's thing, what ever that might be. Doctors can't tell me what causes my knee to feel like it is trying to dislocate but doens't quite go all the way to be a full dislocation. I call it locking up as that is what it does. My knee joint slips just enough that I can't unbend my knee so down I go. I have been doing this for years but no one other than my hubby has ever seen be do it so most doctors don't even beleive me. I did have a full dislocation about 25 years ago and then again about 15 years ago. Now it trys to do the locking up several times a week. Most of the time it happens when I am sitting down or even laying down but sometimes when I am walking and then I fall. And it is usally faceforward. This time I scrapped and brused my knees, palms of my hands and my chin. Is anyone else having this problem? I would sure like to know.

again

Have been trying to download photos on here again and nothing will do it. Sorry, I wish I could. Some are being downloaded on my facebook site if anyone is interested.

Black Friday

I can't beleive that anyone would go to the trouble to get up at horrid hours in the middle of the night to go to a store just so they might save a few dollars on something that they thing someone else might want for Christmas. Why can't everyone go back to the old way of giving things for Christmas. Give from the heart not from the pocket book. Give because you want to not because it is expected. and only give to those that are close to you. Not to each and every person you think you might have known at some time.

Surprise

I had a nice surprise today. Went out to feed the horses this afternoon and someone was standing at my gate. It was an friend who used to live on our street and moved a couple of years ago. I was a wonderful surprise to talk to her and catch up on all the gossup even if we do email.

How's Star Doing?

How is Star Doing? some have asked. Well all I can say is she is about the same. She knows her own pen find and it is large enough (about a quarter of an acre that is mostly a rectangle with a weird little triangle at one end) that she has plenty of space to move around in. She has a good sized shelter that is open on one end so she can go in and out when she wants. I keep her feed container (half a 50 gallon plastic barrel) in there and only feed her in there so she will always know where her feed is. I keep her water container (also half a 50 gallon plastic barrel) full of fresh water and it the same spot all the time. She can visit with Nita, our other mare and Sunny, my old gelding through the fence between her pen and theirs. I would love to be able to let them together but she and the other two don't seem to want to get along well together. She and Nita will do find for a day or so and then get in an argument and the kicking and biting will start. The last time I tried it Star got kicked right above her right front knee. I don't think she could see or sense the kick coming and so couldn't try to get away. It was swollen for days but seems ok now. I won't take the chance on that again and don't let them together. Even Nita knows to stay away from Sunny. At about 22 he is the boss and gets everything his way. If Nita bugs him to much he lights into her with bits and kicks. Yes, I know all of them need more exercise but Sunny can't be ridden due to age (a bad back and hoof), and now Star can't. Plus I never was able to afford a professional to train Nita and I know I am not able to do it myself.
I do some round pen work with Sunny and Nita and with Star I am working with her to understand more voice commands as well as lead better and trying to teach her to lunge better on a lunge line.
It all takes time and for a person that is also handicapped there are many days where nothing but feeding and watering gets done.
That is except the love. We always give them lots of love.

New Link About Blind Horses

Today a friend sent me a link to someone else who has a blind horse. Like my mare, Star, her horse is an Appaloosa, too. She is able to explain to those of us that are Scientifically Blind how this problem occurs in the Appaloosa horse. Here is the link to her blog which I will also add to my links list. http://http://barndoortagz.blogspot.com/2010/11/walk-on-wild-side.html

Cold Weather

Getting ready for the cold weather that the weather man is predicting. It was at 38 this morning when we went to feed the horses and has been about 60 all afternoon. But the TV weatherman is saying that Thanksgiving will be super cold. A high of 40 degrees and a low that night of 20 degrees. I keep telling the horses they need to grow more hair for the winter and they are but it doens't seem as long as it needs to be for that kind of cold. They do have the three sided shelters to help keep the wind of of them and rain or snow. That is if we should ever be so lucky as to get some rain or snow. We did repair Star's shelter the other day as it had some holes in it where she or one of the other horses and kicked the sides sometime last spring.

Blog Problems

I keep trying and trying to put photos on my blogs but do to the fact that BlogSpot has 'improved' the way they do things, and I only have dial-up I can't get photos to load to my blogs. So from now on my blogs won't have photos.

Store Temps

What is with the stores that won't use an air conditioner in the summer so customers can shop without feeling as if they are going to pass out, and that don't use some kind of heat in the winter so the customers don't freeze. Don't they know we might buy more if we were more comfortable while shopping.