Flowers

This is a flowering bush we found along the road going up to Sandia crest last weekend.
My hollyhocks are finally blooming! They were getting wind whipped when Bo took the pictures though. lol
My poker plants are done blooming, but my free irises are still blooming.
One of my hollyhocks up close.

My wonky dream...

6/22/11

I had a dream…

I looked out the window in the bathroom and noticed a big sink hole in the back yard. It had jagged edges, was very deep and the ground looked moist deeper down. I could see what looked like tunnel with jagged edges going off in different directions. Bo had just left for work then he was in the house telling me to get ready because the city inspectors would be here in a minute.

When I came out of the bedroom my house was filled with people I didn’t know rushing here there and everywhere and the sliding glass door was open. I saw an opening to underground. “Wow, I didn’t realize it came this far over” I said. Then I saw steps going down into the hole. “Did you make these” I asked? “nope” said an unidentifiable worker. Parts of each step were missing, but every step was there so you could descend to the bottom. The steps were made of mosaic tile. The wall in the bottom was mosaic tile with gold. It was beautiful! There were people coming and going from the tunnels and up and down the stairs.

Peggy and the kids came over to see it all. There were a ton of people by this time just visiting to see it all. There were tables for people to sit and rest or eat a packed lunch.

It’s night time and Ben is home so we grab flashlights to show him. The place is deserted, it’s just us 3. I call the dogs and they come from the direction of the opening, then I see other eyes approaching in the dark. It’s 2 black cats, they are friendly. Then there are 2 more. I notice more animals around, but don’t know what they all are. I’m not afraid of the animals though I do remember that ancient Egyptians considered cats to be protectors from the un-dead. We go down the stairs and into the hole. There seems to be light coming from a room and I look in through a French door and see a man lying on his side with his arm stretched out in between stair railings. Apparently I’m looking in at the upstairs. I call the guys back, “Hey, here’s a body.” About the time they get to me the guy sits up on his knees and looks at us. Bo is in front, Ben and I behind. All of a sudden Bo says, “Run!” So we turn tail and run back to the entrance. Bo stops, vomits, tells me and Ben to get the truck. I say, “the 4runner?”. “No the blue truck” he says. Then he disappears back into the hole. Ben and I shoot up the steps and start the diesel. I am absolutely terrified. Bo, my 6’1” 250# husband who doesn’t back down from anything just vomited in fear…something…anyway, if it freaks him and sends him into immediate action you can be sure it’s absolutely terrifying! Ben starts to drive, he goes out on the road and circles back again into the other part of the circle drive. There is traffic now, people are starting to show up for the day. We made it back to the entrance just as Bo comes out and he gets in and drives us away…

Back story…a sinkhole opened up at the end of our house in Jan. 2007. Insurance paid to move the house and then cancelled the “earth cessation” part of our policy. It is now 2011 and we planted grass in the front yard and flower beds along the front of the house. The front porch is moving away from the house, the dirt up against the house in the flower beds is moving away from the house. In the road just outside our front lawn and going the entire length of the lawn the ground is split. It looks like maybe our front yard right up to the house is a small sink hole. It cost $18000 to move the house 4 years ago, the insurance won’t do it again and we can’t afford to do it. If something like the sinkhole happens again we are screwed. The property won’t be worth what we owe on it. There will be no place safe to put another house, we picked the flattest, most stable part of the property when we moved the house 4 years ago. We’ll have a mortgage on a piece of land that won’t hold a house. Good luck selling that! Oh, and I’m reading Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. The Stand by Stephen King also comes to mind as I’m re-telling this dream.

Flowers

Bo expanded my flower garden this year. Last year it was just from the driveway to the front steps. This year we added from the other side of the front steps to the end of the house. That's a BIG flower garden! So I decided to plant my herbs, spinach and onions in the front as well. Any green is good and flowers are a bonus! LOL My hollyhocks are coming back from last year and there is something else trying to come back, but the rabbits are eating it so I don't know what it is! Stupid rabbits! I planted some petunias, marigolds (yellow and orange), asiatic lillies, foxglove, daisies, lavender, asylum and a wildflower mix. About half of the free irises I got are coming and one even has a bud! Of course, I planted morning glories by the fence outside my bedroom window. I just love morning glories! Bo planted a honeysuckle in the corner of the yard by the driveway. We also got a peach tree this year; it's in the front yard. Jeremy had a bleeding heart that he always wanted to plant so I planted it. I hope it wasn't too old to come up! Most of the grass came back, except for one patch that is grass-resistant! Bo bought seed that's supposed to grow anywhere, but it's not growing there! LOL Oh well. I spread the bark over the flower bed this afternoon, but 5 bags just wasn't enough. It's spread pretty thin; I think I need about 3 more. It looks like it's going to rain. YAY! My new transplants and seeds need some moisture from Heaven! I'll post pictures when I get a camera, hopefully soon! Happy Spring!

Long time...Update

Wow! It's been a long time since I posted! Our camera quit working so I quit posting. The pictures I took gave me ideas about what to post. Bo told me, "silly wife, you can post without pictures!" So, here you go honey, a post!

Here's the news since I posted last:

Both cats died. Nikki had to be euthanized because her body was just shutting down. Precious just couldn't handle life without Nikki. I'd had those cats for 19 years! They had been a part of my entire adult life! I miss their companionship terribly, but I sure don't miss all the hair and the litter box. They are both buried on top of Dee. They were her cats. Anytime either one cried, but especially Precious, Dee came running to defend.

The Lincoln County rescued puppies are doing well and finally settling down! I brought 3 back from Lincoln County because those dummies were going to euthanize them! The "authorities" found a nursing mother dog and decided to round them all up to euthanize them! Luckily, my mom went and rescued the whole litter, but she couldn't get her hands on the mama. The mama is still running around Lincoln County.

• One of Bo's friends from work took 1 of the puppies, a speckled cow dog looking female called Lena. Lena's a weirdo; she licks their house! She's calmed down though and they are enjoying her.
• Our speckled cow dog looking female is Benjaman's dog and her name is Trouble. She's a weirdo too! She sucks on her blanket if she's out of sorts or you upset her. She's a good dog. She's very leary of strangers. She has calmed down though. She's really a sweet dog and Ben finally has one of his own that he picked out! Trouble has several nick-names: Boo, Boo-Bear, Loony-Lou, Lou-Bug, Bug. She answers to them all! LOL She is 50#.
• Our tri-color male is mine and his name is Rowdy. His weirdest trait is that he pees like a horse; he stretches out long to pee. For awhile he would lift his leg a little, but he's quit that. It's embarrassing to me that my boy dog doesn't lift his leg. Oh well. Rowdy is just dumb. He's a big dumb lug, but he's a sweet boy. He's never once growled or snapped at a person. And while he was a barker when he was a puppy; he doesn't bark much now, unless you are on our road or coming in our gate. He weighs 70#!

I had dreams of walking all 3 dogs every day, a la Ceasar Milan. Well, a 70# dog is hard to handle and even harder to handle with a 50# dog! Maybe I'll try again now that they have calmed down some.

Belle is doing good. She needs an Estradiol shot about once a year to keep her urinary tract working properly. We know she needs it because about every Feb. or March she starts waking up in puddles. Poor girl looks so confused when that happens! So we get her a hormone shot and she goes into heat for a little while (really weird for a fixed dog!). She's not as recovered as we would like from getting run over on the interstate in 2008. She still runs after the horses and chickens and she'll chase whatever you throw, but she gets real sore if you don't watch her close and make her stop. She can't get up from sitting or lying down quickly, actually, now that I think about it, she doesn't sit hardly at all. She had knee surgery and recovered well from that. The vet thinks she's as good as she can be given her injuries. She's starting to play with Rowdy and Trouble. That's good to see!

We still have all 3 horses. Sarah still isn't trained. I haven't even attempted it after my last failure with the saddle. Cinbar is doing well, keeping weight on. Dutchess is fine, but I think she gets restless this time of year. She wants to be out and about. Of course, the wild horses are down all the time. Last summer they got our horses really sick. They passed some kind of virus through the fence. It cost us about $250 in vet and medicine bills and countless hundreds more to put the weight back on them. They are all healthy now though.

The wild horse herd is growing and becoming domesticated. There is a woman who feeds them every day. She has names for them all. While it's a nice sentiment, the herd has become bigger than this area can support. It is neat that you can walk right up to them and pet them though. How many people have walked right up to a wild horse and pet it?

We finally lost our 2 oldest chickens; Brownie and Gimpy. Brownie got left out and the dogs chased her until she got caught in the fencing and died. Bo found Gimpy keeled over in the pen one day. They were 7 or 8 years old! Brownie only quit laying last year and Gimpy quit laying 3 years ago. Gimpy used to consistently lay double yolk eggs and sometimes double eggs (double yolk & double white!). We still have 10 laying hens but have been very disappointed all of them except the Rhode Island Reds. Only 3 Buff Orpingtons went broody 2 years ago; none since then. They quit laying sooner than the Reds and began laying later than the Reds. Maybe we will buy more Reds and then sell the others. We have a beautiful Cochin rooster who is not aggressive. That's good for him because it means that his head gets to stay attached to his neck! LOL

This school year has been good.

• Ben participated in Teen Pact in February. Teen Pact is a Christian organization that provides a mock legislature. It lasts 4 days in Santa Fe and they get to meet the governor and many legislators. The do a few prayer walks around the capitol building. This all takes place while our legislature is in session. Ben learned alot about the legislature, but he came home a very firm Christian. He finally got it about Christ's sacrifice for us and how to pray for guidance to live a Godly life! I'm so proud of him!
• Ben also competed in Speech and Debate as part of a Christian Homeschool league. He didn't really enjoy the actual competition, but he loved the fellowship at tournaments. Again, very Christian kids trying to live Godly lives.
• He decided he was going to Charter school next year and then the minute we said okay and enrolled him, he said nevermind. LOL I guess he just wanted to know if we'd let him. He said he appreciates the flexibility of homeschooling. YAY! Another accomplishment!
• Ben took a year off Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He recently went back, but to another school, Gracie Barra. He loves it! Bo and I really like this school. The teachers really enjoy working with the kids. If we had made this switch years ago, he probably wouldn't have taken the year off. Oh well, live and learn.
• Ben started his first year of high school this year. This fall was a huge adjustment period. He's taking an Algebra class outside of the home. I also bought high school curriculum. There was a lot more expected of him this year and he really struggled this past fall. Around Christmas time though, he just changed. The concept of greater responsibility comes with greater expectations really hit home for him. He read the book Do Hard Things and he changed. Then he read Crazy Love by Frances Chan. He started working harder on his school work. He argued less. I'm so proud of how he has grown up over the last few months!

Bo has been working and trying not to get bogged down by everything that needs to be done around the property. His second sabbatical is coming up this summer. It is 2 months and he has more projects than sabbatical and definitely more projects than money! He also remembered that his family owns a homestead between Roswell and Tatum. Anyone that knows Bo knows that it's been his lifelong dream to live out in the boonies, off-grid. So, back to Roswell we go. There's work that needs to be done first so it will be a little while yet.

In my attempt to avoid depression I decided to take on volunteer duties at church and to begin working part time. So I'm church treasurer and the Christian Education director. Our church is very small so they aren't big jobs. But then, I work preparing taxes part time, with a few full time weeks in February. Then, Ben has outside classes and activities on top of his regular school work. Long story short, I severely over-committed myself. I ended up in bed sick for 2 weeks and another 2 weeks of going slow to recover. Now I have to make some choices for next spring.

The good news is that I think I've got my depression under control. I think I'm starting to come out of the grief of losing Jeremy. That doesn't mean I've forgotten him or gotten over his death. It just means that I'm starting to see the sun again. I'm coming out of that dark tunnel. I feel like it's spring time for my soul as well as for the Earth. As I look around, I can't believe the state of affairs of my home and my family. I have neglected both. We now live in a house instead of a home. So I'm working to make it a home again.

I think that's the most comprehensive update I can come up with right now. Maybe we'll get a camera soon and I can start chronicling our lives again with pictures. It’s so much nicer to have pictures with the words!

Arthritic cats

This cold weather combined with our poor finances has our house a wee bit on the cold side lately. Both of my 20 year old cats have arthritis so they have been wandering around the house squawking quite a bit, even after I go to bed and before I get up in the morning. I know they are old and the cold doesn't feel good, but man, I'm tired! Then I thought about the hot water bottle. It last several hours and once they go to sleep they stay asleep even when the water cools. Of course, I'm also keeping a space heater in the bathroom on very low heat.
Don't they look comfy?! I wish I could relax that well!

Tumbleweed path

We had high winds yesterday. The tumbleweeds blew in.



When I fed this morning I couldn't figure out why the horses wouldn't come from the other end of the lane. They just kept circling in their leg of the maze. I thought Cinbar had finally lost it and couldn't find his way through. So I decided to walk down there. I actually had to move tumbleweeds out of the way and lead the horses through. I tried to get pictures of my path.

Devil's Canyon, UT

The rock formations and canyons along I70 in southeastern UT are just beautiful! We could have stopped every few miles to take pictures!