Brother Chuck ... Just an FYI

When you're in your tree stand ... look out below!

Dome On The Rock (Shell Knob)

Dome on the Rock ~ Colors!

In July on our vacation we had the dome color coated with Benjamin Moore elastomeric.  What a difference!  We took it from blah to Wow!  Next year we'll add the courtyard wall and gates in the front.  We're getting there! 

Our Wedding Anniversary Today!

Nineteen years ago today, Paul and I were married here on the ranch.   Here's to nineteen more!

Dome on the Rock

Paul and I bought our retirement home in January.  He won't retire until 2014 but we thought we would start looking anyway.  I wanted to live on the lake.  I love the desert but we don't need 30 acres when we retire, although he would never consent to a "neighborhood".  We found the best of both worlds when we saw a property on the lake sitting on 5.6 acres of "lakefront".  It's on a finger/cove on Table Rock Lake which is great...no boat traffic on the main lake to deal with in the summer...yet the water is in our backyard.  And it is a dome!  We're talking living "green" in a big way!!
We call it the Dome on the Rock.  Until he retires it will be our vacation home.  I'm having a great time coming up with ideas for the interior and exterior--some of which will have to wait until we are there full time. 

View from my window

View from my living room this morning at sunrise in the Mojave. Gorgeous.

Snakes beware!!

It's been quite a snake season this year. Must have been the winter rainfall last year that provided plenty of rodents and critters for food. Unfortunately, some of these rattlesnakes don't know that they aren't inside pets.

So, I decided it was time for me to buy myself a smaller handgun for when Paul isn't home to take care of things. I don't like shooting them, but if they don't stay on the 30 1/2 acres they have here--they aren't welcome on my porch or outside my back door.

Nick is my hero! (Warning--loud)

We rescued Nick on Christmas Eve. Paul wanted a pit mix female, but as things often happen, Nick came into our life instead. He is Paul's dog, but he is also my guardian. If Paul isn't home, he won't leave my side. Bathroom trips included.

Tonight, I was watching tv and Nick suddenly started barking wildly and when I got up to see what he was barking at, I saw his head looking right outside the sliding door and had a feeling it was a snake. It was. It wasn't leaving so Paul took it out with a big stick. Nick got a cookie as a reward and Bo got one too for being the backup barker.

Dear Daddy

So many memories came to me today. The Father’s Day card aisle is so bittersweet. I have so many memories. I remember as a young girl standing on the dock waiting for your ship to come home from a long cruise when you were in the Navy. I remember riding on the back of your motorcycle and the time we wrecked on El Monte when the dog ran out in front of us, and you laid the bike down and broke my fall to the pavement with your leg.

I remember you pulling us in the snow in Aurora on sleds you hooked up with chains behind the station wagon and how you laughed when you swung us off into snow banks.

I remember in high school getting called into the principal’s office and you were sitting there. I learned then never to write your name on absence notes because they knew immediately that I had skipped school--because all the other notes came from Mom. You took me home that day and taught me parallel parking so I could take my driver’s test.

I remember when I wrecked your old blue work car and parked it so the damaged door was not facing the house. (Yes, I also remember I had it fixed and they even matched the paint!) Then there was the time when I was going to beauty school, and you sat me down in the kitchen and asked me to tell you what I’d done. I didn’t confess until you put the bottle of vodka on the table. That’s when I found out you marked the bottles. I thought you’d be proud that I learned how to make a flask out of a hair spray can. I think you secretly were.

You helped me find my party trailer and hauled it to your house. You put a level on it and started making a list of everything I’d need to outfit it. It was our project and we had so much fun at the river in that thing and the inner tubes you gave me for float trips.

I remember the July 4th parade in ’92, when Gypsy took off in a dead run, spooked by the fire engines, and I flew by you--off into the desert—and when I asked you why you didn’t come running and you said you thought I was trick riding! I guess you missed the part where I lost my stirrup and went airborne and landed in the dirt, covered in stickers.

I remember what a wonderful dancer you were; that little step only you did. I cherish it all. I miss you Daddy.