Let it snow! A little!

Hello out there! It's snowing near Toronto KS USA on Thursday December 22. Merry Christmas!

Christmas greetings!

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

the hummers moved south

After a long hot summer trying to keep the hummingbird feeders filled, the only thing I will miss from the summer is the chirp of the hummers. If you've never lived near a large group of hummers, you may have missed their distinctive little voices, but I've been blessed. I saw one last evening but none this morning. We'll leave the feeders out for another week. Here's a snippet of what I like about summer. Happy autumn one and all. p/ap

Peach Pie

Hello from the farm west of Lake Fegan.
Weeks ago I saw an ad in the Yates Center newspaper advertising peaches for sale. I ordered a box and waited... and waited some more. Finally the call came, be there at 7 AM on Sunday morning, pick up the peaches, and if there are extra boxes, I could buy more... I could smell the aroma of ripe peaches when I drove in their driveway... I bought 3 boxes and kept one. Lucky for me that Bud is a baker... I peeled, pitted and sliced and Bud baked. Here's our pie proof!
It seems that in Yates Center, people do not use round aluminum pie pans, so we used the available square cake pan... pie still tastes fine. Just ask Bud. :)

Thinking about Poppi/Bob/Dad

Makes me smile - hope you do too!

O'Donna's garden grows

These are pictures of O'Donna's vegetable garden at the Chanute Community Garden taken on Monday, June 20. Beautiful!!!

Vacation Wednesday afternoon

Hello again.
Vacation continues on Wednesday afternoon as we travel through No Man's Land and enter the panhandle of Texas... Above is picture-proof that it's a long way to Tucumcari and all parts West!
We stopped to soak up the history of the area surrounding the Canadien River... Now we wish we had read the signs. Below, Bob and Robin look for the river...
Below, we have found it and it is dry. West Texas is in a severe drought and we believe it.

End of day 1 and home looks like the Quality Inn. Stay tuned for more Travels to El Paso...

We head for El Paso...

On May 11, 2011, we headed West and South from Chanute on our way to visit Amanda in El, Paso, Texas, estimated travel time, 2 days, 900 plus miles. We considered turning back upon reaching Wichita, but instead drove on.
Along the way, we say some sights, notable because we never got out of the car... truly they were roadside attractions... or we didn't see them. Here's one.
and of course, while we didn't actually step foot in an art gallery, that didn't keep us from the art!

and interesting signage. Wednesday afternoon is next...

breathless...

Yesterday Blaze of Glory bucked me off his back, his neck and any other of his body parts I may have touched as I fell, all with gusto. The thing that hurts the most (more than my bruised cheek, elbow and right side) is that I thought we would be fine taking a short little ride and we were obviously not on the same page about that.

I've been bucked off twice in the past 2 years, both times by the same horse... He's such a sweetie (still my opinion), but oh my, can he buck! He stood still for me to get on, stood still while I gathered up the reins, I turned him a quarter turn and the rodeo was on. I think I stayed on for 2 bucks, then I bounced on his neck a couple of times, then skidded across the ground. The worse thing was I got the breath knocked out of me and as I was lying on the ground gasping for air, I thought I might die right there.

I would have felt bad for Bud to have found me dead... but then I didn't die, got my breath and started crawling for the house when I realized I could walk... very happy about that. Bud said I looked like I was in a fight and lost... guess I was ... and I did...

In closing, I didn't almost die like my very much loved niece almost did 7 times last weekend (self-reported) but I'm here (happily so) to say that once was enough for me.

love you all, ap/p

see the birdie in the tree

See the birdie in the tree?
This glorious pheasant is in the top of the tree about 30 feet above my head.
Beautiful plumage. Mike Hamman, Lone Pine, raises pheasants. He released about a dozen extras at the end of his season on our place... his new baby chicks come in on Tuesday. Not much of a break.
He's in sillouette, but his beauty still shines. We took a pup out to look for them, she found a covey of quail instead... not a bad trade. ap/p

Puppy report

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a picture of five of our 8 puppies who are really too cute for words...

The puppy on the left is Shadow's Double Dot or better known to her friends as Shorty... she's the one we had to feed for weeks because she was so tiny... She's catching up quick.

:)

bunny king

ok, this is the first ever episode of the bunny king chronicles. See the bunny, the bird and the squirrel.
Note the squirrel is trying to gain access to the "bird seed" with a rear entrance...
Squirrel is trying the sneak attack on the bird seed... but to no avail...
Squirrel loses chance at access...
...the bunny reigns supreme... and that's no joke! So what's going on in your world???

:)

stick horse in progress

This is a demonstration of the stick horse process. First gather materials essential to the task... a sock, batting, a stick, felt, yarn, ribbon and other adornments and things yet unknown.
Stuff the sock part way.
Make a pattern and create eyes, ears, nose, mouth with felt, magic marker or other ways.
Here's our horse part way done.

More later,
p/ap

i saw the supermoon...

This is the Supermoon rising over Lake Fegan, directly east of our home. The bright light at the bottom of the screen is the nightlight at one of the rest areas. And what comes up must go down, the second picture, looking west out my window, is the moon setting over the horse pens. This sounds like a song ... or maybe not.

FYI, a supermoon is one that is 90% or greater of its closest approach to Earth... this was the closest in 18 years. It was a beautiful sight on Saturday night, March 19, 2011.

ap/p

Pointer Puppy Debut

Sound the bugles or the drums or just tap the table... here are a few of Fly's babies at 4 1/2 weeks old... ahhhh, puppy breath.

Winter at Lake Fegan

It was so cold that the steam is rising off of Lake Fegan in the picture above.
Deck living in the snow... don't see any hummers here!
Sunrise over Fegan, there is something refreshing about seeing the sun rise. Have to go check on the puppies, they're 4 1/2 days old. I should have a party. :)

My horses in the snow

This is Ginny, frosted.
Above is a cold day... west of Lake Fegan, horses in the snow.
And this is Henry's nose. I love Henry of the wild eye. You would too if you knew him. Miss you all... come ride with me... some fine day.

Remembering Hailey's visit

This is the sun setting the week before Thanksgiving in 2010. Hailey (below), Carter and Renee and Toby and I were at the top of the hill celebrating the setting sun when Hailey took time from drawing to snap this beautiful picture. There is something magical about being loved, and especially by someone who is six years old.

horse, cat, and possum

I have a cat named Leo. He's more than just a cat, he's really Leo-in-charge... of all of us.

Living west of Lake Fegan, we find ourselves surrounded by wild life or maybe it's just us living wild... but that aside, take a look at this little possum, did you ever see such a cute little pink nose, maybe the cutest one I have ever seen. Coming soon the very cute and very new pointer pups... wait and see!

Toast and jelly

Some of the most perfect moments are unexpected. I made a loaf of bread and then I spread it with sour cherry jelly made by my sister. It was simply perfection. Here are my pictures to prove my story. Please make more...

It's snowing west of Lake Fegan!

Hello readers,

It seems this storm has been anticipated for weeks and it is living up to its PR with a fury of wind, cold and snow. Check out the video I shot this morning with my Lumix DMC-fz18.

Stay warm,

p