Who Knew?!

Dear Friends, 

Time for a blog that could save your life according to my engineers...

Have you ever done something that you know could not possibly be so but it is. And it is even better? That is what happened to me yesterday! I had recently sent a treat to a friend in my baking dish. When the dish came back it was gleaming! Now how did she do that? I scrub on my dishes for hours to get them up to "acceptable" or almost! Where to look to find the answer?! Pinterest, of course! Ah ha...here is my answer WD-40! 2000 uses for WD-40! It loosens nuts and bolts, shines your stairs, takes lipstick off tiles, cleans stains from coffee cups...it should clean my baking dish! I sprayed it and in just seconds Voila! The grease melted away like magic! My dish was shiny clean! Well then, how about my counters? Yes! And my refrigerator, YES...and now my stove and teapot! I was whirling around my kitchen like a genie! Everything SPARKLED! Time for my husband to come home! I could hardly wait to share my discovery with him!  You what! he stormed! He didn't think my "discovery" was the best thing since sliced bread! "That could kill you! It could kill us all!"  What did he know? He is only an engineer after all!  

Last night I was texting with my son. I decided to share my 'funny' with him. "Yikes, Mom! What were you thinking?"

 Hey, it took the grease right off my dish! 

Yes, and it will take rust off a bumper too!  

It is made of fish oil. I say, That should be safe! 

It's a solvent! he says.

That should mean something to me? I guess I shouldn't use it for arthritis then? 

Only for squeaky joints, he says.

So there you go...as the quote from Abe Lincoln says "Don't believe everything you read on the internet." I guess that's so ...

Happy Anniversary

The Colorado day shone as bright as any diamond...

September 22, 2 years ago...

You are my nights

You are my days 

You are my miracle 

In so many ways!

You give me hope

To carry on 

You are my miracle

For you make me strong!

If I could have a wish

I'd wish for everyone
I'd wish that all could feel as I do!

I'd give to every heart 

The miracle of love

To know the joy of life as I do!

You are my nights

You are my days

You are my miracle

In so many ways!

You  give me hope

To carry on

You are my miracle

You make me strong!  
Roger Whittaker

Happy Anniversay, Layne and Natalie!

We love you!
May God bless you
and may that bright sun always
shine on your little family!

Life Changer

It was dark, cool and oh so quiet that morning 12 years ago today but it so changed all of our lives! I was riding my exercise bike, listening to my radio, while my youngest son was sleeping soundly in his bed in the next room. My husband was away on a hunting trip to Montana. My other sons were safe in their own homes. All was right in our world. Then an excited, baffled newsman reported that an airplane had struck the World Trade Center in New York City! How terrible!  It must be some horrible accident...And then another struck. This was totally unbelievable! In minutes the Pentagon  in Washington, DC was struck and lights began to come on in all of our heads! This wasn't a horrible accident! The United States of America was under attack! I woke my son. We went upstairs and turned on the TV. We sat watching in shock with the rest of the nation as the events of that day played out. I was at school before Todd Beamer said to his fellow passengers on Flight 93, "Let's Roll" and the next plane hit Earth in Shanksville, Pennsylvania! But those unthinkable acts happened so far from home. They were beyond belief but they wouldn't touch us in far off rural Nevada!

How very wrong was my thinking!! Nothing was ever to be the same again in our sleepy little world. Soon after that day in September my son applied and was accepted to West Point Military Academy. Another of my sons enlisted in the US Marine Corps and went to OCS at Quantico, Virginia! Both sons have since been in the war zones and other undesirable spots of the world, not once but several times in their careers protecting our precious nation. We have along the way met other amazing brave young men and women who also heard our country's call and felt it was important enough to put their lives on the line to defend her! These young people and their families and loved ones continue sacrificing every day these 12 years since to keep us safe.

And so 'tis said that every cloud has its silver lining. This idiom has proven true this time as well. For out of the ashes of that September day we have brave sons of whom we are incredibly proud. They have each chosen beautiful, competent women for wives, who like themselves had chosen to join the military and were in "the right place at the right time"!! Another blessing ... a darling grand daughter has joined our family.

Thankfully the sun still rises over this beautiful land and God is still in control!

November Bronze

In a week it has changed from glorious gold to burnished bronze! Last week it was in the 70s. Today it is in the 40s! That didn't take long! We have already had two snow storms. All my flowers are doing the frosted droop! The pumpkin vines have turned black and collapsed. I found 2 pumpkins hiding there amongst the dead leaves! They had kept their secret all summer! It is definitely fall here now!

The morning of the snowstorm I was going to let my cats, Rudy and Chang come in to sit by my fire. When I looked out onto the deck I saw 'something'. It didn't take long to figure out it wasn't Rudy or Chang but a raccoon. It wasn't very big. It had climbed up the trellis where my honeysuckle grows. Little footprints led right to the cats' dish! It wasn't scared but when we opened the kitchen door, away it scuddled singlefooting off the deck. That is how raccoons go, these two feet on this side, now those two feet on that side. It kind of glides. When I was a kid I had a raccoon for a pet. She was a nice little thing for several years and then one day it was over. We had had her since she was a kit, before her eyes were open. We fed her on a bottle.You would think tame is tame but it is not with a wild animal. In an instant all her wild instincts came back one day when I took her to play in a nearby creek. She charged at my friend and me growling, on the attack and never again was she friendly!

I took the girls for a walk this afternoon, down by the creek. Mitzi ran down the bank exploring into the creek bed. We heard something and she shot pell mell back up the bank. It was probably just deer moving out under the trees but maybe not. Another time, in about the same place, we came upon a freshly killed rabbit. We had disturbed something from its lunch. Mitzi wasn't taking any chances! A little cottontail ran out in front of the dogs and the chase was on. Cheney is sooo fast...but not as fast as that rabbit. It scampered right into the safety of the post pile! Rabbit one, dogs 0... today! When we got to the pond I wondered if they would take their daily swim. Mitzi jumped right in but Cheney only got her feet wet!

Kiely's and Garrett's birthdays have come and gone, Mike's and Erin's too. We didn't do our get-together birthday this year. We haven't for a couple of years now. They were fun but times change! Today is Veterans' Day!I remember when my little G I Joes were home safe and sound. Now they aren't! May God keep them safe and watch over them for me! And please watch over their sweet wives who also make a sacrifice! We are flying our flags; Old Glory, and an Army, Navy, and Marine flag flying beside her... for our kids, our dads and my mom who all served our country. May God bless this USA!

Summer's End

What a wonderful way to end our summer 2012! Lorne and Erin got married! Lorne barely got home in time for his own wedding. He had been stationed in the Pacific since January. Mike and I planned to meet him in San Diego when he flew back to the States. We got our plane tickets, made our plans and away we flew...to LA where we got a phone call when we landed that Lorne wasn't coming home after all. He was stranded in Hawaii!! So...upon 'visiting' with the lady at American Airlines we found it would cost another $1100. to fly home! Yikes! Plan B... We rented a car for $200 and drove! That was a fun trip too! But I digress...

The wedding was beautiful! Paradise Springs is the perfect name for the spot they had chosen to begin their new life. Giant trees surrounded the inn where we all stayed: the Rosingers and the Christopher clans. It was the first time all our boys had been together in forever!  Plenty of things to keep everyone busy. Horseshoes, visiting, hiking... the kids had a ball! Early in the mornings Mikki and I had our tea under the stars glittering over head! Erin's family brought the best ever fish fry known to man. All in all they worked their tails off to make it perfect and it was!

Of course the bride and groom glowed! They started out their married life being the perfect host and hostess! The wedding was early in the day so we could all ''hang out'' and spend time with them afterwards. That was such fun as they had both been away for much of the year, first one then the other. We ate, toasted, danced, especially the little ones. Evan surely cut a mean rug!! He was too shy to be ringbearer but after the wedding that passed!! Kiely caught the bouquet and got to dance with the handsome fella who got the garter! Everyone enjoyed the band and the warm summer evening under the stars!

We mingled in the morning over breakfast, said our good byes and went in our separate directions, wishing Lorne and Erin a long and happy life together! A beautiful ending to our summer and a bright beginning for the new Mr. and Mrs. Christopher!

Midsummer's Day

6:30 a.m. and round, red, Mr. Sun is kissing the tops of the mountains. The 'girls', Cheney and Mitzi, look forward to their Ranger ride to turn off the water on the hayfield! There have already been two cuttings...shall we go for 3?! The deer hope so! All the baby swallows from the 2nd hatch perform aerobatics around the yard to show off their new flying skills!  Only yesterday they were hanging on the side of their mud hut afraid to let go!! The pond is as smooth as a looking glass reflecting this bright, blue Nevada sky. Little grey bees hum in the purple Russian sage...but not a bumblebee can be heard! I wonder where they are this summer. They usually do the summer serenade from May until September. Charles Darwin said the number of 'humble bees' depends on the mouse population as mice find the 'humble bee' nests in holes in the ground and eat the larva!! There are very few dragonflies this summer either...hmmm??? Usually hummingbirds find my trumpet vines right after the 4th of July and stay until September...and they are late!! Sunflowers lift their faces to smile at the sun and bee balm nods her shaggy head! It's time for everything to have their mid-summer haircut in hopes of a late summer blast of color. Smoke drifts over the tops of the mountains' majesty from somewhere else filling our valley with a blue haze. God is house cleaning too, I guess! Rudy and Chang, our faithful cats, find a shady, quiet place to curl up and sleep the day away.  My garden sports a new garden gate from my son and a pretty garden flag from my 'gracious' daughter in law that sums it all up...Welcome...Enjoy Life!

Nevada June

Relentless winds blow. A tiny gray ribbon creeps across the desert and grows until the space between here and there darkens and blurs to a monotone. The mountains at the end of the valley disappear. A dust storm is born and rolls off the Smoke Creek out onto the Black Rock. Cumulus sky clouds gather and block the sun, black and heavy with rain. But nary a drop makes its way to the valley floor. The winter brought only a rare storm, less moisture than could be squeezed from a kitchen sponge. When it came time for the cheatgrass to turn the desert green it headed out and turned golden brown instead leaving it only a couple of inches tall. Now the critters move closer and closer into our sphere. The mice, rats, and desert chipmunks come looking for something green to eat; the bark off the trees, tender branches and shoots, my garden! Snakes crawl in looking to eat them. Their dusty camo brown/black hides them as they lay in the cool of the garden dirt waiting for their mouse dinner. Chukkar birds cackle on the tops of the rim rocks as they march to the well house for a drink of the overflow. Six big bucks magically appear in the clover in the early morning light. Soon does with their new fawns join them to munch their way through a hot summer day, eating and resting in the field's coolness. Pink wild roses line the ditchbank. Their sweet smell wafts on the wind. Nighttime comes. Quail 'pip pip' their "good nights" to the day and coyotes start a lullaby song. A blaze of orange, red, and gold bursts forth to close the day. Our bit of heaven on earth. Praise the Lord!