How The West Was Spun

More Landscaping

D and I put some more time into the yard this week.  While we were in Colorado last weekend, our landscape dude brought us a couple of trees and put those in for us.  It took about 1 week of no shade after the pinion pine by the door was gone to decide we wanted larger trees than the 5-gallon bucks from Lowe's, so we bit the bullet and paid to have a couple of Ponderosa pines brought up from his nursery and installed.

These are nice-sized trees - we got two, one for each side of the yard - about 12 to 14 feet in height.   We added some soaker hoses for these youngsters and put a mulch layer in around their roots, and we'll try to keep them fairly moist despite our current lack of rain and the high winds (and 2% humidity right now).

We also put in some smaller trees that we had already purchased - a couple of ornamental plums and a pear tree so we have an arc of trees out in front of the house.  The smaller ones will eventually help shade the deck.  We are just about finished carting rock from the property up to the front yard to form the walkway edgings, although we decided that the trees would look great with some rocks around their base to delineate between the mulch and the landscape rock (which is set to be delivered sometime this week), so we've got a bit more to do.

It's getting there!  Our next task, once the landscape rock arrives, is to start laying weed barrier, which we'll start at the point farthest away from this photo, and then work our way back to this vantage point.

All for now....

Spring-y!

Despite the fact that we continue to have gorgeous warm sunny days interspersed with hit-and-miss cold, blustery and snowy days, it really is trying to be spring in these parts - and I have proof.

My lilacs have kicked it into gear:

I replanted the whiskey barrel planter we have in the back courtyard area with some strawberries, which have really started to take off:

And, D and I decided this year's big lawn and garden project would be to completely redo the front yard.  When we bought the house, there had been renters in for almost a full year, and we are pretty sure there used to be actual grass in the half-moon shape area outside the front door.  Which the renters didn't bother to water.  And that, followed with last year's drought has left us with nothing but dirt.

This weekend, D tackled getting some of the junipers trimmed back from the edge of this area.  He pulled out a few sagebrush bushes that had taken hold.  He cut down some form of ornamental small tree that would be where I'm standing in the above photo - it bloomed for a total of 2 days and wafted a dusty, sticky pollen all over the deck and the front windows, and then looked dead for the rest of the year.  He also pulled out 2 dead rosebushes and something else dead from the front bed on the left-hand side of the photo.

So here's the grand plan:

• First off, sadly (VERY SADLY), we have to have the pinon pine next to the front steps taken down.  It's pulling on the gutters and shingles, and it's starting to buckle the pavement (and we highly suspect the foundation).  It's leaning precariously in the wind storms we've been having and the arborist feels it likely it's just a question of when it'll come down on the house.  So we are getting estimates together to have that removed.
• Next, we are going to finish clearing the dead/semi-dead random shrubs (there are 4 in there - one of each of something or other) in the bed farthest along the walkway, near the steps.  We are going to build a raised bed in there and plant that with something like daylilies (something low maintenance) to give a little color/height to the foundation there.  We'll extend the daylilies down the small area next to the steps up the walkway from the driveway below.
• Third, we have one small lilac left next to the front door that's doing okay.  We'll be replacing the dead rosebushes with 3 more dwarf lilacs, to tie those in to the larger ones that run next to the deck on that end of the house.  Those will go here in this bed.

• Fourth, we are going to install a walkway of landscape pebbles and probably stepping stones along this bed, running out to the back of the yard, as well as a matching one that runs perpendicular to the house, extending out from the front door to our secondary driveway, which is where the UPS guy and other visitors seem to like to park, to walk up to the house.
• Fifth, we are going to put down landscape barrier and then a contrast-color of landscape pebbles over the rest of the yarn, adding in two dwarf fruit trees flanking the walkway that's perpendicular to the front door, two on each side.  Not too close to the house either, so we can enjoy them without worrying our foundation is getting pried apart.
• Finally, as a last note, we are going to revamp the little rock garden bed that sits empty (except for the weeds) just outside the walkway.  I think we may do a little solar-powered rock water fountain and possibly put in some native blooming (perennial) cacti around that for an accent out front.

We are excited about the project, although it'll be a LOT of work.  It'll be a great improvement to the front of the house and let us hopefully keep down the dust without having to water grass 24/7 here in the summer.

All for now.....

Building Projects

D has been busy working out in his wood shop recently.  After he had finished up my work station/table, he decided next on his list for the house was a new table for the eating area.  We don't really have a dining room, per se, but we do have a fairly spacious area to eat in with views out the deck.  We had been using a small-ish table I inherited from my grandmother, and we realized at Thanksgiving this year with 4 extra people around it, it was really too small for more than the 2 of us.

D had looked at several sets of designs, wasn't completely happy with any of them, and we went and looked at some actual finished pieces in furniture stores, but again, nothing he was completely happy with, so he designed his own.

It has some elements of Mission and Arts and Crafts, but he's lightened the lines a little bit so it's not quite so bulky.  The entire piece is out of cherry wood and it can seat 6 comfortably still with some space in the middle for serving pieces.

The top has breadboard ends (those pieces running along the edges).

And while D kept the slatted support details between the legs of a lot of tables we liked, he created a softer, curved shape to the leg supports.

We christened it this weekend with a nice brunch and coffee while we read the paper and watched the sun come up!

All for now....

I wish......

I could show you more pictures of beautiful blue sky and my handsome boys getting ready to go ride like this one:

 

But, alas.  I do not. It's just been one of those weekends, I guess.

D and I hauled down to Quemado Lake, NM, to do a new-to-us ride, Ride the Divide, up in the scenic Gila National Forest.  We got a good early start on Friday a.m., and were planning to ride Saturday and Sunday with the boys.  When we got in on Friday around lunchtime, we got camp set up and tacked the boys up to take an easy jaunt out the first bit of the trail we'd be riding on Saturday a.m.  We don't do anything fast or fancy - we just walk to get the trailer stiffness out and take a look at the trail.

The boys both quieted down as soon as they saw the ribbons - they are smart and knew exactly why we were there.  We rode up to the first trail junction and then turned around to head back to camp.  We were walking quietly along, looking at the scenery, when Bhen turned his head to look at something (not in a spooky way, just to see what he could see in the woods), and caught his toe on a rock in the road, and took a major tumble down to his knees.  His left front was only lightly scraped up, but his right knee was bleeding badly from several places. 

We walked the boys back into camp, and using bottled water, I tried to get the worst of the dirt irrigated out.  It really didn't look good.  At ALL.  So I applied ice packs and got the bleeding stopped, irrigated out the wound again, packed it with antibiotic ointment, and wrapped it.  The race vet said he didn't think it could be sutured, but there was no way I was going to take Bhen out for 50 miles on that leg either. 

Saturday a.m., we loaded back up at early o'clock, and hauled back home.   I called our absolutely stellar vet (who I love, but frankly?  We have seen FAR too much of him this year) and had him on alert to come by in the afternoon to take a look at the leg for me.  When he got there, he got Bhen sedated, and wound up cutting off the skin flap that was still hanging off (it wasn't salvageable), irrigated out the wound, injected some local anesthetic into it, plus some antibiotics, and got it all closed (it was a 3-pronged burst laceration) with 7 staples.  Hopefully staples can come out in 10 days to 2 weeks, but we are being only cautiously optimistic that we'll be able to go to our next ride in June.  The main thing is that (as of today's bandage change), it looks really pretty good.  The laceration edges have pulled together.  There was only minimal seepage and that's all dried, and the swelling has gone down a lot too (so I am hopeful we had no bony involvement).

Here's my boy being very good about his leg bandage, which I'm sure is hot and itchy. 

 

So, you know.... being insane, and having 2 now unscheduled days off, D and I finished the barn for the boys (except for the roofline cap and the trim), and ran fence line.  That was the (very limited) silver lining amongst all this mess.

The original pasture fence ran out perpendicular to the left-hand opening of the barn you see above.  We bumped it out to allow the boys access to the barn (obviously), and then ran it another 30 feet or so out from the barn, and across to tie into the existing fence.  We still have more cactus to clear to give them all of the planned extra 40 feet, but they are brutal right now in terms of thorns, so we'll wait until their growing season is over. 

The new pasture almost doubles their space, plus, they now have shade from about 9:30 a.m. on during the entire day, and protection from the storms.  A double bonus, since we need to keep Bhen's bandages dry.  It's supposed to be very hot here over the next week, so we were really glad today to see them both move right into the shade after breakfast and not venture out really until dinnertime.  They celebrated their good fortune with a little mutual grooming.

 

Totally not the weekend we had planned, but on the other hand, the boys love their new barn and I know D and I both feel better we can get them in out of the sun and heat and afternoon thunderstorms when we need to.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Big Bhen heals up quickly!

All for now.....
 

Spinning Friday - More Singles

It's Friday again!  I've got a couple of in-progress singles for you, but first up, a shot of my new and (mostly) put together spinning area. We do have some pictures yet to hang - that always seems to take us a long time for whatever reason.  The Wyeth print is going above the woodstove, which I am standing next to while I took this shot.

Emma's got her spot on the chair to the right, and you can see evidence of Rowan's chew-toy in the foreground if you look for it.

And now for the spinning:

Stone Castles is actually progressing.  I had taken the final 3 ounces and stripped the roving into 12 thinner strips to break up the color a little bit.  I started on the second bobbin of singles.

I also finished up the first bobbin (1 ounce worth) of singles of the pink superfine merino from the Oceanwind Fibers Club "Peppi".

 
 
I have some spinning time blocked out for Sunday while D has to run into work, and my plan is to tackle more of the Stone Castles then.

All for now......

Settling In

We are mostly.  Settling in, that is.  It's always amazing to me, when you move, how you have to sort of work out the flow of your day - when things need to get done, when things can get done, when to have that second cuppa tea. 

We are really enjoying having the horse-boys back at the house.  Sunday morning, after they had breakfast and it had warmed up a bit, we got them cleaned and tacked up, and took a leisurely walk-ride over just a couple of miles along the roads and looked at the scenery.  It was good for them to get out for a bit, and certainly good for us, although you'd think we had run them hard for 50 miles by the way they came back and had a huge snooze for the rest of the afternoon.

Rowan and Sydney are groovin' on the fact that they can run around outdoors in their own yard, eat deer poop and wrassle a bit.  Which also apparently requires naptime in the sun afterwards.

Emma has decided she quite likes the bird-viewing vantage point from her perch next to my desk in the downstairs office.

And we have finally gotten the last of the boxes out of the rental house (finally!), so I just need to go thru and do one final clean, wipe out the fridge, and run the vacuum, and then we are done!  It's nice to finally be able to find books and various cooking implements after sort of living half out of boxes for the last year.

All for now....
 

Where the Boys Are

Finally at home with us! 

I'm back after being mostly done with our move - just a few odds and ends to get from the rental house and some cleaning - and mostly over this horrific cold thing I had.  Still a little coughsie, but much much better. 

D and his buddy Will worked like demons on Saturday and they got the area we wanted to put the boys in cleared of cactus, with all our panels run for fence line.  We left a small row of shrubs (which are about 6 feet high) on the ridge where the prevailing winds and weather come from as a wind block until we get their lean-to/run-in put up, but having looked ahead at what appears to be an entire week of bad weather here with cold temps and snow, we were anxious to make sure they were here and not up in town where the water main at the horse park is busted (again!) and I can go out several times a day to check on them.  We have all their blankets here, so I can add or subtract depending on the weather. 

For now, tho, it's absolutely glorious to be able to stand on the back deck and watch them watching our local little herd of mule deer wander through the property.

 

And, of course, to just walk out the garage, grab some hay and go feed in 5 minutes. 

 

So - now that you know the important info - that the boys are here and safe, how about some house pictures where us 2-legged folks are living?  We obviously still need to hang pictures and there's a bit of flotsam and jetsam out where we haven't quite opened that box that has the rest of something living in it, so it can all get put away, but you'll get the idea.

D's office upstairs, which is nice and bright:

The living room, where I've already gotten my pretty little knitting table set up with projects in hand:
 

The kitchen, which has a nice skylight, plus a set of sliding glass doors out to the deck:

The hot tub and deck from the living room, looking out toward D's woodshop:

 

And finally, the view looking away from the boys' pasture, out across the river to the Sangre de Cristos mountains (from the deck outside the kitchen/dining area sliding doors):
 

So seriously?  How could I not love this house?

All for now....