Jumping Georgia

Georgia likes to jump. That's what she does best. Can you tell she wants her treat?

Hot Cactus

Our landlady asked us to burn this almost dead cactus that someone has dug up about 90% of the way.  The spines burst into flame and it was all over in a few seconds.  The rest of it just sat there and smoked for an hour.

How Did I End Up Here?

I hope you don't mind if I just chat awhile. Since my new home only has dial-up, I seriously miss talking to friends on Yahoo messenger, in chatrooms, and in social worlds like Second Life. Do people there miss me? I know a few that surely do. They have my email but they never use it. It seems people that like to chat aren't the same kind that like to communicate via Email.

Our new place is out in the boonies. It has it's pros and cons. As one friend put it, the view is stunning. There is no traffic, I have a huge yard to park in so I don't have to move the truck every Wed. for street sweeping.  There are no neighbors walking above my ceiling day and night. I have more exterior space than I know what to do with and there are birds everywhere.

The downside: I'm stuck with a poor Internet connection. Considering my income comes mostly from the Internet, I see that as a crisis.  My boyfriend shows no interest in remedying the situation, and that stresses me out terribly. The weather is more extreme. I seriously need to make or buy some warm clothes because our tiny wood stove only heats about half the living room and none of the rest of the house.  We got rid of our gas dryer because this place is all electric.  I'd assumed we'd get an electric dryer. In one of those lack of communications that couples have, the next thing I know is he's stringing a clothesline with no intention to ever get a dryer. What! I feel decieved.  When I agreed to rent this place I was told we could get DSL and living without a dryer or microwave was never mentioned. He even got rid of the dish drainer so now as I stack things on flat tables and they slide off, I feel we will be breaking a lot of dishes. His reasoning is without a drainer, you dry things and put them away. Here is another value clash. I think drying dishes is the biggest waste of time on the planet.  Not gonna happen. He can feel free to dry all the dishes he wants. Did I also mention we no longer have a dishwasher? Welcome to rural life.

I am now of the impression that rich people living in the desert and poor people living in the desert is a lot like comparing apples and oranges.  We spend a lot of time chopping firewood and getting free wood from friends because buying wood is expensive.  These changes put a huge strain on our relationship because we weren't on the same page whatsoever with this move. We are 20 miles from a city and I don't have a car. How does that work? Nor do I ride a mountain bike and we live on a dirt road with sand, gravel and ruts. The closest paved road is about 2 miles away.

The clothesline plan isn't working so well either. We haven't had a warm sunny day in two weeks. It's hard to dry clothes when it's chilly, wet, hailing, raining, or snowing. When it cost me $10 to do clothes at the nearest laundromat he about flipped. Considering my last dryer cost 20 bucks used, I don't think we are saving here.

I think I could be happy here if I had a car, an income, a few appliances and a decent Internet connection. But so far he's completely inflexible. He wants to live like a hermit bachelor I guess.

But the scenery is stunning.

Gypsy Circus Electic Potpourri

If you are a fan of my photos, perhaps you would enjoy seeing more of them here on Tumblr. 
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Dutch Oven Cooking

Some fantastic pork my boyfriend whipped up for dinner a few days ago.

Hot Summer in CA

I spent some time fiddling with my blog settings so the photos will be bigger without the reader having to click on them to enlarge them.

Ever since my boyfriend started saying he wanted to move out of state, I started to think of all the things I'd miss about California.  I've lived in CA since 1969. I've started obsessing over palm trees, taking photos of them whenever I get the chance. I love the way this one came out and these trees are right across the street from me.  I've walked by them 100's of times and yet, here was a photo opportunity I never noticed before. I had my camera in hand, waiting for my grandson to show up.  I got bored and thought to myself, "self, I bet you could find something interesting to photograph without leaving this spot."

So I would encourage all of you shutterbugs out there to remember to look in your own backyard for photo opportunities.

And even as I type this I notice a cool photo opportunity. I realized how interesting the bottle of ice on my desk looked.  The ice is melting away in little spikes.  Let me download the photos and see how they came out.

Love The Hat Jack

Jack and Guy head out to shoot some arrows on a hot hot day at El Dorado Park.

Life in Anaheim

Smoke from an apartment complex fire on Savannah.

Our new graffiti removal squad at work.

Archer in Training

Wallop the Cat

Wallop forgets he's an indoor cat. He wanted to come outside and help me paint.

Last Roses

Every day I wonder if this is going to be the day the new owner rips out all my plants. Here are the most recent photos of the roses.

Conejo Shoot

Guy Taylor wins first place in the self bow category.

Sal Wins a Trophy Arrow

Death of a Rose

The new owner just ripped out the rose bush I planted to honor a vet from TX. Yesterday I cut off all the flowers thinking this might happen. So here they are, the last of them. Poor rose, all it did was bloom it's head off and create happiness.

The Banana and the Rose

 

Once I read on the Internet that if your roses have aphids, you could get rid of them by putting a banana peel at the base of the plant. It seemed silly but it worked for me. I've had many happy aphid free roses since I started doing that.

A Day Making Bows

Fog at Chamberlain Ranch

 

While all the archers crawled back into their warm sleeping bags to wait for the fog to lift, I went out hunting for great photos of the sun breaking through the fog. 

Mosaic Photo Essay

The grout is still wet but most of the jewels are wiped off.

Messy projects are the most fun.

Little jewelry box.

It's a lot like putting icing on a lumpy cupcake. Next I have to wipe off the excess grout with a wet sponge.

I haven't done a mosaic project in years yet I am always fascinated with them. So after getting a craft book at a used bookstore and seeing the mosaic section, I decided to make mosaics part of my life again. It was lovely weather today so I sat down and put grout on the mosaics I started yesterday. Now I just have to let them dry and paint the rest of the wood.

Gourd Doll

I love folk art and I love art dolls, so here is the best of both worlds. A little doll I made with pyrography (wood burning),designs all over it.

Lyondomere SCA Event

Amanda makes her own bows.

The glory of long hair.

Learning to Throw Axes

Adding a new string to a bow.

Nico throws axes.

Wearing my cloak to stay warm.

Adding a serving to a bowstring.greenman archery

I do my best to take a few photos at every SCA event because they become a blur in my mind if I don't. I've been in the SCA on and off since 1977. I wish I had photos from those early days, but that was before digital cameras and even if I took photos I didn't have the money to develop them. Thank goodness digital innovations made photography available to the masses.