Wonders of the prairie

Never ceasing to amaze, we are fortunate to be witness to some regal sights.  Yesterday for several hours, we watched this bald eagle as he soared overhead perusing for food.  More than once, it seemed he had spotted a small critter which would make a tasty morsel for his lunch, only to see him eventually land in this barren tree a short distance from our back yard.  Like the moose, deer and antelope, we never tire of the fact that we see them often and share this land with them.

 Now the other critters which share this "land" with us are perhaps not so regal as the eagle, but they live like royalty in our home.  After dinner nearly every evening, they move into our bedroom and take a snooze.  As you can see, they share our space with an attitude that seems to make one think they expect the bed to be made for them.  Ingrid this picture is for you.

Our sunsets and sunrises have been spectacular of late.  As the sun rose out of the east one morning this week, I couldn't resist trying to capture the brilliant colors.  With Halloween bringing this month to a close tomorrow, stay safe, watch for the little witches and goblins and don't forget our brothers and sisters who are struggling to deal with the horrific aftermath of hurricane Sandy.

"Make it a rule of life never to regret and never look back, we all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour, in other words, we are the hero of our own story." ~ Mary McCarthy

Breakfast with the does

Snow was predicted for sure and these ladies were munching the sagebrush just a few feet from my back lawn this morning and I watched them rip at the foliage.  We have been watching a small herd here consisting of one buck and 8 does.  But a few days ago, he had lost track of about 3 does.  Over the years, we have witnessed the ritual of the creatures in the fall.  The antelope have their young in the early summer or late spring and the bucks gather in small groups away from the does and their young until fall. 

Then the fun begins.  Trying to keep their small herds together can be quite comical.  The does will graze with their young and might wander a little farther away from the buck's control until he realizes it and then he will run like crazy to gather the roaming females until he has his small herd in order.  Under his watchful eye, they will eat anything they can find.  My dear neighbor has lost most of her flower garden to the critters.  However, with this snow now, all of the gardens are gone to frost and the herd will have to be content with the prairie provisions. These two girls who have temporarily escaped the herd, can continue to roam and munch until their "buck" finds them.

Since the picture above was taken about six hours ago, we have had about that many inches of snow.  This is our first storm this year and although it is a wet snow, predictions call for another dry winter.

Hope the weather people are wrong!

Wyoming sky

 First, in the previous post, I mentioned a trip last weekend. With friends along, we drove to Walden Colorado, just across the state line and the purpose of the trip was to purchase lotto tickets.  Of course we had to eat and I mentioned that the place where we ate didn't disappoint us.  But we gals, also found a couple of antique, junk, shops open, much to the chagrin of the guys.  They always expect that we will insist on perusing these places for the perfect "buy".  The architectural pieces above were only $2 each and are the just the right size for a birdhouse. Also I love the patina with the chipped paint.  Hopefully we will be able to start these soon.

We are having the most wonderful fall weather, a bit windy, but it is after all Wyoming.  So yesterday morning this is the scene that greeted me as I watched the sun rise in the east.  The antelope have been absent for a few days, but the herd is back and the cattle have been moved to another pasture and the horses have now replaced them in this pasture. 

This is a difficult post as Coalette, is lying on her back between the keyboard and the monitor, chasing the cursor.

Furbabies

 My two little guys, Roger on the left and Spencer on the right have become such buddies!  I have posted pictures before, but I just couldn't resist this snap above.  And below, this cat of mine is always good for a laugh.  We had to leave her at a kennel in Cheyenne while we were waiting to get in our home and luckily, the people in charge, took excellent care of her.  She even went home with one of them.  We were told that she would "ride" on the broom when they were sweeping.  Anyway, she didn't much care for the 2 hr ride home, but as you can see...she adjusted and the queen marches around in her royal manner sometimes packing a clear plastic bobbin. A bobbin from my sewing machine gives her a constant amount of entertainment.  When she swats it with her paw, it flies through the air and being round, it will roll across our wood floor forever.  It is small enough, but not too small for her to pack it upstairs and back down again. Cheap entertainment. She loves to perch here and sun herself during the day.

This past weekend, my good friend and neighbor and I both scored some architectural pieces at an antique shop about 60 miles away. Our plan is to use them to build birdhouses and I am trying to decide how to proceed with my design.  That will be the next project I hope to post..stay tuned!

Back up and running

OK folks, after a month nearly, I am back up and running.  We have moved and are getting settled in our house, but it has been somewhat of an ordeal.  We had to leave out kitty for a month, we have had a couple of electical glitches, a plumbing issue and since none of the 25 plus windows had coverings which we have ordered and are trickling in.....I could write a book.  We love, love the home and location and will deal with the little things of course as we always do. The view is spectacular and our furkids are in heaven with the antelope and deer and moose and multitude of smells here.

 For our craft retreat at the cabin next summer, this stepping stone above is an example of one of the projects I have been asked to plan.  It is a concrete stepping stone with a moose inset of stained glass.  This particular piece is about 12 years old and is a little stained.  However, it has held up amazingly well! 

 This is an example of paper piecing, which is really a very old technique used by women who sat and hand pieced quilt squares.  By using a paper guide and sewing the fabric to the paper, it allows for an incredibly precise method to assemble a quilt. It is one of the projects I am working on and it will provide a way to use up all of the little scraps of fabric that I cannot discard.

We have had our first guest!  One of my quilting buddies came to spend a couple of days on her way back from a class reunion in Fresno.  We had a great time and I gave her a tour of the communities here.  She is one of my quilting buddies and I am ready to get back into the swing of things.

So above is one corner of my current sewing room.  I am still trying to "find" things, but the light in this room is wonderful! I have had to downsize a little and we have a crawl space full of items that will probably end up in a garage sale, but I find myself going down to retrieve items with which I cannot bare to live without.  My junk is I guess, an extension of my personality.

"Dull women have immaculate sewing rooms."  NOT ME