Rock Gardening

Still Life for Gardening

Yup, these are the essentials for a bit of yardwork. Though it appears to the naked eye that my yard is a stretch of lawn surrounded by rocks, therein lies the problems. WEEDS! In and around and under the rocks. I spent my morning outside pushing rocks around. It was a pretty morning for it and after about 2 hours and the wind kicking up I was done. I did have some great tunes on the CD (no IPOD for me, yet). My good friend JK in Portland sent me a CD for my birthday entitled "Groovy Tunes for Jeri". It's a really cool mix of belly dance music, some malian guitar, what I think is a french song, and some stuff that sounds like european techno. If you are familiar with Khaled, Ali Farka Toure, or Anne Dudley & Jaz Coleman you know what I am talking about. If not check them out, expand your horizons, listen to the world.

Hidden from view and tucked near a post of the deck is this beauty.

Odd place. No idea whence she came. Decided to just let her be. Perhaps more will sprout up.

I am also the proud owner of a new shovel. Gift from MMspouse. It's a fine shovel and should come in handy transplanting a pitiful little rose bush shoved into a corner of the fence with very little light and no attention. We must bring her into the light, bath her in water and see if she will again bloom the way nature intended it. That was my day. Mystery pansies and rock gardening.

UHMM.....Nevermind

Tuesday, 7:30 AM

Tuesday, 6:00 PM

More Signs of Spring

Daffodils abloom in a neighborhood yards.

Zeke seeking a spot in the sun.

Yesterday I had an inspiring visit to Home Depot. I had to pick up a few things whose names I learned...that's the thing about Home Depot...everything has a name....for instance, did you know the little knobs on the toilet seat are called "bumpers". Who knew? I also picked up a "flare cap" for my outdoor faucet so it won't spray water all over the house when I am trying to water. I feel immensely more educated. MMspouse is on a tear to replace our light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs to save a little money on the electrical bill. I was happy to see there are several types to choose from that don't give off that industrial glare and I hear it's considered "green" to do so. Al Gore would be proud though I think he needs to install a few in his home considering the latest "outing" of his electrical bill. Once all supplies were in hand, I sauntered through the place checking out prices and dreaming of upgrades....new bathtub, new vanity, closet doors, etc...happy to note several things I would like to do aren't nearly as expensive as I imagined. Per the usual, I have spent my tax return money in my head long before I have received it.

Once home my favorite site greeted me.

Books in the mail! I love getting books in the mail. I am especially intrigued by the new Mark Haddon, author of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" which I loved for its narrative voice and endearing hero. I read a bit of each and am already intrigued about both.

One of the things I forget about spring is it's changeability. One day it's lovely, warm and comfortable: the next day, windy and cool. I think we get so excited for spring we forget it's unpredictability. Still all the signs are there and it is a welcome relief from the cold and gray of winter.

First Sign of Spring

Lilac buds March 18, 2007

"I'm Your Handyman"

Me and James Taylor working our handyman thing.

Hanging the awesome Galileo Thermometer I got for Christmas in the eaves of my deck. Check.


















Installing a peephole in my front door. Check



















Getting comfortable wielding a power tool: priceless.















A weekend of puttering with visible results. Yea!

No, Really...I'm a Wild Child

One of my little indulgences is to reward myself for going to the grocery store. Having little interest in the actual cooking of food and even less interest in anything that isn't chocolate, I find the grocery store can be a strenuous mental activity in what to put in my basket. Sometimes I can actually fill my cart with things that might be considered healthy. Soy Yogurt! Cheddar Rice cakes! Wow, I'm doing good. This is immediately offset by the presence of Mother's Double Fudge Cookies. I try though...I really do. My motivation and reward for this exercise in food roulette is the purchasing of a magazine at the check out line. Sometimes a fashion magazine, perhaps a Marie Claire. Often times a celebrity rag: US Weekly, In Touch...always good for a few hours of mindless browsing on the couch in the afternoon. Often I will indulge in an ABC soaps magazine since I rarely have the patience to sit and watch anymore I do like to keep up with story lines. So, imagine my surprise when I opted out of the latest Britney/Anna/Brangelina unnamed sources reporting the latest and instead found myself drawn to this:
That bastion of Northwestern Living, the bible of inspiration for all things home and garden.....Sunset Magazine. This new magazine browsing behavior is right up there with salivating over Washer/Dryer combinations in the Sears flyer. Who is this woman? I am so grateful that I lived a wild and crazy urban existence up until I decided to move to the mountains. Otherwise, this gal would scare me!

Wishes Granted

Yes it was my birthday last week. Yes I got my chocolate wishes and cupcake dreams, literally!

MM spouse was smart to get me This. Which I parsed out to myself and was actually able to get a good 7 days out of which is amazing considering I can clean out a box in less than a weekend.

MMniece really took the cake, ha..pun, with this though.


Sprinkles cupcake mix from Here . One of the few really great things that I miss in LA. My office in Beverly Hills was a half block up and a half block over from this store. When it first opened there were lines out the door everyday. I couldn't understand the frenzy other than anything in Bev Hills is reason for a frenzy. However, once the lines quieted down and I took a stroll in and recovered from my price shock (again, Beverly Hills) there was the necessary tasting of several types which I had boxed up and took back to my office where we all had a sample of each of the six I purchased. Pretty damn good cupcakes! Heavenly! It was all I could do to keep from going there. I made it a once a month treat. More than that and I would have required a 12 step meeting. So, imagine my delight when my niece presented me with this. Whee! I get to make my own! I am planning an afternoon date with my sister to cook 'em up.

Serious goodies helped stem the rather funkadelic mental bout of insanity I was having. Primarily this occurred a week prior to my birthday. For whatever reason I decided to descend into a funk of which I haven't seen the likes of in a very long time. Cranky and crabby and feeling off kilter. For some reason this birthday snuck up on me. Mid-life? Perhaps. Strange feelings of life up to this point not being enough. The funny part of it was that even if I had won a Nobel Prize in Literature or invented the cure for AIDS, or discovered water on Jupiter: my mind was having none of it. Nothing would have been enough. That was the jist of it. Once I wrapped my mind around that I decided it was nothing more than the fact that my birthday is an odd number this year, ending in 9. I am not a fan of odd numbered years or the number 9. I am actually very happy with even numbers, I especially like 8, the midpoint of 5 doesn't bother me much. This one just made me cranky. Hence, I am already planning a big trip for next year's even number ending in 0. This should help me beat back the birthday blues should they dare make an appearance again!

Chocolate Wishes and Cupcake dreams

5 Years, 10 Days

Long Ago and Far Away

I doubt she was thrilled when 5 years and 10 days after her birthday I showed up. She will tell you that the reason I am always late on her birthday greetings is because I am already getting caught up in the excitement of my own pending day, proving my own self-absorption. She's right and I'm late again. I got the whole laissez faire attitude growing up from my parents, she still had to deal with discipline and chores and such. It is never fair when the baby of the family is spoiled. Still we share some great childhood memories, the above picture clearly not one of them but I like it just the same. This was a trip to Disneyland. It was hot and I think we were both cranky. Others that we share more fondly, I hope, are spending summer weekends at Clear Lake boating and water skiing and swimming. Ten day house boating excursions on Lake Shasta for more water skiing. A deep love of our Grandma Bea and all things baked in her kitchen. A serious affinity for chocolate. A love of the card game Rummy.

She is responsible for my love of all things Motown and the reason I know the words to every song by the Supremes. She is the reason I still appreciate a really well crafted pop song. She is the reason I love to dance and showed me how very early on. She knows I can sing but will always be the better singer. There's a theory that she is the reason I am left-handed and I do remember she taught me how to write my name. I may be fairly ambidextrous but I think like a lefty which is why often just a look says more and words aren't needed. We lefties share a wave length.

So even though I am late in my birthday salutations she knows that I was and did think of her on her day and sent her a psychic "have a good day".

Happy Birthday, Sis!
xoxox

Monday

Your Emoticon is Cool

You're not feeling particularly up or down, just relaxed and calm. You're ready for whatever is going to happen next!

What Emoticon Best Represents You Right Now?

Explorations

Here at MountainMoxie I like to take the mundane tasks of everyday life and transform them into something fun. This doesn't always work out to be anything at all but yesterday was. I had read at AroundCarson that a previously unpaved section of East Valley road had been paved. East Valley Road is tucked up about a mile east of the highway one would normally take to go south to Minden and Gardnerville. Taking the highway isn't a bad ride by any means but there is so much of this area I am unfamiliar with that I try to take a different route here and there in my wanderings, sometimes getting lost, most often discovering a whole new area I didn't know existed. The first time I tried to find East Valley Road met with disappointing results but I did cruise around on the back roads of the Carson Valley anyway. These little forays into the unknown are usually carried out during my once a month trek to the recycling station located conveniently just outside the dump or "transfer station" as it is called. The station is on the southern most end of Gardnerville, about a 20 minute ride from my house. Yesterday I was successful in finding the East Valley Road turn off from Stephanie Lane. It was surprising to me how many houses are out there in the eastern Carson Valley. You would not realize this from the highway. Old, new, large lots, small lots...a whole entire population I was unaware of. Saw lots of horses. And then I came upon these:

Llamas on East Valley Road, Carson Valley

You can't see very well...but these are Llamas. Fluffy, sweet Llamas...a bunch of them on a farm.

I didn't get much closer due to the whole "private property" sign so you will just have to take my word for it. As I was snapping my pic's I looked down and saw this. It appears to be a little fluff of Llama. It is amazingly soft!

I meandered along East Valley Road until it ended. After a few moments of thought I opted to turn right on Fish Springs Road. Lucky for me this was the right guess as it eventually lead me to a major intersection with the highway. I am sure I could find another way to the station from back in the valley but I think I may have to purchase a map for that. Until then all roads I take hopefully lead to the highway where I can get my bearings again. While riding along checking out the scenery I drove by some land and my head whipped to the side and I thought "are those?"Hmm, what else could they be? So fascinated by the possibility of something so exotic, I drove back that way after my recycling duties were complete. I pulled my car over and got out for a closer look.



Yup, that's a buffalo. What he is doing in the Carson Valley I do not know.

In fact, he has many buffalo friends hanging out with him. Now I am wondering when would buffalo mating season be and how long do buffalos gestate? Maybe I can go back and get pictures of baby buffalos.

So that my friends was my interesting journey through the Carson Valley yesterday. We shall see what new sites my February recycling run brings forth.

State of the Union

So far the best part of Bush's SOTU address was the introduction:

"Madame Speaker"

enough said.

Cold and Clear

Eastern Sierra Nevada Range: Jan. 17, 20007

This is what cold and clear looks like up here in the mountains. Brrrr.....

There seems to be some very cold weather sweeping across the states including a reported 30 degrees in LA during the Golden Globes Awards (yea, America Ferrera). Never saw weather that cold when I was living there. In fact, I did not wear socks, EVER, the entire time I lived there...well, okay, except to hike in my sneakers...but that was it...I lived in flip flops and sandals and such. It must have been rather shocking to have to turn the heater on in the car while stuck on the 405 in rush hour traffic.

Meanwhile, here in the mountains in winter, it is cold like you would expect. I am one who delights in chilly weather so that I can break out the gloves, and scarfs, and hats...I find the fashion part of it fun regardless of the fact that there are really no fashionable coats that will keep you really warm so hats and gloves and scarfs go along way as accessories.

I am spending time tweaking my blog or shall I say re-organizing my blog in accordance with the new Blogger that claims to be easier to maneuver, etc...HA! Still takes time and reading and re-reading what ever it is they are asking you before you get the idea. Though they do offer new help with lists so prepare yourself for ridiculous lists populating the side bar. Hopefully, I can re-educate myself to the use of links in the body of my entries, I seem to have lost that bit of info in the whole brain reorganization that went along with the brutal head cold/sinus thing that plagued me late december/early january. Feeling much better , thanks, but I do seem to have lost a few braincells in the process. Hoping to master the new blogger by the weekend.

Wish me luck or leave helpful comments.

Almost Normal

I think I'm ready to start back to a normal work week. The ridiculous coughing has subsided and I no longer need a box of kleenex within reach every minute. This, of course, all made possible by an outrageously expensive antibiotic for which I paid full price because, ya know, you gotta pay your deductible out of the gate in January again. I'm not as sure that I am ready to start my new year though I did do a bit of cleaning and such this weekend which made me feel accomplished. It is an odd sensation to have a head cold. You can't think. You just can't. I consoled myself with the fact that this was merely a device to clear out all the junk and trivia and unnecessary bits of information that I've stored in my head over the last year so I'd have more memory. Wouldn't it be nice if it did work that way. Still, for days there I didn't have much brain activity whatsoever besides where's the kleenex, where's the juice, chicken soup or beef barley. The day I had an actual clear headed thought I was elated to notice a sign of a return to normal.

Meanwhile, those resolutions. Ha! I don't make resolutions. What I was referring to in my previous post was simply reassessing my goals for the year. Most of those goals this year concern paying the mortgage on time and a very long wish list for my house. That and clearing out stuff I still am coming across which I most certainly can live without. There's another trip to the donation center and once that is done I think I will start my new year.

In other news, my little blog got herself a mention in the Carson Times this past week. Little bit of a thrill there.

There's also an article in the current Sports Illustrated about a college basketball player, Nick Fazekas, who plays for the UNR Wolfpack.

While I go back to my dashboard and figure out how to add links for the two items above...I'll leave you with a photo I wanted to put up for you in 2006 and ran out of time....

1st Snow of the Season, Dec. 17, 2006 from my front porch

New Year

Welcome to 2007 (yes I am a bit behind date wise)

Happy New Year (okay, mine....not starting so great)

Thank you for checking in on me ( I have just finished off yet another box of kleenex and I am not happy about it.)

In light of the current head cold, feel like crap, predicament I am in I have decided to restart my new year sometime next month. Resolutions forthcoming.

More later

Over the Meadow

and through the woods.....

Best holiday song: Nat King Cole "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire....."

Best holiday treat: See's Candy and Russian tea cookies

Best Seasonal Delight: Family, Friends, Festivity

Wishing you a lovely holiday and an inspired New Year.

XOXO

MountainMoxie

In Other News

One of the advantages of my current technical aggravations is the other stuff I have gotten done in lieu of actually going into the office tearing apart the current router and re-installing the old one that was much faster and has a reset button which I didn't think to use at the time but I am all over it now except for the part where I actually go do what needs to be done. I did, however, install the Google Accelerator and it seems to have helped. But I digress ...

I have been able to get some things done that I can share with you. Like Gromit, I am a knitter and tis the season for knitting. Unlike Gromit, I do not knit in bed, I knit on the sofa while watching TV and feel slightly less like a couch potato because I am doing something else while I watch "The Closer" or "Grey's Anatomy" or even "That Girl" which was running on TVLand all last weekend. That's right. I am creating! My current project is my secret santa gift for a co-worker. I finished it this weekend so it now has fringe on it and I am quite fond of it which is always a good sign for gift giving. There are several other projects in the works and finished but I dare not publish them here for fear of ruining someone's suprise.

Behold the yummy scarf!
Imagine fringe!

I have also had time to master this. My newest acquisition or shall I say my most recent purchase that was purely impulsive and designed to make me feel good.
I wouldn't actually consider myself a gal who would opt for the pink phone. I am more of a silver type gal. The silver was available but I actually was hoping for a black one (hello, indecisive) and they didn't have a black one so I chose the pink. Mostly because I haven't seen many pink ones. Did I mention this was an impulsive buy? Still, I am quite happy with my pink Razor that plays some sort of jazzy, breezy song when it rings. It did take a bit of sit down time to learn how to use and program it. I won't even go into the howls of protest this particular phone created with my spouse, let's just say that in the end he got the phone he wanted and I kept my pink Razor.

My reading time has certainly increased while I've been offline. Winter and early darkness and re-runs inspire me to curl up with a book as well. Last night I was reading a short story in Augusten Burroughs "Possible Side Effects" that I just received from my bookclub. I love getting books in the mail! He is writing about his french bulldog puppy and house-training difficulties and using a squirt gun method that caused a laugh out loud funny -spit water out of the mouth -full blown guffaw! I considered just stopping there for the evening because seriously how could you top that? Hilarious. I highly recommend it. I read Jodi Picoult's "Vanishing Acts" which I liked. I have not read anything by her before and this was a good choice. There is some really gripping and gritty stories relating to what it is like to do jail time that I found fascinating. Gang affiliations and drugs and all the other stuff you hear about. Who hasn't wondered or shuttered when they thought about what that must be like. She gives a good rounded picture of that while telling the other parts of the story, each from one of four main characters viewpoint. I read "But Inside I Am Screaming" by Elizabeth Flock. Interesting story of a woman's nervous breakdown yet I couldn't help thinking "Girl Interrupted" redux or maybe I should re-read "The Bell Jar".

I finished "The Book Thief" which I loved. Difficult to imagine a book about Germany, the persecution of jews, World War 2, etc...being lovable but the story was so sweet and lovely, the principle characters ordinary yet extraordinary in an abysmal time. All narrated by death in a form that was new and fresh, funny and wise, bittersweet and sad. I don't know how else to describe it. Read it. Very different. Although I had "The Historian" up on my site for a long time I am actually saving it for the deepest, coldest part of winter. Having started it and reading several chapters I knew this was a book that required the correct atmosphere...therefore, it sits waiting for late January/early February when a good, long book is just the thing to counter the seemingly endless feeling of winter.

Here in Carson City we got our Trader Joe's. Very Exciting. I told myself I wouldn't go on the day of the grand opening but I couldn't not go. Such is my enthusiasm for this store and its offerings. Scott at Around Carson was there earlier in the afternoon and had his camera at the ready.

We are having our first real snow today. Stick to the ground stuff that is covering everything in that pristine, glistening light. I still get excited about the snow here and I am more than happy to say, ya know, there's just nothing I need to do but hang out and get some things done at home.

Technical Difficulties

Yup...Yup...pulling my hair out...well not really but you know the feeling. Router malfunctions and technical support and still my DSL moves slower than dial up...so back to the store...return new router, try to resuscitate previous router...wonder why this is so hard...ha...think I know more than I do...this is really cutting into my seasonal shopping online!

Thankful

For family,
for friends,
for love,
for health,
for home,
for work,
for soaring mountains,
for clean crisp air,
for black cats,
for kiddles,
for music,
for books,
for simple things,
for every day,
I am thankful.

Seeing Red

Yes, I did. Stood in line for an hour for the honor. Consoled myself with thoughts of people around the world who aren't allowed the priviledge and it is a big one, right up there with freedom of speech.

Still, Nevada choose red as it's favorite color for the most part. I can't help but see results and think....ahhh....yawn...business as usual...good ole boys network wins again. Heartened by the fact Congress may go democratic and that Nancy Pelosi could be the first female speaker of the house. Puzzled by the fact that California re-elected the governator. Hoping any change can speed up an end to the war in Iraq and bring our boys home.