Blog Slacker

(Hand slap) I have been such a "blog slacker" these past few weeks...and probably will be in the weeks to come with the holidays upon us! Already my head is spinning (not in an Exorcist kind of way) from the thought of so many activities and things to do before Thanksgiving and Christmas! So, once again I will let pictures fill in the gaps.

The last time I posted, I shared Ayla's 3 month photo shoot. Below you will find my other three kidlets' latest photos. Natalie is 5, Parker is 3 and Sawyer is almost 6 months old. I must say, I believe all four of my grands are just beautiful!

NatalieParker - a little stinker?
Sawyer

And then there was Halloween - we had our annual Fall Festival at church. This year's theme was Characters from the 70's, which was great fun! We had a great variety of characters and a great turn out! Wish I had room for all the pics!

Here is a sample:

Little Miss Ayla's flower costume...though not a "Flower Child".

Buddy and I have been on a few adventures in the past couple of weeks...looking for pretty Fall colors. It's been so dry here, we have mostly browns. :-( But we have still found plenty of fun things to photograph. It's nice just to be out in the nice cool weather.

Mr. Photogenic

Every year as the grass begins to turn after the frost, it transforms the yard into this intricate maze of unusual patterns. It's a very unique sight, especially from the upstairs balcony where you can view the entire yard. This is a close-up of our grass art. Pretty isn't it? In another week all of the green will be gone and the yard will become a brown, brittle minefield of annoying bits and pieces...that get stuck in Buddy's hair...especially when he decides to roll around in it...which is quite often...then it takes forever to pick it out...sometimes requiring a bath...which in the winter can dry out his skin...making him itch really badly...blah, blah, blah.

Grass Art

It finally rained last week - less than 1/2 inch, but at least the earth got a nice refreshing drink! Every little bit certainly helps. We only need about 14 more inches to fill the ponds and streams back to normal.

Just After the Rain

Looking Through the Droplets

Today's ride-about resulted in finding this! It looks like there is a little color in them thar hills after all!

A Touch of Red

There you have it - you are now up to date. Oh, I have more, but these are the high points and you really don't want to hear about the low ones do you?

Until next time - have a blessed Fall and start working on your list of things that you are thankful for! I know I will.

Sunshine/Fall Festival/The Twilight Zone

Wednesday was the first day in quite some time without rain. Actually, it was a beautiful day. Knowing Thursday and Friday were expected to bring more rain, Buddy and I took advantage of the nice break and rode all over the "saturated" ranch, taking in the Fall beauty and fresh air.

What is this???? The sun is trying to shine????

It was a very peaceful afternoon...until I had to rush around to get ready for our church Fall Festival. The theme was cartoon characters. I was working the Cake Walk with the "Three Stooges", so I decided to be the Mad Scientist from the episode where he was looking for a brain. That is, until Stuart informed Sarah that he needed a costume. So, Stuart became the Mad Scientist and I quickly threw together the "Femme Fatale" the Stooges were always fighting over. However, as you can see, I think I ended up looking like Bonnie without Clyde.
(cue the music)

"You are traveling to a land that is different, bizarre, unexplainable...a place between science and

theory. It is a wondrous land whose boundaries lie between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. You are moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You are about to enter...The Twilight Zone."

As promised, Thursday indeed brought more rain and this is when the journey into"The Twilight Zone" began. This valley we live in is famous for brutal, straight line, west winds...so much so, we have trees that have forever leaned/grown eastward from the relentless pounding of the west winds. Strangely, I took this picture less than a week ago.We fight a constant battle of "staking down" all the trees around the house to keep them upright. Some of the trees have been staked for 3 years. This land is also famous for "dry" lightning strikes and has often been called - Tornado Alley. We've witnessed some very strange weather situations up here, and Thursday rated right up there at the top!

The early morning began as a drizzly, rainy old day...mild wind out of the west, where the radar indicated the front to be coming from. Mid-morning from out of nowhere, a furious "east" wind blew up, lasted less than a minute, then stopped dead still - as suddenly as it had begun.

VOILA! We had a straight tree for about 30 minutes!

This incredible battle of the East vs. West winds and rain lasted most of the afternoon. Dark, swirling clouds were moving in from both directions...colliding and mingling, threatening to create severe weather any minute. The torrential downpours would blow from the east, then suddenly switch and blow from the west. My poor trees were so confused! So was I! Words really can't describe what the weather was like - it was just so bizarre. Several times the water in the pool looked like a swirling mass of confusion...unable to determine which way to flow.

There were brief periods of quiet, with no rain, which gave me opportunities throughout the day and evening to waste water out of the overflowing pool and scoop out gallons of leaves. The skimmer baskets were full of leaves, frogs, moles and one giant tarantula! Sarah was here when we discovered that evil creature! He was saturated and we thought perhaps half-drowned, so we put him in a "critter box" I keep on hand, just for these special moments.

This morning he was Mr. Cranky Pants. So,I let him go.

As of today, we are inching our way toward breaking the 1882 rainfall record in a one year period. If my Dad was still alive he would find this fascinating, as he was the ultimate "weather guru." If you wanted to know what to expect of the weather - he would always know. He could out predict even the best of weathermen and meteorologists all across the state. Sarah used to be a "storm chicken" and would always call her Grandad for advice on whether or not to expect severe weather. Truth be told, I think she wishes she could still consult with him. He was known to frequently contradict the weathermen. Weather Forecast: Severe thunderstorms, at times very heavy winds and damaging hail. Sarah calls - "Grandad, will there be bad storms tonight?" Grandad - "Nah...it's going to miss us. We might get a little rain and some wind, but nothing severe." He was right 98% of the time. Daddy was quite fascinated by the weather. He was also one of those I'll-stand-outside-and-watch-the-tornado-go-by kind of men. I have to admit, I am my father's daughter. I do the same thing. Yesterday was pretty freaky and I enjoyed every minute of watching the weirdness unfold...wishing Daddy was here to watch it with me.