Back At Home

We've returned home after a week in Nevada, visiting our daughter and son-in-law. It was a good visit and we had lots of fun, good food to eat, and fun seeing all the animals at her ranch. We went to one casino, and I'll just say this: If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all! Fortunately, I know that going in, so I'm a very cautious gambler! I think I bet a whole $2! Last of the big spenders, huh? All 4 of us had a good time playing the slot machines, for under $10 total!

This picture up above is the aspen trees in the eastern Sierras in Nevada. The picture just doesn't do them justice - the trees were stunning, at the peak of their color and glowing in the sunlight. The weather was warm and dry and sunny and both DH and I enjoyed it!

Since we got home, it has been raining almost all of the time. The kitties are very glad to be home after a week at the kennel. They can't get enough love and attention at the moment, although I'm sure that won't last much longer! Now it's back to laundry, paying bills and the "catch-up" after a week away.

I've included some pictures from our trip, mostly of the animals at the ranch.

This is the bantam rooster, who was practicing his soprano crowing almost all of the time. You can see a little bit of the side of the strawberry roan horse on the right side of the picture. DD has 3 horses in her corral, but they actually belong to a neighbor. She gets to enjoy the horses, but doesn't have to support them. Best of both worlds, she says!

These are some of the (14?) chickens that DD has. These are two roosters in the back: on the left is the Frizzle and on the right is the Barred Rock, who looks just like Bob at Front Porch Indiana. DD and I both kept calling him Bob, although that's not his name. The Leghorn hen is in the front. (I hope I have all this correct!) You can see all the leaves from the cottonwood trees had fallen, without even turning color. They were everywhere on the property, and it was kind of like surfing to walk on them.

Here is Hazel, the Nubian goat. She's a real sweetie. Very tame and gentle. I got to hand-feed her. I've never "met" a goat before. I'm sorry this isn't a better picture. She didn't want to look at the camera. She thought all those cottonwood leaves were yummy, just like potato chips!

These are the 2 billy goats (or bucks). They're not as sweet as the doe, but still very tame and well-mannered for boy goats.

Here are some of the chickens in the driveway. They were following DH as he was taking photos.

This is Zany, the turkey that DD raised from a baby. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us. She suffered a dog bite on Sunday and succumbed to the injury by Wednesday. It was very sad. I'll miss the stories DD told me about her. Zany was quite a character. She survived her first Thanksgiving by befriending a pregnant horse next door. The neighbor bought DD an organic turkey for the big day so that she wouldn't kill the turkey. He didn't want his horse upset. We thought she was a pretty smart turkey!

These are the eastern Sierras in California. This was taken about 20 minutes from DD's house and at about 9,000 foot elevation. That means these peaks are probably about 12,000 to 15,000 foot elevation. And that's not very much snow on them for this time of year. They've been having a drought for 3 years now.

And, I actually did get a little quilting/sewing in while visiting. I ended up sewing down the bindings on two little wallhangings I had sent to DD about 2 years ago. I'd sewn the binding on the front, but not on the back. Well, DD never got around to sewing them down either, so I worked on them while I was there. You'll recognize this one. It was the 2nd Boo! wallhanging I made. It's a slightly different version than the one I own (see previous post).

I just did a crazy wandering quilting in the border, with a variegated thread. I'm not entirely pleased with it, but it's finished, and that's good!

I'll show the other wallhanging later, as it's a Christmas one.

Now, I just have to catch up on my blog reading and commenting. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone's been doing while I was away!