Hunting

We went on a week long hunting trip to Wyoming. I can see why people love Fall so much. It was gorgeous. Though I'd share some highlights:

I just adore this one. Two little boys after several hours cooped up in the pickup.

A really great read. Inspiring. And the salt flats....great terrain to read while driving through.

Big Wonderful Wyoming. Really can't say more.

Within minutes of arriving in the area my husband had deer and antelop tags for. Harbinger of a good hunt!

My husband, just after killing his first deer. It was so good to see him happy and at home.

The deer (and antlope - we got 2 of each) were so beautiful. We are so greatful to them for the food they will provide and for the wonderful lessons they allowed us to teach our boys.

This brought back some memories! Remember your first time "driving"? I can't believe my baby is so big...

Willie, getting a piggie back ride from dad up a hill, in pursuit of the second antelope.

Beautiful campsite, beautiful family, beautiful food, and beautiful memories. And a shot or two of whiskey!

Post hunt visit to Grandma's ranch!

A new rope swing and a little brother doing his best to help his big brother out with a push.



Farmer Dylan

A beautiful Fall day today - a little bit warm, but turning all orangey and cooler in the evening. Baked a pumpkin casserole then ignored the dirty house and went outside for some evening air. We harvested our first of four potato plants,

and I stirred up my compost pile. We've been piling it up for like three years now, but with it being so dang dry here I just sort of assumed nothing was happening with it. I kept putting off mixing it because I didn't want to be dissapointed when I saw what would surely be all the scraps of the previous couple of years, dried and hardened into dessicated forms of their previous selves, with no sign of decomposition. Oh me of little faith! Look what I've got!:

Dark, crumbly, delicious smelling compost!! I startled some mice out of a home they apparently have set up at the bottom of the bin - is this a bad sign? I just can't imagine it is, what with how beautifully rich the compost is looking. There's nowhere near enough to use on our vegetable garden, so I'll have to decide if I'm going to keep growing the pile, or share this yummy stuff with the perennial beds.

It was such a gorgeous evening I had to snap a few pics just to remind me of why people love Fall, and why I might like it quite a bit as well. That teeny tiny moon was just beautiful.



Willie caught me taking pictures of him riding his "Harley" back and forth on the patio like a mad man and demanded I take a few more, even though it was really too dark. But I obliged him as I am trying not to argue over the small stuff anymore, and he was really excited about it:

My camera really wasn't having it. But you get the picture, right? I wish I could bottle that enthusiasm.

Amazing People I Know and Their Treehouse Village

A couple of days I posted about my amazing online friend Monica and her pottery, and today I'm posting about my friends Matt and Erica and their Treehouse Village in Costa Rica - in my life I have met some incredibly wonderful and interesting people who are doing incredibly interesting and inspiring things in the world and these two certainly stand out in that crowd!!! I won't go on and on in my own attempt to describe their project, as I think their website and the piece that aired on ABC news (!!!) this morning have it covered:

Farmama Curtains!

I finally got to work on them this weekend! Inspired by Farmama's blog post from a while back, they aren't as pretty as hers, but they are pretty. I think I got conned on ebay b/c I'm pretty sure these are not handmade doilies. But oh well. On the next panel I am using some that definitely are. I figured out a trick to join the pieces so that the front and back of the seam are pretty. I'm pretty proud of myself. Im certain its an established technique, but I went about it the hard way and figured it out for myself instead of googling it. I don't know why but I just hate reading instructions! Argh!



Did you get a load of the weather we got? Last week in the 90s, this weekend, 60s and the rain came down. Got my laundry wet:

Got my goats wet:

But, looks like I get to start posting pictures of pretty skies again, so that's good:

Next time I'll try to go outside to get it heh heh.

Phantom Friends & Their Beautiful Pots

My mom came to visit a couple of weeks ago. She accused me of being addicted to the internet and the "phantoms" I talk to on here. Whether she's correct about the addiction part or not is up for debate. I certainly do spend a lot of time on the internet anymore. I certainly think about what I'm missing when Im not on it. I'd certainly be very sad if I ever lost access to it. Meh, maybe addiction is somewhat accurate. Whatevs. I don't have an iphone or anything so I have to actually be at home or at work and in front of a computer to be on the internet, so by virtue of this alone, I think I'm doing better than many in maintainting contact with the real world and the real people in it.

As far as my "phantom" friends, I think my mom is just wrong. I understand where she's coming from though. They are people that have no physical presence in my life. I've met them on forums and through blogs, I've seen pictures of them and their children, I know their victories and their defeats, yet I've never shared their air. To my mom, that means they are phantoms. But what she doesn't realize, and what I never realized until I got a job that allowed me more reliable internet access in order to register on a forum, is that you can actually become very close to people without sharing their air. I know their thoughts - in fact I think I know more about them than most of their IRL (in real life for you non-forum folks) friends. I can guarantee they know more about me!

Anyway, all this to set the scene for how exciting it was to have one of my phantom friends spring to life courtesy of the US mail, in the form of her very real, very touchable, and infinitely beautiful pottery. This Summer, during my blogging hiatus, I sent her diapers. She sent me this:

Monica Pharr

She is incredible. And totally not a ghost. AND, she has an etsy shop - here

I'm pretty sure that she prefers paypal to diapers though...unless you are HER phantom friend. :-)