Change of Plans

 Our highs have been in the 80's and 90's, but on Sunday night our first winter storm blew in and we hit our Monday high of 38° at 1 a.m. The temps dropped from there with wind, rain, sleet, snow, and ice. I know it's not a big deal for a lot of ya'll, but we don't see this very often here in the desert and certainly not from one day to the next in October. 

Even the Bird of Paradise blooms in the chicken yard were caught off guard:

It was not a fun day at the sale barn. We do have an old heater mounted on the wall behind us, but we have open alleys on either side of us where the cattle come through the ring. I'm not complaining though because I'm not one of the many folks working outside horseback, but the ice was pretty thick when I headed home that night:

We had planned on working the Corrientes this week, but this storm was forecasted to hang around through Wednesday so we pushed things back a week. I had already made my big grocery run on Saturday so I'll just need to pick up produce later. Weather dictates a lot of what we do around here, but it doesn't keep us shut up in the house. Critters need tending to no matter the weather. Often it's tending to water and it takes a lot of time to keep that up for 1200 hd of cattle on 128,000 acres. It was 20° when DH dusted off his winter duds, bundled up and headed out on Tuesday morning

 but not much snow had accumulated:

I headed the other direction to tend to the chickens:

I spent all of Tuesday morning in the kitchen. The first snowy day calls for a double batch of gingersnaps after breakfast because they are DH's favorites:

And a big bowl of green chile stew for dinner:

That left me with leftovers and time to soak up the first snow on Wednesday:

Skeet soaked it all up too:

Such a good reminder to find the joy in each day:

He's good at that:

                                     

This is the first moisture we've had since Spring:

Time to thaw out, but still on the job and keeping a watchful eye out for rascally intruders:

Questions From Readers

 I want to take  just a minute today to answer a few questions from from folks who have left questions in comments on various posts. 

One commenter asked that I post a picture of the wool quilt I made DH 5 years ago. I wanted to comment to her directly, but she posted anonymously and I had no way to reply so I hope she will see this here. I've had multiple questions from others lately, but no-one is leaving me a way to contact them so if you DO have a question, please leave me an email so that I can get back with you - thanks so much!

As for the wool quilt, if folks have seen it on Pinterest, that link takes you directly to the post about the quilt, but I'll link it here as well. 

DH's Wool Quilt

It's just a simple patchwork quilt, but it's exactly the perfect quilt for him and our low is forecasted to be 20 tonight so it will definitely be in use :

Another question I've had a lot is about this pattern:

I finished this in 2013 and I'm sorry to say, I no longer have it so I am unable to help those of you who have requested I share the pattern. I don't know how that would work when it comes to copywrite issues if I DID have it, but when I still had it, I DID make copies and send it to numerous folks who requested it because it seemed to no longer be available and my attempts to contact the designer have gone unheeded.

And here's another pattern I have had multiple requests for

 I no longer have this pattern either- I'm sorry. I did cut out another set of the ponies for a little boy version, but it's still in pieces. Again, I'm posting here because I have no other way to contact those of you that comment anonymously and I don't want ya'll to think I'm ignoring you. If you'll leave me an email or email me directly, I'll do my best to help and if I ever stumble across these patterns, I'll let you know. There seems to  be an awful lot of interest in them.

Last Weekend

 DH had an elk hunt this past weekend. He really enjoys hunting and we always look forward to adding to our winter meat supply, but it's like passing an act of Congress for him to get away and this time of the year is especially difficult and he's already plumb wore out. 

We're in the middle of our fall Cow Works. We just finished most of the beef cattle - still have some in December and we'll be working the Corrientes next week. The weaned calves have been turned out to pasture, but the pasture conditions are not conducive to optimum grazing conditions so DH hauled 7 bales of hay out the day he left:

68° made for the prettiest day even though we're desperate for rain:

I walked out about 1/4 of a mile to get gates for him:

Dinner is served...all you can eat...buffet style:

DH is not content with an easy hunt.  His preference is to pack a camp on horseback and stay in a spot where few others will work to get to. However, his Dad, at 83, no longer cares to do that and we are just thankful that he is still able to saddle up and ride through rough country and that they are able to spend this time together. 

So a few days before he left, he shod 3 horses:

Skeet was none too happy to see DH loading horses in the trailer and leaving out - he was right on his heels all day:

And yes, for those of you that have asked, Skeet was finally de-skunked. I used a mixture of Dawn-Hydrogen Peroxide-Baking Soda. This was not the first time he's tried to make friends with a skunk and that combination does the trick.

I was left with chore duty:

DH took 3 horses to the mountains so I had 8 for breakfast

As well as the beef and a few odds and ends:

Skeet and I loaded up in the mornings

 to check the pressure pump a few miles from the house:

Water levels in storage tanks

:

Check some waters:

Another stop:

to switch a well so that it would send water north:

turn off a pump

And check on the calves

I just prayed that nothing would go amiss while DH was away because I'm no electrician or plumber and I didn't want to have to call him back if problems arose. He's been burning the candle at both ends lately.

The other day I said, "Can I ask you a question"?

He replied, "Don't make it a hard one". LOL 

When I let the chickens out in the mornings, they make a beeline for the pens. This poor girl's looking pretty ragged:

She's been nearly naked all summer. I've had chickens molt on occasion, but I've never had one go to this extreme, but looks like she's finally growing a few feathers back which is a good thing because she's going to be thankful for those as winter approaches. We're expecting our first freeze next week.

 

DH's hunt was a 5 day hunt, but he left on Friday evening and was back home by 9:30 Sunday morning. He saw elk on Saturday, but didn't bring one home.  He is just being pulled in too many other directions right now and figured he'd just come home. We're always happier when he's home, but I was also hoping he'd get a chance to relax and unwind. I told DH he didn't need to hurry back - Skeet had things under control and took good care of me while he was away:

Buckaroo Cross Quilt

 I've had these fabrics for quite a few years. I'm pretty sure I bought them online at some point and 2 years ago I decided it was time to get them into a quilt. 

I settled on a Plus or Cross quilt because I've never seen one I didn't like. I paired it with this wood fabric from my stash 

thinking it'd make the crosses look like they were hanging on a barn wall:

I cut 5 squares for each cross

I used this dark brown print 

and pieced 3 crosses for the back:

I didn't have any more of the wood print so I just pulled something close from my stash for the binding and Jackie quilted these fun stars with a swirl in the center across it:

I didn't use a pattern - just looked at a lot of plus quilts on Pinterest:

It's  58"x62" 

and Skeet has given his seal of approval even though he's a tad sad because DH left without him:

Diamond Dash Quilt Finish

 Ya'll keep wondering how I get so much done, but I think there's a discrepancy between real-time and blog-time. It only looks like a lot when you write it down and read it. It seems like I'm showing a lot of finished quilts lately, but they've been in the works for years. I actually haven't even set foot in my sewing room in almost a month, but chances are good that I'll get to sew today. DH left before 3 this morning and I've got leftovers in the fridge. Plus, the wind is absolutely HOWLING. There is dirt in the air - even in this old ranch house so cleaning house is out of the question, but it's still a good 3 hours until daylight so hope springs eternal that it'll calm down as the morning dawns.

So, the quilt I'm sharing today was started way back in 2015 

                                          

I was looking to use an old Layer Cake and I like the fact that this pattern showcases the pretty prints in a collection.

                                      

 It's a Missouri Star design and you can find the tutorial here

                                         Diamond Dash

I pieced it in December of 2015 according to notes scribbled in my project notebook, but it looks like I never blogged about it so there are no in-progress photos and I finally finished binding it last week. The fabric collection is called Summer House - bright, pretty prints:

Jackie used a pear green thread and a pantograph called Fresco Feather that shows up beautifully on the pink dot backing I pulled from my stash

                                                

This made a 57" x 72" quilt and I hope it brings joy in it's new home:

Somehow, this got pushed back, but after 5 years, it finally gets it's day in the sun