New Visitor

 The wind was blowing a pretty good lick Monday night (April 1). It was late - after 9. DH was asleep and I was reading in bed. I heard the horses whinnying and I heard something unusual in their tone. I worried that maybe one of them was caught in the fence or injured in some way so I slipped on my barn shoes, grabbed a flashlight and wandered outside to investigate. I didn't see any reason to wake DH unless I found something amiss, so I tentatively wandered around in my jammies for probably 20 minutes. The horses were jittery and nervous and continuing to whinny, but they weren't hurt so I headed back to the house and listened a while longer from the deck. Eventually, they settled down and I curled up to sleep.

The next morning, I shared my night-time walk-about with DH, but everything seemed normal. He saddled up to put a few miles on his young horse and when he came back, he showed me this

He'd seen tracks right below the house so the horses' reactions were absolutely understandable. From the size of the tracks, he was a pretty good-sized mountain lion. I'll admit that I felt like something was up while I was out there, but once I saw the photo, I shivered, thinking about my proximity to Sir Lion the night before. I'm glad he chose to move on and not engage with the crazy lady wandering around in her jammies in the middle of the night.

After the Snow

 Sunday morning we were greeted with blue skies and sunshine

Our high was 45 and the snow was melting quickly. Icicles were drip, drip  dripping and the snow was beginning to slide off of the roof.

When I went out to the shop to clean out the chicks' trough, I couldn't resist building a quick snowman

He's a little wonky, and not very big, but I was in a bit of a rush.

DH had ordered bees and he had gone to town to pick them up and he was just getting back. I quickly moved  him into a bit of shade

Before I trotted inside to mix up food for the bees

And we went down to get them settled into their new home

It'll warm up nicely again this week so hopefully they'll begin to explore and find their new mountain home to their liking

Just like we have

April Snow

Friday morning the mountain was white and on Saturday morning the snow had moved down to us

I love the snow, but then again, I don't live where it hangs around for 4 or 5 months.

We've always had to get out in it because you can't manage a ranch from inside. There was always ice to break (this was 2015 - on DH's birthday)

And livestock to feed

Ranching in the desert, you're always thankful for any moisture and  since we no longer have 128,000 acres to traverse and tend to, we were able to soak in the magic of snow in the mountains...even if the mountains are hidden at the moment.

I put on a pot of Hambuger Vegetable Soup   

                                 

And Skeet and I ventured out to chore

Checked in on the baby chicks...they are growing so fast. DH had installed a little roost for them.

While he worked in the shop on the hay fork he's building

And I puttered in my sewing room 

And then I took some time to read the Quiltfolk issue on New Mexico. I bought it for myself in January and hadn't even peeked at it until now

It was a good day to do that. We ended up with 8"

And then we ventured back out to tend to evening chores...someone was very eager to do so...he adores the snow

It was a very good day!

What's Keeping Us Busy

 A few weeks ago the skid steer had a little tussle with the wind

When DH stepped out, the wind caught the door, and slammed it into some pipe. Thankfully, our boy or DH were not hurt, but as you can see from that photo, the glass just shattered into a million pieces.

A new windshield was ordered and we drove 2 1/2 hours south to pick it up when it arrived. Skeet is always on hand to inspect any new packages.

I was surprised at how many parts there were and all those pieces of glass had to be cleaned out of everything.

I helped DH put everything back together the next afternoon

And we were soon back in business.

And on to the next project

When we moved here 7 months ago, we put up a temporary electric fence around headquarters and now we're beginning to build a permanent fence.

Building all the H braces takes time

And it'll be a while before we'll be ready to string the wire

But we're in no hurry

It's very rewarding to work together and the view's pretty hard to beat too

 

Don't Make Me Go to Town

 Yesterday was a town day. DH and I both had so much to do that we took separate rigs and met up for lunch. Divide and conquer was the theme of the day.

It was horribly windy, but we both crossed everything off of our lists. We're gearing up for a weather week. Mother nature is going to give us quite the variety this week.

Around here, they close roads when the wind gets ferocious due to lack of visibility with all the dirt in the air so then you worry about being able to get home.

I do not enjoy running errands. It's a fact of life and everyone has to do it, but we are pretty remote so running to town for a gallon of milk isn't really feasible. 

 So, when I DO go, the list is long and it takes the entire day. I try to do a grocery store pick up for most things and that helps, but its hard to gauge the time slot and I still go in to pick out my produce and meat.

Yesterday's stops included 2 grocery stores, Sam's, the post office, the health insurance company, the bank, the CPA, Walgreens, Hobby Lobby (to return some elastic), Home Depot, a furniture store (to order a new bed for the guest room), a 2nd furniture store (to look for a lamp),

and the quilt shop. Oh, and lunch with DH... 🥰 the best part of the day along with coming home.

I hadn't been in the quilt shop in over a year, but I had a gift certificate that a friend had given me when I shared some fabric with her. Such a thoughtful and generous gift from a thoughtful and generous friend. I didn't need anything, but it was about to expire. 

When you factor in the 2 hour driving time (to town and back), all those stops, unloading the pickup,  and putting everything away, town days just wear me out. 

"Don't make me go to town" is a very popular tagline in our home. Years ago, my mom found a book with that title and sent it to me.  I didn't write it, but that would be the title of my autobiography, if I wrote one. 😂

Under the Needle: March

 Between having a houseful for a week, a 2nd batch of overnight company, spending 4 full days immersed in taxes, and ongoing outdoor projects, I was surprised at the progress I was able to make on the sewing front this month.

I cut everything out for this Farmhouse quilt at the beginning of the month, got it pieced and binding made - the blocks are big and it didn't take long to put together

I pieced this little quilt I am calling Blustery Day and will hand it off to Jackie later this week.

And I cut and pieced this Smokey the Bear donation quilt

I patched a hole and replaced the binding on this quilt I had made for our boy in 2008

This Animal Crackers quilt was finished

As was this Baby Dinosaur quilt

These monthly posts keep me focused and that helps me move projects forward. Without them, I'm fairly certain I wouldn't get as much accomplished. You would think there would be a noticeable dent in my stash because I'm not bringing new fabric home, but thus far, that hasn't been the case, but I did empty 2 project bins and have crossed off 2 other quilts that are on my list I made in January. Tomorrow I'll start binding my next finish. 😉

Baby Dinosaur Quilt

I don't remember where I picked this print up, but it didn't have any company name on the selvedge so it was probably from Walmart or Hobby Lobby years ago. I thought the colors were great and who doesn't love cheeky baby dinosaurs. 😁 

It was easy to pull coordinating fabrics from my stash. This is my preferred design to highlight a fun focus fabric. There is no pattern; its one I made up 6 or 7 years ago.

This is an old UFO that's been hibernating in the back of the closet for 5 or 6 years. All it lacked was the binding.

The backing was the leftovers from a backing of a quilt I made our girl 12 years ago...it was just the perfect size for this 48" x 48" quilt

The orange binding came from my stash too. 

It feels good to be using things I have.

It's hard to see the quilting, but you can see the fun design Sandy stitched across it best in this photo

I need to stock up on some baby boy quilts and I think this one will be a great addition

Alycia invited me to her Friday Finish Party so I linked up and look forward to the inspiration and seeing what others are up to.

Alycia