November 30, 2007

Well, November is heading out with a whimper. It's a gray overcast day - spitting rain. Not a lot so far - just enough to spot up the car and make the "dust" into "mud." Looking out the back bedroom window, though, the tangerines look bright and smiley. In Arizona, Christmas and Citrus go together! Ha!

November 29, 2007

Well, it's cooling down and tomorrow the forecast is for rain, so today I changed the bed and put on my soooo soft Laura Ashley flannel sheets! Ummmm...

Close up of their soft flowery goodness.

And THIS is the beautiful votive candle holder that Desert Songbird gave me for my birthday. Clean sheets and a scented candle - ummmm...

November 28, 2007

I'm a slug. I've been sitting in bed all morning. Originally, I was scheduled to drive to New Mexico today to work but my schedule got changed and I won't be leaving until Sunday. So, here I am being a complete potato. I know I should go for a walk. I know I should work in the garden. I know there are a dozen other things I should be doing and yet I'm in that funny retrospective place that tends to keep me sitting with my heating pad and musing about life.

I'm fortunate I have this luxury, actually. I know many, many people do not. So, I'll finish out my day of sloth and prepare myself mentally to "git after it" tomorrow. In the meantime, I stuck my head out the front door and took this photo of some pine cones I have sitting in a pot on my front porch. What can I say: I have a thing about pine cones. They're amazing plant structures.

November 27, 2007

I've started putting out some of my Christmas decorations, although I'm not going for the full on house covered in lights this year. This is one of my favorites: it's a piece of slate with the lovely snow people painted on. Denise (next door) gave it to me one year, and I just love it.

November 24, 2007

When you think of cotton, if you're like most people you probably conjure visions of "Gone With the Wind" and the deep South. Amazingly, however, we grow a lot of cotton in Arizona. (It's True!) I took this photo west of Phoenix on the way home from Thanksgiving dinner.

These bolls are nearly ready to be picked. After harvesting the cotton will be taken to a gin where the seed will be separated from the cotton and the cotton will then go to a compress to be bailed.

This is is some cotton that was starting to be blown about by the wind. I think it's a beautiful plant.

November 23, 2007

Today, Steve and I started one of our "Winter Projects." We raked all the lava rock and bark out from behind the garage and the vegetable garden and then sprayed all the stray and insidious Bermuda grass with Round-up, after which we put down a weed barrier fabric and returned the rock and bark. I tell you, the grass is enough to make me pull my hair out! It sends out runners and gets Everywhere! We're hoping this strategy will cut down on at least some of the stuff.

Behind the Garage.

The Vegetable Garden - We're using raised beds.

November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving! Today was a day full of Family and Food - Two of my Favorite Things! The Family Feast was held at Ron and Rhonda's new digs (very nice!). Steve and I carpooled with Steve's folks to the festivities and then spent the night with them after we returned. It was a really nice day and I realize that my life is full of blessings and I have much for which to be thankful!

Steve's Mom and Our Sister-in-Law, Rhonda.

Ellie (Rhonda's Mom), Rhonda, and Rhonda's daughter, Amber.

Your's Truly Waiting to Stuff Myself Senseless with Turkey!

The Boys parked in front of the BIG screen TV.
(Steve's Dad, Brother Ron, Steve, and Mark - Amber's fiance)

Steve with a plate full of yummy goodness.

This is Victoria. She loves me (really, she does). She looks a lot like my Maybe did, so in addition to lots of food and family, I got in some great kitty loves.

This is Dallas and his extremely gooey stuffed pumpkin toy. He's such a sweet boy!

November 21, 2007

Isn't this cute? I got this in the mail today from my Mom! She sent it to me along with a pair of Christmas socks and a cute little angel pin. Awwww... Love gifts from Mom! These are supposed to make me feel more festive! (And I am trying to get "in the mood" but it's hard when it's still in the 80's and I'm sweating in a sleeveless shirt and sandals!)

This doesn't help much - this is my front porch! Good grief! Where IS that cold weather??

November 20, 2007

This is Gato - actually, I call him Eric but his "forever" family named him Gato - Gato showed up a few months before Uh, Clem and our neighbor's adopted cat, "Pussy Galore." He's older and quite sweet. A little on the ragged side - his right ear is kind of chewed up - but loving nonetheless. He likes to come over and hang out in our back yard (and go in the cat door and eat Clem's food!). But they seem to get along just fine, so I let him be. He stopped by this morning for a snack and then went for a big drink of water out of the pond at the top of the water fall. Good kitty!

November 19, 2007

Part of the charm (cough cough) of living in an Historic District is that neighbors are constantly renovating their homes. This results in an interesting diversity in style and decor and is part of the reason that each Spring our doors open for the annual Home Tour. It can also result, however, in noisy Sunday mornings (nothing like the incessant buzz of a skill saw while I'm enjoying my coffee on the back porch), and the surreptitious disposal of construction debris in the can intended for household refuse (one large can for each four households - located in the alley).

This charming place has been the one of the most recent recipients of a bit of a face lift. Nice, eh? And I'm sure it is. What isn't so nice is that the construction crew loaded up all the garbage cans in the alley with their crap, rather than carting if off to the landfill like they are supposed to do. That means no room for any one else's refuse.


Here is our garbage can. Yup, that's PVC electrical conduit and large pieces of wood. Steve and I knocked on this guys door and asked if he knew that his contractor had - illegally, I might add - filled several cans with the debris from his house. His response was that the guy was "supposed" to cart it away on a flatbed truck. Hey, Surprise! He didn't! Well, Renovation Guy said he do something about it which - Surprise! - he didn't.


Here the garbage collector arrives and has to get out of his truck and physically remove all the shit sticking up out of the top of the can.

And there it is - and yes, it's still there. So, what would YOU do? I must admit that my first impulse is to throw it over the guy's fence, but that could result in some unpleasant sort of feud, so it's not a very good option. Maybe just haul it down behind HIS gate? I don't know. Eventually, the bulk trash collection folks will come through and probably pick it up then. It's just amazing to me, though, how thoughtless that is and how some people really just don't seem to give a shit.

Lord knows, I'm not perfect, and I've put plenty of landscaping debris of my own in the trash can, but this is professional construction - these guys are obligated to haul their waste away. We have to pay for our waste collection services and this sort of thing cheats us all. Stepping down from the soapbox now...

November 18, 2007

How cool are THESE! The pillow case on the left has Little Man Warrior's drawing of a Star Destroyer and the pillow case on the right has Bonnie Lass's drawing of a Fantasy (complete with Unicorn!). Steve and I sleep with these every night!

Close up of Fantasy.

Close up of the Star Destroyer.

November 17, 2007

More blooms. This is a bougainvillea on the back porch. Michael just loved this when he visited last month (it was blooming then, too). The pink "petals" are actually modified leaves, called "bracts." The flower itself is a tiny little thing in the center of all that pink. I was sitting on the porch this afternoon and thought I would try to snap a picture with the bracts back lit by the sun in the west.

November 16, 2007

I've been working out in the garage - which I've taken to calling "Studio Butler" - all week. It's been warm enough that I can keep the side door open and thus can hear the burbling of the waterfall in the pond. It's quite relaxing.

Our roses are blooming right now, too. That just seems odd, doesn't it? It's November, nearly Thanksgiving, and our flowers are still blooming! It's always this way and yet in the twenty years that I've been living here, I still marvel at how warm it is this time of year.

This is a sugar pine cone - the largest of all pine cones. I have one on the back porch and it just struck me as pretty. I had the camera in my hand and so, voila! There it is.

November 15, 2007

Today was the City of Phoenix BOPA (Batteries, Oil, Paint, and Antifreeze) Collection Event. Essentially, it is for disposal of Household Hazardous Waste and the City accepts more than just the "BOPA." Electronics, pesticides, etc., can also be brought to the drop-off.

I collected some old paints, aerosols, nearly empty propane canisters, and other flammables that we had been storing, along with the drained batteries I had been saving and headed over to make my deposit. I was quite pleased to see so many others doing the same! These events prevent these hazardous wastes from ending up in local landfills where they can pose a threat to groundwater supplies and the good people that operate these facilities. If you're just dumping your household hazardous wastes into the trash - Stop It!

November 14, 2007

This morning I met Desert Songbird for coffee at Starbuck's. Lucky me! This is a new Starbuck's and there is a Pei Wei right next door. Very cool.

I had a pumpkin scone and Desert Songbird had a pumpkin muffin with cream cheese filling. Yummy!

Desert Songbird saying something to the effect of, "You will NOT take my picture!" Alas, I did anyway. (hee hee!)

November 13, 2007

Yesterday, Steve won back "The Plate." This hotly contested piece of sterling silver has its roots in the Colorado Four: Steve, Brian, Mark and Bob. The tales are sordid and of the stuff from which legends are made (it involves dark nights, deep forests, and escapades you wouldn't want to share with your mother). Keeping history alive, the Colorado Four have an annual competition through the green with the ultimate winner adding his name to the plate and earning the right to display it proudly for the coming year. And so, The Plate comes home to Phoenix once again. Now, I need to go find a stand and some silver polish!

November 12, 2007

Yes, it is a proud moment. That's me with a grape in my nostril and my hair clip between my teeth. Pretty, no? Thank goodness I shaved my armpit (I think).

November 10, 2007

I was sitting at my desk in my day room and these doves caught my eye. Generally, they toddle around on the ground pecking seeds. This is the first time I have seen them packed on a feeder. I count five in this photo. I have noticed that the cats kind of like to hang out around the feeder, too. (Duh.)

November 9, 2001

Wow, for once I had my camera in the front seat of the car and was able to take a photo when I saw something I wanted to get on the fly. Apparently this dude is very proud of his Chevrolet. I have a Chevrolet Blazer and am amazed the thing is still limping along. We won't take it on long trips because we are afraid it will leave us stranded. We use it mostly as a storage unit on wheels. The advantages are that the registration and insurance are cheap and it's paid for.

November 7, 2007

Today I tried to donate blood, again. Sigh. Last week I was deferred because my hemoglobin levels were too low. I was advised to increase my consumption of bananas, raisins, and prune juice (I don't eat red meat) and try again. Well, it didn't work (and man, that prune juice really makes me fart!). So, now I'm deferred yet again. I will try in another month.

November 6, 2007

Truth be told, I'm amazed I've made it this far with regards to my photo project. No. It's not every day. And it's probably not going to be every day from here on out. Sometimes it's fun but sometimes it's like a monkey on my back. Isn't that strange. I really don't like feeling like I must do something - Even if that must is self-imposed.

But, here is today's photograph. My neighbors recently cut down the two citrus trees in front of their home. I'm always sad to see a tree die. I don't know what the life-expectancy of an orange tree is, but the trees in front of our homes have probably been there since the 1940's. I'm nursing ours along. I prune and fertilize them and have started - don't laugh too hard - to hug them. I mean, you never know, right?

Well, subsequent to being chopped down, the stumps had to be ground. The good people that came to grind the stumps sprayed wood chips all over the fucking place - including my driveway (which is what you see below). I even had chips land on my front porch. That's fine, except they didn't clean them up. Nope. Just drove off and left it there. That kind of shit really pisses me off. I don't like others making more work for me - I've got enough of my own, thank you very much.

So, off I go with my broom and dustpan and before you know it, I'm doing a regular clean up in the front yard and enjoying it! I really like working in the yard. So in hindsight, the slobs did me a favor by getting me up and out the door.

November 3, 2007

Lots of hummingbird activity going on, lately. I know Matt and Denise have feeders next door, and I am keeping mine filled with nectar, too. Autumn in Phoenix is almost like a second Spring. Although it is dry in the desert, the flowers in the watered yards are blooming in profusion. No fledglings but the birds are busy defending their territories nonetheless. (In fact, I can hear a hummer chittering right now!)

November 2, 2007

I know I should be taking my own photos but so often the photos that others send to me become representative of my day. Like this one. It's a photo of the changing leaves in the aspen in my parents' front yard. I think it is absolutely beautiful. Beauty signaling the end of long days of sunlight and ushering the long days of darkness.

Well, we don't really get that so much here in Phoenix. But there is still that part of me that relishes the darkness that is soon to be sprinkled with holiday lights and cheer. Autumn is my favorite season (with Spring running a close second), and I think it's because it is like a door. It closes Summer behind us and opens towards family gatherings and good tidings in front of us.

November 1, 2007

Today was our Open House at our new office. For the first time EVER the entire staff, all seven of us, were in the same room at the same time! (And no, I don't have a picture of us!) I do have a picture of Steve in his office getting ready for the party.

Open House Scene. The tall guy in the blue shirt is Dave, our Tucson office manager. Tucson is really the Mother Ship. Our office is a "satellite." (Which I guess makes my garage an escape pod.)

Had to get a picture of the bar tender. He was very efficient!

October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween! Is it the end of October, already?! I can't believe that I'm still running the air conditioner! Argh! Anyhoodle, Cousin Lesley sent this adorable picture of Grace and Natalie all dressed up to go Trick or Treating. Aren't they adorable!?

Steve found this card that I had made for him in a book - it was being used as a place marker. I thought it was kind of fun to look back at and appropriate as I had made it for him for Halloween! ha!