First Snow of the Season-Ranch Headquarters

Calling our place ranch headquarters is a joke, because with a gigantic herd of two Angus beef cattle, there's not much coordinating to do.

The snow is already starting to melt, but I hope there will be enough for our visitors to enjoy when they arrive on Friday.

First Snow: The Lazy Boyz Want Snacks!

Over the weekend we had snow, so the ski areas are happy and so was Ms. Pearl.

Playing Frisbee in the snow is the best thing, ever. The Frisbee lands under the snow and Ms. Pearl must dig for it. It's a fun time for a dog, that's for sure!

The Lazy Boyz, Roman and Buffalo, are looking decidedly, well, beefy. And very furry.

Do you have any snacks?

When temps get into the teens and below, or if it snows and the grass is covered up, we feed extra hay. If The Boyz don't keep up their calories, they will lose weight. They are full figured dudes and we want to keep it that way.

It's almost sundown, but the sun is still on the rim rock for a few more minutes.

Ms. P says that's just enough to throw the old Frisbee one more time.

Quilty Pleasures: Kansas City Star Sampler Finished

I am a great starter of quilts, but finishing them is something totally different. I get all angsty and second guess myself and it's just easier to place the almost finished quilt in a bag and start something else. People who can complete a quilt project from start to finish with none of this drama are in my Hall of Fame, but that's just not me. (Honesty time: It's been eight months since I did the layout for this quilt.) Dang!

So when I finish something, it's usually because someone has gently twisted my arm or the old Catholic Guilt Machine started drilling into my psyche, creating more angst than not completing the project would.

You might remember a few of the blocks in this quilt because I featured them here and here. I even showed you the layout here.

So it's done. This was a Block of the Month project, and I didn't want to use a traditional setting, so adapted one I saw on the GenX Quilters' site.

The quilting was done by the excellent Claudette Maitland, who owns Turquoise Angel Quilting in Angel Fire, NM, and each block has been quilted differently. I asked Claudette to quilt the negative space in the center with wavy lines about a hand's width apart. After I got the quilt back, I decided to add a few more quilting lines to the center to make it more interesting.

 

In the larger photo you probably thought the black background was solid, but surprise, it's a pin dot! 

If I were to do this setting again, I would have added six more blocks, with the first row on each end filled with four blocks, then three, two, and one. 

Election Day 2014, Country Style

Today was election day, so we went to pick up the mail at the post office and then to vote.

Our polling place is very picturesque:

It's the fire station and that metal cylinder is the water tank. The water from the tank fills the pumper truck.

At the gate where we turned in from the highway (no campaigning within 100 feet of a polling station, so she was within the rules) sat a lone woman under an umbrella who urged us to vote for her son as a write-in candidate for sheriff. I didn't take her photo because I thought it might make her nervous. Also on duty at the gate were a Rottweiler and an Australian Shepherd from a neighboring ranch who tried to herd our truck as we turned in.

So here we were.

We voted inside the fire station where they keep the trucks.

Sharpie-type pens were used to mark the ballots and then voters fed the ballots into a machine that I hope was calibrated accurately.

94 percent of our county are white. 81 percent are Hispanic or Latino, so it makes sense that the ballot would have many Hispanic candidates. The median household income is $40,000, but 88% of the population own their homes.

Some are simple:

And some are grand:

But rich or poor, voting is a big thing here, and there's usually a pretty good turnout. 

Government of the people, by the people and for the people.

New Mexico State Capitol, Santa Fe

Humbug Bag Class at Thread Bear

 Hmm, what's this? It's a Humbug Bag. What's a Humbug Bag? It's a place to store small items: Sewing stuff, school supplies, makeup, a small portable project.

I'm going to be teaching how to make this Humbug Bag at Threadbear on Saturday, November 15.

But you won't make just one Humbug Bag.  Nope.

And you won't make just two Humbug Bags.

You will make three, totally cute Humbug Bags. They are that easy to make, even if you are zipperly challenged. Really!

Aren't they cute? The class will be on Saturday, November 15, 1-3 p.m.

Come in to the store or give Thread Bear in Las Vegas, NM, a call to sign up for the class.  (505) 425-6263