March 17 – 31, 2012 North Ranch, Beading, Desert Exploring, and Friends

Hard to believe it has been over two weeks since I updated.  Yikees.

We have been having a great time reconnecting with friends and having fun.   And our friend Pete is out of the hospital and doing well – thanks for all your prayers.

So where do I start, hmmm…

Beading

One of the main reasons we came here was for Bead Week 3/25 – 3/30.  We came in early to help out if we could, to put my kits together and get ready to teach – yep, I actually taught my first bead class – :-) and that is what I did the week before plus meet more of my fellow beaders as they came in and even learned a new stitch – :-)).

Bead Week started with registration on the 25th and was a whirlwind until yesterday morning.  My first time at Bead Week two years ago, I took lots of classes and got burned out by mid-week.  This year I only took 3 classes plus taught one and it was much better.

I LOVE being here for that week.  I was surrounded by so many creative people and sometimes it rubs off on me and gets me more motivated to create.  So I came away with LOTS of ideas and hopefully will be doing more beading and braiding in the future.

A number of the beading ladies from Casa Grande were here also and we have started to talk about doing some classes there next season.  We figure we would think about it over the summer and then discuss next November.  Sounds like fun!

 

4 x 4 Trips

So what did Andy do while I was beading?  Our friends, John and Geri came in and John brought his Side by Side.  Geri and I went with them on the 24th and the guys went out almost every day after that.  They had a great time seeing lots of sights in the desert.

From the 24th:

Down we went:

Andy, John and Geri:

John, Geri, and me:

Can you find the road we followed?:

On the Plateau:

MOOOOOOOO:

The Cacti were very healthy out here:

Ocotillo in Bloom:

 

More Saguaros:

Even the Cholas were healthy:

Cool looking cow – MOOOOOO:

Yikees – the rattlesnakes are awake!

 

More scenes from the boys adventures:

Scenes from the top of the mesa:

The horse that followed them (do you see him in the above picture?):

Another day they came upon these ruins:

And more wild horses – do you see the babies?:

We just love the desert – thank you John for helping us explore places we would have never seen – :-).

Friends

We am so blessed that we have great friends all over this country and it was wonderful to reconnect this week as well as meet new people.  We all got together almost every day, talking, laughing, solving the world’s problems, hearing about everyone’s travels and just plain having fun.   Carolyn and my birthdays are the 26th and 27th of March and it was special to both of us to spend it together this year (we just never were in the same place for the past three years.)

Carolyn and me:

 

Left to Right:  Carolyn, Ron, Andy, Frank, Gloria, Geri, John, and Pete (I missed Elena, sorry):

Activities during bead week – Judy, Cathy (our Bead Mom), Sharon, Me, Geri, Gloria:

One of the dinners during Bead Week – Me, Geri, John, Judy, Luke, Don, Sharon, Gloria, Frank:

 

And my many apologies to Elena for no picture – she supplied us with her culinary talents of incredible deserts during the past two weeks – YUM!

Did I say we are incredibly blessed – :-)!

 

Weather

It has been crazy.  One day we had snow on the mountains and flurries in the campground:

How about that scenery – almost looks like we are in the Rockies!.

But the rest of the time, it was BEAUTIFUL!  Yesterday, the temperature hit 90 so I guess we need to start thinking about our next moves.  We do not want to be here when it gets to 100!  I know everyone says it is a dry heat but my oven is also a dry heat and 100, 110, 120 is still HOT!.

With the warmer temps, spring has sprung:

Such beautiful flowers all over the place.  Hmmm, I may need to do a blog just on the spring flowers – :-).

And so have my allergies.  Lots of meds this week.  I think at some point I will need to find an allergist in this area who will work with my allergist at home so I am covered in both places.  Over the last few months, I have found out that I am allergic to perfumes too.  Sheesh, it confuses the heck out of me, that I could go from no allergies to severe allergies (taking 3 shots a week plus two medications and I still suffer – although I am a lot better than last year.)

Odds and Ends

On Wednesday, we had an exciting evening.   It was around 8:30 PM, we were watching TV and the cats were in the stairwell looking out the screen door.   We heard a deep growl and then a pounding on the screen door.  The cats went crazy!!  They uttered these deep guttural growls, ran into the bedroom then back out at the door and then started howling.  I have never heard anything like it – I thought we were in “Call of the Wild”.  Anyway, I picked up Dusty and put him in the bedroom and closed the door – all the while he is growling and hissing.  I got Bella and put her in the bathroom and closed the door – all the while she is growling and hissing.   Andy got outside and closed our main door.   After about 5 minutes both cats stopped growling.  And then in about 5 more minutes, they started quietly meowing.  We left them out, they immediately went to the door and after a short time, calmed down.  Sheesh!!   We have no clue what bounced on our screen door.  It was either a coyote, a loose dog, or a dog on a long lease that got away from the owner.  Because of the commotion with the cats, we did not check immediately so we will never know and I hope we never go thru that again!

So that is a short version of our last two weeks.  Tomorrow we head back to our lot in Casa Grande – :-).

“Life is not about what I’ve done, what I should’ve done, or what I could’ve done. It’s about what I can do and what I will do.”