Your cultural Horizons Are About To Take A Big Jump

Whenever you see artwork depicting western grazing land -particularly in the Basque sheep raising regions of Utah and Nevada- the artist always throws in one of those picturesque little round-roofed trailers with a small smokestack known as a sheepherder's wagon.

Sheepherding is a rough, lonely, and, no doubt, hard drinkin' business. The wagon and the shepherd are transported off to hellngone up into the high country for the summer where he and his Great Pyrenees-or his Komondor, or some useful breed like that- keep watch over his flocks by night (also by day) ---day after day after day, and night after night after night. Eventually fall approaches, and they move down to lower pasturelands and begin all over again.

Sheepherder's wagons are such unique little vehicles. I've always wondered how they evolved into their particular shape and conformation. They all look just alike, and they have forever.






Well, those questions are still unanswered, BUT I can report that I have actually been inside one. And now you get to see too. On a bike ride on Antelope Island, we visited an historic ranch which actually had one- all equipped and ready to receive visitors.

Behold and marvel.
Note how far down the curve of the roof comes. You can stand up only in the middle and turn to work areas on either side. The whole thing sits inside of what appears to be an old REA freight wagon liberated from some abandoned (or maybe not abandoned) train station

Not unlike a truck camper, but lots more primitive.(actually "cozy" is a nicer word)
The hardware fittings tell you that this one is relatively modern- 60s or maybe 70s.

Sheep are strictly grazing critters and do not lend themselves to feedlot life. In this highly mechanized life we have developed for ourselves, sheep still must be shepherded around. It's a Biblical reality (and analogy) which is still viable in the 21st century. So the next time you order lamb in a restaurant, be thankful that there are still solitary persons who are drawn to this singular way of life.

The porch

The Greenlee Flower and Hummingbird Sanctuary Is Now OPEN

Our back porch is our private little tree top sanctuary 4 levels above the back yard. We have breakfast and dinner out there from as early in the spring as we can until as late in the fall as we can.

It has needed painting dreadfully for at least 4 years -maybe more. The trouble is, by the time the weather is pleasant enough to use it, we have been ready to use it for weeks. So we do not want to wait while the paint dries.

This year, it was unequivocal. There was more bare wood than painted, and it was getting extremely pitted from attacks of the sun and the storms.

Sadly, we moved all the furniture out to the garage and began scraping. That took days.

~~~Loose nails and flakey paint~~~

Next there was the painting. ---The Fatherhead spent days on his hands and knees jamming paint into every little crevice. 3 gallons and 4 coats laters later, it was pronounced DONE

~~~It's a better shade of grey too~~~

Just about there!
Now it needs to cure for a couple of weeks.
NO scraping furniture feet. NO doggie toenails!!!

We are now back to the good life in our little hideaway. The plants, which spent weeks potted up waiting under the shade tree in the front yard are installed. They are happy to the point of exuberance.

~~~AH! gracious living in the treetops!~~~

Now we think, if we just have the discipline to give it a quick once over each spring with a long handled roller, then we will never be inconvenienced like this again. Right!

You know what they say---

~~~"He who paints with the devil needs a long handled roller."~~~

The Birthdays Party

That's right- Birthdays Party (like Attorneys General)

2 birthdays...1 party.

The He Child was 7 and the She Child was 5 (still are, in fact) So with the 2 aforepictured exquisite cakes, and one big bash, we held a grand celebration one Saturday afternoon. ("Our Big Fat Greek Party") It was glorious! There were mothers, grandmothers and Godmothers. That pretty well covers the Mommie waterfront. Then there were Daddies, Aunts, Uncles, and friends. And, of course, there were dogs. There are ALWAYS dogs!

Getting Ready:

Well, as far as Mr. R. was concerned, just getting dressed takes care of it all. Spiffing up is not really a "guy thing."

But with Miss S. it takes the arrival of the ever faithful Auntie M. an hour before hand to fix the hair and pick the dress and take care of any minor crises which may arise. If it weren't for Aunts and Godmothers nothing would ever get done.

Then there are the guests.

And, of course, the presents.

Everyone had their favorite.

Some of us had several.

What do you think?
Is it Jackie O. or Audrey Hepburn?

There's nuthin' better than......

GODMOTHER HUGS!!!

You know what? The party circuit is tiring!

Fun, but definitely tiring!

I'm going to bed now. You all can stay as long as you like.

Happy Birthday to ALL, and to ALL

A GOODNIGHT

The birthday children send LOVE

The Birthdays

Well, I went to Minnesota in June, came home, rode in the MS150 Bike Tour, took a couple weeks to recover, and now I am catching up from way way behind.

Since the timing of the visit was occasioned by the birthdays of the Adorable Grandchildren, I thought it was time I got the precious pictures out to the world.This entry is about the marvelous cakes . The party pictures come on a different entry.

Guided by a book called "Birthday Cakes for Kids" (which, fortunately has explicit and easy to follow instructions), the She Birthday Child sent us out scurrying for supplies to build the cakes of her choosing. They were pretty magnificent.

Godmother Auntie P. and Mommie start Miss Mousie off on the construction of her Aquarium cake

PERFECTO!

The Artist and Mr. Boo's Logging Truck Cake. Solo has a keen interest in the proceedings.

Blow those candles out, and all your wishes will come true!

"I'll huff, and I'll Puff and I'll......."

POOF! I'm 7! Let's eat!

"A lovely, light, luscious, delectable cake"
Yep! Its PERFECT!

Aunt M. and Uncle B. agree that these are about the best cakes ever made!

the house project in Minnesota

LOOKIE THERE, MA!!!
AS I LIVE AND BREATHE!!
IT'S......
The soon to be moved into domicile of M & B in St. Paul, Minnesota. The asbestos siding has been replaced by aluminum and the colors are lovely.
Lest you think this happened all by itself.......FOLLOW THE SAGA


Hey there,
In June I finally got up to Minnesota to see the enormous project that M & B (our youngest red-headed chickadee and her likewise red-headed husband) have bitten off for themselves. We are SOOOOO proud of them!!

About a year ago, seizing the opportunities to be had by the falling economy, they set about to find themselves a foreclosed house. M. had more time to pursue the project than B. She after all, is merely a full time employee of the federal government (your tax dollars at work.) He on the other hand is a 30 hour a day, 8 day a week student, in his last year of Physical Therapy school.

Feeling that she wasn't really kicking anyone out of their home- they had long since lost it to the bank, M. set out to see if she could turn this situation to her advantage by an investment which would accrue equity rapidly once the economy turned around, while at the same time getting them out of the student apartment scene and out from under the nuisance of their skinflint landlord.

Such an undertaking is enormous! Finding a good Realtor desperate enough to actually work seriously at digging up a suitable $20,000 house is not easy. He needs to have not seen a commission check in a LONG time.

Next, there is searching through the findings. Some had clearly been crack or meth houses.-No go! In one, a squatter went out the back window as they came in the front door. Not good! In some, the ousted former owners in a fit of peak and an attempt to salvage something out of the deal, had removed wiring and copper piping one step ahead of the sheriff to try to sell for scrap. Good luck ta ya and all, but I don't want your house!

Occasionally, something good would come along. Those don't hang around long. Long before they could get all their financing hoops jumped through, some enterprising soul with a brokerage account would walk in and lay his $30,000 on the table, pick up his marbles, and leave.

Well, they finally found a house that was both good, and cheap, and no one else wanted it. Granted, it was in worse than terrible shape; but it had lot more space than they'd ever had, the potential to be made really cute, and it had a great kitchen and a huge fenced yard. It even had a double garage. Unfortunately, the door had been off the hinges long enough for every male cat within miles to have staked it out as his own personal fiefdom. " Pass the Fabreeze, quickly; and run out for about 10 crates of incense!!"

The outside was asbestos shingling (well, it wouldn''t burn down) which was broken in many places and generally friable. --definitely not OSHA approved. For that matter, neither was the wiring nor the plumbing. Since no one had shown any interest in it in the 6 months it had remained vacant (Can't imagine why!), their ridiculously small bid was eventually accepted. So, with a bank a loan for the house, a federal rehab loan for more than the cost of the house, and several months of wrangling with the bank and the city inspectors, they became house owners. Not HOME owners yet. It is not yet to the point where the city of St. Paul considers it habitable. But it is impressively close.

The first thing M&B did after they had the keys in hand was to pull up all the revolting carpeting. Yea! There was pretty good looking hardwood underneath. After all, the house is 80 or 90 years old. Cheapskate contractors had not then discovered the wonders of plywood sub flooring covered up by rugs bought in bulk from Carpet World.
Then they took down the acoustic tile false ceiling, which gave them ceilings about 18" higher than before. At the same time they wiped out years of mousie nests, the denizens of which had had free run of the space up there forever.
After that, all demolition took place wearing masks to keep Hanta Virus at bay. Think of these things if you are ever overwhelmed with a compulsion to put in a false ceiling. DON'T DO IT!

Then they took off the wall coverings- which were Masonite board pressed to look like wood paneling. Under that was terrible paint and wallpaper in perfectly awful colors.-even a border paper with the famous Raphael cherubs. Well, that was no worry, because a lot of the ancient plaster (this house predates drywall) was so decrepit that it came off right along with the paneling. So, they sighed and took it all off. They were down to lath.

Their contractor was less than ecstatic, because he had not planned to take off the walls. Too bad fella! Besides, it's easier to get to all the jury-rigged wiring.

If you wish to see more of the gruesome details, with closeups of the awful paint and wallpaper, plus the bathroom which had had the window closed off and painted deep aqua on all surfaces to make you feel you were inside an aquarium looking out, Click M.'s blogsite and scroll around ......

http://madnesseveryday.blogspot.com/






Ms Whiskey inspects the non-OSHA approved stairway

All this they did themselves.

AND THEN THEIR CONTRACTOR TOOK OVER.

M. looks over progress on the second floor





Uncle B. and the Adorable Niece inspect the contractors work.

" Hmmmm..... that lath was cute, and it added texture; but the drywall does look better."
















Can't you just imaging curling up and reading the day away on a cold winter afternoon? And look at all that insulation! All that warmth and tax credits too! How could it get any better?!? "....... What! You say it's 6pm already?! Well I'm NOT movin' !! Call out for pizza!"


Since the linoleum of the kitchen and bathroom floors was not awful enough to be included in the original rehab contract bid, they took it up themselves, bought tile from Home Depot, and laid it themselves. The grouting is done and it is ready for the sealant. ~~~~ Want to rent a tile saw at below market prices? Contact B.

I think they are just the greatest most enterprising pair of people I know! Congratulations M & B!!!!!

Momcat and the Adorable Niece (who in this case is also the Adorable Grandchild) sitting on the front steps. We can't wait to see it in a month or two! We been invited to stay there on our next visit to the Twin Cities. So stay tuned for finished product pictures and prepare to be DAZZLED. We can't wait!!

Nettling the Locals in the Name of the Lord

As we all know, people get very touchy about their religion- fight wars over it, in fact. Imagine doing anything so stupid?!? The children of Israel are God's Chosen. They will tell you so. In fact, so will the Bible. Many Islamic sorts -in particular the Palestinians-, of course, feel that these favored children were "Chosen" to be destroyed by them (whom God came along and favored later.)

The devotees of the Throne of St. Peter, definitely do know that God has chosen that particular rock on which to build HIS CHURCH. That's it! Jesus said so! No wiggle room! Well, look! There's a Church there, isn't there?!?

Now we have the the locals. Those God-fearin' , Temple goin' followers of Joseph Smith. God made it perfectly clear in that Sacred Grove up there in New York State, that EVERYBODY had it wrong; and he, Joseph, was chosen to start things all over aright.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK- Enough background. Suffice it to say that religion is a very egocentric thing.
Enter a new player................

The story begins many years ago (but slightly after the earth had finished cooling), a growing Baptist congregation in the small, friendly, university town of Logan, Utah bought a decommissioned Mormon chapel, right there on Main Street. All well and good. Even though it was right there in plain sight of lactating mothers and tiny chuildren and all; Baptists on Main Street didn't seem to rile any body too much. Nobody put a gun to the Bishop's head and told him to sell it. Conversely, nobody put a gun to his head and told him not to sell it to the Baptists. So he sold it; and they bought it. Very straightforward. Right.




BUT THEN>>>>>>>>>>>>>>




Right there within spittin' distance of the Tabernacle, and in a line of sight of the Temple, THEY- those Baptists- the very ones God said had it all wrong- had the temerity to put a big white cross on the top. Very Cheeky! Quite Sinister, and MOST Unsettling.

Desecration!

That's what it was, all right! Desecration (with a capital D and that rhymes with T and that stands for TROUBLE)







Years went by. There was no uprising; Even though they could not possibly make it into the highest level of Heaven, Baptists, it turned out, did not eat their young; and things on Main Street settled down. Life in Logan went on its leisurely way.

FAST FORWARD>>>>>>>>>

Having occasion to have been in Logan last week. I have noticed that the Baptists- not merely content to have their one big ol' white cross- have added more crosses - and not only that, but a very creatively incisive signboard as well.. Oh My! For civilized people, we surely do engage in a powerful lot of infighting.Can I get a big ol' A-MEN on that??

TRIUMPHANT BARREL CACTUS

Well, I think it's a barrel cactus. It's barrelly shaped. Aside from its being green and prickly, it does NOT in the least resemble any of the barrel cacti in my "70 Common Cacti of the Southwest" book, which I bought in that motherlode of all cactus sanctuaries, Arizona.

It comes closest to the AZ Barrel, but it has white flowers- and that's all wrong. Every time I find a picture with a similar growing habit and ribs, it has curved claw- like spines -mine are straight. Oh well, maybe it's a sport. Maybe it's an alien; but I prefer to think that it's a sport.

Of late, it is proving to be quite a good sport.

Barrel Cacti are either the genus Ferocactus or Echinocactus. I don't know about the Fero part, but the Echino sure fits. Unfortunately, I am told that Barrels always bloom around the very top of the plant, right near the growing point. As you can see, this little friend blooms wherever he wants to.

See There-- A SPORT

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Its history- It began life in our house about 5 years ago, when the Momcat set out to get some plants and other accessories to give her kitchen a southwestern look. An aloe plant was, of course, a slam dunk.

THEN.....

There it was, a lonely little orphan --still a baby, but way too big for its pathetically small pot, which it had outweighted and turned over, spilling out much of its soil. Hence it was marked down to almost nothing to clear quickly. --Read: "We don't want to touch this sucker to repot it, so please get it out of here, PRONTO!" I was hooked- as it were.

I got it a somewhat larger pot in green- to go with the kitchen color scheme and ensconced it in its new residence without undue bodily harm to either of us.

Since it sits on the windowsill by the sink, of course, it receives water a lot more frequently than it would in its Sonoran homeland. Hence, in a few years, it was repotting time again. I found it a larger, but very attractive green pot, and we were back in business. A problem for the future --This is the largest pot which will fit on the windowsill.

Then what!?!

Well......... the future is upon us. The little dear is pushing against the glass and propelling itself off the sill onto the counter. It has also been known to take a nip out of the occasional guest who has mistaken it for artificial. I'm sure this was an innocent act of friendship, however.

After all who wouldn't fall in love with that precious little face?

This summer, it has rewarded me for all my care.

For the very first time.......
IT BLOOMED!

and then it bloomed, and then it bloomed some more.

GOOD SPORT!!!!!

It is very lovely, and, as you can see, it has lots more buds.

The Dilemma: Is it blooming, BECAUSE it has finally become potbopund, and it likes it that way? OR Does it want a larger pot, which will necessitate its being moved to another location? I realize a true classical dilemma has 3 horns, but I believe this fella has enough prickles in aggregate to make up the 3rd horn of a healthy dilemma. Perhaps even 1 1/2 dilemmae.
In the meantime, The kitchen also has a saguaro which is growing apace. Fortunately even a well loved saguaro will take 10 years attain 4" of height. But if you think the unidentified orphan barrel cactus poses a problem, just wait until the saguaro has been here 50 or 60 years. Oh well, the place needs a skylight .