Lopez to Death Valley

Okay, still on the road so been lazy posting but here are a few shots.  There are more to follow, I promise.  The desert is dry & dusty,  hot & sunny.  What more can you ask for in February?

te quiero Lopez

Before I waste any time at all, I will quickly load up some pictures from  LOPEZ Island....just off the coast of Washington State, US of A....really seems more like Canada but what do I know?

 

It's nice and quiet here.  I've always liked islands and now I LOVE islands....especially this one.

Bye for now 

 

LAST DAYS OF 2013

Let me start by saying "I officially hate Blogger".  Whatever is going on with all the new improvements is NOT working.   This new format is so cumbersome and not user-friendly in any way.  So, here is my 3rd attempt at posting today.  Give me a break and please be kind as any inspiration I started the day with has gone up in smoke and basically I will be happy if I can get anything out and if Blogger will allow me to add the pictures...oh please, almighty Blogger, oh please....

Cold view from the deck

Snow and sheet metal....

The often used mountain bike ramp.....YAH!

My pretty 'PIT-mation' pup

Pony thinks...well, sort of...

...well that's enough of that!

Protective coloring comes in handy at the end of an exhausting snow day.

Thank you Oh Mighty Blogger for allowing me to post this perverted version of what I really wanted to say.

Really, it is YOU not me.

                                                      

Still missing her

Cowgirl

30 December 2008

                                                               

a singleton

 A 'singleton' is a term I've heard used for one surviving puppy in a litter and that is what Ponygirl was.   Being born in a Mexican animal shelter was not the most desirable of circumstances to begin with,  but it did afford her a fighting chance.  What happened to the rest of the pups...dunno, but this is her and her mum way back then.  When I look at this picture I fill in all the blanks that 4 and a half years later allows me to do.  Looking all sweetness and light as wee puppy but  stewing inside that pea-sized brain was a force to be reckoned with as I was about to find out.   She got all the Mexican mutt survival traits essential to street living -- and she uses them even though she lives in the relative lap of luxury (work with me here people).   

Let me explain.   Even though she has never, ever been hit by a broom she will bolt out of a coma-like sleep the moment I pick one up anywhere within what she considers her personal space.    This I figure,  is because brooms are a regular and accepted method of 'dog removal' in front of 3rd world businesses and homes everywhere.    I can only assume it is an genetic trait passed on from one generation to the next,  of street dogs.

Next is her 'lurking and skulking' behavior whenever we sit down to a meal.   This also sadly  being typical of street dogs everywhere ...tail between the legs, a kind of crouching and inching forward and the most mournful, sad look that says 'feed me' ever so politely .  I have to  gently snap her out of this automatic behaviour by reminding her that she has already eaten and should just go to her bed.  'Oh yeah' is  the look I get as she complies.   

Another of her genetically hard-wired,  street dog breed traits is the one where she can find food anywhere.  This has cost us many pesos in the past before she learned to distinguish edible from inedible.   This dog can locate a peanut, a breadcrumb, a rancid piece of anything, a buried bone or another dog's dinner on a porch in a NY minute , BUT she draws the line at PEAS...she will not under any circumstances  EAT.A. PEA.  I have done experiments where I will toss out a small morsel of something into the lower bush and just watch as she picks up the scent and then amazingly....finds it and eats it.  If that ain't street sense then I don't know what is.

I suppose I could go on and on but really the point is that when you first see that puppy (and fall in love)  you really have no idea what kind of DNA soup is brewing inside.  Eventually,  you both come around to a sort of truce about how it's going to be.  The rules are sorted and one day the quirks all fit together nicely and there you have it...you belong to each other and hopefully it will be a very long road traveled together.

                                               she-devil dog
                                                       
                                                      

'E'-famous

Okay, friends, family and neighbours  we are so excited to be featured here on Chrystal Atkins Mobile Home Living blog.   This site  gave much inspiration and encouragement to us to take on this re-muddle.  Here it is...

            http://mobilehomeliving.org/sheet-metal-single-wide-remodel/

Take a peek and see what you think.   There seems to be more of us TrailerChic folks out there than even we imagined going into this endeavor.  It's been fun so far...frustrating a lot of the time...challenging to say the least...but always worth it when the end result provides so much more comfort and beauty to our humble abode.  

A big thank you goes out to everyone who has been so supportive and helpful to us and also graciously listened to our sagas surrounding each undertaking.   I must warn you though we are far from being done.  Cheers!

 
  

Ima Robot "Lovers in Captivity"

Well there really is no accounting for taste, musical or otherwise...me like this for some reason so here goes...

Peripheral Vision

    

      

        So as I was lying at the bottom of the stairs off the back deck yesterday afternoon, I was thinking I would probably freeze to death out here.  Everything around here has a thin sheeting of ice on it which is easy to not notice, hence the slip&fall down the steps.   After a moment of assessment (nothing broken, just banged up)  I realized that yelling for help was doing  me no good...so I stopped.     I crawled back up and onto the deck.  As I lay there with the dog jumping about and frantically licking my face just outside the glass doors, Major T. was understandably engrossed in a 'Breaking Bad' episode while a  real life drama (me flailing) was going on just a few feet away. Peripheral vision is a gift bestowed upon many of us but not all of us.

      Today I am just starting to see some good looking bruises and I suspect they will get even better with time.  From now on when I leave the house I will file an flight plan so at least there will be something to work with when conducting the eventual search. 

      Yeah, it was just an accident.   No one to blame although I was pretty mad at my self and my inattentiveness.     A simple,  slip&fall down, go boom, nothing broken, no real harm done.  Just made me realize once again that ultimately we are in this alone and we are going to go out alone.  There really isn't anyone else that can save us.   




 

  

forest fire

      Larch trees in the fall.

 

                                               

the minimalist's dilemma

 I've had this painting of my mum & dad for a number of years.  It's always been shrouded and hidden away in a garage, closet,  storage facility or shed.  

I've moved it from city to city and even to another country.

A minimalist's dilemma, for sure.

I was never very fond of it.

That is,  until recently.

Not sure why,  but when I uncovered it this past summer (in the shed) I kind of fell for it.

Not sure what changed -- duh, me?

It's a simple likeness of two simply lovely people --before the rest of their lives. 

A precious and fleeting moment captured and framed and kept safe and sound for this very moment.  

Mum & Dad