Happy

Happy Thanksgiving!!!


Happy Thanksgiving to all.


I have been attempting to lure the turkeys from outside to inside, inside the oven to be exact, but it hasn't happened.

Peaceable Kingdom.

Deers and Turkeys

or....

Venison with a side of light and dark meat.

Since there are no turkeys in my house-or oven- Bunny and I are headed to Santa Fe for the holiday.  There is supposed to be snow when we head back on Friday but the forecast keeps changing so we are going to chance it. We are thankful for the revising forecasts!!

I've had company the last week which I was very thankful for. My friend Cathy came to see me all the way from Virginia. We lived together in San Miguel de Allende over 40 years ago and it has been 12 years since I have seen her. A wonderful visit in spite of.....

Bunny.  Love that girl but at this point I am encouraging her to start dating only guys that have auto/body repair mechanic experience  Let me just say I am thankful she was not hurt this time and that the deer is limping but not dead. Another buck, this time in my car. Damage doesn't look bad but according to the body shop it will be almost $4000 worth of repairs. 

Insurance companies will be blocking my phone number, I fear. I am  EXTREMELY thankful for car insurance. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and stay safe!! 

Watch for deer. 

Visitors

Visitors in the Night

Tuesday we woke up to the first little snowfall of the season. Only ½" but still a solid dusting.

As I went out to warm up Bunny's (my) car and clear the snow, I noticed some little dips on the railing.
A closer inspection revealed some teeny tiny footprints.

 Teeny little feet prints, maybe the size of a dime.

They travelled to my potted plant and then back.

I searched my Mammals of Colorado Field Guide and the closest I could come to these prints is some sort of weasel. It actually looks more like a tiny fox print but I don't think tiny foxes would be walking on my railings.    There were the same prints on the front porch, wandering up to another potted plant that had been left there. 

On the back railing, the birdies hopped around.

No idea what kind of birdy.

My Birds of Colorado Field Guide doesn't show

foot prints. 

Then Carlos and I took a walk.  And found more prints in the snow.

These are turkey prints. All over the place. Don't they know Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK? 

That's my footprint on the left which means these turkeys have enormous feet. 

These prints probably do belong to a little fox. Each paw print is about 1 ½" to  1 ¾" long. We see the fox at the end of the driveway a lot.

Surprisingly there were no bunny prints to be found, although usually they are alllll over the place. 

And somehow I missed the deer tracks. Thought I had a pic of them. O well. Missed Carlos's tracks also.

And fortunately there were no bear tracks. No mountain lion tracks. 

And no Chupacabras. 

Whew. 

Deja Vu, Deja Vu, Deja Vu...

Déjà Vu, Déjà Vu, Déjà Vu....

or...

NOT AGAIN!!!!

Well, she almost made it a full year without hitting anything. 

Bunny has not had the best track record when it comes to her car. 

Not too long after getting her car (January 2014) she backed into a friend. Springtime had a school acquaintance sideswiping her.  September 2014 she was run off the road and spun the Hummer.  December 2014 she backed into another school mate. But mostly since then she has been good. Over the summer in Texas she did have someone back end her but she was stopped at a light. It wasn't her fault. 

Because we have the most awesome body shop in Salida, Bunny waited until she got back here to get her back bumper repaired. She had it fixed mid October. Had just gotten it back all shiny and new.

And then. And then. 

Last Thursday night Bunny stayed in town to visit with a friend.  No school on Fridays here so she texted me at midnight and said she was on her way home.  Ten minutes later the phone rang. 

"I hit a deer."  

Are you ok? 

Yes.

Is the deer ok?

I don't think so.

Is the car ok?

I haven't looked. O! Here's the sheriff. Thank goodness. 

As she hung up on me I yelled to call if she needed me to come get her.   About five minutes later I got a text. 

"Come get me." 

22º out. Almost 1am by the time I got to her.

Car was not ok.

Just "superficial" damage. 

Deer was definitely not ok. The nice sheriff had to put him out of his misery.

Buck "sleeping" peacefully.

Bunny was shaken but unhurt.

$7000 worth of damage or, as the body shop says "not significant damage, mostly superficial". Huh? Seven thousand dollars is superficial?

Bunny is driving my car, I am in a rental.  Repair time is scheduled to be two to three weeks once the parts arrive. 

So now we are sweating repair time. Because three weeks puts us right at our scheduled departure time for Christmas. 

Yikes. 

And...

Apparently if you hit a deer here you can ask for a permit to keep it. Unless it is a trophy deer. Which is exactly what Bunny hit.  A 10 point buck. (In Texas. Or 5x5 buck here. 5x4½ after she hit it.)  Not allowed to keep it then. One of Bunny's friends tried to pick it up but the game warden showed and took it away. O well. 

Broken antler, 

definite gouge on the car from where it hit.

I was surprised how many people warned me to keep an eye on Bunny for PTSD since she hit and killed an animal.   I guess what with having hunter relatives and also being around soooo many people that have hit soooo many deer, it's pretty much been a non issue. She hasn't been nervous driving at night and is only angry that her car is going to take so long to be repaired. 

Wish some of those people had thought to mention that last year when she was run off the road. She is still anxious driving down our main road and practically freaks if I drive down faster than 10 mph. Definitely  PTSD from that accident although had I never really thought about it like that, until now.

The other surprise? How many people were more  concerned about the deer than the daughter. 

Necessity is the Mother of Perfection

Necessity....


Necessity is the mother of invention and possibly also the mama of perfection. At least when it comes to this little clutch.

I started with a bag that I love but it is too small.

My prototype

I envisioned a few changes. Make it large enough to hold sunglasses AND a cell phone at the same time. Pockets on the inside. Maybe a little outside pocket rather than a zipped spot. A detachable strap.

Fun little buggy lining.

And a mess.

Well,  almost perfect. 

I didn't get the strap. 

Usually I am pretty good at visualizing in 3D and then translating that into a pattern. But I just didn't think through the strap addition. So when it came down to attaching the strap-it didn't work. 

Rather than screw up the whole thing I opted to just do without it. 

The pattern laid out on the leather skin

And it doesn't matter at all.

When it was done, it looked a little ....meh.   Couldn't figure out what was missing.

Done but ... boring...

Then I got the idea of tassels and Voilà!

Tassels in progress

I LOVE this thing!

True love

Perfect size. Perfect amount of pockets. One little zipped pocket on the inside to keep my car key safe. 

I am so happy. A wonderful little leather project completed.

The substitute for No. 27, done!

Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts from a Random Mind...

Goodness.

So many thoughts running through my brain, none having to do with anything specific.

We are supposed to have snow tomorrow night. It will be the first snow of the season. I could wait a little longer for snow but I guess I don't have any say in this.  But judging from previous year's pics, it will be pretty.

Carlos in the snow- 2013

••••••••••••••

I live in a little town called Howard. Many locals call it "How-weird" because, well, because it fits.
But.
I am realizing that I am also surrounded by some amazingly creative people. 

One neighbor hand makes leather shoes for a company in New York. I'm pretty sure they qualify as "bespoke", a word that I have recently grown excessively tired of.  And he does this in a little log cabin studio on the side of a mountain surrounded by deer and horses.

Another neighbor makes gorgeous photo quilts. She has a fabulous little studio with alpacas outside her door. Under her cat's supervision (and the alpacas' ) she takes paper photos and turns them into fabric photographs. I wish I had some examples. They are quite impressive.

No pic of the quilts but one of Bunny with the alpacas!

Down on the highway, a regular customer from the coffee shop showed me the ski cabinets he makes. Beautiful custom cabinets to hold skis and boots and  jackets. I admired a pen and ink sketch on his wall and he shared his copy of it...slightly different but equally as intricate and impressive as the original artist's. 

Another regular customer is preparing for her upcoming East Coast gallery showing. She does mixed media work including textile assemblages along with more traditional paintings.

All of this makes me feel like a total slacker.  

••••••••••••

A few days ago I realized that in just 6 ½ weeks Bunny will be graduating from high school and I will be out of the "parenting a school kid" game. Although she just came in and told me she has her "Capstone meeting" in the morning.  Unsure of what that is, I asked. Apparently all of the Seniors meet individually with the Principal, Counselor and assorted other school officials and tell them about her experiences in school. She is collecting her test scores, academic achievement certificates, and college acceptance letters to share. The school wants to know how she has done and what her plans are. It is a requirement to graduate. What a fabulous idea. 

••••••••••

Also Bunny and I will be heading back to Texas in 6 ½ weeks and one day. Ugh. That means I have to pack up this little cabin and somehow cram two wardrobes, two people, one dog, a computer and Lord knows what else into two cars.  Maybe one car. Bunny really really wants to sell her car here where she knows she can get more money for it and then buy something smaller in Texas. 

Me and Bunny come December...

So between now and mid December I have to go through this cabin and dispose of all the accumulated ephemera. 
Pretty sure after this year no one will be attending school here so we will not need a gazillion notebooks and school supplies. Off to one of the schools they will go. 
Clothes that haven't been worn, that no longer delight or possibly no longer fit will be sent to my favorite consignment store or maybe just Caring and Sharing. (The local version of Goodwill...) 
The pantry and medicine chest need to be sorted. 
Pretty much every cabinet, every drawer and every closet needs to be looked at. There's a huge difference in closing the house for a few weeks or even for the winter and closing it down after having lived here for almost 3 years. 
I'm considering it practice. I cannot even imagine the shape of that Texas house. Having lived here for almost 3 years with only occasional trips to Texas means I have NOT lived in the Texas house for almost 3 years. Every time I have gone home I have thought "This place needs a dumpster."  So much stuff and no one has disposed of anything in my absence. 

•••••••••••••

And ...shhhh.... Christmas is around the corner. I've been thinking of presents to be bought. My goal is to buy them here from small businesses before I head back to Texas. Of course, that also means presents to be stuffed into that car. 

Before Christmas comes Thanksgiving. Bunny and I will be in Santa Fe for Thanksgiving. Belle is staying in Florida. The Big Guy and the Hubs will stay in Texas. Too much traveling to get us all together for a few days considering three weeks later it will be  Christmas, when we will all be home. (Yet. Where is "home"?)

I get the feeling this next 6 ½ weeks will fly. 
And my brain will not have the chance again any time soon to wander randomly.
So I guess I'm grateful it's getting a little exercise now.

*

me....