Action out back and other things

We knew this was likely to happen eventually.  Yet, we were shocked to see a drilling unit out back doing soil test samples.  I think I probably told everyone about the ATV and the guys back there a couple of weeks ago.  Hubby talked to them and they said they may purchase the property and were looking around.  They had permission, they said.  However, no motorized vehicles are allowed back there in the desert.  There are people who do disregard the signs and end up back there a time or two every summer.

A drilling rig taking soil samples and stirring up dust

The drilling rig has moved to the bluff behind the house

But then a few days ago a drilling rig showed up back there to take soil samples for testing.  We found out the property was sold to Entrata, which is home to the very ritzy developments around here.  This wouldn’t be a real bad thing as long as they don’t build up behind our house.  It’s way too damp back there and I think it would be pricey to bring it up to code for housing.  But sometimes that kind of stuff is ignored.  There’s an underground river that runs through this area.  The water table is very high.  There have been issues with some homes here due to water.  But we’re on the edge of that river, so our lot isn’t affected by this.  I think they must have filled in the exposed parts of the river years ago and then built there.  The team taking the samples said it was very wet and soft. 

We’re hoping the developer is smart and will give this property to the city so that it can stay nice like it is now.  There are wildlife living there and many walking trails that have been there for years.  I hate to see the landscape torn up and the critters disrupted from their homes.  The old lava beds can never be replaced.  It’s very sad that the big shots think we need more homes.  Time will tell what happens.  Otherwise, we’ll move I guess.  Where, I don’t know.

The drillers are still back there drilling holes and taking samples today, even though it was snowing earlier.  I hate that.  It’s so freakin’ cold.  I’m glad it didn’t last long and didn’t stick because it’s too wet from the ice rain we had earlier.  It’s about twenty degrees cooler than normal here.  Where are you spring?

On the work front, the last couple of weeks the new boss has been out for some major, unexpected surgery.  It’s such a nice stress-free zone and happy place right now.  We have that old vibe back.  She’s planning on coming back on the first, which is way too soon in my opinion.  But I guess she’ll find out for herself.  I’m going to try my best to work with this woman, but it’s difficult.  I really need a different job where I can dress the way I want and wear my jewelry and let my hair down.  I got to do a rare demo where I could do that yesterday (not the jewelry part, but the rest) and I got so many compliments.  I felt more normal and wasn’t the lunch lady.  Oh well…well see. 

Me in break room at work

Rules, rules and more new rules at work are all enough to handle.  Now the newest thing is removing our hats when on breaks and lunches.  Everyone is beside themselves because the store has operated just fine for the last seventeen years without us removing our hats.  So we’ve all got new hats to put on over our hairnets because who wants to walk around in a hairnet?  We all wonder what’s next.  How do you like my hat?  I may as well make a statement about how silly this is.

My Rolling Stones visor for breaks and lunches at work

Oh, drat, it’s snowing again!  Winter doesn’t want to go away this year.  If this keeps up, we’ll have snow on the ground tomorrow.  Yuck!

Snowing

Snowing

Snow in backyard

There is life beyond work

It’s occurred to me that I’ve really been complaining about work lately so I think it’s time to write about something else altogether for a while.  While it’s true a lot of my time is taken up with work, there’s also life beyond the world of food demos. 

We’ve had some gorgeous sunsets here in the desert and I’ve managed to capture a few of them.  I just love all the oranges along with the gold and pink.  Sadly sunsets never last long enough for me.  I’m not always in a position to grab the camera soon enough either.  Sometimes the pinks and oranges give me a 360 degree view and that’s impossible to capture in one picture.  It’s a nice five to ten minute feast for the eyes though.

 Sometimes the rocks and mountains behind the house light up at sunset

Hubby got a shot of this big hawk on the roof the other morning

 

We’re also beginning to get just a small taste of the spring weather that’s coming and not too soon for me.  A few days ago it was in the low 60’s here, sunny with beautiful puffy clouds all over and just beautiful.  We had a slight breeze and it was so nice I would have liked to have bottled that day.  The next day it was back to the gloomy business with more rain and it was quite a bit colder again.  We’ve had a lot of rainy days this year, but I guess that’s better than snow and ice.  Luckily we’ve only had one day of that so far and it was hailing one night when I got off work, so that wasn’t at all fun to be out in.

 Koki likes to chase her tail on this level of the cat tree.  She's done this all her life.  She'll be twelve in May.

Raven and Koki on the cat tree

 

My cats are playing together more, which makes me very happy.  The two of them only have each other now so it’s good they can get along.  Of course I get no sleep when they both pile on the bed because one sleeps on my pillow and the other on my legs.  But I can’t throw them off the bed.  They won’t be around forever and I know I’m gone working a lot so I’m glad they’re happy to see me.

Koki sharpening those claws to attack me with later.  LOL

 

Raven with the new toy I got him for Christmas

 

On another note entirely, I’m not writing as much as I used to (except for blog posts) because I simply don’t have the time to sit quietly and think.  I hope to get back to my mystery series of future novels soon.  I found out about a citizen police academy on the radio last week so I inquired about that and have signed up for the classes that start in February.  Of course they do a background check but I expected that.  I wouldn’t want any criminals taking the class with me.  My purpose in doing this is to make my murder mysteries as realistic as I can.  My editor suggested I go to the police department and talk to someone there about protocol, so I figured this would be even better.  This class is two times a week for three months and will cover everything that the police department does.  There will be more about this later.

Some pics of our last snow

I hate winter and the “s” word, but it does make for some nice pictures, especially when it’s up in the mountains and not in your own backyard.  I wanted to share some pics I took from the house.

Only 61 more days until spring.

Traveling the Al-Can Highway

When you drive to Alaska, the Alaska-Canada Highway is the only way to get there.  This is some highway and one you’ll never forget.

 The Alcan Highway

 

When we got the wild hair to go to Alaska we didn’t know what we were in for back in the seventies.  This one-thousand mile road is dirt and not even paved, at least it wasn’t back then.  Of course, we found this out later because when we went in March the road was covered in snow.  Someone told us that it was worse to travel it in the summer when you ate dust the entire way.

The highway weaves in and out, around mountains, and across flatland's.  There was so much snow that the road was like a trench with great walls of snow above six-feet high on each side in lots of places.  Picture driving in the kind of trenches you see in the Olympics for the bobsleds.  Thankfully, you seldom meet another vehicle, but on the downside, this can be a bad thing if you are sucked into the snow bank.  That did happen to us and finally a large truck came along to pull us out.  A person could freeze to death out there in the wilderness.  For March it was cold, no need to worry about food spoiling.

Alaska Landscape

We (there were three of us) slept in the truck.  There are very few motels or gas stations between the long stretches of wilderness. 

It took us about six days to make this trip from Texas.  What a drastic change.  We left the eighty-degree temps for the low twenties.  In Montana, we ran into a blizzard and had to stop for the night because of whiteout conditions.

It’s a good thing we bought several pounds of smoked sausage to take along on the trip because we literally lived on that almost the entire time.  Everything was expensive, so we only got a motel room once on the road.

We had stopped somewhere along the way and were going to try to grill something on a small pit we had in the back of the truck.  What a joke that was.  It was too damn cold to hang around outside.  We crawled back in the truck and broke out the sausage. 

Later, we were sucking fumes so we pulled into a gas station and had to stay there until daybreak when the guy came to work so we could fill up and get on the road.  We ran the motor just enough to take the chill off the truck so we could dose off during the night.  There was nothing else around, just this small gas station in the middle of nowhere.

 Alaska Landscape

 

The night we did have a room, we decided to cook hamburgers. All of us were tired of sausage at that point, although it did hold up well.  We just passed the brown paper bag around and got some out when were hungry.  It was quick and easy eating, but that sausage was getting a bit hard and chewy, more like jerky.

We stopped at a tiny market close by the motel and got the stuff we needed for burgers.  We had the hamburger with us already.  It stayed frozen in the back of the truck since our escapade of grilling it on the side of the road a few days earlier hadn’t worked out.  I think we probably got some produce.  It’s been so long ago I really don’t remember.

Once back at the motel, we had to do what we could in the tiny room with just enough room for two beds.  There was a small bath to the side so we set the mini-Weber grill on the toilet seat.  I know this sounds bad, but you do what you have to do.  We had a good laugh about it all and I’m sure anyone would have thought we were nuts if they could see us cooking food in a bathroom, not exactly the most sanitary place in the world.  Those were the best burgers though and our only real meal since leaving Texas.  Heck, maybe anything would’ve been good.  We were probably just starved for any kind of food besides sausage.

We were all pretty scroungy looking by that time.  It did feel good to take an actual shower that night and get on some cleaner clothes.

That was one long trip.  When we finally arrived at the Alaska state line, we found better roads even if the snow was about the same.  We drove into Anchorage, another few hours away, and ended up in a commune where another friend was staying.  I’ll end this here because life in the commune is a completely different story.

Have you ever endured such conditions or lived in a commune?

The latest fiasco taking up my time

It seems my life is full of trying to figure something out.  Usually this involves some electronic device or other problem that comes up concerning the internet connection or problem with the TV.  I’m always the one elected to solve all these issues in my house.  When it comes to other things, supposedly I don’t know what I’m talking about.  Maybe I get roped into these things because I’m patient and usually will devote quite a bit of time to fixing the issue, whatever it is, even when I don’t know anything about how to go about it myself. 

 This is the range extender

 

This latest problem was another internet issue.  We needed to get a stronger signal downstairs for the computers because the modem and router are upstairs.  When I saw a wifi range extender device I thought that was just the solution to all the problems…WRONG…After four hours over the weekend to try and set this device up, I can honestly say what a mistake that was to even think this could work.  Nothing is ever that easy, is it?

Once I reached my point of exasperation, I tried to call the technician at the manufacturer to give me some pointers and maybe do some troubleshooting from his end.  It’s true I’m quite stubborn, but I did try to call way before this and got no one to talk to, so it was back to the drawing board from my end.

After another hour on the phone, unplugging this and that and changing all kinds of cords and computer settings around, the tech seems to think my router is too old to “talk” to the new device.  While this may be true, it’s still served me quite a few years and still works, but the signal downstairs isn’t as strong as it could be.

Right now my brain is fried and I need to chill out and get away from electronic devices a while.

 A gloomy rainy day

 

Meanwhile, we have rain in the desert today and it’s cold with a high in the mid forties.  There’s a chance of snow mixed with rain tonight and tomorrow.  It’s hard to believe it was in the seventies on Friday and I was wearing a tank top and sandals.

This is Koki's favorite place in my office - the modem

This is Raven under a throw on the couch

Tootie on the couch

The cats are snuggled in where they can find warmth.  Maybe eventually I’ll get back to my book after I get the taxes done, another one of my “jobs.”

Still cold and snowy

Free Clip art

It hasn’t been above freezing here in almost two weeks.  It did make it up to 32 today, so maybe there is hope we’ll see most of this snow melt before we get the next batch.  There’s still a lot of it around.  Our driveway is covered and in places, it is treacherous to walk around because of ice.

A couple of nights ago, it was only six degrees here so I dripped the cold-water faucets, as I always do here in the winter if the forecast is for twenty or lower.  Well dripping the cold water wasn’t even enough in the master bathroom because the hot water pipes were frozen.  That has never happened here before.  I never drip the hot water, but you can bet I’ve starting doing it now.  Last night it was ten degrees.

We borrowed a space heater and kept it aimed at the bathroom cabinets with the doors open.  It took over a day, but the pipes finally thawed and thankfully, they aren’t broken.  Until this cold spell is over, I’ll be dripping those faucets with hot and cold water every night because that wall is on the north side of the house.

One of my sisters called me tonight and said they have an arctic blast coming on Christmas day.  Now this is south Texas and it’s supposed to be in the mid-teens that night.  That rarely happens there.  We had many cold winters growing up, but the weather has gotten a lot milder there than it used to be when I was a kid.  She goes on to tell me we’ll probably get it first because many times that’s what happens.  What a lovely thought this is.

Now I’m wondering how much of this snow will actually be gone before we get the next batch.  We went to Costco today and the parking lot reminded me of some of my days in Alaska.  It is so unusual to see big uneven chunks of ice in the parking lots and snow shoved to the sides of the road.

Our birdbath and water pans freeze solid every night and it takes boiling water to get that ice out of there.  We have to refresh the boiling water several times a day because it’s not long and it’s frozen again.  The strangest thing is that the birds jump into that steaming water and take baths.  That is so unbelievable.  They must be very cold when they emerge all wet and dripping.  I need to download my camera card.  I had to take a picture of that.

I guess that’s all for now from the high desert – a place of extremes.  I’ll post more pics soon.  Stay warm everybody.

We had more snow today than we’ve seen in years.

It really was a staggering sight to see it snow constantly all day beginning at 9:30 am.  At first, it was like fairy dust coming down, drifting and fluttering gently to the ground.  Then it got heavier and thicker as the day went on.  Our eyes were glued to the scene outside the windows much of the day.  I ended up taking 118 pictures of the white stuff – a bit carried away I guess when I think about it.

It hasn’t snowed this much at one time since we lived in Alaska back in the 1970’s when it would snow for days.  This hasn’t stopped and I’m wondering what kind of wonderland will be outside the door when we get up in the morning.

For the most part, the day was quiet with no wind or noise at all.  A bird of prey came and stayed a long time looking for any rustle in the bushes, so he could snatch a meal.  A lone jackrabbit frolicked in the snow in the desert behind the house.  Later, a few birds showed up trying to get anything at all that wasn’t covered in snow.

I wish my camera took better night pics because after the streetlight came on, it cast a soft glow on the glistening snow and the streets in the neighborhood turned white as the flakes kept swirling to the ground.

Here are a few pics I managed to capture today.  Enjoy.  This will be around for a few days as the high tomorrow will be 26 with a low of 6 degrees.  We aren’t warming up above freezing until the middle of next week.  I’m glad I don’t have to leave the house for anything.

 Video pics by Sunni Morris

Music by Aine Minogue - my album

Back Into the Twenties

Free Clipart



Well winter is not over yet – unfortunately. We are back in the 20’s for the next five days with freezing rain and snow. Ugh! This crap is very tiring. But I do not have it as bad as some people do. I realize that. And this will be my last winter like this, I hope.


I could have it like my little sister in New York where her sewer froze and she had to borrow a “honey pot” from the mother-in-law. This little pot is from the mother-in-law’s great, great grandmother so you know how old it is. The weather in upstate NY is deplorable, getting bad there every winter. She is a much more tolerant person than I am because she has put up with that for almost 30 years now. Oh my! Talk about bad conditions. I would have hitched hiked south way before this.

This snow bank in my picture is like what I saw in my introduction to Alaska, in my drive up the Alcan Highway in 1973. It really did look like this in places. It is unbelievable for those of you who have never experienced this. Here I am fretting over a little freezing rain and snow. But as I’ve gotten older, I have become very sensitive to the cold. I can picture myself being one of the little, old ladies wearing a sweater when it’s 90 degrees outside. No joke. I hope that this is one of the last winter storms.