Liquid Silver

We had an unseasonably warm day for end of November, post Thanksgiving when our Colorado weather ought to be raging, according to some. The high 80 miles to the south in Denver broke a record with 81 degrees, the new high for the date. No wonder when some vacation here they decide to move here only to be shocked when Colorado's weather gets it revenge with sub zero temperatures and blowing snow. Tomorrow will be another day with cold weather promised.

Speaking of Denver. We took the grandsons home Wednesday after having them for a few days. Jacob and the Head Gardner spent their quality time deer hunting while little Nathan kept me company. He has become great friends with the little boys next door. While Nathan is the city boy living in the Cup de Sac, John plays hard and rides a kid sized four wheeler. It has been a challenge to keep Nathan off of the machine, but with the permission of his mother and under the supervision of John's mother, Nathan took his first ride.

These machines pose a certain risk, but the main rule is always safety first and with mom's supervision, John gave Nathan good instructions and Nathan had a good time. I hope we didn't get something started. 

We dropped the boys off and headed home at the height of rush hour just as the sun was setting behind the Rocky Mountains. We were on an over pass with a spectacular view of the city skyline and while the orange tinted clouds over the mountains in the western sky were spectacular, I chose to photograph with my iPhone camera the eastern sky above the city, a delicious pale pink and pleasant blue. The photos taken with the live action feature on now look bit blurry and the reflection of the sun is not quite as spectacular, but the colors are pretty.

The glass buildings looked like liquid silver, shimmering in the late evening sun. Denver is growing so fast as illustrated by the number high rise cranes used to stack one floor on top of another. While I am not a city girl, I do enjoy the beauty of the city. 

I've been laid up for the last couple of days with a bum knee. It is feeling better tonight. Tomorrow I am off to the university to tutor. It is the last week of the fall semester. I'll limp my way into the building. The Head Gardner returned to the corn fields of eastern Colorado to help with the last fields of corn and then I do believe he will retire from his second career. 

So. It is quiet here again. Have you begun your Christmas decorating yer?  I put lights and garland on the fence out front Saturday. I decided that this year we would light the place up, having skipped last year, so I decorated the corner of the fence, but the lights are not yet plugged in. I love Christmas lights, but it is a lot of work to hang the lights and the weather has to be warm, too. The HG will have his work cut out when he returns by the end of the week. My Christmas tree won't go up for a couple of weeks yet. I always feel the pressure to get things decorated, but I really don't need to hurry, do I. 

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

Linking with Normandy Life. Hope to see you there.

Fall Lingers On

The house is quiet this week. The Head Gardener has our fourteen year old grandson out in Eastern Colorado deer hunting. My 8 year old grandson is here keeping me company. He is very good company, too. We have stayed busy. His favorite thing to do is go down the road to the Rec Center and swim. I enjoy swimming, too. He also enjoys spending time with the the nine year old boy next door.

As you can see, "Welcome to the Garden Spot has a new look--a temporary one. I dumped Picasa because I have so many photos that it bogged down. I just updated my Mac laptop os and the Photos Ap has been improved, but still does not offer a collage maker, so I found one in the App Store, Collageit Pro, only $9.99. I downloaded the free the version first to try it out, finding it limiting, but liking it, so I decided to buy the Pro version.

If you have a Mac, you might like it. I have tried some of the on line collage makers and sometimes they are very slow and I am cheap so I didn't want to spend the money for on line access. So if you are Mac user and are looking for a new collage maker, I think you should take a look at Collageit.

I could name this mosaic "Signs of the Season" with the skim of ice on the surface of the pond and the Canada geese moving from one field to another by the thousands, honking and talking to each other along the way. Then Nathan hanging upside down to show me his new trick on the swing set on our way to feed the horses and hens, bit of morning sun filtering through the  pine tree. Last, the odd looking thing attached to the chimney on the play house is a bird house that John and Nathan built and installed. John is quite the little character with his power tools.

The merchants around town have their Christmas decorations up and this is my favorite window at a little Antique store here in our little village, Blooms and Heirlooms. Ann creates the prettiest Christmas trees. I love this all white display with pretty tree and the lovely white deer statures, but my favorite is the beautiful angel. Ann purchased a mannequin and found a very inexpensive wedding dress at a thrift store for the angels beautiful gown. The photo really isn't that good because of the glare on the window and sometimes I am thinking that my phone camera doesn't focus as well as it should.

I wish you all state side a Happy Thanksgiving. Will you be cooking? This year Jennifer will prepare the dinner. I'll make the pecan pies for our son-in-laws. I nearly fainted when I saw the price of pecans, but I make the pies once a year. My goal is not to over eat. I promise. 

Thanks for visiting. Join us at Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Life in Normandy.

EEEK! A Mouse

A Flight Plan

It has been a slow week. The Head Gardner came home from corn harvest late Friday and left again early this morning. The weather has been decent for the harvest crew--over a hundred miles east of us--but problems with the machinery breaking down have slowed down the combining of the corn  this year, robbing the farmers of precious work time.

My husband apologizes for being gone for so long, but I told him that I get along okay. The first couple of days, I am lonesome, but as the hours pass and the days go by, I adjust to him being gone--knowing, of course, that he will return. So he left again early this morning, leaving me to keep the home fires burning and doing the chores.

So imagine this: Boone found a young, wounded pigeon in the barn and took it to his master. Surprisingly, he dropped the poor bird and the HG was able to rescue it. He put it in spare dog crate in the chicken coop with food and water then left, leaving me to tend yet another critter. After a few days the young pigeon's leg wasn't tucked up inside the feathers. And one day he was walking on it. Now more active, the pigeon had kicked wood shavings into this food and water, so I opened the door to the crate and reached to give him more food and fresh water. Before I could do anything, the bird took flight, flying into my face and out the the door and into the wild blue yonder.

I called the HG to tell him that his bird had flown the coop, afraid that he would be upset since the night before I threatened to turn it loose since it was better and he asked me to wait until he got home. He took it good naturally, laughing and thankful that the bird healed.

Talking to Mice

With the weather turning colder, little critters come in looking for food and shelter. With hay, grain, and chicken feed there is an endless supply of food for little scavengers. I began stressing mid-day about what I was going write about for this week's post. There really isn't anything very interesting going on here at the Garden Spot. Over the years, I have photographed and written about everything there is, so I am sometimes hard up for topic. So here is what I came up with for this week with inspiration coming while I fed the horses. I always take my phone with me, mostly in case I should fall and need to call for help. 

Here then is Monday's Mosaic:

(Just so that you know, photos are not in sequential order)

Someone did not put the lid back on the can that holds the chicken scratch. So when I reached into scoop up the grain for the hens I was surprised by movement.(Photo top right). The HG got distracted and didn't finish filling the gain bin with the cracked corn and left and= open bag of corn next to the open storage. So I scooped corn into the trash can, filling it up so that little mouse could escape. What a lucky shot of him sitting the edge of the trash can. I had time to take my phone out of my pocket and take two shots.

Bottom left: Sundance has a new stall mate, a mouse snacking on--never mind. You know. The mouse is out there every night waiting for some grain to fall on the floor. Once again I was able to get photos, even with a flash. Risky using a flash--Sundance tends to not like a camera flash, but he remained calm. In the second photo you have to look really really close to see the mouse down in the lower corner.

So. That's the way it is here this week. How are things at your house?

Linking with Normandy Life for Mosaic Monday.  

Happy Birthday

The Boone Doggle turned four Halloween. It's hard to believe that he has been with us for nearly four years. You may well have been with me when I posted about his coming home back then. We had lost our dear, sweet Max and had decided that we really couldn't replace him, so we would not get another dog. The Head Gardner, however, just had to look and you know what happens when you window-shop--or surf the web--you find something, and you go buy it. He found Boone on Pet Finder. com at a kennel in Grant, Nebraska just the other side of the Colorado boarder. In the photo, pictured with his brother and three sisters, Boone was the big male in the back. Gerald called and said, "I want that one, the male in the back, sitting tall."

We drove the two +hours to Nebraska to pick up him. Today he is the Crown Prince of the Garden Spot. Big. Strong. Fast. Smart. Funny. Sweet. Stubborn. He loves to chase the rabbits, play with the grand kids, and harass the poor cat, Mo.

The collage shows him sleeping on the sofa, only because it was his birthday. He even got a Birthday Cake, now his favorite toy that we have to take away from him or he will shred it minutes.

He is a handsome dog, that dark chocolate color with the ticking on his chest. He is across between a weimaraner and a German Short Haired Pointer. He has the build of the weimaraner--larger than the the typical short hair. but he has the color of the short hair. 

He came home with us February 10, 2014.

It was love at first sight at the little animal clinic that also did dog adoptions. He was one of a litter of 13 pups, five of which were surrendered for adoption.

He was so cute and such a handful. His very favorite thing to do: Steel my sock and give it up only when offered a cookie. I said he was smart.

The Head Gardener is still out east working corn harvest. Because we don't have a fenced yard and Boone is inclined to run off, he has to go to the boarding kennel while his daddy is gone. It is a long spell for him. 

It is hard to believe that November is ticking away. The weather has changed dramatically here in Northern Colorado. We are expecting snow all night. 

I am glad to be back blogging. I'll be joining Maggie at Normandy Life. See you there. 

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week.