Holding back the storm

I love my view of the Wind River Mountain Range.  It's been interesting to watch the high peaks holding back the storm clouds from advancing into the valley.  I think the mountains have been getting quite a bit of snow lately...and that will be a big help for our farmers this spring.

A touch of green

It's been unseasonably warm and quite a treat to be outside in some sunshine again.  Yea!  I noticed that a big juniper bush which I was afraid I might lose, is getting it's "green" back.  It appears it will survive.  Most all the others have not, so I'm thankful this on has made it.  It might be because it is on the southeast side of the house, instead of the north. 

So many people have lost junipers and pine trees, and probably, many like me, have had professional tree care people come in and help save what we have left from the drought conditions.  It will be interesting to see how everything looks once spring growth begins to break through.

It's a Monday

No pictures today...

For some reason, my phone/camera will not show up on the screen to download pictures.  I guess it's finally time to take the computer in to the shop and have it looked at/updated.

Anyway, I was watching the clouds as they move in from the west, but the mountains are holding them back, hoping for more moisture to fall over the peaks and valleys.  We are getting close to having enough water in the mountains, but we still need more over the next few months.

One of the neighbors down the road must have purchased new motorcycles, as they have been buzzing around all morning and early afternoon.  There might be some other scenario; regardless, the weather has invited them out. It is pretty darned warm for mid-Feb.

As long as the wind is blowing 50 mph, it's invitingly delightful to wander outside. 

Brickless off the needles

After some long rows of purple, the Brickless is finally off the needles.  Here it is blocked and drying. That's a mighty colorful towel behind it, eh?  About the worst way to photograph the scarf!

One of my friends stopped by and saw it drying; she said it looked like a shark.

Slow going on the needles

The Brickless Scarf is slowing coming along; I just haven't spent a lot of time the last few days clicking the needles.  However, the purple is becoming more prominent.

Fresh leaves

I was looking at one of my favorite house plants which seems to be doing pretty well in its present spot.  Right now it gets lots of indirect light, but as the sun comes around more to the west, I may have to find a new spot.

I noticed the leaves were looking a bit dusty and could use some refreshment.  I immediately remembered my mom and how she would occasionally refresh her plants.  She would take a little dish of milk and some cotton balls and carefully wipe the dust off the leaves with the milk-soaked cotton balls.  I wonder where she got that idea.  The leaves always looked so nice after she finished. But milk?  I have not googled this idea; I just know it seems to work for me too.

Colored pencils

I'm giving it a try.

Yes, I found my colored pencils, but had to buy another box just to get a few more necessary colors.  I also bought some kind of colored pens, but haven't opened them yet to see how they will work.  I thought that since I started with a set of colored pencils on this picture, I would continue. 

This is SLOW going because the drawing is so detailed and the lines of color so thin.  I've spent several hours on this already.  Pictures which are not so detailed would be a welcomed change!

At sunset

I've noticed some beautiful sunsets over the mountains lately.  I should have used my camera, rather than my phone for this shot; a sunset gives you so little time to get the right equipment at hand!

Coloring Book

When I was a the lighthouse in October, one of my friends brought along three adult coloring books.  I had never seen them before, and they were beautiful images to color.  I don't remember too much coloring going on, because we had so many other things we wanted to do, but the books were there if we wanted to do a little coloring.

Then, for Christmas, I was gifted this beautiful coloring book.  The images are very attractive and would be fun to color.  I looked for my colored pencils and found a set of 12 colors.  I think I might want to invest in some more colors and maybe some gel pencils...I'll have to see what's available locally.  I just haven't made the time to do so.  Knitting is my go-to activity for relaxing or decompressing.

Have you seen a variety of adult coloring books?  Have you done some coloring?

Progress in purple

I finally reached the color change in this skein of yarn.  Yahoo.  The Brickless scarf is coming right along, but because I continue to add more stitches to the needles, it is taking considerably longer to complete a few rows!  I'm liking the transition to purple a lot. 

Oh yeah, and of course I watched the Super Bowl, and am thrilled that the Broncos won the champion title.  With all the hype about the Panthers, and how everyone was betting in their favor, I was worried about the game. (I saw them in the playoffs, and they were impressive.)  But, if anything, this game showed how awesome the Denver defense really is, as it took Newton right out of playing the way he's used to. I never would have guessed that Denver would take the lead and keep it throughout the game.  The fact that they got an offensive touchdown and a 2 pt. conversion at the very end was good frosting on the cake!  I'm happy for Manning and the Broncos!!  Way to persevere through the challenges of the season!

Wood pile

Today was cold, and I see that more snow is predicted before this front moves through. Brrr.  Seems like I've been hauling in and burning quite a bit of wood. 

It's finally February... and like January, I'm afraid it's going to be more of the same in terms of weather.  I was trying to think about what has stood out to me about February in the past, some thread I could pick up on.  I used to get out in the cold a whole lot more when I went downhill skiing on the weekends, but that was years ago.  I don't so much relish getting out in the cold any more; I can see why people flock to more southern climates when the opportunity is there. The only thread I can pick up on is "it's winter in the Rocky Mt. states, and it's going to be cold"!

Closet attack

Is it too early for some spring cleaning?  Not here, where the cleaning of an upstairs closet was long overdue.  I repeat, LONG overdue.

A cold winter's day is perhaps a great time to tackle something like this.  This is something I definitely do not enjoy doing, but feels so good when it's done!

In the end, I took three bags of clothes to a local "gently used" clothing drop-off.  And I threw away many more bags of  "stuff" that just needed to go...outdated, did not fit, haven't seen it in years, don't need it.

The picture is bad...but hey, it's just garbage.  Whew...glad to get rid of it.