And, now...for a little sunshine!

I love to find water drops on plants.  These beautiful geraniums were also up at the local garden center the same morning that the ice covered the plants in the shade.

Looks like we'll be having another storm and even RAIN on Monday and Tuesday next week!

Garden magic

I drove up to our local nursery yesterday morning about 8:30.  I wanted to see if they had organic seeds for squash and peppers (they did), so I bought a packet each of jalapenos, zucchini, and yellow squash.  Our daughter and son-in-law will be making a spring garden and I wanted to buy organic seeds for it.

This was the morning it was 21 degrees down in Thermal, breaking the previous overnight low of 22.

Our local Santa Rosa mountains have a fresh dusting of snow, so I'll be heading up there later this morning!   :-)

A quiet Christmas (except for the grandkids)

Well, we had a quiet Christmas yesterday, except for the grandkids.  The one year old played with all the wrapping paper and wore herself out in no time! :-)  The 2 3/4 year old got a farm set with a barn from COSTCO and spent the morning grabbing her stuff from the 1 year old.  The nearly 7 year old got Star Wars light sabers and a bunch of other toys and was happy.  Hubby and I got a free breakfast, thanks to our daughter and son-in-law.

I came home for 1/2 the day to do some house chores, feed the animals, and have some quiet time.  I returned about 4 p.m. for a huge dinner.   HOPEFULLY we will get some peace & quiet today!

We've had lots of cloudy skies lately!  And WINDS!  My gosh!~  I thought for sure we would lose a couple of trees, but they are all okay.

Dinosaurs, oh my!

 I love this photo below.  It looks like the kids are with the dinosaurs!

What a fun visit to the Los Angeles natural history museum.  However, yesterday I was SORE, SORE, SORE!  I did manage to drive up to visit the horses, but it was COLD and misting up there, so I didn't stay long.  Brrrrrr~

Have a safe and Merry Christmas!
~Cheryl Ann~

Los Angeles in the clouds

My mom and aunt both taught in Los Angeles.  My mom was over by Second Street Elementary School for years, and then moved to another site.  My aunt taught over by Boyle Heights.  As a kid, I spend a lot of time in Los Angeles.  My dad worked downtown off Spring Street.

However, it has been a while since I was back in LA.  And, you know, I missed it.  I got to see Parker Center, the train depot, and the homeless camp near Grand Street yesterday.  We took our grandson with our daughter and little granddaughter to the natural history museum.  Ben, the nearly 7 year old, had a LOT of questions at the museum and he was busy actually READING the signs!  Of course, he wants to be a scientist.  We didn't get to the space museum next door, and that will be another trip.  But, we arrived at the natural history museum early.

I was busy in the back seat of the car TRYING to get photos of the clouds hanging on the tops of the skyscrapers, but I had to shoot over a 2 year old and away from the pull-down window shade, so it was very difficult!

As much as I LOVE the outdoors, it was good to visit LA again...

Sorry for the poor quality of these photos...it was VERY dark (sprinkling) and it was hard to focus and shoot through the windows!

Off to Los Angeles today (natural history museum)

So, the grandson is into dinosaurs right now (when he isn't into Star Wars!) and we were all talking at a family dinner and decided to take him to the Los Angeles natural history museum today, along with the nearly 3-year old granddaughter.  His parents can't take him.  Dad is working and Mom is taking care of the 1 year old...

So, I had an early wake-up call at 4:30.  Our daughter was awake already.  We found that teachers get in FREE on Tuesdays (yippie), so we both scrambled to find our union cards.  And, the 2 year old is free, so we all only have to pay for the 6 year old.  And, James is coming with us and he is a teacher, too!  (our son-in-law).  It should be a great day and I'm planning on taking 10,000 photos!  Apparently there is also a butterfly exhibit currently, and I'd LOVE to see that!  And, dinner on the way home (if the kids aren't too fussy) will be at Northwoods Inn!  :-)

I'm planning on snoozing the whole way in and back!

Photos starting tomorrow.  Hubby is staying home with the cat and dog.  He got his meds for his back and he isn't going ANYWHERE!

The Cooper's hawk has been on the telephone pole out back now the last 2 mornings.  What a stare!

Saturday

I took is easy Saturday.  All I did was run out to Whole Foods to buy half & half (organic, OF COURSE!) and some frozen chicken wings for the damn dog.  She LOVES them!  And, you should see her coat!  She's all shiny!  Then, over to Target for some laundry soap (too expensive at Whole Foods), then home.  Oh, about noon I ran out for some sandwiches which we ate at 1:30, so we didn't even eat dinner last night.  I cleaned out the hummingbird feeders and put in fresh sugar water and that was it.  Took a one-hour nap and toddled off to bed at 7:30 p.m.  I puttered around on my laptop most of the afternoon and sat and watched the birds outside my office window.  Oh, and we got some light RAIN last night!

I'm research my mom's direct female line and I'm back to Nantucket in the 1800's.  From there, I have a Polly Turner, but no leads and only a couple of Google results mention her.  Well, there were a lot of Scottish ancestors around that time, so I'm okay with that.  She married into my Gardner line, which was a family from Nantucket, along with the Coffin, White, Macy, and Folger families.  However, some of them left Nantucket to go to North Carolina and join a Quaker group there.  I remember my grandmother talking about the Quakers.

Al, I also have an ancestor who was one of the first Mennonite bishops in America, Heinrich Funck (Henry Funk).  But that's on my maternal grandfather's side...

NOT my roses!  I cannot grow roses.  I've tried and tried and tried...these are from our local nursery.

Friday leftovers

TA DA!  It's my last day of school, and then I'll have 3 weeks of peace & quiet & rest.  Hopefully I won't have a cold and be sick the entire winter break!  HA!

Not much new here.  Hubby bent over in the shower and did something horrible to his back Wednesday.  Yesterday I took him to urgent care where he got a shot of SOMETHING.  After that, he was in LaLa Land.  He's happily snoring right now!

Two kids were out yesterday.  I'm hoping some leave for Mexico today and I have a smaller class.  Is that evil of me?

We did an art project yesterday and two boys had to sit on the floor next to me.  One was chasing another student around the room.  OYE VEI!  The other one used about half of my silver stars on his winter scene (I only had 1 package of them) and globbed his glue all over his paper (obviously not following directions).  WHY CAN'T THEY LISTEN????????  So, all the silver stars were GONE in an instant.  OYE VEI!

Phew.  I'm glad winter break is here.

Take care and enjoy your day!
~Cheryl Ann~

Photos are some I didn't post this week...

 Windmills above Whitewater Canyon...

 Pretty colors in the rocks...

The Whitewater river...

Not too much water...

I have to agree with John about GERMS!!!!

John wrote an interesting post:    http://hwyfly.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-germiest-public-places.html?showComment=1450270644965#c5556054598216152805  about germs in public places.

I know he travels a lot and hubby and I like to drive up into the Sierra Nevada and other locations out here in the West and that DOES bring up some interesting issues.

We traveled through New Mexico near Santa Fe and Taos this past summer.  Doesn't NM have RESTROOMS for tourists?  My gosh...I think I only saw one set of them and it wasn't near a picnic spot.  I had to hold it ALL DAY, and at my age (nearly 64)...that's HARD!  Jeez...I'm going to think twice about returning to New Mexico!   :-(

And, yes, I make and take my own do-it-yourself hand wipes.  Take paper towels (the ones you can tear off in the smaller pieces), and cut those in half.  I save my old Lysol and Clorox wipes bottles.  I add vinegar, tea tree oil, lemon oil, even some grapefruit (if I feel giddy), and some glycerine (to soften the mixture).  Soak the paper towels in the mixture and then put them in the used Lysol bottle and add enough water to cover.  I shake it every now and then to make sure they don't dry out.  Don't let these sit too long, however.  I forgot I made one batch and found them a year later...EEWWwwww!  Out they went.

Look, I'm SURROUNDED by 24 germ factories (my students)!  I have a "cleanup crew" that stays after school for about 5 minutes every day and we wipe down all the desks.  Sometimes, if I know kids are sick, I'll completely spray the room with my homemade disinfectant.  I just add essential oils (lemon, peppermint, lavender, tea tree...whatever I have) to water and spray desks, chairs, the sink, and the doorknobs.  I really DO NOT want to get bronchitis again this year.  Two years ago I had it basically ALL YEAR!  Last year, I was out several days in December, then again in February, and again in April.  No wonder I have ZERO sick days left!  Yes, I'm paranoid about germs.  My students travel to Mexico for winter break and come back sick.  Their parents send them to school for BABYSITTING!  (...pulling out hair...)  This year, I have 10.5 hours of sick leave left.  That's 1.5 days.  Do YOU think I'll make it to June on 1 1/2 days sick leave?  I doubt it...

You can make your own DIY disinfectant wipes and/or room spray.  I just googled it and read the recipes.  I DO have a lot of essential oils on hand because our daughter is a representative for DoTerra.  However, I buy a LOT of my own oils from Rocky Mountain oils.  Here's their link:      http://www.rockymountainoils.com/?gclid=CIvN07C54MkCFUiFfgodg1oAOw


If you have any questions, or you would like me to share any recipes, I would be happy to do so.  I do believe that making your own wipes and sprays does save money and is safer for you and your family.

Now, go out and enjoy your day!
~Cheryl Ann~

Water at the Whitewater Preserve

The Whitewater Preserve is set alongside the Whitewater River, which comes down from our local San Bernardino mountains.  The water is used to refill the great underground storage for the entire Coachella Valley, so it is important to us.  And, the snowfall in the San Bernardino mountains provides this water.

I love to go up to the preserve and just watch the water, trout, and birds in their ponds.  It is very restful.

More photos from Whitewater

We are having another night of wind as yet another storm moves in.  I awoke at 3:30 this morning to a howling wind.  Over winter break, I'm going to have to trim the palo verde, which is hanging over the kitchen roof.  I could hear its branches dragging along the roof tiles.

Anyway, here are some more photos from the Whitewater Preserve.  If you are traveling Interstate 10, just get off at the Whitewater exit, and continue north until you run into the preserve.  There are houses along the way, but the road is safe, UNLESS it has rained heavily or there is runoff.  Then, sometimes the road is unpassable, but that's just over the spot where the river runs over the road!  HA!~  There will be a "CLOSED" sign at the bottom of the road, so you will know.

 I love all the ponds there!

 You can go inside the ranger station and get information and see all their photos.

 Lots of picnic areas.

Interesting how there are palm trees among the cottonwoods and sycamores!  A little microclimate!

Whitewater Preserve~beautiful day for a drive

After Friday afternoon's horrible windstorm, I was anxious to get out yesterday morning.  On my way home from school, I could see dark patches where snow was coming down.  One patch was on the mountains above the Palm Springs Indian canyons.  Another one was over Joshua Tree National Park.  I mean DARK!

So, we awoke to fresh snow all over our mountains, especially on Mt. San Jacinto and Mt. Gorgonio.

I FINALLY (about 9:30 a.m.) got hubby to get going and we headed over to the Whitewater Preserve.  We hadn't been there since October (I think...) and I was anxious to see the fall colors there.  And, it didn't disappoint us.  However, the wind was blowing and it was quite chilly!  Brrrrrrrr!

 This was the view as soon as I got out of the car.

 Beautiful colors!

 I love the sycamore leaves!

The ranger station...

MORE photos tomorrow!

It's FRIDAY...FINALLY!

I had computer issues, too, yesterday morning.  The Internet was so slow I gave up and shut down my laptop.  I just gave up!  I couldn't post photos...Hmmmm....I wonder if there was a solar flare?  I always blame solar flares for my Internet issues!

I only have one more week of school and then I have a 3 week winter break!  And, ALL of my 24 students have been at school this week.  I'm sure by next week, some will take off for Mexico.  One of my colleagues already has 6 kids GONE!  Yikes!  I'm actually hoping some of mine DO leave!  HA, HA!

Nothing new here.  Same old, same old. However, my STUPID DOG did break off one of my blue salvias.  She likes to "accompany" me out to the front garden and, as she walked by, I heard it snap and POOF!  It was broken. I'm not happy about that.  And, one of my Lowe's daisy plants died. I'm not happy about that either.  Oh, well...I have plenty of plants now to enjoy!

Now, go out and enjoy your day!
~Cheryl Ann~

And, now, for a little SUNSHINE!

One of my new daisies!

Now, go out and enjoy your day~
~Cheryl Ann~

Good day to work on the garden

Yesterday was a good day to work on my garden out front.  Yes, it was overcast, but the local nursery was deserted!  Ha, ha!  I almost had the place to myself!   :-)  I try to go there every weekend and see what new plants they got during the week.  They had yellow daisies in 3" containers, so I bought two because one of my daisy plants seems to be withering and dying!  OYE!  And, you all know how much I LOVE my daisies!  I bought 3 little blue daisies, 2 petunias, 1 verbena (for the butterflies and hummingbirds), and 1 package of nasturtiums.  I have a couple of them sprouting from last year's crop anyway, so I wanted to fill in the rest of that row with fresh seeds.  So, that kept me and the dog busy for about an hour yesterday afternoon.  Then, back in the house to watch Mr. Holmes.  Great movie!  It's about Sherlock Holmes in his later years.

Now, it's back to school for another week.  No, I didn't make it up to the horses yesterday.  I was busy all day Saturday and yesterday I was just too dang tired to make the drive.  It's a 45 minute drive each way and I would only have had enough energy to throw some pellets at the horses and leave.  Frankly, that isn't worth the gas OR 2-3 hours of my time.  Unfortunately, they will have to wait until next weekend.  I do like to go up, give them an extra feeding, and brush them, but, after running around 6 days, I just didn't have the energy yesterday.  I can't WAIT until I retire!

Take care and have a good week!
~Cheryl Ann~