The great mysterious outdoors and grandkids

So, hubby and I babysit our daughter's two kids this week.  I had to do it today ALL BY MYSELF since hubby pulled a muscle in his back and could barely walk.

What troubles me is that the parents of these two (ages 10 months and 3.9 years) DO NOT let them play outside.  PERIOD.

Hmmmm......

They do take them for a nightly walk (not this week because they both have colds).  But, during the day, it is VERBOTEN to go outside.  Grass, blooming citrus trees...OH THE HORROR!

Okay.  I get it.  Some people have hay fever.  My mother had it HORRIBLY.  Our son has to take allergy shots.  Our daughter is allergic to every animal on earth and every plant.

But, HOW in the world are kids going to learn about the Earth and the world if they aren't exposed to it?

These two will NEVER drink out of a hose.  They will NEVER chase butterflies.  They will NEVER stomp in mud.  NEVER.  EVER.

I'm deeply troubled by this.  How are they going to know how to SURVIVE in this world if they do not KNOW this world?  As you recall, I TRIED to get the nearly 4 year old to come enjoy and appreciate my vegetable garden.  Upon seeing the first ant, she sprang into her mother's arms and refused to be sat down upon terra firma.

SAY WHAT?

Dirt isn't DISGUSTING.  Dirt is beautiful.  I work in the dirt.  My hands get dirty.  Sometimes I even...shudder...add COMPOST and horse manure to my garden!  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!  How are these two kids going to learn how to use and grow things if they NEVER touch soil?

The other two (our son's two children) are ALMOST as bad.  I do, however, take the 9 year old grandson out to the creek in Temecula where we listen to birds, see the migratory ducks, and listen to the bullfrogs.  Then he goes back into his sealed house where the air conditioner is running even in winter!

I know some readers DO take their grandkids out to national parks.  That's my plan.  I just hope their parents ALLOW ME to do this!!!!!!!!

I'm troubled.

~Cheryl Ann~

In the DOG FOOD!!!!

We are babysitting both of our daughter's kids this WHOLE WEEK. One is 10 months and the other one is nearly 4.  The 4 year old is a good helper.  The 10 month old is a pain in the patootie. He gets into EVEERYTHING!!!!!!!  Grandpa and I are tired and cranky.  She took them both to the doctor yesterday~they both have a virus...mucus, cough, runny noses.  I'm pretty sure we'll be back tomorrow.  Then we get the weekend to recover :-)

So, this morning, I heard squeals of laughter coming from the bathroom.  That could mean only ONE THING~  SOMEBODY was into the dog bowl~either the water or dog food.  It was the dog food.  He's managed to crawl down the hallway now 3x and get into it, so I picked it up off the floor (Grandma is a SLOW LEARNER!) and put it up on the counter.  GUESS WHAT?  Silence isn't golden...I knew he had crawled down the hallway AGAIN and yup!  He was standing on his sister's chair, grabbing the dog bowl from the counter!

DOOR SHUT.  Enough of this!

So, I took him out to the living room where he was chewing on Grandpa's shoelaces!  Now, this is after 2 days ago he BIT ME on my big toe and then bit Grandpa on one of his toes!

OY!

1 more day of babysitting this week.  I think I'm going to need 2 beers tonight.

Here is the little MONSTER:

SLEEP? What's THAT????????

My husband and I now have very strange sleep patterns.  I usually toddle off to bed around 8 p.m.  I've done that my entire life~"early to bed, early to rise".

HE, on the other hand, has always been a night owl.  Our son and his dad used to stay up until midnight watching movies on tv together while I was off snoring in the bedroom.  I would awaken at the crack of dawn (or before), tidy up the house, feed the animals, and get ready for work.  My husband would sleep in as late as he could, rush to get ready for work, and run out of the house.

Well, now that we are both RETIRED, I still go to sleep at 8 p.m., but I awaken at ... 3 AM.  YES!  (like this morning... it was 3:30 a.m.)  I guess 7 hours is enough.  Sometimes after breakfast I will go back to sleep for an hour and I always take an after-lunch nap.

Hubby stays up until midnight or 1 a.m. and then sleeps in until 10 a.m.  Some mornings, however, he awakens at 3 a.m. and he'll stay awake until about 6, then go back to sleep.

I mentioned this to our doctor and she said humans aren't supposed to sleep 8 hours straight.  REALLY?  I never heard that before.

Has your doctor said anything like that?  Are our bodies adjusting to the time change (longer daylight hours)?  What's going on?

I kind of like my morning "quiet time".  I get a lot of things done!

Visit from the granddaughter yesterday

So, the granddaughter (and her mom) came by to visit my garden yesterday. I'd been telling the nearly 4-year old about it for WEEKS and invited her to stop by.  They don't stop by often because our daughter is allergic to EVERY TREE we have in the yard and our dog.  So, they don't stop by often.

I was disappointed.

First, she was wearing... sandals!  Now, we had set this up ahead of time.  I invited her to come see my garden (my attempt to get her outdoors)...and she's in sandals.

This led to:

  (1) She stated she didn't like ants and when she saw ONE ant, she flew into her mother's arms.  Now, remember, she's almost 4...

(2) Her mother then had to CARRY HER the entire time she was here due to the one ant she saw.

(3)  She announced, "I don't like dirt! There's too much dirt here!"  Well, there went any enthusiasm for the garden..

(4)  "I wanna go HOME!"

I gave up.  She did kinda sorta see the garden, but couldn't wait to get out of our yard.  Oh, and she saw "dog poop"!  That cemented the idea that our yard is unsuitable for her.

LOOK HONEY...

You have 300 years of farmers on my dad's side of the family.  You have another 300 years on my mom's side.  (OK...maybe not from my husband's lines...his ancestors were river captains and sea men...He has a LONG Drake line...)

I'm TRYING to educate the grandkids so that someday, if they need to, they can GROW FOOD.  What a concept!

I saw an article on Facebook yesterday about survival skills.  Knowing how to grow FOOD is a survival skill.  My own maternal grandparents had a beautiful garden.  They grew corn, rhubarb, tomatoes, cabbages, green onions, radishes, cucumbers...whatever it was, my maternal grandfather could grow it.  He had a garden at his house and one up at my mom's house.  Grandpa came EVERY DAY and tended her garden. He did this even when he could barely drive and was stooped over. (He lived to be 97...)  He came from GOOD FARM STOCK.  His brothers all lived into their 90's.  (There were 12 siblings).

...sigh...
I shall continue the uphill battle of wits and wills.
~Cheers~
~Cheryl Ann~
Photos:

 That's me on my grandpa's knee up at the garden at my parents' home...Grandma is holding my 1st cousin...

 Me & Grandpa Parks.  I've traced other male members of his line and he was of Viking blood...tall, blonde, blue eyed.  I get my blue eyes from him.  Everybody else in the family has green eyes.  I miss him every day.  He used to take me to the track (Santa Anita), give me $2.00 and I would come home with $10.  I LOVED going with him to the track.  My grandmother's brother was a trainer there and we went to Santa Anita, Hollywood Park, and Del Mar every year during the 1950's and 1960's.

My garden in December. I bought NON-GMO plants ONLY.  None of that GMO crap in MY garden!

My garden February 11th.

  LOOK how the cabbages have grown!  I throw alfalfa (from the ranch) into a bucket, fill it full of water, and then water the vegetables with it.  I swear...they double in size overnight!  They also were planted in plant debris from the cottonwood tree and yard, so there is organic matter beneath them.  Additionally I spread compost around them and dump my coffee grounds once a week around them.  They are THRIVING!!!  And, today they are getting RAIN!!!  Oh, and my tomatoes already have blooms on them.

I shall continue the battle with the granddaughter, but she's a real "girly girl"...sigh...

Babysitting

Well, we didn't go up to Oak Glen.  I was just too tired.  I admit it.

However, last night I got GOOD NEWS from my doctor!  Hubby and I had our blood work done last week (I fasted from carbs for 2 days this time!) and my TOTAL CHOLESTEROL is EXCELLENT!  Triglycerides, HDL, LDL are all low!  And, what's really STRANGE is that I eat 2 pieces of toast every morning with ... HORRORS... BUTTER!  However, it is ORGANIC butter.  I really think that makes a difference!  And, my glucose was.....(...drum roll...) 101!  Last time I went in, it was 119.  Ugh.  I am really trying to watch the amount of sugar I eat.  (My aunt on my father's side died of diabetes at age 52 and I also have it on my mom's side)... So, that's GOOD NEWS!  I'm also drinking a lot of organic tea (Clark's or Whole Foods or Sprouts) daily, so maybe it is flushing out my body?

BUT...I digress...

Wednesday and Thursday we had to babysit the nearly 10-month old.  He is crawling EVERYWHERE and getting into EVERYTHING!  He's very active.  Fortunately, however, he still takes 2 naps every day!  However, I didn't completely understand his schedule Wednesday and I forgot to feed him at 8 a.m. and give him a bottle at 11:00 a.m., so he was "off schedule" that day and CRANKY!  I thought his 8 am schedule was done by... HIS PARENTS (silly me!)...they fed him at 6 a.m. so no wonder he was cranky and SCREAMING!  By yesterday I had it FULLY EXPLAINED to me!  Phew!

I think he is giving me an "F" in babysitting!!!!   He sure had fun crawling ALL OVER grandpa!

I had a "Raising Arizona" minute, however, yesterday.  Our daughter's house has a metal screen on the front door and I've always had trouble closing it.  So, GUESS WHO crawled DOWN the hallway, pushed on the door, OPENED the screen, and was sitting on the front step when I looked for him?   YUP!  You've never seen me move so fast!  I ran out and grabbed him off the front porch!  I didn't even know I could run that fast!  I also screamed and woke up Grandpa!  Phew!  I think I got 20,000 new gray hairs that moment!  Little BUGGER!!!!

Today I'm meeting our daughter and granddaughter and we are all going to the library!  Tomorrow we are expecting rain, so I'll run out this afternoon and plant some of my sunflower seeds.  They will love the rain!

Cheers!  Have a good weekend.  Daughter gets a 4 day weekend, so she's happy!
~Cheryl Ann~

So how was my birthday? You have to know!!!!!

I did drive up to the horses Monday.  Hubby wanted me home RIGHT AWAY, so I basically unloaded 2 bags of pellets and threw them at them and then hustled back into my car...sigh...I was hoping to return Thursday, but that won't happen.

After I got home, I had to mail out a book I sold on Amazon, so, as I was driving back from the post office, I heard a "thump, thump, thump".  Upon returning home, I looked at the two tires on the driver's side, since that's where I heard the sound.  Yup.  My back left side tire was... NEARLY FLAT!  I'm surprised I got down the mountain on it.

And, since I knew I had to pick up the grandkids Wednesday, There was NO WAY I was going to let this go...

So, yesterday I set out to go to my favorite car shop (they could fix the tire, too) for an oil change, but...IT WAS FLAT!  So, after a call to AAA, I set out for the shop.  They did the oil change and had to fill up the tire 2x!  The manager filled it up right before I left and told me to drive it STRAIGHT to the tire store (it had a hole/slash on the whitewall and couldn't be repaired), so off I went to the tire shop (praying that I would make it there...)

And, OF COURSE, they don't stock that tire anymore!  NOPE!  Now, those tires were barely 2 years old, so I asked them to look up my purchase and indeed, it was still under warranty!  However, I DID have to buy a new one (and they provided another one under the warranty), so now I have 2 Goodyear tires on front and the 2 Pirelli ones on the back...I only had to pay for the one, however, and THAT was $175.00!!!!!

But, my car rides so much better now...HOWEVER...I do need new back brakes!

However, hubby surprised me with a candle on a chocolate brownie with frosting, ice cream, and raspberries after dinner!  Ahhhhhhh!!!!   :-)

Then, our daughter texted hubby and asked if we could babysit the little man (9 months old) for 2 days!  He has a fever and can't go to daycare!  So, we are babysitting.  Good thing hubby is here to help me entertain the little guy!  He can sure MOVE (crawl)...and he gets into absolutely EVERYTHING!!!  Fortunately he is down for his afternoon nap and I can now eat my lunch! I put him in the stroller and took him for a walk and then let him crawl all over the back porch (his mother is going to KILL ME because his jammies are FILTHY!)...but the outside air wore him out and he is... ASLEEP!   :-)

Little man!  He now has 2 teeth on the bottom (this is from January)...

\

For Al...COWBOY BARK!

I ran into our local Trader Joe's yesterday and for the first time EVER I noticed the "Cowboy Bark".  Of course I had to grab a bag!

OHMYGOODNESS!!!!

That stuff is addicting!  I don't need any more inches around my waist, however...sigh...

Hubby is taking me to Oak Glen this morning for lunch (for my birthday)...Yes, I'm finally 65!  Ugh.  Not sure if I should be glad or not...

~Cheers!~
Cheryl Ann

Heading up to the horses today!

Today I'm heading up to the horses for a visit.  FINALLY!  I've only been able to visit them once a month for the past several months due to all the snow and rain!  Can't very well do anything with them on a rainy day!  However, today is sunny and bright!  BUT...2 new storms are heading toward Southern California by the end of the week and then next week, too...sigh...

I'm taking one of my retired teacher friends and her daughter with me today.  They want to meet & greet the horses!  So, off we will go!

My garden continues to grow and thrive.  It's AMAZING what horse manure and compost will do!

 Cabbages are healthy and THRIVING!!!!!

More cabbages, cauliflower, and chard!  ALL HEALTHY!  No critters!

I don't see any more "eaten" leaves on my cabbages, so I do believe the "critters" are gone.  Also, the 3 little cabbages which were nearly eaten have come back and are growing nicely.  I'm so thankful and happy to have a garden this year!  I go out every morning and inspect it.  I'll pick up some more HORSE MANURE from the ranch today and bring it back down.  My tomatoes are doing nicely, too!  Some already have blossoms on them.  I'm wondering whether or not I should pinch those back?  Any advice?  It's still too early, don't you think?

~Cheryl Ann~

A couple of updates

We're NOT going to the Sierra (Bishop, CA)...the area would have been between storms the days we had planned on going, but now the forecast has moved the storm ahead a day and we don't wish to be caught in snow and ice.  I'm a native Californian who has only once driven through snow (up in Idyllwild) and hubby would have to do it (remember, HE is from Pennsylvania) and he's just not up to it anymore.

So, we cancelled our reservation.  We might go up there in March or April instead.

Second, my garden is THRIVING!  I had put some compost in a bucket out back.  Then we had 2 rain storms (almost 2" of rain here in the desert).  When I remembered to look in the bucket, it was FULL of water!  So, I poured the water over my vegetables and I swear  (I'm NOT kidding!) they doubled in size overnight!  AWESOME!  I'm going to run out this morning and take photos and I'll add them to this post.  "compost tea!"

Other than that, not much going on.  I did open an ETSY shop and it has taken me ALL WEEK just to get this much done!  We probably have (like Al)...over 5,000 photos over the years (I think our earliest digital ones were back in 2006)...I have to go through each file, look at the photos, and see how big they are.  Some of my earlier cameras didn't have big files, but I can still make prints off those photos.  It's just that they aren't very exciting!

Anyway, PLEASE do stop by and take a look around my ETSY shop!  I NEED VISITORS!  (and I haven't sold anything yet...sigh...). My prices are very reasonable!

I'm going up to the horses Monday and taking one of my retired teacher friends with me.  Oh, and her 28 year old daughter wants to come meet the horses, so she will also come!  That should be a fun afternoon!  We are doing it Monday because they, too, will be in between storms!  OY!

Thanks for visiting my store!  I really do appreciate it!  Here is the link:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DesertsandBeyond?ref=search_shop_redirect

~Cheryl Ann~
Cheers!

A favor...

Good morning!

I have a favor to ask everyone here...

Can you please go to this link on my Fine Art America page and LOOK at my photos sometime this week?  I only have 13 so far because I finally realized that some of the ones I'd posted (another dozen or so...) weren't large enough!  If you click on a photo, you'll see what's available...cards, prints, etc...

Hubby has now adjusted my camera settings so that it will now take larger images.  PHEW!

Anyway, here they are...I'm still going through 10,000 photos and trying to find large ones, so it will take TIME!!!

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-cheryl-dean.html?tab=artwork

THANK YOU SO MUCH!   :-)
Cheryl Ann

Where shall we go? SIERRA NEVADA!

We've been at home now since October, 2016 and haven't taken a trip since then.  Frankly, I'm still paying off that one!

However, hubby has had his eye on the webcams up at Mammoth and June Lake and so we are in the planning stages for a future trip to the eastern Sierra!  WHOOPIE!  With the snow levels there the highest in 22 years, I'm excited!  Not sure yet when it will be, however...he's just at the "looking" stage.  That will mean days and days of comparing hotels, AB&B's, and other housing options.

He DID find a nice place down in Julian for another trip.  I'm going to have to squeeze, scrimp, and save my pennies to afford two trips, however, now that I'm retired!

I expect we'll take a run over to Julian before too long to check out the house there...I see a ROAD TRIP in the future!

Take care.
Cheryl Ann

I'm reposting this for Doug, of Miss Adventure Travels...these are just a FEW of the sculptures at the Aguanga sculpture garden, near 371 and 79.  You have to travel toward Temecula about a mile west of the intersection and it is on the north side of the road.  You'll begin to see some of the sculptures up on the hills and you'll see a huge stagecoach, with horses, out front.  YES!  These are the same artist who did the ones down in Anza-Borrego!  Thank you, Spare Parts!  I forgot to mention that... Ricardo Breceda.  He has 20 acres there.  Here's an article about the Aguanga garden:   http://anzavalleyoutlook.com/arts/renowned-metal-sculptor-moves-to-aguanga/

I hope you and Yuma can make it there someday!

Cheryl Ann

Here's one post:     http://rav4adventures.blogspot.com/2016/06/return-to-metal-sculpture-garden.html

Here's the original post:      http://rav4adventures.blogspot.com/2016/01/metal-sculpture-garden-aguanga-ca.html

What shall we do today?

Our weeks have settled into a fairly predictable pattern.  We like to visit our son and his family over in Temecula about 2x a month.  He works all week, so that is a Saturday or Sunday trip.

I babysit the 3 year old and the 9 month old grandchildren every Wednesday afternoon.  Yesterday the 9 month old didn't want his diaper changed and he flipped over every chance he got and crawled NAKED all over his room with me trying to catch him!  OY!  I FINALLY got a fresh diaper on him (kind of...), but then I had to get his clothes back on.  He was soaked from day care (I'm not sure how he got so completely wet)...BUT HE DID!!!

Then the 3 year old wanted me to come sit on her bed and she was going to read me a book!  (yeah, right...) In the meantime, her brother was pulling books off her bookshelf and he crawled into her closet and was going after her tu tu.  OY!  I need 1 more of me to handle them both at once!

Next was dinner time.  I ended up wearing most of his peas and beans.  I even had some in my hair and glasses!  OY!

Daddy appeared at 5:30 and my hair was a hot mess and I was so tired I wasn't sure I could drive home (20 minute drive).  I made it home and had a brandy and fell asleep for... 2 HOURS!!!!

Anyway, I digress...

Wednesday is errand day.  We have our local farmers' market and hubby actually enjoys walking around, so we go there first.  Then we run errands.  It seems to be grocery day, too.

I try to get together with my fellow retired teachers at least once a week and that seems to be on Fridays.

So, there is our week.

And, HERE is the little critter who gets into EVERYTHING and can CRAWL faster than a race horse!!!!!
(and who spits his peas ALL OVER grandma!)