Mountain views~Our World Tuesday~ 121812

It rained last week and snowed at the higher elevations of our local Santa Rosa mountains.  I headed up there Sunday to buy pellets for the horses and to see the snow.  It was COLD and another storm front was moving in from Temecula.  But, at this hour, the mountains sparkled with the freshness that one sees after a rain storm.  Our World Tuesday for December 18, 2012.

Storm moving out

These were the last clouds from Wednesday's storm.  They were moving out Friday afternoon, but another storm is heading our way.  Snow was down to about 4,500 feet from Wednesday's storm, so it will be interesting to see how much more snow our mountains will receive from this storm.   Ahhhh....winter in the desert!

Frost on the roof

Frost on the roof up in Idyllwild last weekend.  This weekend, there should be SNOW!  :-)

Blue Jays~Nature Notes~121312

I really enjoyed the antics of the blue jays at the cabin up in Idyllwild this weekend.  They really are problem-solvers!  I'd left the plastic bag of peanuts out on the front porch of the cabin and I could hear them getting inside it and taking out the peanuts!  Little buggers!  They sure enjoyed the peanuts and whenever I would throw some out, they would suddenly appear!  Nature Notes for December 13, 2012.  To visit Nature Notes, please go to:   http://ramblingwoods.com/

Idyllwild weekend

Hubby and I spent the weekend in one of the cabins up in Idyllwild.  I needed to get away and so did he.  We stopped by the horse ranch Friday afternoon to check on the remaining horses, and to give them 10 days' worth of psyllium to clean out the sand that they might have in their systems.  We also stopped back on Sunday afternoon.  The ranch owner has agreed to make sure they get it for the next 7 days.  Losing Cali was such a shock to us all, including the ranch owners.  She was such a happy, go-lucky little thing!  But, life goes on.  Our son and grandson spent Saturday night with us up at the cabin and our friends from Pinyon drove up for dinner, too.  We had lamb, chicken, and steak, with artichokes stuffed with garlic.  Oh, and plenty of wine.  We made smores after dinner, since the cabin had a free standing fireplace.  The grandson had a blast feeding peanuts to the blue jays and squirrels and collecting rocks.  Ahhhh...to be 3 years old again!  Life is full of wonder!  We took him for a drive to see the beautiful lit trees downtown and all the lights on the shops.

I don't believe I'll ever get over Cali's loss, but this weekend was a beginning.  Not an easy one without her, but a beginning, at least.

That's all for now.

~~Cheryl Ann~~

Cali is gone...RIP 12/3/12

My beautiful palomino mare, Cali, is gone.  She colicked over the weekend and her heart rate was extremely high, then she had respiratory problems.  Our vet came out to check her and oil her Sunday.  By Monday afternoon, she was put to sleep.  She was FULL of sand and apparently had a tear in her intestines and there was no way he could save her at that point.  She was in toxic shock.

My husband actually purchased both Scout and Cali at one of the BLM online auctions in 2007.  They both came from a Wyoming herd and were yearlings when we got them.  They were so goofy.  Cali was always goofy.  She was very friendly toward people.  Scout was more standoffish.  Cali behaved well and learned quickly and was very gentle.  She would have been the perfect horse for our grandson to ride.

...sigh...Why do the good ones always go first?  First, Beauty and now Cali...

I won't be posting for a while.  I need to deal with this.

~~Cheryl Ann~~

Here are some pics of Cali from one of her lessons with my trainer this summer.

Just some pics from around...

It's SATURDAY and I'm overjoyed.  Our local mountains have had rain and clouds for two days and I'm anxious to drive up there this morning and see what's going on!  It's too early to really tell if there are clouds today, but I can smell moisture.  I can see the moon, so I know there is at least a break in the clouds at this hour (4 a.m.)...I'm just posting photos from last week, since I'll probably take another 200 or so this weekend.  It's hard to blog and work full time because I come home, eat dinner, and konk out for the night.  I have parent conferences next week, so I won't be posting for a couple of days (I'll be suffering from brain fatigue...)!So, here goes...The last 3 are the golden eagle I spotted on a telephone pole last weekend.