West trip report #1: california/nevada....

hey y'all  i'm home!!! i will be posting numerous postings with all the fun stories and details...

my trip started in reno, where kristinia picked me up at the airport and we drove to Dory's house in northern Califonia....keep in mind- the three of us have talked on the phone almost daily, but never have laid eyes on each other....

okay- a really quick run down of the weather out there....it is hot, but no no NO humidity....and when you stand in the shade it is actually cooler....i got chilly alot! glad i packed a long sleeve tshirt! dory even supplied an extra quilt for my bed complete with a raised eyebrow....

the three of us doodled around in the yurt, and played on the LA. (photo from the winter borrowed from dory's blog...) i don't know why i didn't take a picture of it.....shame on me

i taught dory how to hand applique and kritstina wanted to play along so we started a small block applique (this is mine minus leaves) that we will trade through the three of us making it a tres round robin....dory ended up also getting an english paper piecing class which she took to much happily-er.



this is a block i designed for my birds of a feather quilt, but i substitued a butterfly instead of a bird cause dory lives on a road named 'butterfly valley'

i met the ponies:

bailey (i have admit that he was my favorite)

kate   (she has the bushy forlock)

emma  (the baby and most spoiled of the bunch)

and andy  (my second favorite)....













even though he.....

.....bit my thumb (my fault) i was feeding him clover and my thumb stuck out too far and he was in a hurry to eat it cause he had emma's competition...i muttered some explicits that would make a sailor blush....it hurt.... i have a nice dark spot that will slowly grow out and i'll have a constant reminder of my trip there...i wonder how long it'll last and i'm hoping to keep the nail

at the grocery store in town i spotted these....red sunflowers. i have never seen such a thing. so pretty...davis says i have an unnatural attraction to anything 'different'.....i tell him i'm attracted to anything like me :)

kristina painted my toe nails bright metallic lime green...i'm searching for the exact polish to keep them that way for a while.

i feel very girly

this is hank, one of dory's border collies....it was canny how much behavior he had in common with barney....i'm now convinced that barney is lab, german short hair, and border collie.....that's my story and we will stick to it!


stay tuned....i have lots more pictures and stories to share (i took 188 pictures)







WARNING: pictures of a snake..... for those that get quesy

i got to see a rattle snake....they really rattle which made me think: not to smart..."i'm posionious and i'm going to make a really loud noise so you can locate my exact spot and proceed to kill me"

how do some species survive natural selection??? :)




then i got to help make it dead.....i think it was about 3ft long and it had about 6-8 rows of rattles.

i wanted to keep the rattles, but after deep consideration thought that would be a tricky explanation to airport security.

don't worry- it was buried in two holes....one for the head and the other for the body.

i also got to see two yearling mule deer....there was some bear poo in front of the barn, but he never showed his bearable face.....dory said that friday after i left he came lumbering down the driveway...day late and a dollar short....