Plant World Shopping

Betty and I spent yesterday, Friday, morning at Plant World picking out the plants for our yard. We arrived at 9:00 AM and left about 11:30 AM. Plant shopping is hard work.

If you recall, the freeze last winter killed or seriously damaged almost 90 percent of our existing plants.

We bought quite a few plants: two upright Junipers for each side of our front courtyard entrance, a burgundy New Mexico Willow, a Chaste Tree, several different flowering sage bushes, a couple of blue mist spirea bushes, a couple of Butterfly bushes, some flowering Mexicana bushes, a couple of Rosemary bushes (one creeping), one White Lilac bush and several flowering. I'm sure I forgot something.

The folks from Just Sprinklers, who removed our old plants and installed our new flagstone patio will pick up the plants (except for the New Mexico Willow which is on back order) Monday morning and get them planted throughout the day.

I'll try to get some photos of the work and new plants.

Friday Funny - Cat Adopts Squirrel

This is more like a Friday Sweet. Watch the video of a baby squirrel getting a new lease on life.

Enjoy.

 

Plant Shopping

If you recall, we had almost all of our plants removed when we had our new flagstone patio put in a few weeks ago. They were killed or severely damaged in last winter's freeze.

The plan was to have new plants installed when the weather warmed up a little. Well, the warmer weather is here.

Betty and I drove down to Belen to have some work done on her saddle by saddle maker Larry McKown. His work is excellent and, if you need any tack repaired or new tack, we highly recommend him. He also makes some neat stirrups and I'll show those in a later post. Betty and I both have a pair.

On our way home we stopped at Plant World just off of Paseo del Norte. It's a wholesale plant operation, but they have a garden club that allows individuals to buy.

Our goal this morning was to survey what was there and to make our final plans. We'll go back on Friday morning to buy what we want and Plant World will hold on to them.

On Monday morning, the folks who put in our new patio and sprinkler system will pick up the plants and come plant them in our yard.

I'll try to have some pictures of that process.

 

Woo Hoo!

 

We found out in Sunday's paper that we're going to have a full solar eclipse on Sunday, May 20. In fact, the article stated that Albuquerque would have the best view of all.

In 1970 when I was in the Navy, stationed in Charleston, SC, we saw a full solar eclipse and it was just like the picture to the left - pretty spectacular. That's called the 'diamond ring' for obvious reasons.

Back then I was able to use welding glass to watch the eclipse as it was readily available on the ship. You definitely don't want to look at it straight on. It can damage your eyes.

One thing you can do, which we've already done, is order some special sunglasses made for watching solar eclipses - regular sunglasses won't provide enough protection. They're only $0.95 a piece. If you're interested, here's the web site where we ordered ours:

http://telescopes.net/store/awb-solar-eclipse-shades.html

They look like the 3-D glasses we used back in the old days when 3-D first came out.

Monday Video - Sea Beauty

Betty and I have been blessed to be able to snorkle several times in Hawaii and we've seen lots of beautiful things and sea animals. However, watch this video taken off Fiji and Tonga to see underwater sights 100 times more beautiful and exotic than anything we saw.

Enjoy.

 

 

Sunday Reflection - The Body of Christ

One of the great concepts that Jesus left with us is that we are his body here on earth - the church universal.

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:22,23)

When I pray it gives me comfort that others in the body are praying as well. Some are close like Betty, others are farther away - our friends Bob and Molly, our son Chris and his wife Tracy, our son Wade and his wife Marie, our blogging friends TJ and Mark, our church friends and other Christians all around the world. There are millions who join us in approaching the throne of grace.

When I pray I am not alone. That gives me great comfort.

Spring Training

With company in town and windy, winter weather, we haven't worked with the horses for over three weeks. So, today we did some basic ground work and then worked them in the round pen.

Here's a video of my round pen work with Sugar. She was full of P and V, but settled down nicely.

 

Here's Betty working with Morgunn. He did great as Betty has done some good work with him.

 

Friday Funny - The Dare

Shades of 'A Christmas Story.'

 

A Good Visit

Our friends, Bob and Molly, should be home in Batavia, Ohio as I write this. We had breakfast at Flying Star this morning and we took them to the airport.

Betty and I love having company and Bob and Molly are great friends. But, it's also nice to be just the two of us again. We did a lot with them and now it's time for us to catch our breath and get life back to a normal pace.

The weather forecast looks good for the next week and a half so hopefully we can work some with our horses.

Windy Sunday

Our friends Bob and Molly came into town last Monday and the weather this week has been beautiful. Bob said he wish he could see the New Mexico winds we have talked about. Well, on Sunday he got his wish. Here's a video of a visit to Old Town and having lunch at Kellys in Nob Hill.

 

 

Sunday Reflections - Comforting Thought

It's not every day that I will say that someone else's suffering gives me comfort, but I will say that today.

Matthew 26:38 Then he said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me."

It gives me comfort to know that Jesus suffered the night before his death. Why? Because it reminds me that Jesus was fully human and fully understands everything that I go through.

I can't relate to a god who sits on high and makes judgment of me when he/she doesn't know what it means to be me. How can I relate to someone who doesn't know how to relate to me?

Fortunately, Jesus can relate to me because he has lived a human life - and I can safely relate to him.

Heading Southwest

On Friday, we took our friends, Bob and Molly, to Inscription Rock and El Malpais National Monuments.

Inscription Rock, also called El Morro (Spanish for bluff), is a landmark in this dry Southwest high desert. Travelers from early Indian tribes, to Spanish explorers, to wagon train settlers heading West, to Army Calvary and to government surveyors have stopped at El Morro.

The reason they stopped is there is a pool in a crevice of the bluff that always has water. It is not fed by a natural spring, but rather by rainfall and runoff from melting snow on the top of El Morro. This area gets a fair amount of snow in the winter. The pool is in a secluded, shady place so not much of the water ever evaporates.

The reason it is called Inscription Rock is everyone who travelled through here left their mark on the soft sandstone of El Morro - everything from Indian petroglyphs etched into the rock to elaborate script testaments to the glory of the traveler.

El Malpais (Spanish for The Bad/Evil Country) is a unique mixture of sandstone bluffs, one beautiful arch called La Ventana in the picture to the left (Spanish for window), and black lava beds - some only about 3,000 years old.

We had been to Inscription Rock before, but El Malpais was new to us.

We were surprised when we went there. We knew there would be lava beds - the maps indicated that. We didn't expect the beautiful bluffs and the arch that we saw.

Following are some more pictures from our trip and a video recap.

Pictures from Inscription Rock...

Pictures from El Malpais...

 

 

Friday Funny - Day Trip

We're heading down Southwest of Albuquerque today, Friday, with our friends Bob and Molly.

We're first going to show them Inscription Rock. After that we'll drive down into El Malpais National Monument to show them the lava beds. Finally, if we have the time and energy, we'll drive over to Acoma Pueblo.

So, it should be a full day and I hope to have photos and/or video tomorrow.

Since it's Friday, here's a Friday Funny to hopefully give you a chuckle - or at least a smile.

 

I guess even God has problems with technology.

 

Tent Rocks

 

Tuesday, we took our friends, Bob and Molly, to Tent Rocks National Monument which is on the Cochiti Pubelo. The Indian name for the area is Kasha-Katuwe which means 'white cliffs.'

The 'tent rocks,' like the one behind the group in the picture, are left over from volcanic eruptions and thousands of years of erosion.

We had a great hike and the weather was perfect - blue, New Mexico skies and a nice, cool temperature.

Here are some pictures and a video from our visit.

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Video on Tuesday - The Piano Guys

We picked up our friends Bob and Molly at the airport yesterday so I decided to share a Monday video on Tuesday.

Need a few minutes to rest and have your spirit lifted up? Listen to The Piano Guys as they do their cover of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" and "Simple Gifts.'

Enjoy.

 

Friends Coming In

We have good friends from Ohio flying in today and will be with us for a little over a week. Bob and Molly Dutina are some of our closest friends and we have known them for a long time. It looks as if God is favoring us with the weather forecast as it's supposed to be much warmer and sunny throughout the week they are here.

I'll try to post some of our activities as the week goes on.

Sunday Reflection - Prayer and Doubt

Matthew 21:21 Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

"If you have faith and do not doubt..." Many times I believe I have faith for different prayer requests - especially for healing for someone I love. I truly believe God can and does heal. However, somewhere in the depths of my being, I'm afraid I often wonder if God WILL heal when I pray. That may be doubt on my part.

My prayer is often like the father who said, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." Except, my prayer is "Lord, I believe, help me not to doubt."

Book Reviews

One of the things I like to do is read. Even though I can read fairly quickly, it takes me a while to get through a book because of other interests and other things I like to read (Western Horsemanship magazine, various blogs, etc.).

However, I recently finished two books that I want to commend.

The first is "Amazing Grays Amazing Grace" by Lynn Baber. Lynn has become a blogging friend and is both an accomplished horse trainer as well as published author. This book tells how God used her relationship with her horses to help her better understand her relationship with Him.

This book helped me learn some more on how best to relate to our horses and helped me reflect on my personal relationship with God.

The book is an easy read, but it has a depth in both horsemanship and spirituality that makes it well worth your time. I'm looking forward to reading Lynn's next book, "He Came Looking for Me." You can learn more about Lynn at her website: http://lynnbaber.net/

 

The second book I just finished is "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand. If her name sounds familiar that's because she is also the author of "Seabiscuit." "Unbroken", as the book cover says, is 'A World War II story of survival, resilience and redemption.'

It's the story of a man who came out of a tough growing up environment to become an Olympic contender in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It follows him through his experiences in the Air Force during the War including surviving a long time after being shot down over the Pacific Ocean and then years as a Japanese prisoner of war.

It's a tough read because of the incredible and terrible things that happened to him. But what makes it a worthwhile read is how the grace of God ultimately redeemed him and changed his life.

So, if you're looking for a good read I highly recommend either or both of these books.

Good reading.

Friday Funny - We're #1

Silly, I know, but I thought it was funny for this Friday.

 

Wind Runners

If you live in New Mexico, you know we had one of our more windy days yesterday, Wednesday. I happened to look out our kitchen window and saw two things.

One, the cover on the horse's shade cover was blowing off. The wind was strong enough to rip the grommets out of the cover so that it was flapping in the wind.

Second, the wind and the flapping cover had Morgunn and Sugar's adrenaline up and they were running around the back. I was able to catch a minute or so of their dashes.

 

 

One More Kid Post

Betty and I are home, but we're doing as doctor appointment, a chiropractic appointment and washing clothes, so no time for a new post.

Bear with me for one more granddaughter post. Here's a recap video of our time with Juliet and Leah.

 

Heading Home Pictures

Betty and I are on the road heading home. So, I'll leave you with a bunch of pictures (of Leah and Juliet of close) from our visit with the kids and grandkids.

 

 

Leah and Her Papa

It's amazing. Grandchildren can make us do the silliest things.

But it's worth every ridiculous thing to see them smile and laugh.

Enjoy.

 

Playing With Papa's Cap

We got to Fort Collins with no problems. We're having a ball with the granddaughters, Juliet and Leah. Here's a short video of Leah playing with my cap.

 

 

Friday Funny - Movie Trailer

We made it safely to Fort Collins even with some snow North of Colorado Springs.

Ready for a little silliness? Here's the movie trailer for Despicable Me 2.