Greetings from Vail, Arizona

[The Vail Benton's]

It's a cold, wet & dreary Arizona afternoon - we don't get many El Nino storms like this, when the rain is steady and from one side of town to the other. Reminds me of Northern California, maybe even Oregon alittle. I am definately not complaining. The weatherman says snow at 3500' - 4000'. We are at 3000' I think. We're going to miss out yet again, and by Friday it will be 70 deg F again.

I actually went to work today, for the first time in nearly 2 weeks. I didn't seem to like it much I guess I've gotten a bit spoiled, getting to stay home and play in my kitchen, and out with the critters, and here on the forum. With all this rain, it will muck things up pretty good so there will be nothing for me again tomorrow. I hope we dry out enough by Friday so my paving job doesn't cancel.

DH left yesterday for Holbrook , AZ and will be OTR all week running between Holbrook & Needles, CA or to Clines Corners, NM. We set up the sleeper berth on his truck up really nice & cozy for him, but it's cold up there for the likes of an Arizona boy and I know he'll be glad to come home this weekend. I do worry about him pulling a set of doubles through the snow.

Bella & Champ are on day #2 of their new RAW diet and I came home from work to a POOP explosion Lucky for me they are confined to my kitchen when I go to work. It would be a really lousy day to shampoo the carpet. Cleaning the kitchen floor was bad enough!

On a much happier note, I received Kefir grains from Freemotion today! I can't wait for my first kefir to be ready to try tomorrow. I'm really excited to try it...

 

[TanksHill]

That rain your getting missed us entirely. They said the storm was a biggy but then it dropped over Mexico and swung to the east. Lucky you!!!

Your dogs are very cute!!!I did the Green Tripe diet for my dog this time around. He did pretty good but the smell of the food was killing me. Then I switched to the Inova Evo, it is an all red meat kibble with no grains. Then the cost of living went up and our income dropped and now he eats regular again. He doesn't seem to mind. Sorry about your kitchen floor. I am the one who has to clean up those messes at our house as well. Blehhh!!!

When we drove to Yellowstone last summer we saw drivers pulling triples all over the place. It was a crazy sight. My dh explained that Ca. does not allow it. I can see out in the middle of the country though all the roads are long and straight. Much different.

Your husband has a sleeper cab? We have A Freight liner fl60. When my dh drove it home from Fl. he was supposed to stop at Wall Mart and get a sleeping bag. The backseat folds flat. Anyways he picked up a blanket, and froze. Now we know why the truck drivers keep their rigs running. He turned his off at night and froze his butt off. Live and learn huh?

I love the quilt. I have a huge denim duvet I have been thinking about repurposing, maybe I should save some for a quilt.

Have a great day!!

gina

 

[The Vail Benton's]

Oooooh! What's the Green Tripe diet? It sounds hideous , but lots of things do that are actually good & beneficial. I think I just transitioned Champ over to RAW too quickly and didn't give his system time to adjust. Bullys have sensitive constitutions to begin with. I think I just got carried away in my excitement to do something for my dog. I will back off a bit and give it more time.

DH drives a Freightliner Century Classic. The sleeper berth is small, but there's enough room for a very small fridge & and a microwave He uses an ice chest & propane bbq he made out of an old metal toolbox, and his folks gave him a propane burner for heating stuff up. We will be getting him a frige when we locate the set up we want at a price we can pay. DH is a really good camp cook so I have no doubt that he eats well when he is OTR.
He can idle his truck if it's too cold or too hot for heat/AC but in California and some other places, it's not allowed due to air quality control and all that. He doesn't have a generator for it yet. With the high cost of fuel when a truck is only getting 6mpg at best anyway, idleing for heat is a luxury that I wish he would indulge himself in more when he's in Northern Arizona. He packed himself warm clothes and I made a warm cozy bed for him. I also sent him with jar candles - they help to take the chill off if you let them burn while you sleep, and if you get the lightly scented ones, they help deodorize the cab, which can get pretty funky if your living in it, no matter how clean you try to be. I put a bunch of pillows on the bed for him so it would look more like a day bed when he isn't sleeping in it - that's where he spends his down time, watching movies on his notebook computer or surfing the web.

The storm that we got yesterday was wonderful - we need any and all water we can get. I guess it's pretty difficult here to predict weather because our meteorologists are almost NEVER right unless it's sunshine & blue sky. The weather we got yesterday was supposed to arrive today. Looking out the window it is a dreary overcast day but no sign of anymore of my precious liquid sunshine.
We are surrounded by mountains (not much taller than the foothills back home lol) and it's nice to see some snow on them for a change. When I was a kid my Grandparents drove from Woodland, CA to Seattle, WA when my father transfered jobs and I remember that year Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen didn't have much snow. My Grandfather looked at those sparsely covered mountains from I-5 as we passed through and said, "not even enough for a good snowball fight". That's pretty much what I'm seeing on our mountains here. I really miss WEATHER!

I'm glad you liked the quilt top Gina, The pic was taken before I got the borders on it. I did that last Sunday, and had to rip out some stitching I put in to keep the edges from fraying. I didn't make the allowance small enough (or straight enough , evidently) so it showed in a few places after I got the border sewn on. It will be ready to layer tomorrow for sewing night at MIL's.

ETA: I went out to feed the critters and my chicken yard is a mucky muddy mess. Good to find this out before we get a good monsson storm. I guess I will try to dig out some of the dirt when things dry out a bit, fill in with sand & rock for better drainage and then more dirt to raise the floor up.

My sourdough turned out terrible - I forgot to add the yeast... we just don't have enough wild yeasties floating around to do the job by themselves. The Pork Chop loved it and so did my gray mare, Pissy (she just got a bite to taste it becasue she was curious). Libby, my filly tried a bite but promptly spit it out, made a face at me and went back to eating her alfalfa. Some animals have no appreciation for mediocre home cooking. At least I have Pissy & the Pork Chop.