I Love You Too, James

My grandkids and I are separated by states. They are in Alabama, I live in Texas. They have already told me I am not like the other grandmas, which I take as a compliment. When the grands and I are together, we are up at sunrise eating bacon and waffles. Then heading out the door for a long exploratory hike or swim at the beach. They fell in love with my basset hound, KatieBelle. I love to cook for them, and play games in the evening. Our separation is painful for me. I hope to see them soon. I love you more.

V.... Vaughn

Sunrise


Sunset

Saturday I met Virginia Vaughn. She taught a plein air painting class from sunrise to sunset. Literally. I thought getting up at 4:00 a.m. would get me to Calvert, Texas in time to paint the sunrise. I was late by about 15 minutes. The sun does not wait for anyone. Virginia makes it look easy. She has a beautiful style of impressionism and holds her paint brush like a pallet knife.

Early spring in Texas can be volatile . That day, it was a gorgeous rainbow prism colored sunrise and about 1.5 hours later a front blew in, taking our clouds with it. We were given an ultramarine blue sky and wind gusts of 30 mph. We had to anchor our easels and hold tight to our thumb boxes. We had a great, small adventurous group. No one was afraid of getting up early, crazy weather, and using bright, bold colors on their canvases. I hope to paint with them again.

V, I hope you get picked as our Texas Artist. You are the real deal.

My attempt. Why do I always try to do the hard architectural stuff? Whyyyyy?


Two sisters, Barbara and Cecilia. I enjoyed watching them together, such love!

Valentine Chicks

This is what I received for Valentines Day. Chickens. And I could not be more pleased. Well, unless I loaded up on Basset Hounds. As soon as you walked in the door of the Post Office you could hear the cacophony of peeps. I love the box, LIVE BABY CHICKS! Peep Peep!!


My birds came from Murray McMurray Rare Bird breeders. Every chick was healthy and rearing to go. Since I ordered the "Rainbow Layer" mix, I do not know what breeds I have—other than 26 baby hens running each other over. I can tell by the coloring there are at least 7 different breeds in my clutch. And one is a crazy Turken.

It is hard work being a chick. Whew—I am tired....

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to all my friends out there. This is my first "heart day" with my new family that rescued me. Kerrie named me Ruby, after a beautiful red jewel. We are going to adopt a basset hound girlfriend for me—and for Kerrie. As soon as our new fence gets finished my new sister will come home to us. We cannot wait! Have a wonderful Valentines Day.

Spring in Texas

The sign is here. My yard filled with Robins this week. And Cedar Waxwings, Goldfinches, Ruby Crowned Kinglets, Purple Finches, Bluebirds and about 10 others. Which brings me to The Great Backyard Birdcount this coming weekend. For 4 days you make a list of all the birds that are seen in your yard. Last year I bingoed with a Greater Roadrunner in the front flowerbed. I was lucky enough to get a photo of him as well. Here is the link: www.birdsource.org

Texas Flood/Texas Rocks

Think Stevie Ray Vaughn “The Sky is Crying”. Things got pretty dicey during the July 4th celebration in Central Texas, 2002. It poured, and did not stop pouring. That location is a big river tubing area (Horseshoe Bend on the Guadalupe anyone?) and the diehard party people were not giving up their campsites, rain or not. The Corps of Engineer people realized this rainfall was filling up Canyon Lake and threatening to spill over. They evacuated the campers and homeowners along the river. Then it spilled. It roared for six weeks. When it subsided, it had created a new gorge, exposing the Glen Rose limestone formation from 110 million years ago. You can look more information online @ www.canyongorge.org

Richard and I took the guided 3 hour hike and it was fascinating. Acrocanthosaurs tracks in the limestone bed. More fossils than I can describe.


Here is one of the footprints left by the dinosaur.


Just rocks you say? Take a closer look at what I was standing on top of.


This is a large geode formation. Here is a close up photo. Look at the sparkles.


We are glad we hiked this. It is amazing. Also, not one person died in this flood, although many homes were swept away.