Sunday Stills (8-29-10 Statues)

I love to see "larger than life" outdoor statues, like this one of a wooden Indian in Gallup, New Mexico.

Here is a bronze horse statue I found in downtown Scottsdale, Arizona.

Isn't this dog statue cool? get it? snow? ;P 

This was in front of an art gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

We found this life size statue of a waiter in a pizza restaurant in South Dakota.

These life size statues were in front of a private residence in Scottsdale, Arizona.

These realistic statues are in front of a gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Gosh, I could go on and on with statues...

In parting, I'll leave you with these larger than life statues from Ruidoso, New Mexico. 

Be sure to visit here for more Sunday Stills. 

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

Bowie video day - 7 Years in Tibet

Warning- Strange!!!

Here are the lyrics:

Ni hai hao ma ni shi qu de tou fa.
Lun Hui liao de shang ba zhang chu le xian hua
Ru guo you zhe ge shou fa zen ma ni zui ba dou mei you hui da
Wo zhu fu ni tian di bu guo yi cha na
Wo zhu fu ni yi sheng yi cha na
wo zhu fu ni
Bai yun xia de shou sa yi wang le chun jia (not sure about this part)
Fu yun ye chu le jia xin zhao yu ge shou fa
Ru guo fan chen dou xu jia bei yao jing ya ye bu yao hui da
Wo zhu fu ni tian di bu guo yi cha na
Wo zhu fu ni yi sheng yi cha na
wo zhu fu ni

曲﹕David Bowie
詞﹕林夕
編﹕David Bowie + Reeves Gabriels
唱﹕David Bowie
你還好嗎 你失去的頭髮
輪迴了的傷疤 長出了鮮花
如果有這個說法 怎麼你嘴巴 都沒有回答
浮雲也出了家 尋找一個說法
如果凡塵都虛假 別要驚訝 也不要回答
*我祝福你 天地不過一剎那
我祝福你 一生一剎那 我祝福你
白云下得潇洒 遗忘了春夏

Friday Foto

Oldest House

On Sunday, my eldest son, his girlfriend, and I drove up to Santa Fe to see the Santa Fe Indian Market. We drove around until we could find a parking space in one of the public parking lots and then we walked towards the Plaza.

Along the way, we passed the Oldest House. I had visited it many years ago and then it was closed up for several years. To my pleasant surprise, the museum was newly fixed up and open for viewing. We went inside and I took some photos that I can now show you.

According to Funtrivia: The Oldest House in America is found across from the Mission San Miguel in Santa Fe New Mexico. Portions of it date from 1610. As with all adobe structures, the walls have been patched and replaced constantly, so how much of the building actually dates to 1610 is open to question. The Palace of the Governors, also in Santa Fe, may also be dated to the same time, and is listed as the oldest public building in America. But it was also a residence, if an official one. It, too, is adobe, so it might be more accurate to refer to the site rather than the building as the oldest. 

See here for some excellent photos of the Oldest House from hubpages. 

All old houses have ghost stories and this one is no exception.

Here is a photo of the spirit rising above the casket.

And supposedly, here is the gruesome headless skeleton of Juan Espinosa. The other time I visited the house, the casket was covered with a blanket like the photograph above, so you couldn't view the remains.

You can see the size of the place with the next two photographs, using the chile ristra (hanging dried chiles) as a guide. 

The rooms are actually very cosy looking and the depth of the window casement shows how thick the walls are.

Although the walls were freshly stuccoed and painted, the ceiling was scary! I'm not sure I would want to walk in the upstairs rooms. 

Here's another view from outside. Across the street is the Oldest Church,

the San Miguel Mission Church. The altar was built by Indians from Mexico in 1610 and mass is still celebrated every Sunday. See here for some interesting information about it. For example: Its immense walls and massive carved beams known as vigas and used to support roofs in adobe construction along with the carefully built corbel-arches that serve the same purpose define San Miguel Mission. The frontage of San Miguel Mission is fairly simple yet beautiful and defined by a wide and arched wooden doorway and two large bell towers on either side with high, shuttered windows topped with large, red crosses. San Miguel Mission has four sub-floors underneath the main floor where some of the bodies of the more important residents are buried and under the Sanctuary four priests' bodies lie who died while faithfully serving the beloved church. General Manual Armijo, the last governor of New Mexico is also buried on the premises.

More to come...

Sunday Stills (8-22-10 metal)

This week's Sunday Stills challenge is "metal."  I had so many choices I didn't know where to begin. I settled on this bronze statue because it is hard to believe it's cold, hard metal. Doesn't it look real? I think the only part that looks like metal is her face. Her clothes and the blanket are so warm, vibrant, and alive!

I mean don't you just want to touch the blanket?

Then last night, as I was grazing the horses, a new side of metal presented itself. It can cause pain. Like Annie's ear that won't heal.

After I was grazing the horses last night, when I was putting Annie in, she came too close to the fence and ripped herself open. See inside the box where there is a sharp metal point and some hair. The red stuff isn't blood, btw.

Now, look at Annie's hip!
 It kept dripping blood at the one end and I was horrified. I didn't know what to do. I debated about calling the vet for stitches but I'm still paying off the last visit and it's really more of a surface cut. I was getting nauseated because I hate the sight of blood and when I touched it, my hand got soaked in bright red blood. Ugh, I'm getting ill now just thinking about it. Finally, with the help of Wound-Kote, I got the bleeding to stop. That's why it looks bluish-blackish. I didn't sleep last night, worrying about her. But this morning, it doesn't look any worse, not even as swollen as I'd expected. I HAVE to go around and check my fencing for sharp points.

My poor, poor Annie! Just yesterday, I chased her around the arena with the other horses and she ran and ran. She has racing blood and boy, does it show! No one can keep up with her, not even her daughter. Then I rode her around the arena and she was such a sweetheart. 

Now, she's back to healing again.

For more Sunday Stills, please check here.

Sunday - song: Sunday, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

Ground Control

I went out to feed the horses today and they were just staring at me...

So I decided to let them graze around the barn.

But there's not much to eat, so I took them out to graze. As long as I keep the girls on leads, Scout stays close by. I can call him if he gets too far and he'll come running back to us. He's so funny! 

My weeds have completely gotten away from me. I have a riding lawn mower but it's not running. I guess I need a new one but I can't afford it right now. With all the rains we've had the weeds just grow and grow. I wish my garden would grow as well. I hack at them with a weed cutter until my allergies drive me crazy and I'm ready to scratch out my eyes but it never seems to make any difference. I really need to put my round pen panels up and let the horses graze it all down. They really do like these weeds!

But, what is Yalla! staring at?

Why it's Sandy, laying under the car. She wants to be near me but she never bothers the horses. So after I put the horses away, I took these pictures.

I took her in the house this morning and she just watched while I fed the little dogs, never bothering to go over to their food. at all. She lay in the kitchen when we ate dinner last night too, never even begged at us! 

I love the way she's got her hind legs crossed.

PS- here's an update on Annie's slowly healing ear. I have decided that barb wire cuts are the absolute pits! After six weeks it is looking better but, as you can see, there is still a raw place that drains and scabs and oozes and... It's so hard to photograph. At least I can touch her ear again, if I don't have medicine around!

Ground Control - song: Space Oddity, artist: David Bowie, album: Space Oddity

Friday Foto

I'm Home!

I've decided that here is my new home. When I win the lottery that is. ;)


Isn't it fantastic??


They raise Arabian horses and Bison, or, they used to. This page, on their website, is one of the most interesting pieces I've ever read about the American Bison. Please, check it out.

A Better Future, part 2

Tonight, as I drove up to my house, "dog" must have heard the car. She came running up to meet me. Sweet! I gave her a few pats and we walked up to the door together. Then Einstein ran outside and over to her as I opened the door. I grabbed him by the collar and then reached out to pet her and she flinched like I was going to hit her. Poor baby!

When I walk the little 'inside' dogs, she comes along too. Then she stands beside me while they wander around in the grass. She is getting better with Buddha and not growling so much anymore. Einstein bugs her because he's still a puppy, but she doesn't seem to mind. I think she really wants to come inside. Probably will, in a few days...Right now, with all the visiting doggie guests- Tobey and Einstein, it's kind of bedlam. It's funny, all summer, it was just me, Buddha, and the cats, Terra and Simba. Nowadays, since summer camp has ended, the house is always full of people coming and going: my two sons, my older son's girlfriend, my younger son's bandmate, my daughter, and my mother, who came in last weekend for her birthday and is on her way to my sister's house, and a cruise.

"Dog" has such a thick topcoat of wirey hair and an undercoat too. I don't think a bath is going to do much. She looks pretty waterproof. I think she needs to go to a groomer for some coat thinning.

We have been tossing around names for the stray dog. So far, it's been:
Charm, Charmed, Lucky Charm or L.C. for short, get it, Elsie?, Kharma, Gladys, and Evelynn. Last night we kind of settled on Alberta, to go with Einstein, my daughter's 'other' dog. Tonight, we are considering Sandy or Sandra Dee from Little Orphan Annie.

What do you think?

I checked the classified ads again tonight. We will probably take her to the vet for a check up and shots in a few days if we still have her.

A Better Future

This morning, as I was walking my mother's dog, Tobey, and my dog, Buddha, I saw a dog laying behind my daughter's car in our driveway. It didn't say a word, just watched us as we went for our morning walk. I thought, "great, another stray dog! But, he IS cute!" My dogs never even noticed him; he was so quiet. I took the dogs back into the house and wondered what to do about him.

As it turned out, this dog just showed up on our driveway the night before. He came up behind my daughter and touched her hand as she was getting out of her car, scaring her. Then she saw what it was and began petting him.

Does anyone know what kind of dog he is? He's the color of a German Shepherd but his coat is very wirey and he has eyebrows and whiskers like a terrier. I was actually surprised at how big he was when he stood up- 45 to 50 pounds. I thought he was smaller than that when I saw him laying there and his cute little face. 

When my daughter got up, she immediately went outside to see if the dog was still there. Of course he was, right where she last saw him, still behind/under her car! She told me the story of how she met him in the dark and then she asked me if she could give him something to eat. I figured this stray wasn't going to leave anyway so I said okay. That's the thing about stray dogs when they adopt people, they don't run away. (I have over 50 pounds of pedigree dry dog food left over from my two German Shorthaired Pointers who died last year.) She fed him and gave him water. We talked to him and he actually left the food and came over to lick each of us. Such a sweetie! Oh, and he is a she! We looked. 

Then, I had to go to work. I called my son a few hours later to tell him about the found stray and he immediately went out to feed her. Go figure! They say never to feed strays. But who are They to tell my children good advice, huh? He was so excited about the new dog but worried too. "I wonder how she got lost?" I was very happy to learn that she was very friendly towards him too. Usually, stray dogs are very scared of men. Still, I had him look on craigslist and the newspaper classifieds for any lost dog ads. He read the ads to me and none matched.

At work, I got to talking to a coworker about the lost dog and he suggested that the dog might have a microchip that would locate the owner. She was collarless but seemed to be in good health. Such a sweetie, how could she not be loved and missed by her previous owners? 

I left work early tonight and we took her to the vet's office. They checked the dog for a microchip. There was none. I took these photos of my daughter and the dog tonight. Looking in the dog book I have, I'm thinking she's an Australian Cattle Dog mixed with something? Terrier, perhaps? German Shepherd too??

The little gray blur on her lap is her friend's dog, a Schnauzer named Einstein, who never sits still. His nickname is "furball". The stray didn't seem to mind him too much but she does growl at Buddha. Of course, Buddha isn't a real dog, anyway. He's half cat. lol. Oh, and the collar is left over from the vet trip. It's Daisy's old collar. The dog didn't want to get in the car first but readily followed us into the car. She was very well behaved at the vet's office too. Unfortunately, the receptionist is the one who checked for the chip so I didn't get any information on age, breed, spayed? pregnant??

I love the next couple of photos. Is this true love or what? 

My dilemma- how hard do we look for the owners? This dog seems to have chosen my daughter. I did drive around looking at mailboxes for lost dog ads too. And my daughter knows the local animal control officer so we can call him tomorrow to see if anyone has reported her missing. We've also pretty much decided if we can find the owners, great, but if we can't, then that's okay too.

A Better Future - song: A Better Future, artist: David Bowie, album: Heathen

Sunday (8-15-10 Fire and Smoke)

This was a hard challenge that I had to go back into my archives for. I found these photos of the Trigo fire in 2008 which was not very far away from my neighborhood.

The nicest thing about having a wood stove with a glass door is that I can see the fire burning.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today was my mother's 83rd birthday. We began the day with haircuts for her and myself and then we went to see the Prince of Persia movie. After that, we enjoyed a Mexican feast at one of our favorite local restaurants, Los Cuates. Besides my mother and myself, there was my mother-in-law, my son and his girlfriend, my daughter, and my other son and his friend / bandmate. We gave her a few presents and a handmade birthday card. We used lots of old family photos for the cover of the card and then I found a website that provides a one page summary of the day you were born, here  which we put  inside the card. She really loved the card. Then we had cake. 

I hope she had a very happy birthday and many more to come. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!! I love you!!

Friday Foto

Sunday Stills (8-8-10 clouds)

On Wednesday evening I took my little dog with me for a drive to town to get gas. We watched the sun set at a little park and then, as we drove home, the cloud formations kept changing and becoming more and more beautiful. Enjoy.

For more Sunday Stills, please visit here.