Thankful

Shauna & I sat outside last night as the sun was going down. We had the new patio set all put together and were sitting at it enjoying the cool breeze and the quiet and we both proclaimed how lucky we were to live in Rural Nevada.

The sky was an inky blue, thanks to a late afternoon storm that passed over us. And the clouds...it looked as though a painter had bounced over the sky with a brush dipped in white paint, then muddled it with a pale gray. There were just a few stars in the sky, the rest wouldn't be showing themselves for a little while. The moon was a thin bright white crescent. The setting sun was casting it's orange-red glow along the Ruby Mountains, turning them a brilliant deep dark red.

The only noise was the laughter of kids playing down the street mixed with the whinnies (sp?) from neighbohood horses and Gunner from next door barking at a bird that dared to sit atop his kennel.

All mixed together, it makes for a peaceful existence. And one that I am thankful for everyday.

I get to drive to work every morning and see cattle grazing in fields green with sage and tall grass. And every once in a while, I am lucky enough to catch real cowboys and cowgirls on real horses driving cattle along the cattle path that runs next to the 'highway'. One of the horses we pass on the way to work had her foal this past week. Every morning for the past few months we've look closely to see if she's had her baby...What a nice surprise to see the cute gangly baby!

You see, Elko County is steeped in the rich tradition of ranching and farming. With names that go back to the beginnings of the area. Even with the gold mines that are hidden from view, way up in the hills, the ranchers have maintained their lands and the two have learned to coexist.

We might complain about the lack of variety as far as shopping here in Elko. We might complain that we have no Carl's Jr. But I don't miss the pollution clouding the sky, the hustle and bustle of city life nor do I miss tall buildings obscuring my views.

Yes, sometimes I miss the smell of the sea air wafting over the Redwood trees of my hometown in California. And living in a house that's surrounded by the mighty giants of trees. But when I get a hankerin' for the smell of redwood, I head to Home Depot and stand in front of the redwood planks and take deep breaths. And when I long for the smells of the beach, I open up the container of sand from Capitola, CA that Jessica brought me from her vacation last year.

What are you thankful for about where you live?

Good Buy

This is the picnic table that we've been using

for the past few years.

It was left here by the previous tenants

& we just kind of took it over.

It's weather-beaten from the elements,

but still served it's purpose.

Well, OK, Jesse and his cousin Shawn were

really the only people who sat at it to eat.

It did make a good gardening bench for Shauna & me;

and the outdoor cat, Little Boy, liked to lounge on it

in the early morning hours before the sun hit it's peak.

When Shauna & I were doing the grocery shopping at Smith's

a couple weekends ago, a patio set caught our eyes.

"Wouldn't this look nice on the back porch?", said Shauna

as we plopped down in the chairs

"Yep, it would", said I, "but it's $450."

"I would even sit outside & eat at this table", said Shauna,

who is fair-skinned and overheats in the sunshine.

Then we continued on with our shopping.

Thursday morning when I pulled into the parking lot at work,

I saw that Smith's had all their patio furniture outside with

big signs screaming:

50% off!!!

Then Friday at lunch, I poked around

the selection that they had out,

but couldn't find the one that we had looked at.

When I told Shauna that they didn't have it, she said

"Just pick out one that you like."

When I went on my weekly grocery trip Saturday,

I poked around some more and found ours!

Yeah Liz!!

It went home with me.

As Jeff and his brother Beaux took

Jesse and Shawn camping that morning,

it was up to Shauna & I to put the thing together.

It took us about 2 1/2 hours,

but we kicked ass!

This is the umbrella that goes with it.

But they didn't have anymore of the bases,

so we either have to find one somewhere else

or make our own.

Here's to many a fun evening bbq'ing

and enjoying the cool nights.

Until it starts to snow again....

The Mixer Saga

For the longest time I have wanted a KitchenAid stand mixer. I yearn for one. I would give my left pinky finger for one. I would sell my nieces for one, but I don't think Jessica would like that (or maybe she would).

Enter my dear friend Pioneer Woman. Ok, so I've never met her, I just read her blog(s). PDub has been holding giveway contests where the prize is a...

wait for it...

KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer!

Oh joy! I have a chance to win one!!

This week, she gave away this one:

But I didn't win. And I have a theory on that.

KitchenAid is against me due to an incident from the 70's involving a certain white KA mixer,

my sister Stephanie and myself.

We were two kids with nothing to do. For some reason we took the aforementioned mixer down to the carport where we had previously gotten white paint on one of the workbenches. I don't know which of us did it, but the mixer ended up sitting in a glob of paint and forgotten for a few hours. The paint dried to the bottom of the mixer. The parents were not happy with us, but Momma still used the mixer.

So I guess I am doomed to life without this:

But a girl can dream....

Blog Name Contest Winners!

Yah, I know, I said the winner would be announced last Monday. But hey, I told you I'm a procrastinator, didn't I?! All of the entries were great, but a couple really stood out.

Anywho, the decision has been handed down and the winner of the contest was Stephanie Bauer with her entry of "Lizard Droppings"! Stephanie wins a 12 month personalized calendar! All she needs to do is pick 13 photos and email them to me along with special dates she wants on the calendar!

There was another entry that really caught the judges eye, so Francais is being awarded with an honorale mention prize of an academic planner! Frankie-Moo, send me a couple pictures for the front of your planner! Oh, you want to know her entry? "Dust in the Desert: A Lizard's Tail".

The other entries were:

Leaping Lizards, Auntie Janet
Liz Out Loud, Auntie Diane
First Daughter, Dad
The Wonderful World of Lizzy, Leslie L.
Lizard's Creek, Jessica R.
2009: A Liz Odyssey, Sunshine M.

Thank you to those who entered, the judges said they had a hard time deciding!

Stephanie and Francais can email their photos to lizzybeth167@gmail.com!

Spring Creek 4th of July Parade

My 4th started out with the Spring Creek Parade.

The day started out a little dark & rainy,

but the blue sky emerged for the event.

We watched the parade from Sunshine & Brandon's driveway.

Here are some of the images we captured:

The parades in Elko County are always led by the local chapter of the POW*MIA Association.

This was a very powerful image and brought tears.

These horses were absolutely beautiful.

You can't have a parade in a ranching community without the Pony Club or tractors.

Although I don't know how a gorilla fits into that.



More beautiful equines and a local 4-H chapter.

Our Nevada Division of Forestry and BLM firefighters also joined in on the action.

The yellow BLM truck sprayed the crowd with it's water cannon thing on the front.

This was the float from Baily Construction.

They were raffling off the playhouse.

This bike was cute! It even had hydraulics that raised & lowered the front end!

Do they threw candy at your parades? They do at ours.

This float had a candy cannon that showered sweets at the parade goers.

Oh yeah, it started to rain as we got in the car to head home....