Wine barrel fun and cake...

This weekend was jammed packed full of fun, so much to do and so little time. Friday morning Monkey and I went into town so I could snap a few pics of go carts made out of wine barrels. The big race was happening Saturday and the winner won tickets to our area's annual Wine and Balloon Festival.

An area news station was doing a promo piece so we got to see a mock run. Aren't the barrels neat? The 911 cart had a siren and light bar lit up and the tootsie roll cart had the tootsie roll song blasting with its very own dancers.   There was also a cowgirl riding her horse barrel. Fun fun fun, such creative people!

I went to the Music mans gig at a local winery and took photos of some another local bands, one who will be opening up for Easton Corbin and Scotty McCreery at this wine festival in a few weeks.  This year I'll be attending as a fan and a photographer and I am super excited about that!

Saturday we drove up to my parents to celebrate my dad's birthday. My mama threw him a huge party, a family reunion of sorts with food from our favorite Italian market and live music. I danced my booty off until my feet and back said no more.

We spend Sunday resting, eating left over lasagna and getting ready for another work week. The weather is warm and the balloons are flying by the dozens every morning for us to enjoy until the festival,  afterwards they'll go back to flying on weekend only.

I am tired, pooped, done... It was a great weekend and I'm thankful for all we did and all saw.
Jack  had me up every hour last night, I hope his tummy feels better fast and I'm already looking forward to tonight and catching up on some Z's.

How was your weekend?

Good Morning

from my hood to yours! We have a super duper busy one and I am taking a ton of photos. I can't wait to share some with you. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Jen

Spread Joy

I have a quote board in my kitchen that I change often. This quote is on it now and I sure like it, hope you do too.

Spread Joy, Chase your wildest dreams ~ Patch Adams

Fingers crossed the septic issue is fixed and I'm looking forward to the weekend. This week has been a loooooong one already. We have a lot of balls in the air right now and are praying they will start to land softly and leave us better off tomorrow than we are today.  I am thankful to be surrounded by these sweet faces who bring so much joy.  

Since switching over to Google plus the system has reverted back to a "no comment" blogger. Do you know how to fix that? The option of adding your email on the blogger dashboard is gone and must be done through Google, i think?

Happy Wednesday from our hood to yours. I hope it's a great day!
Jen

This weekend we...

Stayed close to home. The annual wine and balloon festival is coming up in a couple weeks so there are extra balloons flying these mornings for us to enjoy with our cup of coffee.

I babysat 10 horses in addition to hanging out with Chance who got a much needed bath.
I worked most of Saturday hoping to get a jump on Monday.

This weekend I harvested the more Kale, both green

and red as well as spent time weeding and feeding the garden.  I listen to the music sing a few songs

and course we ate some eggs.  We had an unexpected septic problem and that took up all of the music mans free time this weekend.  Not to mention keeping everyone outdoors. What a nightmare. Yuck! I am so thankful he is handy and hard working and am hoping for good results very soon.  Have you ever had septic problems? Seriously GROSS...

We finished off the weekend relaxing our tired backs in the spa while making a wish or two on the stars above.

Beach dreamin'

Our weather is warming and I'm hoping we can find some free time to visit the coast.  Until we can get away though I'm reminiscing with these taken a few months ago while in San Diego. I always love to visit the ocean,  for me it quiets life's noise and relaxes.

This was the most amazing sunset I've ever seen. The sky was bursting with colors and I am so thankful I was able to capture some of it.  Linked to Sky Watch Friday

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,
Jen

rock and roll with an egg or two...

Happy Hump day friends here we are again, half way through yet another week. Time sure flies when you're busy...phew.

The weather is finally warming up around here and I am hoping this weekend will work to pick up the chicks. The last couple weeks didn't feel right as we were in such sorrow for Hobo Gee but I think we're ready now.  

The spinach and broccolini has all been harvested and the girls are enjoying what's left.  My sweet peas or sweet poor peas I should say as the squirrels are getting to them before I can. Not only are they eating the pods but they are destroying the plants by breaking off the tops. 

Do you battle squirrels? If so I would love to know what methods you use.  They are now getting into the chicken feeder now and enjoying their crumbles as well. Perhaps it's time to sit with the pellet gun again. Darn rodents...

Photos above are::

1.  The music man busting out moves

2.  Eggs, love them!

3.  Lucy girl, she is so sweet and such a good layer. She lays every single day.

4   Red cabbage almost ready to harvest.

5.  Red and sweet onions ready to harvest this weekend.

Hope you are having a great day!

Jen

Love and kindness

I have hope and faith, my heart swelled seeing all those running towards the mayhem to help one another. Love and kindness... humanities response to immense sadness. Sending love and prayers to Boston.

slowly moving forward...

The loss of Hobo this last weekend has left a big hole in our hearts and in our home.  Monkey found him abandoned in the Havasu desert when she was 10, ten years ago. He was her first dog and her best friend.

He was on deaths door and used as target practice for some locals before wondering into our lives. Because we took him in, got him healthy and loved him so deeply he had a wonderful long life.  Jack and Hobo Gee Joe, super love and best buddies.

We are all devastated and stunned at how fast things happened, we just found out he was sick and then 3 1/2 days later at midnight he let us know it was time and we put him down. By far the hardest thing I've had to do and it's incredibly difficult to see monkey so sad.

Time is a good thing and we simply just need some...

Slowly we are beginning to move forward. I wanted to thank you all so much for your love and prayers we feel and appreciate them so very much.

The music man built a shadow box for monkey to store some of her special Hobo treasures in.

 I've been spending time in the garden harvesting spinach, kale and chard.

The brooder is ready and waiting for the right time to ad a few chicks, perhaps this coming weekend?

I've sold a few prints and have another shoot coming up.

Yes, slowly we are moving forward....

Hobo

We are all wrecked over here. The circle of life is never easy but it's worth the ride. You were such a kind and gentle soul and we are so thankful for our time with you... RIP sweet Hobo

Our Hobo Gee Joe

Just before leaving on vacation we noticed that Hobo was "off" a bit, unsure what was wrong though. Nothing major just enough to know something was a miss. Over the last week or so he seems to flux between normal and this "offness". The last few days his appetite has been down, he's been lethargic which also seems to come and go and last night he literally fell over with a glazed looked in his eyes so today we visited our vet.

After all the testing today it seems our guy has a large cancerous mass in his belly that is intermittently bleeding into the cavity. As of now he has a couple pints of blood in his abdomen and there is no cure or treatment. The blood loss has him feeling week and explains the low energy.  Thankfully there is no pain and he is not suffering.

We don't know how much longer he will be with us but are happy he is at home resting comfortably and that we can give him some more hugs and smooches.