Sunday is Wii Day!

Note the vacant stare. LOL

Also notable are the bubble "bags" hanging from her elbows and the butterflynoculars (my word), evidence she spent most of her day outside.

Spring Peek

Excuse the blurry spots. My lens has a gash in it. *sniffle*

Our new firepit area. It is very primitive right now but it's very enjoyable.



This is where I hang out, 'ar 'ar 'ar (thank you, Mork)



This is where the fairies live under the apple tree. I'm going to plant sweet peas on the miniature trellises.



The outdoor tea party.



Strawberries



Clothesline



Rock garden



Rock garden extended



Perennial bed



Giraffe tree (pear)

Saying Goodbye

and I love you.

Rosa Abeyta ~ August 1915 - April 2010

Conversation Between Rhetta and Lola the Cat

Rhetta: Momma, Lola's mom's name is Beth.

Me: Lola's mom was a cat.

Rhetta: Lola's home is in Gunnison. Her mom's name is Beth.

Me: Actually, we only picked her up at Beth's house. She used to live with Whit. Whit brought her to Beth's so we could pick her up.

Rhetta: Lola's mom's name is Whit.

Me: Honey, Lola's mom was a cat.

Rhetta: Lola, is your mom named Whit?

Lola: *meow*

Rhetta: Lola said YES!

Lola: *meow* (apparently in confirmation)

Our Annual Earth Day Contribution

Earth Day is not until next week but we had an opportunity to go today so we took it. Every year we go to our favorite mountain, the Uncompahgre Plateau, and pick up trash. This year we found very little which is pretty cool. Even cooler, as Rhetta pointed out, everything we picked up can be recycled. She was equally impressed when I told her some of it could be reused. Much of it was old stuff washed to the surface by the rains and snow melt. Although we did encounter a lot of small pieces of broken glass we figured they're closer to going back to the earth and didn't risk cutting our fingers. Really, we were just hiking and enjoying some family time with a lesson or two thrown in.

We had parked on a rise and walked over another until the whole of Delta County was splayed out before us. Rhetta was busy dancing down the road but Willon, when he saw the view shouted, "Look!! It's California!" Then a little further down we left the road to look down a draw on the north side and he proclaimed, "Oh! (sheer adoration) It's the Grand Canyon!!" with so much enthusiasm I thought he would burst. Rhetta in the meantime had stopped dancing and was looking at more minute details like lichen, juniper berries, deer droppings, and cacti.

Happy Earth Day, Earth. We love you. ♥

Blooming Rock Garden Part 1

Barrel cactus, Doña Ana perhaps, taken from the Uncompahgre Plateau three years ago. Succulant surrounding it was a clipping from one of the city planters 2 years ago. It will bloom later...

A Letter to Papa

Rhetta loves her Papa. She talks about him all the time, what little she knows about him. Rob has drawn a crude family tree with her so she knows his place in the family. She knows his name and that he used to live here with Me Me when she was little. When they finished the genealogy lesson she provided drawings of many of our family members on the sheet. Most of them are whole bodied drawings. One of them she left as simply a head. When asked who that was she said, "That's Papa. He's hiding." She later drew a tent around his head and he's saying "Peek-a-Boo!"



So, last night she decided out of the blue that she wanted to call Papa. I had to explain to her that I don't have his phone number. I suggested she write him a letter to ask him for his number, then she could call him. She wrote the letter then insisted we call him, not understanding. More dialogue and we addressed/stamped an envelope; she put it in the mailbox herself and raised the flag.

This morning she mentioned it upon waking, saying "Mailman is going to pick up Papa's letter today." This prompted a short geography lesson. I explained all the different stops the letter had to make before it got to Papa's mailbox: 2 mail trucks, 3 large delivery trucks, 2 major cities and a plane ride. She seemed impressed. We also took out the atlas and traced the route her letter would take with our fingers. We read the names of the cities and states it would travel through. This worked well to kick in her patience and resolve. So she waits for a response.

I don't know if he reads my blog but in the off chance the letter does not get to its destination and he (or someone he knows) does happen to read my blog then he'll get it regardless. Here it is:

Dear Papa, (Roger) I'll
call you. Will [may] I call you?
What is your phone
number?
Example:
970-XXX-XXXX
Love, Rhetta

(she added the Tinker Bell stickers at my suggestion)

Snoozin'

If Rhetta knew Kit Kat was lounging so she would never be so relaxed, but the cats takes what they can gets and they do love her so.

Purple Fairy

Click on the fairy for more purpley fairyness at Photobucket.

Easter

We always take full advantage of holidays. Easter is no exception. We colored eggs (thanks to our chickens) and did many, many front and backyard hunts on Saturday. Sunday we did baskets (thanks Easter Bunny!) and BBQ and plastic egg hunt (thanks again, Danielle and Mike). Extra lucky to have an extra kid with us all weekend, too.

I thought I Lost Those

Over the last few months I have been coming across these one by one around the property. I can only assume that once you turn 40 you start to find them again.