Baby Steps

Have you ever gone through one of those phases when getting dressed in the morning looms before you as a chore which requires more energy than you can possibly sum up? Well, I'm there! Between regular stress, work stress and travel stress, I'm feeling pretty tapped out these days. So if you've been there, and I'm pretty sure you have, how do you get out of it? Where do you find those reserves of energy that get you back on track? For me, it's all about celebrating the baby steps. This month I have:

Finished a green Market Bag for my mom,

Started, and finished, a blue Market Bag for my sister, who is learning how to scuba dive and will need a stylish bag for her gear,

Went to my cousins wedding in Pasadena where I watched them celebrate the most important moment in their lives together, saw aunts, uncles and cousins that I haven't seen in years, watched my parents dance like no one was watching,


And fell in love with my five-and-three-quarters-years-old cousin, Pearl, who is going to be a wock star when she gwows up and wite her own songs!


Also (not pictured) I fired up my $50 yard-sale steal of a heavy duty weedwhacker and whacked about 1/2 an acre of 6 foot high weeds (before collapsing on the porch with a cocktail), started my first lace-patterned wrap and achieved the halfway point, and only had to undo the first four rows once, did about 18 loads of laundry, and got hugs from lots of people that I needed hugs from.

Baby steps.

Progress!

Even though it rained enough today to drown a frog, I finally feel like we've taken steps toward summer! After the blessed parental units arrived last week for an emergency work party, Dad climbed on the tractor and mowed the days away (and weed-whacked and raked and...well, you get the idea), and Mom put her expertise to work on 3 flats full of plants from the FFA Plant Sale. I finally get to walk out my door and see bright, spring colors - it makes my heart happy!

We filled a tub full of marigolds just because we can. I might plant a tomato nearby to justify their existence, but for now they look just fine at the base of a tree rose.

Pooter enjoys strolling between the ankles of unsuspecting gardeners and photographers, in his understated (NOT!) pleas for attention. The pots in the back have just been filled with a lush variety of shade plants, which should thrive in their new home under the plum tree outside my front door. The barn you see down the hill is halfway finished...should be done by mid-summer (we cross our fingers when we say that!).

Someday this house will be white with dark trim, cute shutters, and a nice entryway right in the middle of the house, rather than having the front door way over in the corner as if its been naughty! But for now, at least the paint matches the flowers!!

Stragglers who've yet to be planted wait on the porch for their day in the sun...now if I could just commit to a garden location somewhere on this property....

Meanwhile, back at sister's ranch, Haylee became a mommy of 5 little fat Pugs, who are all cute as a button, awake OR asleep!

I've almost finished a market bag for mom (the handles are almost done)....

Dress 1 of 2 (for twins) is almost finished,

Blankie 2 of 2 was finished, and mailed off along with...

G's Twin's First Purses! A miniature version of The Lucy Bag, complete with flowers, and an instant hit (and hat!) for the girls!

When you sit back and think about it, life ain't all that bad!

Motivation...

So I went over to my sisters ranch yesterday, on another one of those teasing days Mother Nature has bestowed upon us this spring. The sun was shining, and I sat on a bench and enjoyed the views while my dogs ran laps around the goat pasture and looked for a way in.

(Action shot of Cooper getting his daily exercise!)

Don't worry about the goats...they know the dogs are no match for their horns! Anyway, as I sat there I pondered on what I should do today if it was another sunny one. Should I try to work on more fencing prep-work? Or carve another couple of stairs into the path down to the barn? Perhaps fertilize the lilacs and mock orange bushes, and all the potted plants in the front yard?

(A few of the goats making their way to the fence, hoping I brought treats!)

As it turns out, today was another cold and windy one. I took the dogs for a short walk, getting buffeted by winds all the way, and am now, once again, ensconced in the house wondering where the day went and how I am going to get anything done at this rate!

I am not feeling too motivated, to tell you the truth. When I think of all the work to be done outside, I am just overwhelmed. Sometimes I wonder if I bit off more than I could chew!

But here's one thing that gets me motivated:

My new haul of Namaste seconds! I have been slavering over that Turquoise Needle Binder for about 5 years, and I finally got a chance to get one at a greatly reduced rate through their seconds clearance sale on Ravelry! The colors make me drool, and want to go finish something, so...I think I will!

Sigh

Last month at work we all had to take a short test to determine our personality type. I am (my mother was surprised to learn!) an introvert. This does not mean that I can't talk to people; it means that after I talk to people, I have to climb back into my cave and be alone to regroup! So every week at work, I sit at my desk and look forward to the weekend. Even though I won't be able to cave-dwell for all three days of my weekend, I usually set aside at least part of one day for said activity.

This weekend I have the perfect excuse! There's a huge rainstorm (snow at 3000 feet) moving across the valley, dumping rain in biblical proportions and making the thought of working outside rather unappealing. So here I am inside, with a nice fire in the woodstove, good show on the telly, dogs that have finally stopped bringing squeaky toys for me to throw and fallen asleep at my feet, and three cats sleeping on my desk! In a moment, the water for my Chai Latte will boil and I will go sit down and work on another Tiramisu blanket (in organic pink cotton, super soft, with a brown border) and enjoy being in my cave.

Sigh :-)

I'm not kidding...

This is my Quince again, sitting outside my front door making me happy last Saturday. That darker area at the top left is actually a rose bush that is using the quince as a support...this summer it will have millions of hot pink blooms that will end up in my house! I also love the sweet little purple Vinca peeking out at the bottom...it doesn't really stand a chance against the quince, but it's trying!

The sun was shining, the sky was beautiful and clear, and I wore a tank top while I worked in the yard and the kids ran around in their outside playpen. My neighbors could be heard mowing lawns and working in their gardens (and yes, they do have a license to grow that stuff!)

I went up to work on clearing tree limbs and poison oak from a fenceline that needs to be repaired soon (ain't I a stud?) and saw lots of sweet, brave little wildflowers peeking through the oak leaves on the hill. Wasn't even worried about the job until I saw the size of the ginormous tree branches that needed to be cleared away, decided that discretion was the better part of valor and I will be hiring some young punks next weekend to finish it up (so no, guess I'm not a stud). At any rate, got a lot done, worked hard outside all day and enjoyed a nice, cool cocktail on the porch at the end of the day, as a reward for my labors.

Woke up this morning and saw this:

Yes, Virginia, that really IS snow dumping down at my house! On March 29th! Two days before April! WTH? That whole 'comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb' thing is hooey!

At least the birds didn't seem to mind so much! They just kept munching away like it wasn't 30 degrees outside...

But me, hey, my middle name is Pollyanna - well, if I had a middle name that would be it (or maybe it would be Mike). Do you know what this means? It means I now have an excuse to stay inside all weekend and KNIT!!!!!!!!! Hmmmm, what to do first?

The Oriental Lily sweater, modified from the original to fit a two year old, have long bell sleeves and be long enough to wear over leggings in winter?

or...

The cute little summer top??? So many choices, so much yarn, so little time.....

Welcome to the Lazy Q Ranch!

Howdy boys and girls! Welcome to Suzie's new blog, all about the life of a girl who planned something different, then woke up one day the proud owner of 5 unimproved acres and a 'tear-down with potential' as my sister-in-law kindly put it. I've found myself enjoying reading other peoples blogs lately, so I thought and thought about it, and now I'm taking the plunge and starting my own!

But before we get blogging, I suppose you'd like to know a little about me and how I got here. Have you ever found yourself thinking on your life and realizing that it in no way resembles the life you thought you'd have? Well, that's me. I'm not quite sure how I got here, and I'm not sure that this is where I want to stay, but I figure that I'll do the best I can to make a good life of it, and hopefully figure out what I want to be when I grow up while I'm here.

Being the youngest of 5 kids in a rowdy and raucous family generally leads one to believe that one will end up doing more of the same, right? I sure did. Although my parents raised me to work hard and to value education, I never really thought that I would need either, since I would meet my future husband in college, get married and be a mom. But it turns out thats not what happened. I did meet a guy in college, and I did think he was THE ONE. But he wasn't, and thank goodness I found out sooner rather than later.

So I fell into an accidental career and time flew by while I was working and living and having a good time. And one day a few years back, I realized that I was looking straight down the barrel of my 35th birthday and what did I have to show for it? I wouldn't say nothing, because I have a wonderful family and a few really incredible friends. But most of my family had moved away from the coastal town in Northern California where we grew up, I'd gone as far as I wanted to go at my job, and my friends were all settling down and having kids. I decided that THAT was the year I was going to do it! I was going to sell my house (in 2007, great timing, right?) and move to the town in Southern Oregon where my sister Katy lives. I'd been coming up here on vacations for years, and loving every minute of it, and I'd been saying for the longest time that someday I was going to move here. So I did. I called up my realtor, painted the bedroom and put the house on the market. Lucky for me I had a cute little (tiny) house that someone fell in love with only eight weeks after I'd listed it. Blink a few times, escrow is closed, and I'm driving north on Interstate 5 with the last truckload of my stuff and a cab full of yeowling cats. I spent a year living in a rental and looking for the perfect property for me, and when I found it, I just knew! I kept looking for another 6 months to be sure, but when I couldn't wait anymore I took my life savings and put it down on a house on 5 acres in the country, 10 minutes from my sisters farm and less than one mile from the Rogue River.

It's been just over a year now since I bought this little place, and in that year every day has had it's adventures. So in the interest of entertaining my friends back home with mental pictures of me driving a tractor and in the interest of making NEW friends out there, I present you with my stories; the stories of Life on the Lazy Q Ranch.

Scenes from the first of spring

It's been a strange winter here on the ranch. The pipes froze (and burst!) in December, leading to several frostbitten hours in the well-shed with a blowtorch and another hour replacing and insulating outside pipes. Then it warmed up and hasn't really gotten that cold again. Now this weekend we've had three continuous days of 70 degree sunshine and clear skies, which will be followed (according to the weatherman) by rain tomorrow and cold/cloudy all week. So I shaved my legs and busted out my flip flops and spent my days off working in the yard.

(A Flowering Quince that lives just outside my front door, at the top of the steps down to the barn and the lower pastures.)

Planting dahlias and peonies, transplanting a rose and a giant lilac that both had to go before I can move my front door from its current location, and generally sprucing the place up as much as can be were all on the agenda. It was tough to stay on track, though, for every time I stopped to take a breath, another sweet little spring surprise would catch my eye and I'd have to run for my camera again! In the meantime, the pygmy goats Clarence and Moe got to come out of their stall in the barn for the first time all winter and gallivant in their little pasture while the dogs ran laps around the pasture looking for a way through the fence! It took the goats about 60 seconds to realize that the dogs weren't getting in no matter how hard they tried, so they planted their feet and thumbed their noses and laughed at the dumb dumb dogs! Animals are nothing if not entertaining!

Clarence and Moe enjoying the views outside for the first time this spring

And it's a good thing I did that sprucing, for it seems I am expecting guests. That's right, the parental units Ma & Pa Kettle are packing their bags even as we speak, and will be here in just a few short days. Hopefully I can wring as much work out of both of them as possible (just kidding - but not really)...Pa is going to teach me to use a chainsaw so I can clear the western fence line of the tree branches that came down on it this winter, and Ma & I will be planting the rest of the bulbs and fertilizing. (PS - for all of you who thought you could live the swinging single life vicariously through me, think again!).

It's only been a few months, but it seems like M & P haven't been here for ages. I'm looking forward to showing them all of the things I made this winter. Six blankets, a market bag, fingerless gloves and a cowl are all stacked up neatly awaiting their arrival, as is the Mr. Greenjeans sweater I've started knitting. Now the question is: what to do next???