May Wrap Up

Since I'm not sure WHEN we'll get around to painting this place, last summer I figured I'd cheat and spruce up the front with some additional bungalow style window frames. We designed, built, painted and hung them, and they looked great. This year, facing blistering hot weather, I decided to rehang them with easy on/off old fashioned storm window hangers, and then last weekend I made some nursery shade cloth panels that are velcroed onto the back of them. Instant cool house!! Sun can't get in, we can still see out... I love them!

Original window configuration

Cool new frames WITH shade cloth behind them!

Velcro detail...

May... continued!

…and once I was back from Ventura, it was time for the “Mister Sister” trip to Kernville! This is a trip where unlike sanctioned SOTF trips, husbands, kids, dogs and non-members are welcome! It was ghastly hot, well over a hundred degrees on Saturday and Sunday. I planned to do absolutely nothing, and I was quite successful! I did start and complete a craft project - a really tacky hanging lamp for our EZ-Up! Two other sisters had them, the first received it as a very “underappreciated” gift from a grandmother (I think her thoughts were, “Why on earth would you think I’d want this hideous thing?!” and the second sister saw it and had to have one – found it in a thrift shop!The components are nearly extinct, having run their course in oh, the 70’s I’m guessing? But I found what I needed and absolutely love the darn thing... and so do all the night bugs! Once again, my camera was destined to mostly lay dormant in the trailer – here’s a few pics…

Duke trying to read over the deafening roar of the river...

Maryjane's hubby Don provided an incredible breakfast each morning!

The river looked like a jammed freeway all weekend...

Spring Whirlwind!

Well, my major spring events are now in the can, and what a kick they were! Sisters on the Fly California Dreamin' in Ventura was a complete success, and I truly don't know when I've laughed so hard for so many days on end. Oh yeah, the Sisters Giddy Up in Arizona in 2007! I have to admit, my camera spent the entire week sitting on the kitchen counter in my trailer - I totally depended on the photography talents of other sisters! Here's a shot of my trailer...

The Arizona girls totally wowed us at every turn - which is why we ADORE them! I cannot thank them enough for their level of participation! Here's their "festive" beach party attire on the first night!

Then there was the cowgirl prom... again, they are SO all on the same page!

The PJ party...

And you certainly can't "live" in a trailer without having a traditional Trailer Trash Cocktail Party...

On our last night we celebrated Mazie's birthday - she is our 90 year old party girl, dancing, drinking, smoking, singing, WAY past my bedtime, and she is the mother of the two sisters, Maurrie and Becky who started this wonderful crazy group! The Arizona girls dressed 50's style in her honor...

The off-site events included a train trip to Santa Barbara, bus trips to both Solvang and the Reagan Library, surf fly-fishing - yes, 90-year old Mazie did THAT too, and our traditional Rhinestone Cowgirl Bling Cocktail Party at the oh-so-trendy Candlelight Kitchen and Bar...

Sleeping Basset

I'm convinced that sleeping is one of the things that Basset Hounds are exceedingly good at, 'cause I sure have a lot of pictures of it! Trust me, when she's awake, she's like a little short tornado racing around the yard, chasing cats, chasing toys, attacking Happy-hound... but then... with virtually no warning, it's NAP TIME!

A Prom... At My Age? Are You NUTS?!

Nope, I'm not nuts, I'm a Sister... a Sister on the Fly, and we have more fun than anyone! Just ask any one of over 1,000 of us! One of our sillier things is the Cowgirl Prom - these happen at various events, but this will be my first one. I found (CHEAPLY) what I thought was a tasteful, unappreciated bridesmaid dress from the pitiful selection on the sale rack at a bridal shop - it has since been brought to my attention that NO prom dress is tasteful, so, I'll just say this one was one of the "least ghastly". It had to be either brown or green to match my gorgeous Donald Pliner mules (killer find on ebay)... add a couple yards of sparkly bargain basement fabric from Joann's for a wrap, some delightful green Wooly Bugger flies for earrings and this girl ready for prom night! Don't want to give too much away here, but I'll share this one picture... is anyone else suddenly craving CHOCOLATE??

Wildflowers

The novelty of scraping stubborn ice and our very special FROZEN FOG off the windshield every morning has officially worn off. But, hope... whoops... I am SO done with that word... ANTICIPATION of spring is right down the hill. The wildflowers have started their spring show and I can't wait until we can take a day to go enjoy them!

This is the internet-famous shot of the Carrizo Plain between Bakersfield and the coast...

Poppies between here and Los Angeles...

Neighbor's pasture behind our house...

Closeup of Owl Clover from our yard... my absolute favorite wildflower around here!

Inside My Trailer

Well, the other night I was chatting with one of my sisters about trailer decor, and it dawned on me that I hadn’t “shared” pictures of the inside of my trailer! It started out in a “cherries” theme which is SO not me, but I had all this red and yellow vintage stuff that I had collected for the vintage picnic basket for our 1949 yellow Buick. The trailer has turquoise appliances, and one day as I was wandering around a fabric store I spotted some red, yellow and turquoise cherry fabric and was off and running with it! I went way overboard, burned out on cherries, and finally redid the whole thing in trout. Oddly, my hubby said he liked the cherry theme better because it was so bright and cheerful! Who'd of guessed? Here are some interior pictures of both themes…

That was a lot of cherries - nearly made me dizzy!!! The trout theme is much more relaxing...

That photo on the stove is my wonderful stepfather, Jim, who orginally taught me to fly fish when I was a young girl. I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but I sure did enjoy it!! If he could only see me now with all my fly fishing sisters, he would have loved it!!

Sisters take bedmaking VERY seriously. The secret combination in mine is four inches of medium firm foam, two inches of memory foam, another two inches of feather bed, then fluffy flannel sheets and a cozy handmade quilt! I made both the cherry quilt and the trout quilt at the same time - I'm not a really serious quilter, so I use the "Quilt In A Day" patterns and that's about how long it takes. I cut everything out for both quilts on Friday night, made the cherry one on Saturday and the trout one on Sunday. Took another afternoon to tie the quilts using perl cotton. Again, I'm not a "quilter" per se. The darn curtains actually took longer than the quilts! I neglected to line the cherry curtains because I was in a big ol' hurry - I lined the trout curtains after seeing how quickly the cherry ones faded. I also have little specks of velcro around all the windows which hold up cut-to-fit sheets of reflective silver foam insulation when the trailer is not in use. That helps stop all the sun damage. My next trailer is going to be very neutral and generic so I can easily change themes - I so want to do a "tasteful" Halloween theme!!!

Tomatoes in January

Okay, no laughing, but here is 80% of the total crop from my valiant little tomato plant. I know, it's pretty pathetic looking, but considering we keep our house pretty cold and it must depend on the sun coming in that big window, it's done very well. It was comforting to watch them grow while we had a foot of snow on the ground!

October... November... FEBRUARY???

Where does the time go?? Hubby decided that being stuck in a little trailer for days on end in the rain over Halloween did NOT sound like fun, so he opted to stay home and be "productive", which meant I had the trailer to myself! Lots of rain, a daily nap, five books read in four days, lots of hungry squirrels fed… well they acted hungry, even though they all looked plump and shiny!

The rain eased up enough for all the trick-or-treaters in the campground to make their rounds – and it occurred to me - you don’t even see that in most neighborhoods anymore – but that just goes to show how campers are all family. My fake rubber cat was a real hit with visiting dogs! Some barked, some growled, and one marched right around the table to sniff the “information” end - it was pretty funny. Early that morning I had raced back down to Bakersfield to oversee the relocation of my horse from the facility where his level of care and attention had been slowly going downhill. He now resides at a thoroughbred breeding and training facility here in Tehachapi – I am the ONLY boarder, because they are not a boarding stable, but I was desperate and my farrier made the contact and provided references on both sides. It is an immaculate and very well run facility and I sleep better at night knowing he gets the same level of care as all of their horses. As it should be.

Our November trip, again to the Kern River, was wonderful. Good food and good friends – I can’t think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving. Those of us that went fly fishing went for the entire day, and that’s a long day of fishing in all that icy water – it was nearly dark when we headed out of the river. Caught just a couple, one rainbow and one adorable little native, enjoyed every minute of it but could not wait to fall into bed that night!

Miss Libby is very good at this whole camping thing... but I think we need a bigger bed!

December is just kind of a blur, and for that matter so is January even though it only ended uhhhh, yesterday? My horse move paid off last week – the old guy does not drink enough water when it gets really cold. He began to colic, and then started to roll to ease the pain. Well, with all the melting snow on the ground, he wound up sopping wet and started to go into hypothermia, but, they were on it quickly and by the time I got the call and raced out there, the vet was there, my horse was totally looped on several drugs, they had given him a nice hot bath, and he looked ready for a long nap! Everything was fine, but it did mean I was running back and forth for half the night washing and drying a rotating pile of five sopping wet horse blankets in order to get him dry. You don’t even want to know what the inside of our washer and dryer looked like.

I Love October!!

October has to be my favorite month! I love the chilly weather, I love all the fall recipes, and I love Halloween! This year we'll be camping again, so won't get to have all the fun decorating the yard and house, but I will get to decorate our trailer and campsite! How fun is that??? I'll post pictures when we return home! Tonight it is already down to 33 with the windchill - I brought in my tomato plant - pretty sad story, I ordered it online, it arrived in June, I didn't get it planted until July, and it dutifully spent the next TWO MONTHS growing itself the mother of all root systems! It lost every single leaf, and then a couple weeks ago it went "TA-DA"!!! and started growing leaves again. What choice did I have?? So there it sits in a big plastic tub in the middle of the living room with a fence around it to keep out Miss Libby, the "busy basset". A few years ago I had a volunteer tomato plant in the house and by Easter I had fresh tomotoes! Wish me luck with this one! Hubby thinks I'm nuts...

My Aprons from Kernville

Okay, I managed to convert my pattern from Excel (don't ask!) to a .pdf, but can't figure out how to get it to a .jpg, but I'll keep working on it and post it later... for now here's the photo of the two aprons I cranked out the day before we left for Kernville. Margo's has all the cute wine things, mine has leaves and acorns... hmmm... acorns... maybe that's why that little squirrel was so attracted to my campsite... oh, wait, it was the $12 bag of peanuts... I remember now!

Yummy Soup Recipe!!

This recipe is from Cuisine At Home - Soups, Stews & Chiles. Absolutely wonderful! Hubby even liked it which is a miracle considering it wasn't "chile". I simmered the chicken while prepping everything else, and had it done in a reasonable amount of time considering I worked late tonight and still had to run to the market! This one is a keeper. Can't wait to try some more from this book!

SPINACH-ARTICHOKE SOUP
1 cup leek, sliced
1 T garlic, minced
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
14 oz can water packed artichoke hearts, drained
2 T flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
2-1/2 cups chicken broth
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
6 ozs fresh spinach (I used 8 oz bag from salad section)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt & pepper (I skipped these and never missed them)

Saute leeks and garlic in oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Cook until leeks are soft, about 2 minutes, then add chicken and quartered artichoke hearts. Saute 2 minutes, then stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Deglaze with wine and simmer until nearly evaporated, scraping any bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in broth, milk and cream, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, add the spinach and parmesan, and stir until spinach wilts. Season with salt and pepper before serving.

Serve with:

PITA CHIPS
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika
cayenne to taste
4 rounds pita bread
olive oil

Preheat broiler to high. Combine seasonings in a small bowl. Lightly brush pitas on both sides with oil and sprinkle with seasoning mixture. Transfer pitas to a baking sheet and broil until golden, 2 minutes per side. Cut each pita into 8 wedges. (Hubby doesn't like pitas, so I used sourdough. I also will cut the salt in half - way too salty for me!)

BYE BYE SEPTEMBER!!

Hmmm… long time no post! Besides the usual obligations, I’ve been up to my neck planning for the annual Sisters on the Fly Kernville event. Brought the trailer into the yard to pack it, and the adorable Miss Libby… who is still in puppy mode… decided to tear out and EAT all the wiring from underneath the trailer. Hubby was NOT happy and all the new wiring is now safely encased in conduit. Our Kernville event had 30 sisters and nearly that many trailers. It was so much fun to meet so many new sisters!! We enjoyed lots of fly fishing, antique stores, good food, and I think we’ll have 4-5 new sisters joining who happened across us at the campground!! Perfect weather – about 90 during the day, but that meant we didn’t have to wear waders. Nice and cool in the 50’s at night… ahhhhh!! Today I spent several hours getting my turtle’s indoor winter “pond” all set up – he’s pretty happy to be inside with heated water, but what a messy job! I am the poster child for the “free pet syndrome”…

Miss Libby's Roommate

This is Happy the Catahoula cross. The other half of the cross is Redbone/Black & Tan Coonhound, but he came out looking totally Catahoula. He's a big no nonsense hound, and he also has the Catahoula trait of having a very small circle of "approved" people. Catahoulas are the state dog of Louisana and are used for boar and bear hunting. He and Miss Lilah were both acquired from Beagles and Buddies, a dog rescue in South El Monte. Happy has no ears, at least on the inside. Ear infections were beyond treatable when we adopted him, so many, many, dollars later with a specialist in Los Angeles, he has no ear openings, and most of the interior hearing hardware is gone as well. Oddly enough, the "downside" of this surgery appears to be that he can now hear the UPS truck from SIX blocks away instead of the two blocks before surgery. Which means he starts barking sooner... go figure! His other mission in life is to tree feral cats on our fence.

Passed Dogs...

Turbo & Cameo - Black Lab/German Shorthair Pointer cross brother and sister - found them running loose as skeletons out on the Mojave desert... Turbo retrieved, Cameo pointed... both HATED water! Their markings were absolutely identical, but hers were speckled.

The "dainty" Miss Lilah, 100 lb Bluetick Coonhound - or Giant Blue Gascony Hound as we preferred to call her - she was most definitely from the old original French bloodlines.

Rendezvous

I'll try to keep the details short because I have quite a few pictures. We are members of the Breckenridge Buckskinners, and we host a reenactment of the fur trade, or mountain man rendezvous, in April of each year. Here is our camp on one of the seemingly rare days when it's not raining, snowing, or so windy that it blows tents over! This encampment is ten days of hard work with no electricity, no batteries, no matches, no "petroleum based fuels", just the tools any normal person in 1837 would have had... while living off the land as a trapper. We do, however, manage to live quite comfortably - note the WOOD BURNING STOVE peeking out from the right hand corner of the tent - yeah, I can get it up to ninety degrees in there during a snow storm - no problem! Also means I don't have to cook outside!
Here's Duke conducting some gunsmithing business with one of our Scottish shooters...

And here's son-in-law Bob keeping the cooking fire going... on one of those "cold" days...brrrr! But he's from Michigan - he was in heaven!

Shopping!

Rendezvous generally has a "traders' row" where all the vendors sell their wares...

Rendezvous kids lined up for daily awards in shooting, archery, tomahawk throwing...

We also like to do a summer rendezvous - one where we are NOT part of the working crew! This one was near Johnsondale, CA, but sadly, the landowner made other plans for this gorgeous piece of property along the Kern River... This was our camp in 2001 with daughter and son-in-law, and the picture below that is our VIEW from that camp...

Needless to say, I didn't get much accomplished that year - no beading, no shooting, no hikes, no archery, no leatherwork, no fishing, just sat there enjoying the view for ten days... oh yeah, and making sure everyone had breakfast and dinner!

More Shopping!

In 2002 the big McNally fire swept through there literally a couple hours after we broke camp and headed home. Over 150,000 acres were burned. You can see the bare areas in the background, but the fire went through "our meadow" so quickly that although most trees were lost (note all the stumps), some merely had scorched trunks. We returned in following years, but 2005 was our last year, and instead of hundreds of people, there were only fifteen camps. I have to say, I enjoyed that one more than any other rendezvous I had ever been to. We had an entire meadow to ourselves, and it was just incredible. And no matter what, there is always a potluck!

Hmmm... guess I didn't keep that very short, did I!