I Had A Fun Day

It started off as a regular old day. I took the dogs to the groomer for the ritual, and while there I met a puppy belonging to the groomer that I just fell in love with. A tiny five month old Yorkie that weighs just about eighteen ounces. She is expected to weight just about two pounds or so when she is fully grown. Her name is Nonie, pronounced like "no-knee." She was born with some sort of defect in her tiny little knees and will need to have surgery to correct this. I picked her up, and she gave me some precious little puppy kisses on the chin, then just curled up against my chest. Ohmygawd, she was so adorable! Ali watched me as if I were cheating on him!! China just stared ... or was it glared ... at me. No, I left the puppy there and brought my two home. They've forgiven me.

The weather was gorgeous today. It was cool, 30s and 40s, but I wore just a jacket and was fine. It was sunny and the sky was amazingly blue and BIG! With the sun and something over freezing, and most of the remaining snow has gone. I heard great news on the local radio today that we have had enough moisture in recent months through January to officially end the six year drought that had plagued and threatened this area.The aquifers are all full again, good news for me, 'cause I'm buying a house with its own well. I'm water rich! It also means that the added moisture we've had in February, something like two inches, is a bonus. And it isn't necessarily over, because it can snow in these mountains up through even April.

We ran some errands, and on the way home, as I went through the mountains, I got a look at Sierra Blanca and caught the most amazing sight. Snow on the mountain cap was being blown by the wind, causing "clouds." I hadn't brought my camera, so I couldn't take pictures. I was still about 12 miles from the house, so going home to get the camera and return seemed to be too much wasted time. I drove a couple more miles and thought, "Wait a minute! I have no schedule!" So I retrieved the camera, made the return trip, hoping the whole way that it wasn't just a short-term, and I'd have nothing to shoot. It was not a trip in vain, and I took several pictures of the phenomenon.



This is roughly what I was on my first pass. At first, I thought it was a little cloud just hanging around the peak.









The wafts of snow often drifted away leaving obvious paths. It was quite a sight. When I told Allan about this when he came home, he said he saw the same thing, some two hours later. Apparently there was a sustained wind over the mountain today.






After that was done, I drove back to our little village, picked up the mail and a few things at the grocery store. On the way home I passed a house that has a yard display I've noticed before, but had never taken time to photograph. I decided that I would do so today. So ... for your viewing pleasure and amusement, I present . . . .



A fence of a type once common in the Southwest, made of small tree branches tied to cross bars, also tree branches. However, this particular one is decorated with glass bottles in cobalt blue. I'd like to steal a few of those bottles; they'd look great cleaned up and placed in a sunny window to refract light!!






And behind the novel fence is a giant cat sculpture! This thing is probably 20-25 feet tall!











I back up a little so you can get a better idea of the enormity of this cat.










On the other side of the driveway are some poles decorated with colorful clay pots stacked on them, reminiscent of totem poles. I wish I'd gotten a little closer, because these were really more vivid that they appear here. I'm guessing that the one on the left is a newly started one.








Behind the poles were some other cat sculptures. Oh, and right in the center is a metal sculpture that appears to be made from some sort of vehicle parts, gears and such.










Here is a shot that includes part of the bottles and fence, the clay pot totems, and the the cat sisters. It looks like the last one is praying with her paws up in the air like that. I donno!











Here is a closer snap of the bizarre kitties.











Certainly not your average "yard art"!!













When I turned to get another shot of the big white cat without the fence in the way, I was startled by the blue cat face that was behind the fence and I hadn't noticed!









How'd you like to have this greet you when you come home slightly inebriated and come face to face with this?!?










Ended the day with a dinner out at one of our favorites, the eclectic place that I blogged about before. I had a grilled chicken breast with raspberry chilpotle sauce. Oh ... my ... gawd ... was it good! And while we were there, some friends of Allan's came in so they joined us at our table. We had fortunately taken a table close to the fireplace which actually seated 5-6. We had a wonderful time, and ended up staying on for over an hour after we finished eating, just talking and laughing our heads off and having a wonderful time.

Clean dogs, cool photos, nice weather, good food and laughter with friends. Not much better than that, is there?

~ ~ ~

PS - I have a couple of "frequent lurkers" (I know where you are, just not who you are) about whom I'm very curious, so I'm going to request that if you are one of them, please make a comment occasionally. Or if you're "shy"' send me an email. I always feel as if I'm missing something when lurkers are hanging around and, well, lurking! I enjoy making new blog (or email) friends. Indulge me!!! I promise I don't bite, and I can even scare up some references for that!! :-)