Wow! It's been over 20 days since my last post. Where have I been and what have I been doing!

I've been here at the ranch dealing with thunder, lightening, hail, rain, and mud and more mud! And I've been taking care of all my "babies". It has been a constant struggle with the rains. It's only this past week that the rains have finally slowed down and I can actually see some dry ground and dust. Yes dust - the thing I thought I hated the most until the rains came and turned it all into mud. Now I hate the mud and am looking forward to some dust. Life sure has it's twists and turns.

Now for the "babies" I've been taking care of. We have a whole new bunch of baby chicks and some geese! Here they are.


These are are two new geese enjoying a nice swim in their new pool. And they get to nibble on their alfalfa. The geese are fun to watch as they waddle around together eating weeds. After their waddling they both nestle into the loose hay and take a nap!
What a life!


And these are some of my new "chicks". I have three Polish - their the little white chicks. The dark colored chicks are Langshan. At the moment they don't look too impressive but as they get older the Polish will have feathery crests on their heads and the Langshan will have feathery legs. I'll be taking more images as they get older so you can see how they mature. I also have another seven Araucana "peeps" or tiny little chicks that I have to watch very closely and keep them warm at a certain temperature until they can tolerate the outside temperature and weather.

In the mean while my little Bantam hen is dutifully sitting on her eggs and hopefully within the next two weeks we'll see some little Bantam peeps peck their way out of their shells. My Guinea fowl hen is also sitting on her eggs. She doesn't seem as dutiful about sitting on her eggs but she is trying. We'll have to wait to see what happens with her eggs, hopefully some little guineas.

The sheep and goats are all doing fine and for the most part staying out of trouble.

The dogs are all fine but they don't like the thunder and lightening. For several days the lightening was striking so much around here that we had all three dogs lying on the bedroom floor. They were so scared they didn't want to move.

The rain has continued to wash away the driveway around the house. We had to haul rock to fill in the eroded portions. So far we have hauled 4 loads of rock and we still have more to do. Here is some of the rock we have hauled to fill in the eroded driveway.

This is what it looks like with the rock unloaded.


As for my art - oh yes that is what this blog is suppose to be about. Well.... I guess I've been busy with other things at the moment. Since it has been raining so much I was beginning to think that maybe, just maybe I should spend some time and build myself an ark to save myself and all my critters - Hubby is on his own - he's insured!

Anyway, while Hubby is busy trying to save the ranch I spent my time working on my own ark. Well really my ship - my very own pirate ship! Just in case the waters start rising. I built it on as part of my studio porch. This is what I've got done so far. I will be adding some more clothes onto my pirate skeleton as he looks just a bit too "bare" from the waist down.


Here is Pepper, our pack leader as she takes one of her many daily dips in her own private bath tub after her running around. Enjoy!


Now, before I go I must tell you that I did do some art - yes I really did. I made a Gypsy doll. The pattern is my own and I used some extremely luxurious fabric that I got from Pamela of Treasures of the Gypsy Fabric Club, and of course I used my own Art Fibers. Here she is -



FYI if your interested in knowing more about Pam's Treasure's of the Gypsy Fabric Club you can contact her at gypsytreasures@cs.com

It's been a few days since my first post. It's not that I've been forgetful or lazy, but rather I've been a bit busy here at the ranch dealing with our daily torrential rains! We are in the thick of the yearly monsoon season and this year has been one for the records. This years monsoon rains have brought almost daily flash flooding. The thunderstorms have been dramatic and impressive. It is just awesome to see the storms roll in, and that's exactly how the arrive - the just roll in. One minute the skies are bright and cloudy, then suddenly a rolling, boiling, billowing stretch of black sky that approaches like a tsunami! Skies switch from bright to black in a matter of minutes. This black curtain sweeps with lightening flashes and thunder reverberates through out air. All of a sudden the air cools like our walking into an air conditioned room, then suddenly the rain pours from the skies. Yes, it literally pours water, like someone has hit you with a stream of water from a bucket. There is no quick dancing to shelter like one usually can do when it starts to rain. If you haven't found shelter before it starts you have no chance as your soaked in seconds!

Then the water starts to run and race to the lowest spot it can find and as it goes it gathers together into a small stream and before you know it there is a river before your eyes. It washes away everything in it's path - the soft sand disappears and all of a sudden the earth is cut like someone has gouged it with a plow!

As I started to write this I had planned to tell you that today is the first we've had where it hasn't rained. But now as I write the rains have arrived again. Since writing the first paragraph the power has been on and off three times! It may take me all night to get this written, if the power holds on.

Our days here have been spent on cleaning up the mess and debris that the rains have left behind. Fill in the washed out areas, try not to drive on the saturated and muddy roads, check and clean the animal pens and corrals to make sure the critters are still warm and dry, re-do the tarps that get blown off and around from the storm, and on and on.

This morning we went for a walk to see what the effects of the last storm were and here are some images.

Here is a Ponderosa that was struck by lightening and cut in half.


This is a now filled dry lake bed. Normally our llamas spend the day down there lying under the trees and eating the grasses. Now it's under water.


This is just outside the house. The runoff created this very small arroyo over several days of rain. It was solid ground now it's been cut by the water.


Here is a closer look. It's over a foot deep and goes right under the stack of boards and then on down the slope where it ended up at -


this stock tank. The water in the tank is probably 20 feet deep and stretches for about 300+ feet by 50+ feet. That is a whole lot of water. Also, note how green everything is. Before these rains things were mostly a dull, drab brown. Water is truly a gift from God. And speaking of gifts from God, look at what we were blessed with -


A baby llama - or cria! Mom and baby are just fine. We haven't determined it's sex yet as Mama won't let us get close enough. Mama was kind enough to bring it here to the house for us to see it. It looks like the little one was dipped in chocolate! But wait -


This is what the little cria looks like from the other side! Really amazing.

These images were taken on 19 July. Since the rains started last week we have only seen the llamas from a distance down my the lava lake area. That is until this morning when they came up to the house. No doubt to let us know that they are all fine and weathering the rainy weather just fine.

As for art. Well, that has been on hold these past few days as I help out here in dealing with the results of the rains. The forecast is for the rainy weather to let up by this weekend. Then I'll have a chance to play again! I need to after this past week of dancing and singing in the rain!

As I finish this post the rains have now moved on. It is pitch dark outside - no street lights, no moon, just darkness. And in the distance I can see the bright flashes of jagged lightening perhaps 20 - 30 miles from here. The flashes are so bright that I can see the outline of the Chain of Craters along the great divide.

What a way to end the day. I wonder what tomorrow will bring.