Afternoon Date

Today Mike's sister Marjorie was visiting from Aztec, NM. She volunteered to sit wtih Mike's parents for a few hours and invited Mike and I to leave for a date.

Plan A: Drive to LaSal-->Paradox, CO.

We are not ten miles out of town - at Devil's Canyon - when we run straight into snow and ice on the road and an overturned car. We decided to turn around and head south.

Plan B: Bluff and the Bluff Fort

Neither Mike nor I were too excited about Plan B, but honestly, it turned out great!

First, we ate at Simpson's. Their fries are delicious and so is the fry bread! Eating at Simpsons is always good. (This part of the plan we were okay with.)

Mike at Simpson's with the Navajo Twins in the background

Our next stop was the Bluff Fort. Members of the original Hole in the Rock company settled the Bluff area in 1880 and built this fort. When here three or four years ago, the fort was rundown, but so much renovation has occured. It is really cool!

Mike standing outside of the meeting house

Mike pointing to Walter C. Lyman,
his great-grandfather who came through
Hole-In-The-Rock at age 17.

Sidney holding the hand of a prophet (John Taylor).

John Taylor was the prophet who issued the

mission call to those families who settled Bluff.

Hanging out of a window of the Barton Cabin

General view of the fort

Thanks so much Marjorie for giving us a few hours off. We so enjoyed our date!

Happenin's

I feel like a broken record, but I am SO TIRED of working on projects. I am burned out. I keep thinking Mike and I are finished for the summer/fall, and then something else crops up! So, here's what we've been up to the past couple of weeks...

The junk collecting behind our house is now at the 'transfer station' (not the dump). The good news about this is that we won't need to look at it all winter from outside our bedroom window!







This morning I went to our garden and picked all of the unripe tomatoes. They are now safely stored on top of our refridgerator!

Well, it's a good thing the grass we planted on the side of the curb didn't grow too well because the telephone company came and dug a HUGE hole and installed new phone lines for the area. Mike and I are taking the positive spin on this and grateful that the phone company 'tilled the soil' for us so that the seeds will take hold next spring!

This past week I've been working on Christmas. I've been ordering on-line and then I made this wall hanging for my mother-in-law. She had a fabric calendar from 2002 hanging in the kitchen - before the redo - and she kept it because she loves cardinals. So, I told her I would create a wall hanging for her from the cardinals. This is how it turned out. As I know she doesn't view our blog, I can put it on display here. Caroline will need to wait until Christmas to see the final product. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. (Thanks to Brenda and Bethany for their suggestions!)
The Blue Mountains, aka Abajo Mountains. This picture was taken from the transfer station. These are the mountains down here in Blanding. They are beautiful. The scenery grows on me more and more. I truly am coming to love this part of the country.

Finally, I've been reading a book, Edge of the Cedars by Albert R. Lyman, a distant relative. It is the history of Walter C. Lyman, Mike's great grandfather. He was the one who had a vision to create the town of Sidon/Grayson/Blanding. The book as been very interesting. The longer I am here, the more spiritual feelings I have about this place and reading this book has only intensified those feelings. This area truly is a sacred area. Why? I'm not sure, but I just feel that it is.

It's Fall...

Monday...

I mowed our lawn on the east side of the house. (This was its first mow!) If you look closely at this picture, you can see the lawn mower tire prints!

Thursday...

Caroline and I drove over to Monticello to attend the temple. This was Caroline's first trip back since being endowed in July. Thursday evening, Mike and I went on our first 'date' that lasted more the 30 minutes since arriving. We went back to the temple and did a sealing session. We had about 25 family names that were sealed. (Thanks Scot for coming over and sitting with your parents!)

Friday...

The tomatoes are finally on in our garden. I think we are all getting tired of eating them so I decided to bottle some. I ended up with two quarts and four pints. Oh, how I wish I would have brought down more quart bottles from SLC on my last trip up there!

Friday Evening...

I went to Cortez with several women from Blanding. We attended the Taste of Home Cooking School. It was fun and there were some delicious meals cooked. I even won a prize, but sadly, it wasn't one of the meals. I guess I'll have to just make them...

An Example of Small Town Livin'

SCENARIO...

Today about noon, Mike and I heard a lot of sirens. I finally said to Mike, "There must be a big accident". So, I decided to look out the window to see if I could see emergency vehicles driving by.

I looked over at the church parking lot and it was FULL. (No funeral today). Then I remembered seeing my neighbor this morning putting together something that reminded me of a float, and wondering about that. The lightbulb went on as I put two and two together.

There was a PARADE in town for the San Juan High School Homecoming. I walked down to Main Street to view the parade...

The band from our driveway

Navajo Nation Representative

Queen & First Attendant

San Juan High School Football Team

(I think they are still undefeated.)

I thought football was big in Texas, I think in San Juan County, it is even bigger!

The Royals (Drill Team)

Volleyball Team

(This was the float I saw being put together.)

Blue Mountain_____.

My favorite picture!

As you can see, there are not a lot of attendees at this parade. I'm not sure people even knew about it! But a parade in Blanding means CANDY. These two little girls had a TON of candy thrown at them. I bet they gather more at the parade than they will ever get on Halloween!

There was a lull in the parade.

Mike had just ridden his bike down,

so he 'joined' the parade for a moment!

My wonderful husband!

Cheerleaders

The End.

Four Month Anniversary

Yesterday was our four month anniversary of living in Blanding. Wow, what a summer. We've done so much.

Today, October 1, 2010, marks the beginning of our 'resting' period. Mike begins a new job today. he is going to start working - again - on his second novel. I am so excited for him! Writing is what Mike loves to do, so I encourage him any way I can!

This week's happenings...

Today's harvest.

I'm looking forward to Pumpkin Soup soon!

Caroline loves flowers. The past few years she hasn't planted any and resorted to planting 'plastic' flowers. I changed those out this morning...

Summer flowers are now...

a Fall Bouquet

The rocks designate the section I am creating for my perennial garden. I planted bulbs, tulips, daffodils, and hyanciths (sp?). I'm looking for perennial suggestions so if you have any, please let me know! The rest of the dirt has grass seed planted. Hopefully next week, we'll have a picture of GREEN GRASS!

I planted grass in this small section this morning. Mike had prepped the area and I didn't want his efforts to go to waste!

Mike and I are burned out with the projects we worked on this year. We are so looking forward to the 'winter' and resting. We still have a couple of small projects to complete, like take items to the dump! But that will be a project for next Thursday, when the dump is open!

Happy Autumn!!!