Long Time Gone

Dear Friends,

Yes-it has been a few days since my last post (and that is said tongue-in-cheek. ) I have been busy, busy, busy. But I'MMMM BAAAAAAAAAACK.


These are Judy's chickens, well some of them. See that big old nasty rooster-Judy calls him Rooster Cogburn. I call him mean and evil. He didn't think I needed to go inside the coop and he scares the c*** out of me. Well, I got in and found this-
They told me they were just doing their job and I said "Good, go to it ladies." And they did.

Then I took a slow ride up the road to see the sights. Yes, there are a few sights around Vernon.
I stopped here

and said "hey" to mom and then drove on up to see how far I could go and how much snow was left. I got just past the first cattleguard before I had to turn around and the snow was beautiful and so pristine looking.

It was so quiet, so peaceful, so serene. I cannot wait to see what all this moisture brings this spring and summer. As we were coming home, I spotted the first of the wild poppies along the side of the road in Gonzalez Pass.

And then, as we came out of the Pass, we witnessed this (and you know how I love this!)

And that was yesterday.

More about today tomorrow, which will make today another yesterday. I have had a lot of great yesterdays and tomorrow, today will be another one.

Love, Jan

Busy Month of May

Dear Friend,

I just wanted to let you know that I am still here and thinking about you. Things have been happening faster than I can keep up with. Here is a rundown of the past few weeks:

May 8th and May 9th we celebrated Morgann's 17th and Ian's 16th birthday's with dinner at a new family favorite Mexican Food Restaurant in Queen Creek - Rio Rico. Then there was a quick trip to Vernon for Mother's Day.

Last week we had 3 graduations (all on one day) I attended 2 of them, Eli's from Kindergarten-too cute, of course and the big one for Logann on Thursday evening. Seth had a graduation ceremony for Jr High at the same time as Eli's, so half the family went to his. I am still recovering from that one. I offered to take Logann early and save the seats, so I spent 3 1/2 hours sitting in the rain, fighting off all encroachers to wet stadium seats so we could huddle under the umbrellas and watch her do her walk.

Definitly Mr. Cool!

We are all so proud of Logann, she graduated in the top 20% of her class and earned academic honors and a full scholarship for her scores on the AIMS exams. She is going to NAU and is so excited.


That's her in the middle looking for us (the blonde).

Proud Moment.

Friday evening, we had a graduation party for her and then early Saturday, Marla and I drove up to spend the weekend at the ranch. Judy had taken dad to the Doctor in Springerville on Friday and they sent him to Show Low to the Emergency room for a proceedure.

Dad is okay but was still having some problems so she had to take him back Saturday morning. She just needed a little support from us plus the fact that we took Hunter up to spend a couple of weeks helping her and dad with some projects.

Hunter will be planting 2 gardens, getting the chicken coop set up with water and several other things on the list. He thinks it is boring up there and for a 17 year old city boy, he's right. It is boring but he will survive it, I'm sure of that. I told him that being the slave labor in Vernon beats being the slave labor in Wellton-hands down! I don't think he believes me though.

Marla, Hunter and I were the only ones up at the ranch this weekend-we don't count the non-Naegles. It was beautiful, peaceful and cold. It rained so hard on Saturday night, I honestly thought I was going to need oars to get off the mountain. Sunday brought a powerful hailstorm in Vernon and Monday we had a downpour that had snow in it.

The best breakfast in the world, ever, biscuits or pancakes, bacon, eggs, and fresh fruit on the porch of your humble home on the mountain!

Well, the long weekend is over and it is back to work. I did call in sick today-I think I can count on one hand, the number of times I have called in sick, but I can't get rid of this cold. I just need to spend one whole day at home in my jammies, don't you agree.

Enjoy some of these gorgeous pictures of Vernon and the Mountain. Hunter did a good job!

Love Jan

Flowers on the Mountain


Hail in Vernon

I love this flower. I think it is a begonia.



The wild iris is blooming all over the mountain.

The New Year-A New Sewing Room

I finally got up to Vernon on Friday. There was a lot of snow still on the ground around the house and in the forest around Show Low and up on the mountains, but it was a beautiful day, windy and wintry with lots of sunshine. Here a couple of pictures of Dad and his new friend Sam(antha) and the snow.

Hunter drove-his first driving experience through the canyon. He did great and now I have to set back and let Logann and Morgann do it. I let them drive up and back to Payson last summer but that is not the same thing. I am not a good passenger though, and I probably drive them all crazy telling them how to do things. I think I inherited that from Dad! I remember him doing the very same thing when he rode shotgun with me.

Today is the last day of a wonderful 4 day weekend and I still have so much I want to do! My sewing room is finally unpacked and put away, my sewing machine is up and ready to go, my current project containers are sitting under the sewing table and my hands are craving the feel of sewing. But-I have a ton of other things I have to do before I return to the real world tomorrow.

I do have to admit to at least one addiction. The daughters would not let this pass-I am addicted to fabric and am hereby proclaiming that, though I may be able to control it a little better now that I have full access to my stash, this is one addiction I shall never give up. So I am putting my children on notice now-this is your inheritance and it will continue to grow. Get over it!

The cabinets with the sliding basket shelves I got at Ikea are absolutely wonderful and worth every penny I paid for them. I am so lucky to have two great daughters that helped me un-box all of my stuff. The labor only cost me a breakfast and a lunch. Oh well, small price to pay for a good time.