Sandy Creek Designs

What has been keeping me so busy lately is my new website: www.sandycreekdesigns.com.

Over the years I have been making beaded jewelry and, lately, I've gotten into fused glass as well. I started with a microwave kiln and made small pieces of jewelry. Then Dennis bought me a large kiln so I could make dishes, vases, etc. I also melt wine bottles to use as cheese plates and candy/nut dishes. Its been a lot of fun, but I've ended up with quite a large inventory of jewelry and glass art. So I made a website to sell my products. Please take a look and tell your friends. I hope you like it. Here's a sample:

Catch-up

It seems like I'm always playing catch-up with this blog. It's not that nothing is happening, it's more that I've been overcome by events.

Saying goodbye to a good friend. We attended a memorial for our very good friend, Al, who passed away recently. It was a sad day, made easier by gathering with our friends in La Jolla to remember Al and the good old days.

Movie Tuesday. There was no movie Tuesday last week. Dennis was busy with work and there was nothing good playing anyway. So we skipped it.

No trail ride. But I did have a riding lesson on Wednesday. It was interesting that on one side of the arena, Doc was perfect, doing everything I asked of him. On the other side, however, he didn't even pretend to listen. Huh? We figured it out...the gate was on the "bad" side of the arena. Apparently, he wanted out. Not a real good training day for us.

Night of the Horse. Saturday we met our friends, Betsy and Greg, and their friends, Marilyn and Judy, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds for Night of the Horse. We had an arena-side table for dinner and the show.

It was a really great evening watching some very talented riders and well-trained horses. I wonder if we can teach Doc to sit?

Movie Tuesday

On Tuesday, Mom, Dennis and I met Angie and Gary at the movies. We saw Limitless, which was pretty weird. It wasn't that bad, just strange. In case you want to see it, here's the trailer:  http://youtu.be/X3U9RsXeJ3w.

Where have I been?

Believe it or not, I've actually been asked where I've been for the past few days because I haven't written any posts. To be honest, it's much easier to write posts when I'm on vacation. When we were in Santa Fe, we were doing something every day, so there was a lot to write about. I suppose I've been suffering a let down since we got back home.

However, things did happen here at the ranch. For one, it snowed last Friday. We've had some different weather here. Just before we returned home from vacation, they tell me it was about 93 degrees for a couple of days. When we got home, the weather turned again. It's been cold, cold, cold. Either it's raining or snowing or the cold wind is blowing like crazy. It's afghan weather for sure.

We had some company over the weekend. Marlin and Gillie visited us from New Mexico. They were here to pick up some pepper plants so stopped by for a visit. They loved the new remodel of the guest house. Having stayed here before, they realized what a difference a few feet and a door makes. It reminded me, however, that we still haven't replaced the U-Line refrigerator that broke some months ago. Hmmmm, got to get busy with that.

I had a great riding lesson yesterday. We used the new round pen to let Doc get his bucks out and run around for awhile before doing some serious lunging. Afterwards, we moved to the big arena and practiced  movements without using the reins. We trotted around and made small circles just using my body and legs for cues. Then we did some pretty decent rollbacks also without using the reins. What a thrill. I get the feeling Doc is just humoring me. This is all just a walk in the park for him. He knows what to do and is just trying to teach me.

There was just one hiccup--when I got off, I accidentally landed on my bad leg and messed up my knee again. No real damage, just some pain and stiffness. I've been icing it. Today was Trail Ride on Thursday which was canceled because Joyce needed to see a dentist and my knee was hurting. We won't be riding again for a couple of more weeks because of some commitments Joyce has. We're hoping May will be a good restarting point for us--good weather and no obvious distractions.

Angie and Gary are back here for a few days following their very successful rally. Check out Angie's blog (www.2squirrels@blogspot.com).

Tonight we had dinner at Mom's: pasta & meatballs plus a Costco decadent chocolate dessert compliments of Dennis. At least he didn't bring it to our house.

T.R.O.T.

We need to change our name from Trail Ride on Thursday to No Trail Ride on Thursday. Between vacations and bad weather (today), we haven't had many trail riding days lately. The rest of the month doesn't look good either. Joyce has obligations for two Thursdays and I have jury duty on a Thursday, too. Today was cold and windy so we canceled our ride.

The Prius had a bath this morning and the new floor mats came in, too; later Mom and I drove Spike to the vet to get his stitches out. He is good to go now.

The Great Escape

Every once in a while, someone leaves the pasture gate open. Today was one of those days. Shannon, in the office, called and asked if the horses were supposed to be over there. Noooo. They are not supposed to be at the office. They are supposed to be in the pasture. And here they come. I'm out on the front patio and see the horses galloping down the road toward me. Up on the lawn and then they see me and come to an abrupt stop. I start talking to them and walking toward them. They're not sure what to do, but then their instinct kicks in and they "flee" toward the pond next to the barn. Pat, from the office, is coming down the road from the left and I'm walking across the lawn toward the barn, kind of forming a pie shape to corner the horses. The horses know they're in trouble and two of them run into the barn breezeway, which is closed at the other end. Only Doc is left and he's running around near the barn door but he doesn't go in until I tell him to "Get in there." Then we have three horses in the barn. Bill, who has come from the office, opens the back barn door allowing the horses to shoot through the breezeway and out the back door, ending up in the pasture from whence they came. This time, the pasture gate was closed, so we all went back to our prospective places and The Great Escape was over. Good job. That was fun.

Movie Tuesday

Dennis, Mom & I went to the movies and saw Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal. It was a strange story but entertaining just the same. I drove the Prius. I has barely gotten inside the car when 5 turkeys came running up, gobbling up a storm. I backed out of the carport with the help of the backup camera because those crazy turkeys were surrounding the car. When I started to drive forward, the turkeys ran alongside the car and I could see their heads bobbing up and down; one of them was pecking at the front left tire. I finally got ahead of them and sped away. It's a zoo around here.

Leisurely Sunday

It was very nice to be home again. This morning Dennis and I woke up to the sound of Spike vomiting on the bedroom carpet. When I got up to clean the mess (cleaning animal vomit is my job), I found that he had eaten half a mouse, which was still intact. Uck. Later, I found the other half in front of the storeroom door in the breezeway. Uck. Not surprisingly, Spike was sick to his stomach and wouldn't eat his breakfast--the one that comes in a can. He's been moping around all day.

After watching our Sunday morning news shows on TV, we took the Prius out for a ride. We picked up Mom and drove to the grocery store in Alpine. After doing a little shopping, we drove back home, let Mom off at her house, drove to the carport and put the car cover back on the Prius. I think we are both afraid to get scratches on the car. We'll get over this, I'm sure. We didn't want to get it dirty either, but that ship has sailed.

We spent the afternoon doing a little work and resting a little, too. Tonight we are having the family over for tacos. Tomorrow, Angie and Gary are leaving the ranch to get ready for their Titanium Rally in Chula Vista on Thursday. So we thought we would have dinner together.

Homecoming

Before we left Albuquerque today, we had time to give Dennis his Waffle House fix. It wasn't that bad. The coffee was good and the meal was not too large. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed to the car rental return and the airport. Everything was going fine until we went through security and I realized I dropped my boarding pass somewhere. They said we could get another one at the gate, so we headed there and were surprised to see a long line. We talked with some of the people in line and they said they were there to be rerouted because their planes were grounded due to the accident. Accident? First I had heard of it. Apparently, yesterday a Southwest plane leaving Phoenix for Sacramento was flying at 36,000 feet when a seam ripped open leaving a 6-ft. hole in the ceiling. Then the flight dropped to 11,000 ft. in 4 minutes. How scary those 4 minutes must have been. Yikes! I am staying in Albuquerque for the rest of my life, never to get on another stupid airplane ever!

At least that's what I wanted to do. Of course, like a lamb to slaughter, I calmly trudged down the ramp to the Southwest airplane leaving for San Diego on time. Obviously, everything turned out all right, but I still don't like flying.

We had a great vacation in New Mexico, but I am very happy to be home again with my doggie, my horses, my turkeys, and my stuff. Life is good.

Gallup

I got my Cracker Barrel fix this morning. I had my usual: hash brown casserole, fried apples and a biscuit. That should hold me for another year or so. After breakfast we got on the road to Gallup for a day of shopping. It takes 2 hrs. and 3 minutes to get to Gallup from Albuquerque. We got there at around 12:30 p.m. and made our first stop the Indian Touch of Gallup, recommended by my friend, Betsy. They had some nice jewelry but we wanted to visit some other stores. Our next stop was the Silver Dust Trading Co. I had been there before years ago and bought some beads. This is a store where locals come to buy their beads. We looked around then went on to Richardson's, one of the oldest Pawn stores in Gallup. This is where the Indians come to pawn their jewelry for spending money. If they pay $1 a month, they keep their pawn "alive," and it can't be sold. Only "dead" pawn can be sold. I just couldn't find anything that I really wanted, so we went back to the bead store and I bought a bunch of bead strands and fetishes. Now I can make my own jewelry.

Just for fun, we went to Earl's, a restaurant where Indians come to sell their wares. They sit outside and display their jewelry on tables in front of the store. I bought two pair of earrings before we got back on the road again. Our destination was Lotta Burger. Dennis has been wanting to go to Lotta Burger our whole trip. They're everywhere. Actually they have very good burgers, made with Angus beef. They put hot chiles on the hamburgers and our mouths were burning so we HAD to get ice cream. We went to Dairy Queen and each got a small blizzard. I love blizzards. We ate the ice cream driving back to Albuquerque. Two hours later, we arrived back at our hotel for a little rest. Around 7 we went out for pie. Dennis found a Marie Callendar's about 11 miles away. When we got there we found that the restaurant was closed (permanently), so we went back to the hotel and found a Village Inn about a block away. Huh. They have good pie there. I had triple berry and Dennis had caramel apple.

Finally we went back to the hotel and stayed there. Tomorrow we are flying back to San Diego. I think we are both ready to go home. It will take me about a month to lose the weight I've gained this week.

I Survived the Longest Tram Ride in the World

Thursday evening we rode the Sandia Tram. It was very windy--30-40 mph. The tram swayed a little with the wind. It took 15 minutes to get from about 6500 ft. to 10,000 ft. at the top of the mountain. I didn't like it.

However, the dinner at the High Finance restaurant at the top was very good and romantic. As the sun set and the lights of the city came into view, it was really breathtaking. The only drawback was the forthcoming trip down the mountain. I didn't like it.

I'm glad we went because Dennis really wanted to ride the tram, but it isn't something I would repeat--ever.