Hammer

Some pics from Krissie's camera

For those of you who don't know, Krissie has been down here visiting us this week. She has been taking a bunch of pictures to take back with her. I thought I would share a few here and upload all of them to the JT Photo Album.

We started out her visit at Uncle Joe & Aunt Cindy's house. The got themselves some new furniture and we fortunate enough to have the young 'uns there to help break it in...

That's Brett and Krista air-born and there's sweet and innocent little Talon there in the center.

Here is a pic of Krissie's first "cloudy" day here. This was actually taken on the road in front of Uncle Joe's house on the way to our house.

Isn't that the cutest little cloud you ever saw? Here's another from the ride home from the other Hammer house:

This last Monday we had to take off to do some bizniss and Krissie decided to stick around and enjoy the solitude and do a little exploring. When we got back, she and I explored a bit too. There's some pretty neat stuff to see right outside our own yard. We also took her on a little sight seeing tour. Some of you may recognize some of the places... She took a bunch of pics and we took some for her but I'm only gonna post a few. The rest will be in the album. Check these out:

Like father like daughter?

And lastly, I was asked if I wold cut her hair today and not just a trim. She wanted it CUT. I did it and it turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself:

She really likes it and that's all that matters.

Oh yeah, and for those who are interested, Izzy is doing pretty good now. Much more relaxed but not quite back to normal yet.

He's gettin' there. We are starting to consider another buddy for him but not sure we are ready for the prospect of losing ANOTHER one again. Sheesh, we'll figure it out.

Less than 2 months here and we already made the local rag.

We didn't even know we were in there until Cindy's mom came over today and told us. We thought we were just gonna hide out here and be anonymous and then we go and make the front page. Click on this little picture and it will take you to the front page of yesterday's paper.

We are in the upper right hand corner (which was so cool) but you gotta check out the story in the lower right hand corner. CHUPACABRA!!!!! Here is a scan of some of the letters that started the whole thing.

I'll leave you with these for now, gotta take a quick run on my new wheels to see if Cindy and the kids are here yet. We get so excited when family comes!!!

I finally got one!!

I was out cleaning off the back patio with the blower and as I went to unplug it this little guys ran past me:

He was fast but I was faster! Maybe the fact that he is just a baby helped...

So much to tell/show y'all

We've actually had a bit going on this past week other than just applying for employment. On the way back from Twentynine Palms (Marine Base town about 15 minutes east of us) I finally stopped and got a picture I have been promising by baby brother.

This is the Fraternal Order of Eagles 4092 just this side of Twentynine Palms. Yes this is yet another blatant attempt to lure you down here closer to me (oh, and mom too). And David, let me tell you, once you were here the Hammer family would immediately adopt you into it's folds so you would have more family than you would know what to do with!! Please come soon...

Speaking of mom, this past weekend Jim and I travelled up to Selma to stay with my mom who lives with my sister Sandy at her honey Gene's house. We got to see and spend some time with mom and her household as well as my auntie Cheryl and my cousin Miranda and her husband and kids. We also got to meet some of Gene's family which was real nice. We hope to get to know them all better.

Mom & Gene sent us home with some peaches from their tree as well as some Sago Palms they had gotten from one of their neighbors. Here's a pic mom of where we placed them.

We really love them! As a matter of fact I walked out our bedroom door there to amdire them again just before bed last night and look who else was there admiring them:

Quite a little beauty huh? I had heard that the ringed ones like this were not poisonous but I just couldn't bring myself to pick it up. I guess all you snake fearers have finally gotten to me. Maybe next time...

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I uploaded some more pics to the JT Album for ya'll

Another new friend

We have a few lizards that seem to hang around but are usually too fast to take a picture of. This one hung around awhile but didn't let me get too close.

The quality is poor because I had to zoom in so far but as you can see he's a cuite. it's only about 3 - 3 1/2 inches long but still growing I'm sure. Cindy's brother Scott has one living in his garage and it's about 8 - 9 inches long. We hope ours gets that big. We also have one that is a little bigger and has a bright blue tail. I haven't had the camera close enough when he is around but Cindy and I got a visit from him last weekend. He looks exactly like this.

Ours is about 4 - 5 inches long and has had the unfortunate experience of being seen by Izzy. I haven't seen him since so either Izzy scared him away or...

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P.S. I tossed a few pics in the "Recent Photos" album. The link is at the top on the right hand side of the page. ALERT!! The spider pics are in there.

Bits of the kids in our new house.

A few years ago Ryan had gotten a bakers rack from a friend at work but decided he didn't really want it. I had always wanted one so he gave it to me. Rather than be a real cool piece of furniture in our old house, it was really no more than a glorified "stuff stacker". We had the fax machine on it and I had my quilting books on the lower rack but it really didn't function in a way I had hoped.

Well, we packed it up and took it down here with us anyway and I'm really glad we did. We have it on the back patio where it looks right at home.

I put a couple of cool cacti my mother in-law Marie gave me on it and a couple of plants I potted last week on it. But the crowning glory of this rack is our pottery collection.

This pottery is special to us because each piece is hand made by my baby girl Amanda. She did them when she was in high school and I have been carting them from house to house every since. Here's a closer look at her work.

The plant is in a store bought pot but the rest of the work is all hers. Pretty neat huh?

Thanks to my babies for giving me little bits of themselves to drag around with me. Every time I look at these things I think of you guys and it makes me a happy mom. Next best thing to having you here!

Check this out

We were in Palm Springs today - it was kinda hot...

He just goes an goes an goes...

I convinced Jim to let me spend a little more than we planned for a couple of really neat trees last week and they were just delivered this morning at about 7:45AM.That's in the morning!! I was still in my jammies! Ok, that's not really a shock to those who know me but it WAS really early for a delivery. Anyway, my wonderful husband proceeded to spend the better part of today preparing, planting and propping our new trees. We love them!!

Oh yes, and by the end of the day he had made great strides in filling in that farmers tan.

After we finished (yes, I helped - a little) with the trees we took a little dip in the pool. I wasn't so sure about that big blue blob being in our backyard but man - we are really enjoying it! It helps to bring our body temp down a bit and lasts for a few hours and ANYthing helps in this weather.

Finally, to end the day in true JT fashion, he took a little ride on his brand new quad. He is a happy man.

He looks so HOT! (hee hee - desert pun)

Not so much busy as...

...acclimating? Well, not really that either. We are definitely still adjusting to the freakishly hot weather but I think we're getting a handle on it. I think one of the main reasons for the slowness in posting is our prioritizing and it's not quite making it's way to the top half of the list. I try to remember to get some pictures but they usually turn out so crappy I dump 'em. Here's a few I took last week.

That's mister Iz. He is our sole surviving kitty. We are done being the local borgasmord for carnivorous critters. For those of you that don't know yet, we lost our gray kitty Syd ( 9 yrs old and mine since she was born) about 4 days after we got here. She and Izzy went out to check out the new digs and she never came back. We were feeling so sad for her and for Izzy having no playmate that we adopted a 3 month old gray kitty from the local shelter.

Our new little guys name was Willy and he was a perfect fit. He and Izzy were fast buddies since the minute we brought him through the front door. He was gone 2 weeks after we got him. He and Izzy went out for their nightly poo and play which we usually go out with them. We left them on their own for about 15 minutes. Izzy came back when we called and Willy did not. Maybe Izzy did not want a playmate preferred being an only kitty and took matters in his own hands. We'll never know...

Here are a couple of the Verizon guys getting our phone in. Not great quality but they are marking a milestone in our moving in.

Most of the workers out here wear the straw hat (except of course the ones that are "too cool") which Jim needs to start doing. His neck is fire engine red from working in the yard.

Here is our back patio which is so nice to be out on when it is not blistering hot out. We had Joe and Cindy over for BBQ last weekend and it was really nice sitting out here watching and listening to the desert with them.

Oh yeah and there's the Bowflex we use religiously everyday... Ok, maybe not everyday... ok, maybe not at all but it was in the way in the garage. I'm hoping that when the temp drops to a steady crisp 70 I might think about thinking about using it. Geez, the seat would burn my buttucks before I even started to work out. Heck, I went to meet the FedEx guy on the road (because they always drive right past) in my barefeet the other day. Holy Heatwave!! By the time I got to his truck and just as he was getting out I had to run back to the house because my feet were frying!! I forget about that all the time - still adjusting...

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PS - thanks for the push OJH, just what I needed. :)

I am remiss...

I know I should be taking lots of pics and posting more since we are actually here, our house is pretty much done and I DON"T HAVE A JOB!!!! I emphasize this for two reasons. It's pretty freakin' nice to do pretty much whatever we want, whenever we want everyday - BUT - it's pretty freakin' unsettling to NOT HAVE A JOB!!. We opened a bank account and of course one of the first questions - employment? That question has come up a few times to the point where we just say retired so we don't have to explain.

We spent the first part of last week pounding the pavement and submitted four applications each. We will do the same this week. Hopefully we will get some bites!

I remember I do have one picture that I took last week that I could share. It's from when we were filling up the pool (HA! Jim just came in and asked if I want to go for a swim with him) and Izzy was wondering what the heck was going on.

It's completely full and blown up now so he actually walks the edge of it. Joe and Cindy were at our house for dinner last night and got to see it. We were all sitting there wondering what was gonna happen when he slipped and fell in. Didn't happen, maybe next time.

So anyway, that's it for now. I'm going for a dip and then I'll take a swim with him (hee hee).