Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  I decided to wish you the best before this year instead of telling you what a great time we had after.  The picture is last year's table setting.  I'm sure this year's will be about the same.

We had our first real winter storm over the weekend.  It rained and rained.  It got cold but the frost did not come until this morning.  There is a sprinkling of snow on the very tip top of the mountains behind us.  The Whetstones seem to have missed out as they are not so tall.  The weatherperson said snow would only get down to about 7,000 ft.  

Willy completed his puppy class at Petsmart and got his graduation certificate.  He did ok but the dog is still a pup, just 6 months old, so he still needs lots of training and discipline.  He is scheduled to be relieved of his cajones on Dec. 4th.  I expect he will be a little easier to handle after that.

Buddy did a brave but very dangerous thing.  One morning about 2 Sundays ago, Buddy was going crazy barking and trying to get out of the yard, so I let him out.  He tore down to the bottom of our hill where there is a wash.  I could hear a horrible screaming, squealing noise.  It was truly horrible but I could not quite figure out what it was.  I saw Buddy's white shape down among the trees  and I could see that he was shaking something violently, a gray shape.  That was the source of the noise.  I figured Buddy finally caught one of the coyotes I often see and he was killing it.  Buddy returned to the yard after a time.  He seemed to be unscathed but had a smear of blood on his face.  Later that day, the men and grands took a walk down to the wash.  They found a dead javelina!  I was surprised as we have not seen javelina in the area until recently.  The one Buddy killed was only about half grown, not a full sized pig.  I am thankful for that because Buddy could have been seriously injured by a full sized pig or if a herd had ganged up on him.  I hope if there are more they will move on so that my big brave guardian dog will not feel that he has to kill another one.

I have been getting ready for Thanksgiving and finally gathered all the goodies for that.  I found sweet Hawaiian dinner rolls at Safeway this morning which completes the menu.  All the other goodies, the turkey, pies, veggies, etc. are either in the frig or being prepared by someone else.

I have also managed to complete my Christmas shopping before "Black Friday"!  Woohoo!  I hate going shopping after Thanksgiving!  So, all I have to do is wrap gifts and decorate the house.  I haven't decided if I will go green and gold this year, or silver and blue, or traditional red and green. I guess I will decide after I drag all the trinkets out.  I completed a dress for my one and only granddaughter to wear to her Christmas program at school this year.  I was very pleased with the result.  Now that I know the pattern, I plan on using it for her flower girl dress for our #2 daughter's wedding in April.

We have been having some fabulous Arizona sunsets lately too.  Enjoy, and may you have a filling and happy Turkey Day!  Don't forget it is THANKSGIVING DAY too!

I am loving the weather lately.  Cool, almost cold mornings, and warm afternoons full of blue sky and puffy white clouds.  Arizona continues to amaze and delight me.  I love it here.

Halloween has come and gone.  We enjoyed carving jack-o-lanterns, dressing up as zombies, ninjas and other creatures of the imagination, eating lots of candy and going to the grandkids' costume parades. 

We have been visited by a few wild creatures lately. A hawk landed on a stump in the west side pasture.  He took his time eating a critter he caught for breakfast and I was able to get a good picture of him. Then another morning, I saw 4 coyotes on the hill behind us.  They are serenading us at night, making the cats very nervous and the dogs especially watchful.  One of the wily creatures passed right by my chicken pen this morning.  Buddy was going ballistic which prompted me to go out and get a fleeting glimpse of him.  It pays to be aware and respond to Buddy's different barking signals.  Friday evening he was going crazy and wouldn't stop so I went out and discovered a nice sized rattler.  I hollered for my husband, who came out armed and dangerous.  Buddy followed my orders and left the snake alone, saving himself from getting bit.  Great dog!  It was the third snake we had to kill this year and I was surprised that there was one still out this late in the season.  We just always have to be cautious.  I was thankful that Willy had already gone to bed for the night.  He would've gotten bit as he is still a pup and does not yet follow orders so well, not to mention his bulldog heart, which propels him forward like a bull.  He would've gone right up and grabbed that snake and tried to shake it to death. He is learning and doing well in his puppy class at Petsmart on Saturdays.  He always seems so big to me, as he is still growing, but as you can see in the picture with Buddy, he is just a medium size.

Steve and I decided to take advantage of the great weather and a free Sunday and took a drive over to the eastern side of our state.  We left our house about 1130 and headed east on the I-10.  We took the exit to Dragoon and crossed over to Hwy.191.  At that junction, we turned south and stopped at Cochise Stronghold.  We took a short nature hike there and ate a light lunch.  It is beautiful there but it was still early so we decided to drive further south on 191 until we came to SR 181 going east again.  It is a beautiful drive through a flat plain punctuated by "sky Islands".  That is mountains popping up in the middle of the grassland.  We drove to Chiricahua National Monument, which is about 35 southeast of Wilcox, AZ.  WOW!  We were awestruck!  I did not know such a spectacular place was practically in our backyard!  There was a road through the monument that took us to a place called Massai Point.  It was like being on top of the world!  We could see all the way back to Cochise Stronghold in AZ, across to New Mexico further east and well into Mexico on the southern side.  I also discovered that the area was once volcanic and that a volcano blew its top there much like Crater Lake's Mt. Mazama in Oregon.  There are also great rock formations caused by the basin and range geological phenomenon.  We enjoyed it tremendously and hope to take the grandkids there soon.

I have many sewing projects going and am in the middle of Christmas shopping which I hope to get done before Thanksgiving!  Willy has two more puppy classes and then he will have to go through the right of passage of getting fixed.  I am not looking forward to that, but I think it will be better for everyone in the long run. 'Til next time...