Foovay’s Cauldron

Archive for the ‘not’ Category

Indeed, spring has sprung. I offer as evidence the ground squirrel we saw on the ranch yesterday. They are so small and so fast that to get a photo to share with you I’m going to have to spend a sunny day lurking near a burrow. This is also probably true about getting a photo of one of our fascinating little rock squirrels that have begun scampering around the rocks near the lake. Certain populations of these Rock Squirrels have a genetic anomaly that, once they shed into the summer coat, causes them to be half black, and half the silvery gold agouti that is the normal color. They look as if their head and shoulders have been dipped into an inkwell! I heard a Red-winged Blackbird in town just yesterday. They don’t usually visit us at the ranch – not enough water here – but we may be treated to a fly-by visit from their cousins the Yellow-headed Blackbird. Earlier this week a huge flock of Sandhill Cranes flew over, circled a while, and left. I suspect they had hoped to stop at Jornada Lake for a snack and a rest. However, thanks to the road building and spaceport crews, this year we have no lake, even though we have had some rain and even snow.

My friend the juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk has posed for some more photos – this time sitting on top of the brush pile waiting for something small enough to eat to dash out. Now THAT’s lurking! I’ll share the full photo first so you can see how thoroughly he blends into his background when he is being still. He’s right on top of the brush pile.

And now cropped just to show the hawk:

He really outdid himself yesterday though. I went out to feed the chickens for the evening. My eyes were on the rooster – who is feeling rather crabby as I don’t let them out to free range on cloudy days so they haven’t been out for a day or two. So I didn’t even notice the young hawk was on top of the chicken pen until he took off from right above my head. I was about to say something to him about not eating my chickens when another visitor flew up from under my feet. A cottontop (Texas Scaled) Quail had been inside with the chickens. When I came in, the quail flushed out through the side of the pen – and the hawk was instantly in hot pursuit. Great – now not only does he think we are pals, he thinks I’m going to flush game for him! Glad to be of use

Speaking of cloudy days, which means a bit of spring rain now and then out here on the high desert – hubby got lucky and caught a picture of this magnificent double rainbow that arched over the far end of our ranch this week. It was a perfect complete arch, both ends touching the ground on the inner rainbow, right at sunset. It was so pretty when I went outside the horses and mule had even turned to look at it. Probably watching the fairies dancing around the end of the rainbow.

Of course, traditionally there should be a leprechaun and a pot of gold down there. Maybe I should have hopped on Moses and galloped down to see!We could use a pot of gold around here!

Dover sent me their sample this week and it was all about the Irish – irish folklore and fairy tales and leprechauns and celtic coloring stuff. Drool. I was so inspired I did a new Squidoo lens about Irish Fairy Tales and Folklore, and updated the St. Patricks Day Coloring Pages and Coloring Books, Leprechauns, and Fairy Tales.

I’ve been taking pictures of our beautiful storms and sunsets, trying to get a nice collection to chose from for my Squidoo lens devoted to the New Mexico Sky, and also Maxfield Parrish. Now they aren’t done, so those links probably don’t work right this minute – but try them later today, okay? LOL. Here’s one of the photos though:

The hubby had his surgery Thursday to install the fistula in his arm for dialysis. Everything went just great and we were even home early. They did tell him not to use the arm until it heals – and of course when it heals they’ll begin dialysis. So it is quite unlikely he is going to be able to return to work as a cook. Despite the fact he cannot work, Disability says he isn’t disabled, call AFTER he starts dialysis. *rolling eyes*

Luckily, I had already started job hunting and have gotten a call from one job already which would be only two days a week – the weekend. Actually, that is ideal since I have to drive hubby to Dr.s appointments and so forth and they’re all during the week. I also took the test to work for the Census and did well, so they are supposed to call me Monday. Until he begins dialysis I can work both – and will. We need every penny we can get.

Up until I am working, I will do my best to hang in there with the Get Cracking Lens a Day Challenge – so even if I don’t get here to the blog, you might want to check in on my New Lenses for the Get Cracking Challenge list.

Yesterday we had to drive to town for a errand, and did we luck out on the way home! A small herd of mule deer were grazing right next to the road. We got some great photos. Here’s my favorite:

When we got home and got them on the computer, we saw a deer BEHIND that mesquite bush that we had not even noticed while taking the photos – LOL!

You can click on any of these BTW and go to the Flickr page and see the bigger ones – this new camera takes huge photos. When I get time I’m going to mosey through, tag things better and license them for use.

It’s been a good week since I added any new coloring pages. Job hunting, Doctors, stress… but all things considered we are doing well. I will do my best to keep my little online empire going and growing, but it doesn’t earn enough to support us and I can no longer depend on the husbands income.

Oh! I was so gobsmacked – someone sent me a donation for the artist for use of my free public domain clipart! Not only did it make me jump up and down with joy, it made it possible for me to pay for another month of the downloadable digital coloring book shop. Thank you!!

I also updated my homepage/business card at Summer Fey Foovay.com and added a new binder at my Zazzle store. Don’t forget that the Pagan holiday ecards I used to have up at fre-ecards.com are now at my Zazzle store as paper greeting cards and stamps. Ostara is coming!

And I wanted to share my hubby’s idea of a day of “take it easy, don’t use that arm for anything” – he fixed the kitchen faucet, did the dishes, cooked dinner, trimmed some mesquite bushes that had grown into the driveway, and took those photos of the deer. All one-handed. He’s a pretty great guy, huh?

Thanks for hanging in with me. I have a lot I hope to get done today so I gotta go.

Summer Fey Foovay

I haven’t gotten a whole lot done this week it seems, other than coloring pages. Yesterday was spent in Las Cruces. We got a lot done, met the husbands surgeon, set up his surgery to install the fistula, started the process to apply for his disability and then took a nice, leisurely drive home up “the old highway” – taking photos all the way, of course.

This photo of the Organ Mountains was taken in Las Cruces. We have been chuckling for a few weeks over some directions we got from one office which stated “turn left, towards the Organ Mountains”. You would think that was a pretty safe landmark, but on the day we went to that place it was overcast and foggy, and you actually could NOT see the mountains. LOL.

Meanwhile, the signs of spring at the ranch are growing. This little fellow showed up Wednesday morning while we were out on the porch enjoying Mr. Sunbeam with our coffee.

The juvenile Sharp-Shinned Hawk has decided he is a member of the family and almost always joins us in the mornings now. Hubby snuck up for this pic:

I did get a lot of sewing done this week, and have just a bit more to do before I pack up the sewing machine for the warm months. Once it gets warm and the days are long I happily trade the sewing machine for the kayak in the storage space. My art supplies will stay out though, as I will start spending part of the day sitting outside to sketch. Now that my scanner is here and hooked up I may even share the sketches with you as they happen. We just might be without Internet for a few days towards the end of the month (can’t afford it – decided we would enjoy eating more than having Internet now that I have quit pretending I will ever make a living here) and I am thinking I may get together with a writing friend for a little marathon writing to finish Book Two of the Hunter series.

We have two whole weeks before we have to go out of town again – WHEEEE. We’re talking about perhaps doing a bit of exploring, checking out some nearby birding areas so hubby can take more photos, etc. Just depends on what he feels up to. One day at a time.

If you wanted one of my coloring books, the shop will be open about another ten days.

Sunny says “the end”

Blessedbe

Summer Fey Foovay

I happened to notice a few people doing #saturdaysketchbook on Twitter. If I can remember to do Follow Friday (and I usually do but some Fridays I am in town and away from the computer), and spend Music Monday at Blip.fm (I am trying to limit that since it seems to suck up our bandwidth here and then they shut us down to slower than dial up for the rest of the week – love you Wild Blue and your arcane BW limiting system that makes no sense to anyone including your operators) then I should be able to manage sketchbooksaturday. I can at least try. Easier for me right now than Daily Art, unless you count the fact that I am really trying to add about one coloring page per day (or do several in one day and sprinkle them out to you). Anyhow – here is what is in my sketchbook – see now and then I do something that would pass for fine art by hand.

Now, I am going to piddle with my widgets some and give you the RSS feeds to my short story and coloring page blogs which I have not done for some reason.

I am stripping every possible reference to the Anthony Morrison late night informercial AffilliatesSystem.us folks – they are scammers. Sorry. I got fucked out of my $20 investment, but at least I didn’t fall for their constant upsales. I’m sure they would say I failed because I did not pay someone $197 to sign me up for a Google Adsense account (I already have one, thanks), nor do I have a $5000 credit line to spend on ads that MIGHT make me $100 a month if I’m lucky. ROFLMAO. Thank goodness! The only person making money on this is Anthony Morrison and his cohorts.

Sigh. Live and learn. He’s got a GREAT scam. Instead of saying you will make bazillions on the Internet – which so many of us now know is not true – he says “well you might make a $100 or so, and wouldn’t that help if you are struggling to make the house payment?”. Sure it would – if I didn’t have to SPEND $500 to MAKE $100. ROFLMAO. That is assuming they even credit you with your sales (which they do not – or at least they skim them, something porn masters made into an artform).

Oh enjoy the artwork. I’m working on a little short story, then I’m going to go play SEO expert for a friend. I’ve got housework and some sewing on the menu, too. Taking Sunday off, I think, and Monday have a Dr.s appointment for hubby that will probably eat most of the day one way and another. So have a great weekend!

Summer Fey Foovay

Oh – I hereby release the artwork above into the public domain. I’d rather not mess with the karma of theives who steal whatever they like – if I give it away no one can steal it.