Winter Bountiful Baskets

I've had some friends wondering what a winter Bountiful Basket looked like. I finally was in a place where I could pick up a basket this weekend. This is what I got for my my $15. I sure would like to get these baskets more frequently!

Blowing In

After a lovely weekend in warmer climes, the wind blew us back to the ranch. And maybe blew a few tumbleweeds, too. (Like the one in the middle of the road? And two more are to the left of the road, and will soon be across it.) I have lots to write, so hopefully I'll find some energy soon. I hope you've had a good weekend!

Simplifying the Closet

In my efforts to get my house more organized, I'm tackling one little area each day. I read advice to spend 15 minutes each day decluttering. I can't quite seem to do that much, but just 5 minutes is making a difference. And some days I can get a few more minutes in.

One area that I recently organized was my closet. I had heard that I should get rid of clothes that I hadn't worn in the last year. Sounds simple enough, but it still didn't motivate me. What finally made me get to work was the suggestion to turn all my hangars around. If I took something out to wear, then I could put the hangar back in the regular way. After six months, I'd know what I still hadn't worn and could consider getting rid of those clothes. So far, this system is working great, and I'm taking a big bag of clothes to the thrift store tomorrow. It feels so good to see things leave the house!

So much of everything (clothes, dishes, space in your house, size of vehicle, size of yard) should you have? The Frugal Girl has a very reasonable answer you can read here.

Sheepherder's Party 2013

I had the opportunity to hear Sourdough Slim last weekend as part of the Sheepherder's Party. He sure is entertaining! He performed for the school kids earlier in the day, and Desert Boy enjoyed it so much. When he saw Sourdough Slim at the dinner, he went up to him and told him how much he liked the performance.

I was inspired enough to get out my old accordion and play a few tunes. It was fun, and I'll try and do it again soon.

For more about the Sheepherder's Party, check out my other blog.

2013 Fire and Ice

This past weekend we headed to Cave Lake for the annual Fire and Ice Festival. Down in the valleys it was frigid, but up in the pinyon/juniper zone, the temperatures were in the 30s and very pleasant.

The last two years I've entered the snow/ice sculpting contest, but the last two years it's been cancelled due to warm weather! (See what we did here and here.) Fortunately this year it was cold enough to have the competition. But alas, I did not enter. That was okay. It was great fun to go look at the sculptures and do some of the other activities.

 One of those activities was sledding. Desert Girl was ready!

I went down with her multiple times, and each time at the bottom, she said, "Let's do it again!" I have never seen her so enthusiastic about sledding!

She's quite relaxed, as you can see!


Desert Boy did some sledding too, and even managed to find a little jump. But he had much bigger plans than just sledding. He also wanted to do the snow bowling.


It was fun, but it sure made you appreciate the automatic pin setters in the bowling alleys!


We enjoyed some time with friends at the lake. Here's Sam on his way to what looks like a strike.

Of course we had to do a couple tours of the lake to see the ice sculptures.

A lake monster

Race car

Ore cars

King Kong

 And my favorite, an Icthyosaur (Nevada's state fossil)

Well, seeing all the snow sculptures made Desert Boy really want to do one. So he did.

 Gathering snow.

 More snow

 The great and fantastic snow volcano!

Maybe next year we'll enter again. This year's weather was super, and it was really fun to be out there.
To hear the music (and see the dancing and snow sculpture in action), check out this short video: