Puppy LOVE!!!

Yes...the new puppy has certainly changed things in our household! Lucy Lu is still the QUEEN of the house...as long as she can pull it off!

However... Lizzy Rose AKA The Pupperroni has many tools and toy up her sleeves!

Sock Monkey was a favorite...until he soon developed a whole, in his under arm area!

Milk bone...bone is still a favorite!

As is SNIFFFANY BONE...

and CHEWY VUITON!

OOPS...yes this is a real MILK BONE...Pupperroni tends to carry them around  bit before she indulges!

This is a typical NIGHT SNUGGLE!

Funny CAVILER BUTT!!!

1st horse camping trip...she wants to run free...nofuckingway!!! (25cents in the cuss jar)

Father's Day pose for daddy...we HEART YOU DADDY!!!

Tonight's bedtime photo...at the end of the day...with the fights, the chases and crys...it ALWAYS ends up this way at bedtime!!!

Your Desert Rose!

MY HAPPY PLACE!

The mountains of my desert home...I ride up and down, up and down, up and down, loving it everytime!!!

Your Desert Rose!

Lizzy Rose Update!

I know you have all been dying to see some new Lizzy Rose pictures....

Here is Lizzy with her kitty LUCY LU!!! Notice Lucy's paw on Lizzy's neck...she is getting ready to give Lizzy the " dreaded"  CAT BATH!!!!

Lizzy sleeps this way...

And that way!!!!

The "Pet co- sleeper"... at the end of the bed is where the puppy & kitty were both suppose to sleep!

But...alas, they ONLY use it to RUN up the stairs to Mommy & Daddy's bed!

Cavaliers are know for loving to watch TV...here Lizzy watches "Vertigo"!!!

Today's nap time with "MONKEY"!

Beautiful Lucy Lu...is a GEM to put up with 4 month old Little Queen Elisabeth Rose!!!

Your Desert Rose!

MY HAPPY PLACE!

There are certain items in my house that take me to "MY HAPPY PLACE" evrytime I see them. So I have decided to make a weekly post showing a picture of a item...or group of items called "MY HAPPY PLACE". Over the years I have collected  many items that are really special to me for a number of different reasons. Do you have your "HAPPY PLACE" items around you too???

Your Desert Rose!

Like the First Day of School!

Those of us who have children know what it is like to send your child off to his/her 1st day at school. There is a mixed flow of emotions full of pride... and anxiety which of course, can produce...TEARS, even from a rough, tough cowgirl like myself.

Here is Baby Doll...getting Shayna Lady Rose all groomed up.

Ooppps...she heard the camera click and now wants to POSE...

Lady's butt is sure looking big here...I'm just saying.

Newly initiated PONY COUSIN... grooming up Jesse...with a bit of help from A Cowgirl's Grace!!! (my Sissy)So...as a mother...you all know how I felt, watching my babies leave camp with out me...for the very 1st time. Ok ,Ok not counting the Bossman and Dear Friends rides with them!!!

That's them...the last 2 horses...Lady and Jesse...I am so proud to be the human partner to these 2 magnificent equines!

Your Desert Rose!

Unexcused Absence!

I know that I am not the only one out there right now that has unintentionally been absent from the blog world. In the past few months I have only posted a few times. One of the biggest reasons is our semi annul migration back to the PNW for the summer. It is quite a chore packing up our whole family... since we all have to pack up every black purse, black pair of shoes, black shawl, black pants and black top we own...oh ya and our black saddle pads!!!

It has also been a time of grief for us. Still reeling from the loss of my Loving Husbands brother last Thanksgiving...this spring we lost our 2 kittens ( cats) with in 5 weeks of each other! I just have not had the heart to write a single word...even in memory of our wonderful feline companions of almost 20 years! Now I am feeling stronger both physically and emotionally and have a few posts in the works! It has been a busy return from the desert for us with not only our 19, 17 & 15 yr teenage grandchildren here in town ( wish we could see them more...but they now have their own lives) we have our 4, 3, 1 & 1/2, and one yr old grandchildren here in town! We have had our East Coast granddaughters here for 4 days ...without the mommy & daddy and we loved it...but let's be honest...the PAPA is not the caregiver...the ZSA ZSA is!!!

So now I have caught you up a bit...have lots of posts pictures to share with you and hope to get back in the saddle with you all again...

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Your Desert Rose!

PS...Just could not resist posting one picture that has nothing to do with anything I have just written!

Overlook into a canyon on the South Ridge Trail ( intersecting the PCT) June, 2009

OUT OF MY LEAGUE!

I am soooo outta my leagues with most of you that are great photographers...or have the skills to tweak your photos! I have... neither skill and am not ashamed to admit it. However...every now and then...I get lucky!

So then...here are what I consider to be my 3 best landscape photos...plz be gentle and kind...I cry easily when not on horseback!!!

This was last fall...right next to where Miss Mackena and I posed for our "in the ocean" photo opp!

Joshua National Park...1st ride on Jesse after his summer down south!!! ( Remember...I pee'd my saddle on this ride!)My favorite TREE oat our house Fall 09! OK...I was sneaking a cigarette when I noticed the vibrant red in the tree...just like my hair!!!

Your Desert Rose!

Desperate Cowgirl!!!

I bet at one time or another we all wish that we could control what comes out of our man's mouth...but it looks like Baby Doll has found a solution! Was she that desperate that she put a sting on her man's back??? Great idea Baby Doll!!!
Your Desert Rose!

SHAYNA LADY!

It is official...this "Pretty Lady" is now ours!!! My loving husband and I are the proud new parents of the equine formally known as LITTLE LADY. Our adoption process has taken almost 3 years to complete. Little Lady was foaled at our desert stables January 18th, 2004. Her Dam was Little Bit ( who has now gone to horsey heaven) and her Sire is...SLICK"S MACHO MAN (yes that is The Bossman's Slick...our resident stallion and drunk). Obviously...LL looks more like her mother!

I remember 1st seeing LL when she was just one day old with her little HOT PINK halter on. I saw her many times being turned out in the arena to play with her mom who could not keep up with this new baby so full of energy. She was a feisty little thing and would do those little baby rear ups and sideways walks down the aisle to the arena. I left the desert at the end of the season and did not see LL again until she was about 10 months old. I could not get over how she was ALL legs!!! By now her dam was long gone from her side and she looked so small in her stall. At that time...the Bossman and I were not "friends". Sure...we were friendly...but he just thought I was some dumb red head...he still thinks that!
It was not until our former trainer got married and deserted us...that The Bossman became our trainer...and it was another year before we started riding together. However...Jesse and LL became pals because Jesse would PONY LL several times a week when the Bossman would ride him. LL would nip at him and be playful which Jesse did not always care for. But I know that they are very fond of each other...they always greet each other with a soft nicker. By now LL is 3 years old and sent for 3 months to finishing school. There she learns how to do all that arena stuff that she will never need to do out on the trail...but she knows it all! When she came back to the stables from finishing school The Bossman immediately began riding her on many of our rides together! I was so impressed with how good she was. Sure...from time to time there would be a small issue..nothing at all that was not worked through easily. The next year...The Bossman offered LL to me to ride whenever I had a guest in town...cause they would ride Jesse and I would ride LL. I did have more issues with her than the Bossman did...but then...I was not as confident on any horse except Jesse. Cousin Baby Doll was with us one day when we had a smalll rodeo...and she and Jesse wisely choose to give us plenty of room on the trail.
Then because of Jesse's bad feet, the next year when LL was 4...I rode her almost as much as I rode Jesse. When LL was 5...Jesse's feet were a major issue and I decided I needed to leave him in the desert with The Bossman so that the "Shoe Salesman" would be able to continue his great work on Jesse's feet for the summer. That meant...I would be horseless for the summer...and that would just NOT do. In the end...The Bossman offered LL to me for the summer in the PNW.

LL and I learned to trust each other and she stepped up to every challenge I put to her. She lead 95% of our rides...won the Stampede Rodeo Queen Crown for us and we became very attached to each other. LL also seemed to really enjoy her new "outfits"! She loved getting all prettied up for our rides in coordinating colored blankets and halters matching my "outfit" for the day. And she loved all the lunch treats she found in her bucket everyday

This is kinda the funny part. Ever since I have been riding LL...the joke was that someday she would be mine...then I would have to pay the Bossman to ride her for me...well now the joke is on The Bossman...cause LL is ours...and next year...he will have to pay us...to ride her! On a more serious note...Little Lady is a mouthful to spit out sometimes when the "Lemonade" is flowing freely...or if she's naughty...I just call her "LADY...QUIT"! However in Yiddish there is a word that fits her to a T...Shayna...meaning pretty and so LL will now be known as...

Shayna Lady

Your Desert Rose!

HOLD YOUR HORSES!!!

Your Desert Rose!

A Cowgirl's Kind of Grill!

So just imagine...going out to dinner and arriving there to find this!!! And this...

And all of this.....

Yes...this is the "outhouse"!

But the best of all...was having dinner with 2 of our favorite people!!!

Cousins Baby Doll and her Hubby!!!Your Desert Rose!

My Favorite Flower is in Season ( NOT HEAT)

It is always bittersweet to leave the desert and come back to the PNW...besides the grand kids... another sweet thing I enjoy coming home to is PEONIES!!! They are in the top 3 of my favorite flowers...but my #1 flower of choice for vases. They have a relatively short season so I get a new bunch as soon as the ones I have die. This week I had my family over for dinner and decided to really splurge for the table center piece. I usually put it inside of an Asian cashe pot...makes for a fabulous arrangement! Unfortunately...I did not get a picture of them...but here is the finished vase!

Here's both vases...

I took a picture a few days later so you could see how the Peonies have opened...

Because they are in 2 vases...I can spread the beauty around the house!

Your Desert Rose!