Back in the Blog Saddle...Again !

My plan of trying to blog on a more regular basis fell apart last month when my computer had to go in for repairs and it ended up getting a new operating up grade. This was a long process because everything has to be wiped from the hard drive and then reinstalled. Although the system looks pretty much the same and for the most part works the same...I now need to access my photo's differently than I used to. And my system I used to file my pictures and organise them for blogs or easy access was that I had files all over my desktop!
I also recently began using dropbox for back up storage and that was confusing for me too.

So...this blog is really just a test blog with a few pictures from random files I have chosen to figure out the new process of getting my photos for blogging! By the way...I have been reading and commenting on the blogs I follow although there are some blogs my comments would not go through. I am hoping that issues will be resolved now with the new upgrade!!!
I decided to look for pictures in 4 different files that were taken on 4 different days although it is the same trail and same fabulous photo opp stop!

My Sissy's and me last year!

My nieces and their honeys last year!

Good friend Darleene last year!

Baby Doll's hubby & son 2 years ago!

All and all I was eventually able to find these pictures but I really had to rack my brain as to the name of the file the picture would be in. The hardest to find was Baby Doll's photo because it was in a file that is in a file!!! I think this is going to take me awhile to figure it out and I am sure I will find a few shortcuts along the way. Hope every one's holiday season was terrific!!!

Your Desert Rose! 

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!

HOLD YOUR HORSES!!!

Your Desert Rose!

So You Have a Gelding???

I think that there is a mix of you out there...about half of you have geldings and the other half, mares. I just learned this year that mares can get a waxy build up around their nipples and they need to be checked from time to time to see that they are not waxed and inflamed. Lady is pretty good about grooming her teats...when she rolls in the arena...just before she gets up she uses her teeth around that area to groom. She probably does that because IF she didn't The Bossman would use the water hose and spray her teats. She must think if that's the Bossman's before play...she don't want no part of it!!!
Now...the other half with Geldings/Stallions there is another rather private area that needs to be checked and attended to from time to time. SHEATH CLEANING!!! Now most us us Cowgirls just add it to the vets list at the same time as the dental appointment ( Jesse for sure needs to have meds for this or he will COW KICK YOU!!!) He always has a bean of wax (or 2) and has a very nasty sheath even though it's done 2x a year. The vet said it can't be done more often than that or it actually gets worse. There is no nastier job that a Cowgirl would choose to do!!!

So imagine my surprise at a PONY COUSIN gathering when I glanced over to see this!I just had to ask my PONY COUSIN what she was doing???My PONY COUSIN just smiled sweetly!!!

Your Desert Rose!

Jesse's Desert Rose!

I have to tell you how I got my 3 names!

The 1st...Jesse's Desert Rose was one I fought for a long time. I give credit to my cousin Saddle Mt. Rider who kept calling me Desert Rose in her emails and even picked a Doorman Burns painting that she said looked like me titled "The Desert Rose". Finally when I started my blog the name had attached itself to me....and I just added the Jesse's. It is very fitting though cause I am in the desert 6 months of the year. My blog side bar states that The Desert Rose may have some wilted petals but her thorns are still sharp!

Jane...I was suppose to be Steven!!! ( I do have bigger balls than some men) LOL My mother had not picked a girls name and my Auntie Phyllis asked to name me. My twin sisters names were Janet Lee and Jeanette Lynn...so she picked Jane Phyllis for me. We became know as the 3 J's in our family and someday when we have our ranch...it will be called "The Lazy Triple J Ranch"! When I was growing up "boys then later, men" would say Me... Tarzan, you Jane as a pick up line. I would simply smile and say, no...you Cheeta!!!

Zsa Zsa...when my daughter was pregnant she and I began thinking of what my "grandma" name would be. We came up with Janeau. This is the name that Carry Grant called his little french grandma in "An Affair to Remember". Only you have to say it with his voice. LOL So when the baby was born we used the name Janeau to me when referring to me. Finally when he was about a year old he came running into my arms saying...Zsa Zsa, his way of trying to say Janeau! My daughter and I were soooooo excited and decided that we loved that he came up with his version of Janeau...and we liked it better. So I am now Zsa Zsa to my grandchildren!

Your Desert Rose!

Earthquake!

All of us living on the west coast have one big fear... way at the of back our minds. Even when we think it is so far back we have forgotten it, we see a headline while standing in line at the supermarket! "California to fall of the North American Continent!". Or "10 magnitude earthquake predicted for California!" and of course my biggest fear,"Monster Seahorse swallows up California!"


Our winter home as "snowbirds" is in the California desert along the San Andreas Fault. This fault runs along the mountains on each side of our home. If you are up on a high point in the valley and look at the mountains you can actually see the darker shadow of the fault along the middle of the mountains. I see evidence of this all the time on our rides.

As the 2 shelves's of the earth move against each other far below the surface, up here we feel the movement, hear the rumble and see the evidence of rocks falling down the cliffs or...your bar glasses falling off the shelf above your bar!

Most of the time these small quakes are hardly noticed by anyone except the very sensitive earthquake monitors that register each and everyone of them for the scientists that study and track them. I do have a great sense of movement...and notice them when people with me do not. I think my Sissy's were here once for a small one, we were laying out at the pool and we felt a sway for a few seconds. I think I had to point out to them what had just happened. So imagine my surprise last night while I was downloading pictures for a new blog and I felt the vibration. Then heard the rumble. Then saw 2 lamps wobbling. It was about 30 seconds from the first vibration to the end. My husband and I disagreed to the size of it...but I believe I was closer to the mark...!

On January 8Th 2009 at 7:49pm a 4.5 magnitude earth quake hit 2 miles SSW of San Bernardino, CA. We are about 50 (give or take) miles east of that! And we defiantly felt it! So...for all you west coast cowgirls out there I expect your help in looking out for the "Monster Seahorse" that may one day swallow us all up!

The Desert Rose!