Echoes of the Southwest

40 years ago today, April 25, 1981, Gary and I were married in my future in-laws backyard. The wedding was supposed to start at 6pm, but the minister thought it was 6:30pm. All went well and the weather was perfect. Everyone had a great time. My Dad kicked back some beers with the best man and my brother sang with the band. After it was over, we took our honeymoon to Sea World and ended up in Las Vegas. It is hard to believe that 40 years have gone by. We have suffered some loses (his brother, parents and my Dad) and had some setbacks. We stuck through all the good and bad together. It wasn't easy, but we are stronger together for it. We have been blessed with two fantastic kids, a wonderful daughter-in-law and three beautiful grandkids. Today, we are celebrating in Laughlin, a place we love to visit. We are meeting one of my besties and her husband there. She was a bridesmaid, so it makes sense that she is here to celebrate with us 40 years later.  So what is next. Well, you saw m...

During this corona virus pandemic I am staying home with my hubby. This is the new normal for now, but I will probably do some things differently after this is over. One of the things I miss is visiting my 91 year old Mother. She is in a small group home and they locked it down over a month ago. She and all the ladies working and living there are all doing well. The virus has not gotten to them, thank goodness. I received a picture of her just recently, and I was thankful for that. I would rather stay away than be the one to get her sick. Mom Another thing I am doing different is shopping more online especially for food. I have always liked going inside the brick-and-mortar stores to do my shopping. I liked grabbing my cart and wandering around getting what was on my list and then some. I would rather pick out my own veggies and fruit, so letting someone else do that is different. We bought items online we probably would have went in the store for, but rather be safe than sorry. What a...

I saved the seed packs to label where each veggie is located. Tilly is checking things out. Post by Julie When my husband and I moved to a smaller house and yard, we wanted a veggie garden but didn’t know where to put it. Our last garden was huge with 4 large planter boxes built by our friend Steve. We didn’t have the space for such an elaborate garden, so we had to come up with a different plan. Sharon had used planter boxes for her apartment’s patio garden and they worked well for her. I found three on Amazon ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GH745WF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) that were just perfect. After getting the potting soil, we bought plants and planted seeds. This area of our garden gets a fair amount of sun without total exposure. We are not sure how things will be in summer with that strong sun, but we will play it by ear. If I have to move things around for better contact with the sun, I will do so. I will post our garden again in a month t...

When my family decided to make Durango, CO as our 2017 vacation destination, my daughter found a house big enough for all of us.  She found a house called "Trappers Ridge" about 25 miles from downtown Durango and just 5 minutes from Purgatory.  The house is three stories and sits next to a small lake and stream.  The view was amazing.  We entered on the first floor through the garage.  On that level was a bedroom, bathroom with huge shower, the hot tub and a game room.  My son and his family stayed in the room on that floor.  Up one level is where the kitchen, living room with fireplace, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kids room was located.  There were lots of large windows to enjoy the views from all angles.  On the top level was the master bedroom suite, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.  Every room was full. It was a short walk down to the water's edge to fish.  Our fishing area was next to a beaver damn which wa...