Shari’s Gone Country

It’s been a while since I posted pictures of life here in our little corner of the world.

One of our most prized possessions is our digital camera. It’s not real fancy, and we’ve had it for more than a couple of years… but we use it to record the good times and the bad. Even as relaxed as life is here… we use the camera a lot. It’s a huge memory helper!

The last photo journal was of all the “get ready for winter” projects; the wood is cut and stacked, the ewe’s are bred, the horses have new and expanded shelter, the hay is in and covered… and the chickens… well, they’re happy in their home, giving us nearly a dozen and a half eggs every day.

So, here goes… when it’s winter in Beryl, life slows down a lot…

The first week in December, just after getting the decorations up, we had snow in the late
evening. I was the only one still in my boots… so, here are two very quick pictures taken during the snow and wind. Later in the month, we had “thunder snow”, and twice we had to bundle up and hustle out to shore up the nativity scene and get the trees upright.

What an amazing site, to have the wind blowing better than 40 mph, snow coming down sideways, hearing thunder and seeing lightening within just a second as the storm passed directly over our house.

Sunrises are beautiful every morning… but some mornings they’re better than others. And yes… it’s really as cold as it looks.

We have time for more leisurely breakfasts, and with plenty of farm-fresh eggs, French Toast is a family favorite. Throughout the year, we most always have one meal together each day. On the weekends, it’s breakfast, generally on Saturday.

“Mom” always makes sure there’s enough for all five dogs, once we’ve had our fill. Now, the dogs… well, anytime we’re (make that “Mom”) are (is) at the table, once the serious cutting of food begins, it’s time to line up for “bites from the fork”.

This is December in Beryl. The first snow has come, and the very bright sunlight returned… time for some awesome picture-taking. About the only trees that grow well are the Chinese Elms. We have a row to the north of our driveway, and next year will plant a row on the south and then to the north west of the house to provide wind protection for the horses, and sheep.

The other day, Cindy heard a little noise outside her open bedroom window. Lo and behold here’s a little Screetch Owl, who’s obviously looking for a warm spot. He let me get as close as I wanted to get his picture. We’re not sure, but we think he’s probably the same little owl we found a week later in our driveway, cold and dead after yet another snow storm. Close inspection revealed a broken wing… was it a critter, or did he fly into the truck? We’ll probably never know.

Christmas in Beryl is fun… Bev plays Santa Claus (ok, so she’s not exactly “santa”) for the Senior Center. I thought this was a cute picture of “Mom” with Santa. Funny how their tops nearly match.

This year we got really lucky and “Santa” came to visit the dogs… boy, were they impressed. As long as Santa had treats, they thought that was pretty awesome, but pictures? Come on… as Coco put it… “You’ve got to be kidding!”

Kiki, Koda and Sarah figured Santa smelled familiar enough to hang around, especially since there were treats involved… the lunch mouths!

I know, you’d think I ran away. Well, not really.

You see, there’s something about me you don’t know… once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur.

A couple weeks ago, I got an e-mail about a business launch… and it really turned my crank HARD!

First there was all the research…

I looked this thing over from the bottom up, the top down, left to right, right to left, inside out, and outside in. I discussed it with the other three gals, and we all agreed… I should jump on it.

So, after interviewing some other business owners, I chose to get started.

Come to find out, there are several teams rolling out the new business opportunity, and I’ve joined one of the top teams. Since doing that, I’ve been assisting with a full upgrade of the team site, so it will correctly reflect the corporate site.

So I don’t really taint this blog with all my “business stuff”, I’ve started another one where you can see what I’m doing to completely start over. I’ve got no list, and until Saturday, no online web site.

What’s been going on around here?

We’re “waitin’ on winter”. It’s really cold, but not as cold as it was last winter. Friday after Thanksgiving we started our first fire in the wood stove, and have had one going every day since then.

Morning chores now include bust serious ice off the water troughs. In fact, this morning there was ice all the way down the sides on the sheep trough. The chickens are getting alternate water containers… one gets thawed in the house and taken to them, and the other gets picked up to thaw, refill and start the process again (morning and evening).

Tuesday, I took the day off and went with the other senior citizens to Cedar City, where we shopped all day. Lunch at the Sizzler was excellent!. Our neighbor (Susan) and I got to shop to our hearts content in downtown Cedar City, where there’s a collection of the neatest little local businesses. Too bad all I could do was “window shop”.

Ok, time to get back to updating things… more about the business launch later, as it will have a positive impact on our little farm.

Monday, we were up before sunrise (something we don’t normally do). While Cindy had to go to work at the neighbor’s farm, Bev, Mom and I were headed for a day of fun in Mesquite, NV.

Even though Bev was pretty sore from falling off Neche, she was still able to drive the Senior Citizen bus to St. George where we hooked up with the other seniors and boarded a comfy tour bus for the short ride to Mesquite.

Interestingly, as you go down I-15, it’s only about 10 miles to the border… of Arizona. Just after entering Arizona, you descend through the Virgin River Gorge… quite a marvel of shale cliffs and a narrow river bed. At times it seems the highway is nearly on top of the  river bed.

Within another 25 or so miles, we cross into Nevada and the gambling mecca of Mesquite. This town’s claim to fame is that it’s the closest place to gamble when you live in Southern Utah.

After getting checked in at the Gold Card Services, we were off to seek the riches.

Considering it wasn’t yet 10AM, this was nearly a shock to my system. I’d visited Spirit Mountain in Oregon, but generally didn’t get there until late afternoon… somehow sitting at a video poker machine bright and early on Monday morning didn’t stir my juices.

I guess I had “that aura” and the machines new it… my money wasn’t going far.

Bev and Mom were having better luck, and Barb (Bev’s cousin) was “the big winner”. I caught up with her as she was hastily rounding up little buckets. She had hit a “900 nickel” jackpot and the machine was spitting nickels at her. And that was her SECOND JACKPOT!

Have you ever considered how many nickels that is? That’s over 22 ROLLS of nickels!

We gathered little buckets and big buckets, until finally she had filled four big buckets of nickels. Time to find a cashier and get some folding money. What a sight… both of us lugging these heavy little buckets from the far end of the casino, to the middle, where we found the cashier.

Total winnings… over 80 bucks. Now, I think she put about 30 bucks into the machine, but that’s still a nice little profit.

In the meantime, Mom had hit a little jackpot and cashed in, so she was playing on the casino’s money, too.

Oh… about that time, I finally looked at the coupon book we were given. Lo and behold… there was one for a free beer… Yeah, it was still early and I’d only recently found my first cup of coffee… but the possibility of a really cold, good beer set me on the hunt.

Oh barkeep! What’s that… you have Sam Adams on tap? I’d like one of those on this here coupon. Splat, phusuuoop! Geez… the keg is empty.

Ok, make a Coors Original, please.

Ah, the sweet taste of a good beer… one with all the alcohol still there. Yep, this one is a 5% by content as opposed to that watered down stuff you get in Utah… maximum 3.2% on ALL BEER.

Pretty soon now, we head for lunch… again a casino freebie. The buffet looks a lot better than it tastes. Nothing really wrong with the taste, it’s just that nothing is spectacular. I have a breaded pork chop that’s a bit dry. Bev has stuff green peppers and fried chicken. They’re ok, but nothing spectacular. Barb goes for the rainbow trout and announces it’s overcooked. Mom finds the liver and onions and is quite happy.

Deserts hit the spot… homestyle bread pudding with vanilla sauce, and frozen chocolate and vanilla yogurt with chocolate syrup.

We still have two or more hours to gamble. I’ve been hanging on to a few bucks, just in case I smell better to the machines. As luck would have it, Mom let’s me have here beer coupon… she doesn’t drink. Another Coors please.

I spend the afternoon wandering around, sipping my beer, and finding other seniors. Slowly we begin gathering at the front door for the return ride to St. George and home.

Shortly after 7:30 pm (over 12 hours since we first left home) we arrive home again. All in all, Mom’s ahead a little. Bev’s ahead a little… and I’m the big loser.

We all agree on one thing… don’t need to go to Mesquite again for another year.