All around The Cottage....

 Rosemary sprigs.
I wanted to get a few more rosemary plants started to put in
pots around the cottage this summer.

We bought two huge rosemary plants at the nursery in St. George.
As you can see by the picture... their rosemary plants were already in bloom.
My hubby commented how he had never seen rosemary in bloom.
Generally, our rosemary never gets the chance to mature to the point of blossoming before cold weather hits, and it freezes the plant.

Believe me..I am going to stretch this rosemary just as far as I can.
I'm going to start more plants, make rosemary salt, dry some fresh rosemary sprigs, etc.. etc...
My daughter laughed at me, and told me that every summer when the rosemary will grow, the family already knows that everything will get a dose of rosemary.
I make no apologies... rosemary is my all time favorite herb.

 Beans sorted and rinsed. Ready to go into the electric pressure cooker.
It's my favorite way to cook beans. So quick and easy.
I'm going to make up some bean, beef and cheese burritos to re-stock the freezer.
We also stock the freezer with breakfast burritos made with natural sausage, eggs, and cheese, and peppers.
Having the freezer stocked with a variety of burritos certainly comes in handy.
Anyone can grab a burrito and go.

 It was nice to get a little reading in this weekend as well.
I picked this book up at the thrift store in St. George.
It's been a fun read so far.
I'm hoping that I'll be able to squeeze a lot of reading in this summer.
I used to make time for reading.... but, then life got busier, and busier.
Hoping to make a dent in my pile of books this summer.

 Enjoying the new wreath on the front door.
Still loving the charcoal gray color too.

The great idea .

Remember that I mentioned that I had a great idea when I was in St. George?

Well, everywhere we saw these great entry posts.

Not that entry posts are a new idea for me.

We've had them at our old houses before.

The thing I fell in love with about these entry posts, is the fact that they are painted a contrasting color to the fence.

Love it.

We've decided that we would like to have this same style of entry posts and contrasting fencing around our cottage.

I really love the fact that it's not matchy-matchy, and it really is

so attractive.

Attitude of gratitude:

~I'm so grateful for the blue sky and sunshine today.

Makes me energized to work outside.

~I'm grateful that our youngest is about done with college for the year.

~I'm grateful that this just might be the week that we get the garage painted.

Bloomin' Desert

 Beautiful cactus blossoms.
Amazing to me that amid the somewhat harsh terrain of the desert, there is such absolute beauty.
Even if it is just for a little while.

 The white blossoms on these cactus will fade in just twenty four hours.
Gone, but not forgotten.

 My sweet hubby and I, ran away for a few days.
We visited beautiful St. George.
Celebrated our twenty fifth anniversary.
Relaxed, laughed, and did a lot of  "remember whens".

 It was wonderful to get away together.
To leave work, chores, and daily life behind, and enjoy new views,
 and sunshine.
How fortunate we were that the desert put on a Spring blossom
show for us.

 St. George temple.
How it stands out and shines in the red landscape.

 A really great nursery.
You know, I don't think I've EVER gone on a trip that I didn't track down a nursery, and spend  some time there.
I adore a great nursery.

 What a great building.
An old cotton mill.
It's so great that this old building can be enjoyed by people, and it makes a wonderful back-drop for a nursery.

Leaving St. George.
We'll go back.
It's really not too far of a drive.
We will probably wait for Fall, and the weather to cool down again.
In the meantime, we'll enjoy our valley weather beginning to warm.

I'll share a few more pictures of our trip later.... and I got the best idea while I was there.
I'll share that idea later too.


Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm so grateful for my sweet hubby. He loves me eternally.
I'm the luckiest girl in the world.
~I'm grateful that my sweet hubby is so smart!
We had a mechanical problem with the car, and he was able to pull
into a parts store, buy new parts and right there in the parking lot he was able to fix our car, and
get us back to our vacation!  I was trying not to have a melt-down and he just kept grinnin' at me and telling my it was no big deal.
What a guy!

Rusty.......the good and the bad.

 Old homestead.
Look what caught my eye...
the rusty wire loop fence.

 I have long been a huge fan of the old wire loop fencing.
You can still buy it.
But it is tremendously expensive.
Much more that chain link, wood, or vinyl fencing.
Most of the old wire loop fencing that I've seen, has been a pretty standard pattern.

 This was the first time that I had ever seen this pattern of wire loop fencing.
I love the little wire looped circle at the top, and the way the finer gauge wire is woven between the sections.

 This is the pattern of wire loop fencing that is more commonly seen.
This roll of wire loop fencing is in the back of 'big green'.
We picked it up at the landfill.
For free.
With permission of course.
Rusty yes.... but the good kind of rust.

 An entire roll of wonderfully rusty wire loop fencing.
Just perfect.
I'm hoping that there is enough to go all the way around my garden boxes.
I'm wanting to have a beautiful potager's garden, with this gorgeous wire loop fencing around it.

 Bad rust.
A 'before' picture of one of our three corrals.
Far too rusty for corrals.

Brooke working on getting the corrals painted.
A pair of rubber disposable gloves, then a pair of cotton jersey work gloves over the top.
Dip palms of hands into five gallon bucket of paint.
Incredibly fast and effective painting of metal pole corrals!!
My thanks to my step father in law for this tip.
He has worked at the church farm for many, many years, and let us know that this is the way they do out at the church farm.

 Naturally, Rowdy supervised the project.
He managed to stay out of the way , and not get any paint on him.

Done.
The corrals look brand new!
Bad rust ... taken care of.

Attitude of gratitude:
~I'm grateful that we have had safety with us as we have had to travel up and down the
freeway several times this week.  Six hours or more of being on the freeway.
Safe and sound travel.
~I'm grateful that we were able to pick up our new trailer and A.T.V.'s without incident.
~I'm grateful that the good guys over at Gunnison Implements were able to give us 50% off
of motor cycle helmets for the whole family.