Rest easy my friend

On Wednesday afternoon, our 14 year old golden retriever, Pecos, was peacefully laid to rest.  Pecos also became fondly called Poppy.  Over the course of two years, he and his lady, Molly, brought 21 puppies into the world.  This brought love and happiness to many families in the area.

He had bravely lugged around a large tumor on his abdomen for 18 months.  I discovered the tangerine sized tumor in October 2011, while on a morning walk.  At the time, he was 12 years old and the decision was made to just watch it and not put him through surgery.  Boy, did he persevere through its continual growth and did it grow!

What a dog does for a family is show them and give unconditional love abundantly, no matter what their circumstance might be!  Pecos gave us more joy than we could have ever returned.  His absence will be a great adjustment for all of us!  I truly believe that he is in a far better place playing fetch, eating biscuits, napping the afternoon away, and waiting for his family to once again pat his head.

Rest easy Poppy, we love you!

Cherry pickin time!

One day last week we decided that it was time to pick, pit, and bag cherries.  Believe you me, I have a love-hate relationship with cherries.  Cherry pie is my favorite pie and is the favorite choice of my entire family.   Our cherry trees yield Montmorency cherries which are a tart cherry that when you take that first bite you pucker and roll your eyes at the same time!  This is the obvious love part!

Montmorency cherry tree

Cherries

We have two dwarf trees that are not so dwarf anymore and produce an abundance of cherries. Our best year was in 2010 and we put away 40 quarts of cherries and still had some left to offer to friends.  This is usually an all day event, picking then pitting and finally bagging them in freezer bags to be used throughout the year.  Such a sticky mess!  You guessed it...this is the hate part!

Every time we pick, I am reminded of my late great-grandma Frankie.  She was a farmer's wife and her family was her pride and joy and a close second was her garden and it's bounty! I grew up in the country in northwest Missouri and we always had a very large garden and Grandma Frankie and I would have friendly competitions in gardening to see which one of us could harvest radishes, tomatoes, onions, green beans, peas, and the like first.  I fondly remember when it was time to pick cherries or strawberries, she would look forward to helping us out and was always in awe of the beauty of God's creation and blessing us with such wonderful food out our back door and only a few steps away ready to be plucked by our fingers.  She definitely brought enthusiasm to gardening and a joy to life itself by living a simple life and honoring God in all that she did!  I need to remember that cherry pickin IS a beautiful blessing!

Ranae

Pyrex in action

Over this past week, some of my Pyrex dishes have been put to good use!  I am sure you will agree that Pyrex makes everything bake better and taste better, plus it is so darn pretty on the table!  With my son turning 24 on Tuesday and the Fourth of July, the Pyrex got a work out.  Bread, cherry cobbler and two batches of baked beans were just some of the dishes that got snapped up by my camera!

Whole wheat Dakota bread

Cherry Cobbler

Baked Beans

Hope your Fourth of July was a safe one, full of food and good times with family!

Ranae

Such a welcome sight!

Rain has been quite scarce in these parts for several years and the state of New Mexico is in a severe drought.  But as of last week the state has been experiencing some spotty showers. On Wednesday morning I was greeted with rain clouds and puddles on my morning walk!  It was so refreshing to walk out at 6 a.m. with the smell of rain and clusters of rain showers dotting the western skies.  Everything smelled so fresh and clean, with the hope of more to come.  As I was nearing the end of my walk, the rain was closing in once again with a few sprinkles falling on Gunnar and I, but we were in no hurry to get home.  Just soon after we got in the driveway, it started raining as the sun was coming up over the mountains!  What a beautiful sight...

I can't tell you how long it has been since we have seen a rainbow in New Mexico and this eventually became a full rainbow with the start of a second one...bright and beautiful from end to end!  A God smile in the morning!  I hope that we continue to have rain and many more rainbows the rest of the summer!

Ranae