MY Sunday Nightcap!

While Charlie and the kids were playing high tech redneck, I took on a project on my list...

Agave Nectar Goat Milk Soap!

Some goat milk, some of my fave oils, and mixin' it all up to make something new!  Great for nourishing, but also great for those folks that love all things Arizona.  I am sure it won't be cured for the market this coming week, but likely the week after!  Watch for it, or ask for it by request!

Sunday night fun time!

One of many things we always plan to do, but rarely manage to get around to doing, we had Camille and Jon and Bunky (Charlie's Mom and Dad and Grandma) over for dinner last night.

I stuffed mushrooms, and we marinated chicken and the trout from the last trip, Charlie smoked them all on the grill, along with a nice salad.  We topped it off with french silk pie and ice cream!  Jon has surgery this morning, so we figured we would do it up right before he had to fast for surgery, and in case he has to stay in the hospital because he dislikes the salt free diet!

Bringing the night to a close, the recent rains afforded us the wet climate to set off a few fire works in the open area on the East side of the property.

The camera makes these look much larger than they really were, but the were pretty and fun!

If you look closely at the bottom of this photo, about a third of the way in from the right, Shadow was barking!  She did not like those fireworks, but stayed close to us just as she was supposed to.  Vegas laid by Jon and watched the pretty lights.

When everyone said goodnight, Charlie and the kids pulled out the big couch and played high-tech redneck- Wyatt playing music and reading on his kindle, Bailey working on her math class on her new laptop, and Charlie watching TV with them.  What I did?  well that seems the matter for another post, coming in a minute.

It was a great evening as a family, we definitely need to do that more often!

Just hanging out...

He was supposed to be working on a paper...  I asked where he had gone?

But they were easy to find.  They had been doing some training time, and were sitting on the trailer out front, just enjoying one another's company.

Just a boy and his dog.  Too cute not to grab the camera, too cute not to share.  But not so cute to get out of that paper!

Monsoon Sunday

This photo is actually a couple days old, another .2 inches in the rain gauge for this monsoon. (Yay!)  Yesterday showed no measurable rain in the gauge this morning, but did top off the barrels in back where I had use some water for the greenhouse last night.

This morning I taught Pilates on the Northwest side.  Great group, the regulars for this class love the detail and understand their limitations so I can teach lots of different things.  I stayed to do some cardio, then picked up a few things for tonight's dinner and headed home.

This was the sky as the storm was moving in along Ajo, west of the hill, before Kinney road. 

There was a random thing causing people to sit still, first when the first responders were coming by, then while people were unloading a car at the center median, so I got some photos of the wild storm moving in.

Nature sure has a majestic beauty, even when angry!  The last photo was at home, outside our gate, right before I got out to pull in to the yard.  It was a light rain, really, and not much lightning in the end.  Maybe we will be lucky and get more tonight!

Sleepytime

I took the puppy out late last night, after the rain, before bed.  Silly Jalympics had moved to the front porch again, sleeping on the railing under the window like last Summer.

The puppy wagged her tail at her, but listened to me, and did her thing so we could head in for bed.  Jalympics looked at us, talked a bit, then tucked her head back under her wing as we went inside.

Sweet Vegas sleeps by the TV on the big dog bed most nights, in between trips to Bailey's room to check on his girl.  He completely ignored us.  He looks so sweet!  Okay, he is so sweet, the old goofball.

So Shadow and I went in for the night.  Wonder what the rain gauge will read for morning.

Grab Bag Specials!

When you work with molds, sometimes the last bar out of the batch doesn't look quite the same.  Sometimes I use these bars as samples or as the ones we use here before we sell any of the bars from the batch.  Regardless, I have a few bars of varied scents and recipes which aren't as pretty as usual or are simply the end of the batch and I don't want to carry them to the farmers' market anymore.

Some have goat milk, others shea butter, but are a mix, so I put them into grab bags, of three bars each, and these are available for five dollars while supplies last ( I put a variety of scents together, so also a fun way to try new things).  This is half off of our current summer special of three bars for ten dollars.  These grab bags are limited in quantity, and available first to our facebook and blog followers, so reserve yours today!

Puppy Power- Never Turn Your Back!

Training a new puppy can be a challenge.  Callie Jo was two months old when she came home, and she was definitely a challenge!  I would like to think my skills in training a puppy have improved with the subsequent dogs.  This time, I am trying to help Wyatt do the training, since Shadow Paws is his puppy.

He was sitting on the couch reading, not four feet from Shadow when she did this.  I was packaging soap.  She untied the ties holding her dog bed together, and proceeded to bite out large chinks of the high density memory foam I made them out of, then climbed inside to do more damage.  She was having so much fun, she was rolling end over end in the bed like a rolling glob of fabric when I walked into the living room to check on them.

Of course, I took a picture.  Then Wyatt got to clean up the mess, retie the bed and teach Shadow what was appropriate to chew on. Again.  The photo below is the two of them being silly after cleaning up the mess.  He was telling her if she couldn't take care of her bed, then he would be her dog bed, since he feels he is indestructible! 

Just another day at our house!