It's been an extremely busy and work packed day...........

I can feel the results in my bones as the day gets ready to rest..........

and there is much on my heart and mind to go with it. 

                             

but it all resolves and  dissolves 

as  I find  comfort in the golden hued hours and solitude of the late afternoon.

There is a peacefulness to the woods that surround the house...........

as it lies over......

 soft and comforting...........

like a warm blanket.

In my silence I watch a rabbit hop about in the dry yellow brush......

in search for something green to munch on. 

A dove coos and calls out to it's mate as it finds a final roosting place 

in the crooked mesquite tree, that is lit up with the late afternoon sun.

In the midst of this.............

one could never know that it was such a hurried and hectic day

All is still.

                         

Sophie who has been out with me through much of this day,   

 finds comfort even in the hard bricks on the porch .

Tomorrow, the sun will shine, the harsh wind may blow,

and the wolf might come knocking on the door,

bringing life's uncertainties along with it,  

but there is assurance that all is well at the end of the day.

I have faith in that.........

and sometimes......faith is all one needs.

An electric fence has now been added to the outside area

of the chicken yard.

Hopefully, this will keep my chickens safe from future coyote attacks. 

They coyotes are appearing every day. This very young and very starved coyote was following behind Sophie and I, because it picked up the scent of the scraps that I had carried out to place at the far end of the woods, to keep the coons and the coyotes away from the house.. I often feed the scraps to the chickens, but if I leave too much and the chickens don't eat it, the scraps draw the wild animals into their yard. 

I was able to get pretty close to this young coyote for this photo. It was so naive and starved to be very afraid of Sophie and I. It did keep a good distance from me.  

The dry brown ground has started to awaken from it's winter slumber

and the daffodils are starting to blossom in their vibrant yellow.

Such a pretty sight at the base of this ancient mesquite tree.

I hope they multiply and bloom each season  as the years pass by.

The warm weather has brought out the wasp and they explore the rose bushes for a drop of water.

In spite of the pretty blossoms, I am brought back to the reality of how dry it is by the hard blowing wind today. It blows the dirt and the tumbleweeds across the bare cotton field onto the share croppers house. 

I brought home an armful of English Daisies from a local nursery........

with one thing in mind..........

to capture their beauty with my needle and thread.

You can read more about this on my embroidery blog

Yesteryear Embroideries

How about you?

Has the weather warmed and awakened your grounds and blossoming flowers?

Are you still under a blanket of snow?

The grounds are starting to awaken..........

and the bulbs I planted in early fall, have sprouted, gotten taller, and are now just about ready to bloom. 

I can't wait!

Earlier in the year, I had the opportunity to pick through an old farmstead acreage, where an old house had fallen and lots of things were left lying on the grounds.........years ago. I saw this old railing and had to bring it home. At first I was going to use it, standing up, for a towel rack in my vintage shop. 

However, it just said "garden" to me an I fixed it as a partial fence to go along with the vintage archway that I have placed in my garden. I love the way it looks........don't you?

I also put these whimsical flowers and butterflies

along in front of it..........but I am not so sure if this is the look I want for it. So I might remove them.

If you remember, I love making cement things for the garden and had my " cement pumpkin garden" out by my patio.

I had also learned how to cast cement leaves and to give them unique colors. 

But the pumpkins just never seemed to fit in that space...........

So I loaded them up in the wheel barrow 

and placed them on the other side of the vintage archway. I think they are still too clustered up, so I may stretch them out a little further. 

So now the front of the garden has a lot of decoration..........as you can see, I have Sophie giving it her full inspection. I hope to grow my pumpkins and zinnias here of course, but I am also planning on growing grapes and blackberries. I have never had success with these vines, but I am not giving up. 

How about you? What do you like to decorate your garden with?

What are you planning on growing this year?

I would love to hear!

Thorns, stickers, sharp stinging brush.

and cactus of every kind is a common landscape of western Texas. But sometimes, it can over grow and turn good acreage into a non tolerable land of thorns.

However, I love the Texas landscape and when diligently managed......

it can truly be a beautiful sight. Over the years, the cactus has started multiplying way too good on our property and there is now so much of it. I have been spending a bit of time each day cutting it down. I want our acreage to remain wild, but also a pleasant place for man and beast to walk around on. I am leaving some cactus and creating rock beds around them.

Some of it is so colorful

and it makes the dry prairie look alive. It is going to take me a good month or more to get a hold of this sticky situation..........but it will be worth the effort for years to come. 

Have you ever had a feeling that you are being watched??  Even way out in the middle of nowhere.......with the comfort of my dog Sophie with us.......I had that feeling...........

Sure enough............I was being watched..........

he is one of the neighbors who lives on the ranch land across from me........

oh, he does not look neighborly  at all..........

But I just had to go over to ease his concern about what I was doing......

and he is actually a great big marshmallow.........

just enjoying the landscape ..........his way. 

How about you?

What is the most problematic plant you have growing in your back yard?

I would love to hear!

Recipe Reminder

I have just posted a wonderful and colorful dessert on my cooking blog. 

Just click onto the link for the recipe!

My Country Kitchen

I'm not so sure about that ground hog..............

(click on photo for a better view)

This robin showed up today.............

he says that spring is on the way!

I think he's right.........

don't you??

I am posting about what I have posted on my embroidery blog..........

because for this past year, I have been planning and for this past month I have been working..........

and today, the last piece of glassware was placed on the shelf and my vintage shop is now ready and open!

 It is also serving as my embroidery studio where I can design and embroider my linens.

It is called Yesteryear and is is full of beautiful dishes and linens.

If you would like to read more and see a lot of the things in my shop just click onto the link to visit

Yesteryear Embroideries

Now that all of this work is done, I will be focusing on gardening, chicken raising and coyote watching and will post about all of that on my next post. 

The Texas Swing is really going on in my neck of the woods..........

well...............actually not this kind of swing.........

but the dance with the weather and the temperature swinging from hot to cold in just a matter of hours.

Last week, we had snow and ice..........

yesterday we had sunny weather in the 60's........

we were driving home when across the horizon, a dark blue cloud bank appeared.........

within minutes, it had completely covered us...........

when we got to our home, we were greeted by freezing wind.

This is one of my favorite creeks to take photos of when I am out and about on pics. The white you see around the trees is frozen water. This whole creek was pretty much iced over..........

surprising for this area.

In the middle of thawing out.........we got more freezing temps and froze up again.

I am sure this is nothing compared to what many of you are experiencing across the country.

So tell me.........

Are you the adventurous type and go out sledding and sliding?

Or are you content to stay inside in comfort and warmth?

I would love to hear!