The air is getting cool and crisp, the leaves are starting to change, farming is coming to an end, you can smell the smoke from wood burning stoves, and the boys in my family are getting hunting fever! Each of us were lucky (?) to draw deer tags and Ariel drew a youth elk tag. Yes, I am still wondering just how/why I consented to even put in, but even I drew a deer tag. At first Saul was feeling so lucky as he bragged to everyone about how many tags we got. Now he is feeling so stressed about how he is going to help us all fill them. About a month ago he hiked down on the Blue to our family hunting grounds and put up his trail camera along with some salt to bring in the critters. He has just been itching to get back in there to see just what was coming in, so he and Justin went in this weekend to retrieve the flash card. They headed out on Friday night and slept at the head of the trail. Saturday morning they got up and headed out on their 8 mile hike. They got in there, checked things out, switched out the card from the camera, set up blinds, and cleared some shooting lanes (oh yeah, we are high tech!) After about an hour and half of playing they decided they should head out on the 8 mile trip back out. As they were rounding things up, Saul looked up and saw a black bear just a little ways off. The bear was just limbering along, stopped to look at them, and then just mossed on. Saul usually takes my camera along because he always runs in to fun stuff like that, but he had called me last night to tell me he had forgot it- darn it. But he had his cell phone, which Justin was holding, so he told Justin to hurry and try to get some pictures of the bear with it. The bear was walking away as Justin was trying to take a picture. Saul grabbed the phone and went after it (Uh, just a little crazy). He got about 8 yards away from the bear and got a couple of pictures. Just then the bear stopped, turned around, and started walking towards Saul. Saul decided that was his cue to get out of there. Of course he didn't want to run, so he walked away fast and told Justin to get ready to get out of there. With the bear walking towards them Saul was fumbling to get his pack together and broke a zipper on a pocket. He hurried to get stuff into other pockets, got his pack on and he and Justin headed out. The bear just turned and walked away then. To make the story a little more interesting, it was the archery hunt so Saul didn't even have a gun with him. Of course he and Justin just thought that was the coolest thing ever! Justin said that he wasn't even scared like he thought he would be, the bear just reminded him of his old dog Jed and he just wanted to go and give him a big 'bear' hug! Uh, I wouldn't recommend it! Saul has always told me that it is his dream to wrestle with a bear. He says that if I die first he is going to go to Alaska to find a grizzly- that is how he wants to go out. I told him he has a real goal- to become bear ----! Anyway, he and Justin came home on cloud nine and just can't wait to get back out there. Oh yeah, there were 124 pictures from his camera, 2 of them were bears.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

In my case it is 'what does your garden grow'? I was so excited to get to plant a garden this year. Dad came over and plowed and disced my spot for me. I got a notebook and plotted out my rows and just what I was going to plant and where. After fertilizing & mulching I ran to the store and got my plants and seeds. We got it all planted and started watering and waiting. Soon we were seeing little sprouts coming up all over and we were excited. They started producing, and I got puzzled. Two of my red bell peppers only turned red after they started shriveling up. The other ones grew long and don't look like a bell pepper, but they do taste good. What was labeled as an Anaheim hot pepper turned out to be short, red peppers that aren't hot at all. The cucumbers were supposed to be picklers but ended up slicers instead, but we enjoyed them in vinegar. My pumpkins are orange but they look more like a squash than a pumpkin, they have this 'belly button' looking thing on the end instead of going in so you can set the pumpkin up. Dad gave me some seed for some buttercup squash that he loves, but that is not what we grew. Some of them look like they might be the buttercup, but others look like maybe a cross between a buttercup and a banana squash. I even have one that looks like a banana squash. So who knows what they will taste like. I don't even like squash, but I have a whole bunch of huge ones. And talk about huge, one thing I did grow big was a huge garden spider- yuck! Even though I didn't grow what I thought I was planting, I still enjoyed growing it. One day when I took some fresh produce to share with my neighbor he said, "you put all this hard work into growing this and you are just giving it away for free and not getting paid for your work". But I just smiled and said that I did get paid for it because I love gardening and it is so fun for me to get out and be in my garden. It is very calming, satisfying, and mentally refreshing for me to play in the dirt. And even though it didn't all turn out like I thought, we just set and laughed and waited to see what was going to grow next!

NAVAJO COUNTY FAIR- 4-H, animals, rides, carmel apples, and kettle corn!

WOW! What a week it was. We headed to the county fair on Wed. to get the kids' steers checked in. I asked my dad if he would pull his camp trailer down for us to stay in. The trips back and forth every day are so wearing. We got checked in, animals fed and watered, and the trailer all set up. One thing we did notice was that there was more competition for the steers this year- or I guess I should say better. Thurs. morning came awful early- I think Ariel was up and out by 5:30. She and Justin fed, cleaned the pens, washed their steers and started getting ready for the big day. This year was so much better than last year because they had such gentle steers, they were like puppy dogs. What a difference that makes. The lady that helped us clip them told us to give an hour to groom. So we headed over to watch the last of the pig judging and showmanship. After that we headed over to get ready. Just a few things we didn't account for: we had 3 steers and 1 shoot- not good. Rachel (my neice) was showing first, so they were first in. We were all scrambling to do what we could without the shute, what a wreck. We also didn't have a generator that would work our dryers and the electricity there was a joke, to say the least. It kept tripping off and we were having a hard time getting them ready. Rachel got 2nd in her class- yea! Ariel went in next and we got her ready just in time- thanks a bunch to Cher who stayed behind and helped us. Ariel got 1st in her class- good job! We had two more classes showing before Justin had to be in there which gave us a little more time. After a few stepped-on toes, black paint on our fingers, show adhesive all over our clothes, he was off into the ring. Justin had the hardest class, but he still got 3rd. Way To Go! The judge put his and 2 others seperate and took quite some time to decide how to place them, so we felt really happy about that. After the steer judging was over they each got to go back into the ring for showmanship. Rachel was in Jr.'s, but Ariel and Justin were both in Sr. and in the same group. They both did a good job, but only Ariel was chosen to go back in for the final round. We just need some more practice, Justin. Ariel didn't win anything, but she did a good job. We all felt like that contest was a pre-determined decision. I won't vent it here, but pretty much everyone there felt that. Anyway, when the judge went around and gave comments for each kid he said that he couldn't fault her in any way. She controlled her steer well, set him up well, and did what she should have. There was another kid that did a GREAT job and really stood out to all the spectators! When he didn't win, there was a gasp from those in the stands. Kinda hard to believe someone can let their steer go 3 times and still win. But I said I wasn't going to vent, right. That night was the opening night of the carnival. That first night it is all the rides you want to ride for $15. After animals were all tucked in for the night the kids headed off. Me, I watched a little of the demolition derby with some of the other parents, up until security came and put up a tarp over the fence in front of us. We were watching it from the steer barn. We were pretty put out about that since if it wasn't for our kids and their animals there wouldn't be much of a fair. After a few of the dads told them off and we let them know just what we thought about it, we just pulled up some feed buckets and watched it from over the fence- we'll show them! The derby was pretty much a dud, so we were really glad that we didn't pay. And we had more fun taunting the security anyway. Ariel showed up feeling 'green' just about the time it ended. She had gone on rides with some of her friends and threw up twice, yum! You would think that after the first time she would have known better than to go on another ride- um no. Friday morning was another early morning and we had to get ready for the sale. We did watch a few open class shows to help pass the time. We decided to give ourselves more time to get ready for the sale, so we got an early start. We all went down knowing that with the economy this years sale wouldn't be the same as last year. There were more animals and less money to go around. The kids both sold for about $3,000, so we won't complain. Some of the others got lots less. We had the same buyer from last year come from the valley to buy for us. Thanks Jerry! We didn't make as big of haul as Rachel, a whopping $10,000. It pays to have connections. And our buyer is actually one of their connections also. That gives the kids enough to pay me back (YEA!),buy steers for next year, and pay for their own grain. And they may even have a little left to spend. Atleast that will put them on top next year. That night we were all wiped out. We were all in bed with lights out (atleast in the trailer- the carnival was still going strong) by 9:30. We went to sleep to the tunes from the carnival and the announcer from the rodeo. Sat. was nice. We got up later and the kids fed and cleaned pens. Ariel and I had a nap, Justin walked around the fair. We didn't have any shows or anything that day, so we just hung out and took it easy. We met up with friends that came and just had a fun day. That night I went to bed early. The kids played at the carnival and around for a while. Sunday morning they had to load their steers on the trailer at 6:00. A little sombering knowing where you were sending them off to. Ariel had a hard time. We are all glad that it is over. But the kids are already talking about next year. Each year we learn a little more, get there a little more prepared, and feel a little more satisfaction with the way it all goes. The kids sure did good to work their steers, and it really did pay off. We sure appreciate my brother David and his wife Cher. Since Saul knows nothing about the animals and tells me we can do 4-H as long as we don't try to involve him, we wouldn't be able to do it without David and Cher! It hasn't even been a week and David is already asking the kids when they are going to get their steers up from the field. Last year we bought from AZ National, but this year we are going to buy from Dad and David.