Here come the storms.
It’s been low key around this house the last few days. The Cowboy has finished a bedroom in the main house, now it’s my turn–to paint. Then we will move all the stuff stored in the other bedroom into the completed bedroom and start remodeling that one–clear as mud–right! The Cowboy has also been working on the walk in shower, a cranky heater thermostat and many other small projects. He installed a small baseboard heater on our porch–our closed in porch–and goes out there in the morning to drink his coffee, surf the internet and let his wife sleep.
I was an operating room nurse for all of my career and usually worked the day shift meaning I had to be at work by at least 6am, sometimes earlier. Depending on where I was living I might have to get up at 4am so as to get to work on time. For many years after retirement I was still up early with the Cowboy. Something with my internal clock changed and I can now sleep in–usually only until 6:30 or 7am. The Cowboy on the other hand still thinks he is a rancher and is frequently up at 5am. He tries very hard to be quiet when he gets up but it seems something always woke me. I am loving his new spot and so is he–there is a view of the Dragoons from the porch.
One of the book recommending sites I read recently listed “Dreyer’s English” by Benjamin Dreyer as a must read if you love to write. I ordered a used copy from Amazon and have really been enjoying the book. It isn’t one of those dry, hard to make yourself read kind of books. Mr. Dreyer is copy chief at Random House publishing company and he is funny! I’ve been surprised to read some of his recommendations which probably have my high school English teachers turning over in their graves!
Some examples: you don’t need a double space after that period or question mark–WHAT??? That will be a hard one for me to break! You can start a sentence with “but” or “and”–Mr. Dreyer calls that one a “non-rule.” Another one: you can end a sentence with a preposition–YIKES!!! Only if you have to and to keep from tying a sentence in a knot as the author so eloquently states!😉 It’s an interesting read!
I’ve baked more cookies–our UPS man, Paul, liked me yesterday. A pedicure and haircut were on the agenda, shipping of packages, and walking Emmi, etc.
Wednesday I painted–the primer coat after first washing the walls to get rid of the drywall dust left from sanding.
This is one of the bedrooms in the main house and it opens into the master bathroom. This old house has small windows mounted higher in the walls unlike modern homes with huge windows. We elected to keep the original bedroom windows after our friend Linda told us, “we like those windows, no one can see in!!” Makes sense to us!
Would you believe it’s raining again and has been only about 45 degrees all day today. It’s not only raining, it’s pouring! The moisture amounts from this storm are predicted to be about two inches. And (I started a sentence with “and!”) the mountains above 5000 feet could get snow and the higher elevations could get snow measured in feet!! It’s going to be a rainy and chilly Thanksgiving Day in Arizona. The Montana folks will tell me to stop complaining, their high on Thanksgiving is about 19 degrees!
Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends!
Restoration Cowboy Style 
Love your pictures and daily diaries. You certainly stay busy. Keeps a person healthy. Happy Thanksgiving to you & Mike. Sure enjoyed the two of you last summer. (did i put enuf spaces in here?) 🙂 p.s. i see enough was not spelled correctly. On purpose may i add.
LikeLike
Thanks Lesley! Happy Thanksgiving to you and Ken! You are too funny!
LikeLike
Aw fooey. After 30 years of looking at freshmen writing, I no longer “see” misspellings, punctuation stuff and odd sentence constructions. As for spaces after end punctuation, the only time that is a real issue is when you are writing in a space-limited box. You write plenty fine-o. (See?)
Ahem. Well. I guess I do have a pet peeve. It’s when people misplace an apostrophe in IT’S to make it a possessive. You don’t do that either!
LikeLike
That it’s thing is a pet peeve of mine too Emjay! You were a saint to have taught freshmen students for 30 years!!!
LikeLike
How sweet to be able to paint your first room in the main house!! I was hoping you finally included a photo. Now I need a photo of the porch with Michael sitting out there.
Our weather here has really taken a turn, as well. While it was sunny today, the 55 degrees (feels 49) with wind gust to 50 mph made for an inside day. Tomorrow looks down right miserable! Cold and rain…yuck! But the mountains look beautiful with their snow.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, Michael, and Emmi!
LikeLike
Yes it is sweet Pam!–next up, tile on the floor! It has rained non-stop since noon yesterday!
LikeLike
I like the colors of the room you just painted….Windows?..Where you folks are, who would be looking in?
I live in the mountains similar as your Montana digs…I just use my blinds to control the sunlight..Closed in the summer wide open in the winter..If a deer or other critter wants to see me view-on!…
Happy Turkey day…
LikeLike
Same here, in Montana most of my windows don’t even have blinds. No one to see us. But here, I feel a little more exposed. Happy Thanksgiving David.
LikeLike
Gee, does that mean a person can now comment and others won’t cringe because they be a okie that can barely spell much less get grammar correct?? Heck barely git the spelling even with the checker thingy on. 🙂 Happy Turkey day! I give thanks that you write this here blog that I really enjoy! and I should get a pass on me grammar as I am now an arkie.
LikeLike
So, so glad you commented Ava! No spelling or grammar critiquing going on here! We love hearing from blog readers who enjoy reading about what we do–Happy Thanksgiving!
LikeLike
I remember living on the Mojave Desert-no windows on the west walls of the house, because it got so terribly hot on that western side in the afternoons. Thank you for all the beautiful pictures!
LikeLike
Yes, we are thinking our large windows on the west facing side of our house may have been a mistake. But we purchased this property for the views–so we have windows–and shades! Happy Thanksgiving Ruth!
LikeLike
And a big Happy Thanksgiving to you, Michael, and Emmi. I really need to read that book as I struggle with all the correctness of getting thoughts out of my head and onto paper/computer. I really enjoy your posts and musings about your daily life and so want to be where you are. I can just see Michael with coffee in hand enjoying the view and fruits of his labor. Are those hardwood floors in the picture? And are the pictures of the mountains taken from your home? Soooo pretty! Gay
LikeLike
No floors yet, the photo just makes it look as if we have floors. Yes, we are surrounded by mountain ranges every direction we look. We purchased this property sight unseen—we knew the general area and used Google Earth to get a closer look. Our realtor came out, looked at the property and told us it had great potential—she was right! Thank you for your kind words about the blog, Gay! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving Day!
LikeLike
If 7 am is sleeping in then I’m sleeping half the day away :-)) Bill spends his morning on the front porch looking at “our side” of the Dragoons as well. This desert is so special in all directions. Your book sounds like great fun! It was so cold when we pulled out on Tuesday, I thought we might have snow on the surrounding mountains over the weekend!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and Michael.
LikeLike
I’ve always been a morning person and so is Michael. And yes, the Dragoon’s are beautiful from all directions. Happy Thanksgiving Jodee and Bill!
LikeLike
Happy belated Thanksgiving. Hope you guys had a wonderful day in spite of the unusual weather. Sunny, and 70’s here in the deep south, today.
LikeLike
We did have a great Thanksgiving Day Jerry–hope the same was true for you and Wanda!
LikeLike