Bunnies...Lots of Easter Bunnies

It started with a pattern I saw on Pinterest...a bunny that could be made by knitting a square of yarn. I don't knit, so I modified the pattern and crocheted a square of yarn and started making bunnies for Easter. The original pattern called for a pompom tail, but I modified that too. Each bunny has a real cotton ball tail. It's only appropriate.

The first two were made from a 6 inch square and a 3 inch square. I gave them to my friend Jeanne. 

Then I made a 4 inch square and I discovered the perfect size for the bunny. This little guy was sent to my 100 year old Auntie. Of course I'm still making piggies. 

 I went a little crazy and started making bunnies every night. Each bunny gets a special name too, so there's Lucinda Hopps, Samantha Spring, Leonora Leaper, and Heather Hopper...the list goes on. I need to get them in the mail by Easter. If you like a bunny to hop your way, just ask. 

50 Years

In a few days we will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary. Great plans for a cruise or exotic trip to mark the occasion have been dashed. What has not been dashed is friendship. My dear friends have created a wonderful gift to help us celebrate 50 years of love, sharing and caring for each other. Thank you for this lovely commemoration of our wedding day.

Thank you Pam and Sam for this wonderful gift for our special day

Framing is Complete

The framing is completed. This is always a good sign. If we stay on schedule we might make our due date.

The east side showing the master bedroom/bath, den, main bath and second bedroom

The back or north side showing the bay window in the master bedroom and the patio

The front or south side show the garage, arched entry way and second bedroom.

Each of the rooms is clearly defined so we mentally placed furniture in them. That was fun. Now we wait for the trusses. The framers said the trusses had arrived, but they have not been delivered to our job site. There are many homes waiting for trusses. 

We Are Being Framed

 More progress is being made on the house. The garage was framed and braced. We can now get a good idea what the front of the house looks like.

In addition, headers for windows were put in place, making it easy to visualize the view from each. The view from the living room looks at Flat Top Mesa.

We watched the framing team work for about an hour before they started cleaning up. When they were done I talked to one of the fellows. He said they had one more day of framing, then the trusses would be installed. I was surprised the trusses had arrived. I want to be there when they fly the trusses on the house. That's always exciting. Needless to say, I'll keep you up to date. 

Progress

 Today we drove past our new home site and discovered that there were STICKS! Progress is happening. Hooray!

I talked to the contractor the other day and his report was grim. He said there was a shortage of trusses, wood, plywood, sheetrock, coils, and appliances. I was told that trusses might arrive on March 24, so the progress we saw today was a great surprise.

A crew of 3 were framing the house...2 were busy nailing and one was cleaning up. Keep watching this spot as I'll have more pictures tomorrow.

Driving Through Town

On Thursday we went to a Meet and Greet at the local library. We were asking a lot of questions about doctors and dentists and the like, when the conversation moved to driving around the town. Today we took one of the roads recommended and discovered a mighty vista. These are the jagged Virgin Mountains to the south and east of town. The highest points on this range are Mt. Bangs at 8012 feet and Virgin Peak at 8075 feet.

Facing the Virgin Mountains are flat top mesas. In fact, this one is called Flat Top Mesa at 2589 feet. This is the mountain I expected to see in the desert, not the sawtooth mountain range at all.

The soft sedimentary rock of the mesa seems to be a carver's wonderland and one man has decided to etch, carve and sculpt the soft rock. If you look carefully, you will see a row of 7 emojis.

This is our "Little Mount Rushmore." As we were looking at it, a driver in another car said the sculptures can erode in the rain, and we've had 2 days of rain...then he said, "I wonder how long these will last?"

We think this is a sphinx. It's fitting. The last time I saw a sphinx was in a desert in Egypt. 

Then we saw Cowboy Joe, the symbol of Wyoming. The carver is a native of Jackson Hole.

 There are several carvings in the red rock and they all have a story behind them. Mr. Karns, the man behind the examples of sandstone art, decided he wanted people to smile when they looked at his work. That's exactly what we did.

It's hard to think that all these pictures were taken from the same location near Flat Top Mesa. The snowy Virgin Mountains and the arid mesas living in harmony in the Mojave Desert.

Two New Critters

 Two more critters have been added to the menagerie...a tiny bunny and a round piggy

The bunny is a new pattern for me...

..as I've only made 3. I'm going to send one to my 100 year old auntie for Easter. If you would like one, let me know. Crocheting keeps me out of trouble.

Snow and Palms

Welcome to the desert in the wintertime where we are experiencing a strange (for us) phenomena...snow on the nearby mountaintops and palm trees lining the streets. It's not often you see snow and palm trees in the same place.

Lucky for us, there is no snow on the valley floor. It's cooler than it has been recently, but if the weather report is accurate, it will warm up soon. 

This and That

 We've been in our new wintertime home for one week. We are getting settled in. We know the main streets in town, we can find our favorite stores, post office and bank without getting lost. The weather has been wonderful. No snow or rain, some wind and nice warm days. I'm trying to get in the habit of walking again. I fell out of practice the past few months due to a series of accidents. I'm healed up and ready to walk. Amidst the change there is stability too. I'm still crocheting teddy bears.

Tonight I finished Lily. Somethings don't change. On another note, our new home has not made any progress in the week we've been here. The foundation is curing...that's my story and I'm sticking with it.