More Blue Water Pictures

You might want to read the posting before this so you'll know what this posting is about. I had trouble getting the blog to post so I had to put pictures in a new posting. Here are some more pictures I took at Blue Water.

Blue Water, New Mexico - October 2006

The last weekend in October we left on Thursday afternoon, drove to Holbrook and had dinner at Filabertos and then drove to the Nielson Ranch in Blue Water. It was our dinner group that went, but Steve and Sharla were out of town so Keith & Jodi Flake went, along with Kelly & Shirley Willis, Dave and Diane Scott, Jim and Kristine Ballard.

The Nielsons (Kristine's family) have a great house there - hacienda style - with 12 bedrooms, 4 or 5 bathrooms, a large kitchen and dining area and great big living room with a fireplace. These pictures were taken outside and inside the house.
We spent most of the day Friday going 4-wheeling all over the ranch. Yes, Dad and I went 4-wheeling. Here is a picture to prove it.
Also, there are other pictures I took as we were leaving and while we were out on the ranch. We hiked down a canyon and even found a few patches of snow.
Friday night we bundled up and went outside for fireworks that the men had purchased and Dad and Dave Scott lit. (Fireworks are legal in New Mexican.) Saturday morning we cleaned house and then went 4-wheeling again. We left around noon to come home and stopped in Gallup for lunch at Wendy's. We had a great and very relaxing time. We didn't have a schedule, we just did what we wanted when we wanted. I also read a little and got a little crocheting done.

The second Monday of each month we have Family Home Evening with the family members that live in Snowflake. This month it was at Will and Rachel's. Rachel gave a good lesson in which lots parcipated and then we played a game and had refreshments.

Not to be outdone by the Naillons, here are photos from our apple activity. It was quite a bit of work, but we got 20 gallons of apple juice. We appreciate Ona (Rache's mom) loaning us her apple press.

We have picked probably over 125 five gallon buckets of apples from our trees and we've had lots of others come pick and we still have lots and lots of apples. I hope we can do juice again this week and we are going to buy more jars so we can do more applesauce. We don't want any to go to waste.

Short Valley Trip

We made a quick trip to the Valley Friday night to watch Jill play volleyball. They played EAC and beat them quite easily. In fact, so easily that Jill didn't play as much as usual. Normally, she plays the whole time. But we did get to see her play and then we went to Bahama Buck's and got Bahama Rhama Mama's -- try saying that three times quickly.

We came home around noon on Saturday so we could attend our ward party, which was an apple fest. It was really a good party with lots of apple activities and we also watched Johnny Appleseed.

We got some apple facts:
*Two pounds of apples make one 9-inch pie
*It takes energy from 50 leaves to produce one apple
*China is the largest producer of apples, then the US and Turkey, Poland and Italy round out the top five.

Here is an apple quiz:
1. How many different apple varieties are there?
15 7,500 400 6
2. How many seeds are in an average apple?
5 3 16 9
3. Which state grows the most apples in the US?
Michigan Washington Alaska New York
4. Johnny "Appleseed" was a man who wandered the country planing apple trees wherever he went. What was his real name?
Johnny Lingo Johnny Cole Johnny Chapman
5. The science of apple growing is called:
Auxology Okanagan Improvement Pomology
6. Missionaries planted the first apple orchard near the Niagra River. What country were the missionaries from?
France Italy Spain
7. What does a turtle, chicken, horse, dog and a boy have in common?

8. Apples are harvested by:
Tractors People Tree Shakers Helicopters
9. Apple juice was one of earliest prescribed:
Antidepressants Muscle Relaxers Cure-alls
10.The largest apple ever picked weighed:
One pound Three pounds Five pounds
If you want the answers email me at gaflake@onewave.com

Fall

It's definitely fall in Snowflake! The days are warm and the nights cool. The leaves are turning (as evidenced in the accompanying pictures) and falling and thankfully blowing away. We don't have to do much raking here. We got some signicant rainfall last week, which was probably our equinox rain that we usually get. (The equinox is when there is a day and a night that are the same length and that occured on September 22 and 23.) We kind of feel like it's the "winding down scene". We are harvesting, we'll have our last water turn this week and we're selling our cattle on Saturday, October 14.

Apples, Apples, Apples

We have been greatly blessed with a huge crop of apples this year and the amazing thing is that hardly any of the apples have worms. It is amazing because we didn't even spray. We have harvested apples, Rex has harvested apples, Tedi harvested apples, some friends have harvested apples and we hauled 9 boxes down to Kelli and Ben and our trees are still loaded. These pictures will give you an idea -- they were taken after all of the before mentioned harvesting was done. Sometimes I think I actually hear the trees groaning from the weight.

Our basement shelves are filling up -- we got lots of grapes and Dad made lots of grape juice, I bought peaches and canned some of those and made jam, and we've spent several nights making applesauce and a little apple butter. I hope we can make a whole bunch of apple juice from many of the ones that are left, plus I'm sure we'll make more applesauce.

Parker Trip

Last month Dad and I traveled the many miles to Parker, Arizona for a Farm Bureau board meeting. (Each September they hold their board meeting in a different county and always invite the spouses to go.)

We stayed in the Blue Water Resort (and Casino) which is a really nice place. The first picture was taken from our balcony and is of the Colorado River. The next one is of the indoor pool, which is actually 4 different pools and a water slide.

We ate good food, had good company and visited the Central Arizona Pumping Plant and Parker Dam. First are pictures taken at the Pumping Plant and then are pictures taken at the dam.

Today, Sunday, we drove to look at some propery Will & Rachel are interested in (see the next posting). After looking at the property we drove south of Taylor just a little ways so I could take some pictures of these fields of pretty yellow flowers. Because of all of the rain we've had there are lots of places that look like this. They remind me of the wild daffodils in Oregon.

It always seems to take me a long time to post something to my blog, but I'm going to try again. Today we ate dinner with Will, Rachel & Taylor and then took a drive to see some property they have made an offer on. I took these pictures there. I was quite impressed with the place. It's 2 1/2 acres with a nice manufactured home that sits up on the side of a hill and there's also a barn. There's a shared well that irrigates the two pastures and even has a chicken coop!

Empty Bottles

As you can see in the picture of our basement, we have some empty bottles. We're going to be filling them with applesauce. Our three apple trees and sagging under the weight of all of the fruit so we'll be filling all of these jars plus lots more.

Grapes

Dad has spent a lot of time picking and steaming grapes for grape juice. He got 42 quarts of juice and Bruce got 24 quarts while they were here last weekend. Here is a picture of our harvest.

Drapes, Parade and Kaylee

I thought I would post to my blog quicker than I did the last time so here it is. Some have not seen our new drapes and blinds in the living room and dining room so here they are. Also, there is one picture of the Labor Day parade in Taylor. Then there is a picture of 6-month-old Kaylee that Shawna emailed to me.

More Pictures

Some of my pictures didn't come through on my blog so I'm posted them again. First is one of Dad and I on the banks of the Sususqehanna River. Then are a couple of reunion pictures.

Reunion

We got home on July 24 and I returned to work on Wednesday, July 26. I tried to come home early most days because LeAnne and her kids were here from Oregon. On Friday we all left for a great family reunion at Sharp Creek Campground that Shawna and Bruce had planned. I forgot my camera but here are a few LeAnne took.

Sususqehanna River

Another place we visited was the site of the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood, on the banks of the Sususqehanna River. These pictures were taken there.

Watkins Glen State Park

Here's another picture at Watkins Glen -- of one of the waterfalls there.

While we were in New York, we went to Watkins Glen State Park, the most famous of the finger Lakes state Parks. Within two miles, the glen's stream descends 400 feet past 200-foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its course. The gorge path winds over and under waterfalls. Here's some picture from there.

On July 9, we drove to the Valley and the next day we flew to Buffalo, New York, rented a car and drove through a severe rain storm to Geneva, New York and the Chantlicleer Motel where we made our home for the next two weeks.

Those two weeks were great! We served at the Peter Whitmer Farm as volunteer missionaries and had great experiences sharing the gospel and teaching Peter about the Farm and what happened there. Here are some pictures taken there.

Summer

Well, Holli told me that my last post was about spring so now I guess it's time to do "summer." My summer was very short! My last day of work was on my birthday, June 9. Dad spent time working on the range. I spent my time doing yardwork and housework and we worked together on our big project that's not finished yet. We painted the crown molding and all of the wood trim in the living room and dining room and painted all of the other walls blue (of course). I wanted to leave the same wallpaper in the dining room, but Dad thought it looked too bad. Then I wanted to paint it a different color of blue, but Dad wanted wallpaper.

After two trips to Home Depot in Show Low, I finally got some ordered. We had things pretty torn up in the dining room because we had to take everything out of the china cupboard and move it away from the wall. I wanted to get things back before we left for our mission as all of the family would be at our house for Pioneer Days.

Finally, the wallpaper came and I hurriedly put up enough so we could put the dishes back. We also ordered blinds and draperies for the living room and dining room and all of that came in before we left, but Dad didn't have time to anything with any of it before we left.

It's now September 16, and the wallpapering still isn't finished. I decided I would hang at least two strips a day until it was done. I hung 2 last night and 2 tonight. I think that leaves around 10 - 12 stips to go, but some is around the door into the living room and those shouldn't take long.