I love to garden, roses and vegetables are my favorites. I have the front of my house in a rose garden along with a couple of day lilies and a hibiscus. In the backyard I have two citrus trees in raised beds which I planted last year and since they are so young and the beds get full sun I have vegetables growing around them. I have a few more projects to complete yet for the spring. I've always had problems with the corner of the garage and house with drainage. Finally decided to not try any longer to get something to grow there. I'm going to pull the soil out and put pavers in there to have a potting area and keep the drainage in check.

Of all the plants Roses are my passion. I will probably move to the ranch this fall, we'll start on the house there next spring. In the mean time living in the mobile home and sell the house in Angleton. I really want to have a beautiful English style rose garden taking up my front yard. Hmmm....how pretty that would be!

I also keep a scrapbook of my gardening habit. I just thought I'd share a page I've completed.




This is a picture of an African Daisy. I used to have this bed in annuals, but I found the annuals were not something I wanted to keep up with. They have to be planted three times a year where we live. I now have three miniature roses and two day lillies in the bed.

Then a picture of my first Tahitian Sunset this year. I love the varied colors this rose puts out. Just gorgeous!


This shows the bed before I put the mulch down for this year. I took this picture just after finishing up putting down the yearly one to two inches of rabbit manure. I love using this as a mulch, too. I can take it straight from the rabbit barn and put it in all of my beds. By the end of the year it will be gone. My soil in all of my beds is just unbelievable great. Lots of earth worms, and perfect for holding water which keeps the roots cooler in our hot summers.

Gardening is a gentle passion that quenches me physically, spiritually, and emotionally. On my knees I drink up the smell of the fertile ground as I dig holes and plant seeds alive with potential. I am a partner with God/Godess as I nuture my adopted plants and I feel quietly satisfied at the end of my day's work. Christine Albert.... Texas singer, songwriter, performer

Scrapbooking Sketches & Inspiration

I just couldn't resist today, I'm so very excited. Each Sunday is like Christmas morning as I go to my Favorite Scrapbook Challenge Blog. I get so very motivated. I just love Julie's sketches. I feel as if I've graduated to the next level of scrapbooking. I use to try design my own pages with no help. Wrong for a non-creative person. I so wanted to move on and make my pages like those in the magazines Scrapbooks, etc and Creating Keepsakes. So I started to work from the pages I liked the best. I'd look at sketches a this point in my scrapbooking and for the life of me I could not accomplish a LO from a sketch in any shape or form. Then on my favorite forums, Scrapbooks, etc. website, The Scrappin' V mentioned Julie's Bonner's Challenge Blog and how she was participating. I went and looked and for whatever reason I started the next journey in my scrapping. Like I said, it's now like Christmas morning for me. I don't care if I ever win the weekly drawing. It's the CHALLENGE I love. I had finished my LO for the challenge this week and I really liked how it turned out. I was on a roll and moved to my next LO. This past week for the first time I found a LO I loved, and I had a page I wanted to convey my great-niece's fun loving personality. I want the picture to be loud....something so totally outside my box. I didn't see the LO as a total unit. I saw the picture placement, the paper placement, and the embellishment placement. I saw the LO as a sketch. Off I went and the end result to me was so awesome.


The LO I used for inspiration is from Scrapbooks, etc magazine (Aug/Sept '07, page 76) issue.

Then some love to know what one uses on a page to complete it so here's the list:

Paper: P.etc. Flowers Word/Circle, Flowers Plaid/Flowers, CM Green Paradise Photo Mounting Mat; Grommets: We R Memory Keepers; Love Tab: P.etc. I-Kan-dee Market Tags: Chipboard, Brads, Ribbon, Flower: American Crafts; Stickers: Jolee's; Butterflies: Wonderous Scraps; Monogram Alpha Cardstock Stickers: Making Memories; Buttons: Dill Buttons; Quote: CM Expressions of Family & Friends Vellum Quotes.

Then I want to include the links to the blogs or website which so inspire me:

Scrapbooks, etc.
52 Sketches...52 Weeks
Sisterhood of Scrap
Pencil Lines

I'm off to do my LO for Julie's sketch this week.

Enjoy the sites!

Musings on the Cattle

I've not posted in a while. After Dixie Nationals in Jackson, AL I was concentrating on Houston Livestock Show. I'm glad the winter show season is over. I needed to take a break. I'm looking forward to the spring sales just to go and see the cattle. Then it's on to thinking about a busy time for the first of June.

I like the idea of blogging. I'm somewhat of a sap at times. Especially when it comes to the animals. I have my favorites, I get attached to them. All of a sudden I'm acting like a mother watching her kids go off to college. Already did that with my human children. But tomorrow or the next day I'm sending Peyton and Dill off to the ranch. We have purchased two show quality Lowlines over the past three weeks. When EZ 61T arrives next week she's just a tad to young to breed to Peyton. She will need halter breaking anyway, and another new friend to make. The other is EZ Tillie 78T. She'll be lonely for a while, but being alone will really make her dependent on me and draw her closer to me. It's still tough to send the boys to the ranch. I'll really miss them both. At least tomorrow I'll make Peyton a really happy boy, a bath as the temperture hits 80 degrees and then blow him dry. What he will really like is he then get's a shave, all of his hair. Taking off the rest of his winter coat, so he'll be happier as the tempertures begin to climb and get his new coat in for the summer show season if we decide to hit the road north. It's next year when I really look forward to the winter show season when we might have some of our own Lowlines to show.

The Santa Gertrudis girls did very well the rest of the winter season. The lowest Jillian placed was a 6th. Angelica would make the ribbons half of the time. They'll be put on the bull next month. We also started having calves. Angelica's dame Wendt 7855 gave us her third calf and third heifer. Lynn is thrilled. But what she is really thrilled about is Jillian's half brother. Angelica's father Double TT 31 delivered a beautiful jaw dropping bull calf. Lynn and I are holding our breath in hopes he continues to improve. Now almost two months old he has continued to improve....lets just hold our breath until weaning. If he is as good as we think he is, he'll be shown next winter. I love his attitude, he just knows he's something else. Good ones always do.

Then back to Peyton. I thought I'd post his picture of his win at Brazoria County Fair last year, Reserve Champion English and Exotic Bull. It is a layout I scrapped for our ranch scrapbook. Peyton was Champion Senior Lowline Bull Calf at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. When we get that picture I'll post it. My boy!

Until next time, Kim