Update on Black Mountain Jewelry Co.

I haven't posted a blog in sooooo long! December actually! We've been really busy and haven't had much to share since we haven't been creating anything new of our own. It's been great to be so busy and making a living creating other people's jewelry lines but now we're getting back to our jewelry again - along with our accounts. There will be more frequent posts in the future.

We finally feel like New Mexican's. Took our first trip to the mountains the beginning of this month. Here's a picture of Eagle Nest - part of the Enchanted Circle by Taos NM. It is so beautiful and green there. A stark contrast to the high desert we live in. I would highly recommend this drive if you make it to our state. http://www.enchantedcircle.org/enchanted-circle-scenic-byway.php

June 21st to 28th On Our New Adventure

It was sad to leave our home in Alpine, AZ but we're both excited about the future, new adventures and city living again! We were blessed with beautiful weather those last days. We got to stay at our friends Hotel for a few days to fully enjoy the outdoors and other friends came up to visit.

We had some rain storms brew over our last few days in Alpine. Nice cool weather!

Sam Mid Bark - you are NOT leaving without me!

A herd of Elk our last day - in the meadow behind our house. What a nice goodbye.

Storminess at Luna Lake. I will miss those summer Monsoon Storms.

Kevin, Gia and Mark. What a delicious feast of fresh caught trout and roasted veggies! It was so nice to spend time with them and do some rockhounding over our last days.

Miss Gia hamming it up on our hike behind Luna lake.

This rainbow was MUCH prettier in Person over the Sportsmans' Lodge in Alpine.

Beautiful clouds over Nutrioso as we headed down the hill. Crazy mountain weather on the drive down to Phoenix. Drove through rain, dust and hail at all the different elevations - starting at 8050' to 1500'.

Just outside of Globe, AZ - we though IT was hot - ha ha - Phoenix is a LOT hotter!

Spring Is In The Air - Alpine, AZ

Spring has finally made it to Alpine, AZ. Crows are shredding bark off the cedar in our woodpile for nesting material. The Blue Birds are back - had to clean out their nest box this morning. Amorous Squirrels are chasing each other up and down the trees. Even Sam is in love! Our neighbor's dog Sasha comes to see him a few times a day now. The first visit of the morning there is a hearty wag "Good Morning" then they just hang out together on the back stoop for hours. (We are starting the search for a female companion for our little guy. He's lonely!)

Most of the snow is gone now except for the shady spots. The pile behind our house - which was originally 10' high (from clearing off the roof during this snowy winter)is now down to 5'. Sometime in May that will be gone too! The elk babies should be around soon and the brown forest will start to green up. My favorite time of the year!

2009 Capitol Christmas Tree - Alpine, AZ

We are so thrilled and honored that the Capitol Christmas Tree is coming from Alpine, AZ this year. We know that we live in one of the most beautiful places in Arizona and now the whole country will hear about our home!

It's no surprise that the tree was selected from the Apache Sitgreaves Forest - it's the centennial of Aldo Leopold's arrival to our area. The tree is being called "The Aldo Leopold Centennial Tree." Aldo Leopold was a pioneer in the conservation of our natural resources. To find out more information about the Aldo Leopold Centennial, please visit the website: http://www.leopoldcelebration.org/ Apache Sitgreaves Forest Service Headquarters. Home of the Forest Rangers - stewards of our beautiful forest.

We experience all seasons in Alpine, summer is vibrant green due to the almost daily rain showers - which also create beautiful rainbows. At 8050' we are close to the clouds which settle on the mountain tops during the night. If you ever have chance to visit this relatively unknown gem - Alpine, AZ, please spend a couple days. It takes that long to absorb the natural beauty, abundant wildlife and friendliness of all of us that live here. Here's a link to our chamber website for lodging and other information http://www.alpinearizona.com/

We've been excitied about the tree for months. It's been hush hush about the exact location - but through reliable sources the tree is coming from just south of Alpine off Route 191 - between us and Hannigan's Meadow.

We're dissappointed that we'll be out of town at a craft show during the procession. The cutting ceremony is November 7th. For more information on the tree please see the following links. http://tinyurl.com/q8dtcv , http://capitolchristmastree2009.org/ and http://tinyurl.com/ll5bdo

If you'd like to see more images of Alpine please see click on the Alpine subject bar on the left side of our Blog. Hope you enjoy the pictures and the beautiful tree we've gifted our nation!

Steller's Jays In Alpine, AZ

We generally don't feed wildlife - it's not a good practice - but we do help the birds along with seed through the winter. Right now we have two Steller's Jays that are relying on us. I worry about them when we leave town for shows and hope they've stashed enough peanuts in the tree tops for while we're gone. (They do stash them in crooks and needles of the trees and bury them at the base of trees.) Both are injured so we may help them make it through the winter. The one, "Chicken" (she perches like a one) is missing a leg. She's the Momma bird. "Baby Girl" has a bad wing (she's one of Chicken's offspring.) They perch together chirping to each other. I have a scenario in my head - we often have birds of prey in the area - what if baby was getting attacked and Mom stepped in causing them both to have injuries? Who knows. Here's a picture of them perched together. I wish I could capture their personalities here. They are smart, agile and comical birds! Baby Girl In Flight

Hummingbirds

Mark and I needed to recharge so we immersed ourselves in the forest today - starting with watching the hummingbirds this morning. I'm not a great photographer but it was fun trying to catch them during their feeding frenzy. We're going through 16C of food a day now!

Bull Elk in Alpine, AZ

I grabbed these pictures in our neighborhood earlier today. Too bad I didn't have the camera yesterday when there were soooo many more elk. They were a little wary today too - yesterday they were just lounging in the shade. Live and learn - always walk with a camera around the neck!

Someday I'll have a telephoto - these were closeup shots.

Mini Horses

These two mini horses are next to the "Future Home of Black Mountain Jewelry?" Building. So adorable. The little guy has a blue and brown eye. It would be nice to get to know them as neighhhbors (ha ha - couldn't resist!)

Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary

Not only did we have a great craft show at the Torreon Golf Resort, but we were also blessed to meet Leyton Cougar and Angel Bennett and two residents of Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary - Flurry and Brutus. Please visit their website http://www.wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org/ - it's a great cause.

You can't imaging how big their paws are! They're shedding to get their summer coats right now so they looked a little skinny. Angel told me that their mane around their neck and fur can grow 6" in the winter. (Brutus was shedding all over the place so I even got to take some wolf hair home with us. How cool!)

Flurry is an Arctic wolf. He was very shy and wary.

Brutus a Timber Arctic wolf cross wasn't so shy.

Pretty friendly if he thinks you're ok. Never before have I been so close to a wolf let alone be licked on the face and have my chin nibbled on. It was amazing! I've been thinking of a new jewelry line and wanted to give back to an animal charity with it - I think I've found the one!

Craft Show In Sedona Arizona

We had a really great show in Sedona, AZ last weekend. It was incredibly hot and dry (98!) but we were so lucky to see the sun rise and set everyday on those red rocks. Here are a couple pictures - unfortunately from the car - no time to hike. :( Sunset on Cathedral Rock, an eery sunrise on I don't know WHAT formation and some pretty snapdragons by the show location.

Two 18k Gold Morenci Turquoise rings found homes that weekend. One went home to Kentucky and the other to San Diego. Hope they are really enjoyed!

Once again we met incredible people and had a great time! I should have got the name of one Mom and her Daughter. I feel so bad when I forget to do that. Her daughter is a two time Leukemia survivor - once when she was 5 and then later. Her Mom bought her a Tree of Life Ring to celebrate her 20 years in remission on Mother's Day. I hope she enjoys it in continued good health.

Show in Sedona, AZ

Had a really great show in Sedona, AZ this weekend - after the wind died down. :) Also had a chance to drive to one of my favorite places - Oak Creek Canyon. The smoke picture was on the way home - drove through Pine, AZ just as the Dripping Springs fire started - pretty scary - could even see the flames from our car. Glad to be home making jewelry again for upcoming events.

Escudilla Mountain After The Storm

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving

We did - I made the whole spread then packaged up three huge plates that went to friends - including pumpkin pie. :) We did get a little snow before the holiday. This is a picture I took driving up the mountain from Springerville. The top of Escudilla (almost 11,000') was covered by clouds and still getting snow. We live on the opposite site - driving around the base to the right.

After Thanksgiving we had a few days of wind. All weather reports said gusts up to 20mph - we are pretty sure we had sustained winds 25-30 mph and gusts 50-60mph! It sounded like a freight train constantly for those few days then a switch was turned off at 3am this morning - it's calm and beautiful now!

We're drawing the November jewelry winner today - I'll post the winner by the end of the day.

At our recent shows many people told me that they read my Blog. Thank you and thank you for your condolences about Belle.

Punk Squirrels

I'm cheating with a snow picture (because I don't have any current squirrel shots) but I have to complain about these little guys we enjoy watching so much. As it gets colder we buy seed and corn mix for all the critters but right now we're on a peanut per visitor ration - which could be many peanuts per visitor because they go stash the nut then come back for another. We keep a ceramic canister on the back porch to store the nuts. Guess we've been really focused and not paying enough attention because yesterday they vandalized the back porch and broke the peanut jar to smithereens!!! We'll forgive them. :)

Elk Welcome Us Home

It has been so good to be home for 4 days - feels like a luxury!! The Elk welcomed us home on Monday - 8 of them in the back yard! Hard to get their picture through the trees - but it's still just 150 feet from us!

Pine Sawyer Beetle

We see these guys every once in a while. He was on our porch this afternoon. Looked him up and he is a Pine Sawyer Beetle - usually don't attack healthy trees. Larvae help decompose dying, recently dead and felled conifers. They may have a little city going in our wood pile right now! Mark put his finger near him and he latched on to his nail with his mandibles. Creepy little amazing beetle!

Elk!

Up early this morning - 22 degrees! Got to see a herd of 30 elk thundering across the meadow. Couldn't get a picture quickly enough - these are from last year in the back yard. Starting this month we'll get to see babies. I love Alpine.

Spring Around The Corner

Some days are spring like then you get fierce winds and freezing nights. It's almost here!

By the end of the month we'll see these guys again and by July there will be hundreds of them visiting us every day.

Alpine Critters

This has got to be the smallest horned lizard I've ever seen. I think they're called Pygmy Horned Lizards. Found him/her on the sidewalk by Luna lake ready to get squished so we helped relocate to a safer spot.

Frogs Are Singing

It is officially Spring! The frogs started singing in the meadow. Soon we'll have Summer rains and the daily rainbows.