Winter Wonderland at Our House

It is absolutely beautiful here at our house. The picture was one I took early this morning. What I really love is the quiet, not a sound. Even the birds were not up yet. They are busy now as I write. I put new suet out and our winter birds, Stellar Jays, Oregon Juncos and Woodpeckers are busy eating their breakfast. I have been working from home all week and it has been so enjoyable as my desk looks out on the feeders and the porch, so I can watch the birds feed and watch the cats watch the birds feed, then when the cats get too cold and decide to come in I get to watch Angel chase the cats! I wish I could send some of this snow we have way across the world to my daughter as she loves it. Don't know if our J would like it though, he is a sun person. Uh Oh, our squirrels are putting on a show now....got to go!

kitties & Pointsettias

Our dear neighbor sent us a beautiful pointsettia plant. I had vaguely rememembered that this could be a toxic plant to cats. Our female Delta wants to eat it and will not leave it alone. Buddy has also shown some interest, so off to the web I went to find out what the truth really is. Well, needless to say there were many opinions, some say yes they are toxic and some say no they are not. One wise source said this - Cats will vomit from eating any plant, including some of the plant grasses that are just for them. I knew that was true as I got some kitty grass and sure enough Delta vomited it right after ingesting, Buddy was not the least bit interested. Best bet is to keep the plant or any plants out of kitty's reach. We will be enjoying our plant in our bedroom as it is off limits to the animals, unless we let them snuggle with us!

Meet Angel

This is the new girl in our lives - her name is Angel and she is about 9 months old. We are still considered "foster parents" as we have been taking care of her for a friend who was in an accident and unable to care for her. He may not be able to care for her as he has a broken leg and it is all pinned and has a steel rod too. She of course is very lively and would be underfoot in a small travel trailer. She fits into our family quite nicely and gives the cats some exercise too, if you know what I mean. I wish I had a photo of when we first got her as she still had a tippy ear, but then one day it just "stood up" just like the other one. She thinks she is bigger than the cats and I think they enjoy making her play chase. She has brought lots of enjoyment to our lives and especially my parents, who just adore her. She loves to run up into my Dad's chair and it is so cute when they are both taking a nap together. P.S. She is not yippy either!!

Brrrrrgh - Freezing temps!

Well I made it home in the nick of time on Saturday- followed a school bus all the way home and they made a great trail for me in the snow. It has snowed off and on all day today, but I made breakfast burritos and homemade split pea soup. I love to cook in this weather. Had to clean the satellite dish out once and I will not be going in early to work tomorrow. My youngest was cross country skiing and I was happy when she called and said they made it home okay as I checked the weather cam and it was snowing pretty good where she lives. We do not get severe weather very often so we are not necessarily great drivers in the snow and of course there are always those that thing the bigger the SUV the more invincible they are...Not! Shorty saw many of them in ditches on the side of the road, driving too fast and guess what guys???? Four wheel drive doesn't work on ICE. I am more worried about the temps that will be in the teens this week. I hate Ice, unless it is in my cold drink or someone is designing a sculpture!

Let it Snow!!!

Well our first big snowfall is to happen tonight. I can hardly wait although I am not a fan of driving in it. I have to go to town and will be staying the night tonight in the Rogue Valley. We will see if I make it home tomorrow or not. In any case, I have a good book to read, there is some Hot Buttered Rum fixins at Gma's and I am set. I expect lots of Snowmen and women on the landscape tomorrow, but it is going to get really cold too! About 19 degrees. brrrrrrgh - Santa Weather for sure!

Drink up from the Santa Cup!

Thank you daughter for putting our favorite Santa on my blog site. That little cup is filled with so many good memories for me as I know it is for you and your baby sis too! It reminds me of the mysteriousness of Christmas. The joy and excitement a child and parent share during the holidays.
Even though this time of year can be rather hectic, for all the wrong reason I might add, I am filled with a great peace as my faith in GOD is renewed. I sometimes wonder why HE loves us so much as man can be so terribly wicked and self centered and self indulgent; but there is that spark in us all, that wants to do the right thing and has hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow. That spark is what HE gave us, for us to do the right thing, care for others, go the extra mile, and see the BIG PICTURE. We all have several goals in common as human beings. We all want to be loved, hugged, see our children grow up happy, and leave our mark,(hopefully a good one) on this planet. I think that is what HE had in mind when he put us here. To take care of one another. That will be my New Year's resolution this year as I think it is attainable one.
On Christmas eve, I will be thinking of my family fondly, perhaps daydream a bit about when my girls were little and feel that excitement that we shared, once again.

Fall is Here Again!

It is beautiful here right now and just like I like it. Warm comfortable days where you can still get your yardwork done; then cold and frosty nights where you just want to curl up with a good book and have a cup of tea. Thank you daughter for the new pic on my blog header, it totally depicts our beautiful fall. Well, got to go and get those leaves raked! Happy Halloween!

Time Flies and I am not having any fun!

Where is it going? School will start soon, it has just went by so fast. There are not enough hours in the day to get done and the things I need to do. I know, I know, one thing at a time. That is okay for some, but us Type A personalities want it all done now, all the time! My list keeps getting longer and longer, so I am breaking it out according to the season. All the things that need to get done to the house inside, will have to wait for Fall/Winter. All the yard work is to get done now. Dex is building me a super duper cart so I can take my yard debris in one or two loads. A co-worker is giving me a used composter, it needs some TLC, but I have always wanted one - leaves and garbage turned into good soil - Hurrah! I want to get the school bus moved so I can work on fencing off garden space so I can grow my own - vegetables that is. I dream of picking my own tomatoes, but right now they would go to the deer - they love them too! My maple tree is just now recovering from them eating all the leaves last spring! Well, I guess I better get my butt in gear as there is still plenty left to do today! Onward!

Hotter than Hades

Summer is here! 100 degrees today and promises of 106 by weeks end. I can handle it pretty well as long as there is no humidity and fortunately it is low right now. The routine is get up really early, get watering done outside and get indoors before high noon. I work in an air conditioned office, where I do have to wear my hoody now and then as it gets so cold. It is the ride home that kills me. Directly in the sun all the way home and my little car that has 187,000 miles on it holds up bravely, but I try not to use the AC as it is hard on the small engine and eats gas like a billy goat on a willow tree farm! We keep the house darkened and the little window air conditioner on about 75 and it is pretty comfortable, especially if you are sitting right in front of it like I am right now. Other news - the building has been signed off by the inspectors - finally! I will make Dex and me a batch of strawberry maggies to celebrate and we will pretend we are on a sandy beach somewhere! Now we can start putting stuff away and get organized. Stay cool everyone!!!

What's happening???

Let's see, shop building is up, steps on one door are finished. Dex will be ready to install the big door soon - he made all the hinges himself and it will be like trying to break into Fort Knox when he is done. We got the backyard mowed and umbrella's up, chairs dusted off and cushions placed, hammock and hammock swing are up. It is raining today, so all will be refreshed. We went to town and got the brick to finish the foundation where are hugh compressor will be housed. I looked at some draperie panels that I might buy and tomorrow I am ripping out the carpet so we can get new flooring in. I really do not like carpet and have had wood floors most of my life, I think that is why my children were not sickiy while growing up. I am a little phobic when it comes to germs, especially in carpet. I do like rugs though and will look forward to purchasing one for the living room. Oh, and we go to the dump tomorrow, they now have some recycling too! That's all for now - Oh, I just wish I could hear a chicken bawk, don't you?

Scary Computer Revealed!!!

Dex finally burned out the cd burner! He is an itunes cowboy junkie, like someone else in our family, and I knew it was just a matter of time. So...I go to staples and buy a dvd burner. I was told cd's sound much better burned on the dvd burner. Great, found one and next step is to install. Well, foolish me, for some reason I thought there would be instructions on "HOW TO" and guess what??? NOT!!! You see they expect you to either already know what you are doing or you are buying the part to have your IT savvy friend put it in or you just take the CPU in and let the pro's do it. Step #1. Google the job you are trying to do, before you unhook everything. Of course, you will not cover all the obstacles that you may incur, but at least you will have something to go by. Step #2. Make sure you have a backup support system, I have several, but could not reach them, Uh Oh.
Here is a 57 year old women, at the kitchen table standing on a rubber mat (I am very static),with screw drivers,canned air and flashlight ready to take this on. I finally figured out how to get the cover off, woohoo, then my first mistake, blowing the inside out with the canned air. I created one of the biggest dust storms in history. I had to wait 15 minutes for the dust to settled before making my next attempt. I was surprised at how simple everything looked inside. Lots of empty space! It took me a minute to realize the burner had to be pushed from the inside to the outside, started to do that, but this large "ribbon thing" seemed to be attached to it. Was there just a holder strap with the ribbon through it or was it hooked to this burner box. I made my frantic calls to everyone to no avail. Well I wasn't going to pull on it, or poke it, might damage something. Thought maybe if I pulled the burner out I would be able to see what the issue was. I tried looking with the flashlight, but it was still to dark in there to see. Finally I pushed some more and the strap thing(I thought was a holder),which was a bar with pins that plugged in, pulled out and it was finally free! I installed the new one in reverse and away we went, back to itunes and making great cd's for our friends and Dex's fellow musicians. I have to tell you, I had a great sense of accomplishment after doing this and will be putting in some more memory and a new VGA card soon! That computer is not so scary after all!

Thank you Mishka!

Thank you Mishka for putting my HaHa kangi on my blog. I love it!

Spring????

Well, we thought spring had sprung, but I guess we were all wrong! We had some pretty wild weather the last few days. Wind, rain, snow, sleet hail and some cold temps to go with it. Our pear crops will suffer in the lower elevations as they were already in full bloom and now those flowers lie on the valley floor. The birds loved the weather and surprising they were extremely active, flitting around in the snow and rain from feeder to feeder. They were a delight to watch. I am hoping for a mild summer like last year, so our water holds out and we get the grass planted in front of our porch area. I am anxious to put up the umbrellas and get the solar lights out on the walk, put out new table cloths on the tables and get the chairs clean and the hammocks hung up, so I can spend some lazy afternoons ready my latest book. Go away old man winter, spring is here!

It is 81 degrees!!!

Dex and I got up early to hit the three yard sales in town. Found a nice bracelet for a buck and Dex got a couple of microphones for his studio. We moved a bunch of stuff off the porch today, and washed it down. Raked some leaves and ate our lunch outside at the picnic table - that was so nice. I have washed and sealed the birdbath and need to go put one more coat on it and hopefully it will stay bright for my birdies...speaking of birdies, we discovered a wood pecker family nesting in one of the birdhouses I have on the top of my hammock pole. That is the first time we have had any birds nest in any of our houses. I think I will just let them finish up all the suet cakes before I take the feeders down and give the a good scrubbing and filling with seed. We have fed birds all winter, but I am looking forward to seeing the ones that migrated coming back. Our fawns were out this morning and the squirrels were frolicking in the woodpile...Ah Mother Nature isn't she GRAND!

My Baby turns 33!

Happy Birthday Darling!
My Baby came into this world on a early spring morning 33 years ago. She not only had her father and I waiting impatiently for her arrival, she had nursing students and instructor cheering her to come and join us in the world! She was quite the celebrity at the hospital as they cooed over her and passed around pieces of her umbilical cord, for an upclose look. Her father and I were shocked that she was over 8lbs and 23 inches long, as she hid herself well, while nestled inside me. Her big sister waited so patiently to get a look at her and hold her, and we all fell in love and have been ever since. You have brought me tremendous joy daughter, and I and all your family and friends wish you the happiest of birthdays! I love you!

I Give Up - I am going to the Doctor

Well, It was a rough night, hardly any sleep and my ribs are so sore from hacking. I just got off the phone with my dear friend from work and he said one of the waitresses at the local diner he frequents has had this thing FOUR times. I just cannot keep doing this, as I feel like I am getting weaker and weaker, so I will call in the morning and off to the doc I go, even though we have to drive 1 & 1/2 Hours to get there. Antibiotics are the only thing that will knock out the bronchitis and codeine cough syrup to silence the cough at night so I can get some rest. I wish I owned stock in the Kleenex Corporation (yes, I am trying to keep my sense of humor)!

Sick again.......

I cannot believe that I am home sick with the flu. I had a bit of a scratchy throat for a couple of days, but attributed it to the fact that I was breathing the fumes from them tarring the roof of our office building. WRONG! Yesterday it hit me like running into a brick wall. The drive home took forever and when I got home, I could not stop shaking from the chills. Dex fed me applesauce and toast then I took some aspirin. Finally got some rest after midnight. There are over 99 different strains of this virus and I have now had two of them! So much for my flu shot, as it was for the wrong strain. Oh well, the good news is I feel a bit better and am working from home. I get to watch by birdies at my feeders eating their suet cakes and that makes being sick a little more bearable!
Thank you Mishka for the beautiful photo on my blog. Where was this photo taken?

A Time For Reflection

Saturday, my sister and I attended the graveside service for our friend Vicki's husband Tom, who went on his journey on Feb 29th. Vicki said he passed on Leap Year as a parting gift to them. So they can have a memorial only every four years. Typical of Tommy's Irish humor. I did not know him well as Vicki's life and mine went in different directions, but we saw each other on special occasions. I most recently saw Vicki and Tom at our friend Steve's daughter Sam's wedding, he was unwell at that time. He became progressively ill in the following months and he knew his time was at hand. He was a wonderful husband, father and steward of the Lord. His oldest son Tommy preceded him in death and they are now finally together again in a very holy place...rest in peace Tom.

Sick, Sick, Sick of it!!!!

I really tried hard NOT to get this virus - it is called a Super Bug and the title is appropriate. I did go in to see my sister as we both have it, she was worse. I am glad I was able to give her a little TLC and getting her to rest. We went to bed at about 6:30pm on a Saturday night, both exhausted from making a small shopping trip for meds. Sunday we felt a little better, she slept some and I slept off and on. We had breakfast, went to the mall to get my books that I have been waiting for, and got my dirty car washed at the robo car wash. She was exhausted from the trip and I dropped her off to rest and I went to the store for a few supplies I had forgotten the day before. Sooo... I woke up several times during the night last night, coughing my head off and will be staying home today as not to infect my co-workers. Carole and I stayed completely away from my parents and sanitized everything, so hopefully they will not get it. It is not fun, believe me and I am a not a happy person when sick, it is such a waste of time!

Weekend Sickies

Dex hurt his back on Friday, while he lifted a ladder he tried to slide a brace under it with his foot, shifting all the weight on one side of his body and thus tweeking a muscle. On top of it he developed a cold too. My weekend was spent nursing him back to health. I was feeling like a cold was coming on myself, so it was Zicam for the both of us all weekend. We did manage to get a few things done, but I now know what the term "stir crazy" means. I have been cooped up in our house for at least three weeks now, due to snow and sickness. I am determined to go into town this coming weekend and visit my parents, check on my daughter's rental and do some shopping! There is a car show at the expo and I will try to fit that in as well. I am a social being and being away from people for a long time, it is not good for me or my psyche. Hopefully the week will go by fast.....

Math Paranoia

My dear friend Lin has went back to College at the grand old age of 56 years of age. Now there is a great advantage to returning to school at this age. You take all your life experiences with you and you just want to learn, learn, learn. She went to the same lousy south L.A. school I did. Many of the teachers were no longer interested in teaching anymore, just retiring. We were both poor math students. That's okay, girls do not have the aptitude for math anyway, we were told. She was really worrying about this math test as she was afraid she had forgotten what she had learned from last term and she had barely made it through. I assured her "It will all come back to you" and not let our Math Paranoia set in. She called me last Sunday with the good news, she passed her math test with flying colors! I knew you could do it! Way to go Lin!!!

Pet Peeve - Storms and Speeding Drivers

Well, we have been having quite the stormy weather and I am a big chicken when it comes to driving if there is a slight possibility of ice. I have a small hill to travel up and down about 1600 feet and they keep it gravelled during the bad weather and that's not what I am really afraid of. It is that "other"driver, who must get in front of the pack, travel too fast and too close. I don't understand it especially in bad weather. Do they not want to make it to their destination without possibly killing themselves or someone else? Usually in the end, I meet up with them at the stop light in town and they have made no headway by driving in such a manner. What they have accomplished is putting their life and those of others in danger, wasted gas, made other drivers extra nervous and showed themselve for the stupid idiots they are.

I watched one of those silly shows on TV this weekend, I think it was called "Speeders" and I just could not believe the excuses people tell police when they get pulled over. The number one excuse is they have to go to the bathroom! One woman said "My car doesn't like going under 40 miles an hour - she had a speeding ticket for every year for the last twenty years - I just hope her insurance company was letting her pay for those tickets through her insurance rates. Even her kid in the car in the front seat was concerned and watching the "speed-mom-meter", I thought that was rather interesting, a child filled with anxiety about his mother driving too fast and she, had no concern at all.

Oh well, maybe I should write off all the agitation to old age, but I just don't remember wanting to get in that kind of hurry, especially with my children in the car and maybe that is why I have never had a speeding ticket in my forty two years of driving. And just maybe, that is why both of my girls are such good drivers.

Hopes for 2008

Happy New Year everyone! Ours was a quiet one at home and off the streets, although I did try and lure my sister with a game of late night bingo! The pots are always huge, but our weather has been icy at night and we do not get home to my mothers until 2:00am or so. Good call sis, I stayed home and got some things done and so did she.
My hopes for this year is for people to take a moment from their busy lives to stop and take a look at who is governing them. Just register to vote! Have a say in how you feel about things. At least you will have tried to make a change.

I would love to see the way the primary's are set up changed. I hate the fact that four or five states set the conventions - how about holding all primarys on the same day? Will someone tell me what is wrong with that? It just seems so much more democratic!

No More PORK! Let's pass legislation without it. In fact. let's put all lobbyists out of business.
Term Limits, woohoo, I would vote for that one. Let's put the professional polititians out of business!
Green, Green, Green - let us all do our part this year to make a difference in our planet. We are a nation of consumers, if we are going to consume, let us do it responsibly.
I personally am going to try and get up and move around more, everyday! I work a very sendatary job and IT SUCKS the life out of you. I will try and be more like my children, who are very physically minded!
Pray, I will pray more for my family, country and world. It never hurts and hey all you sceptics out there? What it I am right?
Finally, Love, Love, Love, I will try and do more of that and serve and be more tolerant of all people on this earth....required by my Lord and hey, it just makes you a better person and feel really good!!!
So here is a toast to a new and better year for all people on this planet!

I have high hopes for us all!