IM BACCCCCKKKKKK!

Okay so I was gone for awhile. A mild case of to much on the brain to even begin to unravel it all. Richard and spent a wonderful 4 days not doing a lot but spending time together visiting old friends, meeting new friends, and spending one of the last weeks on our boat.

We went to the Twin Falls County fair and we had a ball. Gary Loggan has been Richard's friend since Jr. High School. With his wife Marion and I we wondered around a very old and dear place filled with so many memories it makes want to cry. We ate Pronto Pups, drank real home made Lemonade (yum yum), I ate Cotton Candy seeing that I am the only one of the four that is still really a big kid at heart. While we were walking around my cell phone rang out a very catchy tune that always makes me smile. Giddy Up Giddy Up 409, can you just hear it in your head. Well any way back to the call it was my oldest and oh so far away son Jason. He wanted to know where we were and he was jealous. As he listened to the sounds around me he was taken back to a time at the fair when he and three other boys were there. They were, your not gona believe this, but Jason, Jason, Jason and Emery. Kinda reminds me of the Bob Newhart show when the guy is introducing his brother Daryl, his other brother Daryl and he is Larry. My Jason had taken his friend from Boise a neighbor Jason Squire and Emery had taken his friend Jason Carmichel, boy can you just imagine the confusion. I had to call them different nick names to keep them all straight. My Jason brought back that oh so wonderful and long ago memory. He even went so far as to ask me to send him a carmel apple. You know I almost went and had one air brushed on a shirt just so he would get his apple. Now I really wish I would have.

I have been in sort of a funk lately. The anniversary of Emery's death is fast approaching and it always makes so very sad and missing him so much. Sometimes it feels just like yesterday that I could see his large hands reaching out to give me a hug and tell me see ya later Aunt P. It is almost 11 years now wow where does the time go.

Better change the subject or I will drown my keyboard. Now wouldn't just shock me! HaHa! Gota laugh hurts to much to cry.

I have been battling my stomach for quite some time and my little trip to the hospital via the ambulance made me take steps to find the cause. I have been prodded literally on both ends not at the same time mind you but on the same day in the same visit. Slept the best I had in a while after getting a good share of Versaid, and a couple of other unnamed drugs. No results as yet so will go in on the 28th to have a gastric emptying study. What even in the world that means. Just so as they make me feel better soon I am really past the point of caring.

I am getting ready for a meeting of the Coast Guard Auxiliary in Seattle with a whole bunch of big wigs that are active duty Coast Guard. It is always informative, a tad boring at times, full of good fellowship and makes me nervous. Can you imagine me nervous. Welllllll it happens. I start to shake and have to be careful not to hold paper in my hand or it shakes right along with me. At least my voice doesn't shake. I am looking forward to getting away for a little while and the prospect of seeing my two little sisters again. I sure do miss their company. I have been trying every way possible to get my Dad out of the nursing home and back into his own home but it is just not happening so far. I feel like I am pushing a big flat boulder up a hill. Who ever said that old age was the golden years. For heavens sake take me into the woods and leave me to the animals. I get so frustrated with the whole buracratic process. If he lived closer to us or we lived there it still would be a hard fought battle because his home is not condusive to him being there. He needs a step in shower and only has a tub. I need to talk to him and find out what needs to be done on the bathroom to possibly get it fixed up. Jason said he would go down and fix it but I think us girls are going to have to pay for it. All of Dads money is going to the nursing home and he doesn't have much to begin with. I do not want Jason to pay for it. He has two boys that eat a body out of house and home. I have to do some more checking to see if it is possible if we can meet all the conditions or if he is just going to have to be content where he is. Time will tell. Right now I have this big meeting to deal with so I will deal with that issue when I get home.

On a much lighter note we are gona go to Minnesota for Christmas. It has been 4 years since I have had a holiday with my son. That is when I miss him the most. When he was growing up he was a terrible snoop at Christmas. He even so far as to take the hinge pins off a locked door to find the presents we had locked inside. We knew he had been in there because I took special note of how I had things stacked. He admitted later on that knowing wasn't as much fun as he thought it was. He still wakes up really early and he is 36 years old. Imagine that.

Well It is getting very late, I have to get up early to get on the road to Washington and I haven't even packed yet. Oh my stars!

Before I go I will do one more thing. Gona add some really cool pictures of my grandsons and some of the fishing they did this summer. Have a great week and Luc you make me smile you make me laugh and I am so glad you are my sis.

Blank mind!

I am sorry to report my mind is a blank! Wellllllll some of you may find this situation funny or typical but for me it just doesn't happen!! Truth be known it does happen just not very often. I very rarely find myself at a loss for words. I am thinking it is all the gobbledy gook that I have running around in my head that has to do with all the things I should be doing and don't want to do. Such as painting the house, weeding my flower beds, cleaning yuck. I really should get in the closets and get rid of stuff I don't wear anymore. You know how that goes when things shrink as they hang. Couldn't possibly be the fact that I have grown a little bit. NAW!!! Seems when the time comes to clean them I open them up, stand there for a few seconds and say NAH not today. Oh well it only bothers me, and sometimes Richard.

We did get to the fair in Twin. It was so much fun to walk around and see all those thing as they once were. It is a real fair with lots 4-H animals, and individual projects, home arts and tons of good food. I bought 5 bags of cotton candy to share with the girls. Jason wanted a carmel apple so I seriously thought about having a picture of one air brushed on a t-shirt so I could send it to Minnesota. He is such a goof. Well, this old well has really run dry for the night so I will post this and get on to quilting. Maybe tomorrow I can get the fair picture moved over from my phone and post it here.

I wish everyone a great night and a better tomorrow.

School Day!

Watching my granddaughters getting excited for their first day back to school sure brings back a lot of school memories. Not necessarily the first day but special days. In my day the olden day we were not allowed to wear pants or shorts to school. Just dresses and skirts, so much has changed and for the better I might add. In the winter we did not have what you would call snow boots but those rubber kind you slipped over your shoes. Overshoes I believe they were called! HEE HEE! Anyway durning the cold or the wet time of year I would have given anything to own a pair of knee high socks, tights or leggings. Those darn ol rubber boats always chapped the leg so bad. Especially on the inside of the leg. I hated those things! We would go out and play in the snow at home but we always had either several layers of pants on or were lucky enough to have a snow suit. Still very cold even then.

When I was in 4th grade we had a class program we got to participate in if we chose. I always had what I thought was a fair voice so I chose to sing a song while a school mate, Barry Bradshaw played the guitar. We chose Swing Low Sweet Chariot. I had forgotten the day we were going to do it so when I got to school and found out it was that day I was frantically asking the teacher if I could call my mom so she could bring the dress I had chosen, my fancy frilly Easter dress, the only frilly one I owned. She brought it with just minutes to spare, helped me dress in the girls room, combed my hair then watched I as sang a not so loud song. I can't even tell you if any one clapped. I was so scared and nervous.

President Kennedy was killed that year. It was such a sad time. We got to vote at school and I did not vote for him but for Barry Goldwater. We got out of school the day of his funeral and we all watched at home. I can still see the black and white picture of John John saluting his fathers coffin as it went by.

We got to watch from school when the first space ship landed on the moon. We got to stay home from school when the snow piled up to deep to get out of our lane. We ate wonderful hot lunches everyday. Made fresh right there in the kitchen at the school. Mom was a school lunch cook for a couple of years and I loved it when I was sick because I got to with her and watch while she worked as I sat perched on a high stool. I remember getting out of school for what was called East End Day at the Twin Falls County Fair and Rodeo. Boy o Boy that was some fun. The fair was the best. The fair grounds are located in Filer just west of Twin by just a few miles. Our church we went to, The First Baptist Church, always had a booth there that Mom and Dad worked at. We got to go hang around all day and see everything at least two or three times. The fair still goes on today and we plan to take a trip down there just to see what old friends we can run into. I will take my camera and post some pictures. All the animals are in different barns, the merchants have their own space. There is a huge agriculture barn as several for 4-Hr's. The rodeo is always on the national circuit and lots of fun to watch. The carnival is a local one that spends most of its time in Arizona. The food is marvelous and I can't wait to walk back down that memory lane.

Tomorrow as my little girls head to school I hope they write on their memories some of their firsts and keep them for all time. Such a precious gift our memories.

Animals of the past!

Lucy just reminded me of the longevity of animals we have at our house. Mom had this little Boston Terrier named Sox. He was more my dog than anyone elses. He slept with me on the top bunk and hated for me to leave him anywhere. He was killed not too long after Richard and I got married and after Mom had moved to Oregon. We sure loved that crazy dog. You didn't dare leave a beverage on the floor because he would have his little short nose pushed in as far as it would go. One New Years Eve before Richard and I were married he, Richard, was over at the house helping us usher in the New Year. Dad had mixed him a drink, a Screwdriver, to be exact. Richard was laying on the living room floor watching TV. He was not paying the slightest attention to Sox who was busy slurpping up his drink. Needless to say the dog had an obvious headache the next morning. He was the first of many in a too long of a line. We have longevity at our house so there is no need for a bunch.

With kids came many varieties of pets. We had another dog named Peanuts. I was with my Dad in the truck coming back from Utah and found her on the side of the road. She was a sweet little thing and lived to be a ripe old age. Then came Holly, her we got a little 6 week old puppy. Just a ball of fur that couldn't get up and down a step she was so short. Holly came into our lives just about the time my Sis Connie had her second child. When Holly Gayle was born Erin asked if Aunt Connie had a puppy to because the names were the same. Holly was around of more than 15 years. In those years we did have a lizard named Lionel that belonged to Jason, Emery had one named Richey. Both lizards lived a very long full life. Lionel actually died of old age. We had him for almost 4 years. The vet told us that just didn't happen in captivity.

Erin and Jason both had rabbits. Erin's was a dwarf Netherlands named Coco. He looked very much like a Siamese cat. Jason got a mini lop ear. Buuuuuuttttt!

He was not so mini! Nor was he so lopped! He had one ear that refused to stay down and he weighed in at about 8 lbs. good size for a rabbit. His name was Chewie. They were very nice rabbits. They loved to be petted and held. Chewie had a tooth problem. He needed orthodonture because his front teeth did not meet to keep them ground down. We took him to the vet every couple of weeks to get his teeth clipped. He did not do well with any of that and died after a couple of months of the treatments. Coco died of a kidney problem just a month or so after Chewie. We had them both for more than 5 years.

They had gerbils, no names on them, I made them take them back where they bought them because they were having babies and Mom was not a happy camper. Erin had an American Red Guinnie Pig named Rose Bud. Boy was she a pain. Erin used to put her cage in the living room at night because Rose Bud loved to rattle it all night long.

Jason and Erin both had hamsters. Jodie, Connie's oldest daughter came to visit for a few weeks one summer and loved them so much I bought her one. We put it in it's little box to transport back home. When we got to Chickahomny Resv. near Burns Oregon the hamster was not in its box. Her name was Peaches, and she had chewed her way out of that box. We were sure she was gone for good having fallen out of the truck somewhere along the way. The next morning she reappeared in the cab of the truck with her little bitty feet singed. She had crawled into the heater where it was hot. She proceeded home with no further trouble.

Erin also go a dog. Jason had taken her to the Humane Society and they together because Erin was not of age to get one on her own picked out the cutest black and white puppy. Richard was livid. He did not want a second dog and especially one that was as hard headed as that one was. The only way Erin could keep her was to let her dad give her a name. Hence she became Soxie. She was a good sized Border Collie that after some 4-H training turned out to be the most wonderful dog. Growing up she was a constant companion to Richard when Erin was not around. When building a shed, Richard had to constantly find his pencil, his hammer, his screw nails and what ever else Soxie would pack off. Soxie lived to be a very old dog much loved by Erin, Tommy, Isabelle, Lainey, Richard, myself, Jason, Christy, Sam and Christian. She had a partner in a small terrier type dog named Rot. He was docile and played no stop with Soxie. Erin lost them both not that many years ago and miss them to this day.

I already told you about the dogs and cat Erin now has but I forgot to mention the animals that Jason and his family have. When they moved to Minnesota they took with them a Beagle type dog named Gabby. Christy got her from the pound and had no idea how old she really was. They also had a cat named Gidgett. She came from a farmer who Jason had sold a lot of expensive equipment to when he worked for Campbell Tractor. They also had a stray cat named Teaka. She was kind of looney. Had some problems in her sinuses that made her act goofy. Ja has been in Minn. for almost 4 years. They lost Teaka when they first moved, just recently lost Gabby and still have Gidgett plus a little Yorkie named Bosley. He is the ruler of the roost. Samuel and Christian have also had a variety of other critters, lizards, hamsters, and rats. I hope we all live as long as our animals seem to. I am fairly certain when our Dolly dog is gone she will be the last. To hard to travel when you have a dog to take care of all the time. I love dogs and love this cat but I think I am done. They just hang around much to long.

Cats and dogs!

Richard and I were sitting in our favorite place this morning enjoying the early morning cool, buzz of bees and our critters!

TC is our cat! She is a Maine Coon cross with ummmmmm, I don't know, but anyway she is fierce and mighty hunter in the back yard. She is only allowed outside in only in the back yard when one of us is out there. Needless to say her antics are very entertaining. Not to long ago she was all hunched up just waiting to spring on a poor hapless bee. Unfortunately for TC the bee was not as cooperative as she would have liked and became very indignant when she got stung in the foot. She nursed a swollen paw for several days after that. Evidently it did not dampen her love of the chase. For this morning she was at it again. Stalking ever so slowly and springing on her helpless prey. This time she was rewarded with a tasty little snack, a bee, yuck! She had her revenge. TC roams the confines of our back yard and is such a scareddy cat she gets up on the 6 ft. fence then has to have help to get down. The squirrels are safe from her marauding presence.

Dolly is our 9 year old buff colored pekinese dog. She has a very pug face. Jason calls her pig dog but we love her. She has a bad back from a jump off the bed and moves slower than she used to. She does get wound up sometimes when TC bops her on the head with a paw. Then the chase is on. Should see them tear up and down the hall and round and round. Sometimes TC jumps on her cat tree and just watches Dolly chase the phantom cat. It is very comical. Dolly also loves her toys. All of them have to have squeakers in them to really be fun. All her toys are kept in a tub behind Richard's chair and she is very good at dragging them all out. I have yet to teach her how to put them all back. Her favorite is a pink and purple butterfly she uses as a pillow. Such a funny sight.

Our house has one other resident as of late. It is a tiny amphibious frog. They need no land so it is very much like having a fish. Samuel won two the the things at the Cherry Festival in his old home town of Emmett. His mom called the airlines trying to find a way for the critter to go home with them. As you have guessed she was told no several times over. Such a bummer for Sam. Anyway the little guy is thriving in our care. He has grown and get fresh water every few days. The best kind of pet to have. Makes no noise, doesn't need to be petted, fed only a pellet or two a day and makes no messes on the floor.

Our family is not pet poor. Erin has two dogs, Gracie a Rat Terrier, Teia a pekinese sibling to Dolly, and a stray cat named Daisy.

Tommy has a very large guy named Payton. A one hundred and fifty pound Giant Great Dane. That dog has no clue how big he is or how strong he is. He really believes he can sit on your lap and fit. UUUUGGGG! HUGE!!!!!!!!

Each one loved, each one cared for, each one very unique. Can't imagine our lives without pets.

GrandDaughters!

Sitting on the patio watching my beautiful young granddaughters play in the wading pool brings back so many childhood memories I scarcely know where to start!

Growing up on a farm had some real advantages. We had a pond down the drive lane from our house that was not very deep but one we were not allowed to swim in. When I got older I found out why I didn't get to swim in it, in the fact that it was just run off water from the fields above it. Not something one should be swimming in. We were however allowed to wade along the edges of it. I remember one late spring Carol, Teri and I spent one whole day catching pollywogs in that pond. We would tote them up to the house and put them in a big galvanized wash tub. We had every intention of watching all of them change into frogs. Now mind you they were in every stage of changing already. Some had one leg, some two, and so on and so on. When Mom came out of the house to check on our play that put a halt to our up close and personal relationship with the pollywogs. We had to tote them all back to that pond.

There was a raft like things sitting near the pond. I think some of the boys that lived over in the next section used it on the pond. Their Dad owned the land we lived on and farmed. I don't remember them ever being on the raft but the reason that it is in my memory bank because it was a great place to stand on, to get away from the water snakes that also liked the pond. I hate snakes to this day. Not because they slither or are ugly or anything like that but because they always had a way of sneaking up on a person when they least expected it.

One place we could swim in was the canal. We could only go if Dad or Mom were with us and then only in certain places. The water moves pretty fast through in most places but some were very slow. A very good place to cool off.

Another body of water that we all liked to play in and this time it includes Connie and Lucy was the Perrine Coolie. It was located down the hay field from our house out on what was called the truck route north of Twin Falls. The coolie was a wonderful cool and shady place to play. Sometimes Mom would let us take a lunch and a blanket to have a picnic. We always tried to walk on the rocks because Mom always told us their were leaches in the water. I to this day can not tell you if it were true but it did the trick in keeping us out of the water. We had the occasional slip of the foot off a rock that netted us a wet shoe. That was one place we never went bare footed. We could walk the length of the coolie from the road clear to the canyon rim. Seemed like a long way at the time but it was not as far as I remember as a kid. There were some downed tress and lots of rocks to climb and play on. I loved playing there as did all us kids.

When we moved into town. We lived not to far from the Rock Creek Canyon. That was a place we were not ever suppose to go. Welllllll you know as well as I do when you are told absolutely not to go there. It was like an open invitation to explore. It is not a deep canyon like the Snake River Canyon but more like a wide ravine filled with stinging nettle, bull thistle, sour dock, and many other perils to ourselves. We only chanced going down in there when we were at home alone. Mom worked and Dad drove truck so we took care of ourselves much of the time. I was in Jr. High them so leading Connie, Lucy and Teri into trouble was my speciality but keeping us from getting caught was not to awfully hard. We never made it to the water in that canyon just too many very tall and unforgiving weeds to deal with. It was a fun climb down in there to say the least.

I guess you could say after that we got sophisticated and started using a public pool. Now what fun was that? Also took swimming lessons after that to. Keeping cool no matter where it was ranked number one when it was the hot dog days of summer. I miss them days!!!!!!!

The true meaning of friends!

I am catching well deserved flak from little sis Lucy about not keeping up with my blog. Suffice it to say I have been away. Richard and I spent the weekend at our one of our favorite places Lucky Peak Lake! We had an Coast Guard Auxiliary function on Sunday so we needed to be there for the festivities. The weather was okay! Too cool to sit in the shade and too hot to sit in the sun. Very breezy and unseasonably cool for what should be hot August nights.

I had a scare on Thursday and really got a good lesson in friendship and knowing ones own body. I was home alone when I started feeling bad. I had been on the computer writing my last blog. I was beginning to think it was from the way I was sitting. I shut it down and went to relax in my chair. The pain in my chest and back just kept getting worse. I waited almost 90 minutes before I came to the conclusion the pain was not going to go away on its own and I may very well be having a heart problem. Checked my blood pressure and it was way higher than it should be. The bottom number was over 100. Okay so now I am really scared. I called my good friend Chris because Richard was at the lake waiting for me, Erin was a work and I didn't think I could stand long enough to find her work number in my purse. Guess I really should put it my cell phone. I called my son in law, although he and Erin are no longer married to call her. He did just that. She called my cell phone just about the time Chris got to my house. Erin had her give me an aspirin then had her look in the fridg where Richard keeps his nitro tabs cause he has had 2 heart attacks. She found it gave it to me then called 911. All it did was give me an amazing headache. The paramedics got there checked me out and hauled to the ER at St. Al's. I spent 5 hours in the ER. Tommy bless his heart went to Lucky Peak, found the Park Ranger another friend of our Serrat Nichols and had him call Richard on the VHF radio. Where Richard was camped he could not hear Serrat very well so another friend of ours, Ron Fritz, that was up there relayed messages back and forth to get him into the Marina. Tommy brought him home as by that time I was home also. Chris and Erin stayed at the hospital with me until I was cleared to go home. Chris went home and Erin brought me home. Don't think it was my heart after all but an ulcer caused from all the drugs I take to keep my lupus, blood pressure, my colesteral, and my arthritis at bay. Imagine that!!! LOL!!!! Anyway I am scheduled for a nuclear stress test tomorrow. Will have an endoscopy along with a colonoscopy in early September. Pray that nothing happens again like that. Not at all fun.

My friends and my family were there for me every step of the way. I value each and every one of them and thank God they are in my life and care enough about me to be there for me. I will be there for them should the need ever arise. God willing the need will never come. I want to say a big thanks to everyone who loves me and cares for me. You are truly appreciated and a huge influence in my life. Thank You!