Grandsons!

What a wonderful thing Grandsons! Having Samuel and Christian here for 6 weeks was a true delight. I forgot how adolescent boys smell. Whew! Not that it is bad just so full of masculine testosterone.

I remember when they lived here and were so small. Sam is now a couple of inches taller than my 5"3" frame. Christian is getting there. We used to spend time up at Lucky Peak with the whole family. The boys always found delight in jumping off the boat into the water. Their Dad Jason was always right along with them. As you have no doubt looked at the pictures of our boat it is impressive that they would jump from the fly bridge. I was always awed by their lack of fear.

Our friends Larry and Patti Rose have spent a good number of years at the lake also. One particular weekend Jason and his family were there playing in the water and having a good time. Larry and Patti have an old Chocolate Lab named Max. Max is an icon unto himself. He was a mighty swimmer at one time and loved to spend hours in the water. On this particular occasion when the boys were there and we were sharing a dock with the Rose's, Max took a particular liking to Christian. Christian wears glasses and with out them seeing is not very easy. Swimming without them is difficult be he manages just fine. Max must have sensed Christians difficulty because every time Christian got into the water Max went after him. Sometimes it was okay with Christian but other times he was not ready to go to shore. Max would gently grab an arm in his mouth and try to drag Christian to shore with him. It was amazing to see the gentleness in that dog. He was quite the life saver, even when the life didn't need saving. Sad to say Max is showing his age. He no longer can come to the lake and play. Arthritis has taken a toll on his ability to get around. I will alway remember Max as a young go get um dog.

I wrote this poem for Max back in August of 2008!

AN ODE TO MAX

To be ninety three we do aspire

with grace and dignity and hearts all afire.

you faced your life with courage not strife.

To Larry, Patti, and Brenna you came

a loving home was never the same.

The care you received you never deceived,

a tribute to life and love you received.

THE REST OF MY LIFE

Being born you begin only to age

each and every day a brand new page.

Filled with hope, filled with love,

just like all the stars up above.

A baby, a girl, a teen, a wife,

a mom, and a grandma

wow what a life!

Through good times and bad

through happy and sad

it's life in a nut shell

with so many stories yet to tell.

How do you say how you feel?

When some of it doesn't seem real!

The love, the care, the tender touch,

all worth while when in love so much!

EVERY DAY

To wake in the morning

look it square in the face

good to be alive

not just taking up space

to thrive and strive

in every way

live, laugh, face the day!

PEACE

To find the place of peacefulness

you must dig deep into emptiness

put a face, a color, a shape

onto the feeling, the only escape

go back to do what you can do

to make it right to make it through

a whisper of hope tried and true

hands of love, make white which is blue!

WHY I WRITE

To take a pen to paper

and write my every thought

I have to be inspired

but sometimes not a lot

I write about the people

who grace my very life

I write about a happening

or about being a wife

I jot down a yearning

or a place I want to go

but mostly what moves me

to my very soul.

Old Houses!

On our recent trip to Nebraska we had the opportunity to take a short trip down memory lane while we were picking Teri up in Twin Falls. All of us girls were born there. Connie and Lucy moved away before they were teenagers. We took a very small bit of time to go see some of the places we used to live and frequent as kids. One of the pictures is a place called Mama T's. In our day it was called Blake's Big T. It was the local swimming pool close to where we lived. It was in the shape of a large T. It is no longer there but they play miniature gold there instead. Anyway you ever notice how small something appears when you get to be an adult. Can't imagine the pool would hold very many of us and it never seemed crowded.

There was also a park not to far from our house called Harry Barry Park. It also had a swimming pool and it is no longer there. That pool was not as nice as the other one but it was still a great place to get cool when it was hot.

The house we lived in had a ton of trees around it. Some of the trees are gone but the pines that were so small Connie could jump over it and she was only 12 have reached 30 to 40 feet. I guess if I stop and think about how long ago that was I really should not surprise me. We had a bing cherry tree, a peachcot tree, a sour cherry tree, and many elms as well as bushes. The house was less than 1000 sq. feet and never seemed crowded.

The yard was huge and Mom always planted a big garden that we harvested and canned to get us through the winter. Mom still plants a garden to this day. Connie, Lucy and myself have followed in her foot steps. Mom's thumb is certainly green for both indoor and outdoor plants. I have no luck with the indoor ones. The only ones a can't kill are the ones made of silk. They look good and required no water. YEAH! I do have to tell you about a couple rows of spuds Mom planted some years ago. The rows looked great when they went in but when the plants came up part of one row was missing. Seems part of one row had been planted into the first row. Some where in the pictures we have there is one of that. I will have to see if I can locate it and post for all to see.

The other house that is one of my fondest is the first house Richard and I shared as husband and wife. Wow! Not that it was great or anything but it was an adventure. The first winter there was a cold one. The house did not come equipped with a furnace or heater, imagine that, we had to provide our own. My Dad had an old Segler oil stove he let us use. It was located in the living room. The whole house had 9 foot ceiling and as we all know heat rises. The house did have an oil barrel on the north side of it, but we were so young we couldn't get the local oil company to deliver us a barrel full. It was only 50 gal. and the price was only about .20 cents a gallon but when you only bring home $70.00 every two weeks they were just not willing to give us their trust. We used a 5 gal. can to fill the barrel up. One really cold and windy night we ran out of oil. We made the 6 mile trip into town, filled the 5 gallon can then home we went. I got to hold the funnel, which was the outside of an old head light. It worked great when the wind wasn't blowing but this particular night the wind was howling from the north. I got to hold the funnel, all the while Richard was pouring I was getting a steady stream of #2 diesel fuel down the sleeves of my coat. Not to pleasant an experience. We laughed about it for a long time. Laughed more about that little house. The warmest place in it was in the bathroom after you filled the tub with hot water. We used a heating pad to warm our bed up and slept in long john under. Not very romantic for someone who had been married less than 6 months. We did have fun out there. Even when we got snowed in, or when the water pipes froze. They never froze in the house but out in the drive area. Our land lord would bring me a milk can full of water. Dig a hole in the ground to the pipe. Hook his portable welder to it and spend several hours thawing the pipe. Summer found us surrounded by beet fields, wheat fields and corn fields. Those were the days.

I love old memories. It is was we are all made of. Makes us who we are, shapes the way we behave and gives us roots. The memories we forge now will do the same for our children and grandchildren. Life past was good, life present is fabulous, live future full of promise and mystery. Go out and make a memory every chance you get. They are so worth it.

Misadventures!

Over the weekend I had to opportunity to tune out the world of cars, t.v., phone and all those other things that get in the way of hearing nature at it's best. Richard and I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday up at Lucky Peak on the boat. What better way to commune with nature than to sit in the rain and listen to the world around you. For once all was quiet up there. Usually when it is hot there are a whole bunch of people around boats, skis, jet skis, wake boards, tubes, and on and on. I actually liked the rain. Kept everyone but us hardy few from the lake. We watched a large family of Merganziers fishing along the shore line then one by one hop on a dock across from where we sat to preen and clean their feathers in a pouring rain. One little guy had a particularly hard time hopping up on the dock. These docks sit about 8 to 12 inches out of the water. Anyway we kept encouraging him as we watched from in side the cabin of our boat when he finally made it we found out what his difficulty was, he has a lame foot. Most likely he will not last long enough to fly off with the flock, but he took just as much time with his grooming as the others did. The wild life up there has always been a source of wonder and awe to me. I love just to sit and watch ants at work in their own environment. One evening last year I was sitting on the fly bridge of the boat, that is the upper deck, reading a Plum novel with a nifty book light I just bought when I heard a thwanggg just above my head. Where we dock our boat is know to be frequented by bats. Evidently a bat got a little whacked out by my light and hit our vhf radio antenna. I never did hear a splash so he must have been okay. Who says they such good night fliers.

A couple of weeks ago in the same spot we were sitting with some friends of ours Larry and Patty Rose just enjoying the shade and the conversation when we spied a little brownish gray lizard. He scampered across the ground and up a tree. Larry had his chair positioned not to far from that particular tree. The lizard went up the tree just to about 6 inches above Larry's head. Larry had on a nice purple hat with gold lettering. That lizard seemed to be fascinated by the hat. We all told Larry about his admirer, who appeared to be doing pushups in preparation for a leap on to that hat. Larry said "the only thing he was going to get was a flying lesson". That lizard sat there a long time eyeing that hat.

Isabelle and Lainey were up there with us not long ago when it was really hot. We spent a lot of time in the water just trying to stay cool. The girls kept busy playing and splashing around. They finally decided it was lunch time, so we took time to eat a bite. After we ate they sat in the sun to get warmed up and their Grandpa fished and they watched. Low and behold he caught a small mouth bass. Not large enough to keep but fun for the girls to watch get closer to the boat. All was well until they decided it was time to go in the water again. All of a sudden Lainey got nervous about the fish in the water. She was convinced they were going to come up and bite her. To Isabelle's credit she did a fantastic job of reassuring Lainey that the fish were gone and that they had no teeth. Lainey finally got back in the water and was having so much fun she just forgot about the fish.

From many birds, water fowl, insects, bats, and more we enjoy just being in nature and close to the work of God. Such a sweet place to see his handy work up close and personal.

Heres to good times on and off the water. Love to all.

Resignation!!!!

Dad is alone now! Carol and Cecil were there until early today when they headed for home. Dad has made it increasingly difficult for his family to be there. The one wish he want is one we can not get for him. To go home! He has to use a walker, he is unable to cook for himself, as if he did that very much anyway. He would forget to take his meds and his house is not in any kind of shape to handle a walker. He has a drop off on either side of his living room of over 3 ft. Stairs into the house that have no railing, only a tub and no shower. He is unable to lift his legs high enough to get in the tub anymore. My heart breaks that I am unable to give him what he wants but it is what it is. I suggested he come to the Boise Vet's home and at first he said sure. When it came to sign the papers he said no. He just wants to go home. He is afraid if he gets to Boise I would not get him back to Nebraska to bury him. Hard to take that a parent does not trust you to do what he has asked. I will get over it, I love him regardless. The nursing staff at the nursing home, Bryan Hospital, and the social workers have all agreed that he is not capable of going home. He would have to have live in help and that is so costly with no one to help pay for it. It really comes down to money. If I was able to help him in the financial department I would but when you live on what your retirement brings in which is just enough for ourselves it is tough. I canceled his stint replacement today. I did it only after a lot of soul searching and praying. I believe I did the right thing. With everything we know about his condition having the stint is not going to make a big difference. If by having the stint replaced would give him a better life by all means I would do it in a heart beat. That is not the case however, even the chance of him coming out of from under after surgery are slim. It was difficult the first time they did it in June. God knows I want only what is best for him and I feel God wants him to come home to him. Dad is just not ready in his heart. His body says yes his mind says no! Pray with us and lend us your support of your hearts and your love.

My little Sister Lucy has been a rock for me in recent weeks. I sure wish we did not live so far away from each other. We text all the time and I love it. She loves to scrap book and I love to quilt. Sorta the same kind of thing. Got her hooked on the Plum novels, can't wait to send her the ones I have here. She will have her nose buried in a book and I will get to hear what she thinks. One think you do not want to do when reading the Plum books is drink any thing. You stand a good chance of blowing the beverage out your nose. You just never know when something funny will happen.

My two little Granddaughters spent the night last night. Early this morning we had a big thunder storm roll through here. Big big clap of thunder shook the whole house and chased both girls into bed with Grandpa and me. Lainey is like her mom when she was a girl, all elbows and knees in places that really hurt. Izzy likes to talk when she is waking up. It was fun to lay there with the little ones listening to the rain and thunder off the foot hills. Best way to wake up.

Have a great night all and much love to all of you!

The Trials and Tribulations of boating!

Richard and I have been boating for more years than I really care to think about. We have had a slip at Spring Shores Marina for many years. We started with a 21 ft. Bayliner and now have a 24.5 ft. Bayliner with a fly bridge. I really like the bigger boat because it has the one thing on the other one didn't. A head, or in land lubber terms a toilet. Hey when you spend 2 weeks in 21 ft. of space and there are three of you and all you have is a porta pottie you would understand my joy with the head. Richard, Erin and I spent almost 2 weeks in the San Jauns Islands on that 21 ft. boat. We had a wonderful time where ever we went. I would have given my eye teeth for a stand up head at any point in time through that trip but never as much as the middle of the night when I had to crawl out of a small berth over Richard to try and find the porta pottie that we had to take out of it's perch every night. What a pain in the neck! Literally! Originally the pot was located under a cushion in the berth. To use it one had to move the cover off, this is accomplished by only bending over due to no head room. Once the cover is removed and the lid of the pot lifted, one turned around close a very small door that heaven for bid you should have long legs cause there was no way you were going to get the door closed. If you did succeed in getting it closed one had to wrangle down the pants in order to sit and do the business. One could never sit upright just not enough head room. What a walk through frustration. Some years ago Richard and I happened to do a Safety Patrol on Lake Washington for Sea Fair. We had a Coast Guard Reservist on board and the first time he asked about the facilities I casually asked him if he had ever peed on his knees? The look I got from him was one of total confusion and amazement at my innocent question. Richard and both burst out laughing realizing what it was I had said. I should have asked have you ever had to use the head while kneeling? He finally saw the humor in my question and we explained about the head. For guys it was always I real trial to go through the moves in order to relieve themselves. Now you know why I love our 24.5 ft. boat with it's stand up head. Still a bit short for the tall guys but it works just great for me.

Oregon Slugs!

I'm not sure any of my sisters will remember this particular incident but the topic of a little nuisance critter in Oregon came up tonight after a nice dinner with Chris our friend.

Connie was getting married! That in it's self was really cool but she was going one even better and getting married on the back deck where they lived. The place was at that time called "Bear Creek Lodge" it was at one time a favorite place for fisherman to stay and eat at the restaurant that was on the front of the place. The restaurant and lodging facilities has long since been closed up and it served as my mom, step dad, and little sisters home. On the day of the wedding, which was held in September, my mom was out in the yard making sure that there were no slugs on the deck. Wellllll! She had help in finding these often very large and always very slimy critters. Three little grand sons, Emery about 5, Jason and David were about 3, they were busy helping Grandma find the slugs. The boys would have no part in picking them up and putting them in the can but they would scramble around finding them for Grandma. Each would screech in joy every time she would pick up the one they had found. Not only did Mom get them all off the deck and the immediate lawn area but much more area that was far beyond necessary. Mom never said a word she just went about making them three very happy, very proud little boys. Buuuuttt! The bad thing about slugs is the slim they leave. It is very hard to wash off and Mom had a wedding she was hosting. Yuckkky stuff! She had a heck of a time washing that abundance of slim off her hands before the ceremony began. It didn't matter to her because she had made those 3 boys so very happy that every day after that they wanted Grandma to go pick up the slugs they would find.

Our Friend Chris!

Richard and met Chris seems like yesterday when it was really a few years ago. We were in the habit of going to our local Shari's for breakfast on Saturday mornings. We loved these times together, they were quiet and we really connected. When you get in the habit of going to the same place and sit at the same table all the time the wait staff get to know your face. On one such occasion the restaurant was having a contest to see how many patrons names they could get. I can reliably say this was the beginning of the end. Chris happened to be our waitress that particular morning. I already knew her name by her tag, we introduced ourselves shook hands, which was the one and only time we ever did that, and we were off. Chris had been through some really rough times. Our restaurant friendship continued for a few months. As we got more familiar with each other we began giving hugs. Any one who knows me that I am a very open hugger. I truly believe in the power of a hug. Makes you feel loved, cared about and truly valued. Getting close to New Years Eve we asked her to join our family in a night of dinner, games and watching the ball drop at Time Square. She came over just a wee bit apprehensive and left way after midnight a friend for life. She has become our fast friend and a call her little sis. From the girl time we have together to just chatting on the phone I am truly blessed to have Chris in my life.