The week before Christmas

Well, one week to Christmas. And the House is all a-glow.
The lights have been hung with care, and LADDERS, and GLOVES, and BEANIES, and WINTER GEAR.
The SHOPPING, is FINISHED, (pretty much), With LOVE and CARE, with GLOVES, BEANIES, and WINTER GEAR,
The CAR adorned with WINTER STUDDED TIRES, has done its job, TOO.

I had noticed we had one headlight burned out on the car, so, off to the local car part store to buy one headlight for $10. I asked the attendant if I needed any special tools to replace it? He said not really and he walked me to the car and INSTALLED IT .....NO CHARGE!!!!!
I love living in a small community!!!!

So, the next day, my dishwasher quit working. We drained it manually,twice, looked into it and decided that a 9 year old dishwasher, needing repairs, could cost up to $200 for service charge and parts...............So off to the local appliance store, to pick a new one out.......Within the BUDGET......$300.
They had about 15 dishwashers, and the salesman was very patient with me.... After about 20 minutes of opening many of them..... I opened one and I said "this looks just like the one I have at home now, which we bought from your store 9 years ago." The salesman said that in that model, usually only one part ever gives out! He explained that I needed to take off 4 screws, remove the old part, insert the new part, and WHA--LAA, it should work...
I paid him for the part $ 15, and JIGGEDEE-JIGGED my way home.. 15 minutes later, I fired up the old dishwasher, and she performed and beautiful WASH, RINSE & DRY CYCLE.
I enjoy living in a small community.

I waited for Don to come home, and tell him about the $700(ha-ha) dishwasher, that I had fallen in love with, that came with all the BELLS & WHISTLES..... He was almost speechless... okay he was very speechless..... I could not torture him anymore,, and then explained to him that I was able to fix the current dishwasher, and had just saved him LOTS OF MONEY..
See there is a reason that my current title is.. HIS DOMESTIC GODDESS.

Winter in Idaho Poem

Its Winter in Idaho

And the gentle breezes blow

Seventy miles and hour

and thirty five below.

OH, how I Love I-DA-HO

When the snows up to your butt

You take a breath of winter

And your nose gets frozen shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful

So, I guess I'll hang around

I could never leave Idaho

Cuz, I'm frozen to the ground

Our November

Dustin & Andrew

Brandon, Jennifer & Sophie

Dylan

Tis The Season......... In the Month of November, we have set a record for snowfall... 29+ inches.

I have been trying to decorate the house along with moving 2 close friends...

IN THE DEAD OF WINTER..

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful.. The house was bustly, but very joyful...

Leapin' Frogs

Okay... I confess... I have come to the age in my life where..........


I have been so startled that....


I PEED MY PANTS!!!!!


Yup..... I had had a very busy morning, About 9 errands to run, I was so happy to be done.. As I was backing the car into the garage... and.... this healthy frog fell onto my windshield.... He was all sprawled out and I

OFFICIALLY LOST IT!!!


I should be embarrased but...

The Painting Class

I have started taking a painting class, and wanted to choose an easy first picture. My picture was on display at last months Local Art Show, along with 40 other pictures. Out of nowhere this woman came and asked if I would sell her the painting!!!!! ME????ME??? I felt so special. I am giving the painting to Lance for his birthday.

Winterizing the Toys

Well, the saddest time of year for us....... is the winterization of all summer toys...

I have spent the last weeks cleaning and mucking out the camper. I then headed to clean out the truck from our summer adventures... and LOOK we had brought home a SPIDER of some kind... who proceded to make a nice web in the cab of the truck.

Last weekend we had to put the camper away for the winter, All the way across the LAWN??

I wish it could go somewhere else, but this is where Don likes it.... look at the ruts is the grass .... AGAIN.

Our morning guest

This morning was another first
for us.....Don gets up at 5:50 and is getting
ready for work, he heads into the kitchen and looks out of our sliding glass door,,, we feed our dog right there so there was a dish of dog food left out there.... and Don sees a KRITTER
eating the food!!!! It was a

VERY LARGE

RACOON!!!

YUP... Here are his original footprints on the steps to the deck.. the planks are 2 x4.

I was trying to get the camera to work while he was eating... didn't work. But he did look at us through the glass and then dissappeared out of the back yard.

It is amazing the things... that have been created... for our pleasure~~

Life is beautiful..

My visit with Andrew....

OH, I finally was able to spend and afternoon with Andrew for his birthday... So we did a self-timer and took this picture. He is doing so good, we are all proud of him, he has fought a lot of challenges, and is taking life one day at a time..... Life is so precious... and time is flying by so fast... I am so blessed....

Dustin & Dylan came over today....... They both needed haircuts....

We promised Dylan he could go swimming..... if he sat still for his haircut.... that his Daddy gave him. Here they are enjoying some time together.

They are so cute togethere.. Dylan is talking so much more and his imagination is starting to run.

Headed to work

A video from Lance, headed to work, somewhere in the hills in Southern California. I always wondered how they got to the top of the hills to work on the Power Lines. Sometimes it can make a mother, WONDER........HHHHMMMMM, OH, I wish sometimes I didn't know stuff???????

More on the Clearwater Trip.

Okay, here are more pictures of our trip. These first are backwards, SORRY, still new to this. LOL But, here is our dog ROXY, she loves it over here on the river. We hadn't seen her for an hour or so, and then we saw her.......ACROSS THE RIVER!!!


We called and encouraged her to come to camp and she made here way and ended up swimming some of the time....

Here you see her on the opposite bank.

Sheesh, what was she thinking?????

We always take a self-picture with the timer before we leave. Not the best, but this is what I have to work with this year. We love this campsite, because the river is right there, and the shadow you see is from the camper, we can hear the water flowing every night. And we are camped under a bunch of Huge Cedar Trees.

This is at the fishing hole, 20 steps from camp. We only kept one fish, to bring home and eat..... YUP, your looking at it... It was yummy......

On one of our road trips. It is Kyoose Landing Strip, they keep maintained, in case there is ever a forest fire, they can bring in all sorts of equipment, supplies and support.

Here is Don, "takin a break" from fishing. He is on the beach at our campsite, the camper is just on the left. We really enjoyed all 10 days and 9 nights, ALL INCLUSIVE TRIP, and looking forward to next years trip.

The BIG Camping Trip.....

Well here we are, on one of our road trips, at a neat bridge that leads to a hiking trail, which is also made for horse travels. This time of year on the Clearwater, is always nice because the Kokanee Salmon, are back to spawn. There are often herds of them around the sandy beaches.

We went for a long drive one day, (without the CAMERA), oopsie, and saw some more beautiful country, and were able to see a total of 9 Bald Eagles, 1 Golden Eagle, several Osprey and 1 Bear. This time of year the eagles LOVE the dying Salmon, so it is quite the feeding frenzy.

The fishing was okay, in total Don caught about 20 fish, and I caught about 10. I just seem to get frustrated, because, my fish kept swallowing the fly!! OH OH OH OH HOW I HATE THAT!!! You know, I then have to get out the needlenose pliers in one hand and grab the fish in the other hand, then open their mouth and then unhook the fly,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, YUCK.

When we saw the bear, it was in a public camping area, there were no people camping. On our return trip about 4 hours later, there were people camping IN TENTS, next to where we had seen the BEAR, and then when we got to the entrance of the campground, YES, forest service had set up a BEAR TRAP!!! So those people made their own choices......

Our Laboring Labor Days & Days.

Well, is has been a wild few weeks. Our

LABOR DAY WEEKEND,

was spent, PAINTING, PAINTING,PAINTING,painting, painting, paintingpaintingpaintingpaintingpaintingpainting,
Okay, we've got the point.
We are at last all done, except for above the corn patch.
We will finish after we harvest, close to the end of this month.

We have gone through 9, kinds of brushes and several roller sleeves. My summer DISSAPPEARED. I started this project around the end of July and it has taken till the first of September.

We are now planning our 10 day camping trip. Yup, 10 days, 9 nights, all inclusive camping trip. into the Clearwater Country,

to fish, 4-wheel, and relax.

This weekend has been, to prep the house & yard, for the winter season. It is always SAD, to put the picnic table, hammock, lawn chairs etc, in storage.

Becky this picture is for your family...... Don had just gotten done weedeating the whole property, and was too tuckered to sweep...

SO, you got it, he plugged in the Shop-Vac, and away he went in the wheelchair, vacuuming up the mess he made.... I couldn't help snapping this shot.

News from Lance & Amanda

Okay, a few pictures of Lance & Amanda. They are now living in Southern California. And are taking advantage of all it has to offer. Lance has learned to surf, and they have

been to many baseball games. They have bought "Beach Bikes", which Lance is riding the sidewalk with his dog"Audrey"

On their one year anniversary, they traveled back to Sedona AZ,

to the place they got married.

Lance, has also just returned from NYC, he went back there to help with Hurricane Earl.

Our weekend was Wonderful..... Here is Don, ON TOP OF BLOOM PEAK. He was the only one brave enough to ride then hike to the top. We waited below. You can see him barely in this next photo.

This is Bloom Peak in the background, between Dons arms.

The views were breathtaking. A little chilly, but the weather held out for us.

Here is the group. We just finished playing 31.

OH, and we were able to pick about a half gallon of HUCKLEBERRIES.

The Clever Cutter

OOOOOOHHHH>>>> How I love my

CLEVER CUTTER.

It saves me soo much time.

This weekend, the request is for my famous

POTATO SALAD

I really don't mind making it, especially because I have my favorite tool....

THE CLEVER CUTTER

It was a gift from MOM, several years ago.
While I was down in Arizona, in February, I mentioned that mine took a DUMP....and needed to find a new one.



So, she gave me hers. It saves me so much time, in all the cutting and cleaning of produce I have to do.

I have my old broken one in the Camper, so when we camp, I have one there too.

Off camping, again this weekend, a little 4-wheeler ride, while we hunt for Huckleberries. We need to find about a gallon or so.

The Corn Patch experiment.

This upper picture was taken on May 5 or so, after we planted our seedling starts. This next picture is of one of our 9+ ears of corn that we can see so far.

And here is the latest shot of the corn. It seems like it can be growing inches DAILY.

If you can count the rungs on the ladder at about a foot each step, we figure about 10 + feet tall.
What an interesting time it has been growing corn!! I'll keep counting ears,,,,,,,,,,,,

We just got back from a week at Lake Chatcolet. Our vacation was just wonderful, we were and hour from home, so we had lots of visitors.
Here is Don on the tube.

Here is me SKIING, YUP MOMMASSTILLGOTIT.

Okay, I confess, IAMALOTTASORE, in areas I forgot I had!

Here are the boys, FIRING THE POTATOE CANNON, off the deck.

Now, here is a HUNK, enjoying the ride. He was the captain of the boat, we were able to borrow. And by the time our week was over, he truly learned to drive with excellence. He was able to get me up on skiis, several more times.

Brandon and Dustin did show up. They also learned to master the potatoe cannon.

The best picture of Don, Felicia and Adrian.




The Morning view from the balcony.

This is a cute picture of Dylan and Damianna.

We went through lots and lots of SUNSCREEN, had lots of SMILES and lots of SOCIAL TIME.

AGAIN, LOTS OF GOOD MEMORIES WERE MADE.