Happy Birthday Ed

A little birdie told me Ed is having a Birthday....(for larger images click on the photos)

A Brand New Year.!!

Well, today marks one full year since I started this blog. It was on December 31, 2007 I published my first blog. I gotta tell you I had apprehensions about it. I wondered what I would find to write about and if anyone would read it. I am not a writer by any means. To the best of my recollection I have never taken a writing class, however, I have put it on my "bucket list". I would love to take a writing class or two. Here are some statistics about my blog in the last year.

I had 226 blogs last year. I had 23,966 readers logged into my blog. They spent an average of 2.26 minutes reading it for a total of 54,163.16 minutes or 89 hours. That translates into 38 days of continuous reading 24/7. All of that translates into well over a month. To me, that is awesome. I also received 418 comments. I love your comments - all of them.

The busiest month was January with 3,490 visits (Thanks Howard) and second busiest was December with 2,709. I thank each and everyone of my readers who contributed to these numbers. You don't know how that warms my heart.

You may or may not have noticed I begin and end my blog the same way each time. Well, and "That's it for today". Reminders of my parents and family -- a link to our past and a bridge to our future.

I know I will never make three million readers like Tioga George but I will keep writin' if you keep readin'.

And in the words of my father "That's it for Today!"

Reflections Part Three

Well, reflections of fall brought many changes, the fair, my retirement in September, a trip to Tennessee, my birthday, Gordon's birthday (he's older) and these favorite photos.

October, some of my family, my friends, fall scenery and pumpkins were great memories.

November and my Grand girls are teenagers now. Reminiscences of visits with country music singers, Bill Anderson Ralph Emery, Kitty Wells and Johnny Wright, my class reunion, my friend Joy, downtown Mountain City and a tribute to Cowboy were favorites.

In December lots of snow dominiated my blogs, along with some apple butter makin', my great grand nephew, Vikki's birthday, and Ed playing in the Gulf of Mexico while I shoveled snow in Washington State.

and that brings us to now. It has been one full year since I started this blog and it has been a great one made even greater by my readers.

Thanks for the memories.

And in the words of my father, "That's it For Today!"

Reflections Part Two

Well, I am still reflecting on my blessings in the last year. May found the events of spring, Uncle Larry's birthday, trips to Idaho and Grand Coulee, WA, my twin sister's birthday, friend Corky's birthday among my favorite photos. As always if your eyes bother you click photos and they will enlarge.

The month of June found me packing for the time of my life, a trip to Branson with RV Dreams. Bob and Molly, who picked me up at the Greyhound station, Howard and Linda, Anita and Sterling, Rollie and Gina, Kit and Jerry, Ed and Marilyn, Tim, Dortha and Becky, my cabin, nightime in the chat room, Ellie and Karon, and the Geeks, Jim and Chris were among some of my favorite photos.

The death of my brother, John, prompted me to leaave the Rally early and head to Tennessee for the funeral. Again photos of my family, friends at Hardee's downton Mountain City, Veteran's Wall, Doran's birthday, June's birthday, and my beloved kudzu were among my favorites.

July found me again with camera in hand. Photographs of the Grand Girls, my friends from Fellowship Tours, my cousin Margaret and friend Evelyn from Tennessee who were on the tour, fire in Spokane Valley, Dicks Birthday, reminiscing of earlier days, my Grand Cats, and my new ride were favorite subjects.

August brought a visit from more new friends Rod and Deb from Florida, Mark's Birthday, a shakedown cruise to the casino in Idaho, Oregon Coast memories, family cemetery photos, bear hunters, and a fond farewell to the elevenfootrv.

Please stay tuned for more reflections of 2008.

That's it for Today.

Reflections of 2008

2008 is almost behind us and another new year will begin soon. This also marks the 1st anniversary of my blog. Thanks, to you my readers it has been a wonderful year, much more than I ever dreamed.

Way back in 2007 a few of my friends insisted I start a blog. Well, I thought about it and decided I would give it a try. Although sometimes I have had my doubts about it it has been very rewarding. When I first started I thought I would be lucky if I had one or two readers. I am now nearing 25,000 and that pleasures me immensly. Thank you to all my readers.

Here is a look back at some of my favorite photos from the year 2008. You can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Coeur d'Alene Lake, Idaho has always had a special place in my heart and I chose it as my very first photo.

My favorite January photos included my grandchildren, eagles that return to the lake each winter, snowstorms, my maternal and paternal grandmothers, Richard, my sister and I, and Lunch Peak Lookout Tower.


My favorite February photos include scenes from Washington and Idaho, my grandparents, myself at age 10, my brother and three of my sisters, my grandgirls, and my Rving friends, Larry and Leann, and Jo and Boo Boo (no picture of Fred -sorry Fred). Also a note my former boss gave me.



I don't know what happened to all March photos -floating around in cyberspace, I suppose. Heres the grandgirls, their Webkinz and some flowers.
April had lots of photos. It was hard to choose. Again we have the grandgirls fishing with their Uncle John. Kimberlei had two broken arms but went fishing anyway. My brothers has small boys and now with their favorite sister. Juneo Toadeo, a Webkinz for my sister. A snow storm in the yard, My pickup truck. Jewelry I made. Spring photos and a photo from Heyburn State Park.

Tomorrow will bring more photos as I reflect on the many blessings of the year.

That's it for today!!

Reflections

Well, we have made it almost to the end of another year. 2008 has been a great year for the most part and 2009 promises to be an even better one. I thought I would look back at all the things that has happened over the last year.

For one the gas prices have dropped considerably in the past year. The news just reported there is a gas war in South Carolina and gas was 91 cents a gallon. Wouldn't that be great if the rest of the country would follow suit.

We elected a new president and made history this year.

Spokane started the year with broken records in snowfall in January and will end the year with record snowfall already reached in December. I guess that accounts for our 86 clear days this year.

I was fortunate to visit with lots of friends and family this year - more about that later. I better get cracking on it - it is almost the end of the year.

That's it for Today.

A New Blanket

Well, I asked Santa for a new blanket but he must have been a little confused about my request. He brought me a fresh blanket of snow.
And it snowed off and on all day. There was not as much snow as had been predicted and that made me happy. All in all it was a good day.

Too many presents, too much food, and too much fun!!

Here are a couple things that may tickle your funny bone as they did mine.


A guy's wife was nagging him hard for a four-wheeler but still he bought her a beautiful extravagant diamond ring for Christmas. The husband's friend was amazed at his decision and asked him in secret, "Why couldn't you buy a car instead of the diamond ring?" The husband smiled and answered, "Fake cars are not easy to find."
__________________________________________

Two little boys went to their grandparents' place for Christmas. At bedtime, the youngest one began to pray at the top of his lungs.

"I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE...
I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE...
I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE..."

The older brother exclaimed, "Why are you shouting? Do you think God is deaf." The little one promptly replied, "Nope! But Grandma certainly is!"
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A guy goes into his dentist's office, because of pain in his mouth. After a brief examination, the dentist exclaims, "Oh my! That plate I installed in your mouth about six months ago has nearly completely corroded! What on earth have you been eating?"
"Well ... the only thing I can think of is this ... my wife made me some asparagus about four months ago with this stuff on it ... Hollandaise sauce she called it ... and doctor, I'm talking DELICIOUS! I've never tasted anything like it, and ever since then I've been putting it on everything ... meat, fish, toast, vegetables ... you name it!"
"That's probably it," replied the dentist. "Hollandaise sauce is made with lemon juice, which is acidic and highly corrosive. It seems as though I'll have to install a new plate, but made out of chrome this time."
"Why chrome?" the man asked.
"Well, everyone knows that there's no plate like chrome for the Hollandaise!"
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That's it for today.

Merry Christmas

The Peace in One's Heart is a small start for
Peace On Earth.

May your Christmas be filled with Love, Joy and Peace.
Christmas Blessings to All My Friends and Family.

Happy 42nd Birthday Vikki!!!!!

Well, I woke up to a whopping 1 Degree this morning and a total of 40 inches of snow on the ground and more is expected. Will it ever end??

I had lots of comments and emails about my "old timey stories. I was reminded I forgot to mention a couple of points about about my rabbit traps.

One was when you made the hold to put the notched stick in you did not want to drill the hole in the box too big. The reason is if you catch a possum it will gnaw at the hole and gnaw its way out.

The other point was we called them rabbit traps but we also referred to them as "rabbit gums". I mentioned that sometimes they were made from a hollow log. Most times these were blackgum trees. When my dad would find a hollow one he would cut it down to make a rabbit gum.

Today is a very special day for both myself and my daughter Vikki.

Vikki Mom Tawnee

It's her 42nd birthday and since I get to share it with her it is my 24th. She is twice my age....funny how that happens.

I remember how cute she looked in her little red christmas outfit when we brought her home on Christmas Day. They wheeled me out to the car. The nurse helped me into the car and handed me the baby. It wasn't until we were home and I went to hand her to her dad I realized I had been holding her upside down the whole way home. There are lots more stories like this in my memory bank but for fear of embarassment to both of us I will leave them there.

I have a special photo to post but dagnabbit I can't seem to get that darn scanner to work with the lap top. New fangled contraptions anyway....it will wait.

In the meantime, Have a Great Birthday Vikki!!!

That's it For today, December 23, 2008.

Weather Update

Well, here is a heads up on the weather report today:

8 degrees this morning with wind chill its 0 degrees.

Four to five inches of new snow overnight

Additional 5-6 inches today.

Low temps tonight predicted at below 0

88 days until spring

My Favorite Word....... Brrrrr!!!

Well, the past 24 hours have been a bear. Comcast Cable got snowed in I guess. At least the internet, TV and telephone service was not working. That's the first time that has happened. Now all these companies out there are saying to bundle your service for convenience and offering discounts when you do. I am not sure that works so well because when one service goes off the others do also and you're up the creek with no paddle.

Whatever did we do before we had all these fancy high falutin' conveniences. I almost went bonkers. I had to play the radio. At least that worked. Comcast must have fixed whatever their problem was because it came on around noon. I am a happy camper.

Now for the Weather report. Like the title says my favorite word these days is Brrrr!! It was 8 degrees when I woke up this morning. I didnt hear the wind chill but i know it had to be below zero because the wind was really blowing. Drifting snow closed some roads in Eastern WA and Northern ID. Snoqualmie Pass between Spokane and Seattle is also closed (For You Phyllis)because of high winds, blowing snow and zero visibility. At this writing it is still snowing and blowing.

If you plan to vacation in Washington I would recommend the summer. We normally have summer about the first two days of August.


Let me back up now and tell you about yesterday. Took a drive to Coeur d'Alene to visit with some friends. The sun was shining. The sky was blue. The freeway was in really good shape considering the day before it was practically impassable. I took some photos to share with you. I have lots of snow photos but where is Chris (The Geeks) when I need her to help with making a slideshow.

A bucket loader shoveling out my driveway.
A path to the Out House
Out and About in Spokane

Clear Sailing to Coeur d'Alene

Downtown was a little different

Residential Area

Main Street (Sherman Avenue) Coeur d'Alene. Traffic reduced to one lane and snow piled in the middle. Then loaded in dumptrucks and dumped in the lake.
Shoveling roofs
Not a good pic but I thought the tree was neat
Piles of snow like this were everywhere
Here is the new shovel and the Operator






Now this brings us up to the current time. A few days ago Ed of Ed and Marilyn posted this photo on his blog. He was warming up his toes in the Gulf Of Mexico at South Padre Island Tx.


Well, Ed this photo is for you!!!!!

Yesterday was the first day of the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. Without internet it was the longest night of the year.

That's it for the past couple days. Life in the Frozen North.

Snowstorm Continued

Well, the snowstorm let up overnight but withthe break of day it started again. Predictions are for three inches today. We are getting an artic cold mass from Canada which is to drop the temperatures to around zero. Then we are supposed to get........yep MORE snow!! Why didn't I go south in October??

All this snow got me to thinking about how much fun winter was when we were kids. I loved the snow when I was growing up. We lived in the mountains and we got lots of snow in the winter. We looked forward to it for a few reasons.

One was there were a lot of snow days so that meant no school. We had no TV or radio so you got up and got dressed for school and waited for the bus. If it came you went to school. If not, then you had a snow day.

We had outside chores to do and we got to tromp around outside in the snow. It made the chores more fun. The creek would freeze over and we would have to break up the ice so we could get water for the animals. We had to make sure there was creek water for dishes, bathing, etc. We also had to make sure the woodbox was stocked with wood for coooking and we had to have coal for heating and kindling for starting a fire.

Feeding the animals was a twice a day chore. Hay, oats and corn were standard fare. The milking had to be done and the hogs slopped , chickens fed and the eggs gathered. The horse had to be fed and watered.

If there was a big snowfall we would have to shovel a path to the barn and outside buildings including the outhouse.

After chores were done we had plenty of time to play in the snow. Our first priority was to build a snowman---the biggest snowman we could. We would then go to the woodshed to find coal for the eyes, nose and mouth and to the corn crib to find a corncob for his pipe.

My dad had built us a couple of rabbit traps and set them up near the edge of the woods. My granddad had a big pair of rubber boots and an old pair of those buckle up galoshes. We would put plastic bags over our shoes and then put on these big boots (probably about a size 12) . I remember the boots came up to my knees. We would bundle up with old coats and gloves and headscarves and take off for the woods to check our rabbit traps.

Sometimes we would take our homemade sled and the washing machine lid with us. It was a round lid shaped kind of like a saucer and it made a great sled. There was a hill in back of our house which we would used for sledding. It was great fun to traipse up and down the hill.

One year for Christmas we were lucky enough to get a Clipper sled to share between the five of us. It wasn't a new sled but we thought we had the world by the tail as we went flying down the hill on our "new" sled.

When I was in Tennessee this fall my cousin and I had a discussion about our rabbit traps. He drew me a picture and helped me to remember how the traps were set up.

The trap was basically a square box made out of lumber about three feet long We also had some that were made out of a hollow log with a board on the back so the rabbit couldn't escape.

There was a trapdoor on the front and a forked stick made out of laurel set about halfway back. About two thirds of the way back a hole was made in the top to hold a notched stick. A string was attached to the top of the stick and ran through the forked stick and to a staple that was attached to a trapdoor in the front .

We would bait the trap with a couple apples set the notched stick and the trapdoor. When Mr. Rabbit went in the trap to get the apples he would knock the stick over and the door would slam shut and Mr. Rabbit was caught and would soon be simmering in the stew pot.

We caught a lot of rabbits that way. We also caught other animals such as possums or coon. One time we even caught a polecat. I will spare you the details on the demise of the polecat. I never actually saw it but I could tell by the smell it was a polecat.

We would come back to the house on those cold winter days soaked to the bone and cold as cold could be. After hanging our wet clothes behind the stove to dry we would settle down with hot chocolate or maybe some popcorn and kool aid and maybe a checker game or two --a great way to end an adventureous snow day.

It's All about the Snow!!

Well, it has been a tough couple days. The snow started yesterday morning and has still not let up. We now have more than two feet on the ground. This is more than half the winter season snowfall.

The city of Spokane has virtually been shut down as well as outlying areas. There were over 150 area schools that were closed today. Stores and businesses also were closed including the local malls. The tire shops are open and doing a land office business. The tow truck drivers and the private snow plow operators are very busy trying to keep up with all the extra business. As of this morning it was reported there had been over 200 accidents. Semi trucks were required to have chains on the freeway.

The city of Spokane has at least 51 piece of equipment to clear away the fluffy white stuff. This includes 36 snowplows, 10 graders and some contract graders. There are over 967 miles of city streets to clear. Spokane County has 2540 miles and 90 pieces of equipment. It looks like I will be in my burrow for awhile.

If you want to read more about the weather you can google khq.com.

I did venture out to the driveway to take a few pictures so enjoy them and be glad you don't have to be out in it.

Check out the birdbath...it's almost to the top.



And this is about three hours later cant see it at all.

This is from the outside -- pretty deep huh?

And this used to be a window box.

Are we having fun yet??

Remember in the summertime the Motorhome sat between the trees.
and here it is buried. Check out the size of those snowflakes.

At least there is a path to it.

And this is where the shovel broke. See you in the spring.

That's it for Today!!

Let It Snow!!

Well, did I say the storm was over?? Not exactly. It returned with a vengeance It started snowing this morning and has continued all day....more than a foot and over 200 wrecks. It is very treacherous outside. I am planning on staying inside. Will add to this post later after i tke some photos.

Storm is over!!

Well, the storm that the weatherman was so hyped up about didn't come through. We did get some high winds but only about an inch of snow instead of the two to three inches per hour that was predicted. Wind was terrible though. It was so fierce it blew the blinds off the windows on the outside.

The only productive thing I did was to cook a pot roast with lots of vegetables. Now that's a good winter meal and it will last a day or two.

Other than that not much going on here. I am posting a couple of pictures of my brother and his great grandson (my great grand nephew).

That's it for today.

Brr!! It's Cold

Well, as I sit here to type this at least my head and hands are warm. I have decided this weather is for the birds. All this rain and snow and ice is just too much. I need to lying on a beach somewhere in the tropics.

In the last week we have had fog ,rain, snow, wind and winter doesn't officially start for another week yet. The weatherman is predicting even colder temperatures for the next week.

If you don't hear from me I will be in my burrow and I will see you in the spring.



That's it for today