A summer project for the boys!

Track Meet Results

2nd place in hurdles with a time of 11:87
1st place in high jump with a personal best of 4 foot 7 inches


UPDATE:  Just learned that Grace now has the VC 7th grade high jump school record!   Beast!

TNDC Prom

Kayla asked Drew to go to her Senior Prom with her.

For those of you who don't know, Kayla and Drew have been friends since they were babies - literally since Drew was 4 months old.  They went to daycare together for until they were old enough to stay home alone and have spent vacations together over the years.

They are going to have the best time -- because I have never seen two people act as goofy as they do when they are together!

Happy TNDC birthday Z and K

This is what 11 and 18 look like!

Update - Best Dog in the World!

Bone spurs on spine on left of xray.

Daisy Mae started feeling better last nite - this is a pic of her begging!  Her eyes are not quite as sparkly as normal but it may be the narcotics and pain meds!

These are the xrays from the emergency vet.  You can see the spurs on the first xray - see the vertebrae on the left that look taller than the others.  Those are bone spurs growing on the bottom of the vertebrae and it is one of those that broke.

Shaved belly for ultrasound

Random thought

Today I am VERY grateful for narcotics for my dog and my cleaning people!

Daisy on pain meds

Spent the nite in the emergency vet hospital with Daisy Mae.  She started acting lethargic yesterday mid day.  Then she did not eat her dinner - that's called a big CLUE that something is wrong for a Labrador!  We watched her into the evening and she just laid around and did not beg while we ate dinner.  Then at 10 pm she came up and laid on the bed with me and started shivering and panting.  It was clear she was in pain and getting worse.

Jim and I packed her up and took her to the emergency vet.  They checked her out and wanted to do some diagnostic work:

• Blood work
• Ultrasound of her pancreas
• Xrays
• Blood pressure

The diagnosis was a break in the bone spurs on her spine- which is very painful.  We could see the bone spurs on her spine and her shoulder in the xray.

At about 3 am, she came home totally drugged up and with pain meds for 5 days.   She was stumbling around the front yard on her way in like a drunk doggie!

There was also something weird in her stomach - a piece of metal? a fish bone?  or some random item that she scarfed down?  The vet did not think that was significant because she would have been vomiting.  But we are going to watch for gastro intestinal symptoms.

My poor old girlie --- I love her!

Championship

Drew got his CCS championship ring today!  It is very cool and something to be proud of it.

DNA

My mom gave me a DNA test kit to use on Ahi to determine what breeds she has in her.

This morning I did 2 cheek swabs to send into the lab.  It was a disaster!  You are suppose to use a little brush to scrape the inside of their cheek.  And you are not supposed to hit their teeth with the brush.  At one point, she was licking the brush and another time the brush was near her tonsils!  And I think I cleaned every tooth in her mouth with the brush - sort of like I was a dental hygienist.   I don't have much hope that the test is going to give us any accurate data.

Stay tuned!

Grandpa Roy's Truck

Since Grandpa Roy's heart attack, Drew has been driving his truck.  This is what it looked like when it came back from the cabin this weekend.  He better wash it before he gives it back to Grandpa!

Pontoon Mama's New Home

This is where the Pontoon Mama will spend the summer - slip number 23 on the B dock!  This is a spot that usually holds two boats but she is so wide that they likely won't be able to put anything next to us.  If they do, it has to be something the size of a kayak!

Cabin Time - April 2013

We took a last minute trip to the cabin this weekend and filled it with unbelievable fun, laughter and giggles!

Drew brought 3 goofy friends (Richard, Luke and Kody) and they provided hours of entertainment.  They took off early Saturday morning to go ride dirt bikes and quads.

Then they met us (me, Jim, G, Tina and Marty) in the afternoon at Don Pedro for some jet skiing and general merriment!

No fish were caught and we killed the jet ski.

They boys stayed up until 4 am and then got up and went quading riding again (not dirt bike riding because they broke it on Saturday).

Off to the dirt!

Richard

deer carcass

lunch on the pontoon mama

Tina, Marty, G and me went fishing for crawdads in Big Creek while Jim hooked up the new fish finder in the new Pontoon Mama.  No crawdads were caught but Marty found a deer carcass.  And the dogs loved "milling about" at the creek.

Track update

Hurdles - 1st place
High Jump - 2nd place
Triple Jump - 2nd place

And the funny part....she thought she sucked at high jump and triple jump!

Track Meet 2

Grace had her second meet today.  She did triple jump, high jump and hurdles.  I don't know how she did in triple jump or high jump but she came in first in hurdles, which was cool because she had never done it before and had no idea how to do it.

Pirate or Grandpa?

Grandpa Tom lost a tooth that was a 50 year old crown that finally gave out.  I could not take him seriously!

Track Results

Grace was in her first track meet last Thursday.

Results:
 
Triple Jump - 3rd
High Jump - 2nd

Junior Prom

Drew and his date, Amanda, at the Junior Prom. 

Waiting

We went to watch Grace play lacrosse in Concord today and took the dogs with us.  Jim went to the car to get Grace some water and when he was coming back, the dogs watched him walk across the field and up the bleachers....they never took their eyes off of him!

Glazed Chili Tofu with Ramen

1 quart veggie broth
1 tablespoon each of minced ginger and garlic
4 tablespoons of soy sauce, divided
1 tablespoon Thai or other Asian sweet chili sauce
1 14 oz package of extra firm tofu, drained and patted dry
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
12 oz ramen noodles
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups spinach leaves

Combine broth and 2 cups of water, the ginger, garlic and 3 tablepoons of soy sauce in a medium sauce pan.  Simmer for 10 mins.

Mix the remaining1 tablepoon soy sauce and 1 tablespoon chili sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

Cut tofu in 8, 1/2 inch slabs.  Heat oil in frying pan.  Heat tofu for about 8 minutes on medium heat until browned.  Remove from heat and pour soy chili sauce over tofu.  Turn gently to coat.

Add noodles and carrots to broth.  Cook for 3 to 4 minutes.  Add spinach to wilt.

Ladle ramen mixture into bowls - top with tofu.  Drizzle tofu with more chili sauce if you like.

YUM!

Junior Prom

Drew was getting ready for Junior Prom this morning....here is his tux right next to his fishing poles!  He is going to the Prom with a whole bunch of friends and then they are all staying the night at one of the girl's house.  The boys all have plans to get up in the morning and go fishing in a lake that is close to the house.  Wonder what the girls are thinking!

De-Skunk Magic Solution

Keep this stuff handy - just in case!

Here's the odor-blasting formula:

1 quart of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup of baking soda 
1 teaspoon of liquid hand soap

Mix and immediately apply to the stinky pet. Then rinse thoroughly with tap water. For a big dog, such as a Labrador, you may need to double the recipe to improve coverage. Common sense dictates keeping the mix out of sensitive areas like the eyes and ears.

What the Heck?

I spray painted Murray's tail and then told him to stay while it dried!  He just looked at it all didgusted!

Branch Manager

Reminds me of Murray and Daisy.  Daisy is clearly the Branch Manager but she let's Murray think he is.

Beef Bonanza

Meatloaf night in our house is full of emotions and thoughts:

Delight - Drew
Elation - Jim
Obsession - Ahi and Daisy
Tasty - Grace
Horror - Chris

Grace made this enormous meatloaf on Sunday nite and my family was thrilled.....I was not!  It was two pounds of beef covered with half a pound of bacon.  Served with mashed potatoes, roasted corn and Caesar salad. 

Geocache weekend

On Sunday we squeezed in a little more geocaching - we went for a walk with Tina and her niece and geocached along the way.

Ahi's new bed

Ahi's new bed - with Daisy in it!  I love the action shot with her tail wagging! 

Louisville!

Congrats to Uncle Dave on his team's win - Louisville wins the NCAA Championship!

Salmon opener 2013

Drew and his buddy with headless salmon!

Opening Day of Salmon Season

Jim and Drew are in Santa Cruz this weekend for opening of salmon season.  They are staying there in the camper so that they can party, fish, party and fish!  Grandpa Roy is with them.  He is holding court at the campsite and not going out fishing.  Today Drew and his buddy, Richard, did not fish but rather stayed on land and drove Grandpa Roy around.

First day of fishing was a bust - no fish!  Stay tuned for tomorrow.

Sanborn Geocaching

Largest cache ever found!

The Stache Cache Crew (Renee, K, G, Bug, Auntie Deb, Coach, Mr C, me and Stella, Buddy, Monty, Daisy Mae and Ahi Wasabi!) took a Saturday morning hike to Sanborn Park to do some geocaching.  We traveled about a mile and found 4 caches in 2 hours!  We were not moving very fast  - but we had a great time!  We found the largest cache we have ever found!

Largest cache ever found

Twin Sluices Gates geocache

Looked for the first cache on the wrong side of the trail for 10 minutes!

Ry's bday

March has a lot of TNDC birthdays - the first of them is Ry's!  We had burger and dogs and celebrated with a giant cookie!

PML in the Spring

We spent some time this week hanging out at PML - fishing, watching the birds and throwing sticks for the dogs!

Swallow nests