Rowdy the spoiled chicken.

Rowdy drank water by herself tonite, ate two hanfuls of cheese and 1 grape!!! She also came to the back door to be put to bed in the laundry room, and when no one went to get her, she went to the other back door!

A call from the Coast Guard

We got one of those calls tonite that makes your stomach drop. Jim was out fishing for tuna - 61 miles offshore and at 7:30 pm , I get a call from the SF Coast Guard station! Drew and Bean (Jim's cousin who is staying with us) were on the edge of their seats while I was talking to the Coast Guard. (Bean's boyfriend, Richard was with Jim.) My first thought was that the boat had sunk and they had been rescued and I had to go get them at some hospital. I was not worried about them being lost at sea because Jim has all the emergency gear created. They only thing I think could actually kill them out there is being run over by a freighter or hit my a meteor. They have radar so a freighter hit is unlikely. And I am not really concerned about a meteor.

It was none of those things.

Jim was incredibly responsible and called the Coast Guard to tell them to call me and let me know that they were running late and were still 55 miles out. That was a great move on his part so that his wife would not worry and so his kids saw their dad modeling responsible, respectul behavior!!

Once he got close enough for cell reception he called and told me they got 9 tuna!

Girl Power!

Today, the kids, me, Tina and Marty went for a bike ride. We rode from San Jose to Los Gatos which round trip was about 10 to 12 miles. Gracie had awesome girl power and went the whole way with no complaints! We stopped at Vasona Park for a little break and then went on to have lunch in downtown Los Gatos. Next stop: a cool new candy store where we loaded up with some goodies. Then we rode on and I showed everyone the cottage where Jim and I lived in Los Gatos for 2 years after we were first married. It was fun for the kids to see it. It was a really great day!

maybe a turn....

I think Rowdy is getting used to sleeping in the house. Tonite, instead of waiting outside the hen house, she came to the back door wanting to be let in! So we put her in the laundry basket in the laundry room and she made some chicken warble noises and hunkered down for the nite. But I wanted to get some water in her before she went to sleep so I forced a little down her mouth and then she started to show interest in drinking it herself from the dropper. After that success, I tried some grapes and she ate two cut up grapes! So hopefully this is the beginning of the turnaround.

Hola Amigos

The kids are putting on a Fiesta for all the parents at daycare next Wednesday. Drinks and appetizers at 5:30 and dinner at 6:30. They have developed what the menu would be and even designed the menus we will use to order. Drew made sure there was diet pepsi and vegetarian options for me! They have a process for receiving RSVP's (Gracie and Maddie are in charge of that!) and are having aprons made out of fiesta typ of fabric (I think it has chile peppers on it). The kids will be the waiters and Tina will be helping with the food. They have made and bought decorations.

I will be sure to take pics and post them next week.

Chicken nurse

Rowdy is the same today. I have not seen her drink and I have only been able to get her to eat a little bit of cheese. So today I started giving her water by eye dropper. The water has antibiotics and electrolytes so I think it is important to make sure she is getting those. She showed a little interest in a spaghetti noodle today but picked it up and did not actually eat anything. Yesterday we had a weird oblong shaped egg in the nesting box that I thought might have been hers, thus she would be feeling better - but there has been no changed. I am COMPLETELY stumped.

The good news is I had a bible study group praying for her last nite.

Rowdy Update

Thanks for everyones concern for Rowdy!

She is about the same as she was 2 days ago. But rest assured we are being responsible chicken owners and doing everything we can to help her. She is still on antibiotics and electrolytes. We put her in a warm bath to see if she would lay an egg - warm baths are suppose to relax them and help ease an egg out if it is stuck or too big. Wet chickens don't smell very good.... We have checked to see if she is eggbound or had broken egg shells stuck in her and that was negative. (I won't go into the details of how that is done but let's just say we have enough knowledge and experience to become chicken gynecologists!)

She has been sleeping in the laundry room in a laundry basket so that she is not using any unnecessary energy to try to perch at nite with the other chickens. I have been making her special meals but she has not been very interested. Last nite I was able to get her to eat a little bit of cheese.

Will keep everyone posted.

Rowdy is under the weather....

Our sweetest chicken, Rowdy, is not feeling well. She is lethargic and panting. I am not sure what it is (I really need to go to vet school), but I have isolated her and I am giving her electrolytes and antibiotics. I need to do some research but my first guess is it is a respitory illness, she is egg bound or something is wrong with her crop. Stay tuned. If something happens to her, I may need to get some more chicks.....

Morning run report

I am back to running after the crazy vacation and travel schedule of the last 1 1/2 months. I got a new pair of shoes that I hope will help with my hip pain - which is a new old lady complaint.

Yesterday morning on my run, I saw a mama turkey and her 8 babies. The babies are about half the size of an adult turkey. Daisy was quite interested in them but I told her to "leave it - it is just a funny looking chicken" and off we went.

Every morning lately on the way back from my run I stop close to the creek and pick up 2 or 3 baby frogs and bring them back to the yard to live! I love when they get big enough to croak in the morning. They are hopping all over the place.

Funeral Day

Yikes - Funerals are grueling!

Last nite was a 4 hour wake and today was the funeral. The funeral was really nice. I was doing ok until the army did the flag service, 21 gun salute and taps. That was very heartwrenching. After the service we went to a lunch at my grandparents church. Some of my Uncles had to stop at a bar on the way to lunch to have a one armed toast of Pabst Blue Ribbon for one armed Lenny (my grandpa) -- there are a bunch of crazy people in my Dad's family. I do think we have become more civilized thru the generations! :-) Or maybe the pattern is: one civilized generation, one crazy generation, one civilized generation, etc....

Amelia

Here is one of the "ups" of my life! This is my beautiful niece, Amelia. She looks angelic but my brother often describes her naughty behavior! She likes to be held while she sleeps and screams if he puts her down. With a face like that, I think she deserves to be held while she sleeps.

The good and the bad

This is a blog about my life and the lives of those I love. Life is a series of ups and downs and fortunately my life has been blessed with mostly "ups". But "downs" have to come and we had one occur last nite - my Grandpa ( my Dad's dad) died. We are so happy that we just saw him in June when we were in Chicago and when we saw him he was healthy and happy and we were at a celebration for my Aunt's birthday....so the memories are good.

The details are sketchy as my parents are still enroute to Chicago but what we know is that he collapsed and died at home. He was 84. I already have a request into GOD that I go the same way when I am 84 - quickly and with no pain while still healthy and mentally alert.

I will be travelling to Chicago on Sunday to attend the service on Monday. I will visit with my Dad's family and return on Weds. We have decided that Jim and the kids will not come since we were all just there.

Please say a quick prayer for strength for my Grandmother, my Dad and his siblings. And hug those people that you love.

Family Reunion

We just returned from Jim's family reunion at Ice Lakes Lodge in Soda Springs (near Donner Lake). It was a great time! The highlights were a hike to Roller Pass, which is way up in the Sierra's, where the early settlers came thru on wagon trains (the wildflowers were amazing), a day at Donnor Lake and a presentation about family history.

We learned a lot on this trip:
* Jim's great, great, great, great grandmother was Sonora Bethena Hughes and walked to California from Independence, Missouri in 1849. That makes her a VERY early settler of California - especially for a woman. (This must be where Gracie's girl power comes from!!!)
* Oxen have 3 stomachs which makes them hardy on the trail
* On their trip to California, they had set up camp to rest. The men went out to hunt and the women were in camp doing laundry. Along comes a bunch of indians on horseback. The women were terrified. The Indians approached and gave the women their loin cloths. The women washed them, returned them to the Indians and the Indians left!
* Gracie's freakishly long tongue comes from Jim's side of the family (see pic). With Gracie is Jim's cousin Bean and cousin Bronwyn.

The morning routine

We have had Chad the beagle, as a house guest, for 2 weeks and today in our last day with him. So, in honor of his departure, I decided to take he and Daisy for an extra long walk this morning. So off we went....

It did not start off very well when Chad got hold of a piece of chicken that had come out of some garbage that a racoon had rummaged thru. He is obsessively food centered, so he was on that chicken like white on rice! He was gobbling faster than I could run the 3 feet that was between us. By the time I got to his mouth he had about half a chicken swallowed. But....I am an expert beagle watcher so I just opened his mouth and went down his throat! I pulled out a bunch of chicken meat and a full leg bone!!!! ICK!!!! I am sure that whole chicken bone would have caused vomiting! Then I had to go on the rest of the walk with nasty chicken and beagle spit hands!

So off we go...

Like I said, we went on an extra long walk so I took them where we don't normally go. At one point, I was booking along and I realized that no one was following me. I look back and both of them are standing on the sidewalk - side by side - Daisy is holding her front paw up and Chad is holding his back paw up. They had both walked thru a sticker bush and had stickers in their paws! I walked back to them and played hero by removing them and off we went.

We sure will miss that crazy, food obsessive, lazy-butt, medical trainwreck of a beagle!

Movie Reviews

We have seen three movies lately:

Cars: Entertaining movie with a good message but WAY too long - especially for a kids movie. I would recommend renting the dvd.

Pirates of the Carribean: Good movie but WAY too long. It was a little weird because it has a science fiction bent to it with weird sea creature type people who were the bad guys. There were too many fight scenes and the fight scenes were too long. Johnny Depp is funny with all his crazy facial expressions! I would recommend watching the first Pirate movie before you go because there is a lot of conncections that I had forgotten. I would make the effort to see it in a theatre but don't go to the 10:30 pm show or you will be there until the next morning!

The Devil Wears Prada: This was the best of the three movies. It was entertaining and not too long. Worth a trip to the theatre! Great chick flick!

We are back from the mountains and back to reality....

We are back from 9 days at in the mountains and are wishing we were still there!

We spent 4 fabulous days at Cherry Lake. As usual, it was the most peaceful place on earth. Nothing significant occured but that is a good thing! We fished at least twice a day in the magic swimming hole and out in front of our camping spot and over the 4 days we must have caught over 100 fish - lucky for them, we catch and release. We did some kayaking and boating and quite a bit of just floating in the lake.

The new gadget of the trip was the new "coleman crapper"! The girls all went to town the day before the Cherry trip and when we returned to the cabin, sitting in the middle of the driveway was the "coleman crapper" - a bucket with the bottom cut out and a toilet seat sitting on the top. The best part is the guys decided to paint it camo and labeled it with the words "colman crapper" - it was accidently mispelled but that added to the laughs! It was pretty funny when we placed the crapper in the trees at the lake - it was so well camoflauged that it was hard to find! We had to tie a paper towel to the tree to highlight its location. Itwill go down in Cherry Lake history!

Vertically Challenged

Here is my shortest friend Missy (4 feet 11 inches) and my tallest husband (6 feet 5 inches)!

Missy idolizes Jim because he made her a port-a-potty for the Cherry Lake trip! There will be pics of that later.....

The Kids

Here are all the kids on the pontoon mama at Pine Mountain Lake. From left to right: Drew, Jeremy, Tyler, Kayla, Gracie and Maddie.

A bear in the woods....you've been punked!

Hwaaaaaaa.... (that is my evil laugh)!

We pulled the BEST prank on the kids at the cabin.

The kids spent half the day making a fort in the woods. Their building escapades went into the evening. As it got dark, all the adults were on the deck playing cards while the kids were playing in their fort. I am not sure who came up with the idea but we decided it would be great fun if one of us pretended to be a bear and scared the kids.

OK - full disclosure - there were at least some of us who had been drinking beer all day and would have thought buying a bridge in Arizona was a good idea!

So as soon as we came up with the hair brained scheme, Doug volunteered to be the bear and ran inside to get his brown hooded sweatshirt to play the part! And off he went -- slinking into the woods.

Once we knew he was safely in the woods the rest of the adults went down to view the masterpiece fort. While we were getting a tour, Doug had climbed a tree and was rustling the branches. Every so often one of the kids would hear the rustle and start freaking out. We would assure them that it was nothing and ask more questions about the fort. A little more time and a little more rustling of tree branches just heightened the anxiety of the kids.

Finally Doug makes the move and goes running by on all fours with his hood over his head making growling noises. The part that really freaked the kids out is when "calm, cool" Jim screamed "Holy Crap" and started running! The kids went running and screaming like crazy. All the kids got away except for Tyler whose long 13 year old legs didn't seem to work in unison which caused him to slip, do a flip in the air and land in a pile in the ground. "Holy Crap" Jim had to stop and pick him up off the ground. Gracie literally climbed up Jim's body to safety. The rest of the kids made a dash for the cabin.

Once Doug came out of the woods - the kids were good sports about it and we had a good long laugh! Of course, we might have psychologically scarred them for life

All in all - Great fun!!!!!

Donor quilts

This is one of the most memorable pics from the tranplant games.

The halls of the hotel that was hosting the event was lined with donor quilts. So many that it was awe inspiring. Each square was made by the family of an organ donor. Many of the squares had pictures of the donors and words of about their lives and what they meant to their family. Most of the squares were dedicated to children and young adults as they are often organ donors. I really can't come up with the right words to describe the feelings I had while looking at these quilts: thankful, sad, touched, grateful, fortunate...

Overall it made me commited to continuing to spread the word about the importance of organ donation.

The sisters

Here is my mom and all her sisters (from left to right): Maureen (the birthday girl), Rosemary, Ellen, Pat, Maureen and my Mom! Those are a bunch of attractive women and I am happy I have inherited those genes!

Libby

This is my Aunt Maureen's dog, Libby! She is a a 2 year old brindle boxer and she is a real cuttie - but a bit wild! The kids had little balls that they were playing with that she bacame obsessed with! She was in Drew's lap trying to get his away from him. I stuffed Gracie's ball way down into the bottom of my computer bag thinking it was safe from her...nope...a little while later we realize she has stuffed her big floppy dog lips into the bag to drag it out!

Grandparents

This is my Grandpa Pete and his bride, Pat. They got married two years ago when he was 90 and she was 82! They are the most delightful couple in the world!

Sluggers

Here is a pic from the Louisville Sugger Museum. We went on a tour of how they made the bats - which was really cool. And the boys played in the batting cage! That's my cousin Matt in the pic with Drew and Jim.

The Gold Medalist!

Here we are celebrating my Dad's Gold Medal in Kentucky! Still waiting to hear if he won a second one.

Tupac Chicken Man

This is one of four of my cousin Jess', dogs. This is the smallest and Drew's favorite. His name is Tupac Chicken Man! He is a sweet little dog - even though we are a big dog family!

Morning run....

I am back home and in my running routine. I so enjoy the brainless first thing in the morning rythym of a run. This morning, I had to dodge baby frogs that are coming out of the creek looking for a home. They are about the zixe of a nickel and there are 100's of them! Next, I saw a big fat smooshed California king snake in the middle of the road. Ick!

A weekend in Illinois

We spent the weekend in Illinois for my Aunt's "surprise" 50th Birthday Party. "Surprise" is in quotes because she is the last of 5 sisters to turn 50 and there has been a surprise party for all of them. So, she has been waiting for the last month for the "surprise" to occur. She said she was so happy that is is finally over because her eyes hurt from looking all over the place for her sisters -- she said she looked at the grocery store, at a neighbors bonfire -- everywhere she went for the past month! We did the official surprise at the dog park on Saturday moring. Our whole family was scattered all around the dog park and she spotted two of my aunts before she even got out of the car! Her husband told here it wasn't them and that she was crazy! But then we sent Drew and Gracie up to her and she knew we were all there!

After the "surprise" we went to my Aunt Rosemary's house for a delicious cookout. Her yard was beautiful and the food was wonderful.

In the middle of the party I realized I had left my camera on the table at the dog park. So one of my Uncle Jim's (I have five Uncle Jims!) drove me out to look for it - no luck - it was gone with a weeks worth of vacation pics on it - including the ones of my Dad with a gold medal. The next morning my Aunt Maureen put out a lost camera sign and by noon someone called who had it. It was an 80 year old man whose life is the dog park - he goes a couple times a day! My Aunt packed up a plate of cookies for the man and one of my other Uncle Jims went over to pick it up! That is proof that there is good in the world!

All in all, it was great weekend - we felt so fortunate to be able to be visiting with family - especially by grandparents who are 83/84/84 and 92!!!

A kid from California in the mid- west

The funniest thing happened last Friday nite.

We went to a restaraunt in Waukegan, IL that my parents have been eating at for 40 years. It is called the Quonset Hut. It is a famous place for our family because my parents think it has the best pizza in the world and my brother and I have always thought that it was disgusting! And now that we have spouses our spouses agree with us. The pizza crust is thin and tough - like cardboard - and the cheese is greasy. And if you get sausage it is even greasier! And the mushrooms they use are canned! Ick!

Anyway, it also tends to be a bit of a dive. So we go there on Friday nite with my mom's whole family and after dinner we were all sitting around chatting and Drew taps me on the shoulder and says "what's that?"..... and points to an ashtray! The kid is 10 years old and has NEVER seen an ashtray. He honestly did not know what it was!

Off to Chicago

We are getting ready to head to the airport to go to Chicago for the weekend. Not sure I will have access there to update the blog but just so you know, the big plan is trying to figure out how to get into the city to buy some Garrett Popcorn - which is the best carmel corn/cheese corn in the WORLD! Jim's number one "to do" is to spend 8 hours at the Bass Pro Shop!

We heard it is hotter then hell at home. But not to worry....the chickens are being cared for by "Lani the Wonder Mom/Chicken Watcher" and she has been putting ice in their water! She has also been chased around the yard by Maverick, the mean hen. And word on the street is her husband was laughing too hard to help her!

Worn out in Kentucky!

Wow - it is hard work being a full time tourist. I have not been able to blog lately due to our busy schedule! And due to the fact that my time on the computer has been spent working!

Some highlights of the last few days:

* A few nite ago there was a HUGE thunder and lightening storm. And to us Californians, it might as well have been an Oscar Award Winning Show! We loved it! We sat out on the porch watching for an hour. The rain was incredible too.

* We went to Kentucky Kingdom (their amusement park). It has a pretty decent water park where we spent most of our time because it was hotter then hell! The wave pool was the kids favorite. I went down some straight drop off water slide and thought I would die! There was four of us on a raft and we got shot out, dropped straight down and then went back and forth in a giant funnel. I screamed like a girl!!!! The Kentucky Kingdom was great because we got to see a lot of Kentucky Hillbillies - including an 8 year old with a pierced lip and lots of size 22 women in size 6 clothing!

* The kids and I went to the Kentucky Horse Farm and went horseback riding with Jess and Nat (my cousins) while the rest of the crowd went to a Bourbon Distillery.....I think Jim is now a bourbon drinker - Oy Vey!

* We got to meet Jess' "zoo" which includes 4 dogs, 2 cats, 4 chickens and many fish! Our love of animals is genetic. Jess has a new/used beagle named Emma who I think would be a perfect girlfriend for Chad. The only thing is it would require a relocation for Chad!

* We had to make another trip to the doctors because Drew is sick with a sore throat. I swear it is never a dull moment! Being here with Grandpa, we needed to get it treated instead of letting it fester like we would have at home!

The best news is we have a new niece!! Little Amelia was born on tuesday, June 20 and is happy and healthy, as is her mama! Thank God for that!

It's a.....

GOLD medal for my Dad!!!! Yesterday he won the gold in individual golf. And he said he wasn't even on top of his game. He plays again tomorrow in the team event with another guy with a heart transplant from Northern California.

Last nite we caught lightening bugs - also known as fireflies. It was the first time the kids had ever seen them. It brought back great memories of when I was a child and caught them in New Jersey!

Check back again because we have a new baby being born tomorrow in our family!!

Opening Day

Opening day of the Transplant Games was yesterday.

We spent all day at Churchill Downs which is the racetrack where the Kentucky Derby is run. We had a ball betting on the the horses, watching the magnificent horses and eating great food. We won on every race except for the first one. We had a very scientific method for picking the winners - we chose ones whose names we liked. For example, in the last race, we chose "Tahoe Warrior" in honor of my beat to hell warrior sports utility vehicle! In another race we chose "Naughty No" because I always call Daisy Mae "naughty" when she is acting up.

Gracie and I had a great time in the gift shop - we got her halloween costume - she is going to be a jockey! We got her a hat, goggles and a horse. We already have a jacket (thanks to Auntie Patty) that will be her "silks" - that is their shirt. And Grandma and Grandpa are going to make a riding crop out of a kids size golf club. It is going to be darling!

After a day at the races, we headed off to the opening ceremony out at the fair grounds. There were 8000 people there. 1200 were athletes and there had to be close to that many donor families and living donors. The ceremony was a real tear jerker! At one point there was a woman who had met her donor family for the first time that day. First the donor family came up and talked about their 19 year old son who died in 2006 and gave 5 organs. Then the woman who received his liver came up and talked. She talked about how at first she was scared about talking in front of 8000 people and then she stepped back and said talking in front of 8000 people is not scary when you compare it to facing death when you are a single mom to two young daughters. There was also a guy who had been blind for 30 years and recently had a cornea transplant that allowed him to see his wife again after 30 years and 11 days!! Unbelievable.

It was really inspiring to see 1200 athletes who had each faced death honoring all the families and living donors who helped them. It is one of those life changing moments!

The youngest recipient was a 3 1/2 year old girl who got a liver 3 years ago. The oldest was an 84 year old man who got a kidney 13 years ago! There were also people who had been living with transplants for over 30 years! WOW!!!

Just a reminder - if you have not talked to your family about your wish to be an organ donor - now is the time!!!

More to come later......

Greetings from Kentucky

We arrived safe and sound in Kentucky on Thursday nite and have been having a wonderful time. For those who don't know, we are here with my folks for the US Transplant Games in which my Dad plays golf. This is our first time to the games, but Drew has been before when my folks took him in 2000 to the games in Florida.

Last nite we went to the Northern California Team dinner. There were about 80 people there that included athletes, spectators (families like us) and donor families. It was so touching to see donor families there. Once family was a mom and dad whose son was a northern California police officer killed in the line of duty who donated his organs. This family comes to all the transplant games to honor their son!

I met a guy who had 2 heart transplants - one in 1999 when he was terminally ill and lived for 6 months with a experimental "bionic" heart. He was an FDA experiment and survived long enough with a mechanical heart to get a new one. In 2000 he got a real heart transplant and is healthy enough to compete in the US Games, the Candian Games, the UK Games and the World Games!

All the organ recipients had their own personal stories, no one less amazing then the next. Lots of liver and kidney transplants. The guy next to me at dinner was a 13 year kidney transplant survivor who received his kidney from his younger sister.

After dinner we went over to the hotel to register for the events. Lining the halls were rememberance quilts with each square made by a donor family in memory of their loved one. Truly a humbling and touching experience. I can't even put words to it. Watching Drew was an experience in and of itself. I think it is the first time he realized the significance of his Grandpa's heart and the sacrifice that someone made for his grandpa to live. There were lots of questions about living donors and cadaver donors.

The opening ceremony is tonite and it is sure to be a tear jerker.

The ladies...

This picture cracks me up. It reminds me of a formal portrait...of chickens. They are all posed in perfect positions. In case you don't remember, Maverick is red, Rowdy is tan and Betty is black and white.

We have been experiencing some significant chicken issues. You see....our egg production has dropped to one egg a day. That is one egg total - not one egg per chicken. I was consistently getting 3 eggs a day. The ladies are too young to have their egg production fading, so I started doing some research and I think I might have found the answer.

I think they have been eating too many chicken "snackies". They are like little kids, if they fill up on low nutrition junk food, then they don't eat enough of the good stuff at their meals. And when they don't eat enough high protein layer crumble, then they stop producing as many eggs.

It has been a week since I figured this out and they have not had any snacks unless they are high protein (eggs, meat) or unless they have found them around the yard (our cherry tree is dropping cherries and they LOVE them!). So far we have had a couple of days this week where we have harvested 2 eggs. So the scientific experiment will continue for a few weeks so we can see if we can get back to 3 eggs a day. If not....it is to the frying pan with them! Just kidding!

San Jose Arsenal

All in all Drew's first season in competitive soccer was good. Here he is with his team. He is the one it the red goalie shirt. He played nothing but goalie all season and did well. The last game was a bit brutal - they lost 7 to 0. A little hard on a 10 year old ego. He likes it and is going to play in some tournaments at the end of the summer and in the fall league starting in September.

My new haircut

Just got a cute new haircut and wanted to share with a couple friends, who:
a. love cute haircuts
b. realize how important a good "do" is
c. have the same hair stylist as me and
d. appreciate a "stunning" new look (Susan - you know who I am talking about!)

This is also a good pic to show what I look like when I work from home. This is me sitting in my office with no makeup, and in a sweatshirt in the middle of summer because it is like an icebox office.

All the grandkids...

When my Dad got his new heart Drew was his only grandchild - Drew was about 18 months old at the time. Since the new heart my Dad has been lucky enough to have 3 more grandchildren and he has one more on the way! The new baby will born in 12 days....if not sooner!

Happy Heart

Here is a pic of what a healthy old guy with a young heart looks like! Happy 9th year heart anniversary Dad!

Good Heart -- Bad Heart

Here is the dessert that we had at my Dad's Heart Celebration. The happy heart represents the new, healthy heart the old heart represents the sick heart that was replaced. The red blobs represent the heart attacks. Both were quite yummy!

June 8th - 9 years!

Today is a wonderful anniversary for our family. Nine years ago today, my Dad was blessed with a new heart. The heart turned out the be a perfect match and thankfully he is healthy and living a full life with his new heart. Tonite we will celebrate with family and friends at my parents house.

This day is always a little bitter sweet because I think about the family who lost their loved one and so bravely donated his organs. I pray that this family has a sense of peace based on their decision to help others. I would want them to know that we think of them often as we live our lives and try to honor their loved one by giving back in our own way everyday - whether it be giving blood, helping someone who is lost, donating food or volunteering with seniors.

Organ donation is one of those true miracles in this world. Use this as a reminder to tell your loved ones that if you no longer can use your organs, to pass them onto someone who can make good use of them!

Why we make a great couple....

This morning during my workout, I pondered about why we make a great couple. This thought process started because people often tell us what a mismatch we are because he is a big fisherman/hunter and and I am a vegetarian. So I started thinking about why we make a great couple after almost 16 years of marriage and this is what I came up with:

* I make pineapple upside down cake and he likes to eat it! (add the name of any type of sweet and the statement is still accurate)
* He always supports me in my latest hair-brained pet scheme - although sometimes he has to pretend to put up a fight! This includes Lucky Hairy Legs the tarantula, Newty the California Newt and Lucky Hairy Feathers the baby dove.
* We both hate coconut
* We both find his mother's family tradition "red cabbage" dish disgusting!
* He loves my chickens and even sometimes refers to them as "his" chickens
* He likes a good "brewski" and I don't drink, so he always has a built in designated driver
* His hunting skills come in handy when there are rats and mice around the chicken coop - he goes "hunting" with rat/mice traps!
* He can build/make anything requested including a hen palace, a new home and an outdoor fountain

So when I break it down, we compliment each other perfectly - we each bring different skills to our family unit which, when put together, form the foundation of a really great team.

Musings from an early morning runner

One of the biggest problems with being a type AAA person is that you get up at the crack of dawn ready to go! I use that time to do something constructive - I get up between 5 and 5:30 and go running. That sounds impressive on its own, but I have to confess that I don't run far or fast. I run 3 to 4 miles a day. The best part of my run is my time spent with the most perect workout partner in the world - Daisy Mae! She is always willing to go and thrilled to pieces to get to run around the neighborhood.

We love the adventures that we have out that early in the morning. Just yesterday, I turned a corner and ran right by a HUGE smashed snake in the middle of the road! I love to come home and report to Jim and the kids what happened on the days run.

Once day last week, Daisy got chased by the worlds fattest cat....and I am not kidding - the cat is so fat that chased probably is not even the right word! I laughed out loud as Daisy lept through rose bushes trying to get away. When we got home, I had to pick thorns out of her fur.

We run along the foothills so I often see and hear wild life. At one particular corner, we often see 2 bunnies - one white and one brown. They appear to be husband and wife bunnies. I think they were once someone's pets because they are quite tame. Daisy Mae about comes out of her skin when I make her sit and stay and then go talk to the bunnies. I am trying to figure out a way to "rescue" them and bring them to live in my backyard with my chickens. No luck so far, but that might be another blog entry someday....

General Update

We are starting to wind down (or maybe it should be called "winding up") for the end of school. There are only about 3 1/2 weeks left. And we leave the day after school ends to go to Kentucky for a week for the US Transplant Games where my dad is playing golf. http://www.kidney.org/news/tgames/index.cfm
While there we will be staying with my Aunt and Uncle who live in Lousiville.

The kids have just about had it with school, especially Gracie who has worked extra hard this year! I have had it too - I am tired of homework, projects, reading, etc. We are all looking forward to the break.

The summer will be busy with tutoring, bible camp, zoo camp, (Gracie) and hockey camp (Drew). They will also both be going to daycare, which is more like a day camp with all their friends that they have been going to daycare with since birth. They will go on field trips on Mondays and Fridays (to places like Great America and the beach), do bike rides on Tuesdays and go to the library on Wednesdays.

Spiraling out of control

Life was looking really good there for awhile - Chris Daughtry was in the final four and the Sharks won the first two games of the series against Edmonton. But then, I am not sure why, things started going bad.

The biggest upset in American Idol history and Chris was voted off.

Then the Sharks started losing. Edmonton won games 3 and 4 in Edmonton. The fifth game was in San Jose on Mothers Day and all four of us went to the game! Imagine our shock when they lost! The referees were really bad but we can't blame it all on the refs. Some in the news are saying that some Sharks didn't play as hard as they could because they were angry that the Shark's fans booed the Canada National Anthem before the game. I find that hard to believe. I think they just changed their strategy which is to be more defensive and it is not working.... Tonite is game 6 in Edmonton and it is a must win for the Sharks. I have my fingers crossed.

Still in a state of shock...

As you can imagine, I can not believe that Chris got voted off of American Idol! To make matters worse, the Sharks lost the 3rd game in the series on the same nite! I was so depressed yesterday I almost couldn't work. Plus I had to spend time yesterday looking for a new friend, to replace my friend who voted for Elliot! (You know who you are!!!)

Someone tell me in the end who wins AI because I can't stomach the remaining contestants. I did have a girlfriend (a real friend who votes for Chris) tell me that there is some talk that the voting on Tuesday nite was screwed up and that some people when trying to vote for Chris got Katherine's phone line instead. I don't know the details about it. But I will check it out and report back if there is anything to it.

Soccer Update

Drew has played a couple games now with his new competitive soccer team and he really likes it. So far he is playing goalie and got player of the game last week for a shut out - 3 to 0 win! In order to increase the skills of the boys, they are "playing up" which means that they are playing boys who are a league higher. So far they have won 2 games and tied 2 games.

AI debrief

I am having serious issues related to American Idol this week - the issues are related to my friends who have fallen of the Chris Daughtry bandwagon (I think they hit their heads when they fell off) - one friend says Chris' side burns are a turnoff and the other friend voted for Elliot instead of Chris because she thought "he needed her vote"! (jenn and angie - you know who you are!) What are these women thinking? So, I am in the market for two new friends!

My prediction for this week is that Katherine and Taylor will be in the bottom 2 and Katherine will be voted off. I think Katherine has great skill but I think she gets too nervous and fails to meet her potential. She just tries to hard and it shows. Taylor is good but he is not consistent and does not fit the american idol profile and nor does Elliot. The only hottie to be able to fill the American Idol shoes is Chris.

No I am not psychic...but I should get a new job...

My new job should be a talent agent because I have an ability to pick to losers on American Idol. Stay tuned for next week to see if I can do it again!

Hot Hot Hot!!!

American Idol last nite was in general just "ok" but Chris Daughtry was Hot, Hot, Hot!!!! Right after his first performace my phone started ringing off the hook with all my girlfriends calling! Jim thought we were all acting like 14 year old girls talking about Daughtry! There is definitely a long line of women waiting to marry him....but they are all in line behind me!

Check out these pics:
http://www.daughtrypictures.com/

My prediction is that Paris and Taylor will be in the bottom 2 and I am split on who will actually be voted off......if I HAVE to pick one - I think it will be Paris.

Does this kid have anything else to wear?

I just noticed that in most of the pics on the blog, Drew is wearing his Chico State sweatshirt! He does have other sweatshirts, but he LOVES this one. I try not to say anything because I secretly want him to go to Chico and hope that his love affair with his sweatshirt helps him decide to go there!! The brainwashing starts early and occurs often!!!!

Snowshoe experts

These kids were made for this stuff. On this day, Drew didn't really want to go snow shoeing, he wanted to stay at the cabin working on his fort. But after we got snow shoeing he was really glad he came with us. Gracie is always up for anything - just be sure to bring lots of snacks!

This is for Grandpa Tom

This is a pic of Drew playing golf using his snow shoeing pole for a golf club and while wearing snow shoes!

This is in Yosemite last week.

Wildflowers

Loved this pic of the wildflowers in the Sierra's. With the huge amount of rain this year, we will likely have a tremendous wildflower season.

Fort Drew

Here is a cool fort Drew built over the weekend at the cabin. He started digging a hole and then I helped him prop up dead manzanita bushes as the "walls". We used green pine boughs for the next layer and then added dry pine needles. Everyone had fun with it until we put it in the burn pile.

No pics yet and thoughts about AI and hockey

I have not had a chance to post pics yet as I have been dealing with technical hurdles at work and working long hours this week - and the thought being on a computer in my few spare minutes makes me crazy! So I will get to it when I can.

In the meantime, I can talk about American Idol and Sharks hockey!

So last nite the 3 remaining idols sang. The 3 girls were terrible, 1 guy (Taylor) was bad, 1 guy (Elliott) was good and Chris D was great (and hot!). I predict that Kellie Pickler will go this week - although my friend Jenn doesn't think that will happen as she says "she has some kind of weird fan base out there"! Jenn thinks Taylor will go. If Pickler doesn't go then I think it will be Paris.

Now about hockey: The Sharks have won 2 out of 3 against Nashville and they look like they are on the beginning of a steam roll! The best part is I got tickets for Thursday nites game at the Shark Tanks!!!! Wait til Drew finds out....I will get mother of the year award! Unfortunately, I could only get 2. So if Drew is a bugger between now and then, I get his ticket!

Cabin Time

Took a couple days off this last week to head to the cabin for the kids spring break.

On Thursday we took the pontoon mama (that would be the pontoon boat) out to McLure Lake which is a lake we had not been to before. It was a beautiful spring day and was 78 degrees! That was the nicest day we have had since the Noah's Ark rain started 3 months ago! We had a relaxing time fishing and checking out the beautiful green hills. The highlight of the day was when Drew spotted a huge toad. It was in the lake and had swam by the beached boat and taken cover in the plants on the bottom of lake. We lost sight of it so we went hunting for other frogs. Not having any luck we went back to the boat and found the big guy floating on the top of the water. We called "long armed Daddy" to reach down and swoop him up in a net! SCORE!!! Got him! We played with him for a while and then let him go. We are pretty sure he was the type of frog that they catch and use in the Calaveras frog jumping contest.

The next day, we went into Yosemite for the last snow shoe trip of the year. We snow shoed off trail around a couple meadows. It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies. We were snow shoeing in short sleeves. The snow is melting fast, so we packed up the snow shoes and put them away til next year.

The 3rd day was a work day. Our good friends, Tina, Marty, Mari and Kyle came up to be our work crew. It was a hugely successful day. We
* prepped for painting the cabin
* chose the color to paint the cabin ("turd" brown with moss green trim)
* did an all day burn of pine needles and other debris
* rearranged the downstairs with new furniture
* took a load of stuff to the local thrift shop
* got rid of all kinds of stuff at the dump - that was huge!!

We ended the day with a yummy dinner at the mexican place in Groveland - where we were all giddy from the day of work! Next we will schedule a weekend to paint. Then move on to putting on a new roof.

I got some great pics of the weekend that I will post shortly, so keep checking back. There are pics of tremendous wildflowers, Drew's fort made with manzanita branches, pine boughs and pine needles; and beautiful snow shots.

Life with Chad

Chad is such a little buddy. We are so enjoying his little beagle ways. He has not been with us for 9 months but the minute he walked in it was like he never left. Right now while I am typing he is sitting behind me on my office chair - of course that only leaves me with half a chair!!!

He has taken to Daisy Mae's new bed - which is a bed for a lab sized dog. He curls up in the middle of it and opens one eye if talked to. The other nite Daisy was laying in her bed and Chad walked up - gave one BIG bark and laid down and stared at her. After a little while she got up and walked away and he ran in and took her spot! Little bugger! Daisy is like a doggie saint for dealing with him.

At the same time that he is stealing Daisy's bed, he is "protecting" her from other dogs. Yesterday, Bella, Daisy's half sister, (a black lab) came down for a play date. Everytime Bella would get near Daisy, Chad would start howling! A couple times he would run into the middle of the wrestling match only to come running back out twice as fast. Big tough guy!

So far I was right on...

Told you that Bucky and Ace would be in the bottom! Bucky was voted off. I really wanted to like Bucky because he was a country singer but he just was not that good. Half the time you couldn't understand the words he was singing. On to next week and I think it will be Ace and Kellie Pickler in the bottom 2 - even before they sing on Tuesday nites show.

American Idol Prediction

So I have to admit, I am an American Idol fan. I know, I know, it does not fit the mature, sophisticated persona I put forward....hahahahah...Ok you can pick yourself up off the ground - I know most folks would not use the works "mature" and "sophisticated" to describe me but just let me think they would.

Anyway, I love American Idol. My favorite part is in the beginning when all the really bad singers who think they can sing are on. By the end of those shows, I am hooked like a "tuna on a hoochie mama" (that is a fishing term that I learned from my hubby - a hoochie is a fishing lure - I added mama to the end because it sounds good!).

My favorite this year is Chris Doughtery. Although I did not like the song choice he made last nite. The theme was "Queen" songs which does not have many good options - especially since I am a country fan and "Queen" could not be farther from country. I am making the prediction that he will be the winner in the end. My other prediction is that Bucky and Ace will be in the bottom 3 this week.

My Little Fisherman

I really do think the love of fishing is genetic. This is about the happiest Drew can possibly be. He and Jim spent the weekend in Santa Cruz fishing for salmon. They ate at the Crow's Nest, fished for bait off the dock and slept on the boat! A stellar weekend for a 10 year old.....and for his dad!

Sharks Not Red Sox

Chad is a little confused. We are not rooting for the Red Sox, we are rooting for the Sharks as they try to make it into one of the top 8 positions. This pic was taken during the game last nite when the Sharks beat the Dallas Stars 4 to 1! Chad slept thru the whole game. When we would cheer after a goal, Chad would open one eye and look at us --- but never lift his head.

San Juan Bautista Field Trip

Here is a great pic from inside the San Juan Bautista Mission. The California missions are a big area of study in the 4th grade in California and classes go on a field trip to the closest mission. I chaperoned the trip and was matched up with Drew and 2 of his buddies. We always get the comment "Drew is so tall"....this pic shows you why we always hear that. These are 2 kids the same age as Drew and you can see the differences in there heights. At 10 years old, he wears the same size shoe as me and I have BIG feet!

I had a really funny thing happen on the field trip. A kid I was walking with was chatting with me and telling me about his family. Immediately following a story about his sister, without taking a breath, he says to me, "I have been wanting to ask my dad what a sperm is". You can imagine my shock! We are just walking along, chatting and eating girl scout cookies and he busts out that statement! My response: "That is a great question for your dad!" Then I said a quiet prayer for him not to ask me anything! I figured since I was standing right next to a mission there must have been a direct line to God and he heard my prayer because no questions followed.

Chad at rest

This is Chad after a short walk. He needs a big rest! Luckily Gracie is willing to give him a belly rub to help him rest!

Chad's Spring Break

Chad is baaaaaack!!!!

Many of you know Chad - he is a bit of a celebrity to our friends and family. For those of you who don't know Chad, he is a handsome, charming, somewhat itchy beagle! We had the pleasure of taking care of Chad last summer when his family went to the East Coast for 2 weeks over the 4th of July. The pics of "Chad's Summer Vacation" became a sought after book. The book showed Chad's adventures with our family, including: swimming, lounging on the pontoon mama, hiking, fishing, log rolling, sleeping in a tent, howling at deer, viewing chickens in our backyard (that almost made his little hound head explode!) and having doggie play dates.

Chad will be with us thru Easter Sunday. We have no big plans for him but you never know what might come up in our house, so I am sure there will be some good stories to tell.

I plan to blog about his visit, so check back often for details and pics.

Opening Weekend

Here is a pic of Jim and his best buddy, Al, on opening day of salmon season this past weekend. They caught limits on both days.

If you have not already done so, please go to the website below and send your government official an email asking that they leave salmon season open. It is a long story that involves a river in Oregon that some bozo diverted water from that killed all the salmon in the river.....
It is a quick process - shouldn't take more than 30 seconds.

http://capwiz.com/asafish/utr/2/?a=8638771&i=79360972

Pontoon Mama's Blog

Runaway Betty

Remember when Betty "flew the coop" and was found in the neighbors backyard? That led to her getting her wings clipped so she couldn't go over the fence. We thought we had solved the Houdini Chicken problem and that she wouldn't be able to escape again.

But you have to be smarter than a chicken....

Yesterday was a beautiful day and we were all out front playing. After a few hours we came inside but left the dog tied up out front and the garage door open. The front door was also open letting sunshine and fresh air in the house.

I was inside and walked by the front door....imagine my surprise when I heard clucking in the front yard. Betty had walked from the backyard, thru the garage and out the open garage door and was HAPPILY scratching for bugs by herself in the front yard!

That chicken is fearless!

Dog Sitters Inc

If you have not already figured it out, we (ok - me and the kids) are suckers for animals and especially dogs. So last week when our neighbor asked if we would be willing to keep an eye on Toby, his yellow lab, this week while he is on a trip, we jumped at the chance. But Toby is not your normal exhuberent lab, he is a "used" dog - which means he was "rescued" by our neighbor and had clearly been abused in his previous life. So Toby is what we call "Timid Toby" - he is afraid of EVERYTHING - the hair dryer, a door opening, you getting up from a chair, a napkin dropping from your lap, etc. So I could not picture this poor dog at a kennel - he would be terrified. So since the only thing he is not afraid of is his BEST friend - Daisy Mae - we happily agreed to help!

So Monday was his first day under our care. I had to go to work that day, so I decided to leave both dogs together in our backyard. My thought process was that it would be raining and they could be in our garage together out of the rain. If I left Toby in his yard, he does not have access to the garage and I worried he would be out in the rain....what was I thinking? He is a labrador and rain does not matter and apparently neither does mud. When Jim arrived home on Monday nite, instead of being greeting at the back door by two yellow labs, he was greeted by what looked like 2 chocolate labs. YES! You guessed it - they spent the whole day wrestling in the rain and in the mud bog created by the rain in our backyard! There is literally mud splatters all over my office window and the sliding glass door. They were COVERED in mud - brought a new look to the saying "happy as a pig in mud!".

We couldn't let either of them in like that nor could we put Toby back in his house to sleep for the nite. So Jim and I donned our "foul weather gear" and began the process of washing 2 very dirty dogs in the front yard. It was easy cleaning for Daisy Mae - she just stands that and gets a bath. Toby was another story --- he wanted NOTHING to do with this. Remember how he is afraid of everything? Well...add to the list: the hose, a bucket, a bottle of shampoo and a towel! It took me 40 minutes to get him cornered and on a leash so I could drag him to the front yard to be bathed. Once we got him there, he did ok. We scrubbed him up, dried him really good and sent him home to bed. I am pretty sure he passed out after spending the whole day wrestling!

We figure he will lose 10 pounds while his owner is gone....between the excercise and the constant fretting he is doing.

At the top

This is Daisy and me at the top of the of the mountain. This is a fire lookout in the summer. We figure there was about 6 feet of snow. There were 3 other dogs up there that Daisy played with. What a dog day!

Snowshoeing Reports

We LOVED snowshoeing!!! We went 5 miles thru powder. Because it was powder, one of us had to plow the trail which was WAY more work then walking thru an existing trail. Drew took his turn plowing but Gracie did not....5 miles is a long way to go for a 6 year old. Daisy did great. Her booties came off a couple times but we found them right away. As you can see she carried her own pack which was filled with water and dog snacks.

It was 2 1/2 miles up hill and then all the way back was down hill. The weather was varied with some sun, snow, hail and fog. After we returned to the car, there was a major snow storm. We made it back in the nick of time, although we were prepared for bad weather if we got caught in it. Two other parties came up the mountain behind us so it was nice to go back down the trail they had walked over. It was nice and packed.

Comp Soccer and Piano

Last night Drew found out he made the team for competetive soccer. For those of you who don't know - this is different from "run of the mill I play soccer for fun" leagues. This is suppose to be better players and coaches and they compete against teams that are in other cities. This requires, of course, more money and time! The coach has been looking at Drew and calling him since last season. We pretty much knew he would have a spot if he wanted one. The coach wants him for his goalie skills....helps to have a 6 foot wing span at age 10! So Jim and I chatted with the team manager after Drew was told he was on the team....that is right....a team manager for 10 year olds. Jim and I are skeptical but agreed to commit for the spring season which is 8 or 10 games and not a lot of travel. It will be interesting to see Drew play with and against kids that are as good as he is. Although it might be hurtful to his ego. When it comes right down to it, we are more like a "we play for fun family" then we are a "we live and breath family". We will keep you posted and will post pics of his first big save!

In the meantime, I will continue my search for piano lessons for Gracie....she has decided out of the blue that she wants to learn the piano.

Getting ready for our next big adventure...

This weekend we are going on an adventure... we purchased snow shoes for the whole family and are going for a 4 mile snowshoe in Yosemite. We know that all the human members of our family can handle this trek but were worried about the dog. She has the endurance and fitness level to be able to make the 4 miles but we were concerned about her feet getting to cold or frostbitten from hours in the snow....so after much research, we decided she needed booties. This is a pic of us trying on her new booties! She is such a trooper and didn't fuss at all about us strapping them on her feet. But when she first started walking in them, it was hysterical -- it was like she was walking in sticky stuff and was pulling her feet up to her ears! She wore them for a couple hours around the house and sounded like a horse clopping around. I am sure we will have lots of good stories to blog next week!

Which one is real?

If you think you don't need chickens, check out this pic. This is Rowdy looking at a fake chicken on the porch. The fake chicken is looking right back at Rowdy! This left us all in fits of laughter! This is why you need chickens....they make everyone laugh!

RIP

I am sorry to say that Lucky Hairy Feathers has gone to the great bird nest in the sky. May he rest in peace.

Lucky Hairy Feathers

This past weekend was spent catching up on things around the house: paying bills, getting groceries, getting Drew new shoes, cleaning the kids closets and drawers, cleaning the chicken coop, preparing for taxes, etc. I was finally done with the "to do" list yesterday at about 4 pm....at which time the kids ran into the house screaming "animal rescue, animal rescue, mommy we need you"!

They had found a baby dove in the middle of the street. It can barely fly - gets about an inch off the ground for a few inches and can't stand up. Being the big sucker I am, we picked it up and are fostering it. I had Jim out in the street searching the nearby trees for a nest - with no luck. So I rushed out and got baby food and an eyedropper and started feeding "Lucky Hairy Feathers", named after "Lucky Hairy Legs" the tarantula that we saved walking across the road a few years ago.

We have fostered birds before but not a dove and it acts different than others I have taken care of. Luckily, a friend at work has talked to her friends that have doves and has given me some good direction. I am going home tonite to make a dove slurpy - chicken food, seeds and grains! I may even throw in some worms from my worm farm --- see those worms come in handy when you least expect it!

sports scholarship?

I know you think this is going to be a post about Drew....but it is not! We had the funniest thing happen at Drew's hockey game on Saturday.

Drew was waiting with his team to go out on the ice and Gracie was running around being her "squirrelly" self. She was leaping off the benches doing fancy "hot dog" moves, running for speed and generally hopping around. At one point she stopped to chat with Drew. After they chatted a coach we don't know went up and asked Drew if that was his sister he was talking to. When Drew confirmed that it was, he asked, where is your mom or dad. Drew pointed Jim out and the coach came and talked to him.

Apparently, he was going on and on about Gracie and her speed, strength and energy level and asked if she could skate! He was thrilled when he heard she could skate and was already playing soccer and doing gymnastics. She was flat out being recruited at age six to play ice hockey!!!!

The coach explained to Jim that any of the colleges that give hockey scholarships to boys have to give the same number to girls and since there are a lot less good girls hockey players, there are lots of scholarships to go around. He said he has 2 of his players in high school going to Yale on full scholarships and 1 going to Minnesota.

We talked to Gracie about it and she wants to start playing next year.... She should be pretty good judging from the checking she does against her brother in the family room!

Quasimodo

For those of you who have not heard about Jim's snowboarding accindent, scroll down for the details because it is important to this post.

The net of his accident is he was left with a big bump on his shoulder, which then, of course, led to his new nickname "Quasimodo". Imagine our giggling when we realized we were going to see the Notre Dame Cathedral --- Quasimodo's home! So this is a pic of Jim doing his best Quasimodo pose in front of Notre Dame.

Yep -- bunch of dorky tourists!

London and Paris

If you had not heard, Jim and I went to London and Paris last week without the kids! We were gone from Saturday to Saturday. We spent most of the week in London seeing all the sites: St Paul's Catherdral, the Golden Hinde (Sir Francis Drake's ship), the London Eye and many, many pubs. Our favorite pub was a non-smoking pub called the Black Friars. That was where we stopped after a long day of walking around the city and had a pint of "speckled hen"! Of course, we promptly nicknamed is "Betty Beer" because Betty is our speckled hen!

Probably the highlight of the London part of the trip was seeing the play The Mousetrap. It is an Agatha Christie play that has been playing for 54 years. It was great and we would highly recommend it if you go to London.

We also wandered upon an all vegetarian restarant - imagine my delight! I dragged Jim in and we had a yummy dinner. He had a beef stew type of dinner that he said his meat loving friends would never know was fake meat. I was less adventuresome and had a chicken potpie. The best part about that dinner was an appetizer that was grilled hallamiou cheese, which is a greek goats milk cheese that they actually grill without it melting into a puddle.

On the last day of our trip, we took the train thru the chunnel to Paris. It is a 2 and 1/2 hour trip each way. The train left at 7:10 am and we returned to London at 9 pm. It was a whirlwind trip in Paris but well worth it - we saw Notre Dame, the Louve and the Eiffel Tower. Or favorite part was sitting in a french bakery and having tea and pastries!

It was a great trip but it is good to be home. We missed everyone - the kids, the dog, the chickens, the whole family and all our friends. Being away sure makes us realize how lucky we are!

* This is a pic of us at the Louve - which was outstanding! We saw the Mona Lisa. Super Cool.

Worm Farm Pic

As promised here is a picture of my worm farm. I took a picture of the outside because I love that it is called a "magic worm farm"! Like there would be any other type of worm farm...maybe "only a dork would have a worm farm worm farm" or "you really are just trailer trash worm farm". Plus if I take a pic inside it just looks like dirt. Also I like the fact that Jim thinks it is a table for all his tools. What must the worms think? The bonus about this worm farm is that if I were a Kentucky Hillbilly, I would also use it to hold my beers because it is just the size of a six pack cooler. (That's a shout out to cousin Jess, my favorite Kentucky relative, the founder of the worm farm :-), and mom to 3 chickens herself!)

Long live the worms....or at least until they get eaten by Betty, Rowdy and Maverick!

New hobby

I have a new endeavor that I have been anxious to tell everyone about ...I have a worm farm! Yes! You read that right -- a worm farm!!! I know you are thinking, "what the h*ll does a business ethics director suburbanite hockey mom need with a worm farm." I actually think that myself but it seems to make perfect sense because I can grow my own worms to give as treats to my chickens. It saves me the time of having to dig up worms in the front yard....which always causes a stir because every one of the neighborhood kids wants to know what I am doing. Which then leads to having to bring the chickens into the front yard so they can see them.

The best part of the story is that I sourced my worms from a real "man's man" fishing supply store and when Jim brought me in there and the guy asked what I wanted to catch with the worms (he wanted to make sure I got the right kind), he didn't know what to say when I told him, "I want to catch chickens". Jim just shakes his head. And the kids think that all moms have chickens and worm farms.

I particulary liked when I showed the farm to my 3 and 5 year old nephews and they almost gagged! All while Gracie was digging in to find a big juicy one for Betty! Oh! The simple joys!

Reader Update

For those who have been following along with Gracie's struggles with reading, I have an update. Last week she finished 6 weeks of the literacy academy which is an afterschool reading program at school. She went with other first graders and all they worked on was reading skills. The outcome: She jumped 3 reading levels in 6 weeks and is where she needs to be for the March report card! Here increased skill is unbelievable and she is so proud of herself.

To celebrate her success and Drew's grades (all A's and B's) we are celebrating as a family by going to see the musical "Stomp".

Sunbathing

It has been about 70 degrees the last few days and all the pets are loving it! This is Daisy, Betty and Rowdy soaking up some rays! Before I bothered them to take the pic, they were all sprawled out. You can see that Rowdy didn't even bother getting up - her wing is all stretched out and she laying on her side.

Pontoon Mama's Blog

Chicken hangover

So....when Jim was recovering from his "old brittle missile" injury, I gave him a list of things to do. I know that surprises all of you! Anyway, one of the things I asked him to do was to get chicken food. I should have known that a direction that was that broad would have led to confusion....

Jim went off and happily got the "chicken food" and used his one good arm to fill up the chicken's bowl. Later that day we went off to the cabin for the weekend.

When I returned from a weekend away, the first thing I did was go and check on "the ladies". Imagine my surprise when I saw that their bowl was NOT filled with chicken food but was filled with what could be described as chicken candy -- it is the treat that you feed them - only occassionally!! They basically spent the whole weekend eating treats!

Now... chickens who lay eggs need a very high percentage of protein in their food, which is why they eat a special feed called layers mash NOT chicken candy! I few days after we returned from our weekend trip the ladies suddenly stopped laying eggs! Thus....the chicken hangover! Apparently the candy binge had caught up with them and effected their ability to make eggs. They stopped laying for 3 days and then started up again after I pushed a diet high in protein (turkey, cheese, scrambled eggs)!

All in all, they recovered nicely. The lesson here: provide the husband with really clear direction when giving him tasks!

Pontoon Mama's Blog

Another day at the gym

One of my favorite things is when I go to the gym at 6 am so I can get a good work out in before work. Although I have a routine where I pack my gym bag the night before, I am pretty famous for forgetting things at home. I have forgotten all my brushes so I had to do my hair with my fingers, I have forgotten underwear, socks and bras, I have brought purple underwear to wear under khanki pants, etc. The good news is I have always figured out a way to "make do" so I did not have to go home and replace the missing item.

This morning was a whole new level of "making do". After a long work out, I realized I forgot my makeup bag. That means, no makeup, no brushes, no jewelry. I searched my bag and found some lipstick and thought maybe that would be enough! HA! What was a thinking - I looked like I was dead but wearing lipstick. So I quickly come up with a back up plan --- I would run across the street to Safeway to buy the bare necessities.

In the meantime, I just continue getting ready at the gym. First thing I do is get dressed - only to open a brand new package of grey tights that are labeled small but should have been labeled "for a small dwarf". Now I want to point out that I was not given long legs when they were being handed out so I have never had a small pair of tights not fit. After I put them on and pulled them up, the crotch was around my knees and waist band was around my crotch. Boy.... am I thinking that this is shaping up to be a bad day. I spend a few minutes working the tights up from the toe and manage to get them in a more realistic position on my body. At least pulled up enough that I can walk!

I continue on with my beauty (HA HA) routine and comb my hair with a 1 inch clip that Gracie has - lucky for me - left in my gym bag (remember -- I have no brushes). I manage to get my hair looking like I had been sleeping on an airplane for 10 hours, which was better than I thought it would be. Next, I head over to Safeway to do a little make up shopping....

As my luck would have it, I stand in the empty make up aisle reading a letter to the customer explaining that there is some kind of make up strike and that is the reason their stock is low. LOW is right - the only thing left are floozy colors! So I am thinking I am going to look like a 16 year old or a hooker with this makeup!!!! But I really have no choice - I either look dead or look like a hooker. So I start thinking on the bright side and explain to myself that at 38 years old, I have developed some "smoke and mirrors" skills and that I should be able to fool everyone into thinking I look ok even with a little bad makeup! So off I go to purchase $35 of floozy colored, cheap makeup.

I sit in my truck and start dismantling all the packaging and begin applying. I never would have thought there would be such a difference between cheap grocery store makeup and expensive makeup from department stores - but let me tell you there is! This cheap stuff goes on in chunks. But it is all I've got, so I keep applying. So picture this -- cheap, chunky, hooker colored makeup on someone who is dressed in an Ann Taylor sweater set, charcoal wool skirt and black boots. Oh! I forgot to mention that I didn't notice until it was applied but the eye shadow has sparkles in it --- which are now all over my face! The blush truly looks like it could be used for the round circles on a clowns cheeks!!! And I allegedly bought the color "natural". Natural if you are frostbitten after a week lost in the arctic!

I do the best I can and head into my office to double check in better light that I look ok. I take out a mirror and take a look. Although I am trying to stay positive (you know...the make lemonaid with lemons thinking), my attitude is shot when I look right in the mirror and see a 4 inch grey hair sticking straight out from the top of my head. I swore, grabbed the scissors, cut it out and decided the day is a lost cause!

I am just going to hide in my office all day!

Pontoon Mama's Blog

Chicken 911

So here I am sitting in my home office working and I hear the sound of someone screaming or shouting. I can't hear much because when Jim built the house he made it practically sound proof. But after awhile I decide I better go investigate. I walk in the kitchen and see my neighbor hanging over the fence waving his arms. I run out worried that he is hurt or ill. I open the door and he screams one of your chickens is over here!!!!

Turns out that Betty has made a break for it! Dumb chicken chooses to go over the one fence that has a dog living there. Lucky for Betty the dog didn't get a chance to find her before my neighbor did. My neighbor picked her up with a little coaching and handed her to me. I put her back in the coop where her other chicken friends were already in bed!

Betty, Betty, Betty....

Picnic in the snow

The day after the shoulder injury we went to Yosemite. We did some hiking in the valley in the rain and then went up to Tuolomne Grove to sled. We had a picnic in a driving snow storm complete with thunder. The snow was fluffy and dry and perfect for sledding. In the three hours we were there we received 3 to 4 inches of snow. It was a hairy trip home!

Tired Boys

Jim had good company in the hospital. Here are the boys waiting and waiting. They were tired after a late nite of traveling the nite before, an early morning and a long day shredding the slopes. They were troopers! And thanks to Lani for playing nursemaid to Jim and entertaining the boys! Everyone was weary when they arrived home at 9pm.

Kaiser Guy

Here is Jim between trips to the xray lab. They had a hard time getting a good pic of it so that did about 12 xrays. You can see that his left shoulder is swollen, pushed forward a little and drooping. Let's just say he is never going to be a shoulder model.

Xray

Here is the xray. You can see where the shoulder is separated. The 2 bones should be even with each other. The ligament that broke is the one on the top, between the socket and the ball. Oucheee mama!

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th turned into one of those dreaded ones for Jim. Here he is at the Sonora ER following a snowboarding injury. Here is how it all went down....

I got up at 5:45 am to take a work call (I was working from the cabin that day) and after the call sent Jim, the kids and 2 other families off for a day of snowboarding. It was one of those unbelievably beautiful sierra winter days. The sky was bright aqua blue and it was 67 degrees. I was having a quiet productive work day and feeling quite lucky to be able to work in such an exquist environment.

I checked in with the group of snowboarders in the middle of the day and all was well. The kids who were in lessons were doing great and the ones on the slopes were tearing it up. The only down side of the day was the snow conditions were not great. Not enough snow and icy. Next I heard was a phone call on their way home at about 5:30pm - they were going straight to the ER.

Jim decided to take one last run by himself. Up at the top while speeding down the hill, his board caught an edge bringing him to a sudden stop and launching him forward. Picture when you were a kid and would skid sideways on your bike. If the bike hit something in the skid, it would come to a complete stop and you would keep going - like a missile. That is what Jim did. The problem is that Jim is 6 feet 5 inches and 215 pounds which makes for quite a missile when it hits the ground! Plus he is 40 years old --- that makes him and old brittle missile!!

So he is launched thru the air and lands on his left shoulder - causing a grade 2 separated AC (shoulder). That is out of a grade 3. He separated the shoulder and tore one of the 2 ligaments. If he had tore both it would have been a grade 3.

He managed to get down the mountain on his own and went to the 1st aid station. They packed snow on it and sent him to the hospital.

At the hospital, he quickly became known as the "Kaiser Guy" because it was an out of network hospital. He became a favorite of the nurses when he told them that he gauges his pain on his wife giving birth and that compared, the shoulder pain was a 4! After a few hours of back and forth to the xray lab, they sent him home with a fair amount of vicodin. But he preferred beer therapy the first nite!

Drew's 10th Birthday

For Drew's 10th birthday, he took a couple buddies to the Sharks game. It was a great game and they won. We had "Happy Birthday Drew C" posted on the board during intermission. All in all a pretty good day for a 10 year old.

Go Cobras

In early December, Drew's soccer team played in the championships. They played 4 games in one weekend and it came down to the last game. To help build spirit we painted the dog - one side said "GO" and the other side said "Cobras". The championship game was awesome! It was tied and came down to goal kicks. After each team had six chances at the goalie, Drew's team came out the winners. It was great fun!

Rowdy's Picnic

Here is Rowdy having a picnic in the front yard complete with a kitchen set. We also have a photo of her wearing a blue gingham apron. The chickens like to hang out in the front yard to look for bugs since all the bugs in the backyard are eaten!

More xmas pics

This is a shot from Crane Flat lookout in Yosemite. It is about a 1 and 1/2 mile hike up to the top to an elevation of 6750 feet. It is a working fire look out in the summer and what you can see here is the helicopter pad. This is our favorite short hike is Yosemite. It is cool because in the winter before the big snow comes, there is not too much snow to hike it but enough snow to play in along the way.

Daisy Mae recovering

This is what Daisy Mae looked like after being attacked by the psycho-freak labrador, great dane, pit bull dog. She felt very sorry for herself for a couple days which got lots of extra lovin'. But like a dog that is truly from out rugged family, she was up chasing deer in no time.

Xmas Break Photos

Here is Daisy Mae's favorite xmas a gift - a rubber chicken in a purple bikini. The squeeker sounded like a chicken getting mauled! At this point the chicken has no squeeker, no legs and no lips. It is really quite disturbing.

Pontoon Mama's Blog

Guest blogger

I have closed the deal - my college room mate - known only as "Bridget Jones" will be my official guest blogger. When she experiences one of her many days of drama, she will blog about it. That will keep those of you bored reading about my life coming back as she is CRAZY!

Pontoon Mama's Blog

Updates

* My girlfriend got her raise - 10% - just what she wanted!
* Drew is still covered with a rash!
* My college room mate has pointed out that I will also be blogging about her adventures --- which are waaaay jucier than any of my adventures - so stand by for future details.

Pontoon Mama's Blog

A day in the life...

Yesterday was a banner day!

My day started out delightful with a 1 hour trek on the eliptical machine at the gym and some early meetings at work that were productive.

But then it went down hill.... Jim calls and tells this elaborate story about how he was in a wreck on the freeway because some woman came to a complete stop in the middle freeway in order to "save" a pigeon that had been hit by a car! He said she literally slammed on her brakes causing a 5 car pile up, jumped out of the car and rendered aid to a pigeon! Must be one of those militant vegetarian types ;-). Luckily his truck was not damaged - only hit the bumper.

After Jim's report, I turned my attention back to my quiet office with my cup of tea and had highly productive day managing the crazy cases we get at work. All the calm was broken with a mayday call from Jim because he locked ALL 3 of his keys in his truck in the Sportsmart parking lot. I was too far away to help so he walked home and we agreed to call AAA after I got home and we had dinner.

Back to calm and peace on my communte home --- NOT! Everyone is back from their holiday break and the roads were a mess. On the way home I talked to a girlfriend who has not had a raise in 3 years and needed advice on how to ask her boss for a raise. We strategized and she ended up with a good plan. The meeting is today and I am anxious to find out what happened. I suggested asking for more than she really wanted so there was room for negotiation. She is hoping for a 10 percent raise....I am hoping she gets a 15 percent raise. She deserves it!

So after the raise strategizing session I walk into the house to be happily greeted by the dog, Gracie and Drew --- who is covered head to toe with a rash! WHAT!!!!??? Someone could have given me a heads up that Drew looked like he had been rolling in a poison oak bush! That puts the whole plan for the next day on hold. You can't take a kid to school if he has a rash.... I figured I would ignore it for awhile and hope it went away.

So we scarf dinner (that my mom so kindly made and everyone loved) and headed off to Sportsmart to meet AAA. They gave us a 45 minute window of when they would be there but it ended up taking 90 minutes! Oy Vey!

But while waiting in the parking lot in my truck, we had some good quality family time. The dog was with us but was so tired (it was 8pm) that she couldn't keep her eyes open. So the kids took the opportunity to torture her by putting different hats on her. Also while waiting for AAA I called the doc about Drew's rash which did not disappear while I was ignoring it. The doc was stumped but freaked us out asking about scabies, chicken pox, etc. Since no firm diagnosis could be made, a doctor appt was scheduled (read more about that below).

After the AAA guy showed (note, he was about 5 feet tall and could barely see in the window of Jim's truck) and broke in, we heading home.....(it was 8:45!) What a delightful evening.

So off to bed only to wake up in the morning to go for a 3 mile run with the dog and come home to see see a bumpy faced Drew on the couch. So lots of rushing to make back up plans in case Drew could not go to school. We dropped Gracie off at school, ran Drew to the doc to receive a diagnosis of "some kind of viral rash". The doc said "I don't think he is a public health menance and can go to school". So off to school he goes, off to work I go....back to peace and quiet of my office with my cup of tea.

All in the day of a mom. What next?

Pontoon Mama's Blog

Home from the Holidays

We have returned from two weeks in the mountains and are ready to get back to our real lives of work and school. We drove into a huge wind storm that left trees and our fence down and broke our outdoor umbrella in half. God knows what the chickens thought was going on! It is rainy and a little windy today but they don't seem to care -- as long as there is a steady supply of snacks! They are currently eating rice and zuccini.

I am going to try to get some xmas pics posted....