Grandkids

Things are hopping around here. We are keeping busy and having fun. I don't know how mommies blog. I can't seem to find the time. I am ready for bed and decided to blog a quick update. I had forgotten some things about children, they make adults tired. In addition to having children here, I am having to take high doses of antihistamines to battle the allergies from our smokey air. And antihistamines make me sleepy.

I have lots of cute pictures, still in my camera.

One child follows me around, chanting," grandma? GRANDMA? g r a n d m a ??? gggrrrandma??? " you know what I mean? and said child ALWAYS asks why? The boy is adorable.

The kids get along great and converse alot. I don't think they ever stop talking. e v e r
And they run and jump and hop and skip and slide across the floor and play hard, and I am so tired, how does watching kids expend energy make me lose energy? Maybe I need to take my vitamins?

Tonight they wanted to microwave and have so'mores before they went to bed. So they did.
They said they have decided to stay here all summer........ we'll have 2 more here in 3 weeks. This really is much fun!
I hope to share pictures soon. Right now the benedryl is kicking in and I have to be to work again early in the morning.

Weekend with the Grandkids

We're all having a grand time! Grandpa and Nana took naps this afternoon. Kids wear us out.

Daughter and grandson, plus two cats, arrived safe but tired Wednesday afternoon.

Jerry picked up his grandson and granddaughter from Idaho, Friday. I made it back home late Friday night, actually it was early Saturday morning.

I had a super birthday on Saturday. The kids had a delightful time riding horses all morning long. By afternoon all were hot and dusty. I suggested playing in the sprinklers. That was fun for maybe 10 minutes when Tristan suggested we go play in the American River. I said,"sure!" He said that's why grandparents are so 'grand', they spoil the grand kids. :-)

The evening was spent down in the American River. It was perfect. The kids thought it would be great to have rafts or tubes to float down but we don't have. They had so much fun and finally, reluctantly, we headed home.

Today they begged to ride horses from the time breakfast was finished. We saddled up and they rode for hours again today. It is hot out there but the sky is clearing and the air quality isn't as frightful as the past week has been.

The kids are all out back at Amy's place, in the air conditioning, playing a race car video game of some sort. They are all getting along very well. As soon as Grandpa wakes up, we'll put up his tepee tent for the youngsters to sleep in tonight. I am guessing that none of the three make it the entire night sleeping out there.

How 'Grand' it is!

I'm heading back home tomorrow night. I am not liking this long separation from my 'place' and my cowboy and my 4-legged family. Is the gypsy wander-lusting part of my personality fading away? Or am I merely exhausted by this two week stretch of hectic work and 'bad air'?








We are getting closer and closer to having the house as we want it. For the first time in my adult life, my living space reflects more of my partner's personality than my own. Jerry has definite ideas and decorates while I'm not there. (Maybe because sometimes I'll roll my eyes at his ideas.) I'm not real fond of the cowhide on the couch, but heck, he loves it. I'm more of a country and floral kind of gal, but the western theme is OK by me. I feel like we live in a vacation style western lodge. It's fun and unique.

This picture was taken when we first looked at our log house. Wide open spaces and lots of wood.

The same corner now; cowhide on the couch, western theme area rug decorated with 'brands', rodeo and western throw pillows.

The Cowboy Bar. Decorated with Jerry's cowboy pictures and old horse stuff. I will admit that the saddle is mine. It's a real pretty show saddle that I don't use and have kept in the house for a few years now. (So maybe some of the decorating ideas are mine)

We have this very tall wall in the bedroom over the bed. We found the picture at the horse expo earlier this month. That's a double bed, the guest room has a queen size bed, I want to switch beds, the other one doesn't, so the bed stays as is.

This is how Annie looked when I left two weeks ago. The kitties grow too fast. I was amazed at how much they had changed when I saw them last weekend.

Another reason that I am anxious to get home.... The daughter and grandson arrived in California today. The two of them plus two cats, traveled in a rental truck filled with their belongings, across the USA, to start a new life chapter in the West.

I join Cort in jumping with excitement!

AND! Tomorrow Jerry travels 1/2 way to Idaho to meet his son, to pick up his two grand kids for a stay with us in California at our western vacation log lodge. This picture was taken last year on our horse riding vacation in the mountains of Durango. Friends of Jerry's own this cool log cabin camp.

When I married Jerry, my family had heard of him but hadn't met him yet, didn't even know much about him. There was plenty of time, I had planned on a very long engagement, 5 years sounded about right to me. Somehow, we got married 3 weeks after I accepted my engagement ring..... When I called to tell my daughters, this one said something like, "oh cool, um, so do I, like, have any new step-siblings? Can you send pictures of my new family?" Well now she gets to meet her kind of new, step niece and nephew.

I can hardly wait to get home. It is going to be great spending time with our Grand kids this summer.

Baby Fawn - Baby Kittens

It was quite a stressful day at the hospital. Two more days at this clinic and then I head home. I enjoy this practice because it is busy, with challenging and interesting cases. I've known the staff since I moved to California and I call them friends.

This day was ugly, inside and out. I have never experienced more mean, angry, difficult people in one day, ever. I try to be understanding, I try to be a good listener, I try to help the critters.

Today I have definately decided that I want a new career; a trail guide perhaps, for a select small group, traveling to exotic places. Tom Seleck can be my first client.... *sigh* I am probably not really going to be a trail guide for Tom.

I have thought about it tonight, I don't want to be the one creating the grumpy clients. I don't think I was, but by the end of the day I was fed up and grumpy myself. I have a theory though. My guess is, that it is the weather. It is very hot and still. The fires in the foothills and mountains are still burning (hundreds of them from the freaky lightning strikes) The air is palpable. The setting sun is a dull red orb straining to be seen through the murky grey atmosphere. There is no relief. We have to shut ourselves away inside our homes and work places.

I decided to share some sweetness from a few weeks ago.

Not all that begins badly, ends that wasy.


Did you know that new baby fawns were so tiny? The gentle hands belong to a wildlife rescue fella, his heart is with the injured wild animals.





He brought her in a little dog kennel. The fawns struggle less if kept in a confined area, kind of like swaddling a baby. Her little rump had been shaved for surgery a few days before, to repair dog bite wounds. She was found after dogs got her and her momma didn't come back. Wild life rescue picked her up and the doc at this place fixed her up. I just looked at her for a recheck.



Remembering my severe allergic reactions to handling fawns over the winter, I just 'looked' at this one. No hands-on exam needed. After her injuries heal, she will be placed with other orphans and bottle fed in a manner that restricts any human contact with them. The goal is to release them back to the wild, with the ability to fend for themselves and have a healthy distrust of humans.

This story begins with a country home owner hearing pitiful cries coming from a small wooded area on her land. Deciding that the cries were not birds as she originally thought, she investigated. She found these three kittens...... duct taped to a tree trunk..... the tape binding their little bodies and heads tightly to the tree. Over 100 degrees that day, if she hadn't found them as early as she did, well, things would not have ended well for this trio.

I saw little Moe on Friday, he was the weakest of them, and sent him home with his rescuer with a few medications. Monday all three came in for exams, blood tests, wormings, and vaccinations. They are sweet and in general good health. Kitty rescuer says she will keep them, she is not about to trust them to any one else.

Big hugs to all of you animal lovers.

I'd love to read your favorite rescue story in comments.

Squirrel: The rest of the story

As a follow up on yesterday's dog vs/ little grey squirrel chapter. I am pleased to offer evidence that LGS is alive and well. I question his judgement in his choice of living quarters. He has obviously decided to live in an oak tree, sharing a front yard with my dog.








Most folks have birds living in their trees.

So far, I am sharing my trees with a family of racoons, a bunch of big bats and a mentally challenged, but cute, little grey squirrel.

And for those of you who suggested otherwise, how could I just let the dog snack on this little cutie?

Queensland Heeler or California Springer?

We have been guilty of encouraging Cort to chase the squirrels off our yard. Successfully evicting one big grey squirrel from our attic, we don't want to go through that again. We just tell Cort, "get the squirrel", when we see one and he does a fine job of sending them on their way. He runs them up the trees, then leaps, twists and follows them from tree to tree as they scold him loudly. Lately I have seen a small grey squirrel hanging around the oak trees in front.


I witnessed this inter-action recently, laughing at the silly squirrel and dog comedy act.
Up Cort leaps as little grey squirrel (LGS) scurries just far enough down the post to be out of reach.

As good ol' Cort begins his earth bound descent, LGS scampers back up to his perch on the fence post....

...... retreating just out of reach once again as Cort springs back into the air. My goodness Cort, what big, white teeth you have!

This little game went on and on for several minutes, up and down, down and up, back and forth.

I was starting to wonder when LGS was going to get tired of the barking, jumping, obnoxious dog and head off down the street.

LGS stopped the dog in a most unexpected manner.

He leaped off the fence post.... right into my dog's large open mouth.

Shocking me but pleasing the dog, I am sure. I dropped my camera, so have no photo to document the squirrel's suicide leap. I hollered, "DROP IT CORT!" -and he did!- I swear the dog gave me a look that loudly asked, "are you nuts? "

LGS panting, whimpering and limping, slowly climbed up the tree. Out of view and out of reach.

No more 'sicking' dog on squirrels........

The Eleventh...

Yesterday was our 11th month wedding anniversary... already! In one sense it seems like we've been married for a very brief moment in time, but then recall all that has occurred during that eleven months and it feels more like forever. I decided early on, to celebrate monthly wedding anniversaries because there is a better chance of reaching our Golden Fiftieth Anniversary(months). Not much of a shot at fifty years due to our advanced ages as newly weds.

I've been 5 hours away from home all week, working. Due to the price of fuel and the long distance, I had planned not to go home for the weekend. However, I got home-sick, and the temperature was already over 100 F by 10 a.m. , and it was our anniversary. When I called Jerry to let him know I was headed home, he went out and bought fishing licenses. The plan being to head up to a nearby mountain lake for some fly-fishing.

I got home mid afternoon, we packed sandwiches and drinks and headed for the mountains. But not until I had played with the crazy kittens, played with Cort, patted the horses, and wandered about admiring the flowers and gardens. Well, 'admiring' isn't exactly what I did when viewing our vegetable plants.


It was several degrees cooler at home than it was down in the Central Valley where I've been working. And it cooled more as we drove further into the Sierras. We stopped several times and hiked a bit, never did stop to fish though. The drive was just too nice.



Join us on our drive!

It doesn't take long for the vegetation to change from a mixed forest to a predominant evergreen forest. The clouds were building rapidly and the temperature drop was refreshing.

I love seeing the mountains in the distance.




And the clouds kept building deeper and darker. In some areas the pavement was dark, wet and steamy from recent showers.

This is the forest just west of the Lake Tahoe Basin. Lots of trails, camping, rivers and lakes in this area. There was NO traffic

We drove off on a small logging road and found a nice clearing for our dinner picnic.

We had each eaten half a sandwich when the rains came down. Finishing dinner in the truck seemed a better choice than braving the rain and gobs of mosquitoes. There was plenty of thunder booming all around.

On the drive back home, we pulled over to enjoy this colorful sunset.

I took a lot of sunset pictures, playing around with different settings and effects; this is one of my favorites.

Did you notice this little detail, to the left of the first sunset? Smoke from a forest fire. We noticed two separate fires on our way home. Jerry has a scanner in his truck so we were listening in on some of the firefighters and helicopter pilots discussions. I had no idea he had a scanner radio..... He has a lot of electronic and phone stuff in that truck. I guess 11 months isn't enough time to know everything about Jerry.

This morning there were news reports of over 400 fires started in northern California from that storm and all of the lightning strikes! We could smell smoke in the morning air when we got up today. No fire threats close to us thankfully.

This afternoon I drove south again and here I am for another week of work.

This area suffered 108 degree temperature while I was gone. Man! That is hot.

Sweet dreams everyone.