the end of January....

The end of January was beautiful..we had freezing fog, which is very pretty. After that there was a day of soft, fluffy magical snow. It made the world even more beautiful than it was before! Moses on the other hand, was not as impressed. He decided to climb a tree and got stuck. Needless to say, he got down by himself..after I hauled the ladder out and over to the tree. The snow and frost vanished fairly rapidly and left us with spring.

The tree across the road and one near a friend's house.

I wanted snow for my birthday, but it did not happen. Oh, well...I did find a couple of teeny tiny daffodil spears sticking up through the hard ground and if I can't have snow, I will take daffodils!

Finally got to read The History of the Snowman by Bob Eckstien. You MUST find it and read it. It is a wonderfully intellectual and fun read.

skipped notes

Many things have happened in the last whiles. Not the least has been that our computer has been in a state of hiccups. It worked, but only if the phone was on. Very odd and the kindly man who visited us removed a phone jack splicer and now it is faster than ever!

One of the most amusing things that I have had happen, has to do with whales. My Sunday school class is made up of boys grades 3-5. I have a running total of 1-7 depending on the day and the weather. This particular Sunday we had two. We talked about the story of Jonah and discussed how whiny he was (really, he was!) and then made itsy bitsy Jonah's from pipe cleaners and whales from empty milk jugs. As the boys wanted to make boats and I had extra stuff, they did. Using the whales and pipe cleaner dudes, you are supposed to toss the dude in the air and catch it in the whale mouth. Simple, huh? So, I sent the boys out into the sanctuary to play while I tidied up the room. (my room opens out into the sanctuary and is VERY cold most of the time). After I finished my chores, I walked into the sanctuary, where the sounds had changed from really noisy to not so noisy, and almost froze in shock! I had forgotten there were two baptisms that morning, which meant the baptismal was full of water.

Now, if YOU were a boy and had a little guy who floated, boats, and whales, and water...what would YOU do????

Exactly. They had pushed aside the curtain hiding the baptismal and were having a great time! I suggested they keep quiet, roll up their sleeves, and admonished them not to fall in and proceeded to watch them slosh Jonah from the tipsy boats and then scoop him up with the big mouthed whales. I also was thankful that no more...umm....proper member came up during the play to become distressed with turning the baptismal into a tub!!!!


Here, for your edification is a whale I put together from the leftover bits. I got the directions online and it was very simple! Jonah was more difficult. He is just a couple bits of pipe cleaner twisted together and clothed in a bit of cloth. I had more red than other colors, so our Jonah's are a bit sunburned.

Books being read: Not the Brian Jacques one pictured, although it is VERY good. I picked up some more Tamora Pierce again and one written by an 88 year old lady that is the size of the Portland Yellow pages. It is about a women's club...have not gotten very far in it yet and can see where it should go, but as it has about 3 and 1/2 inches of closely type written pages left, I am not sure how convoluted the trails to those ends will be!!!

AR notes

OK, here is yet another Henry. Personally, I think it should be black instead of silver, but that is the way it came. It comes in this small box that Jon is holding...really! And see what was in it? Looks kinda like it needs a lampshade, huh?

And when you open the stock up you find:

Lots of parts, this last item is the rear sight.

Here it is all empty. Now it can float! But it is NOT a certified flotation device. I could not find any mention of such thing in the manual.

Once it gets put together in the proper order you have a
U.S. Survival Rifle, perfect for Bear Grylls..if he ever decided that pre-killed raw zebra wasn't tasty enough.

you gotta go and see this!

On the blogs I read and vist (on the right) there is one called Living the Travel Channel. My friends Karla and Paul are in the (I hope I got this correct...) UAE for a while and this is their very interesting blog. In the latest post, she and her husband bought some toys because they are pretty offbeat...well, there is a beat to the desert warrior camel, but it IS off beat, too!!!! Anyway, pop over to their site and watch the videos Karla made..be prepared to chuckle.


On a more US note, freezing fog is really beautiful!!!! And Rod and Dot are having their anniversary today...of many years!

this photo was taken in '07.

Dinner Muse

Well, he might not be a muse, but he is amusing! I am so glad I did not have to go to school with him today! He is in rare form...or maybe he is just himself and we were more attune to it today.

Dinner takes less than a hour, to eat, not prepare. Our conversation covered a wide range of subjects. I made a soup using potatoes that I had used in a previous roast. I don't peel my potatoes for two reasons (I am lazy and they are supposed to be more healthy). Jon observed that 'these potato peels come off just like model decals do...'

Appetizing, huh?

Steve made a comment about his hair. It is shorter, but it has a tendency to curl and it annoys Steve. He asked Jon why he pulled his hair forward around his ears. Jon said that he just gets it all wet in the morning and lets it do as it likes. It is expressive hair.

'Expressive?'

Later, we were discussing music to sleep by. (Jon has been listening to a Jim Croce greatest hits he found on the side of the road) When Jon was little he listened to lots of piano music. One of my friends got us a CD by David Lanz. Jon did not remember it, so I put it in. As we listened to it, he remarked, "It kinda rings a bell. Not like a church bell, more like a Christmas bell you hear outside of Walmart."

He's our ding a ling.

As dinner neared the end we went through the mail on the table. Jon had a letter from the church. It had been sent Jan 9 and we just got it today. Steve asked if it had Grandma's address on it. At the same time I asked if it read PO box 42. Jon, confused said, "It reads 97813."

Which is the zip code. One question at a time, parental units!

His parting comment after dinner was: Do you know what depleted uranium music is? Obviously, we had no idea and wondered if it was something Mr. Griggs taught them about in science. His answer: Heavy Metal. And it was NOT Mr. Griggs, it was pure Jonathan.

He gets his permit in two weeks. Maybe.

The oddest thing I find, is that this son of ours is the almost the exact same age as a friends'...and HER son plays sports and dresses well and likes girls. Jon does guns, casual camo, and jazz music.

And random comments.

skips in the record.....

Let's see, it's a good chance that the taxes on our house are going up. Due to the new addition we had a very nice assessor visit us and I found out the house had not been re-valued since 1979!!!!!!!!

I have been called a few times to sub in Pendleton, but have had to refuse. Not because I am too busy, but because we live too far away! In Tillamook I could get ready in 15 minutes and get to town. I could do that here, but they usually call me about 40 minutes before they need me. I think we are about at least probably 30 min from Pendleton and then I would have to find the school and then some parking! Parking lots in Pendleton schools are very large! I am so frusterated!

There is a job I am doing an interview in the morning for. It is part time, which is a very good thing. The bad part is that the job is from 5am to 8am..and I detest mornings. But, I will do it because it would be a very good job and it is in town. The very worst part is that I don't think I can count on one finger the jobs I have gotten when interviewed for them. I have walked into interviews professionally, casually, positive, nervous, and nothing seems to work. Maybe if I walk into it knowing I won't get it...but that seems so defeatest. Sometimes, I am the second one chosen and the first one bails, so I get it by default. We'll see what happens!

And this morning, Jon put on one of his 'new' Salvation Army shirts (it is cute, all white and says in purple and orange letters, 'ExFed'.), and arrived for breakfast. Now, I washed that shirt just after we bought it. I dried it and then folded it and put it in his room. I generally don't do this, but got really grumpy with the state of his floor and tidied up for him. He was grumpy back, but the deed was done! At any rate, the 'new' shirt was thoroughly wrinkled! I, in a very annoyed voice, said, "Jon, I washed that shirt, dried it and folded it, and now it is wrinkled."

He responded, 'yeah.'

"Why?????" I asked.

'Well, it looks better this way,' he answered.

And there we have it.

vote for snowman!

Visit the today's snowman site on my links and vote for your fav snowman. I put ours in, but didn't give it a cute name. This is my first snowman contest!!!! LOL.

No snow, snow..No snow, snow...

Kind of like he loves me, he loves me not!!!

We had fairly clear weather to PDX to get Tony to the airport. Most of our lovely Christmas snow had melted and we ran into some gicky stuff in the Gorge, but all in all the roads were fine. We had dear Z meet us again at the airport. I managed to take the pix when his eyes were closed. Tony wore his War Pigs shirt from boot..Boom Shakahlakah!!!!!

Before we got there, Tony ran around Best Buy and got a new puter..I looked at cameras and did not find one. There are too many cameras out there..it is too hard to decide!!! Then he had to rush to the boarding area cuz we dinked around too much!! It was very awful. I cried and cried.

On Friday, Jan 2..it snowed again. I only took one photo because they were starting to look all the same!!!

This snow pretty much vanished. There was some left, but nothing to bother with. Until Sunday night. It stormed and blew and snowed and we even had snow coming in our skylight!!!!!! It was amazing and of course, there was no school on Monday for the first day of school!!!! At 730 am we had a huge drift on our sidewalk, which Jon did NOT move. He said it looked too cool!!! He was right, but it is in the way.

Everything is pretty much back to normal..we have wind and it is kind of warmish out. Very amazing Christmas break. Jon hoped that school would be out on Tuesday, too..just to make it even on both ends of the break, but they went back today! I think he said today they ended up with 19 days of break due to the weather!!

Digging out plant books...I can see that spring might be somewhere around the corner!!!

Seasonal Lyrics...

'I'm dreaming of a White Christmas'...or perhaps..'I'll be home for Christmas'...or "Rudolf with your nose so bright, I want you to guide my sleigh tonight' or we could carol, 'All I want for Christmas is..' or even 'Frosty the Snowman had to hurry on his way..' They all fit this really unusual week of Christmas and weather.

Christmas Eve day was a horrid, windy, snowy, stormy day. We were able to get Tony (who flew in to Pendleton), so we were thankful. Then just after 6pm, Athena was closed off on both sides! No one could get in or out!!!! Santa really needed Rudolf! Often our Christmas Eve's were spent putting together one thing or another. This year, however, it was a bit different. Steve located and eradicated ice in our new linen closet!!!!!! I was very glad our linen was in totes and boxes. The one cardboard box was close to the water puddle, but escaped! Lots of houses had leaks show up this year.

Christmas Day was very low key. It was sunny and cheerful, but Steve did lots of snow and ice removal. We even had bent icicles on our heavily coated roof. It took out the bird feeders when it slid off!! The boys played video games and watched movies and helped bring Grandpa and Grandma dinner and presents. (They were cut off for almost a week, all total!)

After Christmas, Steve had the day off, so the boys went out and drove all over the place and eventually bought real live toys. Tony found his Henry and it is VERY pretty. They got lots of other things, too. I would try to blog their Christmas haul, but I would most likely get it totally wrong. So, anyone who is interested will just have to contact Steve or Tony. It would be more efficient that way!!!

My dear little snowman went from the cute little guy in a previous post to this--after I cleared him off--, to a melted blob that recalled that disgusting scene from Raiders where the guys' face falls off. I picked up all the bits, dried them off, and will bring them out whenever we get snowman snow again.

Mum sent me a really cool picture fairy tale book for Christmas which was wonderful and Jon got me a gift certificate, so have read, will read, and am looking forward to reading soon!!!!!

Measuring the snow beats!

Well, in response to Noelle who is in a very snowy Portland, here are some photos of snow in Athena. Well, more photos. I decided to use the ones with the ruler!

December 17, 2008 and the level really didn't move too much for a bit. We had the wind and the drifting, so some snow did get 'pushed' off the railing. I took the ruler down when it was windy and put it back later.

Steve was able to break off ice from the roof and shoveled some snow on Saturday, but it was a gentle day. Cold, but not real snowy. Sunday morning, however, we had more snow. Jon and I walked to church. Steve drove so he could get his parents.

The second photo is looking up third street. Our house in on the left and we are standing next to the old vacant lot where the old school was. It is no longer vacant and has scads of houses on it.

ACC and the parsonage. We are not sure why the icicles are gicky brown!!! Jon said it looked like the church had bad teeth!!!

Then, this morning we got up after watching White Christmas last night and seeing more snow fall, to this! Can you find the ruler??????

Even Teddy, who usually likes snow, was quick to get back inside after visiting one of his favorite bushes.

Not reading much, doing a few holiday things and trying to get Tony home. He is in Washington!!!

Winter Oddities

Yup, we still have winter. I was impressed with the snow last weekend, but now I am truly in awe. There is so much snow we don't know what to do with it. Unfortunately, it is not snowman snow. Just shoveling snow. Lots and lots of shoveling!

View of house from road and view down 3rd street by our fence and past our utility trailer.

However, the very strangest thing we have seen was on our feeder. Jon asked me this morning what kind of bird here is green with yellow underneath. I said, 'None.' He said, 'Well, there is one outside.' And he was right. On our feeder with all the juncos, finches, and sparrows was a totally out of place parakeet!!!!!!!! We tried to catch him, but it flew off. We saw it several times and I called city hall to report it in case someone 'missed' him. However, we have not seen it since noon. I hope it is ok. It is getting colder out and the poor thing looked so unprepared for the snow we were getting.

We had lots of wind the other night and school has been cancelled for 2 days. So, Christmas break started early here. The wind caused the snow to drift and although we got even more snow than before, it is powder stuff and with the drifting, has changed the level. We probaby have more than 8 inches. Steve's parents were so snowed and drifted in they had a road closed sign in the middle of their drive!!!! But, it was really for the road beyond their house. Steve moved it when he took his truck and packed the snow in a path to and from their house. Then, we got more snow today!

Jon-yesterday- with a packed snow clump and today with a 'sword' of ice.

Reading Christmas mysteries and making cookies. We decorated some very hard sugar cookies. A friend in Tillamook gave me the recipe and hers are always nice and soft. She tends to make hearts and they are really delish. Our snowmen are a bit....well, odd!!!!

The Weather Outside's 'Delightful'....

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!!!!!

Yup, we have snow. Finally. I was starting to think we might have to have a brown Christmas, but ol' Jack Frost pulled through rather nicely. In fact, it snowed on Saturday and was a nice damp perfect for snowman snow. Sunday, however, it is just a lovely very cold snowy day. Lots of powder on top of the sticky snow and now it is dropping past 13 degrees at 420pm. BRRRRR. But, very pretty outside.

Jonathan made a wonderful snowman over 7 1/2 feet tall, but it leaned a bit too far to one side and now is just a large monument to artistic endeavors of frozen water. He used the extension ladder to roll the balls up the height of snow and the wheel barrow to haul more snow from other parts of the yard. Mine is cuter. I used the snowman parts I made from a craft pattern and is it not just Disney?????

Before church, I took a few photos of the white expanse in front of the house. Are the icicles not beautiful??? However, when the snow starts to slip off the roof it is going to sound like the house is caving in!!!!!

And who needs a television when you have a window feeder???

Just finished a new Brian Jacques book, Eulalia! Totally wonderful read!

Buy De-Solv-it!!!

Yup, that is my new mantra. I love that stuff. It is like Goo be gone, but a little different. Let me explain. We have in our backyard a cute little house. It had been used to store a motorbike..Steve fixed the wall that was missing and we started cleaning. Several of the shelves were used for 'parts' and were very greasy..this awesome product cleaned it up slicker than a whistle! (although, that is an ambiguous saying in itself..I have kids who have had some really gicky whistles!!!) So, either buy the stuff, buy stock in the stuff, or at the very least, marry into the company! It is WONDERFUL!

Photos of our little house:
Unfinished wall Steve is rebuilding.

Shelving in the little house, yes there are built in drawers and cupboards that are super cute! There are larger drawers underneath the shelves and on the right hand side there is a desk unit that slides out of the wall.

These are the shelves that were gicky. I didn't get the camera until I was almost done cleaning them, but the oil slick extended from the end of the shelves (all three of them) to the De Solv It bottle in the right hand photo. The third shelf had been taken down so I could reach it for cleaning. It is a smallish room, but very nifty and perfect for friends to stay in. We have a futon that will sit next to the wall Steve is working on and our old living room carpet and pad will cushion the floor. Eventually, we will get a half bath for it. There is a place that can be used for it, but I want my master bath done first!

Here are the boys and Maxwell. Note, Tony bought an xbox thingy. LOL. I think I have tripped over parts of it, but that is the extent of my experience with it.

Reading Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, again!