Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Not as fun as it sounds for poor Chris.  On Christmas Eve we got about 6-8 inches of snow added to our foot-and-a-half we already had.  So Chris spent Christmas morning plowing and snow-blowing ourselves and our elderly neighbors out of our driveways!

This is a cool shot of the lamp-post Chris put in the center of our driveway.  I knew it was going to look really Chronicles of Narnia-like when it snowed.  There is about a foot of snow on top of the lamp and I took this photo about Midnight on Christmas Eve.

Here's Mikey's trampoline as of Christmas Day.  Check out the amount of snow and ice-cycles on our roof.  And for a contrast, check out the picture below of Brenda, Meghan and the girls jumping on it this past summer.

As warm as it's gonna get for a while.

I got up at 6:00am to take Meghan to the bus stop today because it was 0.5 degrees outside, but the bus never came.  This was odd because the road, even though there was snow, was clear.  So we came home and the phone was ringing and it was the School Bus Company letting us know that there would be a 2 hour delay for the buses coming, and that probably they wouldn't come at all, because the diesel fuel had frozen!  This was odd, because there have been many days, and I'm sure many more to come where the temperature is well-below Zero.  So, the kids didn't have school today - they were thrilled.  3.2 degrees was about as warm as it got today at about 3:00pm.  It's supposed to get colder tomorrow.  Brrrrrrr!

Still Snowing...

The making of the Houser Family Christmas Picture - Out-take

Here's Chris trying out the new snow blower.  Sure it's fun the first time, but ask him how fun it is in another month or two!

The First REAL Snow of the Year

Yesterday we got about 4 inches of snow and it is supposed to keep snowing until Monday.  Michael and Carly had fun in it today.  You would think a Boxer wouldn't like the snow, but Carly thinks its a blast.  She loves it when Michael throws snow at her.

Camp Run-A-Muck

Chris and I went and walked around Sunriver Village this weekend and bought this sign for our entry way... Isn't it adorable?

My Studio / Work Area

Chris just hung these handy spice racks behind my torch to hold all my glass frits. 

Also, he put magnetic strips on my work bench to hold my glass shards and my tools.  It has made my space more "user-friendly".  

You can also see to the left of my torch area the cool shelving unit I built to store my beads.  It's not full (yet!) but each slot holds a standard size jewelry display tray.  To the right of my torch, you can see (kinda) the glass storage that I built to go over my oxygen concentrator.  

Honey... Could you tell the Bobcat to get off the kitchen table?!?!

Well, it's not like telling the housecat to get off the table, that's for sure.  When Edward decides he wants to nap on the table...  We let him!

Kitchen Before Pictures...

Kitchen After Pictures

Camping Trip

This weekend we took the boat and camper and spent the weekend at Crane Prairie Resort.  Silly me left the memory card out of the camera so I could only take a couple pictures.  But I got a couple of good ones!  Here are  a couple of bird shots I took from the boat:

We thought this was a bald eagle, but he is a beautiful bird anyway...  But later we saw this...

Our friend Shawn from California (who moved to Oregon as well) joined us on our camping trip.  He and Chris did some fishing, but despite my demand for a fish dinner, they didn't catch anything. 

Happy Fathers Day!

On this fine Fathers Day we took the dad's out fishing on the new boat.  We have had the boat now for 3 weeks and this was the first nice day we've had due to our freakishly weird weather.  Here is "Captain Chris" driving us around Crane Prairie Reservoir, which is just 20 minutes from our house.

Here's Putt's.  I don't know much about fishing, but I don't think he's watching his pole very too closely.

Here is a shot of the boat from the dock.

We had a picnic at the camp ground that is on the lake.  We could actually pull the boat on shore right up to the camping spot and hop off and have a BBQ and then get back on the boat and continue fishing.  Plus, to camp right on the lake here is only $12.00!

Edward

This is the newest member of our family.  Edward is a 4 year old bobcat who was needing a loving home.  He was bottle fed and raised as an indoor cat for most of his life.  He is just like a giant, lovable house cat.  He loves to be petted and loved and is very playful.  He weighs about 45 pounds and is the size of a medium sized dog.  He eats a raw chicken leg-thigh piece a day and we give him little chicken drum-ettes and gizzards as snacks.

Edward came with his own little friend, Itty-Bitty (a grey tabby cat).  The picture below shows Edward and Itty-Bitty jumping off the kennel at the same time.  It's a cool shot because it shows how fast Edward is and it also shows how much bigger he is than the average house cat.   

Michael's Opening Day of Baseball

Today was opening day for Michael's 8th year of Little League. He is now in the Majors and playing for the Devil Rays. Today was opening ceremonies and the first game. Although they lost, Michael was 2 for 2 with a single and a ground rule double which would have been an in-park homerun. This picture is his first hit, a single. Way to go Michael!!!

A Cat's Life!

What can be sooooo interesting to keep Shibby staring out the window for hours? Well, I have to admit that I, too, could watch the bird feeder for hours. Here are a few critters out there today:

I really need to get a bird book to identify all the pretty birds that come to visit our feeder. I think this is a sparrow?

And this is one of our bushy-tailed grey squirrels. We give them Peanuts and they are happy.And this is poor little Scrappy. He SHOULD look like the pretty grey squirrel above, but apparently the other animals hate him because he is totally beat up. He has no tail and he is covered with boo-boos. Chris wants to kill him to put him out of his misery, but I won't let him. Poor little squirrel.

Try Looking Up

You'd be amazed and some of the really interesting things you can see when you just look up...

Enjoying the family on a beautiful day...

We were able to get out and enjoy the sunshine today. There is an archery shoot next weekend that we plan on going to, and since we haven't shot our bows in about 5 years, we figured we'd better get out and practice so we don't look foolish out there. Here is Meghan and Michael looking like they've not forgotten a thing. The nice thing about having a big driveway is that we have plenty of room to shoot. And here is Carly, enjoying the sun while taking a dog nap.

Yet another reason why we moved to Bend...

THE BALD EAGLE

We have seen him perched on top of this tree by the nest for a month now. This tree is located on the golf course that we drive by every single day on the way to and from work. We have tried to get his picture and we either don't have the camera with us, or when we have the camera he is not there. Finally, this morning at 6:30am Chris called me from the cell phone to tell me he was there! So, I put on my snow boots, grabbed the camera and headed down. I had to jump the fence of the golf course, that was clearly posted "NO TRESPASSING" and I got as close to the tree as I could without scaring him away and this is one of the shot's I got. If you have ever been to our house, this is taken right next to the boat launch on the river by the bridge on the way to our house (Spring River Road).

Skies of Blue...

Today, for a short while we had a glorious blue sky... Isn't it pretty?Now we have to try to get some of this snow off our roof before the roof caves in on us! So, guess who is the best man for the job? Mikey. Here he is on our front porch shoveling away. After he was done, he "fell" off the roof in a giant pile of snow. It was so much fun, he did it three times.

Goliath!

This is the Goliath Icicle that was hanging in front of our living room window. Tonight we noticed that it was leaking into our window so Chris went out to slay Goliath.

Here is Chris "riding" Goliath (but I think we all know he's having some wishful thinking!).This is how big around Goliath was at about the middle.And this is what happened when we put the flashlight at the top of Goliath.

More snow pictures!

Chris got home from training and he has officially taken over my duties as primary snow remover - thank goodness! Today we have gotten atleast 8 inches of snow, added to the 3 feet we already have on the ground.This is the poor Camry. It hasn't been driven since it started snowing. Hope we don't need to get into it in an emergency!

Ice Curtain and Studio Pictures

We have many icicles around our house, but today this is what appeared outside our back door. The Ice has formed on our outdoor party lights (that we should have taken down before winter hit!). It looks like an Ice Curtain, pretty cool, aye?And here are some better pictures of the inside of my new studio. Chris and my mom went together for my birthday to buy me a really awesome new digital camera. My old one was really on it's last legs. So I went from 4 megapixels to 8 megapixels.

This is my work area. It's a mess right now because it's not nearly complete yet. We just got it done enough for me to start working again. I am going to add more wall cabinets and also I am going to add pegboard with special loops to hold my glass on the wall to the left of my torch area. And when Chris get's home from training he is going to move my propane outside for the torch. It's a dangerous "No No" having it inside like this, but I couldn't wait to start making beads.This is a shot of the pretty aspen scenery picture that my mom painted for me. It matches my walls beautifully. And the curtain on my window I made about 10 years ago. I just love the fabric so much that I have kept the curtain that long!

This is my propane space heater and my other window that is very dirty. I really need to put some kind of window treatment up soon because at night it gives me the creeps because it's like a giant black hole in my wall. We have the propane run outside for the heater, as we will with the torch propane. In the spring, we will have a large permanent propane tank installed. Then I won't have to lug propane cylinders to the gas station anymore - they will come and fill me up.