Happy New Year!

Nothing like coming home from work on New Years Eve and getting stuck in your own drive way. I guess it's time to retire the Camry for the winter and break out the Explorer.

Poor Chris... He just want's to come in the house and get warm and have some New Year snack foods.

He tried to pull it with the quad, but in the end, the snow shovel saved the day.

Carly got a snow mustache trying to help Dad shovel out. It's a good thing she has brown spots or we might lose her in the snow.

Little Drummer Ninja

Merry Christmas!

Meghan got a Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader so she can now buy digital books. No more paper books, she has entered the future of reading. Unfortunately, she won't get it until January 11th so she only has the gift certificate to show for it - poor Meghan. But it will be worth the wait with as many books as she reads. She also got a bunch of other cool stuff and Neema got her several hoodie sweatshirts (her favorite) and other clothes. She also handpainted her a pair of Twilight Converse high-top tennis shoes that are really cool. Neema and Papa sure know how to make Christmas special!
This is Michaels main gift... A set of drums that can be played with his X-box or like a real drum set. Neema and Papa got him a cool stool for the drum set (not in this picture) and some nice clothes and a GameCrazy gift card.
Chris got spoiled as well... Mom and Larry bought him this really cool popcorn maker that looks like a movie theater popcorn maker. He was so excited as soon as he got home he had to make some popcorn at midnight! They also got him a nice nuts, bolts & washer set, and a Harbor Freight gift card. I got him a Blue Ray player and some movies, a new wallet and some books.
I got totally spoiled this year! Although the above gifts look more like something for Chris, they are actually jewelry making tools that I have been wanting for a long time. I will be able to make true silver lined Pandora style beads that you see at major jewelry stores. And, most importantly, Chris got me an Ipod Touch so I can listen to music and go on the internet wherever I can find access.

All in all, we had a great Christmas this year. Hope everyone who reads this were equally as blessed :)

Managing Slush

Well, last week we had -24 degree frigid weather. This week it is 55 degrees and all the snow has melted and made our driveway a slush pit. So Chris had to get out and move the slush around so that when it gets cold again we don't have an ice-skating rink for a driveway.

Being that we don't have a garage, and we converted 1/2 of the carport into a bobcat habitat, Chris had to get creative to keep the quad dry until we build a garage next year. My parents gave us a chain-link dog run they weren't using and we made it into a make-shift quad garage.

Chris put Carly's jacket on and went in the house to get his gloves and came out to find that Carly was ready to go!

Nothing like a boy and his dog :)

And speaking of bobcat... We have completely finished the habitat. The last thing we had to do was build his den, which we did and it turned out nice.

Last Monday when it was -24 silly me thought that perhaps it was too cold out there for the bobcat. So at 6:30am I was out there getting him in his travel cage and bringing him in the house to lock him in the bathroom where it was nice and toasty. Later that day, when the kids got home from school, Mikey let the dogs out to go potty and Mr. Fuzzybutt Bobcat reached his paw under the door and grabbed LiLi, our little Shih Tzu, playfully. But playing with a bobcat isn't very smart for a little dog. We thought he broke his leg and he had some nasty gashes from his claws but I managed to doctor him up and he was walking just fine in a couple days.

Just about done...

The big cat habitat is nearly done. We were able to put him in tonight, we just need to do some finishing touches on his "decor". But as you can see, he has much more room to play. We added his old cage on the outside, so he has a sunroom to play outside.

And this is a shot thru the chain link. We added one tree so far and we will add some more going in different angles so he can climb. Chris is going to build him a nicer "den" that will be high up off the ground.

This is him sharpening his claws on a tree log. He seems a lot smaller in the much bigger cage.

Timmmmmber!!!!!!!

Well, after making several phone calls over a few months I had to send a certified letter to the electric company to get them to come out and cut down 2 trees that were dead on our property. I sent the certified letter on Friday letting them know that if the tree should fall on our house (or the neighbors) our homeowners insurance company will hold them responsible. So today, Wednesday (just 3 business days later), they were here bright and early to cut our trees down. The power of the written word is amazing.

And these are Mikey's homemade pumpkin muffins for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Happy Fricken' Birthday to Me...

Poor Chris... Today is his birthday and we woke up to 9 inches of snow, and it's still falling. So that meant he had to get up and go plow the driveway, shovel the back patio and snow blow our walkways to the workshops.

Here is our patio table.

Exactly 9 inches at about 11:00am.

Habitat for Felinity

You have probably heard of the wonderful charity called "Habitat for Humanity", well this is kind of like that... We are building a house for a less fortunate cat :) Although he is going from an apartment to a mansion, he will actually be quite spoiled.

The whole family was involved today. Her is Mikey putting in heavy duty staples to fasten the caging down.

Meghan is digging a trench to bury the next wall.

This is the next wall being assembled that will go where Meghan dug the trench next to the boat. Notice the dusting of snow on the ground? It was a cold day but we were comfortable most of the day with just sweatshirts on. It didn't snow, that is leftover from a couple days ago.

Starting the new bobcat habitat, finally!

As you can see, this is fuzzy-butts current home. A 6'x6' dog kennel. Clearly not what we want for him. He needs something bigger so that he can climb and get some exercise. So he will soon have the whole side of the carport - basically the whole area you see from ground to ceiling. We're going to place logs in there that he can climb on and his current 6x6 cage will be added out the front of the enclosure so he can go out and have some sunshine.

So today we started with the side wall.

We framed the wall out in a clearing - which unfortunately has a few inches of snow. We worked until about 6:00pm and it was dark out when we were done. But Chris got the whole side wall framed and is ready to mount to the side and hang caging on it.

In the mean time, we took the big-boy out of his cage so that the power tools didn't stress him out too much. So he got to have a change of scenery for a few hours today.

Long time, no blog...

It's been about a month since I posted last. I think we have just been kind of crazy with time change and getting ready for winter. Getting ready for winter is something we never had to do in California. Getting ready for winter means making sure that everything that you don't want buried in snow for 5 months gets put in a safe place.

Chris has made a little bit of progress on the Bronco. He bought a used set of rims off of Craigslist and actually found a nice set of "manly" tires at our thrift shop (of all places!). So now the Bronco looks like it runs :)

And, good news for me :) When Chris was getting our storage shed ready for winter, he found a box I've been looking for that has my antique book collection. They fit perfectly in my studio on the cupboards over my torch.

Autumn Colors are here.

This is a view down our driveway. All our Aspens are a pretty yellow. Also, it looks as if we have a ghost haunting our driveway?

Our Aspens in the middle of our circular driveway.

This is some kind of Maple that is in our back yard. It's a vibrant red and orange.

This is some kind of exotic pine tree. In the Fall, the needles turn bright yellow and completely fall off. In the Spring, it gets really soft light green needles that look and feel like grass. My dad thought it was dead the first year we lived here and told us to cut it down. I'm sure glad I didn't!

High-tech Dodger game watching

Chris and Eric were able to watch the Dodger game last night together even though they were 800 miles apart. They linked up with Skype with our computer's video camera's and were able to yell and scream together. The girls were able to sing and perform Uncle Chris songs and it was just like they were in our living room with us. I guess, you'd have to say this is a picture of Eric sitting on Chris's lap - ha!ha! Amazing!

I think the deer are getting spoiled...

This is the deer we have named Sascha. She is the one that comes running when she hears food. One morning she actually blocked the driveway and wouldn't move for the car. She just stood there and looked at me as if to say "your not leaving until you fill my dish!".

She's ALIVE!!!

Make sure you're volume is on to fully appreciate this video :)

After much work Chris has been able to determine that the motor that came in the Bronco runs. And she sound great.

My pretty cabinet doors!

I decided my cupboard doors above my torch were too plain, so my mom painted a beautiful winter tree scene with the Northern Lights in the back ground - aren't they gorgeous?

So now I have just a few little touches to do to my studio and it will be perfect. I am getting a new oxygen concentrator next week, as mine is gasping on it's last breath (literally!).

Meghan as Bella??

I think she'd definitely do it, but who would she choose? Edward or Jacob? Only Meghan knows and I'm sure she's not going to tell us!

I got new flooring!

Not exactly our "plan" for the weekend (especially for poor Chris). But I got a good deal on it and I was getting tired of looking at my plywood floor.

So, we had to move almost all my stuff into the backyard.

This is my ugly old floor - yuck!

This is it when it was almost done. We managed to get it done in 4 hours - not bad. Now we have to run to town tomorrow to get the molding and I can start putting everything back together. Except I'm going to stain my work-bench, I have been planning on doing it and I might as well as long as everything is all torn apart.

Stormy Weather Canoeing!

I like to take the canoe out in the early evening because all the animals seem to be out at that time and there usually isn't anyone else on the river. We've seen deer, owls, blue heron, otters, beavers, pine martens, osprey, hawks and more. Last night we took the canoe out at about 6:30 and we saw about 6 baby deer up at different places. But, about an hour into the 2 hour paddle it started to thunder and lightening. So, we paddled rather quickly and made it an hour and a half paddle!

You can see the stormy sky. By the time we got the canoe out the winds were making waves in the river and the sky was dark and it was rumbling with thunder. We got out just in time!

Towel Warmer??

Went to get a clean towel out of the dryer this morning... It was nice and warm, but not from the dryer heat! Crazy cat. Luckily I didn't just shut the door and turn it on to fluff them up!

Here deer deer deer!

Tonight, we noticed a deer across the street. Remembering that there was no food in the feeder I rushed out front to fill up the bowl. The deer was standing across the street looking at me down the driveway. When she saw me coming with the food bowl, she actually came running to me as if I just yelled "Here deer deer deer!". She got as close as 2 feet from me as I was putting the bowl down. Then Shibby (our little orange tabby cat) decided she wanted to get a closer look at the deer. She has been known to actually chase deer out of our driveway - crazy cat!

The Quest is ON for the Bigger Fish!

Chris can't let his little brother catch a bigger fish :) He caught this beauty this morning at the same spot that Eric caught his beast a couple weeks ago (see post below).

This big guy is 24 inches long and weighed in at 6 pounds. In the event that this is the biggest fish Chris ever catches, he wants to get it mounted by a taxidermist. Plus, it will look good with our cabin decor in our living room.

Camry is like new again!

Well, the poor Camry has been sitting for 2 years. We have been battling to get a copy of the title with California DMV since we moved up here. We finally got it, and I got her registered to in Oregon. Other than a dead battery that quickly charged, she runs like she did the day we bought her in 1995. So, you can imagine how bad she looked after 2 hard winters and being covered in pine pitch and needles. Mikey's best friend's dad is a car detailer in Sunriver and he did an awesome job getting her looking brand new again. I was amazed at how clean he was able to get her and to even make her oxidized paint shine again. So, if you are in Sunriver and need a car detail go see Casey at Sunriver Auto Detailing in the Sunriver business park.

This ones a LITTLE BIT better :)

Eric caught a 27 inch 10 pound German Brown. There were Forest Service workers collecting river samples at the river and said that they estimate this fish has lived in the river for 7-8 years.

And here's Chris's little fishy :)

Here's a size comparison :)

The fish could eat a Shih Tzu! Poor Belle!