It's that Time of Year Again

Well, after saying I was staying in CA for the week, Ricky called to say he was leaving Wednesday instead of Tuesday, so I hitched a ride... Ok I DROVE.. home with him.  As I age, I don't like being away from Paul and home. So I'm visiting Blogs and doing a quick post, thus avoiding the call of re-packing and laundry before we leave for CA tonight. 

This time of year has always been an exciting time for me, especially since the early days of my life as a parent. TWO of my pregnancies coincided with Elections.. 80 & 84 and I didn't work so Paul and I would "go Voting" together in the morning just after Halloween and Katie's birthday. Since this all followed Halloween which really is the beginning of the Holidays, I was always excited AND we'd often go Christmas shopping after we "went voting"!!!! 

This election, I can walk so I'm looking forward to walking around the corner and voting with Paul. I'm not sure who I'm voting for (A HUGE FIRST FOR ME) but I'm pretty sure Paul and I will be a split ticket this year.. first time ever. 

There are also some very important Propositions on AZ's ballot so while, I'm ambivalent about the Presidential race, I'm really nervous about some propositions I SO don't agree with.

I was raised a certain kind of Catholic.. I like to call it.. West Coast Catholic :).... While I don't practice much, I still believe.. What I believe is that God Loves ALL his children and I don't like the "You can't get married if you're gay propositions".. THERE I got political on my blog..  and I will be out to vote against AZ's.. I noticed while in CA that the NO on these propositions are advertising so differently. But either way, I can't get behind the Yes.. Lyndsey almost got us both killed while taking me to the hospital this week. We drove by some Yes on 8 (CA's You can't be married if you're gay law) demonstrators, and she just couldn't resist honking and yelling against them as we drove by... 

I'm a little more reserved and prefer to watch the cars ahead of me.. AND they have the right to speak out too.

On a VERY good note this year, all but 1 of my four are registered to vote and very knowledgeable and very eager to cast their votes this year. One wasn't able to register due to a need for his driver's license in THIS state, and the DMV being shut down on the last day.. Well, if you wait for the last day... But The Our Clan will mostly all "go voting" on election day!

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today

Greetings From The Patch

A Quick hello from CA. I hitched a ride down to Southern California with Ricky Sunday Morning. We decided to go to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday and while we missed Sabby, we had a good time. It's one of those wonderful Patches where there aren't a lot of rides; but there's a Corn Maze, Pony Rides and Pig Races. I started feeling kind of crummy though and Lyndsey took me to the ER, where they pronounced my tests showed nothing amiss but I would need to spend then night THEN I was left in the Hallway where finally after a Night from Hell, I signed MYSELF out. Today has been mostly for sleeping. It's still pretty warm in Southern CA so I'm fairly certain it was the heat. Ricky left this morning; and I'll wait for Paul to come down Thursday night and we'll head home together Saturday. So Much for quick trips to Southern California.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today! Tomorrow I plan on visiting blogs.

Poor Shane

Shane is not doing very well today; actually since Monday. Sunday night, I took him into our bedroom and kept him in with me while Paul stayed out in the family room with Rex. Rex kept Paul's hand on his head through the night; and Shane was frantic to get to his buddy Rex. (just a note here.. Don't tell Shane but Rex didn't like him a lot) Shane new something was wrong and was frantic from the moment Rex fell. All night he cried and lunged at the door trying to get out of the bedroom. But Rex was in too much pain and Shane is still so puppy like; we couldn't let him get to Rex. 

The last two days; this is pretty much how Shane has been. 

This is an older photo, taken when I let Rex out and kept Shane inside to give Rex a break from his "little brother"

I've been busy on line - Volunteering to help out in Collie and Border Collie Rescue. Providing local transportation in emergencies and Maybe Fostering collies while they're waiting for adoptive homes. Paul's not too sure he can give them up when it's time so we're talking about it...We're going tomorrow morning to meet Cody, a Standard (lassie type) collie, who is up for adoption. Paul thought it would be disloyal to Rex but I'm saying that Shane needs a new buddy badly and we honer Rex if we help Rescue a dog.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today

Best Friends

Carla took this of Izzy at Picture People

Conner and Izabella are 5 1/2 months apart. They're both Three years old now and before they could walk or talk, we could tell they were building a bond. Once they could walk we really knew. They played together so well without saying a word. At Izzy's toy Kitchen or in one of Conner's little Trucks. I've even seen Conner part with one of his most treasured cars for a few moments so Izzy could play with something. They will fight (but not that much) and play and look out for each other in ways I haven't seen a lot of in this age. Aunt Lyndsey has Conner now for the 5 hours Carla works during the day, every week day. I worried they'd really start fighting, but other than a few incidents everyday, they continue to play like the Pals they are.

It amazes me and I can't wait to spend more time just watching these two play.

It's a terrible thing to say, but it won't surprise people who know me well, I hope they can celebrate together (with a designated driver) well and long when Izzy reaches 21. I hope they're in the same during their  College years;  AND that they're still looking out for each other way into their middle and golden years.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

Tuesday

Rex, Lyndsey & Makayla, 6-02-02

We lost Rex yesterday. We had a lot of hope initially when the vet gave us all the options, depending on x-rays. Lots of meds available these days for hip dyspepsia and such. When we got a call from the vets office less than an hour after leaving, to come in and talk, we worried the news was bad. It  was, real bad, Rex would probably never walk again, the arthritis had gotten so bad the hips were no longer in their sockets and his knees wouldn't be strong enough for alternative treatment. Any attempt to keep him going would be for us and not him.  I didn't know, dogs don't show pain until it's excruciating. Something from when they were wild; to show weakness makes them prey. So it was hard to comprehend how much pain he's been in for so long.

Paul's having a real hard time today. Shane, our border collie, is looking for Rex constantly, I'm ok. If we take on the responsibility of "owning" a pet, we have such a benefit, of the love, devotion, loyalty, fun and all the other wonderful things that come our way. Until Dogs can live as long as humans, we also have to accept they won't be with us forever. I shed my tears yesterday when I comforted him until he was gone. As hard as it was to learn how much pain he's been in for so long, it makes it easier knowing he's out of pain now. I really do hope "All Dogs go to Heaven".. Believing that makes it easier today.

For now, I'll just say, You'll ALWAYS be the #1 dog Rex.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today

Rex The Wonder Dog

Years ago, we had a dog named Bearit.... From the Movie Tombstone, when doc said he didn't think he "could bear it".. Bearit was a good dog. Half Lab & sadly, half Chow. We always thought the Chow was the problem, despite our best efforts, she became vicious when strangers (anyone she didn't know or hadn't met before her first birthday) would come by. She was truly dangerous to friends, relatives and mainly to my grand children. One of them lived with us then and once she could walk, I knew she could reach Bearit.. I made the very difficult and unpopular decision to take her to the local shelter, where after she lunged at one of the workers, they put her down.

A very short time later, Paul, who'd been devastated when we "lost" Bearit, decided to get a collie (a breed we knew would be safe).. We went in search of a collie and went to a breeder... well breeder is a kind word here.. The dogs were collie puppys, In bred, kind of an oops.. The vets, relatives and friends warned us but once This little guy struggled out of the box, we were in love. We negotiated a price and brought our little guy home. AND fell in love. Rex has been good with each and every person who's come into this house and I really think his first and main accomplishment in our family, was to bring back Paul's smile.  We  brought him into this oven and he hasn't complained. We brought Shane into his once peaceful world, and though we KNEW he was asking, WHAT'd I ever do to YOU, he's been OK.

He's been sick, He's been hurting, He's been on meds. He doesn't run and play anymore. Last night, he suddenly lost his step and can no longer walk. He's in such awful pain. My son, and my sister and brother in law are on their way now as we could not get him in the jeep last night between the two of us. There is no 911 or paramedics for dogs. 

Sabby told me sadly in her little voice, this morning that she thinks Rex is probably passing away. 

Please keep us in your good thoughts and if you pray, prayers today. I'm not real hopeful we can help him any longer. I told Sabby, if the vet couldn't help Rex, God would take him home where he could play with his best friend, Bandit... Rob and Carla's late companion. That he'd be ok. I really hope Dogs do go to heaven. I'd hate to think Bandit is not really going to be there for him and they won't be running and playing together.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today

Playing Ball with Shane.... WHAT a bummer

Well, here's a post without pictures.. I had some great shots of Paul and Sabby playing softball outside. Sabby's learning to catch, throw and bat.. which were great photos. Couple of problems.... First....Shane LOVES to chase the ball, This added much chaos to the process until we put him in the house. Second, I thought I'd downloaded the photos to my computer, and I guess I didn't.. AND I already reformatted the disk..

That is NOT ok..  It was great to watch though.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today

OH WAIT.. Here they are.. Still on i-photo

Gosh, I guess it's time to get that rye grass started!

The State Fair

The State fair is being held in Phoenix from October 10th to November 2 this year. Sabby being on Fall Break, and Paul being off yesterday, We decided to take advantage of the good weather and take Sabby to the Fair.

A Couple of things....

The weather, while not reaching the craziness of 105 or 118, warmed up again and experienced 90 degrees while walking through food booths children's rides, all the while, holding Sabby's hand and fending off her occasional whining with offers of cheese. While not awful, this kind of heat doesn't work with Multiple Sclerosis and yesterday was no exception for me...

$12.00 is too much to pay for parking. Because of this, I broke one of my "newer" rules and asked what age qualified me for the Senior Discount.. which happened to be 55. I got the senior discount....

I wasn't feeling well enough for a deep fried Twinkee but did take home a pork chop on a stick.. Wasn't worth the 6.00.

What WAS worth twice the $6.00 was a story Sabby told me in the car on the way home.  A brief moment of background.... Like I said, the heat got to me and I got sick, like passing out sick, fatigue and weakness. I sat down inside near the animal exhibits. Sabby and Paul, camera in hand walked on to see more of the state fair. 

Here's the conversation.. Sabby - You know Gran we saw a REAL big cow and he was laying down and then he stood up but it took him a minute to get up.. and THEN he took a poop.

Gran - Wwhhat?

Pappy's - rude sound effects.

There you have it.

Sabby and "the real big cow"

Sabby and Pappys checking out the sights, sounds and rides at the State Fair.

Gran was pretty wobbly by this time and sitting on the carousal in the shade was a welcome relief. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

P.S. This is THE FIRST time either Paul or I have been to a State Fair. :)

 

Aunt Sandie Goes to Germany

Sandie, my sister-in-law, and Jim, my brother in law took a dream trip last month. They went to Germany for three weeks. Not just a trip but a trip of discovery of family places and visits to relatives. Allow me to digress for a moment.

Paul and Sandie's parents, Marie and Herman left everything they knew, languages they spoke and families they love to build a new life in America in the 1920's. They came separately and met here in America. Marie was born in Texas, but at the age of two the family moved back to Germany. At the age of 18 she and her sister both, were sent back to America. If they'd voted in Germany, they'd have lost their American citizen and Marie use to tell me that in Germany you have to vote.

We met "our German family" in the early 90's, shortly after the wall came down. Sandie has kept in touch with all of our newly discovered and long known German Family over the years. Before this trip, she did some investigating. On this trip she knew where Marie had lived as a child and where Herman lived as a child. As luck would have it, BOTH homes were still standing.  The picture above is, I BELIEVE, the house where Marie lived as a child. With her is a family member.

We had a three week play date here at home, with Haley, (aka their dog) while they were in Germany, so when they came home, they stayed the night here before heading home with Haley. While here, I took advantage of the time to down load their photos onto my computer. (Don't you LOVE Digital!)... SO, I've been having fun for a couple of days enjoying Sandie's vacation.  Some awesome photos and Sandie's story on some of them have made this even more fun.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today

It's Tuesday!

Since Sabby was so insistent that we do house work yesterday, I taught her how to use the vacuum, carefully without breaking it. While Sabby chatted happily and vacuumed, I folded that laundry over there on that chair. All in All, Sabby and I had a great day yesterday. We ran a few errands together, rented two movies. One for Gran, One for Sabby. THEN we had a "rest" time. Sabby in her bed, Gran in her bed, while we eached watched our movie.. Sabby her Barbie movie, Gran.. Well I'm waiting on the movie, I watched Court TV.. Ah rest time.

Monday Monday

Aunt Carla (now working at Picture People took this photo of Lyndsey's girls. THEY are adorable and Aunt Carla is a terrific photographer! Congrats Carla on doing "stranger photos now"!

Today is Monday, this week is Fall Break in Liberty Schools. Sabby is home with me this week. She thinks we should be busy cleaning house together right now; GRAN NEEDS to get off the computer and work with her. Hey I did the dishes, what more does she want. Now is the time for coffee and catching up on blogs. The weather is still blessedly cool here in AZ and I will enjoy it immensely until it warms up again in a few days.

I've been down, as in lying down, a lot since getting home from WI. All that activity was great for the soul, not so great for muscle spasms. Worth it though. All the photos are organized, catalogued and the few I chose to print, printed. Additional 60 years slide shows are done and in an envelope for Julee, Slide shows from the party, done and in the same envelope and a slide show for Emilee's second birthday, completed and in an envelope ready for mailing. I also FINALLY did a slide show from pictures my friend Happy sent me a long time ago.. So, I'm all caught up on photos and looking for other things to "excuse" me from house work. Actually, Katie helps with most of that these days, but there is laundry... Oh well, maybe a needle work project?

If I'm feeling ok, Paul and I are taking Sabby to the AZ state fair on his day off later this week for a couple of hours. She wants to go now and has suggested we toss Pappys out and go tomorrow ALONE, without him! Sabby is quite the little scamp these days.. Yesterday, I KNOW I heard her say, OH SNAP! Where'd I Put that? Saturday, she assured me she'd throw a FIT if I left her alone at the birthday party I drove her to ( I responded by telling her we'd leave together then). She's keeping me surprised a lot lately.... SHE CALLS now so I will end this rambling post and go.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

Makayla's new smile

Makayla turned 7 in April. While I was away she lost her top teeth. I had the talk with Lyndsey about letting Gran know THE MINUTE these things happen... When she was only about 1, she went down the slide at her day care center face (and I mean face) first, knocking out her two front bottom teeth. Since that day, she's always lead with her hands. These are her first teeth to fall out on their own. You're still such a beauty Mick, my always and forever girl. You're growing so fast I can hardly keep up.

This month you turned 7 1/2 already! SLOW DOWN.

I miss you and your sisters and California Cousins so much. I want to come down to see you. Pappy's got Halloween and the following Saturday off so we're coming down with Sabby to see you all Trick or Treat this year..

LOVE YOU

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

Green Bay Part 4 - Tail Gate Party

Saturday was the other main reason for my trip to GreenBay, Emilee turned two on Friday. Her birthday party was Saturday. I'm not going to post birthday party pictures since I never spoke with the family members about posting photos. I'll let Julee do that on her next post! Emilee LOVES school buses and Julee found one the day before at Toys R Us. She also got a ton of clothes and baby dolls. Over the next two days, she happily changed baby's diapers and put them to bed. Julee, I got a lot of pictures of that which I downloaded on your computer!... IF you want to post them.

So on to Packer Sunday!

Game day dawned sunny and COLD.. In the 30's. Julee and I dressed warmly and headed out for the "Green Bay Tailgate Party".. There is NOTHING that smells so good as the smell of Brats soaked in beer, grilling.. It was the best. I couldn't eat anything since I was traveling that day but I plan on getting that recipe from Julee and grilling here in Buckeye. Here's some pictures of the day.
This was taken on the stadium grounds, mostly we drove around but we did do some walking. Not too sure what it was but I liked it.
This photo was taken a few blocks from the stadium. People in Green Bay rent out parking spots in their driveway, for packer fans. Prices range from $20.00 to $5.00 depending on the distance from the stadium. I saw lots of signs... $5.00 parking, tailgating and toilet!!!

This house is directly across from the stadium. This is the back yard. The news had stories last week about these "packer party houses". Apparently, some of these residents rent out their homes for Packer Sundays. The city was considering stopping that.  I think that was the story?

Krolls has the BEST hamburgers EVER. In Wisconsin, I enjoyed butter with hamburgers and pasta with my chili! Awesome.  THAT must be where I got the butter on sandwich thing.. (My parents are from the midwest!)

This bus's owner was clearly not a Falcon Fan.

Packer Fans are very friendly. I took many photos that day of happy fans. Winning or Loosing, Packer fans have got to be the most loyal in all of football. 

Later that day, Julee and Andy drove me to Milwaukee where I boarded the plane and came home. It was beyond good to see Paul and Katie, Ricky & Sabby again, but this week, I've sure missed my GreenBay family.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

Green Bay Part 3

Continuing on, Monday last week, Julee and I headed out for Lambeau Field for the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame and the Lambeau tour. We had a wonderful time. The walking wasn't too bad and it was amazing to be on the field where the Packers Play. The weather was a bit cold in the early part of the day... 40's & 50's. That's cold for this Cali Native!  I'm still suggesting to my kids that we all move to WI... and I might add, getting a chilly reception.. Sorry

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

Green Bay Day Part 2

Saturday was 1/2 the reason for the trip; The 60th Anniversary of Julee's Grand Parents' wedding. They are a wonderful couple, who married 60 years ago, moved to GreenBay, raised a family of six and were a tremendous source of love and comfort to their many Grand Children. I felt honored to be in their presence, and they welcomed me like family. After spending an hour at their house with Julee, I told her while leaving, that NOW I get why she moved so far away from all of us here in AZ. 

I'm not printing their pictures here as I didn't get their permission before leaving Green Bay. The occasion started with renewal of vowels during the Saturday afternoon mass and then on to the party. For the last 2 months, I've been working via e-mail with Julee on the slide show of their last 60 years together. Getting 60 years worth of photos in the right order to the right music for a family, whose complete cast of characters was unknown to me, was difficult to say the least. Everyone seemed to like it;  Julee's choice of music was spot on and we saw enough tears in the group to feel like we'd succeeded. 

Sunday, was mostly for rest and watching the Packer Game at Julee's Uncle's house.

 Julee I know you're going to read this, AND I'll tell you all that you haven't learned near enough bad words unless you've watched, or listened to a Packer game with Julee!


Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

Photos from Green Bay Day 1

I landed in Milwaukee Friday Afternoon and was met at the airport by My Good Friend Julee. My first thoughts as we drove through the beautiful country side was that I wasn't in "Kansas" I mean AZ anymore. It's so green and the fall colors were amazing. Dotting the country side were farms and dairy farms.

Years ago, I stopped taking a lot of pictures of places because pictures just never did the area I was photographing  justice. Well, they still don't, but I took pictures anyway. I'll have to think about labeling my photos... Desert / WI... you know. The yellows and rust colored leaves literally took my breath away. In all honesty I was still slightly relaxed from the "get on that airplane pills I took" so I'd forgotten some of this until downloading photos yesterday.

Ok, so I'm guilty of a great deal of LACK of knowledge about my own country's geography and didn't realize Green Bay sat next to Lake Michigan. AND that there's actually a BAY at Green Bay. MY BAD. This was a shot over a bridge we went over often during my week in Green Bay; the Bridge crossed the Fox River which separates Green Bay - West Side / East Side. This is a Marina... Who KNEW... I mostly sat in the car and smiled or talked so I would be horribly lost if I tried to execute the city roads on my own.  Kind of reminds me of the time, in RENO, when the bell hop asked if it was my first time in the big city!

Green Bay is a one of a kind town. Tailgating in Green Bay takes on an entirely new meaning for me. The whole town does it.. More about that in a future post.  I have several photos of these signs, included in my collection of  over 1300 photos taken last week. MANY duplicates.. I'll worry about that another day. Julee gave me a quick tour of Green Bay when we got to town, before going to her house. Like I said, I'd still be lost if I tried driving anywhere alone. It's an amazing town and when I remember the population of Green Bay is about the same size as my home town of Murrieta AND the Packer Fans from this town support an entire pro football team.. Well, it's great. Anyway, More tomorrow.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today

Back Home Again

The FOX River, Separates GreenBay's East and West Sides

I made it through the plane ride without humiliating our family name and although I'll never love to fly, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to look at life without the limitations of refusing to fly. 

It was hard leaving Julee, Andy, Teresa, Jacqueline and Emilee yesterday and being "relaxed" with tranquilizers helped me NOT cry all the way to the airport as much as helping me actually get on the plane.

Nothing ever has looked as good to me as seeing Paul waiting for me at the check point. I tried to run, remembered I can't run anymore, and walked to him as fast as I could. In 30 years this was the longest we've ever been apart. It is wonderful to be next to him again.

Sabby is happy to have Gran home again. I can't remember if I've talked about it here on my blog but while I was gone, Pappys walked her around the corner to school. He informed me one day last week that she made him change his pants to something less casual  before taking her to school one day.  It's rough having GrandParents, who long ago fell off the fashion train and even got run over it in the process, walk you to school when in first grade... Sabby seems to handle it well though. She's even told me a time or two that it is ok for me to wait across the street and watch her walk across... Usually on days I throw something grungy on to wear. This from a kid who has to be reminded TWICE everyday to brush her teeth!

I brought a little bit of WI back with me (along with my new Packer foam finger), since it was cool enough to open windows this morning and enjoy the cool fresh air coming in the window.

Low 90's, It must be fall!

It's good to be home and over the next few days, I'll be posting pictures of my trip. I've spent 6 hours editing this morning and still have at least 4 more hours so I'm quitting now.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

Coming Home

I can't believe I've been in Green Bay more than a week now. I'm missing home and it will be good to get back to family. It's going to be really hard leaving Julee and her family. They've been so welcoming and treat me like one of their own. Her grand parents are just wonderful and despite the fact that I miss my friend Julee, I'm glad she's home with them now. WI is so different than the AZ desert so I know why Julee always wanted to come home. I saw my "first" Woods while here too by the way.
It's going to be so hard to say good bye to Julee that I don't want to even talk about it now.
But I do know that now I'll be flying back.. Or getting Paul to drive back with me.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today.

Ok Maybe AZ Weather isn't SO Bad AND Changes to Thanksgiving This year

It's cold here in GreenBay and I've come to the conclusion that my blood, after living in AZ or So Cal for all of my 56 years, is thin. Fall weather here in GreenBay is about as cold as it gets in December or January in Buckeye. I can't say that I'm looking forward to the 90 degree days they're having in AZ, but I will be thawing out some my first day home.

Still having a great time here in Packer Country. Yesterday and Today have been spent mostly resting as Julee has been at work. Tomorrow we're doing some birthday shopping for the big day on Saturday (Emilee celebrates her second birthday!) and I'm tagging along on a photo shoot Julee's doing in the afternoon. Saturday we're celebrating Emilee's Birthday.

She is such a cutie!

I don't have access to my e-mail from GreenBay so I wanted to let all the members of my family who got my e-mail about an early Thanksgiving last week know that Paul can't get that weekend before Thanksgiving off, so we're doing it the weekend after Thanksgiving!!! I'll be sending an e-mail when I get home.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog today