Happy Birthday Cannon

I couldn't resist posting these pictures of Cannon! He is so adorable.

He and Ben were playing a game of checkers on his brand new checker board (it has 10 games to be played).



Can you tell which color of checkers is his from the look on his face?





This kid had better never play poker!

Stefanie is too nice to post this story so I'm stealing it from her and telling it myself!

She and Gma were having a "discussion" about family history. Gma made a reference to her Uncle Tim's older sister. Stefanie asks, "Wouldn't that make her your Aunt?" Gma replied, "Oh no, my mother died when I was 12!"

I made an appointment with the Dr. for Gma and Gpa to discuss this dementia thing cause Gpa is constantly asking me questions about it. So I thought I'd let the Dr explain things to him.
So we get in there and, of course, Gma takes a bunch of time talking about things that she's already discussed with him.
Then he turns to Gpa and asks what he's there for. "Me? I'm fine. I don't need anything!" Grrr. So I tell the Dr we need to discuss dementia. Gpa jumps in and says, "Yea, Marv said I had dementia cause he saw the way I walk and said that told him I had it." Dr. Brown gives me a sympathetic glance. Then he says, "Ok Frank. I'm going to give you a test and that will tell us if you have dementia. I'm going to tell you 3 words and have you repeat them back to me. Then I'm going to have you draw a picture of a clock. When we're done, I'll have you repeat the 3 words back to me. OK?"
So he tells him the 3 words and I about slugged him. He was just jerking my chain. I was so mad at him in that moment. This is a serious situation and I need some serious help, and he's goofing around. "Repeat back to me, baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet." I couldn't believe it! So Gpa repeats the 3 words. Duh!
Then Dr. Brown hands him a pen and paper and has him draw a clock with the hands at 10 minutes to 2. Simple. Gpa does it in a jiffy. I'm really ticked off now!
Then the Dr. asks Gpa to repeat back the 3 words that he told him earlier. Instantly, Gpa says, "Baseball,........" That's it! My jaw dropped to the floor. I guess that's why its a conclusive little test. He could NOT remember the other 2 words. Amazing! I had to forgive Dr. Brown really fast. Even living with Gpa and knowing how bad he's getting, I was sure he could remember those well known words. Nope! Next he just asked him if he wanted pills or a patch. Gpa didn't even object to having a "prescription" (that dirty little word).
The other amazing thing is that Gma brought up how Gpa sometimes falls. Dr. Brown asked a few questions about how he doesn't try to catch himself, doesn't even know he's falling, etc., and said that it isn't part of the dementia. It's caused by small strokes! That explains alot. So then on the way home Gpa says, "So all I have to do now is have one of those small strokes be a big one and I don't have to worry about all this anymore." Yup, I guess he's right.
Ah! Its a great life, if you don't weaken or waken!

I'm sorry, but I'm just not happy posting my letters to Tom on my blog.
But if you would like to read them, email me and I will copy them to an email for you.
love you all!

Worst Deer Story Ever

You're going to hate me for this, but I have to share this story.

I ran into a young lady that we used to know from Grass Valley, and she told me her story. As a preface, this young lady is a tall, thin, fine featured, pretty girl. She is quite girly. I couldn't see her out hunting or even camping, for that matter. I may misjudge her, but can I call her prissy?

So, she shares her story with me.... She was driving home to Fish Lake one day and just before she gets to the reservoir a deer runs out in front of her little car. Her dad had told her on many occasions that the most common and dangerous thing to do when about to hit a deer is to swerve, causing the car to roll. You should hit the deer, save the driver. Right. So just as she is about to hit the deer, she closes her eyes, takes her hands off the wheel (in case she instinctively swerves) and opens her mouth wide and screams.

The deer hit the front of her car, rolled up over the hood, gutting itself in the process. It and all its now fluid-like innards went through the windshield and all over the girl with her open screaming mouth. She had 2 black eyes and was covered completely with blood and guts. She was still screaming when the ambulance got there. They insisted on giving her oxygen. She said she thought it was to get her to stop screaming! Poor kid!

Finally got the new light in the front room!

It was a huge undertaking that took us 4 hours to complete.




Part of the project difficulty was getting the 18 foot ladder to fit in our front room that has a 17 foot ceiling. We had to push all the furniture out of the way and spread the legs of the ladder as far apart as we could and managed to get it in place with about 2 inches to spare.



Kate was our master electrician and did a great job. First, she took down the old light.




Mike and Daddy worked really hard getting the links of the chain opened up in order attach it to the ceiling and the light.
(Daddy was camera shy)



Mike held the light and kept weight off it while Kate got it hooked up.



Wil came and hung out with us while we worked on the light. He wanted to help but we wouldn't let him on the ladder!



Of course, Mike and Kate just had to do some Michelangelo reference!




Mike put all the glass thingers on which actually took awhile because they all have rings that screw on that hold the glass in place.



We even had a process for Kate handing Mike the light bulbs. There are 12 of them!




The light even works! (How can you see with all that light!)



So here's the finished product. Its so nice to have it all done.




It looks pretty good when viewed with the whole room too. I tried to take a picture with the light off so you could see it better, but my camera quit.


(Kate also installed the other 13 lights around the front room and entry as well as down the hall upstairs.)

Sunflower Patio

I am loving the sunflowers!

I know, Stef thinks I'm crazy to plant them, and maybe she's right,
but don't they make a nice privacy fence?
And since Stef gave the seeds to me in the first place,
this awesome fence didn't cost me a cent to build.
They make our west patio a very nice place to sit and relax.
(And yes, I have sat and relaxed there!)

I think I'll plant a whole forest of them next year!