Photo 365...

Ok, I don't know if I'm ever going to get to that second anniversary post. Technically, I have until the beginning of August to get it done. My new blogger friend Fancy Schmancy had a comment from The Vegetable Assasin (how could you not love that name!) that she's started a new blog called Photo Pudding. She's asking everyone to carry your camera with you everywhere and take one picture a day and post them on your blog for the next 365 days.

Now how much fun does that sound like???? I mean, who doesn't have a camera? So, I know I won't post every day so what I'm planning on doing is making a weekly post with my 7 pictures for the week on it. What a fun way to chronicle your life for the next year. So, if you have mind to, join us in Photo 365. I'd love to see what you come up with!

Home Again...

This morning, I took a short road trip to Garden Valley, where I grew up. I went by myself. So nice to go back to where I had such wonderful memories...

The beautiful South Fork of the Payette River...





This is a picture across Garden Valley. I used to ride horses out there...




This is the little 3-room schoolhouse where I went to gradeschool. First and second grade in one room, third and fourth in one, and fifth and sixth in the other. It really hasn't changed much in the last 43 years...








I went up over Alder Creek, where I grew up, and just kept going. I ended up in Centerville and came home over Harris Creek into Horseshoe Bend. I love that drive...






This is the old Ranft Ranch in Centerville, or what's left of it. I LOVE old buildings. I love imagining what it was like to live there when the house was new. What kind of family were they? Did they have kids? Life was hard then, but yet so simple. I think I could acutally be very happy living like they did a hundred and fifty years ago...

Town Council...

Hidden Springs has changed hands. Until recently, it was run by the Developer, but now that development has finished, we have a new Town Council. I'm not terribly happy with some of the changes that have been happening since the takeover. Some of my friends have lost their jobs and "outsiders" have been hired to replace them. Times are hard right now for everyone and to see our friends and neighbors lose their jobs really pisses me off. Locals who used to earn a smittance of pay for working at the pool have been replaced with security company employees. We hired a damn security company to watch the kids at the pool?

I don't feel like I can complain or voice my opinion on these changes unless I attend our Town Council meetings. So, tonight I'm going to attend my first meeting. The last few days HAVE. NOT. BEEN. GOOD. and I'm in a VERY bad mood. Probably not a good time to go to a meeting...

Just To Let You Know...

because I know that the 5 of you who have followed me since my first year blogging have probably been wondering "When will she be doing her second anniversary post? That first one was so darn good!"

So, in the next few days, look for my "Best of the Second Year." For those of you who haven't been around for a while (or if you're ticked because I haven't done a new post for a few days), amuse yourselves - here, you can look back at my first year of blogging with my first anniversary post...

I hope you'll enjoy the second one - so much has happened over the last year!

(and why is it that I have 20 followers for my blog on facebook and only 9 on my actual blog????? WHAT'S WITH YOU PEOPLE! - come our of the closet!)

Happy Birthday Mom!

You are my mother, my inspriation, my hero, my strength, and best of all - my friend...





78 and still upright!

THANK YOU!

My baking hero Bakerella made these awesome cake pops to honor our military men and women for the 4th. As a proud mother and mother-in-law of two people in the military, these really made me happy. Heather and Jake, I couldn't be more proud of you - and all of our men and women in the military.

Let's remember what this holiday is really about as those of us who are so lucky to live in the US spend time with our families tomorrow while many are away from theirs. Happy 4th of July to all of you!

The Cowboy and the Bird...

Dad was a wonderful artist. His love of wildlife and the old west was evident in his artwork. His artwork said so much about his thoughts on life. One picture was of a mountain man holding on to what was the first barbed wire fence he encountered. He had a very sad look in his eye like he knew that the world was changing. Another, and my personal favorite, was an old cowboy sitting at a table teaching himself to read which dad titled "The First Grade Reader".

Not only did dad love the west and wildlife, he loved using people he knew as the models for his pictures. Every face he drew in his work was the face of one of his Game Warden friends. He didn't ask them to "model", he just used the features of the men he worked with every day. His work was such a reflection of himself. Always a tough old cowboy doing something that showed the softer side of a hard life.

His medium was pen and ink. I remember him spending hours and hours on pictures. Using a large, lighted magnifying glass on a stand as he toiled strategically placing tiny dots from an old ink well and pen. Thousands and thousands of tiny dots. He was blind in one eye from an accident with an air mattress, thus the magnifying glass.



For many years, dad would draw something, then tear it up and throw it away. I have a few of those that were fetched out of the trash. Until finally, we all told him how wonderful his work was and that we thought he could sell it.

When he died, his work all sold out. One of his prints was used to raise money for the reward fund for the capture of Claude Dallas. Some we had set aside were used as donations to charities for fundraisers.

It's time, now, after his death 28 years ago, to bring back everyone's favorite of all of his work. We had 100 printed and will sell some, give some to the grandkids, and again, as dad would have wanted, donate some to charities to help them raise money.

We're selling the prints for $75. If you're interested in one, let me know.