Our Cruise With Lisa Williams

In one week, mom and I leave on our cruise with Lisa Williams. She's a medium/clarvoiant. I believe that mediums/psychics are real, but I don't believe that most of the people who claim to have this ability are real. I hope with everything I have in me, that Lisa is a true medium. I guess I'll know for sure after this cruise. Every day when I get in the shower, I talk to dad. I tell him that we're doing this cruise and that we really need him to talk to us, and I know if Lisa is real, he's going to come through.

We've always wanted to know what happened to dad's wedding ring and watch after he was murdered. Mom has always wanted these items so this is one way we're hoping to find out. Last week, a story ran in the Idaho Statesman about Claude Dallas and his escape from prison. I started doing some searches, and ran across a letter I had written after his parole hearing:

To all of you who wrote letters to the Parole Board:

A defiant Claude Dallas told the Parole Board on Thursday, April 26th that he would rather stay in prison than have to follow standard parole restrictions. He got his wish.

He told them "My God I will not submit to drug testing. I've set my mind on this. I see more threats on my civil rights from the damn government than all the drug lords on the face of the earth."

When asked if he felt any remorse for the killings he said "My feelings are my own. They don't belong to the state of Idaho."

We had asked the Parole Board to question him about the location of my father's wedding ring and watch. He said he had buried them in a different location from the body (which he conveniently couldn't remember). When asked why, he stated so it would make the body harder to identify, then asked them "Wouldn't you have done the same thing?"

When asked if he had poached a bighorn sheep while out on bail before his original trial, he took the fifth amendment and stated he had never been charged for that crime.

Claude however, feels he has somehow grandfathered rights that will allow him to carry a weapon once he's out in 2005. He said the law that doesn't allow convicted felons to carry a firearm was enacted after his conviction and won't apply to him. This is really bothersome to me and I plan to check on it to see if he's right. If any of you out there know the facts about this, please let me know.

Olivia Craven has been with pardons and Parole for more than 17 years and told me she has NEVER heard anyone speak to the Commission the way he did. She also said they have never received as many letters about a parole hearing. They received over 2,000 with only 5 supporting parole.

My family will NEVER be able to thank all of you for your kindness and support during this time. Please know that we appreciate everything you have done. Dad would have been proud.

Jodi (Pogue) Turner

So finding this letter I had written reminded me that we HAD asked Claude about the location of these items to no avail. Our only hope now is that dad will come through and help us find the answer.

So, I can't wait to see what happens. Of course I'll let you all know as soon as we get home.

Daisy, Rosie, Adam And Emo...

I Think Our Dog Daisy May Need Braces...

The Easter Bunny Is At Our House!

We released the pheasant into the great outdoors so we figured it was time to replace him with another farm animal.






Boo isn't quite sure what to think. She wants to either play with her or eat her, I'm not sure which. Her name is Emo.

Hill-Bill-y Toothpaste

Well, That Was So Much Fun I Wanted To Do It Again!

The number 7 is obviously NOT my lucky number. When we got our noses pierced, he told us that 1 out of 7 women will somehow pull their studs out. I've been SO careful but this morning after I stepped out of the shower, I caught it on the towel and it pulled out. I tried screwing it back in but to no avail. So, now what? Do I decide this is a "sign" and leave it out or stop back by the tattoo shop and let him "do everything he can to get it back in." The latter sounds scaaaaaaarrrrryyyyy. But, I love my nose ring! So I put it in a baggie and took it with me to my meeting.

On the way to my meeting, I heard on the radio that 1 in 7 women in Idaho will have breast cancer. Damn, if it's 1 in 7, why do I do it twice?

I stopped on my way home and had him put it back in.

I shall be more careful...

Kate's Looking For A New Car...

And I think I've found one for you! I imagine it gets good gas mileage!

Sorry Guys...

Jacki pointed out that I mentioned 2015 in my previous blog as to when the world is supposed to end. I appologize, it's 12/12 of 2012. I was giving us an extra three years! Sorry, the world is actually going to end three years earlier than I led you to believe!

I'm Full of Frustration...

Ok, I've had this goal for almost a year now. But now that I'm blogging about it, I figure I HAVE to git 'er dun. I have probably 20 CDs with pictures on them. Pictures of the kids, grandkids, all my relatives, all of our girls weekends, trips... it's just overwhelming. I want to take every CD and unload the pictures onto my computer than put them back onto discs by person or event.

Once Cds came out, I thought "Awesome! No more feeling guilty about not putting boxes full of pictures into photo albums!" But now, I have so many CDs that when I want a picture, I have to go through every one to find the picture I'm looking for. So, I'm setting a goal. By the year 2015 (but before December 12th because that's the day the world is going to end) I will have all my pictures onto CDs and properly labeled.

Am I setting myself up for failure? Do you think I should just hope the world doesn't really end on 12/12/15 and maybe give myself a few more years? Oh, I have a headache!

Hi Jan!

I tried to respond to you on email, but no luck, so you get a reply as a new post on my blog. Welcome (almost) to Idaho! I was actually raised the daughter of a Game Warden in a very small town about 60 miles north of Boise then moved to Boise after I graduated from high school in 1974. I never actually adjusted to big city life (yes, we consider Boise a big city!). I came to Hidden Springs when there were only 3 houses here and was determined this was where I wanted to live. A few years later, we were actually fortunate enough to get to do it! We've lived here over 5 years now and I just love it. I love hearing the coyotes at night, we had a deer walk through our yard a few weeks ago, I love feeding and watching the birds, and what I love the most is that while we have a fire station here, I've only heard sirens once. That was last summer when the foothills just north of us were on fire.

It's a really peaceful place and the people are great. While some people think of it as "Pleasantville", it's anything but. There are extremely wealthy people living here, but more are just like us, living a comfortable life but FAR from wealthy. It's a great place to raise a family if you have kids. We have two grown kids that live in Meridian and one son still at home who's 14. He feels really safe here and can go down to the creek and play with his friends or go to the village green by the Merc and play football with all the kids. All of his Boise friends always want to come up here to hang out even though you'd think they'd rather be in Boise where there's more to do.

My mom moved up here over a year ago and she absolutely loves it. Her back yard backs up to a hill near the watertower and she has deer in her yard about once a week and she's a big bird person so she loves feeding and watching the birds.

The north end is beautiful. I personally love old architecture. It's a lot like Hidden Springs except it's noisier since it's right in town and I personally think the house prices are extreme. However, either place is nice, I guess it just depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for a slower pace that's peaceful, you would love Hidden Springs. Some people from "down the hill" think that it's too far out here. But personally, I find the drive home peaceful and relaxing. I would much rather drive the 4 miles from State Street to Hidden Springs than 4 miles from State Street across town! No stop lights or traffic!

So are you retiring here or being transferred?

Well, I've probably gone on enough! If you come back to Hidden Springs, give us a call! We'd love to meet you at the Merc for coffee or a beer and if there's anything specific you'd like to know, I'll be happy to give you my email address. Hope you enjoy Idaho, it's a great place to live!

Gotta Love Him.

My brother Steve is here for the weekend visiting. He's a logger. He's also the true definition of a hillbilly. I'm afraid I'm WAY too much like him. He and Ival went to Cabelas this morning and I just had to take a picture of his truck parked out in front of our house. Looks like a regular truck - well maybe a bit different, it has a brush guard on front and a fishing pole sticking out of the back along with a couple of jacks and some other stuff. Not really sure what some of it is.



But here's the REAL difference...



He was my best friend growing up, taught me just about everything I know. Guess that's why I've never been a "girly girl."