Socialism - Who Needs It?

I've Been Keeping This In Mind All Week...

As my tagline says, and a philosophy I try to live by "Eat one live toad in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day."



I have had to deal with the loss of what I thought was my brother's unconditional love. He was always my best friend. Not sure how many more family members I can alienate before I decide to jump off the bridge at Lucky Peak...

Yep, it's definitely been one of those weeks. However, when I remember my tagline, things could be worse - I think...

SO,

I'm grateful that my niece is on the road to recovery. She is an incredibly special person who deserves the best life has to give - and has so much to give to our world...

I love the baby raccoons I'm taking care of until fall...



My "pittance" of a donation helped Ryan Stockdale's family raise enough money that he can get the surgery he desperately needs for his cluster headaches. Our community is truly wonderful, raising over $80,000 in less than 24 hours...

I have a job...

I have a wonderful family and friends who seem to get me through any little problems I seem to run into...

I remind myself every day now, how lucky I was that my son returned home safe from his tour in Afghanistan - and I think every day about Bowe Bergdahl, the kidnapped Idaho soldier who will hopefully soon have the same outcome...

Yep, you eat that toad every morning and the rest of the day - well, life really is good...

365 Days...

This is my first post of the project I'm participating in called 365 Days. I take a picture or two every day and once a week I'll post the 7 days worth of pictures which I'll bore you with for the next year! Should be a fun way to track a year of my life!

1/365


2/365


3/365


4/365


5/365


6/365


7/365

If He Had Been A Girl..

I'd have a picture of Adam at his first Time Trials (TT) from last night. But he's not, and I don't. I took him out into the desert last night into the 100 degree heat. They leave one at a time, with a minute between them.

I could tell he was nervous, but I was scared to death - but I didn't let HIM know. With it being so hot, what if he got heat stroke? They didn't shut down traffic, and although it was a country road, there were still cars - what if he got hit? What if he fell? The scary thoughts were endless.

I had hid my camera under the seat of the truck, thinking I could somehow sneak a picture of him crossing the finish line. Unfortunately, none of the sagebrush was tall enough for me to hide behind - besides, that would probably have looked a bit goofy don't you think?

I watched as rider after rider returned after the 10 mile ride, their faces as red as could be, sweat dripping off of them. Adam had been the last rider to leave so I knew he'd be the last one back. The more that returned, the more worried I got... What if?????

After about 20 minutes, I see two riders, side by side and recognized Adam's jersey. Relief! He rode past the finish line and over to the truck. No red face, no sweat pouring off of him...

"Why aren't you sweating???? It's over 100 degrees out here!"

He then proceeded to tell me that he had a really good pace going, and was about to pass the leader of the cycling group he's joining. The leader told him to hold back and ride with him the last several miles to the finish line so that he could give him some pointers and tips about riding TTs. Well, Adam is VERY competitive and was not at all happy about having to "hang back" for the rest of the trial. He rode across the finish line with the Byrds leader - he's a wonderful man who is so enthusiastic about young kids getting into cycling.

On our way home I told Adam "I was going to take your picture as you crossed the finish line but I knew you'd kill me. You would have killed me right?"

He didn't say a word. He slowly turned his head toward me and 'gave me the look'.

"That's what I thought."

If he had been a girl he'd have loved that I wanted to take his picture. Humph! So, you know how I hate to post without pictures so here's one of Idaho's very own Olympian, Kristin Armstrong. She regularly attends these TTs but wasn't there last night.

Pretend this is a picture of Adam...

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.

HELP!

We have this "pig cooker" and while she's not the prettiest thing, she's cooks one mean pig (and chicken, and anything else we throw on there). We're starting some catering jobs - our first is a wedding for 300 people in August and we're getting ready to order some chefs jackets. BUT we need a name for our company. While I can think of all kinds of "hillbilly names", I'm just not sure that's what we really want or need if we're going to be serious about catering.

So, here's her picture for those of you who haven't seen her


And here's a few suggestions we've recieved. You can either vote for one of these so we can narrow it down, or give us new suggestions! We'll be running a contest about the end of the week where we'll ask you all to vote, and to the winner - well, we'll think of somethin' really nice to do for you!

Boise Basin BBQ
Black Barrel BBQ
Goodlife BBQ & Grill
Smoky Grill
Turner's BBQ Company
The Impeciable Pig
Barnyard Roasters
Hillbilly Grill