Old Barns...

I LOVE old architecture. It has always absolutely fascinated me. One of my favorites though, has always been old barns. I've decided that once the weather gets good, I'm going to take 3 or 4 days and drive up north to the Palouse and work my way home taking pictures of old barns.

I think they would be a wonderful addition to our new barnhome. Here's a few I found that are beautiful...





Do you have any great pictures you've taken of old barns?

Speaking to Adam's Zoology Class...

Adam's teacher has asked me to speak to his class on Friday about dad's job, living with a Game Warden, the animals we raised, and of course, dad's death. I realized that all the information I need, including pictures, is contained in the 30 days of posts I did. Wow, didn't that make this easy!

I also found a great condensed version of Give a Boy a Gun that I can use for some facts about the incident at Bull Camp.

I do have one dilema. Should I include the picture of Adam holding the dead skunk at the end? I know he'll kill me, but he'll get over it won't he????

Housing Parts...

We've been keeping our eyes out for materials for our barn house. We got this really awesome back bar from the Merc (for FREEEEEEE!). It's going to take up our entire kitchen/dining room wall but it will save us a bunch of money and I think it's so incredibly gorgeous!

If you double click on the picture you can see the details...


I also have 3 of these bar stools that came out of the old Mercantile in Homedale. Only one has a base so I'll have to have bases made for the other 2. But wouldn't they look great at the bar!


We also took this old door. This sucker is heavy - and it was free too!


I had an old high school friend call yesterday looking for my brother's phone number. I told him we had bought property and he told me he was getting some salvage items from the airbase in Mtn. Home. He asked if we wanted a tent. Heck yes! Until he mentioned that this is a military tent that's 20 x 40 and takes a forklift to move. I would have taken it but Ival said it was a bit too big. But, he asked what else we were looking for and I mentioned we need flooring. He said there was probably 5,000 board feet of wood that would be gorgeous for a floor at $1 a board ft. The planks are 12' long and 14" inches wide. He said it's full of nails so I suppose we'd spend a ton of time pulling nails - but isn't that what kids are for!

We have Fish and Game coming up to the property the middle of March to help us plant bitterbrush after the fire destroyed all that was there. Ival put out an email the other day asking for volunteers to help us and I think we're going to have a good crew. We're going to take the trailer up and cook them all a good lunch. It should be fun and thank God for family and friends!

So, if you run into any wonderful items we could incorporate into our new barnhouse, let us know!

I'm Sorry, But I Have to Brag...

I called Adam's Zoology teacher this morning because I'm talking to his class next Friday about dad and what it was like to live with a Game Warden, and of course Claude Dallas.

I wanted to tell Mr. Beckly how much I appreciated what he has done for Adam and how he's made such a difference in his life. He then wanted to tell me what a good boy Adam is and how bright he is. He told me how eager Adam is to learn about wildlife and what a good job he's doing in class. He was very impressed that Adam had told him that he wants to get a job with Idaho Fish and Game, and work in dad's old area - Adam has never mentioned that to me. He said he thought it took a lot of guts for Adam to have such a dream and he's sure Adam will accomplish his goal.

Wow.

He went on to tell me that if the kids win the Idaho Envirothon (and he said it's TOUGH work to win) that they'll be taking a week (all expenses paid) in late June whey they'll fly into Maine and then drive to New Brunswick, Canada. They'll take several days where they'll get to camp and fish in several really fun places.

How cool would that be?!

I'm so incredibly proud right now. How on earth did I raise such great kids? Who would have thought that this sweet face would have such an amazing goal...

Hunting with dad before he was big enough to hunt...


Riding his motorcycle before mom thought he was big enough to ride...


First day of school...


Getting his Black Belt in Taekwando...








Somehow, I imagine dad is smiling right now.


I did find out too, that parents can go as "spectators" to Challis. I'm hoping Adam will be happy to have mom and dad along!

Granny Beats up 6 Robbers

This is exactly why I love old people. They aren't afraid to "get involved." They are from a generation that helped each other and took care of those who needed them. Nowadays, we're so afraid of lawsuits or feeling like it's not our problem, that many are willing to stand by and watch as our world is taken over by thugs and thieves. Be sure to watch the right hand side of your screen as she (in the red coat) runs from up the street and across the road to help. Notice all the people walking by and cars driving by and no one else comes to her assistance until she has several of the robbers down.

She's my hero.

A Letter to My Daughter...

My friend Casey at All I'm Sayin', recently wrote a letter to her daughter on her 5th birthday and I thought it was a wonderful idea. As it turns out, it's MY daughter's birthday so I thought it would be fun to do the same.

Dear Jacki,

Today you are 28. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I loved the little girl you were, but I'm so very grateful for the wonderful woman you have become.

You were such a delightful child and have given me so many wonderful memories. You were my helper when I needed help, you were my joy when I needed happiness, you were "my sunshine when my skies were gray."

One of my proudest memories is the day you brought home, in your Senior year of high school, a certificate. Your graduating class had voted for "Most Popular", "Most Likely to Succeed", "Prettiest", and many others. You, of all the kids, brought home a certificate that proclaimed you had been voted "Most Generous". Of all the awards given, I was so proud that you were chosen for that. I never expected my kids to get straight A's, what I did expect, was for you to be kind to others and give from your heart whenever you could. I tried to instill in all of my kids how much it hurt others to be bullied and how that would never be tolerated. You and Jake were proof that my words were not in vane.

You never realize how much you can love someone until you have children. Then, you have grandchildren and realize that they too, provide you with such a special kind of love. You are such a wonderful mother and have given me 3 more reasons to remember every day that Life Is Good.

I'm so proud that we have grown from a wonderful mother/child relationship to knowing that you are my best friend. You will never know how much I love it when you want to come and stay with your mom when your husband is gone. It makes my heart so happy to know that you enjoy my company. I have always felt such a special bond with my own mother, and hoped that someday you and I would have that same bond. I'm grateful it turned out that way.

I hope you will always remember that sometimes it hard for a mother especially, to fully let go and not always want to fix things. I know that's one of my biggest faults, but when you love your kids as much as I do, it's hard sometimes to step back and observe. Just know that I too, make mistakes, but they are always done out of love. We laugh often about the fact that "You are your mother's daughter" and I apologize for that. Not that we laugh about it, but that you turned out that way!




Thank you for being my "sunshine" and such a wonderful part of my life. I love you sweet daughter.

mom

Proud Mama...

I've mentioned how Adam loves his Fish and Game class at Boise High and how it has given him direction. Every year, his teacher takes two teams (one from the first year class and one from the students in their second year of the class) to a state-wide Envirothon in Challis. The students compete in teams of 5 members on things like environmental awareness, wildlife identification, aquatic ecology, land use, forestry, and various other topics. Of the 170 students at the center where Adam takes his class, only 10 are chosen to attend the Envirothon.

Adam applied (as did every student - it's 3 days out of school in May!), and we hoped his GPA was good enough for him to attend. He found out Monday that his GPA is a 3.0! Now that may not sound great to some, but for Adam, he had decided that every class was a burden and couldn't understand why he needed to know history when it wasn't going to be of any use to him later in life. He's worked so hard to improve his GPA this year so he can get into college to become a Game Warden and his hard work paid off.

He was told yesterday that he's been chosen to go to Challis. His teacher class has won 3 out of the last 4 years, and if they win, they'll be traveling to Canada to compete in the North American Envirothon!



I'm just so proud that he's discovered a direction and is working to hard to achieve his goal. I'm one proud mama...