I'M SICK!

Any guesses what this represents? There are 17 bags here...all empty except 2. I'm working on those now. I have a disease. I need a 12 step program. Help! I'm working on a plan, but of course, now it won't start 'til Monday.....maybe that's part of the problem.

When it's raining...it's flooding.

Morgan's little message to me as she left for her long weekend in Utah. It started pouring down rain Tuesday night. Her roof leaks and it was filling up buckets fast. I went in to check on them and this is what I saw. We have attempted to remedy the problem. We already have a big blue tied over the whole roof. It flapped in the wind causing a new problem for her as she tries to sleep but it did not stop the water from pooling on the roof and leaking through. It continued to rain all day Wednesday so I bought a couple more tarps at Walmart. Gareld and I stopped at D&B to look at hay tarps. They are much bigger and supposedly thicker and keep water off better but the price had us heading home with the ones I bought. When we got to her trailer and were accessing the situation we quickly decided we needed the hay tarp. I headed back to town while Gareld created a pitched roof out of lumber. We got the humongous tarp up and over and tied down. The leaking has stopped but then so has the rain :) Today Gareld fixed a porch so the door could open with the tarp still providing cover. It is nice and cozy (and dry). I hope this works for the rest of the winter. It really is a nice little apartment otherwise. It is a 29' trailer. She has her comfy bed. There's a couch, lot's of book shelves for all her books, a table and chair to hold her sewing machine, a new fridge, a great heater, TV, new paint, new curtains and cute decorations. She's just a step from the bathroom and laundry room. The rent is free. Who wouldn't want a cute little pad like that? I don't think she would really want to stay in the house with us. I'm too strict about how I want my new house to look. I HATE clutter and she is the clutter queen. The bedrooms are small and she needs to spread out. Maybe you all think it mean of me but I want this to be "our" new house. Of course we will take care of her and help her out with a place to stay until she is on to the next adventure in her life. So for now Snoopy is high and dry.

Flowers

I enjoy flowers. I like to give them and I like to get them. After 30 some years I haven't been able to convince Gareld that flowers would be nice. He'll ask me what I want for a birthday and I'll say just M&M's or flowers. I always get the M&M's and once and awhile he has given me flowers so I can't complain. I get them for myself whenever I feel like it and today I got some. I'm giving the snowman vase to a friend at work (we drew names). I got this pretty crystal vase from my Secret Santa Sally so I filled it with the extra ones. Both turned out lovely...I should be a florist.

Top of The Prop

Here's the upper fence line looking towards the hill and to the southeast a bit. Trying to capture some movement of the critters.

Checking the critter cam at the top of the property. We could see where the elk had been jumping the fence so Gareld took the camera up there. It looked like there were no fresh tracks and we didn't get and photos of elk. Just Gareld on the four wheeler.

THEME TREES

Way back in 1991-1992 we lived in Union at The Queen Anne Inn. It is a big historical 3 story house with a basement. It was a bed and breakfast. The owners (friends of ours) were going to go to live in Hawaii for a year and needed someone to run the inn. We did it and it was awesome. We had guests. We had weddings. We had ghosts. We had a lovely big house with expansive grounds. I decorated for the holidays and I had a tree in every room. There were lots of rooms and lots of trees. It was fun thinking of different themes for the trees to match the rooms. When we left there I decided to carry on the themed tree idea. Here's a list of the trees since:
1993 - Victorian Pressed Paper Ornaments (from the union house)
1994 - Snowman Tree (snowmen fabric stiffened then cut out each individual snowman)
1995 - Natural Tree (nuts, fruit slices, cranberries, rafia bows)
1996 - Santa Tree (I tole painted a lot of santas)
1997 - Noah's Ark (I already had a collection so I used that then we painted paper animals)
1998 - Nativity (I used nativity sets I had already, then lots of nativity christmas cards)
1999 - Victorian (antiques around the house, hankies, spoons, buttons, tea cups, etc.)
2000 - Old Fashioned Kitchen (cookie cutters, utensils, sifters, gingerbread cookies)
2001 - Gold (everything in the color gold and this was my least favorite of all)
2002 - Outdoor Life (traded ornaments with a friend)
2003 - Antique glass ball ornaments (been collecting them at thrift and antique stores)
2004 - Red and white (used some from victorian, snowman and santa trees)
2005 - Patriotic Tree (Brandon's first tour in Iraq. Red, white and blue lights, balls, flags)
2006 - Silver and Green (Very pretty, used new and old. Anything in the house that color)
2007 - Red, White and Green (Basic christmas colors...makes a beautiful tree)
2008 - Red, White, Blue (Iraq again. This makes a very impressive tree. So beautiful)
2009 - Silver, White and Green (I'm stuck on these pretty color combinations)
2010 - Christmas Cards (All christmas decor packed and stored so I punched holes in cards)

This year I started with lime green and white. I had got a lot of ornaments last year on clearance. As I was decorating it I added in some red and it is really quite beautiful in person.
Maybe it's time to think of a theme that's not a color. We'll see!

MILESTONES

Last night was the Pepsi Party. They reward people that have put in many years with the company. Three people got recognized for 20 years with Pepsi Cola Bottling Company of Eastern Oregon. Gareld has them beat and he has been there 30 years! Can you believe that? He's too young to have been there for that length of time. He was just a skinny, young man with his first baby on the way when he started loading trucks there. They presented him with this gun. It's a "22 on steroids" is how it was described. A 17HMR if that means anything to you gun enthusiasts out there. He got a HUGE gun safe a couple weeks ago. After he had all his guns in it I misspoke and said, "you have room for more guns". "You said it", he responded.
So now he has another gun and that should satisfy him for awhile.

A few weeks ago a couple of people from the fire department called me and let me know they wanted Gareld to attend the Christmas Party. It was a secret but not hard to pull off. I just assumed we'd be going all along and played it that way. They give out the yearly recognitions at this party. Gareld resigned in March after 20 years with the LaGrande Fire Department. The chief presented him with his helmet mounted on a plaque. He got a standing ovation and some of the members said some nice things about his service. We live a little far out of town to be a part of it anymore. It was an important part of his life for a long time.

Welcome

I added a warm winter welcome to the mail box today. I intended to decorate it every season. Last fall I got off to a good start, then nothing until this fall. It is the perfect stand to hold seasonal items so I will keep it up from now on.

The other day when I hung the wreath on the door I peaked inside. I love my little building! I can't wait to "move" in. It has so many possibilities. Next holiday season I will have a christmas open house. Right now I need to think of a cute name to call it instead of "the shed". We found the snowmen at a yard sale. Can you believe how the wheelbarrow matches the door. A happy coincidence. Wheelbarrow is a yard sale find (did you think anything else?) and Sandra gave me the door. It makes a me smile when I pull in the gate.