The "Dumb Bunnies" Go Trail Blazing

(With apologies to the talented and imaginative Children's Author, Dav Pilkey)

Well, I suppose it has been awhile. Perhaps it is time for a Blog update?
We spent most of last spring, summer and a large portion of last fall in a motel in town. We were quite fortunate to find a place with a 2 bedroom unit and a kitchen. It was "cozy" but comfortable, and located such that we were able to take advantage of the various outdoor activities, in addition to being within easy walking distance to the library.
Since were were in town we somehow never managed to acquire wood for our woodstove here at the house, so when we moved back in this winter we found ourselves becoming rather creative in our foraging for wood for heat. One day it occured to Daniel that he might give the BLM a call to see if they may have some wood laying around. Indeed, they did, and so we went to town, purchased our permit, then headed to Bi-Mart to purchase new gloves for the family. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for the excursion we had planned for the following day. Alas, the next day brought a storm to our area, complete with snow. The following week we listened to reports on the scanner of folks becoming snowbound in the area we were to go for our wood. Called BLM who advised very strongly that we stay home. They would issue us an extension. And so the kids enjoyed the snow while we waited. Finally the day came. We loaded the truck with all we deemed necessary for our little work party, and we were off for our grand adventure. And what an adventure it was!
Our first foray into the wilderness was really quite entertaining. We drove down 101, took our turn and headed past the lake, then on several miles through beautiful country. It was then we made a wrong turn. There was a sign at the bottom of the road that said, "Woodcutting Allowed." Daniel was just sure that was the right road, so off we went. Up... up... up we went , enjoying each new vision a twist in the road revealed. Our journey was slowed a bit as we came upon trees fallen across the "road". First one, then around another corner another, and another....Each time Daniel and I would get out. He would fire up the chain saw and cut the trees out of the way, and I would drag them off to the side. After the third time the kids decided maybe they could help out a bit. It went a lot faster then. After doing this for awhile, and not seeing any signs of activity we decided perhaps we were on the wrong road. Found a place to turn around and headed back to the main road. Got down to the bottom of the road we were on and I glanced over at the sign. The sign was a tad weathered and curled over a bit at the top. Upon looking more closely under the curled over section I could read, right above "Woodcutting Allowed", very clearly printed in bold letters, "NO" ...Alrighty then! We headed on up the main road and found the correct road, went maybe 3 yards and found piles and piles of well seasoned wood, just waiting for us to cut it down to size and load it up. Daniel fired up the chainsaw once again and we all got to work. I quickly discovered my 90 calorie breakfast of 2% cottage cheese was not adequate for such activities. Good thing I had taken an emergency 100 calorie snack pack along just in case :) I gobbled that down, had a couple swigs of my Propel and was good to go. Maybe 2 hours later the exhausted family unit piled back into the truck for our trip home, which wasn't nearly so eventful as the trip there. It also didn't take near as long :o

A Beary Exciting Visitor

Had a heck of a time trying to get all of us calmed down enough to do school this morning. Just as I was getting ready to get started Daniel told us all to look out the window. I figured there was a cool bird, or the first deer of the season, or maybe even a cat doing something particularly entertaining. I was at least as shocked as the kids though when I looked and there was a very large, very healthy looking black bear! He was just strollling down the walkway, looking around like he was curious what was up. Once he got over the initial shock of seeing this huge beast roaming around our front yard, Nathan declared, "He's Cute!" The bear took his time, looking around, sniffing the air as he sauntered over to the woodshed. He stood up on his hind legs, getting a good look at a portion of the woodshed, then headed inside where he moved the plank of wood around, dug some slugs out from under and dined on them. He then nosed around, gobbled up the rest of the cats' food and a few more slugs. He headed over and had drink from the cats' water bowl then stopped, lifted his leg and relieved himself before slowly heading up the trail, past the pine tree and back down the walk way. He really put on a nice show for us!
Once he was gone we headed out to investigate. The cats followed us into the woodshed where they spent a lot of time sniffing at his tracks. When we left the woodshed, so did the cats. They haven't been back to their favorite hangout since. The neighbor's dog waited 'til the bear was gone before he started going nuts. That dog barked for hours! Of course he had to come over to our place so he could bark at the scent. Such a brave mutt he is!

This all happened about 10 AM and the cats are still spooked! I still can't stop looking out the window, wondering what's going to appear next. Daniel went out with the tape measure and measured where the bear was kind enough to stand up next to the woodshed. He stood right about 6 feet tall. Considering our heights and weights, and the bears appearance, we figure 350-400 lbs. as a conservative estimate.

Oh! If anyone's interested, the kids got right with the program and named the bear. His name is "Bill" :o)

An Important Message For Women and Their Loved Ones

PLEASE sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code.

http://www.lifetimetv.com/reallife/bc/pledges/bc_mast_pledge.html

PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your friends and family. THANKS!


Mastectomy Hospital Bill in Congress

If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important...please take the time and do it really quick!

Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill - Important legislation for all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. If you are receiving this it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go and vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protec! tion Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the "drive-through mastectomy" where women are forced to go home hours after surgery against the wishes of their
doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support. Last year over half the House signed on.

History Repeats Itself

And so, the price for gas has risen once again. Once again folks are enraged that it costs so much to fill their vehicles. That gas also fuels higher prices for virtually everything else, including groceries, clothing, anything and everything you purchase. And, lest we forget, it's not "just gas" it's oil, and everything that oil is transformed into, including fuel oil for heating homes and cooking, plastics, some fabrics, furniture, the list goes on.

I've seen the blame card being played against India and China for consuming more. My first thought, upon seeing that was, "as compared to us?" As we go out and purchase bigger and bigger vehicles each year? Bigger homes each year? Who needs them? I cannot understand why any family of 4 (which I believe is still the average family size) would need more than 2,000 square feet to live in, furnish, and heat. To each his own, Im not judging anyone for their chosen lifestyle, but don't complain to me about how much it costs to maintain your mansion. And don't complain to me about how much it costs to fill up and drive around in the monster vehicle you purchased! Yes, there are a few who genuinely need larger vehicles, but, really, I think those are in the minority.

We need alternate sources for energy! Drilling for more oil is not the answer. It wouldn't solve the current problem anyway, and when it finally did start making a difference it wouldn't last long. Like trees and water, oil is a finite resource, unlike the sun and the wind. Those are 2 viable options for energy. We, as individual families and homeowners could make a difference, albeit a small difference at first, I've no doubt it would start to snowball until it began making a huge difference, not only for the environment (which in turn would affect our living conditions, and overall health for the better) but for our pocketbooks as well. Unfortunately those options are not cheap, and, in many cases beyond personal financial abilities. While, even at the current high price they are an economically sound investment, the return in energy savings would more than make them worth the price, many just don't have the cash to put out for the initial investment. We need a break, an incentive, perhaps along the lines of those rebates they had going for more energy efficient hot water heaters in the past.

There's a gal on a board I visit who has come up with what I think is an excellent alternative for those who live in the city and some other communities. She has gone out and purchased an electric golf cart which she has made street legal. In her case, total cost, I believe she said was a whopping $600. Not only is she saving loads in gas costs but, hey, those things are cool! They're fun and they look kinda neat too. There are no nasty fumes emitting from them as they zip around and they're quiet! Granted, they're not going to be great for the big commutes, but for zipping around, short distances, to the store and the like...What an idea!

Bottom line, there are answers. We are hopeless victims only if we choose to be. We can be proactive and make a diference, not only for ourselves but for our communities, today and in the future, for our children and our grandchildren.

Happy Earth Day!

My Hero

There's a spider in a web

At the corner of the bed

Quite near where I lay my head!

I told my husband who (chuckling) sped

To where my directions led

And squashed that varmint dead!

Once again I'll sleep with no dread

:o)

"It's Raining Snowballs!"

Lindsay's been wishing for snow for so long now. Last night at dinner she was nearly in tears as she exclaimed, "It's never going to snow!" I felt so bad for her. I wished there was something I could do to somehow will the fluffy white stuff to fall from the sky. Her knowledge that it is a rare occurance around here wasn't much of a consolation.

This morning I awoke. I crawled out of bed and peeked out the window as usual. I could scarcely believe my eyes! The ground, the branches of the trees, the bushes, the driveway was.. white! I whispered to Lindsay to wake up. She rubbed her eyes sleepily as I pointed out the window. One quick glance was all it took. She fairly bubbled,as she scrambled out of bed. She looked and sounded like she was being tickled from her heart, deep inside, and all the way out. As she began to exit the room I asked her if we should tell Nathan. "Oh Yes!" She rushed to her brothers bed and whispered in his ear. Christmas morning is the only time I remember him leaping from his bed so quickly!

It didn't take my children long to get dressed this morning. They were outside and playing in a flash. They had fun scraping the white stuff from the top of the car, piling it to the center of blocks of wood. After a bit Lindsay came in. She was less than thrilled, saying it had begun to rain. Her frown was short lived. I pointed outside at her brother who was dancing, waving his arms, looking skyward, and excitedly shouting to his sister, "Lindsay! It's not rain! It's snow! It's snowing!"

Lindsay raced back out. It didn't take long for enough to accumilate that they could start forming snow balls, actually more like slush balls, but around here it's all the same thing :) They were both giggling when they came inside and whispered to me that they each had 9 snowballs waiting outside. I chuckled, knowing full well what their intentions were.

A few minutes later they raced outside. They were rushing to make it out prior to their father who was on his way out to gather some wood for the fire. I watched and listened, laughing out loud as I saw my husband being pelted with balls of slush. He managed to get a few handfuls off in their direction as they all laughed and giggled, dodging the cold, wet ammunition. When he returned with his armful of wood he was covered in wet splotches of white.

It stopped snowing. The kids came in, and warmed their hands by the fire. It began snowing again, big wet, white flakes. My children raced out once again as Nathan gleefully exclaimed, "It's raining snow balls!" An ominous statement for their Father who needed to make yet another trip outside to replenish the fire...

I Thought I Knew Him

My dear Husband has informed me he wants a Pink Flamingo. As if that wasn't bad enough, he says he wants said pink flamingo to have wings that twirl in the wind! I am, as a Brit friend of mine might say...Gobsmacked!!

Unbelievable...