At OwyheeStar

Christina has taken ill and missed work on Thursday and Friday. Not that we cannot do everything she does, but she is a very skilled and able helper. I am ever so thankful for this time when our second oldest granddaughter can work with us. What a treat on so many levels. Anyhow, without her, we have found ourselves needing to do a few more things. There is less time for me to do all those Internet, Email, and interaction type of things. Cliff took the photos and just when I thought she would be able to work up the photos it was not possible. She is missed! Stackhouse is not a happy camper. Typically, he waits for me to arrive with her each weekday morning. He is not happy about her missing work on the weekends–I cannot imagine his reaction when she comes Monday. He is going to rub on her and get in her way as much as possible. She is going to moan about him and yet love his devoted pestering behavior.

This Week on the Blog

Here are the week’s posts. This Oregon Coast beach view video we started the week with was prior to the storm we mentioned. We didn’t imagine the raging ocean would be dealing such havoc this very week.

Sunday— January 14 — At the Beach
Monday — January 15 — Alder

Tuesday — January 16 — Liberty Belle

Wednesday — January 17 — Roxy

Thursday — January 18 — Reporting In

Friday — January 19 — Tough Decisions (Spaying and Neutering)

On a very personal note

Cliff is still working on the carport enclosure. The cyclamen continues to offer us a plethora of blooms filling our Winter-Spring heart with hope. I wonder how long this floral tribute will continue. If ever there was a flowering houseplant that exceeded expectations it is this one. I nearly killed it when I felt it must be replanted–breaking the top off. (OMG) Prior to this accident, it had bloomed all but two-weeks since Ellen gave it to me in May of 2012. It reminds me that we can overcome the catastrophic incident. Thank you, sweet Cyclamen, for speaking to my heart. Anyhow, Cliff working on the carport and the story of this plant speak to our life. Nothing much changes and we continue to overcome obstacles as they arise.

We had a special visitor spend a few hours with us this week–our youngest grandson. Nick is a whiz at all things mechanical. I recounted to him my shock when he and I encountered a situation that required me to figure out how to get the wagon gate open. It wasn’t super complex, but not an easy one either. We had taken a load of pups to the Three Cliff’s Sanctuary, and I was just about to talk about how to open this gate (honestly, I was buying a little time to remember how the new latch worked). I turned to the wagon, and there was Nicholas (all of three years old) with it open and unloading the pups. Well, that speaks volumes.

Anyhow, there is not a lot of available time in a middle school age kid’s life to spend with grandparents. I mean, face it, friends come first. We were blessed to have him visit. We thought it might be a good thing. For Christmas, he got a GoPro camera, and he is working toward getting that going so he can develop a YouTube Channel. He and a friend had one going but it seems his friend has taken it over and left him in the dust. We told him not to despair because maybe this is for the best. He can develop his own channel and if there are earnings, then they are in his pocket. Did I say he has an excellent imagination? He has plans for various presentations–what a kid!

Grandpa Cliff took out our various cameras, as well the GroPro set up we own. They went over the different features. Nick saw the tripod, and he connected it to the small Sony I used to use around here for photos (before I went exclusively to my iPhone for the quick capture thing). It has such an excellent lens, and he loved it. He loved Grandpa’s Canon 70D. Well, we hope he had fun–we were glad to find some common ground.

I prepared one of his favorites–Oriental Chicken Salad. I made a crazy sidedish of homemade macaroni and cheese. Nick, as always was so polite. He said he liked dinner. Stackhouse did the prewash for him, and he rinsed his plate and silverware and set them in the kitchen sink. We dropped him at home after dinner (and after he and grandpa put together a piece of exercise equipment for me). As always, we netted a big hug before he left us. Those hugs, the smile, and his sweetness are music to our soul.