Why I hate February!!

I am often asked why I hate February - and the answer is simple - it is ugly!!!! February is a three color month - gray - brown - and what I call a greenbrown. The greenbrown is the color I give to the evergreens of North Idaho. They really don't stay that pretty green they are in May or June - they turn a dirty brown green in February. You have to take my word on this cause I forgot to take a picture of it. Now I will prove my point with pictures.

Here is the gray - or part of the gray. Most mornings you wake up to fog. Fog that lingers all day till about 3 in the afternoon. Lets us not forget that sunset is at 5 this time of year. Wow - two whole hours to look at brown.

Actually , I don't know if this is brown or gray - but it isn't white. Our pretty snow is no longer - pretty. Just more ugly!!! Then there is the MUD!!

This is the road I drive on in my bus. Lovely MUD. :(

This is how my bus looks. It used to be yellow - now it is brown!!!

What is this you ask? The back of my black pants after I walk through the mud to get to my brown bus that I drive through the mud to get all the little angels that track that mud into my bus. You would not believe what I sweep everyday.

This is just one of the lovely potholes that I have to drive around in both my car and bus. Lovely February condition of our roads. Note the color - gray!!!

And if you are lucky enough to find a garden - this is what you find. Different shades of brown with a little gray mixed in. You will note I say if you are lucky enough to find a garden - because this snow is NOT GOING AWAY!!!

Note the date - yes - if these berms are this high now can you guess how tall they where in January?
Here is my house - brown - gray with a little greenbrown on the side. I find myself looking at the crayons that I have here for my grand kids - just to remember what color is. I so look forward to March - March brings hope - March just takes over and brings in Spring. March is great because it isn't February.

Results and more

So number three won on my picture contest and big smiles for me cause I took that picture of morning dew. And no I didn't take the picture of the duck. Matt thought that every one would think I took it and would vote for it just because...well, he was half right. Matt took the sunset picture and it is a very awesome picture allot bigger. The leaves on the right side are all glistening with rays of sunlight and I think it is cool. The ice picture was mine and well, I guess was the least favorite one cause it didn't get one vote. Doesn't matter cause I get the quarter. Yea for me :)

This week was rather boring and nerve racking because I spoke in church today. I get very nervous when I have to speak in church and it was high council week. I was suppose to talk until 15 past the hour and I made to about 3 minutes past. I talked about 12 whole minutes. I really tried to make the talk longer but I was stuck on the subject. I was given President Eyring talk - "Our heart knit as one" as my topic. Great talk to teach in Relief Society but how can you improve on President Eyring? Can't just read the talk either - Oh well, its over and went OK. Matt even came and sat out in the hall the listen to me. Nice of him to give me support but not to make me more nervous by being in the room. Note to Matt : the building is still standing :)

Mom and Dad are doing just fine. Cabin fever has struck, but we all have that. We still have a good foot and a half of snow everywhere. And the berms are even higher.

So I have allot to learn - that is on how to scan something into my computer - so that it isn't super small!!! I'll figure it out - then we will go down memory lane!! Till then stay safe!!

Photo Contest !!

So - I got Matt a camera for Christmas - and we have had a couple of days that the two of us have just gone out and taken pictures of this beautiful state of Idaho. We went up to Bayview and around the lake and then today we went to the Post Falls Dam. Winter can be sooo pretty! We got into a conversation and we only have our little cameras to work with ,and we have no training ,but we think these photos are not tooo bad - and we want to know who took the best picture.

Now we want you to tell us who is better - You will find that there are four photos to choose from - two are Matts and two are mine. We know that Brady would be laughing hysterically right now and we agree - but we are old and so you should humor us - right? So just vote for the one photo you like the best - that's it - get your friends to take a look and vote too - just a silly thing that could make me 25 cents richer :)

This is number one

This is number two

This is number 3

Last but not least - number four

Thank - you all for helping out!!

Days off !!!!

So the truth is I just checked and saw that just about the whole family had a new post for their blog today , so I just had to join in. I know that is following the crowd but this is a pretty good crowd to follow.

So I have tomorrow off. I love working for the school system. You get all these unexplained or unexpected days off. My Christmas brake was lengthen by two days due to snow. Then we went back to work for one whole day before we got another two days off because of snow. Then the unbelievable thing happened - I had to work 5 days in a row. That was so hard. (I skipped over the two days I took for Dad) Then I had the 19Th off because of MLK. I only had to work three days that week because we had the 23rd for in service day. More on that later. So, I have had three , three day week-ends in a row. I have such a hard job :) I am not looking forward to the stretch between Presidents day and Spring break -- I have to work solid. February 16 to March 27 ... Oh the horror !!!!

Speaking of horror - my in service meeting was just that. The horror of the open road. We spent three hours looking at video and still shots of car accidents. Then we were expected to drive home. UGH!!! I have but one thing to say to all of you - buckle up - put both hands on the wheel-stay awake - and never hurry.

Now I know that everyone is happy to see January leave but I have always hated February. I am sad to see January leave because now it is the dirty month. The month the dirt shows and it is gray everywhere. No green grass, no white snow, mud everywhere and very little sun shine. Now that is depression.

I'll try to have something exciting happen soon so I can blog about it. Till then - don't look outside it's too ugly.

You haven't even noticed !!?!!

So have you listened to the lyrics of the Idaho song you are listening to??? First off - you have to turn up the volume on your speakers and actually listen to this music - the Four Seasons are singing and listing off great things in Idaho - somewhere in the middle of the song they sing "Grandma Sue, the cows and you" This is so my song!!! Me and cows have always gone together. Just thought I would point that out to those of you who zone out great music like this. :)

Next - isn't 24 great!!! I think this year is starting out great and I almost believe the Tony explanation. I want to go rent the old season when he dies and view it again but my old memory is excepting things right now. I am glad to see some old friendly faces. This years theme - 4 good guys against the world - yea 24 :)

Next bit of news - how do you like my leg? Isn't this brace crazy? All I have is a little tendinitis and I have to wear this thing at night. My tendon is separating from my heal bone and causing some pain now and again. I decided to see the Dr. before it got too bad and he sent me to Dr. Thompson - (who is in my ward) He is a foot doctor. So I got an ultrasound of my heal and he even gave me a picture for my fridge. But I caught this early - good -and I didn't need a shot - but I have a daytime brace and that unbelievable nighttime one. We shall see in 3 weeks what happens then. My daytime brace is very small and comfortable, so no problem there. The joys of getting older.

Till next week - enjoy the music !! :)

Happy birthday to Me!!

As most of you know I had the worst and best birthday ever. After having two more days off of work because of snow - my first thought when my phone rang at 4:20 a.m. was - "What? no school again?" But it was my mother telling me that Dad had fallen and can't get up. With boots and coat on in about 3 seconds - it took a few more seconds to get across a solid sheet of ice on the road - but I do believe I was across the street in less than a minute. I found Dad - my strong, perfect father - lying on the floor, speech slurred, and upset. I helped him to sit up - I wasn't strong enough to get him off the floor. He knew me, knew what day it was (my birthday) and where he was. But his speech was really slurred. I told him I was calling 911 and he said OK. The ambulance was there quickly - along with a fire truck. Six very helpful men - helped Dad up - and after a trip to the bathroom they put him on the gurney and into the ambulance. I went home dressed , got the car drove over to get Mom and she was ready for me. Now if you know my Mom you will be amazed that she was ready. Mom is not a fast person.

When we got to the hospital - he was in room 7 - lucky number - the doctor came and talked to us. Dad was scheduled for a cat scan - right away to see if it is a stroke. Dads speech was slurred but everything else seemed OK. Off he goes for the test and now it is 7 a.m. and a change of shift was occurring. Dad is back and the new Dr. orders another blood sugar test and his blood sugar is 34 - it is suppose to be 100. So Dad gets a shot of sugar and in 10 minutes Dad is Dad again. Speech is clear and so is his thinking. We are given the option to go home or stay the night. We choose to stay the night.

Turns out Dad fell three times that night and the last time was the only time he couldn't get up. He had a bunch of tests that showed his heart and brain all looked great. So now he is going to get a monitor and start checking his blood sugar. He is home and taking it easy - hard not too - we still have a couple of feet of snow outside - and he is doing well. Yea!!!!!

So my birthday started out as my worst day - I don't think I have ever been that scared. But ended up my best day cause my Daddy was OK.

Thank-you to all of you who called me to wish me a happy birthday - the videos and photos and texts - I loved them all. Really helped me get through that day. A Big THANKS!!!

Now on a different note - 24 starts tonight - in thirty minutes my time. I can use a different kind of excitement - bring it on Jack.

More snow !!!

Even though we are totally tired of snow blowing - it is pretty. The latest snow here really left things pretty. We got another 5 inches last night and well, Dad and I decided it was time to worry about our roofs. So the lucky two guys that came to the door , got hired. The next pictures show the berms left from shoveling the roofs.
We had to shovel a path so that they could join us for dinner.


View from Mom and Dads TV room. This is their patio. I don't think they will use this until May.



I think four feet is when you should shovel a roof.
It is hard keeping Angel in her own yard.
It is pretty.

I bet the house is breathing a sigh of relief. That is allot of snow!! Officially we have 87.4 inches of snow so far this winter - and we have all of January to go. Fun times!!!