Life back home

Life is settling a bit now that we're 'home' - The weeds continue to grow but with a few days of sunshine I'm hoping to get rid of them. Back yard is full of blooming bushes/trees - it is good to be in green Oregon. And, on this Mother's Day the sun is shining and life is GOOD. Wishing our daughters and granddaughters a happy Mother's Day. We enjoyed seeing new mommy Kealy (her 1st Mother's Day) and the babies yesterday. Mommy of 2-yr old Jadyn is anxiously waiting birth of Demi Lynn (due June 19).

Arizona carvings

Dorn carved the polar bear and cougar - Gma did the squirrel and flower basket (box) yet to be painted. Gma painted the projects

A few special days with Scout & Tahoe. Scout has a constant shadow companion in Tahoe. She has taught her well! Scout has slowed down while puppy is full of energy and can run as fast to get the frisbee. Puppy hasn't learned to bring it back yet - just play tug-of-war bringing it back. Scout is VERY patient. We'll say goodby to them on Tuesday as their 'parents' come pick them up. Casey has also enjoyed having them here for the 9 days. Scout enjoyed protecting the backyard from squirrels, cats and possums tho she now prefers to monitor it all from the deck rather than chasing them at the back fence.

Enjoying Scout again

HOME - since April 27 and still settling in. And then.....Scout and her new charge Tahoe arrived for a 9-day visit on May 3. She was glad to be here and follows Gpa everywhere! Puppy Tahoe has grown to full-size dog now and they have great fun together.

Now that we've unpacked, washed RV, organized paper work, opened 4 mos of mail----we're ready to hit the road again. Headed for WY mid-June and thankful Casey is willing/able to housesit.

Enjoyed stopping to see Jadyn and twins on our way into town. What treasures!!!

more later.

AZ desert in bloom

virgin River in UT after heavy rains (thunderstorm complete with thunder/lightning/hail

flowers growing out side of Mt in Zion Ntnl Park

The desert was amazing this year. We enjoyed hiking in Sabino Canyon in tucson AZ - tho a bit challenging as we had to wade through the RIVER as it was flowing over the path way at every dip in the road.

more later

carol

Life on the road w/o Scout

Well it's been a while since we've posted any news. Life got a little crazy this past year - Scout went to live with Ryan's friends Dom/Shayda (she comes to visit us once in a while). We missed her terribly while in Az this year and had good memories of our time with her on the road.

Hmmmm. now we'll yak about 'us' I guess. After a whirlwind year with some remodeling, granddaughter Carly getting married, and Kealy/Ryan having twins during Dec 2009 - we hit the road for AZ. At this writing we have been on the road 119 days and on the last stretch home. Our trip 'south' for the winter took us to Salem to hold those babies one more time and give great grandchild jadyn an extra hug, then....Corning CA, Bakersfield CA, Hemet CA, GoodYear AZ and end destination Tucson AZ for 3 mos. Coming home we relaxed at parker Dam AZ, met new friends George and Sandy and enjoyed 8 days by the Colorado River taking in a high speed boat race. The final leg home found us at Virgin UT (Zion), Wells NV where we had snow/ice and now Susanville CA. We've put 2915 miles on our new rig and it feels 'just like home' now.

We enjoyed more wood carving while in Tucson Dorn carved a polar bear and cougar (don't have a photo of the finished cougar yet - will post it later). Carol carved the squirrel (and the rock).

We enjoyed some hiking and seeing the desert IN BLOOM since AZ had more than its fair share of rain this year - will post photos in separate blog.

when we get home we'll have Scout and puppy Taho for a week and sure looking forward to that.

on the road again.

carol

LIFE MAY BE SHORT LIVED

Gpa put up stakes to safeguard any further digging - OH GMA I am so sorry - I just couldn't help myself!

It's been a tough day in my backyard and Gma - well, she's been on the warpath - she said we had an agreement that she wouldn't plant any flowers in the flower beds and I could run through them chasing whatever I see. And she's been pretty good about not getting upset when I eat the tops of the Iris and lay in the middle of a nice soft bush. She did say something about NOT getting in the tomatoes and something about flowers on the deck (in big pots) but I don't remember what she said. While they were gone this am I thought I smelled a bone in some of the pots and set out to find them (Gma put bonemeal in the dirt-guess that was a mistake). I dug out all the flowers and most of the dirt trying to find the bone and they got back about the time I had the tiny flowers/dirt scattered all over the deck. All of this happened AFTER I got in trouble earlier for rolling in the compost pile (don't think I get to come inside today - sounds like another bath day).

How do I explain I just want to work along side them?

WOW - I didn't think she was ever going to quit yelling at me (I hung my head trying to let her know I was sorry and I sat very still while she took my photo in the middle of the mess). Gpa put some kind of a cage around some of the plants after they replanted them and the others went outside the gate where I can't get to them. I wonder if I can stay out of the tomatoes?

SPRING SNOW - Mt Hood

One more

Mt Hood photo - this is the kind of snow Gma/girls hiked through on a beautiful sunny dy. The creek here was clear/beautiful from all the melting snow.

LIFE IS GOOD

Iit's been a while since I gave you an update on my life 'at home' G&G have been busy catching up since we got home from AZ. Gpa & I mow the yard a lot, and G&G take me to the dog parks to run - we went to the large forest out by the freeway (1000 acres) the other day and even tho I couldn't go into the river (it was too high) I found lots of mud puddles to run through/roll in - Gpa kept saying 'SCOUT'!!! I don't think he was very happy but I just couldn't resist. Gma gave me an 'ouside hose bath' when we got home (that was COLD)

I spend HOURS lying in wait in the back yard ckg out the squirrels new nest - they still taunt me as they run around the big pine tree but now.....they are somewhere in that tree with the flowers- I run up the side of the fence to see them. I try hard not to bark but.....sometimes I just can't help it (but then Gma puts me in the house). I jump so fast Gma has a hard time getting a clear picture but you can see how I 'climb' the fence (Gpa sez I'm going to knock it over) I also stand straight up on that little shelf and I'm so 'tall' now I can almost see over the top of the fence.

My biggest challenge is at night time when I hear some kind of animals on the other side of the fence (Gma sez racoons) - If I wait long enough I'll get them -- I really don't like to come inside at night

I also got to go to my master's house a couple of times while G&G mowed the yard/cleaned up - I spent the entire time running around the shed and jumping up the tree to reach the bird house. I can sure jump higher than I did when I lived there.

I'm having fun being 'off-leash' and having such a nice yard to play in and I help Gpa a lot while he's working and then we take a break to kick the soccer ball.

live is good