I'm home!

No pictures right now, but I'm home from my cruise. I had a great time! I even held an alligator while on my Florida Everglades Safari.

I also got a chance to visit with Catherine, Jay and Paxton for a little while. Paxton sure is growing up.

Day 37

Today I spent 15 minutes riding Fred's bike. I put 4.3 miles on it. That's nothing compared to what Fred does. He rides 100 miles per week. But I think it's pretty good for me - especially considering I haven't done any sort of exercise for years!

Day 36

My February flag. I think it suits the season very well. I love the patterns and the colors.

Day 35

I'm going on the Club Scrap 10th Anniversary Cruise the end of April. I decided that I needed a swimming suit. I haven't had one for 20 years and it hasn't been a problem for me. BUT . . . . I haven't gone a cruise either! I found one I thought I liked and ordered it. It came today. It fits and I'm keeping it. It has a skirt which hides some of my figure flaws. This is about as stylish as I get.

Day 34

After work today we went to Reno. We had dinner at the Hacienda Restaurant. It's a very nice, relatively inexpensive, authentically Mexican restaurant. Many of the diners were very excited because the governor of Nevada was eating dinner there. Me? No big deal. I don't live in Nevada and I couldn't even tell you the governor's name! Now if it were the governor of California, I'd probably be craning my neck to see if it really was true.

Day 33

When I got home from work this afternoon there were lots of quail in our yard. When I approached them so I could get a better picture, they scattered. So instead of a photo of many quail in our front yard, I have a photo of one of the quail in the street in front of our yard. Years and years ago before our home was built when we lived across the street, I frequently observed flocks of quail congregated on this property. This reminded me of what I used to see on an almost daily basis. I had also forgotten the noises they make.

This photo reminds me of the book, "Don't Let the Quail Drive the Bus!"

Day 32

Many years ago I thought it would be a great idea to have a tablecloth for each month. I never quite realized that goal, but I did make a February tablecloth. I always enjoy being able to put it on the table. It is much brighter than what I would usually pick, but it's a nice change. My Pampered Chef "From the Heart" trivets are also on the table.

Day 31

We had Eric, Katherine, Owen and Adelaide for dinner. I made Olive Garden Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo and brownies as my contribution for dinner. After dinner Owen and Adelaide took turns playing the piano. Adelaide danced while Owen was playing.

Day 30

For Christmas I received a couple of framed prints for our dining area wall. They are both by Heather Greene, an artist who lives at Lake Almanor. I had seen the snowy trees and really liked it. It really wasn't big enough to fill up the space on the wall so I needed something else. We found the sunset on the lake print, which I think I like even more than the other. We still need some other things for this grouping, but this is a good start.

Day 29

In our living room we have a grouping of family photos. In the center frame is a family photo from many years ago. Catherine was just a very little girl then. From the upper left corner going in a "U" shape are Fred and Ruth Ann, Eric and Katherine, Karen and Brent, Kate, Clare, and Catherine and Jay. I just recently got around to updating a couple of the photos.

Day 28

Several years ago I made a set of monthly decorations to hang beside my front door. This is January's snowman.

Day 27 Jack Frost

It was very cold in the night with just the right amount of moisture in the air for making ice crystals on the windshield. This is a view from inside my car. You are probably thinking that I neglected to set the defroster yesterday, but I did. It was so cold and the ice so thick that it didn't melt easily. This is the view of the portion of the windshield above what defrosted. If you look closely, you can see a little spot in the lower right corner where it has been melted. I thought the ice crystals were beautiful. I didn't have to scrape very much and my seat was warm.

Day 26

Another snow day and this shows one of the features of my car that I love - if I remember to do the appropriate things the day before! Maggie has remote start. I can stand at the window in my studio and push the right combination of buttons to start her. If I've left the defroster and seat heater on, I don't have to scrape windows or sit on a cold seat! Of course there is a price to pay for this - the mpg goes way down just sitting in the driveway with the engine on.

Day 25

Snow for the first time in a month! However, it wasn't much and it didn't last very long. This is typically what our yard looks like in the winter. The snow melts out near the street where it gets some sun. Next to our house there is very little sun and the snow doesn't melt until we have some warm days.

Day 24

Today I took the test for my Ham Radio Technician license. I passed! I thought about taking a picture of my certificate, but decided that I'll wait until I get my call sign. Lately, I've been craving something different to eat. Fred suggested that I go to the Frosty Mill and get a World Burger. I did! In honor of the occasion this is the Frosty Mill taken while my burger was cooking.

Day 23

I work at Lassen County Public Health as a Health Educator. My programs are Emergency Preparedness and Pan Flu. I'm not doing a lot of educating right now because there are other projects taking priority. Today I finished the NIMS 700 course. This is my certificate from FEMA. I guess it means I know what to do in an emergency!

Day 22

Finally some rain! This morning on my way to work I noticed that my back-up camera view was very interesting. First of all my lights were on so there was a red glow on the driveway. And, since it was raining at the time, there was a droplet of water hanging from the top of the picture. It was ready to drop and did, in fact, drop while I was backing out. If I hadn't been running late I would have stopped to take the photo then, but I was running late so this version of the photo will have to do. My mph since last fill-up appears in the window above.

Day 21

My office! Well, actually it's my little corner in an office. I gave up an office of my own to share this space with two clerical people. My other office was around the corner and down the hall from this office. It was located in the "hot" hallway. The people in the offices on both sides of me really like the heat. In addition to having the thermostat set high, they both run portable heaters. I was cooking in that office. I was given the opportunity to move into this space and I jumped at the chance to move into the "cool" hallway. The stack of papers in the lower right hand corner is not is my office. There are two bookcases that are perpendicular to each other. My office ends at the end of my bookcase. The file cabinet is mine. It's difficult to tell from this angle but the edge of my file cabinet and the edge of the bookcase are directly across from each other. The flower prints on the wall are pages from my last year's calendar. I couldn't bear to throw them away and I needed something on my wall.

Day 20

President Barak Obama was inaugurated as President of the United States. I hope he can fulfill the expectations people have for him. I didn't watch the inauguration, but decided that it should be my photo of the day. This is the best I could do watching the news later in the day.

Day 19

Just some of my scrapbooking supplies for today's photo.

Day 18

After church we went back to Aunt Karen's house to pack up our things. Karen and the boys were there also. This is Colton ensuring a new crop of dandelions in Aunt Karen's yard!

Day 17

We went to Colusa to watch Hunter play in a basketball game. On the way from the ballgame back to Aunt Karen's house we stopped at the park to play. I love this photo of Wyatt. Auntie Clare gave him boots for Christmas and he has worn them everyday since Christmas. Here he is climbing on the playground equipment at the park. When we were walking across the street from the park, Wyatt started taking exaggerated steps and said, "I'm walking like a genius!" Such a funny boy!

Day 16

I was never going to be a pill taker. And now this is what I take every morning. I guess it's a sign of getting older. On the left is my Feldene which I take for arthritis. Then comes a multivitamin - just because; a B-100 which is supposed to help my nerves comunicate with each other (It does help with the pins and needles feelings that I get in my arms when I don't take it.); 2 calcium tablets; and 2 fish oil capsules which Dr. Fuerst (my eye doctor) suggested I take to help with my dry eyes. There's almost no room in my stomach for food after taking this handful of pills! And this is just my morning stuff. In the evening I take more calcium and fish oil as well as a Vitamin D.

Day 15

Fred riding his stationary bike that I got him for Christmas. He is riding 100 miles a week on it. Hopefully, this will keep him off his "real" bike. I feel it's much safer having him ride in his office.

Day 14

I have the opportunity to meet quarterly with the Stake Relief Society Presidents from the Stakes in this region. It's a treat for me to attend these meetings. I get so much from those in attendance. Bro. Wayne Keele prepares something to teach us each time. He talked about the stages of grief this time.

I took some flip book kits that were left over from those I had made up for our Stake Relief Society Retreat. I gave everyone the opportunity to put a flip book together. Bro. Keele was amazing. He completed his book with almost no instruction. He was able to do it by looking at my sample book.

Day 13 The Plant That's Taking Over!

After Fred's accident he received this plant from the hospital employees. When it arrived it was about as tall as the piano keyboard. It really likes this location and it has been growing and growing! Now it's quite a bit taller than the piano. I think it's about twice the height it was when we got it in September. Fred is afraid of cutting it back because he doesn't want to kill it, but we can't move the chair over any more. We've moved it as far as we can. Our only options are to cut the plant back, move the chair to another room or just allow the plant to keep growing and prevent anyone from sitting in the chair. I wonder how big it would grow if left alone.

Day 12

I received a request for sisters in the Stake to provide yarn to the inmates in the Federal Prison in Herlong. We collected yarn and had it taken to them. These are some of the slippers they made from the yarn. They feel like it is a way to repay society. So far I've received 4 crocheted baby blankets, 39 pair of children's slippers and 31 pair of mittens. The inmates are begging for more yarn so they can make more items for humanitarian efforts.

Day 11

Today was Susanville Second Ward's Conference. Cindy and I decided to wear our Relief Society uniform. It's not really a uniform, but Diane and I discovered that we both own the same jacket from Coldwater Creek and joked about wearing it at the same time. Then when Cindy was called as a counselor, we talked about it again because she has the same jacket also. This was our first opportunity to wear them when we would be together. But Diane is out of town helping her mother so it was just Cindy and I, the Relief Society twins, today. The triplet photo will have to wait for another day.

Day 10

Today is supposed to have the biggest full moon of 2009, but it doesn't seem all that large. According the space.com the moon should look larger the nearer to moonrise that you see it. I took this just a few minutes after moonrise. Even thought the moon doesn't look that large, I like the colors of the sky. I should have put on my telephoto lens and taken my tripod when I walked down the alley across the street to take this. I was trying to get away from all the wires overhead.

Day 9

I'm taking a Ham Radio class on Thursday and Friday evenings for a few weeks. I work at Lassen County Public Health in Emergency Preparedness and we are getting some Ham Radios as part of our grant this year. I figured someone ought to be licensed to use them. After they arrive, I'm going to have to convince more people to take the class and get licensed because I can't talk to myself!

My book hasn't arrived yet, but I've been taking lots of notes. It would be embarrassing if I didn't pass the test. This is the instructor, Jack. He has lots of years of Ham Radio experience.

Now, do we need a Ham Radio at home?

Day 8

Today was a "hair" day - cut and color by Catherine. It doesn't usually look this good! I was never going to color my hair, but the color gives body to my hair and I can use all the help I can get in that regard. :) I've been blessed with the family "curse" - it seems that the majority of the females in my paternal line start loosing hair from the top of their heads when they reach adulthood. They don't go bald, but the hair on top continues to thin throughout their lives! So the coloring helps thicken my hair. I probably should have taken a before photo so you could see that it's not just vanity which causes me to color my hair. I do have some gray, but not a lot!

Another thing I noticed in this photo is how much eyelid I have! It won't be too many more years before I have to have eyelid surgery because my eyelashes won't be able to support my eyelid and I will have difficulty with my vision.

I took this photo in the upstairs bathroom. I need to become more proficient on the computer. I cropped this photo in Picasa so that it was basically a head and shoulders shot, but that isn't the version that appeared when I uploaded the photo. I know that in Picasa you can always go back to the original, but I really wanted to have the cropped version here and I don't know how to do that. Oh well, at least you can tell that I took this photo myself. You can also see a little of the bathroom decor.

Day 7 The RabbitTree

I thought I should take a picture of the rabbit tree. When the Christmas lights were on the tree, it really pulled the twin tips in so that it looked like a regular tree. I don't know what happend to cause this effect on the tree. It was a normal tree with one tip until a couple of years ago. I don't think the deer bothered it much until this fall, but perhaps they gnawed on the tip a few years ago which caused it to split. At least the tops are still green and pretty! I can't say that about the lower branches. The deer were pretty destructive to the lower portion of this tree this past fall.

Day 6

My new January flag! I'm hoping it will bring more snow. The last real snow we received was on Christmas and it's almost gone now. The last several storms we were supposed to get have just blown past us. A new blanket of snow would be wonderful. I really don't like having to go out into the snow, but it would make everything look so much prettier! Right now the streets are clear of snow, but very dirty from the cinders. The snow that is left in people's yards has also lost its beauty.

So the prettiest snow around Susanville these days is on my flag.

Day 5

One of the things that makes me happy is the arrival of my newest Club Scrap pizza box. January's "Gimme a Ring" was delivered by my mail carrier today. I think he knows how much I look forward to getting these because he always rings the doorbell when he brings one. It's too bad that my scrapping table isn't cleaned off. I had to arrange things on the washer and dryer so I could take the photo. The blue and gold remind me of Woodward. I'll have to look for some junior high photos to scrap!

Day 4

What an interesting day! After Church I wanted to verify the balance in our checking account. I had paid some bills Saturday night and OCD that I am, I wanted to make sure the bank agreed with my figures because the balance seemed quite high. Normally the bank figure is higher than what's in the register because of the items that haven't made it to the bank yet. However, when I looked online at the balance, it was almost $1500 lower than my register balance. Something was wrong! And, NO! I didn't go to the Eldorado to try to make up the difference.

I spend almost two hours searching for the mistake. There were so many transactions during the Christmas Season! Finally, I found it. In my register I subtracted a check for $27.89 and somehow the balance increased by nearly $1500. Fortunately, I didn't bounce any checks!

Then I packed a few things for a short stay in Reno. In October 2007, I attended a California Society of Hospital Pharmacists Seminar in Palm Springs. We stayed at the Wyndham hotel. For months afterwards, we kept getting calls offering us a great deal on a mini vacation if we'd just listen to a sales promotion. Finally I weakened and succumbed and purchased the package for $129. This was to entitle us to a 4 days and 3 nights stay at a 4-star hotel and a $50 gift card valid at any Darden restaurant (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, . . . ) and we had a choice from several locations for the mini vacation. It seemed like a good deal at the time as our room in Palm Springs was over $200 a night and that's at the convention rate! All we had to do in return was listen to a 90 minute presentation on timeshares. I'm pretty good at saying no and we had an entire year to use it.

As I'm sure that they count on, life had a way of getting in the way of using this package and we were at the point of use it or lose it. So I scheduled the stay for Reno. After all, Reno is just a short 90 mile drive from us. The information we got said, "Your WorldMark by Wyndham Experience begins at: The Reno Welcome Center located in the Eldorado Hotel Casino Reno, 345 N. Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89501, (775) 786-5700 Ext. # 7475. Hours of Operation: Sun-Sat 10am - 9pm. . . . . " On the back was a map so we wouldn't get lost.

So we got in the car and drove to Reno, found the Eldorado, parked in their parking lot, walked up three floors to get to the Skyway so we could cross the street, went into the Eldorado, and couldn't find the Welcome Center. Hmmm! It wasn't where it was supposed to be. Found the Bell Captain and asked him where it was. Oh, they closed about 10 days ago. There was a Holiday Party for the employees one day and the next day the employees were laid off!

The phone number is the Eldorado's number. There was no answer at the extension. The Bell Captain tried to call Harrah's because there was a Welcome Center there also. No answer. And this was well before the specified closing time. We tried the 1-800 number not expecting an answer because it only gives Monday - Saturday times, and there wasn't an answer.

What to do? We could get a room and stay the night, but we'd have to pay for it! We were hungry because we were going to use the restaurant card for dinner at the Olive Garden and now we didn't have it. We saw the Eldorado's buffet as we were leaving and decided to eat there as it was convenient. The food was great! Then we went back to the car and drove home. We were home before 9 pm.

You can be sure I called the 1-800 number this morning. My $129 is being refunded and I can still schedule another mini vacation if I want. My photo for the day was taken from the parking lot. You can see the walkway that crosses the street and the Eldorado where we had dinner.

Day 3

Today's photo is of my blog. I finally got it up and running today. Kate helped me create it when she was here for Thanksgiving, but I did nothing with it until today. I had a difficult time coming up with a name that I liked. I finally came up with something that I'm satisfied with. I'd still like to have a background that is more "me", but that will have to wait for another day.

The lights came off the rabbit tree today. Slowly, but surely Christmas is getting put away. I'm sad that I'll have to put away my Christmas music pretty soon.

Project 365 Day 2

I have several options for my day 2 photo. I tried to get a photo of the lights on the "rabbit tree" in front of our house, but couldn't get one that was in focus. And if you look closely, there seems to be a gap in the lights near the middle of the tree. On a whim I stepped off the porch and included our American flag in the photo. I like this one much better than any of the others.

The tree is really a Dwarf Alberta Spruce and it's gotten much larger than I anticipated it would when we planted it. I think it has even surpassed the maximum height stated on the label! For so many years it was very small. Hunter named it the rabbit tree because something happened to the tree a couple of years ago and it now has two tips. It's not obvious in this photo, especially with the lights on it, but if you look closely at it from the proch, the two tips do look like rabbit ears.

Day 1 Revisited

After looking at them on the computer, I decided that I really didn't like any of the photos from January 1, 2009, so I took this one of Fred reading in his office. I could journal about how blessed I am that he can sit in his office and read.

When I showed him the photo, he didn't like it. He said it made him look old and his hair is triangular on the back. I think that pictures of Fred turn out so well and he thinks this is an awful picture. I guess everyone feels that way about photos of themselves. There are very few photos of myself that I think are OK and Fred likes many of me that I hate.

Even though this really is a photo from Januray 2, I will probably use it as my January 1 photo.

Project 365

I decided that I would take at least a photo a day for each day of 2009. I wonder if I'll be able to keep up with it. I tried it a couple of years ago for just a month and wasn't able to keep it up. On Thursday morning (January 1, 2009) I went upstairs to open the curtains. When I opened the curtains in the guest room, there was a beautiful sunrise. I decided that it wouldn't last long enough for me to get dressed and go outside to take the photo, so I went downstairs and got my camera. By the time I got back upstairs and then changed the battery in my camera, the sunrise was fading. It's difficult taking a photo obliquely through a window. My mind saw the sunrise, not all the clutter in the view. And how was I to know that the camera would focus on the wire? I was full of thoughts on how I could journal about the sun rising not only on a new day, but also on a new year.