CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!

It's been a while since I have posted and not much has gone on. I was sick for 3 1/2 weeks and am finally feeling better. Out of the forest, but not in the clearing. I still have that hacky cough and sore throat. Yes...I did go to the doctor and was on antibiotics, thank you for your concern.

Night before last it snowed and the land is still covered with the snow. That is very unusual here as it is usually blowing so hard that our dry snow is gone the next day. It's really beautiful. It really gives you a sense of Christmas. The shoppers are all bundled up and carrying their packages and bustling to the next shop. It's so fun to watch. The lights are all up in the city and the homes are decorating one by one. I love Christmas time. The lights are so bright, they sparkle and remind me of all the stars in the sky. Can't you just imagine at the time of Jesus' birth, with no smog and no huge buildings to block the sky how bright the stars were....living in the country (well, maybe desert) where it's so dark, it is really beautiful seeing all the stars. I even got to see the Trident Triangle the other night, it was great.

This is also one of the busiest times of the year. Our church has so many things going on, you hardly have time to breathe. We have a womens Holiday luncheon/Ornament exchange, then we have a Christmas Cookie exchange, then we have the Ward Christmas party for the youth and the adults...this year they will even have a visit from Santa. Normally, we concentrate on the real Christmas values, with the birth of Christ. This activities chairwoman has decided that we will share both at the same party. This will be interesting, but fun for the children. Then there is the Christmas choir, we practice for the December 21st performance...whew, I hardly have time to vaccuum...

Speaking of which, I got a new vaccuum....I LOVE IT!!! I always thought the dyson guy was a bunch of hype and never considered it. We had a Hoover Wind Tunnel and it was crap. The belts kept sliding off and burning, uck, terrible smell, plus it was heavy and loud. We went vaccuum shopping (under duress from the ol' coyote) and we spent 2 hours looking at vaccuums...I hate shopping. Anyway, the sales lady convinced Mr. Coyote that the dyson was the best. She had - are you ready for this- 18 cats, all living inside the house...and a husband! Anyway, she just raved about this machine and how it sucked not only the carpet, but clear down thru the pad. Ok, Ok...fine, spend the money (gulp) get the stupid machine, let's just go...so of course we got "the animal" and brought it home. The Ol' coyote had to try it. so we had just vaccuumed with the wind tunnel, so now we put this thing together and start. We started in the bedroom, the path from the bathroom (where the cat has all her stuff) and went to the end of the bed. It was unbeliveable. It filled the canister!!! and, it's a big canister. Talk about amazing, I would definetly recommend the Dyson to anyone. We filled (ok, I'm embarrased to say) 6 canisters by time we were done with the house. Totally unbeliveable...

Ok, I guess I have bored you long enough, I'm starving, time for lunch...gotta go, hope your day is bright and shiney...TTFN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

today being November 1st, it's my birthday. Guess what I got...something I have been wanting for a long time....a new kitty!
she's 8 weeks old a tabby long hair (not the ideal situation with my asthma, but I will live with it) She's such a lover. Today we bonded for about 2/3 hours. We named her Tabatha and we call her Tabee....I know, not very original, but with my brain, it works.
Tonight, we are going to dinner with our friends, Fred & gail. We have a lot of laughs with them. He is so funny and she is such a lady. But a fun down to earth lady...if you know what I mean. Living here in Cody, there aren't a lot of choices for a "nice" meal...but there is a Ribs & Chops restaurant that is pretty nice, so we have reservations. I guess I will leave this for now, I still have to tell you about our disappointing Halloween party, but no time now. Enjoy the pictures of Tabee.

BYU WON IT!

hI TO ALL, THIS HAS BEEN A REALLY SLOW DAY. tHE WEATHER OUTSIDE CAN'T DECIDE WHAT TO DO EXCEPT BLOW! IT'S CLOUDY LIKE RAIN, TOO WARM TO SNOW (50'S) I think we should be getting all the rain that the wind keeps blowing away. we could use the moisture.

Saturday is my football day and it's been an exciting one. of course the ol' coyote doesn't like watching football or baseball, so he took a nap. The BYU game was really a nail biter. So was the Penn state win....there were also some other exciting ones. I think I'm worse than a lot of the guys, I flip between games and watch 3 or 4 at a time. Then, third game of the world series, being delayed over an hour and a half, due to rain, and boy, was it coming down! sheesh, the poor people on the east coast, it's gonna be a long night for them. i know i'm hoping against hope, but i would love to see tampa bay win, it would be so cool.

coyote's nap was not because he was bored, uh huh, he says it was because the flu shot got to him. hmmm, ok, i know it was because he was bored and it was cold in the house. Usually when we get up he starts a fire to take the chill off the house, but since we left early today to get our flu shots from the hospital, there was no fire. we are holding off as long as possible to use the gas for heat. Since we have the wood, it's cost effective to use that until it gets so cold we need the gas. it's 9:30 at night and the temp outside is still 54 degrees (that's really warm for this time of night.) Inside it's 63, so it's a little cool, but not bad.

this post seems to be a little boring, too, so, i guess i will sign off. Tomorrow is church, so i need to get ready for that...and finish watching the baseball game, dang, the rays just got out for the end of the fourth...hopefully they will get some more runs tonight...

Oh, i have to bring your attention to the quilt i posted to the right. the picture really doesn't do it justice. it is just gorgeous. the way colleen did it-it just pops. the colors really come out. she has such a knack for creating quilt patterns out of nothing. i gave her the stars and the rest of the material they were made from and bam! she created something out of nothing...gotta love her and her talent. i would have never gotten it done.

ok, speaking of done...ciao

CONFUSING STUFF

The Ol' Coyote is up to it again...He has this very good friend who needed a new air compressor. Coyote wants a different kind of air compressor, so he tells John that he would sell him his and then they would both be happy because John would have a (practically) new one and coyote could go get the one he wants. S*N*A*G...the Coyote is known for "buying high; give away"...
so goes the story. Now the coyote needs over twice as much money as he got for his perfectly good air compressor, to replace it with the one he wants. welcome to my world!
Another fly in the ointment. Last night coyote was coming home from a meeting and the lights on his "car" went black. The Tach stopped working and he barely made it home. He had to have a friend follow him just to make sure. Well, the alternator died....so...before he can get his air compressor, he must get - and install- a new alternator...Luckily, in his journeys today, he was able to find and buy the alternator, so, tomorrow will probably be a "fixit" day.
Changing the subject...There was a large article in our newspaper about this gal who is getting married and moving to Canada. She is a rescuer of cats. She needs to find homes for 43 cats. the coyote knows how badly I want a new kitty, so he had me call and find out about them. We may be getting two instead of one. She has two siamese that are really bonded...if I were to take only one, I would be dealing with depression (as if I don't have enough of that on my own) and possibly other difficulties. So, we will have to see what happens. We will either go tonight to see them or tomorrow. I'm really apprehensive because I get so emotional over this kind of stuff, so we will have to see what happens. Well, we went last night and OMG, I have never seen so many cats all at one time in one place. I was overwhelmed. Anyway, I would have loved to take the one siamese, but I couldn't have taken them both because "Katie" had longer hair and shed sooooooooo badly that my asthma was terrible, just holding her. My eyes became swollen and itchy, it was awful. So, needless to say, we walked away with no one, I just couldn't split them up, they were so close. Another time, It will happen someday, I will get a new kitty...
And, now, I have saved the best for last. I have the most fun and beautiful grandchildren!!! I keep begging for pictures so I can brag about them, but the pictures are hard to come by. So, this is what I've got for now. Our oldest grandaughter, Alyssia got to go to her first Homecoming this year. Aren't they cute, Daniel is her date. Then we have Em, ABbs and Kate. They went to a "trunk or treat" party for church and I have a picture of them there (also, I sneeked in one of our daughter; I know she is gonna kill me, but, she has to get a hold of me first.) and a picture from the Arizona fair. They are changing too. Emily is really becoming a beautiful young lady. She still has her braces, only to enhance her beauty...and...now she has contacts, so no more glasses. You can actually see her pretty face. Abbs and Kate..we refer to as the "little girls" but they aren't being so little anymore. They are really growing and showing their own personalities. We have an adopted grandchild (adopted by love, not by law) who lives in Oklahoma, we don't get to see her anymore than we get to see the others. Actually, we get to see her more than our oldest. Anyway, Kaitlyn (whose picture is with the grandchildren) is also becoming a beautiful young woman. She has also been able to loose the glasses and is now wearing contacts. She was going to a wedding, so she got to get her hair done...I love the curls, it's really pretty. Somehow, I don't see the curls on the back of an ATV...lol

SNOW SATURDAY

WaHoo....it's snowing. There is one thing you can bet on when you live in Wyoming. That is, sometime in the first week of October it will be snowing. At least, in the last seven years that we have been here, that has been the case. It's 25 degrees and the snow has been sideways for a while. The little table and chairs are on our rear deck. It looks like a big cake on the table, I just love it when the snow does that. The forcast in Billings, MT is 25 inches by the end of tomorrow. We are only supposed to get 9", but I will really be surprised if we get that. They always over exaggerate for Cody. The Park gets most of it. We will see what tomorrow will bring.
Tonight we are going to Don and Sid's place for stew. We are bringing the apple pie and ice cream. There is just nothing like eating ice cream while it is snowing outside....lol
Other than that, I guess the afternoon (what's left of it) will just be left to watching football. Weber State and Montana State are playing in Bozeman ... in the snow...now that's messy! But it is a good game for the first half. Hope your day is going well, stay happy!

VISIT FROM THE KID

Yeah!!! "The Kid" came to visit!! (we call our son, "The Kid" as a term of endearment) He came from Florida to visit for a week. It was so good to be able to be with him...it's a long time between visits. the only fly in the ointment was that he flew into Billings, MT and we picked him up there but instead of coming to Cody, we had to go to Logan, UT to see his biological father who is suffering with prostate and bone cancer. Not knowing what lies in store, we felt the need to visit. So, we got to Logan that night, spent the night in the motel and visited with him the next morning before he had to go to chemo. After we left his home, we got on I-15 toward West Yellowstone when all of a sudden, I remembered this "short cut" from Ashton, ID to the south entrance of the Park. Soooooo, we took it. It's not your "normal" road. Well, it's not even close, more like a "4-wheelin' road" We had a great time, slow, very rocky, and a lot of ruts, but really fun. We got onto the hiway at dark, so we had to enter Yellowstone, south entrance, at dark and drive up to West Thumb and Fishing Bridge, all in the dark....it was hillarious, Russ had dad's GPS and he was calling out every turn (as if we couldn't see what was right in front of us)...then we were all on the look out for the animals...saw lots of deer, fortunately we left them all alive. By time we got home, it was 2330 hrs. We were all tired and went right to bed. The next morning, "the Kid" decided that dad and he should paint Dad's POS....well, two are better than one, so dad took him up on it. We all went to walmart and got paint and brushes...that didn't work well, so back to walmart for spray cans....worked great! Unfortunately, they weren't able to finish it before the Kid left, but Dad got 'er done. Daysee was so excited...her car got finished and today we all (minus "the Kid" who left last week) went for a long ride in the mountains. We went to a place that was identified on the GPS as Aldrich Creek. It was really beautiful. High in the pines with all the trees in their fall colors with a creek running waaaaaayyy down below the cliff we were standing on. Oh, one other thing on our ride. We stopped to eat some chicken for lunch and while I was peeling off the skin, Daysee decided that that should be her piece and grabbed it out of my hand. I said, "hey! that's my chicken" and pulled it back out of her mouth.....my chicken! Anyway, we had a great time and it was beautiful....oh, and the "New Paint POS" worked really well...Gotta run for now...

FAMILY REUNION VIRGINIA

September 9 thru the 16th we flew to Virginia for the ol' coyote's family reunion. The house (picture) is really nice and so great since his sister and brother-in-law have lived in a mobile home all their married life. They were able to buy a piece of land from a cousin in Schuyler (pronouonced sky-ler) VA. The first time they have been able to have a brand new "stick-built" home. We had a great time getting to see the area where coyote's dad, granddad and aunts and uncles grew up. The area is filled with a lot of family history. The other picture (of the church) was one built by coyote's uncle Sailor. He built the church and then was the preacher there. The side yard of the church was the cemetary where grandad, grandma, aunts and uncles were all buried. It was kinda neat to see all that, kinda strange too. The ol' coyote was super excited to get all the geneology while we were back there. His Uncle Grover lived across the way and they got together and shared pictures and old stories. Coyote's brother and three sisters were there and some of the neices and nephews got to come as well. His sister had so much food for the ordeal, we had hamburgers one nnight, then the next night we had hamburgers and by the time the tird night of hamburgers, we were ready for something different, so we drove into Charlottesville and had a buffet dinner. It was a great time for all. The time went by so fast that we really didn't get to go to DC or anywhere else. We flew in and out of Richmond and their place was 2 hours from the airport. One place we did visit that was along the side of the road was a plaque that told about Hurricane Camelle back in 1969. There was a city that got swallowed up by the rockfish river. The hurricane caused 25 inches of rain to fall in 5 hours and the river couldn't hold all of it, plus the land around was underwater. I can't remember how many people died but it was really bad. Or plane for home left at 6am, so we had to get up at 3am and then we got lost on the way, but thank heaven we made the plane and got home and found all was well. Daysee was sure glad to see us...as were we glad to see her. The bunnies were all here to greet us as well. A good time was had by all!