Our updates for all of you

This story starts with the box in the above photo that Stacy received via UPS on her birthday, Thursday, the 17th, from our daughter Sandy, and about a marmalade that Sandy had liked that was available near her home from "Frog Hollow Farm". Last Saturday the 19th, Stacy decided to take on the challenge of creating it and I would photograph and be the helper and taster. To be honest though, when Sandy had said it was the 'best she'd tasted' we were expecting a box with some pre-made marmalade and not a marmalade kit. And lemon marmalade to boot! It looks to be quite the challenge to make lemon into a sweet and tasty marmalade In the box were two smaller boxes, the top one had some packed like eggs lemons, a bag of sugar, three little jars for the finished product and some directions and advertisements for the place. As the packed directions were somewhat simplistic and a little vague, Stacy looked online and found some slightly more detailed directions. So...

So, here's the story about the photos below.  Stacy and I were on the final day of the annual Juvenile Justice Conference, and in 2011 it was in Pocatello, Idaho.  The conference moves to different locations around the state each year for each conference.  While most other people were checking out and driving back to their various locations in the state, Stacy had to attend a state level meeting that lasted most of the day.  Just the day before, Stacy had been asked by the hotel's hospitality representative if she was interested in being in a promotional photo shoot for the facility in updating their website.  While Stacy couldn't because of the meeting, she told her I might be interested. Stacy later told me about it and told me if I wanted too, all I had to do was show up at 10:00 am to the sports bar in the building. Since that last day of the conferences are often me sitting around after packing our stuff back in the vehicle and checking u...

Just a few days ago we had our anniversary of our full time life here in North Idaho.  We arrived at the end of our last moving trip here on the morning of March 26th, 2006. We had our 5th wheel trailer full of all we could get into it and still have enough room to get in and sleep in it during the two nights it took to get here. We still wound up leaving several things we would have brought of we'd had any ability to bring them or had the time for another trip. I was driving our Dodge truck, it too filled with what we could fit in it along with the two dogs we'd brought up and kept with us for the last trip.  Stacy was driving the GMC truck we'd traded my Mitsubishi 3000GT in on, because I knew I wouldn't drive in with all the snow! How things change! Anyway, it was as all the moving trips had been, quite the challenge.  That year it was still snowy that March and we had come across a lot of road construction that had been muddy torn up dirt roads when we'd got...

Last September while we were visiting in Hawaii with Sandy, Justine, Sean and Brandy, Sandy had given myself and Stacy as well as Sean, a 23andMe kit to send off on our return home. So Stacy and I got home and after a few days decided to go for it to see what came of it. We registered online and over two days we did the spit and sent off the little tubes of DNA to wait for the results.  At the time, the online connection said to wait at least 4 to 6 weeks after the email notification of receipt of the samples to start getting results. Some of Stacy's results came in somewhat early of the 4 weeks but the 'meat and potatoes' results and my results took the entire 6 weeks to the day to come back. This also was when one could still get the genetic health profile which to me you should take with a genetic grain of salt, but enough people got scared and took it as their genetic bible of what their future must be holding, so the company got in hot water for those results and we...

Since my last post a bit over a month ago, Winter in North has trudged along, little rain just cold.  Then just over a week ago it got very cold again and for a change the weather guessers were actually right with their snow predictions. On Saturday March 1st it was only 13 degrees for the high with a low of 6 above. Saturday afternoon it started to lightly snow, just as predicted, and then it just kept snowing. By Sunday morning there was already almost 8 inches built up and I wound up snow plowing twice that day to clear then keep up with the build up during the day Sunday since it just kept snowing.  Monday the 3rd it was all deep again, still snowing too, so I took Stacy to work then went back home and plowed again. That afternoon it snowed one last heavy time, but by the time we got home it had warmed up to the upper 30s and was raining so it was more slush then snow by then.  The photos, above and below, were taken on Monday while I was clearing the d...

As I'd mentioned in a previous post, due to a primarily stationary high pressure 'bubble' Winter has been bypassing the North West of the country and dropping down from Canada into Montana and all points South and East from there with the accompanying record cold and snowfall for many unaccustomed areas. Well that bubble has moved just a bit West and this area got a bit of snow, about 4 inches total for the last week. Yesterday, Sunday, was actually a beautiful day with a constant light snowfall all day long. Just a few flakes falling all day long with no real accumulation. Just a few minutes ago I got this email from our local online news site about the upcoming cold weather that's expected the rest of the week: The National Weather Service has issued a wind chill watch effective Tuesday night through Wednesday morning predicting numbing temperatures and even colder wind chill. In Boundary County, Tuesday should bring a high temperature of 11 degrees, and drop...

Yes cabin fever, and it's all due to our non winter this year. Not non winter because of the cold, it's been that and continues to be cold. Non winter because of no snow,  less than a foot total so far and there's almost none left.  A more usual winter in our neck of the woods should be about 3 or more feet of snow by now. And the cabin fever part is that it's still too cold to be out and about very much, even with no snow. It's been almost a week of an an air stagnation alert for the North West. In many areas that's meant days and nights of freezing fog, in this area it's meant constant overcast with lows around 27 and highs around 30, just constant cold. So Stacy and I can look around outside and can see things we could be doing since there's no snow, but being out in it for any length of time gets cold quick.  If we had the snow all over that we should have it would be different, it's the visual thing of it I guess. But Stacy and I both are feeli...