Stressful times, followed by hella fun times......

The last part of December and the first part of January was pure hell on this forest woman......my 11 month old male Sheltie, Finn, went into sequential seizures, one right after another. He ended up having 13 before I could get him to an emergency vet off the mountain. Having had an epileptic dog before I knew exactly what was happening but I'd never witnessed seizures this severe. It was frightening to say the least. I thought I was going to lose him. I feared losing him. Luckily my Shingletown vet referred me to a wonderful vet who saved Finn's life. Finn was in an emergency hospital under 24 hour care for 6 days until he could come back home. We feared he may have sustained some brain damage due to the severity of the seizures, but fortunately he did not. He's back to normal now, but will be on a lifetime regiment of meds every 12 hours. I can't thank this Vet enough and I know it will be a hard long road ahead of us, for Finn and I, but we'll make it. He's for sure a 'Mama's boy' because he won't leave my side, and that's all good with me! We're buddies.

My son and family came to visit over the Martin Luther King week-end. They brought Tammi's sister Jamie with them which was great. She loves it up here and was looking forward to some snow play. Unfortunately there was no snow at my place so we took a short trip to Eskimo Hill up near Lassen Volcanic Park.

Eskimo Hill is a majestic (how else would you describe it?) snow covered hill that everyone, and I mean everyone ~ needs to experience at least once in their life.

Here's Kaihla doing all the work of hauling the sled to the hill, which she insisted on doing.....

At the bottom of the sledding hill there is a clearing that looks something like a small village. People are hunkered around deep built-in fire pits bbq’n, they even bring their own chairs, obviously prepared for a day of sledding. Adults, children, dogs, and I mean lots of them.

Here's Tammi and Shadwic ready to take their first run.....

And then Jamie and myself, with Shadwic ready to push us off.....

And then Sean and Kaihla with Shad ready to do the push off.....

And then Sean and Shadwic with Kaihla and myself ready to send them off.......
This was all in preparation of the 'big hill', because Jamie, Shadwic and Kaihla had never sledded down any hills. Once we were done with the practice hill we tackled the big hill.
Walking uphill on the left side dragging tubes, sleds, boogie boards, or whatever takes a good 10 minutes (depending on the snow depth) to get to the top of the hill. At the top, you look down on about 100 yards of beautiful, snow packed downhill sledding. Rather intimidating actually, but....... it’s unbelievably a kick in the proverbial butt. If you get tired of sledding, you can wander off and build an ice igloo. Back in 2006 when I took my friend Laura, her son Danny, and her granddaughter Elizabeth we found an ice igloo that was already made.

Or you can build a snow-man, partake in some good old fashioned snow ball fights, or just sit in the snow and be amazed at the beauty of it all. You're literally in the middle of nowhere, with tons of snow. The little ones, Shadwic and Kaihla had so much fun! The big ones, Sean, Tammi, Jamie and myself, well....what can ya say? We had hella fun!

This is Shad preparing for his first run down the 'little' hill. Not sure why Kaihla has her gloves over her eyes.

Nana and Shad taking a 'breather'.

Kaihla ~ obviously having sooooo much fun!

Kaihla's turn!

Time to go home, and of course Kaihla once again insisted on dragging the sled back to the truck...gotta just love this girl!


The following day we (of course) went on a quad ride through the forest. We found a nice little secluded spot to let Shadwic shoot his new Daisy 'Grizzly' BB rifle. We set up balloons on a fallen tree and he 'plinked' away under the guidance of his Daddy.

If you look closely at the last photo you will see the red balloon in the air after Shad had hit it!
Yay! My grandson is on his way to becoming a 'marksman'!
(My apologies for the quality of the last three photos as I had to create 'snapshots' from a video that was too long to post)

My 'Absolute Nothing' Blog

Soooo, this is my official I have nothing worth writing about blog. It will be posted whenever I have nothing worth writing about. Don't be surprised to see it quite often. I was determined to write a new blog each month because, well.....I'm just that kind of gal. But I'm older and wiser now since I made that promise to myself several months ago. I 'know' when I have nothing to say. And that knowledge is freedom. Freedom from my obsessive and relentless need to end each blog on a joke.
Barack Obama.

P.S. I guess I do have something to write about. I’m not going to vacuum until Sears makes one you can ride on.
P.S.S. (I might be on a roll now......) Dead birds falling out the sky, Oregon Ducks lose, Ravens lose, Falcons are out.. 2011 has been a bad year for birds.

Ok, really, this is my 'nothing to write about' blog. And even though I thought I had previously ended this blog with a joke, I see it only fitting to make sure I end this entire blog on a joke.
Barack Obama.

VICKIEBOOK 2011

I’d like to say some wise and meaningful crap, but the fact I just referred to it as “crap” shows just how meaningful I can be. (You’d be more impressed with me if you never met anyone else)

But here goes:


I’m thinking the easiest job in the world has to be coroner. Surgery on dead people. What’s the worst thing that could happen? If everything went wrong, maybe you’d get a pulse. Ain’t nothing wrong with that!
(I know right now Doug that you are thinking of Ken right now huh?)

I’m thinking I might want to buy a junkyard just to grow my own junk food.

All I want in this world is some one I can turn to and yell, “Avenge Me!!” if I’m dying or wrongly accused of a crime. Or any injustice for that matter. Oh and rocket shoes. Pretty pink rocket shoes.

Looking at photos and seeing how much I’ve aged....well....it has inspired me to make a resolution for 2011: NO MORE PHOTOS. Actually I’ve set more realistic New Year’s resolutions this year, like never doing anything right and not pleasing anybody. All of my resolutions for 2011 is that I will attempt to –and hopefully succeed– (but who is to really say what “success” is?) in being –in no uncertain terms– more succinct. How am I doing so far?

I’m sorry, DISH TV, I couldn’t care less if I can pause my DVR in one room and resume it in another. Want to impress me? Free movie channels forever. Or send me a miniature giraffe. Either one will do fine, but I would actually prefer the miniature giraffe. At least it can reach the DISH when it piles up with snow and I lose all reception!

Do I have a dream? Of course I do.....I dream of a better tomorrow… where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives!

For those of you who have young children, if you have plans to teach your children the value of dollar, you better hurry up.

Fun in the Forest

My friend of some 27 years or so, Laura, came to visit me for a few days. She is always off and about participating in Hunt Tests with her 6 Labrador Retrievers. Fortunately for me some of the locations are in or near my County so she always makes sure she has the extra days to come 'play' in the forest. We always have some 'kick A**' fun. We only had 2 days (actually one and a half days) but we managed to pack a lot in.  Usually anytime she comes we always work her dogs and take a quad ride of course, but this time we packed two of my .22 rifles onto the quads to do a little 'plinking'. Laura comes from the same 'background' as me, but this was her first time shooting a .22 rifle. You wouldn't have known it, that's for sure. I have a great spot that is level yet has hillsides that are behind the targets. It is a really remote area, but safety is still a must. We hung balloons from a fallen log, from trees, and placed a nice little target up.

This is where we were positioned to shoot.  You don't see the balloons? Yeah, well........once Laura started shooting, well....ummm...let's just say that she left me one, I repeat, ONE balloon. Watching her was like watching someone shooting the little ducks at a County Fair booth. Here's a closeup photo of the balloons before she went 'wild'.

Thankfully I carry a handy supply of balloons. We wiped out all of the balloons and then attacked the individual targets placed on the large target.

Then we attacked a paint can we found lying in the dirt. Attacked a blue plastic container we found lying in the dirt. Laura even attacked the pine cones hanging from a large tree. Every time we  thought we were done Laura would say "Oh, let's just re-load one more time".  When you've got a 'brick' of .22 ammo, you can stay as long as you want.

Obviously we stayed there for quite awhile. Wasn't all that warm out, in fact we were literally freezing, but we were having fun. 

When we did finally leave we went back to my house and gathered her two lab dogs 'Shooter' and 'Dakota' and took them to Lake McCumber to work them before their trials this week-end.

As you can tell from the video I should be better at throwing 'marks' for Laura and her dogs, and I have to admit I am getting better, but some of my earlier days I would throw the bumper and it would go behind me or even straight up over my head.  But I won't complain, at least this time I wasn't throwing a dead duck. No complaints. No complaints at all.

After working the dogs we came back home, ate a 7-bone roast that had been cooking all day and watched a movie. A lousy movie I might add. You know - one of those movies that you just keep saying "It should get better any time now", to which it never did. Thankfully we got to pause the movie when my son 'skyped' us. His antics kept Laura and I amused, to say the least.

I think Laura needs to come back - I'm pretty sure she forgot the basics of our old Police Academy days. You ALWAYS clean your guns. But.......yeah.....I'm gonna let her slide this time, seeing how she made some pretty 'killer' fudge while she was here.

Traditions are Awesome!

I think Christmas time is the absolutely 'best ever' time to pass down some 'traditions'.  My late husband had given me a Red Ryder BB rifle soon after we were married. Not exactly sure why he had given me one, after all he did already give me a Colt .45, a Beretta .380, a 30.6....., REAL guns, but I'm glad he did. I suppose he saw the 'eternal little kid' in me. Aha, he knew me so well.

I taught my grandson Jeffrey how to shoot that BB rifle and eventually 'passed it down' to him for his birthday. He was stoked, to say the least. I still have a Daisy rifle, as I had mentioned in my earlier Thanksgiving post. My friend Laura gave me the pink 1938 edition.

My son Sean taught his son Shadwic how to shoot this Daisy over the Thanksgiving holiday. He did exceptionally well. Today, in speaking to my son about what the grandkids might like for Christmas, a BB Gun was mentioned. Nana was stoked! YES, another tradition is to be passed down. Shadwic is really into the color green, so Nana of course thought the Camo edition would be an excellent choice. Not only would it have his favorite color green on it, but it would match Nana's Mossy Oak quad...can you get any more perfect than that? Didn't take me long to get on the Internet to search for the appropriate Camo  BB rifle. Daisy of course, have to keep this tradition on the correct course.  No lever action BB rifles available in the camouflage field. But.....a much better choice....a pneumatic action rifle. A 'Mossy Oak Break-Up' camouflage complete with a 4x15mm scope!  

It's called the 840 Grizzly.  Just a one pump stroke is all it takes to power this awesome little rifle. Better yet, it shoots either steel BBs (350 of em!) or .177 pellets (single shot).  When shooting with the BB's it's a repeater rifle. Because it also shoots pellets, this is a Daisy rifle that will grow with him. Maybe something he can pass down to his children. Shad knows I am totally obsessed with Bears, so the name 'Grizzly' in addition to the Grizzly head insignia is just an added bonus to this rifle.

Camouflaged in Mossy Oak, a repeater, a scope.....oh my.....I can hear it now ~ Nana saying "Can I shoot it Shad, can I shoot it, please can Nana have her turn now?" Plenty of  memories and  fun times ahead. I know what Shad will be asking his Daddy to pack for their next trip to go visit Nana in the Mountains. Traditions. Ya just gotta LOVE traditions. One of these days the two grandchildren, Jeffrey and Shadwic, armed with the Daisy rifles I gave to them (along with Nana and her pink Daisy, of course)  will sit in 'Fort Bear' and start 'plinking' away! Having grandkids is awesome, we always have someone to 'hang' with and have fun with! When the 'girl' grandchildren are older, and their arms are a little longer ~  my little Pink Daisy will go into action again.  This Nana won't stop with the boys - after all, it is 'tradition'.

Gosh, I really hope they pack this rifle really good prior to shipping, you know ~ all sealed up. Not sure I can be trusted with this awesome little thing sitting in front of me! Ok, OK...I'll just ADMIRE it from the box, I promise.  It's so AWESOME!

For all you dog lovers out there

I am not what you would call a 'reader' by any means. I never seem to have the time to sit down and relax enough to enjoy a good book. Don't know why, after all I am retired, just a retired person that always has a list that has to be followed and accomplished. True, I always have to have a 'project' going ~ that's me, and that's my nature. But, when I saw this book I think it called out to me and I am so glad it did. "A dog's purpose", by James Cameron. It's been a very long time since I picked up a book and then had trouble putting it down. After having recently lost two of my canine family members, Sebbee and Kelsey-Mama, this book has made me see their 'passing' in a totally different light. I have had dogs since birth and can't remember even one day in my life when I never had that wonderful 'bonding' between dog and human. They have always been there....I have always had a dog beside me. I've had 12 dog's who have come into my life and when they passed on they left something for me - each and every one of them. I currently have 4 dogs now. I will never be without a canine companion. I highly recommend that if you love dogs and have ever lost one of your best friends, you need to read this book ~ seriously! I'm not one who even recommends books. That should say something in itself. I cried, I laughed, I was comforted. It was the most totally engrossing and most heart-felt book I had ever read. But then - I am a dog lover and have been since day one. After reading this book I know that Shep, Shep II, Buckie, Breezy, Bree, Chinook, Buckie Bear, Lassen, Cedar, Kodi, Sebbee and Kelsey-Mama had a purpose - to be born - to make my life much better.
A review of the book:

A tail-wagging three hanky boo-hooer, this fiction debut by James Cameron proposes that a dog's purpose might entail being reborn several times. Told in a touching, doggy first-person, this unabashedly sentimental tale introduces Toby, (a feral mutt) who's rescued by a woman without a license for her rescue operation, so, sadly, Toby ends up euthanized. He's reborn in a puppy mill and after almost dying while left in a hot car, he's saved again by a woman, and he becomes Bailey, (a  golden retriever) who finds happiness and many adventures. His next intense incarnation is as Ellie  (a female German shepherd) who becomes a heroic search and rescue dog. But the true purpose of this dog's life doesn't become totally clear until his reincarnation as Buddy (a black Lab). A book for all age groups who admire canine courage, Cameron also successfully captures the essence of a dog's amazing capacity to love and protect. And happily, unlike Marley, this dog stays around for the long haul.

 

So there you have it - dang it - go out and 'fetch' this book, you'll be happy you did!

Thanksgiving 2010

My son Sean, daughter-in-law Tammi, and grandchildren Shadwic (Shad) and Kaihla came to visit for 4 days. It's been our tradition for years to spend Thanksgiving together. It's a nice break for them to spend time in 'Nana's Forest'.  As usual ~  we sauna, have a nice meal, and hunt for a Christmas tree. Tammi decorates the tree for me. This year was an exceptional Thanksgiving holiday because as usual Tammi wished for some snow and well.....we got it. She's more or less referred to in our family as the 'Snow Queen' because any time she hopes to wake up to snow - we do.

Since we had so much snow this year it would have required us to have chains to get to where we usually search for our tree so we kept the search a little closer to home, no problem.... we had already previously decided to try another location anyway. This year was the deepest snow we have ever encountered in our Christmas tree search.  

This was our first location, but we quickly decided it wasn't the greatest spot seeing how we were literally walking over manzanita bushes and sinking in the snow.

It got to be too difficult to go any further as you will note by the photo of Sean and Shadwic 'taking a break'

We eventually found a nice area where Shad led the way, braving his own pathway in 'untouched and untraveled' snow.

Nana wanted a Doug Fir for her Christmas tree this year, and we had to shake snow off the trees just to see what they looked like.

We all had fun, as we usually do.

We found plenty of time to build a snowman.........

..........do a little quadding in the snow.............

...........a little sledding...........

....and a little sauna-time.

I've had some pretty severe carpal tunnel symptoms in my left hand for the last week or so and Tammi and Sean cleared my driveway and walkway prior to going home. By that time it was pretty much solid ice. Can't thank them enough.

Sean taught his son Shad the first basics of 'shooting'. He's only 5, so of course we used the little pink Daisy BB gun my friend Laura gave me for Christmas (apparently I had been whining too much about not having my Red Ryder rifle anymore and she got tired of listening to me whine) Shad didn't care if it was pink or not. It was fun watching Sean teach his son how to correctly point the gun when not in use, how to sight it in.....it reminded me of many years ago when Ralph had bought Sean his first .22 handgun and taught him how to shoot. Shad shot all the balloons we set up for him and even managed to get a few shots into the little bulls-eye target I made him.

It was a great Thanksgiving and I miss the kids already!

The 'Discovery' of Fort Bear

I would say that the grandkids discovery of Fort Bear was nothing less than 'awesomeness'. Sean and Tammi took the kids for a walk around Nana's property looking for 'something new ~ a big surprise'.

After walking the entire perimeter of the property they found it.  I should probably rephrase that to say that Shadwic and Kaihla found Nana ~ up in the trees.

By the looks of the kids facial expressions they were pretty excited!

Sean took a photo of Shadwic, Kaihla, Tammi and myself in Fort Bear.

Shadwic wanted to take a photo so he took a photo of Kaihla, Mommy, Nana, and Daddy.   Not a bad photographer for a 5 year old.

By the look on my son's face I think he was just as excited as the grandkids.  

The next day we received some snow so Tammi, Shadwic and Kaihla checked out Fort Bear in the snow.........

while the three young pups played in the snow.

Yeah, I think 'Fort Bear' was a huge success!

*Sorry about the quality of the video - but you get the idea...LOL*