"Fort Bear" Completed !

Couldn't have cut this any closer to my deadline, seeing how my grandchildren are arriving for Thanksgiving ~ but the tree fort is 100% completed. My son came up with the name of "Fort Bear" because, well, simply because I am a Bear fanatic, and my grandchildren know that 'Nana' loves her bears.

This is the 'Hunter Bear' sitting in the SE corner. And of course we must have a weatherproof lantern, right?

This is the NE corner. It has a shelf attached. Underneath the shelf is a 'Sheltie' hanging. There are 4 little wood circles with the names Kelsey, Lakeha, Lassen and Sebbee surrounding the Sheltie ~ in memory of our Shelties.

This is the West corner and it also has a shelf attached.

This is the view from the top of the ladder. I placed an old exterior runner that has a rubber backing on the floor to ensure that the grandchildren don't slip on the floor when it is wet - which by the looks of my weather - should remain wet until spring -

I can't wait to see the grandkids reaction. If they are happy with this little 'Nana endeavor', then that will make all my bruises, cuts, aching back and hands, and the pitch in my hair seem like a faint memory. It was soooooo totally worth it!

The 'Penny' says it all.....

VICKIEBOOK

I may have just inadvertently accomplished something. Creating my own little safe and sound facebook.  So here you will have it....the new and improved  VICKIEBOOK. Where I can now post my crazy status updates.

Sonoma County October 15-18

I made the trip to Sonoma County for my grandson Shadwic's 5th birthday party. A few hours prior to the party Shad had a soccer game. I was glad I got to see him play. 

After the soccer game was over we went to his Grandma Kim’s house where the birthday party was held. It was no doubt the best birthday party I have attended yet. He's such a 'little man' with the best ever manners. I watched him unwrap his gifts and immediately walk up to the gift-giver and thank them. Most kids that age would simply put the un-wrapped gift down and proceed to the next gift.

Here he is going to thank someone and he hasn't even opened the gift yet. I overheard the 'gift-giver' remark that they thought he was just walking off to open the gift and were quite surprised that he was actually coming up to them to thank them before even opening the gift! His 'Nana' was so proud of him.
The kids played 'pin the moustache' on Mario, bean bag toss, pop the balloons, air hockey and etc. They all seemed to have had a really good time.

Shad’s sister Kaihla seemed more interested in taking my Sheltie ‘Kesä’ for a walk then the festivities of the birthday party. She loves little Kesä and just wanted to be with her all the time.

Kesä was a big hit with all the children, no doubt because she is so little and just 'their size'.

I spent 3 days at my son's house and had the opportunity to see my other two grandchildren, Jeffrey and Skylar, also. The best part of my entire visit was driving Shad to school (kindergarten) on my last day there. It was a very surreal experience for me. I walked Shad into his classroom so that I could meet his teacher. I stayed and watched him play with the other children until the school bell rang and he had to go into class. He kept looking my way and smiling at me. We have such a wonderful bond between us, it warmed my heart that he was so happy that his Nana was there. Tears were welling up in my eyes. At one point he grabbed one of his school-mates, pointed at me, and said “That’s my Nana!”. The school bell rang and all the children got into line to go into the classroom. Shad kept looking my way to make sure I was still there. When he finally went into the classroom I realized that the tears were now falling down my cheek. He was in class and I had to leave. By the time I returned to his house to pack up my stuff, gather my two pups, say goodbye to his sister and mother I still had tears in my eyes. It brought back so many memories of taking my own children to school. It was a happy yet so emotional experience to watch him enter the classroom, knowing that I would not see him until they came to my house for Thanksgiving. All in all it was a great trip and I'm back home now, missing my kids and grandchildren.

Timber Rattlesnake Kill

Just a 'baby' Timber Rattler, but found it in my driveway today when I returned up the mountain from Redding. Wasn't quite sure at first whether it was a gopher snake (which is harmless and quite beneficial to have around)  or a rattler. As soon as I saw that it did not have a round head and that it had a triangular head and cat eyes (slits, not round pupil)  I knew exactly what it was. Crap, I can never use my 'fire hot dog ' cooker again - it was the only thing within my reach and I had all 4 dogs staring at the snake and attempting to sniff it! But it worked - stabbed it in the middle. Well, a couple of times actually. True, Timber rattlers are not as aggressive as the rattlers that I killed in Anderson, but a rattler is a rattler and poisonous - being a baby rattler (and they do not hold back on their venom, they give it all) had one of my dogs been bit they probably would have died. Been through a rattlesnake vs dog 'event' before and it sure as hell wasn't happening again. So, not to happy to have found this in my driveway, but on the other hand, so glad all my dogs were contained in the garage while I was in Redding. And equally happy to have killed it. Only one tiny little 'button' on it's tail. No rattlesnake 'charm' for me....HA! This brings my rattlesnake 'kill' total to 12! Hopefully there won't be any more.