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Kay here

Judi fixed a wonderful lunch and then Bopcha went to Gleaners to pickup some stuff from Trader Joes - so we are waiting to see what good stuff she comes home with. I am about ready to beat Judi at Scrabble.



Sorry Dee, but since I couldn't deliver your morning coffee, I drank it.



Nina love your input to the blog.



A former Days Creek grad that emailed me a couple of times I think has lost interest in even meeting me since I told him that I don't remember him at all. Dee looked him up on Classmates.com and told me he looked decent. I then went to the site and saw a picture of him. What can I say, I have a mind like swiss cheese.

http://kezi.com/bald

Great Job on the Photos Diana

Hello Everyone,



Diana, what a nice job on the photos of Alex and Nina. See you have also become the photo/technology/media expert. I need to bring my tech skills up to the current century. I am falling way behind. But seriously, you did a really nice job with the photos and I love the little commentary under Alex's photo, it is so perfect. Isn't he adorable? He is very funny and cute.



I loved the pictures of Tory's return as well. Everyone looks so great in those photos. That Seattle air must be good for everyone - unlike the Philadelphia air. :-)



Bopcha, I am sorry to hear about the end of the chickens' life span. I know it is inevitable but it is kind of sad. How are you enjoying the rain? Sid says he misses the rain. I personally don't mind cloudy weather and like when it rains lightly, almost in a misty way. But heavy dowpours, I have to admit, are difficult to take. That is the kind of rain we tend to get in Philadelphia. Yukkie!



Well I look forward to seeing the pictures from Tory's journey.



Have a wonderful weekend to all.



Love Sandra

Chickens

KC is on her way to Wyoming to scare up some jack rabbits so that Comet and Challeger can get certified as hunting dogs. I think I have it right. KC said they (the dogs) have to catch the rabbit!



Nina, we have three chickens left. They have reached their life span. We have a red rooster and two black and white hens.



Aunt Martha is 94 years old (or will be) on her birthday. She still walks around the home she lives in and is cheerful and helpful. I will see her Monday morning.



Diana, thank you for posting the pictures and sending Aunt Martha a gift. That is all you are going to get for your thoug

htful gesture for Aunt Martha. That is all you are going to get (thanks) so be grateful.



L

ove, Bopcha



We have LOTS of rain.

Photos from Nina and Alex

I am Nina. I love animals and I get really good grades! (Written by Diana, who shrank the photo so it could be posted).




I am Alex. I am hugging Storm. I like to play with toy cars and I am just as smart as my sister. (Written by Diana).

Where was my coffee this morning?

Hey, wasn't one of my slaves supposed to bring me coffee this morning? This slave thing isn't working out quite like I hoped.



A fax machine???? Great gift, Mother! Now you can fax evil messages to Sid.



Nina, I certainly understand how disruptive pets (not to mention brothers) can be. We have two cats - Buster and Ella. We babysit (catsit) a cat named Remy from time to time. He taught Ella how to jump on top of the refrigerator and knock the cat treats to the floor. Bad Habit!!!!



Sandra, the Barbaro souvenierwas a real coup! (Too bad I can't spell and am too lazy to look it up because I didn't get my coffee this morning).



I love you all, but could you PLEASE see to it that I get my morning coffee????

No School!!!

Oh my gosh!!! There's no school!!! I guess the snow got too high and they though we wouldn't be able to get home safely. Anyway, it snowed 6 inches between yesterday, last night, and today. The wind was close to 60 mph! I'm glad nothing happened. How is Oregon?



Nina

A pretty good day. :-)

Today was a pretty good day for me. The only downer was that I was still sick from my repertory infection. I was out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and almost today, but I needed to go to school.

I got through Social Studies, Math, Language, Spelling, and Reading just fine, but I was excused from gym. In Science, we learned that when organisms reproduce, the dominate outcome skips a generation because one of the offspring takes on a dominate gene. (I still can’t believe how I understand that.) I got my Science test back and I got a…103!!! I was so happy when I got my grade. Afterschool we had a newsletter meeting, but it was canceled and I had already told my mom about it, so I ended up tagging her car down the street. What a nightmare!

After I finally got in the car, my family went to Golfsmith and my brother threw a golf ball too hard and I got blamed for it! (I’m not surprised.)

I did my homework and then my family had family game night. We played Zooloretta, a game I had gotten from Christmas. While we were playing it, my brother was ramming his cars into our game, and my dog wanted attention so he ran over our board game totally destroying everything. I ended up setting the game back up after I lost in Rock, Paper, Scissor, Shoot. The forecasters predicted that it would snow 12-18 inches with winds at 50 to 60 mph!!! Another snow day is just what we need. (Not.)

Anyway, I still had a fun day even though I was still sick. Hopefully tomorrow will be as good as today! Later!

Nina Parsons

Thursday

Tory and Jess are beautiful.



I won a FAX at repak. Love, Bopcha

Barbaro's Memory Lives On

Hello Everyone,



First I just want to say how much I have enjoyed Tory's rich descriptions of her travels. And Kay, I know what you mean about tinges of sadness at reading her last entries about it all coming to a close. It just made me think so much of that perplexing balance between those things that cause us pain and joy, sometimes simultaneously. To keep things light, the best example of this is our kitties. They are such little pests as they knock things over, make a mess with the plants, beg to go outside and walk on the ledge with a three floor drop, and the list goes on. But without a doubt, they are so adorable as they indulge themselves. Oh and I love Tory's statement about her kitties, they are "warm and fluffy." How true that is of all of our fluffy creatures.



So I don't know if you all remember the legendary race horse Barbaro that the world fell in love with. He was internationally famous and was treated right here at Penn's Large Animal Hospital. Well, Nina memorializes Barbaro and continues to talk about him even after all these years of his passing away. The other day, out of the blue she asked me if Sid and I could find the Barbaro "statue" because she tried to get it and it is retired and no longer available for purchase. Sid did his diligent search but to no avail. So finally I decided to ask the Associate Dean of the Large Animal Hospital - whom I work with all the time - if she by chance knew where in this Universe I could find Barbaro. After a few days, she e-mailed me back at told me that she is willing to sell me one of hers at cost. She normally doesn't offer this to anyone but she gets a lot of requests. She said she wanted to be a part of being a nice Aunt Sandra. Nina was beside herself with joy. Then it got even better. Dr. Sweeney (my colleague) told me that she had Dr. Richardson, Barbaro's doctor, sign the Barbaro box. Supposedly this gives Nina lots of bragging rights among future friends she may have who are interested in horses, I don't think she has any friends like that now. It is also not too shabby to have something signed by Dr. Richardson since he is a renowned equine surgeon in the vet world.



Diana, I know everyone is grateful for your thoughtfulness and I will make sure that Sid remembers that he is indebted to you for the next year. And to Kay, it looks like you may soon be off chicken duty. I am sure everyone understands that you can't keep track of chickens at every waking moment. It was nice to hear about your adventure to the sheep farm. Thanks for sharing that with us. I would have loved to see the little babies.



Love to you all,



Sandra

Aunt Martha

Because I am such a kind and loving sister, I ordered the # 22481E Deluxe Fruit & Daisy Gift Basket from Harry and Davids for Aunt Martha's birthday. She will get it on the 26th of February. I signed the card from: Judi, Kay, KC, Diana and Sid.



No, none of you owe me money. But now you have to be my slaves for a year!!



Heh! Heh!

You Are So Right Kay!!! Tory's Home!!!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Home again, Home again

I made it home, safe and sound. Murray picked me up from the airport -- gosh, it was great to see his shining face again.



Aunt Judi welcomed me home and helped me explode my luggage to unearth treasures from my journey. My little kitties are warm and fluffy. The first thing I did was start a load of laundry. And to take a nice long bath. It is an incredible thing to travel to distant shores, and an poignant thing to come home again at the end.



I think I will sleep for a week.



Love T





Tin Can Alley

Well Tory should be back among us shortly. Her last email almost made me cry because it sounded kind of sad.



Well I managed to keep the chickens healthy until Sunday and the skittish hen disappeared. Bopcha and I couldn't locate either the hen or any feathers. Today I went out and a black and white chicken was dead in the chicken pen. Also in walking down over the hill behind the chicken coop I found feathers from the first missing hen. Tonight I am going out and lock them up. She is down to 3 chickens and I don't intend to lose another one on my watch. I got my courage together and called Judi to tell her the rotten news. Didn't want her to come home and think I had eaten all her chickens. Bopcha found a place in the fence where it looks like predators have been getting through so I tried to block it today but I think I will still close up the chickens. I love chickens but don't do well when confronted with a dead one - where is Tiffany when I need her. She disposes of all my dead animals.



Bopcha has Repak this Wednesday so I think after I left the chickens out of the coop the dogs and I are going to the coast. The rain is supposed to be coming back in but that's okay, I need an ocean fix.



Theresa was in Ridgecrest yesterday to pick up her car and some of her stuff and today she is going to Fresno to visit her mom and brothers and then she and her boyfriend (who is helping her drive) will be heading to Virginia. My assumption is that he will be flying back to Ridgecrest as opposed to staying in Virginia.



Crystal and Nathan are gearing up to start their family - so stay tuned and when Crystal does get pregnant I will post it on the blog. It will mean great grandchild number 5.

Note from Tory: Last Night in Paris

Monday, February 22, 2010

Last night in Paris

Today is my last night, and fittingly I am back in Paris where it all began. The last month has flown by in a blur.... Was that me walking on the beach with the seagulls and white sand? Did I really sing karaoke on a ferry? Was that me on that snowmobile, holding on for dear life? I asked Santa for a job? I skiied?!



It has meant the world to me to share my adventures with you as I lived it, day by day. The best part about getting home will be to see each of you again. Yes, that and squeezing my sweet kitties, sleeping with my own pillow... and to not have to pay to use the toilet any more. (Bathrooms should not be a for profit enterprise. My opinion.)



Thank you again most exceptionally to Cousin Noah and Aunt Judi for caring for my sweet boys all this time to let me be away without worry. You are truly generous souls and I am so greatful to you for this tremendous service.



I will post from home that I have arrived safe and sound, and will try to toss up some pics too. Until I see you all again, I bid you a fond adieu.



Love T