Bopcha Blog

Boy it is cold here. We have been at freezing almost every night. But I am sure the rest of you are a lot colder. The water to the trailer was frozen again this morning. I need to wrap the hose. Lots of ice on sidewalks so was rather careful this morning. Would hate to say that I walked on ice and snow in the far north (Alaska) and then fell and broke a leg on ice in the high desert. Doesn't have the same sort of glamour.



Was walking in the desert not far from Steph's house this morning areI saw a white garbage sack that appeared to have something in it. I walked over and could see a dog leg sticking out. So I called Steph and she called the shelter. They came out and I led them to the little dog body. Of course that has ruined my morning.. For the life of me I canot imagine how you can just toss a pet aside so easily. There are miles of desert to bury it in. Grr.



Have most of my Christmas shopping done - now it is just getting it in the mail. As luck would have it most of my kids are here so I don't have to mail their gifts this year.



I did Black Friday with Gina, Steph and Al. We left the house at 6 a.m. and, of course, most of the stuff was already pretty picked over but it was fun and we followed it up with breakfast at 8:30 with Joe, Jonathon, Greg and Alexis.



Diana that kid is really really tall and makes the others look rather stunted.

Hello Family,



Sid and I really wanted to get ourselves together before the day started today to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. Not surprisingly, it was the usual rush that it normally is for us on holidays, and so are good wishes are coming to you late.



The morning started with an ambituous run. I have a friend who always talks me into doing a benefit run on Thanksgiving. So off I headed this morning for a 6-mile uphill run. At one point, I really thought I was going to pass out. I kept telling or screaming to myself (in my own head - not out load I promise) that it is mind over matter. Oh boy it took every ounce of strength I had.

But finally we did and when I reached the finish line I was so so happy and felt wonderful, I won't tell you about the terrible aches I had - I am ignoring all that.



Sid was resting in the nice warm house when I walked in from the run. I was chilled to the bone. The air was so damp and it was precipitating outside but no real discernable rain, snow. etc.... I wanted to come in the house, take a bath and rest. But being that it is a holiday, I had to finish preparing the side dishes I offered to bring for my sister's dinner. It all worked out and we got the card loaded etc...



Part of our holiday celeration included singing "happy birthday" to Sid. It was a real event as Nina pulled out her guitar and played a nice melodic version of HB. We all sang out of tune and I am glad we don't get recorded when my family sings.



We are grateful for many things even though there have been many moments of feeling sad and out of sorts this year. One special event that made us really grateful this year is our little drama with one of our lovely cats. Luna - what she is missing in grace and coordination she makes up in cuteness, had a very eventful day last week. She and Zuki love to go outside on our back balcony and gaze at the stars, the moon and moving squirrels. They often jump up on the ledge of our fence that surrounds our back balcony. We usually keep our eye on them but we can't do it every minute.

Therefore, on this blessed day, I went out on the balcony after they had both been out there about 10-15 minutes without neither sid nor I keeping watch. When I opened the door, Zuki came running back in and Luna was not in sight. I took a quick look three floors below me just to make sure she did not end up down there. We do this every time we look for them and don't see them immediately. Every other time that we have done this, they had already returned inside the house. But on this day, when I peaked down she was actually down there sitting on all fours and letting out a meager meow. She was crying. With my heart racing I ran down there and hysterically infomed Sid as I rushed out the door to rescue Luna. I was tearning down the fire exit stairs and scooped her up. She was so terrified and I think so relieved that someone picked her up. She had a little cut on her lip and was limping a bit. She was walking with a limp and moving very slowly. I immediately called someone at the Vet School (the Clinician on Emergency Services). Luckily I had just spent lots of time with him a few days prior as I was helping him on an employee case he had. So he was not hesitant to discuss this with me in detail and make suggestions. It's not easy to get clinicians to committ to any real discussion without seeing the "patient"



In the end Luna was fine. Sid watched over her all day and comforted her - wrapped her in blankets, made sure she stayed in her little bed. He nursed her for the entire day. The next day she was almost back to normal. Thank goodness. So you see we really have something special to be thankful for this holiday. Not that we ever took our precious Luna for granted but now we really appreciate her more than ever. Her little brother Zuki was amazing through all this. He tucked himself in next to Luna in the little bed, licked her all over and put his paw around her. He did that several times the day she was hurt. How sweet is that!



So you are having SNOW in the northwest. Has the snow reached Oregon? Diana, that is another wonderful photo of you. Did Jessica rescue from having to make the turkey dinner - did you get to relax? So nice to have a cook around isn't it?



Love to you all and hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend.

I hate that I am missing the snow. Great picture Dee. We are headed over to Gina's shortly for the big dinner. I scored and got Alexis the best Christmas present ever - a colorful kids tent with a crawl through tunnel (on sale).



Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone.

I also remember last year and just how tickled she was to get the cruise. Even though it was not meant to be, it did indeed give her much happiness. What was even more remarkable was that at that time (90) she was still doing so much physically. We should all be so lucky and yes I am sure she is much happier to have gone before any of us.



She gave us a treasure trove of memories. It is with much love and sorrow she is remembered on this day.

I can't help but dwell on 22 Nov 2009. Remember Bop's look of delight when we gave her the cruise to Alaska? She got cruise clothes and all kinds of nifty things. The party was at the farm house. I had all the confidence in the world that she would be the sib to see 100. How things change, bringing our assumptions to dust. I miss her so much--I thought my daily phone calls were for her--but it seems they were as much if not more important to me. I'm so grateful that Bop visited the ranch that summer. We sure had fun digging cactus and driving the little John Deer. We all managed to outlive Bopcha--something I know every parent desires.

When I get back to CV, I am buying my little pink bike (with no gears) if it is still at the store. I have put on more weight and think the bike will help. Oh, of course, there is that part about keeping your mouth closed and not putting food in it. But that does not mean that I will not eat one of Murray's fabulous deserts. I am sure that one of them will be at the great pomegranite dinner and I will have to listen for years about what I missed. I think Steph voted for the meringue desert.



It sounds like everyone is busy. KC send us pictures of the old guys. I am glad they found a good home and he didn't have to put them down. Sandra, I applaud you for even attempting a yard sale. The one and only yard sale I had with a neighbor in Tacoma was an absolute disaster. I love to go to yardsales but boy do I hate to hold them.



Good for Noah and I hope the housing situation works out okay.



Today Crystal, Steph, Maxx and I are driving to Bakersfield so Tina can pick him up. I spent a couple of days in Fresno and brought Maxx back with me and Bakersfield is kind of half way between Fresno and Ridgecrest. A good place to meet, swap children and have lunch.



Yesterday evening, Greg, Gina, Alexis, Allen, Crystal and Christopher came over to Stephs to say adios to Maxx and we did pizza. As always, lots of laughter and love. Maxx drove us from Fresno to Ridgecrest and did a really good job. He has his permit and goes for his license in December. He is a tad nervous because they don't require you to parallel park in CA anymore but have to do a straight backup for 30 feet. I can't parallel park and/or back up straight for 5 feet. Maxx drove Steph and I around town yesterday while we ran errands. A much better driver than his brother.



Tomorrow Crystal, Steph and I are doing lunch with Grandpa Randy. He let me pick through his stuff to outfit my trailer with.



Just found out that the guy that bought my Tacoma house sold it for 162,800. He completely redid the kitchen and I don't know what else. So, he sold it for less than he bought it for. Also the neighbor on the otherside of my neighbor Debbi was using her small house for a rental and apparently the renters skipped out in the middle of the night leaving the front door unlocked with a sign reading "Walkin everything free". Apparently they just left everything and took off and left a huge mess. Turns out they were behind in their rent and utilities. I guess the owner is putting in a significant amount of time getting rid of trash and repairing the house. Did I mention I love my little CV trailer and am glad not to be dealing with a bad housing market. That's all I'm going to say about that.

My goodness, I have never seen such a perfect looking tart. That is beautiful and looks delicious.

Diana, you are so funny - that is hysterical and we are taking you very seriously. We will be sure to not cross your path as you indulge in those deserts. So who is eating those scrumptious looking deserts. Do Murray and Nicole have to constantly sample those calorie less deserts!



Sid and I were debating who should do some of the home projects that we so desperately need to do in our condo. It is very difficult to keep these old places (that of course are full of character) looking spiffy! Sid of course thinks we can do everything, and I think I should clean out savings and get it done. Well just kidding on that one, but my goodness it sure is tempting to have contractors do everything. Not to mention of course that if you get a really good professional person in - the work can look spectacular. I am not as confident in my own ability to install base boards, light fixtures, drywalling........ Sid has much enthusiasm about what the two of us can accomplish.

The problem of course is always time when you work as many hours as I do.;.//.uu



My sister and family will be moving to a new home soon. The house is not the mansion they live in now and will be much more manageable. In her current home she faces the same "old world charm" issues that we face here to put it nicely. My sister and I compare notes a lot about how energized we feel by the endless projects we should both be doing in the house. Being that the Parsons have the largest house in their current town of Merchantville, they have accumulated so much stuff. The mere thought of packing the contents of their house is enough to give you indigestion or insomnia.

My sister is all for getting a big dumpster and hauling half of their "valuables" away in the trash. George is a little more - well let's say conservative with getting rid of things. But Rossana and I did have the brilliant idea of having a yard sale to make money from all the junk we need to sell. I could not round up much junk - I think because I was really sick for two days before the yard sale and just did not have the energy to organize it all. My sister has no shortage of things to sell.



I have to admit that neither of us were very organized and so we did not put up signs or advertise the yard sale. Along with the complete lack of organization, we could not seem to get started until

Noon. So Nina happily put up the ONE sign announcing that there is a yard sale in front of the house. Passers by walked along the sidewalk and meagerly looked over but very FEW stopped to look. Is it us???



We diligently stood around for 4 hours, maybe 5. I think my sister managed to make $15.00. It was rather pathetic, but still lots of fun anyway. The most interesting item to be sold was a medicine cabinet that was really neat. It is made of metal and about six feet high. It is an old fashioned lock up cabinet where George's father (also a DOC.) used to lock up the medications. It is probably worth something nowadays. One woman came by and offered $25 for it but she could not carry it into her house. My sister and I enthusiastically offered George up to drive it over and unload the next day - when he was not working. Of course George thought this was a loosing deal and said that was ridiculous and we need to find another buyer for it.



Then a woman came by when we were wrapping it up for the day. She said she was an artist and had a floral arrangement business and she took a lot of interest in the cabinet. My sister was in the house and so I was the seller for the moment. I told her the cabinet is going for $50.00. Alex then inserted that "Daddy said it has to be sold for $75 or $100. The woman just smiled at him and was probably thinking "what do you know, you little brat." Then my sister comes walking out of the house and I start telling her as she walks toward us that this person is interested in buying and I told her I quoted $50. And my sister was so focused on getting rid of it and trying to be nice to the woman, I don't think she heard me and said, "oh we are selling this for $25." I looked kind of stupid or greedy, don't you think. And interestingly enough it seems that for the rest of the conversation, the woman was talking to my sister and pretty much ignored me. Hmmm do you think she maybe did not like me as much. So they worked out the details of when the buyer can pick this up etc...which would be two days away because she needed to get her in-laws' van.



The next morning George said with great puzzlement, "why are we selling the medicine cabinet, that is a really neat piece." He had first suggested that it be sold.



Well I think what we learned from this is that my sister and I probably should not be selling things - we were not very good at it. But it was really a lot of fun, laughing at ourselves as we stood outside on a beautiful Fall day. The kids enjoyed it too and they probably also learned that having a yard sale is .....well.....I don't know that I can even say what they learned.



Well I will keep you all posted on how we progress or more likely DON'T Progress on our home projects.



KC, I am impressed that you took in those dogs and as if you did not have your hands full before now there is no debating it. Enjoy them and what a great thing to do. I am sure you and Tom will love them like crazy as you try to bring the precious little being back to good health.



Love to you all and hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.



Sandra

Murray, I am going to hunt you down and steal those desserts from you and then I am going to sit in a corner and eat them. Woe be to the person who dares ask me to share!!!!

We took in two new borzoi from an old time breeder, who died recently, leaving her 88 year old husband with too many dogs to handle.

So...please welcome:

Pickle Hill's Tyler and Pickle Hill's Sunny Boy.

They are 5 and 6 years old, sweet, but totally untrained with patchy hair and some bare spots showing. In other words--not too pretty at this moment, but they are borzoi and some good food and tender care should help them blossom again.

We'll post pictures of them, once we get some.

Love, KC

Gosh Sandra, I had no idea that your mother had a role in haute couture. I'm so impressed!! The designs are lovely. I can only imagine how difficult to take the designer's ideas and make them work in real life. Wow.



I'm pretty impressed at Jessica's work ethic as well. Managing a store solo over Christmas--Wow.



I have to admit that I would hesitate before renting my house to 5 young men--although since one of them would be Noah, I'd be more confident. Nonetheless--that's a lot of energy cooped up in one space. Disheveled -- no doubt!! totally understandable to me!!



All's well at the ranch. Hunting went well -- I took two hounds for the national level competition. My favorite got injured on day 1. The judge said Durango was the most impressive hound of the day, possessing brilliant speed. The judge was visibly disappointed I had to pull Durango from the competition on day 2. Challenger had a dreadful day on day 1, but made up for it on day 2, placing 5th overall in the competition. (Brother Comet won it in 2008).



Tom will start his new job on 1 December. A consortium of 5 small disabled veteran owned companies will find equipment that's still in use but for which parts are no longer made, reverse engineer the part, find a manufacturer, and provide a tech manual telling the manufacturer how to build the part. Tom's company (and Tom's job specifically) will be converting the reverse engineering into tech speak for a machinist to follow. He'll have a 70 minute drive each way--but we don't think he'll always have to work from the office in Pueblo. At any rate--exciting news for us!! Tom's been casting out resumes now for 2 years--this was his first bite and he got the job--plus the pay is good. It's only a one year contract--but it's a great start. Yahoooo!

Sandra, your mother's creations (well, Frank A.'s too) are absolutely equisite. I had never taken a good look at them, and I must say they are fabulous!



Noah has moved into a big house/duplex sort of place on Queen Anne with 4 of his friends. They are so excited. Four out of the 5 are MI boys who played bb with Noah and live within a block or two of our house: Mikel and Tom (twins), and Alex. The fifth boy is a friend of Alex, I believe. Anyway, their house (duplex?) is really interesting. It has 5 bed rooms, 2 living rooms, 3 kitchens, 3 bathrooms and two giant balconys with great views of the city. It is slightly disheveled, but in good repair. Perfect for 5 young men out on their own.



JB is headed to Vancouver B.C. and the Four Seasons hotel this weekend. It is training for the upcoming holidays. The store manager will be out on maternity leave, so JB will be in charge of everything for the holidays. She will be working, working, working!



Bill is back from Mississippi. He said nearly everyone there is really chubby. Lots of good Southern food, I guess.



I am headed to a client meeting. Later this week I am hosting a Camp Easter Seal weekend at the farm. It will be fun, I think.



Love,

Dee

Dee I honestly do not know if that was him. I wish Jess had asked if he ever did his laundry there. It probably wasn't him but I will never know.



Steph, 2 of her friends and I went to Four Corners to a gift shop that holds an annual free lunch to encourage shoppers. Great sandwiches and taco soup. Had a wonderful time.



Sandra, I do miss Oregon but having a lot of fun. I have planted a pine tree in her back yard and some glads. I am going to get another pine tree, pomogranite tree for the backyard behind my trailer and a large shade tree for her front yard. Don't know if they will grow but are supposed to.



Family coming over to Stephs after church for her famous burritos.



Walked the dogs in the desert again but ended up carrying them back to the car because of the burrs. Had to keep Luis from killing a kangeroo mouse/rat the other day. It was really cute and apparently they make their home in the desert like the voles at the farm. To date I have not stepped on any sidewinders. Steph and I plan on going to Death Valley sometime before I leave. Next Sunday I am headed to Fresno to visit Tina and crew.



I am very excited about the Seattle news as well. Yippee for the quiet twosome.