Sucking Flies

Where do they come from?  It’s winter, for crying out loud.  I have a hand-held scorpion vacuum and I use it a lot, sucking flies out of our windows.  We had all new windows put in our home a few years back and I thought this would help with our fly problem but it hasn’t….didn’t even slow them down.  It’s winter, there’s snow on the ground, and I just sucked FIVE flies out of our dining room windows.  Yuck!  When I see flies, I vision in my mind where they came from….Maggots.  I keep a clean house and these flies drive me nuts.  Every day, it’s an ongoing thing…………………Sucking Flies.  Aghhhhhhhhhhh…!

Being A Grandma Is About EVERYTHING!

I’ve finally learned what being a grandma is all about.  It’s about EVERYTHING!   You love your little grandbabies just as you do your own children.  I’ve been sick since Monday so as of yet, I have not been able to go and visit with my little guy, which literally breaks my heart.  Although, my daughter and her husband did a live video chat night before last and that was wonderful.  They also send pictures for me to look at….and look at them, I do.  It’s hard to believe that he will be a week old, tomorrow.

Love this next picture.  Looks like he’s a wink’n and smiling.

He hates his bath time which turns him into a little Grumpalumpagus!

He also likes sucking on his hands.

He looks so grown up here in his little “Future Star” shirt and blue jeans.

 

Welcome to our HeArTs, little one!

We’re Grandparents!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m a grandma…I’m a grandma…I’m a grandma…I’m a grandma…I’m a grand, grand, grand, grand, ma, ma, ma, ma!  Oh, and did I mention that my husband, Evan is a grandpa, too – Ha!  Our daughter gave birth to her first baby, Grayson Evan Walker, on Friday, January 24th, at 5am.  He weighted in at 7lbs. 5oz., was 21.25 inches long and has brown hair.  I’m here to tell you all, that I’m really not prejudice cause he’s my little grandson, but this little boy is the absolute, cutest little guy, EVER!  These first few pictures were taken of him by his father, shortly after he was born.

 

 

Later upon arriving at the hospital,  daddy and grandma took a few (ahem) photos.  I think I have, lets say…a lot of photos and they all look the same.  Love this little one!

 

My son-in-law took this picture after we, grandma and grandpa left the hospital.  It’s brightness is of the angels.  This picture brings tears to my eyes…………………………………….

Here’s our little guy getting all dressed and bundled up to go home.

I guess you know where grandma is going to be spending her spare time.  I’ve only been a grandma for two days and I can honestly say…..it’s more than a bit of heaven!

Happy Birthday To Me

Today was my BIRTHDAY!  Getting OLD – ER….  I started off the day by going to the elementary school and helping with the awards assembly.  From the school, I decided to go to the mine hill bridge just to see if there were any ducks or something of interested that I could get a photo off.  Nothing but a couple of fishermen…

 

Next, I met my friend at her home and she drove us to Challis to go eat at a place called “The Tea Cup Cafe”.  It was a bit pricy but the food was excellent.  All of the following pictures were taken outside and inside of The Tea Cup Cafe.  I didn’t get a picture of the restroom but it reminded me of the restrooms you would see in Sun Valley.  Pretty nice place in a small town.

After eating, we went to a few stores then headed back home.  It was a fifty mile drive one way but well worth the trip.  I got home about 1/2 hour before my husband got home from work.  He got home, took a shower, cleaned up and then we headed in the other direction.  He took me to a restaurant in Arco called the “Golden West”.  Not as nice as “The Tea Cup Cafe”, but nice in the fact that it was just my husband and I, spending my birthday together.  I know….Ahhhhhh!  But, the best gift of all is that my first grandchild will enter this world in about 9 hours from now…..around 5am.  Here is a pictures taken of him just yesterday.  A bit blurry but pretty good considering he’s still in the womb, in a dark place.  He is what you call a transverse baby.  That is where they are lying more sideways in the womb and need a c-section delivery.  Love this little guy already!

Shuttle Chef - Thermos Thermal Cooker

My husband bought me a Thermos Thermal Cooker for Christmas.  He stated that it would make my day easier by not having to watch what I was cooking and just go about my day.  Today, he decided to put it to the test.  He cooked a wonderful dinner of veggies and a roast.  Now that’s my kind of Christmas present……..getting the gift and having my husband do all the work!  Besides the thermal cooker, he set up his Sun Oven and that’s where he cooked another roast and a batch of crescent rolls.  Since I have blogged about the sun oven before, I thought I would just blog about the thermal cooker today.  It was amazing how this worked.  First, he put all the veggies and a roast in separate pots and boiled them for a few minutes on the stove.

You don’t have to boil them very long, just long enough to get them hot.  After they were good and hot, he placed both pots inside the thermal cooker.

After both pots were inside the thermal cooker, all he did was shut the lid and walk away.  He left them for approximately 2 hours.

 

And here are the final results. 

 

Everything was cooked to perfection and it tasted absolutely yummy!

It will be fun experimenting with this type of cooking.  It will also be a great emergency way of cooking if the power goes out.  So as not to use up a lot of propane, we can just put our pots on a propane stove, bring the pots to a boil for a few minutes then turn off the propane.  It’s that easy.

These are the items we have:  Thermal Cooker, 2 round pots, 1 tall pot and 1 bread pan.

 

Deer – Just Passing Through

Tonight there were approximately 30 deer that passed through our driveway, headed for the haystacks.  I got a picture of the following doe as she stopped and turned, listening to the quiet noise I was trying not to making.

There were two, pretty good sized, 4-point bucks traveling with them.  They always had their backs to me so I couldn’t get a good picture.  I came in the house and watched the deer through binoculars and noticed the two 4-points jump up on the haystack so again I got my camera and headed out the door.  When I got close enough to get a fairly good shot, the 4-points were no where to be seen.  I guess they’re smarter than my camera.  On the way back to the house I thought I would take a picture of the tramped down trail they take as they pass through our driveway.

Barrow’s/Commons Goldeneye Females

Once again, I needed to go to the post office today and get a package for my husband.  Afterwards, I decided to make a quick trip to the mine hill bridge to see if the Barrow’s Goldeneye Duck that I saw on Wednesday was still there.  On the way to the bridge, there is this quaint, old cabin that sits just a little ways off of the road.  I pulled in the lane today and took a photo of it.  Just to the right-hand side of the door, there is a sign that says….Ceadcrville Canyon.  I’m wondering is it should read Ceaderville Canyon…………?????????????

When I got to the bridge, I didn’t see the Barrow’s Goldeneye like I had seen earlier but I did see two females.  Females are much harder to distinguish if they are a Commons or a Barrow’s Goldeneye.  They are not a very large duck but I think they are quite pretty and it was fun watching them swim.  They dove under the water a few times but nothing like the male I took pictures of earlier.  It was a pretty sunny day and the water was beautiful, although it was a bit windy on the bridge.

Duck Diving – Barrow’s Goldeneye

I needed to go to town today to pick up a package at the post office, make a bank deposit, and get a few groceries.  After finishing all I needed to do, I decided to head up to the mine hill bridge to see if there were any photo ops.  After taking one picture of the opposite side of the riverbank, I decided to turn the car off so I might possibly get more clearer pictures without any motion from the car idling.  After taking my second photo, I spotted a Barrow’s Goldeneye swimming in the same area I was focusing my camera on.  I don’t think he knew I was there where I had the car turned off and there wasn’t any noise because he stayed there the entire time and let me shoot away.  After a few moments, he started diving, diving and diving under the water.  I took a few photos, trying to capture his dives but I was only getting water rings.  After many attempts, I remembered, duh, I have video on my camera.  You’d think that I would remember having that feature from time to time, wouldn’t ya!

 

 

Barrow’s Goldeneye Duck