My New Mantra

If you know me, you know how appropriate this is! 

Anyone ready for a trip to Bora Bora???

Champs

The U-16 team that Scott coaches won a tournament in Las Vegas this last weekend!  Poor parents - it ended in a shoot-out but Scott's team came out on top!

Way to go team and Coach Scott!

Here's the trophy to prove it! 

The Year for Floods

Floods, floods and more floods!  First our house, then the Boise River and now the Wilamette!  Check out the path where we usually take walks. This is just below our apartment!  Ducks are swimming up the path. 

Normally this is an amphitheater where weddings are held in the summer.  Now it looks like a  swimming pool. 

The bridge to the rowing center is partly underwater. 

George's best estimate is that it is 6 - 7 feet about normal.  And there is still a LOT of snow in the mountains.   Portland had the wettest February on record.  12.18 inches in one month...that is more than Boise gets in a year! We are told that this is the most water since 1996!  It's going to be an interesting spring! 

Daisy the Hedgehog!

We have a guest for spring break - a hedgehog named Daisy!

She belongs to a cute young girl in our church congregation who is on vacation with her family so we get to take care of little Daisy.  She is certainly an easy pet but not a particularly cuddly one.  The first couple of times I tried to pick her up it was like picking up a little ball of spikes.  Last night she seemed a lot more relaxed with me and wasn't as prickly!  She licked and nibbled my hand.  I'm not sure if that is affection or aggression but it doesn't hurt.  She eats crushed up cat food and dried mealy worms....not my fingers!

A few African Hedgehog facts:

The African pygmy hedgehog is a curious creature that is native to Africa but can be found in zoos (and home) around the globe.  Weighing in at around 1 - 1.5 pounds, this tiny little critter usually averages from 6-8 inches in length and has a pointed snout, round, (dark) eyes, and unbarred spines that serve as hair on their sides and backs.  Oddly enough, they have four toes on their back feet but five on the front.  While this hedgehog has relatively keen eyesight, they depend more on their acute and overdeveloped sense of hearing and smell to detect tasty morsels for dinner that can be buried more than 2 inches below the ground.  (After reading that I wondered if I smelled like a 'tasty morsel'!)

African pygmy hedgehogs are nocturnal creatures that begin foraging at dusk and continue to do so through most of the night, but always in a solitary fashion.  Like most other hedgehogs they can roll into a ball, tucking their head, feet and belly securely inside if  frightened.  And when a hedgehog does become scared or angry, it can chirp, hiss and growl, or if really mad, let out a loud scream!  (So far no sounds from Miss Dairy...at least I know I'm not making her really mad or really scared!) 

Beauty and the Beast

Last night was so much fun!  We went with a group of friends to see "Beauty and the Beast".  Loved it! The couple kneeling in the middle of the photo are our claim to fame.  Their son Kyle McCulloch was the 'Visual Effects Supervisor' for the movie.  We all cheered when his name came across the screen.  The visual effects were stunning!  What's not to love about a dancing, singing candelabra, clock, tea pot and cup, wardrobe, feather duster.....if you haven't seen the movie yet, make it a priority and go!  It is great for kids and clever enough to entertain adults too!

Maps

These are the maps that hung on our kitchen wall in Barcelona for all the 5 years that we lived there. 

You can see that we carefully marked each one of our trips. 

 Ah the memories of family discussions of where we had been and where we were going next! 

 The impromptu geography lessons!

 The political and historical conversations! 

  I can't believe I've kept them for the 17 years that we've been back. I took pictures of them and threw them away with a smile thinking how lucky our family was to have lived this European adventure!

Geting rid of STUFF!

What do you do with all the stuff you accumulate during 63 years of living, 41 years of marriage and the raising of 4 kids?  Oh, and add to that more things from my mother's house. 

 

Case in point - her old telephone.  I mean it is a wall mounted, rotary dial phone.  I'm never going to use it but it just seems so callous to throw it away. Her speed dials numbers make me smile.  #2 Marilyn; #3 Dawn; #4 Janie Cell; #5 Dick; #6 Clarice; #7 Ross home; #8 Janie home....those are all people I love that have been such a part of my life.

I like this quote from The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up 

"The thought of disposing of things sparks the fear that we'll lose those precious memories along with them.  But you don't need to worry.  Truly precious memories will never vanish even if you discard the objects associated with them. "

With that in mind, I took out the card with her handwritten speed dial names and brought it home with me and got rid of the phone and 

it didn't hurt at all!

  Remember when we'd take our kids to Sears or Olan Mills to have pictures taken and then buy these big packets with lots of pictures?  I did that a lot! Got to love my hair...and don't George and I look so young?  This must have been in 1985.

Look at sweet little one year old Matt in his velour outfit! 

And my little Johnny who had just gotten over the chicken pox!  

Here are just a few of the photos that I have to deal with.  I am happy to report that I took photos of many of these with my phone and threw them away.  When I go back to Eagle in May I'll deal with all the millions of others!  Slight exaggeration there!

But I do love this one of Johnny jumping on my mother's bed.  I think I see a lot of Johnny in Isabella. 

Luckily for the past 28 years I've put photos into albums BUT do you remember the good deals on 'double prints'? Yep somewhere there are boxes of the doubles that I didn't put in albums.  Someday the kids will have to deal with 50 photo albums and my more recent photo books. After I go through all the double photos then I'll start on the really hard stuff like little plaster of Paris hand prints and popsicle stick planters that were Mother's Day gifts from my preschoolers!  

Again from The Life Changing Magic of Tidying up 

"It is not our memories but the person we have become because of those past experiences that we should treasure.  This is the lesson these keepsakes teach us when we sort them.  The space in which we now live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past."

Foster Guide Dog #31

Nothing like a nap under a heated towel after you get back from a 4 mile walk in the pouring rain.
Yes our foster dogs get spoiled! 

A Little Person

In the time since I saw Isabella in January, she has changed from a baby to a little person with a big personality and I LOVE it!

Now she plays a little video game - well sort of, with help! 

As soon as she saw George's Apple watch she knew to scroll to find something interesting. 

Johnny and Monica are going to have fun raising her as she is pretty opinionated.  She wants to WALK when we go for a WALK - not be in the stroller and not be carried. And she is fast! 

I tried and tried to teach her how to go down our stairs on her tummy. 

She was having none of that...no one else crawls down the stairs so why should she?  She even fell down the last two steps and it didn't phase her!

She loves the park and her uncles, Matt and Scott! 

And her 'cousin' Jackson...who isn't totally sure about her as she keeps taking his toys.  I love this photo bomb picture! 

I know I am totally biased but I think she is pretty adorable! 

Flood

No not another flood in our house, thank goodness!  The Boise River is at flood stage. Homes in a couple of subdivisions are in danger.  Of course those subdivisions are named "Island Woods" and "Two Rivers" so the people did have some hint that they were in the flood plain and I am sure they all are required to have flood insurance.  Having just had a 'water heater malfunction' flood in our Eagle home, I know what a mess a flood can be so I hope the water doesn't rise any more.

Here's the parking lot at one of our favorite restaurants.

Boise has a wonderful path along the river that goes for more than 20 miles.  I don't think this part will be open for awhile.  Trail closed....seems like a good idea when the water is almost to the top of the railing!  Hoping for a slow melt in the mountains this year!

#30 - Miracles

Everyone who lives at our house - dog or human is an FC Barcelona fan!  We did make an exception for Johnny who is a Real Madrid fan but that is a long story! 

This morning when I took a picture of Guide Dog #30 all decked out in Barca gear,  I imagined that I would be doing a 'we love FC Barcelona anyway" kind of post.  Today's game was a Champion's League game, our 2nd in what is called the Round of 16.  In this stage of the competition you play an opponent twice, once at home and once away. The scores of the two games are added together and 'away' goals are given more weight.  A couple of weeks ago our beloved Barça was thoroughly trounced by Paris St. Germain in Paris with a score of 4-0.  The worst defeat that the team has suffered in years. 

In order to win today and advance to the quarter finals, Barcelona had to win 5-0.  If PSG scored a goal today (it would be an away goal since the game was played in Barcelona) then Barca would need to win 6-1.  Clear as mud????

Today's game was a thriller!  Luis Suarez scored within the first 3 minutes.  By half time it was 2-0 and then soon after it was 3-0 thanks to none other than Messi.  PSG put in a beautiful goal to make it 3-1 (3-5 combined scores from the two games...and now PSG had the all important away goal).  I was sure it was over.  I had been watching on my phone while I was volunteering at Guide Dogs and then running errands.  I decided to relax and watch something else on TV when I got home and the score was 3-1 in the 80th minute.   No way could FC Barcelona score 3 goals in 10 minutes.

Boy was I wrong!  Neymar scored with 2 minutes left in regulation time.  Now it was 4-1! Next he scored off a penalty in the final minute.   Aggregate score tied at 5-5 but the away goal meant that Barça needed one more!  Five minutes of extra time added and Barça delivered!  Everyone went forward, including the goal keeper.  Again it was Neymar who delivered a perfect ball into the box for young Sergi Roberto to finish!  Winning goal was in the extra time at the 94th minute; almost the last kick of the game! 6-1!  Barça advanced into the quarter finals.

Sergi Roberto hadn't scored in more than a year!  What a night to put one in the net! 

What a game!  What a turn around!  First time any team has advanced after a 4-0 defeat away from home! Making history!  I love my Barça boys!