Butterfly's

 This little guy was giving me all kinds of 

photo opportunities.

 Not sure what kind it is, but he sure was cute!

 He favored the Marigolds,

did not like the petunia's

and did settle on Lavender for a bit.

Butterfly's guide us into fall.

What is THIS?

The neighbor had a yard sale.

I found this gadget....

Can not figure out what it is?

Can YOU?

 I will help out a bit by eliminating a few things I thought it was for:

It does not hold potted plants very well.

 I could make the triangle ring,

but the shape did not help out to much.

 I could not crush any rocks with it.

 It doesn't hold the fence up. Matter of fact, it will pull

a fence down. The cast Iron it is made of is quite heavy.

Poncho was only mildly interested and Libby showed no interest at all.

 It is not very good for a trailer hitch.

 Nor for holding a bike rack together.

 You could hang it on the wall,

 or from a turkey cooker....

 It will roll from a door handle,

 It not very good at hanging from your pocket

 or holding your keys.

 It is not very useful as a post holder,

 It is not very good at pulling roots out of the ground either.

 Can't hold a gate closed.

 And as for a dog toy,

they could break a tooth!

So If any of you know what this is, 

feel free to let me know.

IF

You are right,

(cause I think I know what it is)

I will send you something very nice!

Nana Time.....

Wow! 

What a summer!

I have been so busy that there just is NO excuse as to why

I have neglected my blog!

The past weekend, 

It was Nana and Grandkids time!

And with that comes

HORSEY TIME!

She doesn't care if she rides bare back

or with a saddle.

She would just SIT on Libby all day if she could!

Of course before we picked her up,

she informed her mother

that shew as going to ride Libby

'laying down'

and that she did too!

Doesn't Libby just look to cute in PINK!

So the next morning

before the last swallow of breakfast hit her tummy,

she is telling me she wants to 'go ride wibby'.

So I thought I would saddle up both horses,

and 'pony' Libby while I rode Poncho.

That way "I" Could ride too.

It did not work out to well. 

I am going to have practice more before I

do that trick with my grandkids on Libby.

Oh they were both good,

Poncho and Libby, 

It was me that was the clutz!

So away we walked....

 And Walked.....

 Working on balance......

 and Trotted.......

 Libby was so good....and Bree was just having so much fun!

 Then I got the brilliant IDEA........

USE THE ROUND PEN!

And just as we were getting settled in
Parker showed up.

 So he got to ride after Bree did,

and both of them of course kept saying:

"Trot! Trot! Nana, I wanna Trot!"

 So Trot Libby did.

 Every once in awhile, Libby would stop and look at me:

"Enough already!"

She was a very good sport about the whole thing!

 Then the big finale was they both got to ride 

twice around the ring, and then 

it was time for Libby to 

"Go night night."

It was the only way I could get the kids to 

give me a break! LOL

This is Libby and Poncho's

'night, night' place.

I almost wanted to cuddle up in there!

AND...

I just might...

cause I have a KINDLE now!

I can sit and read and not worry about the 

wind and the pages.

If you don't have one, 

GET ONE!

I have not done so much reading as I have since I got it a week ago.

Already polished off three books!

It is NOT like reading a computer screen.

It is very much like 

ink to paper.

What is so great is that

I found holding books because cumbersome.

With the kindle, I do not miss turning pages!

My thumb is on the edge to flip the pages,

and I do not miss a beat in reading!

Oh and I saved $50.00 by getting the one

with the "ads".

They DO NOT deter from anything!

The ads show up when you turn off the Kindle,

and as a very small banner on the 'home page'.

Yes, I highly recommend a KINDLE

if you do not already have one.

I procrastinated a long time before I got one.

My only regret is that I waited so long to get it!

You can read it in bright sunlight, 

or any light.

You just can't read it in the dark.

So I have a book light.

Warning:

DO NOT READ IT OUTSIDE

ON A HOT NIGHT

WITH TINY LITTLE BUGS

(or any bugs)

FLYING ALL OVER!

THEY WILL SWARM YOU!

Labor Day Events

This year for Labor day

We packed up the girls and headed out to 

Blanchard, Idaho,

To Cousin Kenny's Place.

They have a beautiful spot tucked up against the mountains with a view of Mt. Spokane.

With Binoculars you can see the little skiers sliding down the mountain.

Of course Screechy thought he got to go.
All his cute little gestures did not cut the butter with me.
He stayed home with strick orders to stay away from the local neighbor skunk that has recently taken up residency!

On the way to Idaho...

 

There was multiple stops.

Between Grandson, Grama and

the girls.

We made it just after lunch time.

This is Ken and Arlene's place.

There were 9 Family's all gathered.

 This platform comes in very handy at times.

But first Parker had to go around and make sure 

it was "nail" safe!

 

This was our humble abode on the mountain. 

(We were the only ones in a tent)

Day time temps reached the low 90's for about 3-4 hrs.
Our first night the temperature dipped very low.
34 degrees, greeted us Sunday Morning!

Around 4:30 Saturday afternoon,
Cousin Kenny wanted to take everyone out on a trail ride.

13 people headed out on 4 wheelers, motorcycles and a razor.

The trails were neat and the views were beautiful.
I was going to take my camera but decided at the last minute not to.
Wished I would of now.

At one point in the ride, Kenny's son on a motorcycle, swopes a side hill.
I was following cousin Kenny.
He saw his son and decided to do the same thing.

Then we passed this hill, and cousin Kenny decided he could climb it.
His first attempt was half way up and he backed out of it.
His second attempt,
I knew what he was going to do....
I was shaking my head "NO! NO! NO!"
He ignored me, and went for it!

Watch the video below.
It is not Ken but it is exactly what he did, without the water!


After the dust settled,
(someone rode ahead to get Mathew in his Jeep.
When he got back to the crash site with the jeep,
Alan said he would drive his dad to the hospital,
which left Matt on Alan's bike. Matt took off down the mountain
 on the bike to catch up to the group that was out front and inform them what happened.)

I looked around.

All that was left was:
Cameron, Shelby
Rick and I.

Ummmm....Oregonians in the Idaho mountains,
 and
NO CLUE WHERE WE WERE!

As Alan sped off the mountain with his injured dad,
Rick hollered at him and asked:
"How do we get off the mountain?"

Alan said: "Take all right turns!"
And was gone!

We headed out.
We stayed to the right.
The sun was setting...
It was getting cold!
 We finally met up with this little guy:
Tanner.

His adult cousin, Matt, was with him on a large motorcycle.
Tanners little bike would only go about 5 miles an hour
cause he has just learned to ride it
AND he was being safe!

Five adults were following this child out of the mountains.
I had all the confidence in the world in him.
His dad is a mountain man and he and Tanner do a lot of hunting together
IN these mountains.
The child is very well educated,
AND he knows these mountains.
I could see the headlines:

"A 9 year old child rescues adults off a mountain!"
 
But then the more turns we made the more it just felt like we were getting lost even more,
and it just felt like we were going in a big circle!
Finally at one turn, I pulled up beside Tanner, and asked him:
"Do you know the way off this mountain?"

He looked at me and said:
"No."

My heart sank!
Now thoughts of survival was going through my head!
We had no gear!
No Food!
No Coats!
NOTHING!
We were going to freeze to death in the Idaho Mountains!
I even left the dogs back at camp! They would of provided warmth at least!

Since it was getting dark very quickly,
The four of us, went on ahead.
At the next bend in the road we all stopped and took stock of our bearing.

Rick looked right, and then he looked straight ahead.......
He said "THAT looks like the back side of the mountain of Ken's place.
Stay here and I will go to the top and take a look!"

Next I heard was Rick calling for us to come up the hill.
Just as I got to the top,
There was Rick, Tanner's Dad and One other party member!
I could of hugged them all!
Instead I cried breathed a sigh of relief!

Ken took a ride in the ambulance to the hospital.
Just as he got there, the hospital was inundated with trauma patients from a very serious accident in town.

So Mr. Ken was put on the back burner.
Of course by the time the Dr. got to him, he was not very happy with his patient, because he was NOT wearing a HELMET!

This is Ken's Injury:

He durn near scalped himself!
He also got a broken rib out of the deal.
Actually he is pretty lucky and he better not try that stunt again!

That night we got ready for bed.
And the girls beat us to bed:

Soooooo.....
in a two person tent, three dogs shared!

Totally uncomfortable because no matter how hard I try to get them to sleep on the bed at home,
They INSISTED on sleeping on the bed camping.
The next night they slept in the back of the truck!

Then there is JENNY~!
I introduced her to you  HERE.
She has grown just a tad,
and once she got over her shyness,
she hung out with my girls.
She thought it was just great fun to run circles around them,
and then attack from behind and chew on their ears.
Sassy did not put up with much, and would let Jenny know in no uncertain terms she had had it!
Sydney just didn't not want to be bothered, she was busy catching bees,
but Taumee....Good Ole Taumee....she was the tolerant Auntie that let Jenny maul her, jump on her, and chew on her.
Jenny is so darn cute that she is totally irresistible!
EVERYONE LOVES JENNY!

 In the top photo she sat by out things as were were packing up, as if to say
she was going with us!

 Here Kelly is practicing holding a baby cause there is one in the oven.

Jenny has wonderful markings on her little tummy.

 See what I mean? She is just way to cute!

 Here she is hangin' with Taumee.

Ready to chase the next moving object.
There is a small pond in the middle, and at one point Jenny decided to go swimming.
Rick was snoozing in a chair and I was just about to do the same in our tent.
It was very hot, and I had the tent door propped open.

All of a sudden I get trampled on by this WET hurricane of a canine!
She had barreled into the tent, on top of me, and proceeded to run circles around me!
SOAKING WET!
I was not sleepy anymore!

 This is Taylor and her brother Tanner.

 This is 'dad' Mountain Man Forrest.

 And their mother Sarah with her injured dad.

Taylor found a couple of snakes roaming around. They were baby garter snakes.
I don't like snakes, but they WERE kind of cute.
ALL Baby's are cute!

Here is Kenny's brother, Steve and his family:
Maxine, Son Mathew, Son Nathan and Steve.

The only other child Parker's age there.
This is Landon, Steve and Maxine's grandson. His father is Nathan.
Below is Landon't folks, Nathan and Crystal.

Crystal's parents, above.
"I Love it when in-laws/out-laws can hang out together."

 Above: Our Son Cameron and Alan, Ken's Son.

Above: Ken and Arlene, our Host.

 Here is Amanda, Ken and Arlene's Youngest

Of course Parker hitched a ride.

Then it was time to load up and come home:

 But not before Parker got his ride in.

And he was upset when it was time to get off the bike.

 This is how we load up.

 Above: Cameron and Shelby's unit.
Below is ours.

 I could not leave without saying goodbye to the horses.

They are such sweeties that love attention!

Hope your labor day was fun, exciting and safe!