Find Me Friday.. who is that?

Isn't that Ken?
Isn't this a 37 year old pony's nose? Yes, that is the antique pony Buddy's nose!


Oh, did I mention that Oscar did not like the fireworks over the 4th?



Ali at The Blessed Country Mom brings us this fun Friday happening...Find Me Friday..come join in!

Fort Walla Walla Cemetery established 1856

While we were wandering around the outskirts of Walla Walla last weekend, we had to stop at Fort Walla Walla, as this was a place of history in the 1800's. Many Christian Missionaries, and later settlers as well as Calvary Soldiers came and went from the protection of this Fort.

Also at Fort Walla Walla, is the Cemetery of Fort Walla Walla....

To read the headstones, and the information regarding the Indian battles that the soldiers died in, brought the true history of the west alive and real.

Click on the pictures to get a better view of the words on the headstones.

As we walked in, there was an older man sitting in his chair. I asked him if he was the caretaker.. he said no, he just liked to come and sit under these "small" trees...


I am a visual learner, and this kind of history lesson works for me... it just makes you wonder about the people, what they were possibly like, and how hard it was to do what they were doing. How they gave it all up, to go somewhere else and make their dreams come true.. and the price they paid to follow their dreams.

Eye Candy.. Bling!!!

We took a short 3 day road trip to Walla Walla, and than to Portland for my Aunt Carol's Memorial Service last weekend.

While in Walla Walla I could not pass up this beautiful "cowgirl" leather purse... with major Bling!

My husband was so funny.. as his only question was.. "What is Bling?"

Of course I also found some cool sandals as well. :)

Walla Walla Washington is home to the State Penitentiary, as well as to Whitman Collage and many wonderful winerery's.

No, I do not have any family members in the Penitentiary that we were visiting.. though we did visit the wineries!!!

Find Me Friday.. who is that?

This Friday feature is brought to us by a special person... The Blessed Country Mom, and her Find Me ( previously Peekaboo) Friday..

Zoe was sneaking out of my frame...

And the dog "children", well they were almost perfectly framed :)

And can you believe, I got a picture of this Goldfinch, I was thrilled.

Please join in with your fun pictures as well!

Ali at a Blessed Country Mom..Thankful Thursday

Ali at The Blessed Country Mom sponsors some wonderful positive weekly Post challenges..one of which is Thankful Thursday...another fun one is her new Find Me Friday (previously was called Peakaboo Friday).


Today, just before Thursday comes to an end.. I just want to say, I am truly Thankful for Ali. I could say all sorts of wonderful things about Ali, which will all be true. But if you have spent any time visiting her, well you already know.

She lost her beloved Aussie Duke yesterday, and if you go take a look at her site, well it is not hard to see that he was a true family member. As we have talked about on various blogs, there are some pets that are far more than pets, and beyond replacement. Duke was one of those exceptional animals.

So thank you Ali for being who you are, and know many of your blog friends are sending you prayers and love.

The new little car that can...Warning,this is a Novel!

Once upon a time, in a far away land was a man who needed a reliable affordable dependable car...so the story starts, or I suppose it is an ongoing continuation...

The other half has a lease vehicle.. we call it a "fleece", if any of you are familiar with Dave Ramsey, and the Total Money Makeover.. you know what I mean! Well, due to the large amount of overage miles he has put on the car.. he has stopped driving it, as there are just a few months left on the lease, and it will be painful when we pay for the overage miles. I think he is at 92,000 miles on a 75,000 mile lease limit, ouch!

It will be the very last lease/fleece we EVER do!

So.. I knew what was coming... as he is a car guy. He loves cars... he loves Auto Trader... and car magazines...he loves Nascar . Yes he is a car guy. For some reason he is drawn towards European cars.. which really are not the practical kind of car he really needs. He puts lots of miles on his cars, which is silly to have a real pricey car and run it into the ground. Plus, well we cannot afford that car!
Thank goodness he came to his sense's!

So.. somehow I got sucked into the search for the replacement, to be purchased not leased. Used, not new, and a super duper deal. My brother has a Chevy HHR, which is very cute retro like 'van' and gets great mileage (32-34 on highway) and they are reasonable.

So.. the search was on to find one... and find one we did. We had to take a ferry to get to where it was, which was in Port Angeles on the Peninsula (on the way to Forks for you Twilight folks!). We had a great day driving to Port Angeles, I must say.

We went through Sequim which is a really great little area, and they were just starting their Lavender Festival, the lavender farms are everywhere in that area!

What was cool was that we bought my horse Betsy from a Paint breeder in Sequim, and had not been back there since..well...that was 14 years ago!

I could not believe when we drove by the place she was born. It was like it had never been a horse farm. The fencing was gone, and the barn was all boarded up. The woman who we got her from used to be pretty well known as a horse breeder.

She was older, and may even be gone from this earth. Look at her old covered arena, all boarded up...


OK, so I digressed from my thoughts, not surprised are you!

Back to the car hunt ... OK..they were kind enough to 'SAVE' it for us....do you see, it has a save sign on it!
Than of course we have to compare it to the snazzy orange one (I like that color!) no, he says white. OK, so we will take the white one.

Than after doing all the fun signing papers to buy it, and "no we don't want the extended warranty ...blah blah blah" part...

And of course after he bought his starving wife lunch,
I follow him back the way we came...which meant a stop in Port Gamble.

Port Gamble is a very cool historical stop ...the original houses and stores are intact and they all have cute white picket fences.

(Oh , and look at that cute green convertible...that sure is nice..oh.. that's my car:)

A little history lesson..to quote Northwest Magazine...

"Most people begin their travels in the Olympic rain shadow with a visit to the company-owned town of Port Gamble. Timber barons from Maine came west in the 1850s and created the town around their mill at the mouth of the Hood Canal. The land grant they
got from President Abraham Lincoln in 1853, now on display in the town’s museum, made it official.

While the mill closed in 1995 after stocks of old-growth timber dried up, the current incarnation of Pope Timber Company has turned the town into a tourist destination par excellence. The elegant Victorian houses along the town’s main drag, Rainier Avenue, once housed the managers of the mill and their families, but today play host to a coterie of small shops designed to entice visiting tourists to while away an afternoon browsing. "

OK.. than back on the road to the ferry boat...across the water to the Edmond's ferry dock..

Off we go, heading off the Peninsula... on the "Puyallup"

And and after a brief stop to show the kids....we are finally almost to our little Place in this big world...



and the little white care came home to go to bed.



The End:)

Don't go there!

It is the time of year when the raccoons are everywhere, with their little one's following behind... learning the art of sneaking in garages to eat the cat food, or climbing your fruit trees to get those nice juicy cherries or plums...

We have had a problem with them lately... this old thing was chased out of our garage by my boy Randy.. who than treed him..which is where these pictures came from.

Just before bed the other night, Randy started barking like crazy, so I opened the door and both he and Milli went flying out the door... and around in the dark in front of the garage...than I heard him screaming..yes screaming.. I have never heard him make that horrible noise before.

I heard a horrible combination of squealing, growling and dog crying. Oh my gosh, here I am, barefoot and in the dark... and I am thinking my dog is getting killed!

I knew it was a raccoon, and I could hear that little "clicky" noise raccoons make coming from under our partially opened garage door. Yes, she had babies, she wasn't going to leave the babies. I grabbed the closest thing I could find which was a metal barbecue spatula from the nearby barbecue and screamed "Get, Get, You Get!!!"..loud and over and over again. She finally let go of Randy, and ran to the end of the side of the house and spun around.. like she was going to turn on me, and she probably would of, if I had gotten close.. there was no way she was leaving without those babies!

I ran into the house and opened the door to the garage.. there they were 3 raccoon babies peaking out the garage door, waiting for the word from mom. In the end they scampered out, and that door was shut. Poor Delilah the cat will have to wait for the raccoons to move on before she leaves the garage at night. As for Randy, he was chewed up on his back flank with scratch and bite marks. He was shaking, and very upset. I took him to our vet first thing the next morning, and he appears to have escaped with less injuries than it could of been.

Not true for the little Jack Russell that was being picked up at the vet when I picked up Randy. I knew right away it was raccoons for him too. That poor dog was covered on both sides with punctures and cuts. The owner said two raccoons attacked him while they were raiding her cherry tree.

I am sorry..even though they are "cute", I never want to see them in or around my place again!!!

Peekaboo Friday, brought to us by Ali...

You may need to click on the above picture..to see who is in that tree....

Please join in, go over to Ali's at The Blessed Country Mom..add your name to the list and show us what you have hiding in your pictures!




Has anyone seen Delilah?

Wordless Wednesday...barn babies of the feathered type...

Humming along...

I've got nothing...today!
Just humming along with work, and life.
I have some long extra training days for the next few days at work...ugh!!!

Much like this little hummer... I feel like everything is a quick stop, and than on to the next stop ...no stopping and smelling flowers at the moment... so please forgive me if I don't come visit as I would like...

Like Arnold, I will be back!

Camping...it has has a whole new meaning...

Tamis and her "Dog and Pony Show"...otherwise known as Megan, Elise and Trevor.. went camping last week. Boy Scout Camp..camping...

The other half and I ventured out one evening to visit the campsite, and have some camp out dinner.

First I have got to tell you, they really had a nice campsite, it made me kick myself for passing up a great deal on a tent at Costco last month!

Though, as you view these pictures...well some things have changed since we camped many years ago...


For example a Pop Up van with sleeping for 4 all nice and cozy...in the van?
Yes the tent did not house the sleeping campers as it would have in my day...

The tent housed their goods, you know their clothes, and the plug in mini refrigerator...who needs ice chests any more?

Oh, remember the cute checkered tablecloth, yes we used those way back when... though the laptop computer...on the picnic table...no, that was just a sparkle in little Bill Gates eye at that time!

And of course, how can an 8 year old go camping without his DS???? Again..no electronic toys back in our camping days!

But some things do not change...and I am glad for that, as how can you change a campfire...

Wait, don't you dare suggest a portable gas fire pit for camping... or do they already have one I am not aware of?

Think Twice..enter at your own risk....

Guard Corgi on patrol, and no one will know he is wagging his tail to welcome you.. as he doesn't have one!

Yes.. here we are again, on a wonderful summer Friday Night.. which means one thing... VGNO!

Our dear Ann from Ann Again and Again.. has graciously thrown herself a Birthday Party.. so we will all party with her ... OK..are you all ready to sing ?

"Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Ann (Again and Again!)... Happy Birthday to YOU ":)

(This is my Birthday Song singing sheep!!)

So to all of you wonderful Ladies... Happy VGNO!

Peekaboo Friday, brought to us by Ali...

This is such a cool idea, and something for those of us who love using our cameras!

Ali at The Blessed Country Mom is sponsoring a new Friday theme.. called Peekaboo Friday..
so if you want to join in go on over and sign up on her McLinkey!

Click on the picture..to see who is hidden and a bit "peekaboo"
Above is Oscar..
below is Milli

Below is a Star, my neighbor Wendy's Arab mare, don't they have a cute blue barn!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that my Aunt Carol is no longer suffering, and is now without pain..in Heaven.

She fought the fight to the end, and will be so missed by all of us. I am glad she was a woman of faith...

Eyes have it... Wordless Wednesday