Farewell to a Dare-Devil:

Evel Knievel passed away today.
He was 69.

I grew up watching him do incredible-scary-dangerous-exciting-amazing things on motorcycles. A real "person type" super hero. Sure, some of the things he attempted were just down right crazy, but how often does a fairly wholesome type fellow (hes no saint, don't get me wrong) captivate our jaded nation?


On to a couple of other things:
Congratulations to the State of South Dakota... You are ranked last in the Mental Health Survey of which state is Most Depressed. (probably because i don't live there, hmmmm)
and
WoooHooo, here comes the weather! The weather-guesser type on the news says SNOW SNOW SNOW down here on the Valley Floor tomorrow! Tomorrow is the Civil War football game (Oregon State University at University of Oregon) ... Autzen stadium is a nice bowl shaped venue... no dome on it. SNOW should make it more interesting. Also, for the Oregon Coast this weekend... sustained winds of 50mph-ish and gusts up to 100-ish! 40 foot ocean swells are expected. This would be an awesome weekend to be in a hotel on the beach!

insert catchy title here -->

A bit of beauty to lighten the day.

Indy, as always when he gets a cold, has developed a couple of brilliant ear infections. So, he is definitely not up to par. It is sort of cute though: when asked to do something, he responds with, "but i don't feel very good right now". Poor kid. Anyways, antibiotics for 5 days; doctor's orders.

and the band played on:

Actually, we have had a nice week. We enjoyed a wonderful thanksgiving with our extended family, we got some shopping done on Black Friday, and I got some of our Christmas-y decorations put up! Sure, Indy has a slight cold, but its winter and those things happen.

Last but not least, i will admit the picture has a little bit of "fuzz" to it, but my Lumix camera is so EASY to use that a two year old can do it... and he has in fact done so:

Yeah, that's me... Indy's favorite subject: "mama mama mama mama mama" until I am crazy, hehe. He is definitely my little "mama's boy".

The Dance (part 2):

I have a huge thank you going to Dee Jay for teaching me how to get my teenage son to dance with me. Teenagers can be prickly, but this tip is fool-proof (and fun)!
So, Go Ahead... check out the post below to see "the dance".

Dancing with the Duck:

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!now that wasnt so bad, was it!?!

Get Well Soon!

My Dad hasn't been feeling well for a while now. So, between his doctors visits, he found time to visit with Indy and receive the "get-well-soon-grandpa" card that Indy made for him. The card was very colorful, and while delivering it, Indy chewed a corner off... But, we are hoping the crayon bright card will help Grandpa's road to recovery be a rapid one!


We all hope you feel better soon, Donnie!

thus, the Dyson boy:

Indiana enjoys helping around the house!

Now i KNOW this phase wont last long,

if the teenager is any model.

So, i am taking advantage of it while i can.

We even give him an allowance.

you like me; you really like me!

A very special thank you is going out to Sleeping Mommy for creating this very special award!

Last week, after reading her post on why she had won this very prestigious award (which we can award to ourselves), I decided to share with her my reason for receiving the BM award. Now, I have decided to share it with you all:

Sailor Mouth:

All of our children at one time or another deign to use potty mouth. Our way of handling this phenomena at this time is to ignore it so he doesn't think it is a big deal and moves on. Sometimes it is hard to keep a straight face.

A few weeks ago, as Indiana and I were climbing the stairs, heading for bead, when a large BANG sounded from somewhere below us. Indy, startled, jumped, turned to me and said:

"What the Hell was that!?!"

It gets worse.

Lazy arse that i am, i asked the two year old to get me a soft drink from the refrigerator. Indy dutifully takes off to the kitchen where he retrieves the Coke, slams the fridge with a bang, and returns to the living room where i am. He hands me the can of icy cool refreshment and says to me:

"Here's your Damn soda!"

There are several such incidents, but those two are the funniest. Like I said, sometimes its hard to keep a straight face. So, thank you, I will take my bows now. #1 BM, and well deserved! You Like me; You really like me!

you call that wind!?!

well, we shut the computer off for nothing. The wind blew a little, a lot of leaves fell, and a few of the neighbors have yet to recover their trash cans from down the block, but honestly... that was it. not as exciting as i was expecting. So, we put the candles away, and the flashlights. The extra blankets are all repacked into the trunk. Maybe next time!

Winds a Blowin'

A nice early-winter wind storm is on its way. (For those unfamiliar with our location.. we are between Salem and Eugene in the Mid-Willamette Valley on Interstate 5) Currently sustained winds here are about 30+ miles per hour. The news type folks are warning of higher winds to come.

This is not Indiana's first wind storm, but this is the first he has been able to enjoy so thoroughly. He is chattering at the leaves as they fly past the window, and giggling at the neighbor's unsecured trash cans and recycling bins as they sail along the back parking area. So, as the wind howls outside our windows, the leaves are blowing, the trees swaying, and the power lines are rollicking precariously. With higher winds expected later in the day, we are shutting down the computer and unessential power using items and battening down for the storm to come.

We pray the only damage from today's wind is a few dented garbage cans.

sketches:

my mother is very talented. perhaps i have mentioned it before. She can paint, draw, sew, and do any number of crafty type things. She is brilliant with color. A few of you have seen her garden, and her photography... she used to blog fairly regularly.

I have a beautiful oil painting (done by my mother) of Harry Truman and the beginning of the eruption of Mt St Helen's hanging in a place of honor in my home (we were in Kelso, Washington for the eruption and recovery so the Mountain is special to me) . I have a few other of her things as well, hung here and there. I have always been exceedingly proud of her talent.

Anyways, she asked me a few days ago, if i would like something from the heart for the holiday this year: sketches of my sons. She warned that she hadn't picked up a pencil in years. I agreed that i wanted pictures so fast and with such delight, she seemed surprised.

SO, yesterday she calls me up on the telephone and says "hey, check your email, they aren't finished yet, but i wanted your opinion"...
my opinion?!? it was hard for me to give it, with the tears in my eyes... "those are my boys mom, thank you".

fun with photoshop!

nothing to say,

just wanted to share this picture.

bleh:

i wanted to post some cute picture of Indy, with a witty bit of commentary to go with it; I am not going to do so because i left the camera in the truck, thus i don't have a good new picture, and i am not really feeling very witty anyway.

How's that for a run on sentence.

signs, signs, everywhere signs:

Across the street from our home is a city park.

In said city park is this sign.

Considerate Citizens Pick Up After Their Pets

In Albany It's The Law!

This sign says to me that everywhere else in the world kind people are removing doggie surprises left behind by their pets... but here, in our lovely town we, as people, suck so bad we had to make pet doodle removal a law or we would be overrun by Ca-Ca.

I have been ruminating over this sign for several months as we sit on the porch, the sign, in its full glory standing proudly in our view.(there are friends there with me... real friends... not like talking to myself, taking medication, visiting a hospital type we)

So... what do you think? In Albany, it's the LAW!

take 2: Halloween!

i was all finished writing this Halloween post and was just rearranging the pictures when Internet Explorer had an error and had to close! sigh. here we go again: (i like the above picture because Macy looks like a spirit in the mirror, since she is missing from one view and not the other)

"Boo!" or "Peek-A-Boo!"

So, Here is our own little stinker! Our little skunk is finally old enough to go out and ENJOY Halloween. He has gone out the last few years, but nothing like this year as he smiled and said trick-or-treat! He was alternately bashful and gleeful. I am so glad that Duck asked me to go along.

Duck actually "blew-off" a party with his peers to take his little brother out on the town. What a great brother! Duck even put Indy up on his shoulders when Indy got tired, walking in the neighborhood. Indy nearly fell asleep with his head pillowed atop his brothers!

At any rate, we had a fantastic night and sincerely hope that all of you, ghosts and goblins, big or small, young or old, had an excellent scary night!