Blue and Gold Day

Today is a really big day for my third grandchild, RD. It's "Blue and Gold Day" and after being a Cub Scout for four years, it's his time to become a Boy Scout. He's pretty excited about it, as he should be. He's receiving all kinds of awards, his mid-western grandparents will be there, his pastor has been invited to present him with a special award, which RD has been working on all year, and he earned the Arrow of Light Award which is the only badge a Cub Scout can earn and take with him to the next chapter of scouting . . . Boy Scouts. Just know that we are very proud of you, RD, and wish we could be there in person.

RD has many great attributes . . . he's smart, kind, loving, clever, has a quick wit, is a great hockey player, and loves scouting—in addition to being a great kid who is quickly becoming a fine young man!

The pinnacle of Cub Scouting is the Arrow of Light Award. The requirements for this badge include developing outdoor skills, gaining an understanding of the values of Scouting, and preparing to become a Boy Scout. I understand it takes hard work to achieve this award and we are so proud that RD stuck with the tasks and reached his goal.

Life is Good!

Spontaneous Date Night

Late this afternoon we were given two tickets to a Travis Tritt concert playing at Chukchansi Gold Resort just five minutes up the road. Now Travis Tritt is not someone we would normally choose to go see, in fact I couldn't think of any of his songs I might recognize, even though some of his songs have been number one on the charts. But hey! It was a gift . . . free tickets! So we accepted them gratefully and planned to have dinner before the concert at Nativo's, one of the casino's five great restaurants.

The dinner was perfect, the concert . . . well, let's just say that it was pretty loud . . . and actually we enjoyed watching the crowd go nuts during the concert. Some of the women acted like teenage girls did when Elvis was popular back when I was in high school. It seemed that the crowd got crazier as the concert was nearing the end. Perhaps it's because the bar was open in the back? Hmmmmm. Anyway, we did have a good time in spite of the volume.

I didn't think to take my camera, however we did have our cell phone. I took several pictures . . . we had pretty good seats. However, now I have to figure out how to email myself the pictures from the phone . . . duh! So I found this picture on the web. He put on a two-hour concert with no intermission.

Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino

Life is good!

Small Animal Expo 2010

Yesterday was a miserably cold and dismal day . . . weather-wise, that is. Other than that it was another adventure in the life of KL and her 4-H chapter because it was the annual Small Animal Expo at the Madera County Fairgrounds. The four of us (Jen, KL, Ken and I) hopped in the truck and were there by noonish and didn't leave until nearly five in the afternoon. The event was held in a covered outside arena so it was pretty darn cold all day, but the excitement of the show warmed our hearts, seeing the kids try their hardest to earn a medal for their hats. There were three categories of animals being shown: rabbits, chickens, and dogs. KL and "Elwood" performed in front of the judges as she was being tested for her knowledge of rabbits in Level 1 (of four levels).

Patiently waiting for the judges to come, KL and Elwood snuggle to keep warm—see Elwood peaking out of her jacket?

KL has such confidence in her knowledge of rabbits, she was relaxed and well poised and seemed perfectly comfortable talking with the judge. There are proper procedures to follow when being judged. Here she is standing in front of the judge holding the rabbit facing her body with her left hand under the rump and her right hand on the rabbit's back.

Checking eyes . . .

Gender identification . . .

Checking the legs and nails, and then the hocks checking for thin fur padding and bare spots as well as sore hocks.

Checking the chest and tummy for abcesses.

Checking for ear mites . . .

A test on breed identification . . .

When the day was over KL received her medal and a handshake!

A new medal for her hat.

Since none of us had anything for lunch, we were famished! Jen treated us to dinner at Burrito King in Madera.

We started with a margarita and this yummy bean/chorizo dip and chips . . .

A toast to the fun day and to KL and Elwood doing well at the Small Animal Expo.

Life is good!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Birthday Little Sister

Today is my kid sister's birthday . . . but I can hardly comprehend that it's her 60th birthday. Look at her . . . no way could she be the big six-oh!

She has always been my baby sister, and she's always been the one everyone looks forward to seeing at family gatherings. She is chock full of generosity, love, and joy — PLUS because of her healthy eating, yoga, and daily exercise, she has the energy of a twenty-year-old.

I love you baby sister and hope your birthday is nothing but fun!

Life is good!

It was a party!

Last night was KL's birthday party and it was a whole lot of fun. (Often, in the past, her birthday was celebrated on Super Bowl Sunday, simply because her birthday always falls during the week before that big day, and we always get together for the game.) This was a special party just for her, and she loved it.

This is the special plate used for the birthdays at Simply Country.

There was even entertainment at this party. Here is JD, and what he is doing is singing "I'm a Little Tea Pot" with his mouth closed, and I could actually understand him . . . even though I giggled during the entire performance. Such talent!

And here is CD, wearing one of his many creations. What a great smile!

"Happy Birthday to you!"

And what's a party without presents?

Here's the birthday girl showing us her new purse which has a matching wallet.

She's becoming such a sweet young woman . . . it's so hard to believe how fast 15 years have flown by, when I was in the delivery room when she was born. I have been blessed to have been in the delivery room with all five of our grandkids.

Life is good!

Beautiful inside and out!

Life is good!

On its way to the dump!

The grand finale of the old TV's bad attitude happened Sunday night, while trying to watch the Grammy's. The DVD player stopped doing its silly thing of randomly going in and out. But the volume wouldn't hold —going from 24 down to zero, all by itself. So Ken, during the last fifteen minutes, sat on the floor a foot from the TV adjusting the volume by hand (since the remote was not functioning at all) so we could watch sweet Taylor Swift receive the award for Best Album of the Year. But the TV wasn't finished with its shenanigans. While Ken was sitting on the floor adjusting the sound as needed, the TV would (again, on its own) switch to "Video" causing the screen to turn blue, at which time Ken would have to totally turn the TV off, turn it back on, and resume adjusting the volume.

The television with an attitude has been replaced with a beautiful brand new high definition television, thanks to Jen and PD. PD asked us to meet him on Monday at 10:30 a.m. and we all went to Sears and found this beauty that fits nicely in our rig.

Out with the old and in with the new . . . thank you so much, we love it!

Life is good!