I'm counting down days!

Enough is enough!
Today as I was out chipping the ice off the wheels of the wheel line I thought to myself.. "I think I will have to throw myself a party on Friday." The water gets turned off for winter on that blessed day!
Today I did go back in the house to get my camera.If you'll notice, the hanging wire on the fence.. yeah, that is electrical.. Humm... I'm wondering if it is currently working? Notice the ice build up around the sprinkler heads.. You've guessed it.. they weren't turning. I've learned that when it is 22 degrees, things freeze!But I'm not complaining. I'll have a winter free of moving irrigation pipes!(Oh yeah, and chipping ice in the pond so the cows can have a drink during the day) The fun never ends!

Great pictures Deborah!!!

There I was, Freezing, changing the frozen irrigation pipes. The whole time I was out there I was wishing I had brought out my camera. By the time I got inside, I was too warmed up to go back outside. So, I called my neighbors that rent from us. Deborah has a terrific camera. I begged her to go out by her fence and take some pictures of the tree with the ice on it and the way the ice forms on the grass. Like a sport she did as she was told! (Thanks Deborah) She got better shots anyway, it wasn't light enough when I was out there. The sun was shining just right for her (Or that was the line I gave to her). Enjoy! And thanks Deborah for digging out your winter clothes so I could have a few memories of my morning.
(That same morning, I was just entering the barn and I heard 4 sneezes. I'm talking, human sneeze. The barn was dark and I was without a flashlight. Scare me to death. I talked really loud asking who might be in my barn.. No one answered, so I ask you.. do owls, pigeons, or cats sneeze like humans? I'm still a little nervous going out there in the mornings)

Burr.. there must be something wrong with this picture!

This morning I asked myself, "What am I doing out in these conditions?" Oh well.. it will only get worse. And the funny thing is 2 hours later it was 59 degrees. The high temperature was almost 80. But the water has to be changed.. even though the icicles hang. Dad, it would be so enjoyable having you commiserate with me... or reminding me of what a beautiful morning it is. You can't tell that the grass is frozen in place!

Hay.. this is for you dad!

We had a crazy growing season this year. Mother Nature played tricks on us with the cold, than the heat, and than the hotest 2 weeks without water (that wasn't Mother Nature's fault, it was Arnold Irrigations deal). But, finally (I love it when I don't have to start up the ol' wheel line so the grass can dry out)it was time.
Even with all the tricks, we still were able to produce 512 bails of hay. I think it was a record number. I know you aren't excited, this is for my dad who wishes he was here during this haying season.

Lee Goodrich's Green Thumb!

After Derek had so much fun picking Cherries at Mindy's (check past posts)cherry tree, I thought he needed to experience a garden. Well, my friend Lee Goodrich has a great one. She shared some zucchini with me and so I asked her than if she could let us come and pick her vegetables. So, for a Tuesday Family Home Evening, we went over and had some fun looking for zucchini, tomatoes and green onions. The size of some of these vegetables were amazing. Thanks Lee for the adventure. (Bob isn't thrilled when I announced that the minute he retires, we will plant a garden).
P.S. Michael Volpigno, I do believe that this zucchini is 10x bigger than the one we passed Back and forth, back and forth.. oh, those were the days... I miss you and Shelli as our neighbors! The jokes we played on each other with that poor zucchini. I'm wondering what the neighbors thought when they saw the zucchini hanging from our For Sale sign?

Derek turned SEVENTEEN!!!

Hard to believe but Derek just turned 17 years old. Wow, the time really has flown. Certainly this year was nothing like his motorcycle 16th birthday, but still it was nice. He still "worked" with his GREAT tutors. Being a Thursday (his favorite day), he got junk mail and a top toy from the Virgin's Alaska cruise. He went to the library and than the Athletic Club with Felicity! We had many well birthday phone calls and facebook greetings wishing Derek the best. Thank you for all those of you who are our friends, and have been through the years. We remember some hard years in the past.. but these these most years have been smooth sailing! (Prayers really are answered). Enjoy some of his birthday highlights! (If you notice, there is pop and most of these pictures.. oh to be 17 and being excited about a can of soda!)
(Tutor Gina)
(Tutor Heather)
(Tutor Felicity)
(Tutor Jen)
(Friend Suelynn who also shares the same birthday with Derek)
(Brother Taylor)

It's Bob's Birthday Today!

Wow, I'm married to a 59 year old man. Time sure flies by. We tried celebrating his birthday all weekend. We had many church things to attend to this weekend, but we did have a nice time going out with friends on Saturday night. When the bill came, so did a keylime pie. Thank you Woodlands for surprising him. That was such a treat! Dave, you are really receptive (Bob had just said how wonderful the keylime pie was at the Brock's wedding reception).Bob's got will power, he said he would pick up his own birthday cake on Friday night. This is what he came home with.. yes, he bought his own cake(s) for all of us to enjoy. He knows I'm not a big fan of chocolate, so he even bought me the carrot cake (Yum).

Today Bob is having a lunch date with his 2 favorite friends from our West Linn ward, Dave & Mike. I would hate to be the waitress today... amazing how loud they could be (Alright, not Mike as much as the other two). We love you Bob, have a GREAT day and a FABULOUS year to come!

(How are people able to take pictures of themselves? We sure could use a lesson)

Derek was happy to play Happy Birthday to his dad! Enjoy the little video. We could have done it over, but it's cute to see how he'll do it until he gets it right!

And the paint job continues!

My good friend Mindy told me that we could have our blogs put into books, sort of like a personal journal. So at times you may not be interested in my little post, but this one is for the book.
Our paint job keeps going. As you read, we have painted most everything outdoors that there is to paint. We extended the roof so it wouldn't be flat, and then we fixed the sidewalk (No more tripping over cracks in the cement mom) and now we finished the garage with a new paint job, an attic space and new cupboards (I know you are thrilled to see the new garage). Justin's Custom Woodworks came..they measured, built, and installed some pretty nice looking cupboards. They are pretty bare, so you know what that means... I'll have to take a picture with the filled (Which won't be hard at all).
Bob, yes, they are done and I hope you like the finished product as well as I do.
Oh dad, here is the new sidewalk.

A Sunset just for you on your Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!
If you could have only seen it. This sunset was about the best so far. Wish you could have watched it with Derek & I. I thought of you mom and knew if you had have been here you would have had us all standing out on the porch watching it happen! We miss you, and we will continue to share our sunsets with you. (For all of you that didn't know, Utah has no sunsets.. just kidding)

Once again...

If you skip down a few postings this one will make sense.
We are still having "things" done to our house (You can check out the paint job that has escalated to more and more things that need to be done... usually fix ups happen when people are getting ready to move.. that won't be the case with us so not worries). We are having cupboards installed in our garage. The guys that built them and are putting them in are just really nice guys (Justin's Woodworking Company), the other day they had to leave early so they left us a note. It made me laugh. So once again I need to make an appointment for some speech therapy!

Another "burr"... morning

I was up early on Saturday. Our church here in Bend has a "Great Give Away". It has grown every year. It's a huge "free" garage sale type event. Everyone brings their items (clothing, housewares, furniture)two days before, and than on Saturday it is already to go. It is a fabulous event for our community. The line was incredibly long until the doors were opened. I was there to help, but it seemed like the "race was on" and people pretty much found what they wanted.
This isn't why I blogged this post.. the post was to say how cold it was. My little Bob Shaw weatherman on the counter didn't show the outside weather (Maybe he was still asleep since he is working the 11:00 news now), but when I got going in my car I had to stop, take out my camera and shoot the temperature. Yes, it was cold! But now this week we are suppose to have 90 degree weather (No, I didn't see or hear about it on the weather channel. I heard about it on the local rock and roll radio station).

Yes, we live in Bend, Oregon.

(Kent, in case you were wondering, my car is a 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara XL.7 and it has 90,780 miles on it currently.. about the gas mileage.. humm, I wouldn't know)

This is why we like Bend, Oregon

The thing about Bend is, we "always" have cool nights.

Last week we had high temperatures.. but this weekend we are having GREAT weather. Dee you failed to let me know what the weather channel was saying about our upcoming weather. For our friends in Nevada, California & Texas come here to cool off!

Our little weather man here on our temperature gauge... we call him "Bob Shaw" after our weather man shows the outside temp. on top and our house temp. on the bottom. Look what the newspaper shows for upcoming days.

Do I need speech therapy?

This has happened to me twice.
First time was a Jamba Juice. The young boy at the register asked me my name. He looked at me and said "Really" I said yes. Than when the girl was ready with our drinks she went and spoke to the young boy. She than said, "Order ready for Chill."
I just dismissed it and took my drinks wondering if I'm the one that needs speech, not Derek... or no wonder people have a hard time understanding Derek, his mom has problems. Wednesday I took Derek and Lyndee to MacDonald's (I stopped by Subway for my meal.. just so you that know me know that I still don't do fast food). When Derek's order was ready I could barely hear my name, but I knew it was his so I went up to get it. There on the receipt once again was written Chill.
Oh well, what's in a name! Yes Alisha, I had to blog it.

The Bledsoes came by to "Hang" out!

Rebecca and her family have been anxious to attend the Rick's Family Reunion at Mt. Shasta, at Shasta Lake. Lucky for us they were able to stop over and spend time with us before and after the reunion. I wanted to kidnap the boys and hold them hostage for the week, but the other grandma would have not approved them not being in attendance. Justin's brother and wife (James and Tina) and their 5 children came one night before and after the reunion as well. It was a housefull, but it sure was fun. Trey discovered our climbing tree (thanks Clawson kids for pointing out that it was climbable), had fun again on the 6 wheeler, and he LOVED being out with the cows. The picture shows him with Patty (read in another post about Patty the Cow-Whisperer) Rebecca apologized for Trey being in his p.j.'s but you know how excited 4 year olds can be about getting out the door ready for a trip. In fact he had been counting down the days for 2 weeks. The morning that they were leaving to come to Bend Trey ran in their room and said, "Today is July 25th, we are going to Bend!")

Now that he is 4 years old he "isn't scared a bit of them" Tian was excited to sit with Grandpa Bend on the 4 wheeler, and Rebecca had to get a picture of him with all the cousins too.



Sunday with both Bledsoe families here we still made it to church on time(Altogether there was 14 of us). For the Garretts information (Dee, Donna, Kent) we have 4 bathrooms, not a problem signing up for "shower time."

If anyone else needs to stop by for a nights sleep
"We'll keep the lights on for you"