Cougar Tracks 12-13-08

Christmas Follow-up

I missed Shannon on the telephone yesterday, but did get to talk with her this morning. I missed Theo and Mike but I talked with Ed, and Todd on Christmas. I miss our big family get togethers.

I had the day off but Lynn "got" to work (we never complain about work. We are just glad we have jobs). I had a list of things I wanted to do. Of course I spent to much time enjoy the leisure of the day to get much done on my list. I did spend a hour or two of quality time with the snow shovel. I cleared snow most of the length of the drive way and up around the corner to the rail road tracks. Then with a unwarranted feeling of a job well done I pulled the Camry out of the garage. We breezed down to the end of the drive way, zipped around the corner, but couldn't make the small hill up to the rail road tracks. I only got stuck once backing up to the garage. Well at least I'm making progress. I shall yet Over Come!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas all, its actually the 26th at 8am and I'm at work already. Lydia, Kyle, Sasha and I had a wonderful day on Christmas enjoying our family, playing games, watching movies and of course eating. Lydia's brother Chico lives close by now so it is also nice to have him over and spend the night waiting for Santa.
Mom and Dad spent Christmas in Walla Walla with Lisa's family and they are on their way over here to Burlington as we speak and should be here before I get off work today. It will be great to see them because I think we talked about 12 times between Christmas eve and Christmas.
We have have had a bad spell of weather lately and we had about 30" of snow where I live north of Seattle. We set 100 year records with the cold (12 degrees) and snow levels for this area, but all I could think was at least I did not live in Iowa or Waitsburg where the weather can get really bad. Its funny because with only 12" of snow on the ground last week there were only three of us that even made it to work, the other 10 stayed home. Guess there not from hardy stock. I'll try and post pictures of us later but with my dial up Internet connection it takes forever.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!
Mike

Merry Christmas all:-)

Jacque and the boys and I are having a relaxing Christmas. Molley, some friends dog got dumped on our door step at noon yesterday. I guess she will be here until late this afternoon. She's really a nice little boarder collie.

Jacque decorated Christmas Sugar Cookies earlier today. We had eggs and I had a brat for breakfast with salsa on all of it. We have some little smookies in BBQ sauce out and a few other goodies.

Around 5 we will have eggs and hashbrowns and I will have a nice thick slice of ham. Jacque is still a vegitarian so this is a meal we can almost share:-)

We haven't opened our presents yet, of course, I've been taking pictures with my new camera for several weeks and we have been sleeping under Jacques new blanket for several weeks now, but we haven't opened anything today:-)

I hope you all have a truly wonderful Christmas! Let us hear from you!

Love

Ed and Jacque

Best Christmas Present

We got a fantastic Christmas Present. Todd asked Melissa to marry him and she said YES! Lynn and I are really excited. We were having a fun Christmas Eve with the local kids and grand kids. Power Todd called us with the news. We are still smiling. This truly will be a Christmas to remember. Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas Blenket:-)

Jacque recieved some money just before Christmas and decided to buy a Pendleton Wool Chief Josheph king size blanket we found down at the Amana Wollen Mills when Paul and Lynn were here in September. We've wanted one for a long time and it sure is nice. It seems to keep us at the same temperature regardless what the bedroom temperature is:-)

No, I don't normally sleep with my glasses on for those of you who might be wondering.

I have an electric remote shutter release for my camera and it works even through a Pendleton Wool blanket:-)

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. We are staying home and looking forward to phone calls. I have a picture of our Christmas Tree but I don't have it off my camera yet, as soon as I do, I will post it.

The last storm stopped about 30 minutes ago, I think it's supposed to be a few days before we get anymore snow. They predicted -18 a few nights ago, we were dissappointed, it only got to about -9:-(

With all this global warming Jacque and I thought we migtht get some sun bathing in Christmas Day, but I think maybe we'll just snuggle up under our Chief Josheph blanket and stay warm on cozy:-)

Merry Christmas!!!!

We miss you all:-(

Ed and Jacque

A Day of Fun and Frolic in the Snow

When I started out to work this morning there was a County snowplow stuck in the snow about a ½ mile from the house. Anyone else might have taken that as a warning. Not me, I’m a Powers through and through.

When I turned off Hwy 124 and started up Zuger HilI I knew I was in trouble. It was snowing hard. The snow was deep and drifting. It was very difficult to see the road. However, there was no place to turn around. Ten miles later I was in a white out condition and drove off into the ditch. That was around 8:30 AM.

A few minutes later a 4x4 pickup came by. The Lady driving is one of Lynn’s nieces. She couldn’t see any better than I could. We took a shot at getting to Walla Walla in her truck. We had to stop after a ½ mile or so as we couldn’t see past the hood of the truck. We decided that if we could make it a mile or so further up the road to an intersection we could turn around. I got out and walked where she could see me. We made it about a ¼ mile before we gave that up. Most of the time I couldn’t see the road. I had to pick our route by the feel of the snow. The snow was up to my knees and our progress was tiring. We decided that the road was wide enough to turn around where we were. It was marginally easier to see going up the road the other way. However, we couldn’t see the tracks we had just made. Corrine dropped me at my truck and went on home. Corrine lives about 2 miles from where I was stuck. Where we had turned around, there was telephone reception, so I had been able to call Lynn and AAA. I was stuck out there about 5 ½ hours. Corrine was the only driver that had come by.

I didn’t have any cell phone reception where I was stuck. There was a farm house a 10th of a mile or more off the road from where I went in the ditch. It didn’t look like anyone was home but I decided to go over and check. It was still snowing and drifting. Everything looked flat. However, just as I started down their driveway, I stepped off the drive and fell into their field. I landed on my feet but was standing in snow up past my waist. I crawled up the bank and trudged on to the farm house. I’m sure by now you have seen a pattern developing. No one was home except their very large black dog. Fortunately he was locked in the house and could only bark at me. As I was knocking on the door my cell phone rang. It was a provider wanting to talk about getting a new contract. Considering my situation we decide that we could discuss the contract when I got back to my office. I called Lynn and asked her to call the tow truck with the farm house’s address. While we were talking she was interrupted and said she would call me right back.

There I was standing out on that snowy porch. It was still snowing hard, the wind was blowing and I still had to wade back to the truck. I was also getting a bit of a chill. I knew I had to get back to the truck fairly soon. If I had any kind of problem in route to the truck, I was going to be in real trouble. It seemed like I waited a long time for Lynn’s call. I was getting colder by the micro second. Ok, so maybe it was only a matter of a few minutes but it seemed like a long time. I’ll admit I was freaking out a little. I called Lynn back and explained my situation and that I really had to get back to the truck. Lynn could tell from our conversation that I thought I might be in a bit of trouble. She had a little panic attack started crying and called 911. The dispatcher told her that the Lower Waitsburg Road had not been plowed so there wasn’t much they could do. Lynn started crying harder. The dispatcher was a survivor and told Lynn they would see what they could do.

Next Lynn found out that the tow truck wasn’t going to be of much assistance. They had a lot of calls and I was in a bad location. I was about 10 miles from Hwy 12 in Walla Walla and about the same distance from Hwy 124 coming out of Waitsburg. The road was unplowed and the driving conditions were dangerous.

I made it back to the truck rolled up in a blanket and turned on the heater.

One of the things I love about Lynn is that she is a very resourceful woman. She called Todd Wood and told him the situation. Todd agreed to come and get me. He has a tall Dodge Power Wagon with wide over sized tires. He aired the tires down to 14 lbs of pressure. Lynn called me and even though I didn’t show any reception bars on my phone she rang through. I was glad to hear Todd was on the way. Forty minutes or so later Todd called to say he was stuck but would be there soon. When he showed up he didn’t have any problem pulling me out of the ditch. Driving home was an adventure in itself. Most of the time I could see Todd’s truck, but I couldn’t see the tracks he was making.

When we got home Lynn was stuck at the head of the driveway. Steve had tried to pack down the driveway with his truck and he was stuck. Todd drove around through the yard and pulled Steve back to the house. In the mean time I got stuck in some deep snow in front of the shop. I dug it out fairly well and Todd gave me a little tug which saved me some digging. Todd had to leave and headed back to town. I ran the pickup up through the yard to the garage. I only got stuck once. The Camry doesn’t have a place to hook on to for towing. Everything is plastic. Every time we moved it forward we high centered on the snow. We ended up shoveling a trail the full length of the driveway to the garage. It was a few minutes to 4:00 PM when we finally got into the house. Would you believe we are tired and have some sore muscles tonight? We measured the snow before we came in the house. We have 20 inches on the flat spots where it hasn’t drifted. - Paul & Lynn

Hi -

I have got to figure out how to post pictures on the Blog. Saturday the 13th we woke up to about 8 inches of snow. It is so beautiful! Lynn and I drove in to Walla Walla. There had only been two cars that had gone through before us. It was a nice trip. We hauled four wheels in to Les Schwabs. They wanted to buy them to sell with studded snow tires. It was a good deal because we need the money to help pay for the tires we bought from them the day before. When we got home we had to get ready for Bethan's birthday party. We BBQed salmon and halibit. It was a kick BBQing in all of that snow. Of course I was undercover on the porch, but it was still snowing and it was 32~ out. When everyone left we cleaned up the mess and kicked back in front of the TV. The real excitement came a little later. I wish I could post our pictures of the cougar tracks we found on our front poarch. Steve went out for a smoke about 10:30 and there were no tracks. About 11:15 I went out to check the motion detector light on the garage. As I went out the door I spotted some cat tracks in the snow on the porch. They were about 3 to 4 inches across. Need less to say I didn’t go out to the garage.

Lynn and I started to bed and of course we were talking about the tracks. We decided we need some pictures so Lynn ran downstairs and shoot 3 pictures from the front door.

This morning when I looked at the pictures I was disappointed she hadn’t got the tracks that impressed me so much. As I was looking at the pictures I realized the tracks I had seen were partly covered with snow. The ones Lynn had focused on were fresh. The fresh tracks are smaller that the ones I saw. We had two different cougars on our porch in the space of about and hour and 1/2. Maybe they were hoing for an invite for BBQed fish?

Steve says he is going to start hanging out of his up stairs window to smoke at night. There have been lots of jokes about who has to go outside with a bowl of milk calling "Here Ktty, Kitty" and who gets to take pictures through the window. So far no one has volunteered for the milk detail.

Life in Iowa

Greetings All:-)

Life in Iowa is generally cold. We did get up 45 today at noon, but it was 16 by 5pm. We're supposed to get a lot of sub 0 weather this week with a major snow event about Tuesday. I woundn't mind the weather if we had mountains to go with them.

Wednesday I was visiting a woman who is dying with cancer and slipped on the ice outside her house. The truck door was open and my leg wedged in under the door, my shin bone against the bottom of the door that's all pointy. I fell back and got wedged into the open door frame with my back and my feet was on very slippery ice. Just below the knee took a major hit and my back a minor hit, but at least I didn't go down all the way. Lot's of ice packs on the shin bone helped.

Jacque and I bought the new Canon 50D digital SLR, it's really nice. We've been looking at them for a while. I've had a 20D for 4 or 5 years and all the lenses and stuff work with the new camera. It's a lot more powerful camera than the old one. I took pictures today in church of the Cantata (The Choir's Christmas Program) without a flash and the pictures turned out better than they have in the past using a flash. (Technical stuff. The 20D has a maxime ISO of 1,600. I shot at 3,200 hundred today. The 50D has a mazime of 12,800)

My glucose has been uncontrolled for the last 3 months, since I stopped playing golf 4 or 5 times a week. I went on medicine for the 1st time since 1998. I'm letting my foot heal up and when I can start walking again I hope I can get off the medicine again.

Every Sunday Jacque and have pizza:-) Tonight Jacque made z crust using Grandma Powers' Pizza Recipe. It's pretty tasty.

We also have a couple of fuzzy critters living with us. Zach is the old puppy, 8 years, he's the white one. Willie is the puppy, 3 years old. Jacque just finished the pillow they are sleeping on. Zach has had a small red one, you can see it in the background, and Willie had been sleeping on a small rug he no longer fit on. It's nice they are sharing Willies new bed:-)

Love and miss you all!

Ed

Merry Christmas

My dad called the other day to asked if all was ok. Why I asked and he mentioned I have posted on the blog for awhile. Guilt, lol...

I started a new job on Monday with Physio Control here in Redmond. My hours are 6:30 - 3 which is awesome. I will be home by the time Dionte gets home and the kids can all participate in afterschool activities. YEAH. The team at Physio seem to be very nice and are impressed with how quickly I initiated my training and taking things on.

We once had a Christmas Tree until our kittens made it into a cat post. The tree is droopy and looks sad. Oh, well it is much loved by the cats.

Last night we were supposed to go to Scrooge the Musical at our church in Tacoma. The weather called for snow and ice so we decided to stay home. The play has become a family tradition and hopefully we will get tickets for another showing. Yes, it is a church play however, it has a live orchestra, intermissions and is approx 2 1/2 long. If you would like to check out our church you can visit: ChampionsCentre.com.

I am off to mom and Larry's today. Larry and I are replacing the heater core in my car. Wish me luck. We have to take out the front dash of my car to gain access. Yikes!

Thinking of all of you and Merry Christmas - Shannon and Family

Getting ready for Christmas

Howdy from Texas!

So, Todd and I have the house all ready for Christmas. Jackson and Cheedo, our kitties, were very helpful. As you can see, they were constant companions:

And, at this very moment, it is SNOWING IN HOUSTON TEXAS! It hasn't snowed here in 4 years! Here are some pics we just took:

Best wishes!

~Melissa

Interesting week.

Here it is Wed and it has already been a eventful week. Monday night was leftover turkey and trimings. Tuesday Steve Robinson moved in with us again. Tuesday night was Commercial Club dinner meeting. Tonight Steve took us out for dinner at the Wet Stone (local pub).

Tomorrow night is open (more turkey). Friday night is the Elk's RV Club's Christmas Party and seafood buffet. Saturday is catch with things at home. Sunday I smoke turkeys for the Lions Club and it's Waitsburg's Home Town Christmas. Lot of activities: Christmas bazaar, live music, drawings for prizes, visiting with friends, night parade, chili feed (all the canned chili you can eat for $2.00), and a high school band concert. I REALLY do love living in a small town!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waitsburg is all dolled up fpr Christmas. This fall with the help of several grants bricks paths were place embedded int the sidewalks, charming new street lights were installed, and one of the towns leading families donated a wonderful big clock the the main corner in town. It lights up a night. It really is very nice. Volunteers from town got in and painted the buildings on main street. The Commercial club thought about contracing with an outfit to do the christmas lights. However after we look at what they wanted to charge we changed our minds. Instead we bought plastic garland with lights from the cool local hardware store. The volunteer fire department put them up on the new light poles. Those guys are great. However, they will never win any awards for their artistic talents. The new light poles are decortated and we smile at them every time we drive through town. The town really does look festive, and small town. Just like it should. - Paul

Byergo's Familia (Mike and Lydia)

So, we made it back to Burlington and the traveling was uneventful (which we are thankful for).
Sasha just left for her first basketball game (she enjoys doing the stats). She will we be doing the stats for JV and Varsity for the B-E Tigers (girls team).In the past she did the WA-HI (Walla Walla) boys stats for 3yrs. As Mike mentioned; we are doing well and thankful for the many blessings that we have had this year.I'm currently working in the educational profession and Mike is working in the contracting business for Chuckanut Lighting. Our son Kyle is working in the restaurant industry (Burlington Cafe & La Conner Prime and Rib). Sasha is working part time (about 6-10hrs wkly) at Chucky Cheese (you should see her in the Chucky Suit and she can even dance with it on!!) very cute. She has a way with the little ones. I will share some photos (if she'll let me <:). We also have a couple of hairy pets in our home (no, I'm not talking about Kyle or Mike .. Ha!). We have a dog (black lab) Olive.. she took us to the bank with her ear problems;but, she's doing better now (YIPEE). And, our cat Sebastian. They are both 11yrs old. What else is new?? Well, let's see... Our daughter will be 18 in one and half wks and our son just turned 21. So ya, I'm really not liking the idea that our little girl is becoming of age (to some degree). We plan on decorating our home this weekend with the help of my brother Chico (another blessing.. that we have my brother close by us), Sasha and possibly Kyle (he's been busy doing alot of holiday caterings, umm.. I don't know his schedule for this wkend). Well, I best close for now.. laundry is a waiting and calling me.

p.s It's nice to chat and see pic's of you all! We look so grownup (ha...ha) <;

Songs of Praise, Love...Lydia

Happy Cyber Monday!

Well, Todd and I had a pretty great Thanksgiving holiday. On Thursday, we went to my dad's early on and had snacks and Champagne. Then we headed over to my mom's and had dinner. It was a small group this year, only 5, but a good group! See the below picture. (That's my sister Allison, my mom Tina, my step dad Rob, me, and Todd.)

Below is another pic from Thanksgiving. Left to right: Todd, my sister Allison, my mom Tina and Rob, my step dad. That empty spot is where I sat when I wasn't taking pictures. :)

Friday Todd hung out at the house while I went to my brother's house to decorate for Christmas. We went to the tree farm and cut down the tree to go in my bro's house. While there, we saw Phil Garner, the ex-Astro's manager. As you can imagine, my brother, who is single, needs a lot of help decorating his house. His mom came over along w/ my sister Megan and cousin Courtney. It was great fun! We watched White Christmas while we decorated.

Saturday was spent buying toys for the church donation. We got a good selection...12 toys in all.

Sunday Todd and I decorated OUR house. Todd put lights up on the house and we put up the tree. By the way, our music selection for this day was the new Elvis duets Christmas cd which is amazing. You should check it out. I'll post pics of the house in all of it's Christmas glory as soon as I get them off my camera.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!
~Melissa

Thanksgiving Holidays

Hi,

We had 12 people for Thanksgiving Breakfast. There was only 4 of us for dinner, but we had 8 for leftovers last night. Thank gosh, we had a ton of leftovers. Now we only have a 1/2 ton. Don't you just love progress!

This afternoon Lynn and I took a load of stuff to the dump over in Dayton. We visited a few stores while we were in Dayton then decided to have Mexican food. I needed a Turkey Break. Patty and Trudy drove over and met us for a yummy dinner. On the way home a deer ran out into the highway and hit the front of our utility trailer. I just about always have a pistol in the truck. Unfortunately I had put it in the travel trailer and forgot to put it back in the truck. We had to call the Sheriff to come put the deer out of it's misery. I hate to see such graceful and beautiful animal suffer. The good news is that truck and utility trailer are ok and no other vehicles were involved in the incident. You can be sure the gun goes back in the truck tomorrow.

Hi everyone,

This is Aunt Theo and Uncle Mike. I am going to post this and see if it works okay.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have had a fun time with Mike and family.
Mike and Mike put up the outside lights and the tree today and we watched Miracle on 34th
Street so now we are ready to start the holiday season.

Love and Hugs to all,
Aunt Theo

Happy Thanksgiving !!

Hi all. I thought I would try to post something to let you know what going on with us. We came down to Walla Walla for Thanksgiving and spent the day at Lisa and Marks house. Its mom and dads 43rd anniversary today also, so we had double to celebrate today. Mom said she would set up an account someday and learn to post too. Here is a picture of the happy couple today.

Lydia and I still live in Burlington north of Seattle with the kids Kyle who is now 21 (wow) and Sasha who is 17 and graduating this year. Here is a picture from today of Sasha in the back and Lisa's daughter Kyla in the front.

We all had a great day visiting, playing games and of course over eating. I even tried to play their Wii for the 1st time. I never new playing video games could be a workout. I hope everyone one had a great thanksgiving.
Mike

Happy Thanksgiving:-)

I've laid around the house today and watched Football. We took a break and watched "Miricle on 34th St." Now I'm watching the Cowboys eat roasted SeaTurkey:-( Jacque cooked vegitarian lasgana and meat lasgana, garlic bread, salad, deviled eggs, and 4 cookies. I cooked a mess of BBQ'd Little Smokies. Hope you all are having a great Thanksgiving.
If we're going to do a family reunine in 2 years, Iowa is a nice central location:-)

Well I figure its past time I posted this. Caitlyn is wearing her Halloween costume her Grandma Powers made for her. And yes I succumbed to Leah's pestering and created an account.

Neil

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! We are off to mom and Larry's around noon. This year it will only be my family and John. Of course I will bring Christmas movies and music to get the holiday spirit going. All week I have said I was going to drag out the Christmas tree and decor and haven't gotten to it yet. We will definitely decorate tomorrow.

I think the POWERS family should make a goal of having a family Thanksgiving Reunion, we can start plans over this next year and we all can have Thanksgiving 2 years from this Thanksgiving.

Uncle Ed, You can send some of that snow this way. I love snow. My kids have never gone inner tubing and I would like to take them to the mountains this year and have a blast in the snow.

I am still searching for work. My unemployment ran out and I have applied for an extension. I have been told it will take approx. 4 - 5 weeks for the extension to be processed. Humbling but WOW it is building character. :)

Keep our family in prayer. This is our first year as a family without Ramon. Dionte asked yesterday if daddy was driving his car to grandma's for Thanksgiving. I had to tell him daddy won't be there. He cried and understood at the same time. The kids all have mixed emotions about dad not being around for the holidays but all agree that it will be MUCH NICER.

Hugs and Kisses to all. Love Shannon and Kids

And it starts:-(

I took this this morning out the front door looking towards the church. Last year it snowed on Dec. 1st and it didn't go away until March:-( Today's snow only lasted until around noon.

I wanted to let you all know that Lynn's test went well on Thursday. They couldn't see any polyps or signs of cancer. They did a byiopsy just to be sure. We will hear back on that next week.

Last night we met Joe, Luara, and another couple at the Tux for dinner. It had been a year sense we had all gotten together. The idea was to have a nice quit evening catching up on what everyone has been doing. As it turned out Nevada Slim & Cimmeron Sue were doing a concert tribute to the life of Hank Williams. We didn't get much visiting done but we sure enjoyed the show.

We are doing a Thanksgiving Breakfast about 10:00 on Thursday. Your all welcome. Josh has to be at work by 2:00 PM at the Pen. Nichole and the kids are going down to Oregon after breakfast to have Thanksgiving dinner with her Mom. We are doing a traditional dinner about 6:00 PM. I don't think there will e very many for dinner but we should have tons of leftovers for the rest of the week. Lynn has to work on Friday and I'm going to loaf around the house. - Paul

Election 2012 :-(

I'll bet ya'll jeolous you don't live in Iowa. We have 2 presedental candidates visiting tomorrow, and it seem like the last election just got over;-( Huckabee and some other clown.

Happy Birthday Mitchell

Mitchell,
Hope your having a wonderful birthday:-) What did you get in your Happy Meal?
Love
Grampa

Good afternoon!

Hello again! Since I am bored at work right now, I thought I'd visit the blog. Oh, in case you didn't know, Todd and I both work for a publishing company here in Houston. We publish high end real estate magazines: Residence International, Pinnacle, and Farm & Ranch. They are sold at bookstores across the country, so if you see one, check out our names at the front of the magazines!!! :)

Todd and I just found out that the old lady who lives next door (and has lived there for over 40 years) is moving! We are nervous to see who will move into her house. Hopefully it is someone nice who will take good care of their house and yard. We really do not want to live next door to a messy, crazy person!

This year, Todd and I will be hosting what is called "Big Family Christmas" at our house. See, every year, my Mom's side of the family all get together at someones house for Christmas (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc...). Todd and I volunteered for it this year. We are actually quite excited about it right now. We haven't had a big party at our house since we moved in back in October of '07. Now, all my mind can think about are things like: "What kind of games should I have for the children?"..."Where is everyone going to sit?"..."Which Christmas movie will I put on the T.V.?"..."Do we have to watch football?"... :) I'm sure everything will figure itself out.

What is everyone doing for Thanksgiving next week? Todd and I are making the rounds! First to dad & Laura's house, then to mom and Rob's house. We are going to be so stuffed!!!

I guess I should log off now and get back to work. Have a great rest of the day everyone!

~Melissa

This is Jackson, our bad kitty. :) He is a little over a year old and is constantly getting into fights with other cats. But look at that sweet face! How could you not love him!


This is Cheedo. Todd, Cheedo and Jackson all love to nap. I have yet to snap a picture of the 3 of them snoozing together. Cheedo is about 4 years old. He is very good at getting us to do "stupid human tricks" as Todd likes to call them. You know what I mean...he stands by the door and meows until you open it, eventhough there is a kitty door!

Two weekends ago we went to the Texas Renaissance Festival. Pictured here is my sister Allison on the left and her friend, Tod (single "d") on the right.

This past weekend Todd and Rob, my step dad, worked on things around the house. The put up a ceiling fan in the master bedroom and 2 modern ceiling fans up in the living room. They also fixed the water heater which was leaking and did electrical work on a faulty light in the kitchen. I went shopping for winter clothes. It doesn't snow down here, but it does get down to freezing. I also saw my 14 year old sister act as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland in her school play. She was great! It was my first time to see her perform. Who knows what next weekend will bring.

~Melissa

Hi from Texas! Some of you may not know me, but my name is Melissa Paddy and Todd Powers has been my boyfriend for almost 2 years now. We have a house together in Houston Texas and 2 kitties, Cheedo and Jackson. He is horrible at posting things, so I will post pics and updates.

Above is a picture from Todd's 40th Birthday party in October. Paul and Lynn came down to Houston to celebrate. My parents are also in the picture.

I will get some more photo's together soon and post them.

Looks like my last effort was posted so I will add a little more information. Lynn and I went camping for 4 days last weekend. Were up just outside of Spokane. It rained a lot but we had a good time. We relaxed, went window shopping, had dinner with some from friends, had a breakfast with some friends, and relaxed. This weekend we stayed home. Saturday I got up at 5:00am and smoked turkeys for the Lions. Over a 3 day period we smoked about 450 birds. We run crews 24 hour a day. This year the price of a smoked turkey will be $30.00. Saturday we went to a fund raiser dinner in Dayton. Today we just stayed home. My back has been giving me a bad time. I have done nothing today but lay on the couch and relaxed. Oh I also layed on a heating pad. Back actually feels better that it has in a couple of weeks. Mmmmm, maybe there is something to this idea of taking care of your self?

We haven't winterized our trailer. Hopefully with will get in one more trip this winter. Our calendar is filling up but if the weather hold we may still find a weekend to go.

Lynn has been having a few problems and is going in for test on Thursday. We are both praying that the cancer has not come back. I think the anxiety has sapped both of our energy. She is being brave, by the stress is always hanging on there in the background. Prayers would be appreciated. - Paul

Ok. I'm giving this a try to see if I have it right. If I can post this I will do something a little longer. - P

How to post a comment without a Gmail Account

I know some of you are looking even though you are not posting. That is okay, however, we would love to hear from you in the comment section. This is how you leave a comment. First click on comment under the post you want to comment. Then type your comment in the box and include your name. Under that box you have to click on one of the circles. Click on the one marked Anonymous. Then click on publish your comment. I have made this so anyone can comment. I hope you all are having a nice day :-)
~Leah

Oppss:-(

I was just getting settled in to read this blog and I moved my chair and it turned upside down and dumped me out:-( I didn't realize Blogging could be hazardous to my health;-)

Happy 1st Birthday Jordan

Good morning,

Yippie!!! Today is Saturday and my nephews first birthday. We all our going to celebrate at his grandma's house (Tony and Diana) - Larry's son house. Jordan loves Yo Gabba Gabba, the green guy in the picture is his favorite character.

Happy birthday to you, Unto Jesus be true, God Bless you and Keep you, Happy Birthday to you!

I am off to the hospital to visit my friend who had lapband surgery. She has been vomiting blood and was admitted into the hospital last night. I felt horrible last night because she wanted me to come sit with her at the hospital. She was terrified. However, I have night blindness and cannot see to drive at night. If you ever want an exciting ride just come visit me and I'll take you sight seeing at night. LOL. Her mom went down to be with her and I told her I would be there first thing this morning. My mom and Larry will pick up the kids and take them to Tony's house for the party and I will meet them there. Please keep Hailey in you prayers. The doctors are not sure if it is problems from her surgery or another medical problem she was having prior to the surgery.

Onto brighter things. I'm looking out my window and I see blue sky. WoW! For Seattle in November pretty impresive. I love days like today. Cold and brisk outside yet sunny.

I have never blogged before and I think this is great. What better way then to get back intouch with family and learn more about there daily lives. I can't wait for everyone to get on board.

A Prayer for Today
Father in heaven, thank You for Your grace and peace at work in my life. I choose to stand in my position of peace by following your Word and staying in the plan You have for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Love and Blessings to all of you.

Today's Scripture

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13).

Ed and Jacque - Valentine's Day '08

Here is the most current picture of Jacque and I have. Jacque has lost about 35 lbs since this picture was taken. Like I said, the Vegetarion diet is working well for her:-)

Greetings from Iowa:-)

Jacque and I are simi-well, simi-old, and living in Cedar Rapids. I was talking with Paul last night and we both found it hard to believe that Jacque and I will have lived in Cedar Rapids for 8 years come Jan. 1st. We have lived here in Iowa for 13 1/2 years.

Shortly after we moved into Cedar Rapids some idiot planted grapes along the freeway fence next to our house, so now, every fall it's like living in the Tri Cities, I can't breath, my eyes itch, and I'm even more miserable than normal;-) It's like being home. (For those who don't know, I'm really allergic to Grapes)

Jacque has fallen twice in the last couple of weeks. She's pretty bunged up:-(

We became Vegetarians in May. Jacque is handling it much better than I am.

Well, my secretary will be in for our morning meeting before long so I guess I better sign off. I've included a picture of our Retirement Villa. 5 1/2 more year:-)

Shanon, to get the image where you want it. Click on it and then drag it to where ever.

The Cox Family - Shannon

Following Leah's lead I will also introduce my family. I have 3 great kids.

Myeka, is 15. Her birthday is August 5, 93. This year was her first homecoming. What an event that was!!!! She is very articulate, enjoys writing, computer editing, and has been looking into colleges and career choices for the last 4 years. She is very active in our church and is trying to find sponsors so she can go to South Africa next year with the church. She has a passion to help those in needs. At school she works with children who are handicap and she also works through our church with all the children in mentoring them. She is very blessed.

Evan is at the top right with Myeka. Evan is 12 and his birthday is July 27, 1997. He enjoys video games, this is his heart beat. For his birthday he got Xbox 360 Live and spends hours playing on line with his friends. He is very succesful in school and wants to intern at Microsoft to become a game writer. He is a great dancer and has a way of making everyone laugh. He has a very compassionate heart. Yesterday he told me that he would like to get a part time job so he could help pay bills. What a great young man.

Dionte is 7 and his birthday is Jan 4, 2001. What can I say about Dionte? He is a character. He has the sweetest, kindest heart and in the same heartbeat he will say something that is crazy and funny. He would love to play outside forever. Hot days, rainy days, cold days, windy days, mass storms. He wants to be outside. Out of all the kids he has the biggest imagination when playing with toys. He will play with cars, action figures "GI Joes" and anything he can climb on. He always wants to be busy.

Leah (Powers) Acton Family

I have 4 kids. For my first post I thought I would introduce you to them. They are the most faboulous kids ever!

My oldest is Mitchell, he is 11 years old and in the 5th grade. He just got his Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts and is moving on to Boy Scouts. He likes to play chess, legos, video games, and to play with friends.

William is 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. He is a Wolf in Cub Scouts. He likes to play the Wii, clone wars, Wall E, and Ben Ten.

Wesley is 4 years old and he is in Preschool. He loves Trains, Trains, Trains, Wall E, Trains, Buzz Lightyear, Trains and playing outside. Needles to say we have a plethora of trains at our house.

Shelby is the newest addition to our house. She is 21 months. She loves all things girly: jewelry, tiaras, purses, shoes, dress up, dolls, trains, and Dora the Explora. Oh yeah, and Chocolate!