Lucy and Rocks

It may seem quite strange to some that we would actually order boulders and have them delivered to our woods.  But that is exactly what we did the first summer in our mountain home.  Why?  Quite simple.  We love big rocks.  And while our property has its share of lovely trees and a creek, we had no really large rocks.  So we ordered some.

Our neighbors came over to see what the digger was doing.  They were a bit surprised to find it was unloading big rocks and placing them strategically on our property.

The first rock to come down the hill

We had six large rocks placed and we still love them.  Both of the dogs seemed to like them as well.  Ellie would often stand on top of the largest one.  But Lucy liked the flatter one best.

Poor thing, she woke up limping this morning.  She seems to have slipped and "sprained" her hip so she is reluctant to totally bear weight on her right rear leg.  She is already on a Cox inhibitor for her arthritis so we dare not give her anything additional.  We are hopeful this will resolve and she seems comfortable otherwise.  If not, we will visit the veterinarian to see if there is something further we might do to help the healing.  We do have a sling to help her into and out of the SUV and we have brought that inside in case we need to assist her,  Please keep your fingers crossed that it is nothing serious.

A younger Lucy on the flattest rock.

Our granddaughter Violet likes sweats.  Notice that the sleeves of the sweatshirt must be rolled up so the legs will fit all the way down her long legs.  She has a college student "nanny" who comes several times a week to provide some respite for her stay-at-home-dad.  Here the two of them seem to be having a fun conversation which Violet finds amusing.

No hard rock band on this outfit.  Just love.

It has been a strange week both in news and in weather.  I won't comment further than to sympathize with our Milwaukee daughter and the others suffering the same cold temperatures.  The city is in the midst of a dreaded winter vortex with really cold subzero weather for the foreseeable future.  She has the right clothing for it, but it's still awful to head out to work when the temperature is minus sixteen.

Today's quote comes from Dr. Seuss:

"The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house,
All that cold wet, wet day."

I hope those in the frigid areas are indeed staying inside on this cold weekend.  And for so many of them, I am so glad you will be going to work and finally getting paid next week.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK, EVERYONE

GIVE THANKS FOR ALL YOU HAVE

Late Lucy

Friday came and went and we had wi-fi problems.  Everything seems to be working now.  Too bad I didn't post yesterday because I might have mentioned the lovely sunshine we enjoyed.  The rains set in again this morning and it has been a gray and miserable day outside.  Good for reading and hanging around and not much else.

Our Lucy loves vegetables and fruits and my husband shares a few bites before he fixes his lunch every day.  Lucy knows that the yummy food comes before his lunch and there will never, ever be anything given from his plate.  The only time she gets food during our mealtime is when our granddaughter is visiting.  Lucy takes full advantage of it by positioning herself right below the high hair.  Just in case.

Here my husband is giving Lucy a few bites of carrot.  She must sit quietly until he decides to give it to her.

I often wonder what she is thinking while she waits.

Finally, she chomps on her carrot

She likes carrots, green beans, broccoli and will eat celery, although I don't think she really likes it.  Her favorite snacks by far are bits of apple, especially the tart ones.  She sits patiently until my husband says, "That's all."  Then she gets up and moves to a more comfortable place.

I have mentioned before the unexpected response our Violet had to the little cloth dolly we gave her.  That attachment continues.  She wants Dolly with her when she naps now and she sits with her in the early morning as she comes fully awake.  I love this photograph because she still looks so much like a baby.  That is deceiving.  She is far more toddler than baby now.

She surprised (and very much pleased) my son last week.  He picked up a super-hero towel.  Violet pointed to it and yelled, "Batman!"  And indeed, it was Batman.  Amazing what goes on in her little mind.

Today's quote is for our elected officials from local officials all the way to the White House.
Albert Schweitzer:

"The purpose of human life is to serve,
And to show compassion
And the will to help others."

In the continuing Federal Government shutdown, compassion and a will to help others seem lost on our officials.  It is heart-warming to see the public step up to help their unemployed friends and neighbors and even those whose identities they do not know.  To them we give a big 'THANK YOU'.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK EVERYONE

GIVE A BIT OF YOURSELF

AND HELP OTHERS

We Love Lucy

We have had several days of sunshine for which we are most grateful.  Some days we had high winds.  That is great for drying things out a bit but not so good for the trees whose roots are totally soaked.  Our backyard is a forest and fortunately we did not lose any trees.

Lucy absolutely loved the respite from the rain.  She enjoys all the wonderful scents from the various animals and fowl that travel across.  She doesn't run as much now that she is older, and she is wise enough to sit and rest every now and then.  But she does love being in the forest with the sun shining through the trees.

We have Adirondack chairs for the old folks

Lucy chooses a large stone from the walkway

She follows scents, real or imaginary

Both are fun and she crisscrosses the forest

Even the trees are glad to see the sunshine

Unfortunately, it appears the sunshine will end this weekend with dropping temperatures bringing freezing rain and/or SNOW!  I do hope the forecasts are totally off the mark.  We have so enjoyed our days in the sun.

Violet and her daddy spend a lot of time at museums.  Their favorite is the Children's Museum where Violet can interact with other children.  Here she is teaching her little friend where his eyes are.  The lesson was continued with locations of nose, mouth, and ears.

The little boy looks a bit perplexed either by the teacher or the lesson.

Today's quote is from an anonymous source, but is definitely timely:
"It might be worthwhile to stop wringing our hands
And start ringing our Congressman."

You can find the name and contact information of your Congressional Representative or Senator at:
https://www.congress.gov  You may cringe at the answer you receive but at least you will have made your statement.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK, EVERYONE

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

Rainy Day Lucy

It seems like a broken record...it's raining here in the mountains.  It has poured all day long.  I have taken to driving down to the library or grocery store to get my walking in because I'm so sick and tired of walking in the chilly rain.  I didn't even do that today.  Just the thought of getting out of the car in the downpour was too much.  So up and down the stairs I went.  Not as good but the best I could muster today.  Forecasters are promising a dry weekend and I'm really counting on that.

As most of you know, Lucy hates the rain almost as much as I do.  She resists going outside and pretends not to hear when my husband puts on his rain suit and calls her.  She spends a lot of the rainy days lying in one of her beds.

Here she is curled up in the great room.

She is in the den and just heard my husband call her.

Oh, no.  Not outside again.

I mentioned last week that our little granddaughter was so overwhelmed by all the Christmas activities that she looked rather lost.  The day after, she decided to forsake most of the new stuff and latch on to her much-loved dolly and books.  She does have Mickey there as well.

Little red nose from a cold

Today's quote comes from Australian novelist Helen Garner:
"The rain began again
It fell heavily, easily with no meaning or intention
But the fulfillment of its own nature;
Which was to fall and fall."

And so it goes.  Here's hoping the predictions are right and that we might get a glimpse of sunshine this weekend.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK AHEAD.

START THE NEW YEAR WITH

OPTIMISM AND HAPPINESS

Lucy on Friday

Believe it or not, after all this time we still have some bits snow on the north slopes and along the roadside.  Lucy is so very glad to see the snow gone, although as it melted she did venture to walk about the yard.

Most of the snow had melted when she gingerly walked around, scouting out various scents in the snow.

Very careful as she went down some wide stone steps

"I'm not sure this was a good idea.  Think I'll head back inside."

Our son and daughter-in-law are adamantly against the commercialization of the prolific Disney products and wanted to keep them from Violet as long as possible.  Well, that has ended as someone gave her Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse stuffed animals.

This photograph clearly shows what an 18-month old feels like after so much unwrapping and oohing and aahing.  It's just a little bit too much.  She does love the Mickey and Minnie but is clearly exhausted with the flurry of activity on Christmas morning.  I told my son to be happy it wasn't a princess.  Those will come soon enough.

A very tired little girl.

Poor Lucy can't seem to get a break.  We are having heavy rains, having received three inches overnight with more predicted today and tomorrow.  And Lucy hates to go out in the rain. The snow will surely be totally gone by the end of the day.  We are having flash floods and some roads are closed.  Thank goodness our propane tank was refilled so the generator is ready to take over if we lose power again.

It has been quite a year for us, and for many others.  We are definitely ready to say good-bye to 2018 and hope for a better year in 2019.  That is my wish for us and for all of you.

The quote today comes from Alfred, Lord Tennyson:

"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come
Whispering, "It will be happier."

Let us hope that these words are true and that we all have a happier New Year.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK

BEST WISHES FOR A GREAT NEW YEAR

Lucy and Violet Again

We still have a good bit of snow lingering on the ground.  The good and bad news is that it is raining and expected to continue to do so for the next several days.  It will definitely help melt the remaining snow but will also cause flash flooding in our mountains.  At least the weather is not going to drop below freezing.

Lucy does not like the snow at all.  She doesn't even like fluffy snow and she certainly does not like the heavy, icy stuff we got last week.  She no longer runs in the snow but walks gingerly and clearly wants to come back inside as soon as possible.  Our maintenance crew made a sweep with the plow while my husband had Lucy out.  He stopped and asked if we would like for him to plow a swath on our lot for Lucy.  He did and it was so much nicer for Lucy to have a relatively snow-free space for her business,

Lucy walks carefully in the icy snow

Her attention momentarily drawn to some passing deer.

I mentioned in a previous post that our son and his wife think all toys should be considered gender neutral.  Boys should freely play with dolls and girls with big trucks.  We buy new toys to keep here since they usually fly down to visit.  Before their visit in November, we bought Violet a baby doll and a little stroller, along with some stacking rings.  (I had to bless the stroller after the adjectives my husband used when assembling it.)  We knew she would love to push the stroller empty or full.  We figured she would treat the doll like any other stuffed animal.  To our surprise, she seemed to know just how to cuddle and rock the  doll.  She always placed it in the little stroller properly, never facing backward.

It became clear that dolly was not going to remain with us, but would go home with Violet. She held her on the plane and periodically held her up to look out the window.  When she first awakens she wants dolly.  Violet awakens slowly and needs quiet time to come to life.  She sits in Mommy's arms for a while and then she holds dolly while they prepare her Sippy cup of milk.

Not much for posing first thing in the morning

This little girl has brought so much happiness to so many of us.  Words cannot express our gratitude and admiration for the courageous woman who gave birth to this wonderful child.  And the adoption agency that placed her into our lives.  It is a miracle indeed.

Today's quote is again from philosopher Marcus Aurelius and it is particularly appropriate at this Christmas season:

"Very little is needed to make a happy life;
It is all within yourself,
In your way of thinking."

So let's not get caught up in things this joyous season.  As the old saying goes, "the most important things in life are not things,"

HAVE A MOST WONDERFUL WEEK

THE DAYS WILL GET BRIGHTER
HAPPY SOLSTICE!

A Sense of Humor

I mentioned in a previous post that our granddaughter has quite a sense of humor.  Here she is listening to something her daddy is saying.  Not sure what it was but she found it hilarious.

I like that story, Daddy.

Oh, that's a good one.

You really had me going there for a while.

Since she often wears rock band shirts and has so little hair many strangers think she is a boy.  They often remark, "What a shame such gorgeous eyes and eyelashes are wasted on a little boy."

My son would prefer that all toys be considered gender neutral, and he is determined to keep her from knowing about the Disney princesses for as long as possible.  She does have some tutus and loves to wear them.  They look a bit strange with her Nirvana tee shirt, but that look works for her and she carries it off very well.