This is for Linda Aldinger Brown

Dad got a new movie camera for Christmas 1955. He took a short shot of all their friends. Here you are on your front porch. I remember it so well. Loved that concave widow. My Aunt Ina Mae and Uncle Roy are in a fast clip at the end. Also at Geneva and Richard's wedding reception at our house 5/26/62. Sorry my angle was off and the tv showed. Much love to you.

Joy in the house...cute puppies

Chancey Fancy Pants with his Papa.
He's so cute. He looks like a stuffed toy.

Chancey & Larry
Tooee running and giving lovin'. She's very jealous.

For J-man and Jac Jac

Jaeden with my 3 pups running around.

Going to the pond, Jaeden, Jaclyn, Nicole, and pups

Jaeden has a pond question.

Kids n puppies

Puppies

Jaeden wanted to talk, then didn't while on video. He was quiet. But he makes hysterical faces and I asked him to make a face. He is 5 now and in Kindergarten. Jaclyn turns 3 today. In Bloomington, my Marcus is 13 going on 30 and Lucas is 9 going on 18.

The Next Day

WE FOUND JAMES' WEDDING RING! James lost it when he was climing out of the ravine and got to the top. Tonya & I searched and a sweet couple with a metal detector came. We were about to give up when Tonya hacked one last piece of grass and there is was. We had found his tracks as he climbed up the hill and Tonya searched and searched. But it was closer to the road then we had thought it would be. We screamed! Thank you Jesus. I needed to see a little miracle. They are always big ones to me though.

Oh, plus we found Tonya's bluetooth, James' good sunglasses, and the mirror of the Explorer.

The Jeep jack knifed on the Explorer as the roads were rain slick and cold. The Explorer flipped and went down the ravine on its top. The Jeep broke loose and spun around and went partially down the hill and it hit a tree with its tailgate. It's in good shape except the tailgate and some bent metal of the frame that holds the soft top. A tire was on the rim and they changed it last night and drove it home.

OH, background. Larry had set James' vehicles up with the ability to tow and we were going to leave at 630 this morning to 4 wheel at the Badlands and see Jer's family for Jaclyn's birthday. She turns 3 on Tuesday. Plans cancelled for now, but that's ok. We need to take more time to be grateful for a safe family.

This might show how steep this is.

The Explorer pooped out. Front tire is all out of whack and it won't start right now. Would make a great off road vehicle if it starts again. The term 'Moon Roof' takes on a whole new meaning. Darrell used his big Diesel truck and big trailer that Larry had made to tow it to James' house. Thanks, Darrell.

The Jeep is good except for the tailgate. Fixable or replaceable. Ebay anyone.......?????

What a good feeling to be cozy at home in the basement with Grandma Nana's puppies.

What the grandboys do.

Tonya teasing James that we were giving up the search for the ring. Actually, we had just found it.

Thankful James was not hurt

Last night James had just left our house. He was pulled his Jeep with his Explorer. Halfway home he hit a wet/slick spot and the Explorer flipped and he went down a ravine on its top. The Jeep broke away and flipped around and hit a tree in the back. I found my camera in my pocket after the vehicles were pulled out. The guys are changing the back tire and he was able to drive it home. The Explorer body is pretty beat up and the towed it away. The guys are checking now to see if it is driveable.

James had to get out of the seat belt upside down, kick the door open, and climb up the hill. He didn't have a scratch on him, bruise, or anything. We are thankful to Jesus for his protection.

We are thankful to all the help from the volunteer fire dept who spent their time helping us and to the State Police. Everyone was so nice. This shut down the Hwy to Bloomington for a while and they were all great.

Fall is here

Oct 11th. We had Homecoming today at our little country church, Mt Zion. What a wonderful day. A great sermon by our pastor in the morning and our previous pastor spoke in the afternoon. Laughter and tears at the same time.
I took a few pics of the pups afterwards. It was a cool, sunny Fall day in the 60's. That's called perfect weather.



Marcus had a string concert last Wed. This is his 3rd year and we are very proud of him. Bloomington has about 100K people and every school has this available and they all join in together for concerts. This is just his own Jr Hi here.

I love my zoo

Chancey on left, Tooee on right

Chancey & Tooee on the couch

Oct 11th with Tooee (Tippy II) and Chancey Fancy Pants (2nd chance with Tippy)

That girl's got it made.

saying goodbye to Rainy Grace who became Gracie Mae. So fitting.


I love my zoo and my bird room. A lot of work but they give me lots of joy and love back.

Chancey & Kiki sleeping under my desk

3 pups under my desk. We have had people ask if Tooee was the mother of Chancey and Rainy Grace. She's only 3 months old. She's a baby too.

Last day with Rainy Grace before giving her to Pam and Mike. She has the most perfect personality. She plays and needs you.

Oct 11th and I still have color in my garden. Doesn't show as good on film.

Chancey & Gracie's mother

Chancey with breeder. At this time we weren't planning on taking him. They were calling him Winston. So glad the little stinker is ours.

Me & the new babies Oct 11th, 2009

For Pam

Day 2: Both with Larry

I am backing off from giving them milk and rice cereal. We are going to water and canned dog food. I feed them Little Bites hard dog food a piece at a time. It's so big for them. Vet on Monday.

A lady from church has a friend who rescues pups every week. She said there is a product that kills fleas in 30 minutes. Because fleas kill puppies by sucking their blood and making them anemic. Big DUH. What a loss of 3 great pups from this litter due to fleas and filth. A bath could have saved them all. I am so thankful that these 2 are doing so good.

Chancey & Tooee asleep on my lap last night.

Rainy Grace beating up Big Chancey

Chancey winning this time

Chancey in a basket

Rainy on her back playing

Day 3, playing in their pen

Day 4 6 weeks old today. New flea baths after church. No fleas found! Feeding them cooked beef liver to pump up their iron levels because we know they have anemia due to the fleas. Soap and water could have saved 3 puppy's lives.

Chancey gets his bath.

Fighting and playing

Rainy Grace untied my shoe.

Siblings fighting

Rainy Grace

Outside with my impatiens

Gaining more energy by the day

Day 7 They were so happy when we got home from Walmart. Going crazy in the pen and I took them out by the flowers.

Rescuing Chihuahuas

Update: Praise God, my friend Pam, from Martinsville, is taking the female. She will have the best home ever. Even better than mine. I can't part with the male since he looks so much like my Tippy. So I hope my zoo is complete, no more, no less.

We were hoping to get a relative of Tippy's in a litter. A little girl called Chancey, for 2nd chance with Tippy. The litter had 5 and we visited once a week. What a mess. The pups were so flea bitten that 2 had died. I've never seen anything so bad. So at 5 wks and 2 days, we brought the rest of the litter home. One died before I could get a can of carnation milk open and get it to the pup. I found a tulip bulb and we named her Tulip and buried the bulb with her. We worked really hard on the other 2. Female Chancey and male Mr. Lucky. We bathed and bathed them in flea shampoo and put flea stuff on them. They are too young but we had nothing to lose. They were healthy pups but the conditions they were in were appalling. They are tiny but starting to play and bark. I think they will make it just fine now. We are still working on fleas. No one should raise dogs in conditions that these were in. I didn't intend to have 2 more pups but they needed to be saved.
For you who haven't seen my in a while, I look really old. I have the gastric bypass 'crinkly skin' thing going on on my face. Oh well, I am so much healthier, take almost no medication, and have had a wonderful summer working in my flower beds. Hey, I painted my house this summer too by myself. I hadn't intended to do that but I looked one day, and oh my, our cedar was dried out and faded. I stained my decks, and pond docks, too. So, life is good. I look like a person who was a puffed up grape and turned into a raisin, ha.
Larry and the pups right after we got them.

Holding my 2 white rats.
Me and my 3 babies, Chancey, Mr. Lucky, and baby Tooee. They are 7 wks apart.

Rainy Grace for Pam

Rainy Grace looking around the first evening

Labor Day at the Badlands

Welcome to the Badlands. To use a 60's term, it was a Happening. Full of Jeeps, ATV's and we even saw a Mud Buggy. It was like being at Glamis at home on a holiday but not nearly the people you see at Glamis.

Lots of ridersJames JeepJames terrifying Tonya

Darrell

Jeremy & Jaeden