IT IS STILL SNOWING!!!

It is still snowing.......  Slowing down but still coming down....  We got 1 1/2 inches over night.  Today, it has rained, sleeted, graupeled (meteorological term for soft hail) and snowed. It has been around 34 degrees today but last Saturday and Sunday it was 70-72.  Like they say:  If you don't like the weather in N. Idaho, wait 10 minutes.

Mandy and Loren have signed on for an 18 month commitment as Dive Instructors at a resort in the Bahamas.  The place is called Small Hope Bay Lodge and it's on the island of Andor.  Andor is a 15 min. flight by private aircraft or a 2 1/2 hour boat ride from Nassau.  What can I say?  It's the Bahamas.

Communication with Mandy and Loren has been difficult due to trouble with the island satellite internet connection and I guess there are few phones at the resort,  I'm such a Mom.  I finally called the resort and was able to get Mandy and talk to her briefly.  

Now, that I know they arrived safely on the island, I can exhale.  I am not a "no news is good news" person. There is no wireless internet so they are waiting for a computer connection to be put in their room.... 

I don't have too many details about the job but the resort has a website at

www.smallhope.com.  The website has beautiful pictures.

Roni's pregnancy is going well.  We don't know boy or girl yet but there are things I can do or buy.  Mark is protective and Roni is tired.  All very typical.

I will post more pictures from the pro season as soon as I pick them up and scan them in to the computer.

More later.

A Short Two Weeks

The two weeks of Manndy and Loren here is coming to an end way too soon!  we have had a GREAT time.  Mandy has done alot of reading, scrapbooking and going through old childhood pictures.  Both Mandy and Loren experienced heavy snow for the very first time.  We took tons of pictures.  I will post all when I have time.

Roni, mark and Alexis are coming over for a farewell dinner tonight.  I will post more as I have time. 

It Is Still Snowing

Happy Spring!  It is still snowing.  Great big, fluffy, snowflakes.  It is not sticking to the roadways but it is covering the cars and the grass.  It will melt before the end of the day.  It is cold and breezy but the nice weather is just around the corner....

I am going to be a grandmother again.  Roni and Mark or pregnant.  This will be Roni's 3rd baby and probably her last.  The due date is kind of up in the air until Roni's first ultrasound on March 28th.  Roni has felt some movement and they were able to hear the ONE heartbeat.   I am guessing around early to mid October.  Mark is on cloud nine as this is his 1st child.  He is hoping for a BOY!

Mandy and Loren are almost done with everything having to do with diving at Neptune's in Manzanillo.  They have employment offers in the Bahamas for a couple and Mandy has aan offer in Cancun with prospects for employment for Loren.  They are coming home first and may make a trip here as well.......

We are making progress on the floor in the kitchen.  We are hoping to have flooring laid in the next 10 days or so with finish carpentry to follow quickly.  I want a floor, I want rid of the mess and I want my house back!

Much love to all!

It's been a couple of weeks

Well, it's been a couple of weeks.....  We still have quite a bit of accumulated snow but it is disappearing FAST!  We have been in the high 40s the last couple of days with bright sunshine.

As the weather continues to warm, we hear more and more bikes.  Just one or two, here and there, but, summer is coming!  We are getting our very own H-D dealership in Coeur d' Alene. The new dealership is Lone Wolf Harley Davidson.  It can be seen from I-90 which is one of the major coast-to-coast highways.  I-90 gets alot of Sturgis traffic so it will be interesting!  We have Shumate in Spokane and now Lone Wolf in Cd'A but my heart still belongs to Gary Bang Harley-Davidson in Atascadero, CA.  Hi, y'all!!!!

No new kitchen floor yet.  Waiting on insurance company.  It shouldn't be too much longer.  I will be glad to have my Subzero out of my dining room and my dining room table out of my livingroom.  I want a real floor to walk on!  It has been aan eventful 2008 so far.....

Love to all!!!

Spring Is Almost Here!!!

No new kitchen floor yet but we do have something to look forward too,,,,,,SPRING!!!  The last few days have been sunny.  We are still in the high 30s but at least the sun is out!  

We may have a day of snow here and there through mid-March but nothing that will stick. That is good considering we still have 3 feet of compact snow on the ground and piles of it everywhere!  Environmental concerns now prevent the cities from dumping snow in the lakes so they find vacant lots and fields to pile it in.  Our ski areas will have great skiing through at least June.

Mandy is in the midst of her IDC training.  IDC training is a grueling 2 weeks of 14 hour days, studying at night and functioning on 4 hrs. sleep a night.  She finishes next Sunday.

Loren, Mandy's boyfriend, lost his Dad to cancer February 15.  Currently, Loren is home in San Marcos and he was able to spend quality time with his Dad before Heavenly Father called him home.  Our deepest, heartfelt sympathies go out to the entire Esposito family during this time of great sorrow.  To Frank we say "God Speed".  

Loren will return to Manzanillo to finish out his training.  We expect both Mandy and Loren to return to the States mid-March.

All else is as usual.......  My weight has stabilized at 165.  Phil is doing well and we are waiting for authorization for his gastric bypass.  Lots of red tape.

Well, that is all that is fit to print.

I hope everyone is well. 

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!!!

Hi everyone!

We're back in the house.  We spent 4 nights in a Holiday Inn because the fans being used to dry out the kitchen were intolerable and the kitchen was unusable.  I walked around with my shooting ear protectors on for 2 days until the pressure on the sides of my head gave me a MASSIVE  headache.  Dylan wore a pair too but basically stayed in his room with the door shut. Poor kid!  We were came to the house daily to check on things, let workmen in and plow the driveway and returned permanently on Friday.  Even nice motel rooms get really small with 3 people and only one TV!

Holiday Inn in Hayden is attached to an indoor amusement park/waterslide park.  Although we didn't use the waterslide park, the arcade provided some distraction......  Dylan loves the Chuck-the-Cheese kind of games!  The food is horrible and outrageously expensive, but, you expect that from a tourist attraction.  Actually, when I am being robbed I'd rather have someone stick a gun in my back!

Over the last 2 weeks we have had more than 3 feet of snow!  It is gorgeous but what a pain!  We have wonderful neighbors who all help each other but you get tired of dealing with it after awhile.  Although it has been the biggest winter for us, I am told this is just a little more than normal!   We have at least 6 more weeks no matter what the groundhog in PA says!!!

Mandy is officially a Divemaster!  She passed her Divemaster exams on Monday and has one more level to go!  She will be in Mexico until at least mid-April.  Her e-mail is hamsterranger@gmail.com.  You can use this email to go to her MySpace.com page and look at her pictures.

Well, I have some housecleaning and laundry to catch up on!  More later with some new pictures!

Inundated

Well..... this has been the roughest of the three winters we have spent in Idaho......  Heavenly Father, I love the snow, just not all at once -- Thank you very much.  And, while you are at it, don't let Phil slip and fall as much -- he has hit the ground no less than 4 times in the last 3 days.....  Even in the snow, it still hurts!

We had over a foot of fresh powder in less than 24 hours.  It started Saturday afternoon with a moderate but steady period of falling snow.  It seemed to be never ending.....  It snowed through the night.  We awoke Sunday morning to over 13 inches of undisturbed snow.  We use an old-fashioned ruler to measure.  Usually, we use the top of the car since we know it was clean before the snow started to fall.  At 2200 feet above sea level, we get more snow then the city of Spokane and Coeur d' Alene.

Phil and I started to try to clear the driveway with the ATV/plowblade but there was too much even for the ATV.   A part on the plowblade broke but I MacGyver'd it (an homage to my daughter, Amanda) with wire and a piece of flexible tubing.  Hey, my middle name is Jerry-rig...... We then started with shovels to clear the berm left by the snowplow.  Finally, one of our neighbor has a huge snowblower (exactly like the one we SOLD this summer) and he came over and blew out the majority of our driveway while I went and helped another neighbor with their driveway by hand.  What the heck, I need the exercise!  It was neighbor helping neighbor however we could.....  I got stuck twice trying to move the truck and other members of my "ward family" helped me get back in the driveway.  After helping me get "unstuck", they then went 2 doors up to clear another driveway of a month's worth of snow because the house is unoccupied.  See next paragraph..... 

The snow continued to fall throughout the day, so, we went out again around 5 pm and cleared the driveway, sidewalk and then went to the house 2 doors up and tried to finish their driveway so other members of my "ward family" (displaced by a broken waterpipe) could get to the house to move things in to their temporary home until theirs is repaired.

All of us are running put of places to put the snow.  the piles of snow on our property reach as high as 5 feet in some places.  The community mailbox is inaccessible which is one of the reasons I use a P.O. Box......

Dylan is on his second snow day in a week......  I think we have a couple built in to the school year, but if not, the school year will be extended.  For the first time since 1996, Spokane's main school district is shut down,  As a matter of fact, most schools in the Spokane area and Northern Panhandle of Idaho are shut down.  Code red is in effect which just means stay of the road unless it is essential to travel.  The snowplows, salt trucks and deicers have been running continuously since Saturday night just to keep the main roads clear.  The snowplow has only been up our street once since Saturday so our street is impassable.  

Neither the car nor the truck has 4WD or studded tires, but, we don't really NEED to go anywhere......  Being housebound gives me a chance to catch up on things around the house. Only bad thing is we still have the huge fans and dehumidifier running to try to dry out our kitchen walls and under the cabinets from the broken pipe on Thursday. (see previous post)  The noise is tremendous.....  I have to go in our bedroom or bathroom to talk on the phone.  We can't hear ourselves think most of the time and cooking is next to impossible.  Thank goodness for the microwave!  We have a good stock of food that can be microwaved and Dylan loves cereal, yogurt and PB&J sandwiches.  When will we be done?  It is a day to day process and we want to make sure that the moisture is completely gone from the walls.  I have taken advantage of the moving air and dehumidifier to dry wet jackets, boots and hats.  I put a drip dry rack in the kitchen.  Most things are bone dry in 30 minutes! I mean, my power bill will be HUGE, might as well take advantage of the air in every way I can.....

We have had our trials but we are luckier than alot of people in EVERY aspect of life.  We have wonderful friends, neighbors and "ward family".  We are different in N. Idaho, people call us rednecks and hillbillies.  I wear those labels with pride.......  CALIFORNIAN BY BIRTH, IDA-BILLY BY CHOICE