Costco Does It Again!

Once again we are reminded that Costco is our favorite store. They have started transferring old 8MM, Betas and VHS to DVD. We decided it was time to start putting our money where our mouth is and get all our film transferred. We started with some very old 8MM from the 60's. They were the films that Tom and Lelia Owens (Grandpa and Grandma Owens)(Grandpa Dewey's parents) took. The DVD turned out fabulous and we enjoyed every minute of the 48 minutes we had transferred. It is somewhat pricey but I don't think we would have ever done the 8MM ourselves. We have between 50 and 60 more to do and then Dewey thinks he can transfer our Betas and VHS himself. We have way too many of those. One of these Christmases our children will get their life stories on DVD for their BIG Christmas present. After all, it was years in the making. We've started and we are happy about that. Hopefully Dewey can run a small segment of the one we just got developed. We looked pretty good in our younger years. It's nice to see us with no grey hair. Look for it soon. It is actually a summer day today and I have a picnic in the park with the Activity girls. Amazing!! It was a great day.

Spencer and Connor

I can not believe that our grandsons, son and daughter-in-law have been here and are now back home in California. How does time go by so fast? Spencer and Connor (especially Connor) just wanted to stay at home and chill out with grandpa and grandma.

We did introduce them to THE SANDLOT which they have never seen and they liked it so much that grandpa gave them the DVD to take home with them.

One day we went to their favorite park here--WILDWOOD PARK. I have to admit it is a pretty cool place. Lots of trails that they love hiking through. Easy for them but not so easy for Dewey and me. We did survive. Buddy liked it too. Too bad it was on the same day that he got beautified. He didn't stay beautified after we had our adventure but that's okay because there's always another beauty shop day for him the next week. The park looks like a jungle in parts so it makes it a lot of fun for the boys. That's the park they want to go to when they come even though I told them there were another couple of parks that we have discovered that are cool too. Maybe next time.

We took them to Meeker Days. A big celebration down town. A $12 pass allowed them to ride rides as much as they wanted. I couldn't believe Connor went on a spinning ride twice! Right before going to Meeker Days we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant and they were stuffed when they walked out the door, so when he boarded that ride I thought UH OH the Chinese cuisine is going to be all over the place. Connor has a strong stomach. Unfortunately another little boy on the ride didn't and Dewey said he was throwing up all over the place. By the way, I've never seen Spencer and Connor eat so much as they did at China Buffet. They loved that place. I guess that will have to be a new hang out for us when they visit. There was a rock climbing wall and I think Spencer has found his new favorite sports. He is good at it. I told him that Uncle Brian was a rock climber too. Connor liked it too but not as much as Spencer.

We spent a lot of the time outside in the backyard playing in the swimming pool, slippery slide and hot tub. They were my helpers with watering the plants, trees and bushes. It wasn't as warm as it could have been but warm enough.

Dewey bought a Lego Indiana Jones Video for the Play Station and they had fun with that. One of my favorite things to do with them is reading stories at night. Buddy and the boys got along great but Kitty pretty much was invisible most of the time. She did start to come out the last few days they were here but not much. Big Spencer said that she came and took a nap with him on the couch one afternoon. Spencer, Jennifer and Paul hung out and did some fun things. Spencer went to a couple of movies which he was happy about. Dewey got the hot tub going and they enjoyed that. Dewey wishes he had a better one but for now the one we have is the one that will have to do. One afternoon Jennifer and Spencer wanted to take the boys to the zoo and Connor didn't want to go. He wanted to stay with us--mainly Grandpa. We had a great time with him. Actually it made us feel pretty special that he took us over the zoo.

I am glad Spencer got to go though because Point Defiance Zoo is nice and he had a wonderful time with his mom and dad.

We wanted them to stay and spend a couple of weeks or a month with us but they had summer school that started yesterday. Jennifer and Spencer promised that they could come next summer and stay a while. We are looking forward to that. Buddy has been sleeping a lot since Spencer and Connor left--he is tired. Kitty has reappeared- and it's way too quiet again. I miss my grandsons. I miss my son and daughter-in-law. Here's to families!

P.S. Dewey made the best barbecue ribs the day after they got here. YUM YUM YUM. Jennifer got her pecan pie. Spencer got his Sunday donuts and the boys got lots of french toast breakfasts. I love my family. Devin, Carl and Hayden come next week. How lucky are we to have all three of our grandchildren visit in less than a month.

Friday the Thirteenth

It's Friday the 13th. The plumber is here to fix three little problems. At least I thought it was three little problems. One of them is much harder because he can't figure out what kind of faucet was put it. One unfamiliar to him. So he took a picture and has to go to the store and see if he can find it. If not we'll have to put a new entire faucet in. He doesn't know what's wrong with the toilet unless he tears the sheet rock off the garage ceiling so he can get a good look. But for now he is taking the toilet off and re gluing it and see if that fixes the problem. We really like this guy because we trust him and he has been very honest with us. It is Friday the 13th and I guess what can go wrong will go wrong and the three little problems weren't so little after all.

Buddy and I spent almost three hours pulling weeds and chopping down things in our front yard this morning. You should see all the yard waste. Dewey will be very surprised when he gets home. Actually Buddy was tethered and just barked at the cars that drove by and went big poo in the front yard and laid around and watched me work. Kitty stay inside and slept. I think I'm going to be very sore tomorrow. I believe the rest of the day I will lay around and do nothing. My back is already hurting

Our local movie reviewer gave The Incredible Hulk 5 STARS. He thought it was great. We weren't very excited to see it but now I think we will go. Even though we don't usually agree with his reviews--Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 72% rating. They are pretty reliable.

Spencer, Jennifer, Spencer II and Connor arrive Sunday. We are looking forward to their visit. It was a beautiful cloud free afternoon yesterday. Today it is back to cold and overcast. It is suppose to be pretty till Monday, but it isn't right now.

Have a good day and Happy Flag Day tomorrow! Don't forget to put out your flag. :)

The Other Half

The other half of our dynamic duo is Cotton, AKA Kitty. There's a story of Kitty and of Buddy and how they came to live with us. Dewey mentioned last night that some may not even know we have a Kitty because everything is Buddy Buddy Buddy here's Kitty's story. We have had cats, dogs, birds (yes, our birds had names like Tweetie, then Tweetie Two and Three and so on), hamsters, hermit crabs and more. After Einstein--a most wonderful and loved Golden Retriever-- died (the last of our pets) we said "that's it no more pets." It was way too hard to watch them die because they all--the dogs and cats-- lived very long lives. Our Norwegian Elk Hound (Lady) was 14 years old, Einstein was 13 years old, Kitty(Tiger) was 19--she died on Devin's bed one day--just died. That's a story in itself. Tricia, AKA Kitty (do you get the trend here?), was about 14 years old. So you see it was very hard when they died. Well, one day about 2 years or so after Einstein died we started talking about getting a cat--a rescue cat-- but it would have to have very specific qualities. These were: older, female, spayed, declawed (that was the catch), lap cat and I can't remember what else. Since we knew there would never be a cat that came with so many of the things we required we always felt safe going to look at the ones at Petsmart whent eh rescue leagues were there and just saying "not the right one". Then one rainy Saturday we stopped in and low and behold there was Kitty. White and beautiful with every single thing we said she had to have. Dewey said we needed to take her home-- she's our cat. All I could see (and I was trying to make EXCUSES) was the hair flying all over the place. Dewey said (famous last words) "She's just nervous and scared and that is why she is blowing hair". Little did we know then about her true shedding abilities. She could actually win some kind of award with the amount of hair she sheds, plus I don't understand why she isn't bald. I won that round and we decided to go home and think about it. Every day for at least two weeks Dewey would say "Cotton needs to come live with us"--I kept hoping she would be adopted by the time we made a decision. But finally after a few weeks I gave in and called the lady that was taking care of her and said we would take her. We went to pick her up. The little lady was a caring, loving lady who we knew just wanted her to go to a good home--she was so happy. She said that Cotton slept with her every day and was great. When we got to the door and the lady opened it all we could see were cats zooming by and there went Cotton too. After corralling her we asked how many cats she was taking care of and she said "Don't tell anyone----50". Yes, Cotton needed to come live with us, and yes, she has been shedding ever since. She is a great lap cat and she sleeps with us every night. However it took her awhile to get use to us. I found her in the washing machine one of the first few days--hiding. The washing machine was empty. It took her a couple of weeks to slowly become our lap and sleeping cat. We were surprised one of the first nights because Paul and his girlfriend had come for a visit and were sitting on the floor when Kitty came in very hesitantly. She went right over to Jessica and cozied up to her and she allowed Jessica to pet her. We couldn't believe it. She loved our home teachers the Hansens. She would always come in and visit with them from the very beginning. We were really worried about bringing the Budster home. At first she didn't think much about this new little hairy thing that was trying to smell her all the time and play with her, but now they tolerate each other and sleep on the bed for naps together(Buddy still has to sleep in the crate at night). I really do believe they are friends. They do have a mischivious game they play with each other. When Kitty is outside and wants to come in and the door is open, Buddy blocks it and won't let her in . She does the same thing to him. If she is outside and he wants to go out she blocks the door and won't let him out. They play that game back and forth. Eventually one of them plows their way through. A good thing has come of Buddy coming to live with us. She used to ignore us all the time if she didn't want to be on our laps or in bed with us but now she is always around and constantly begging for the same treats Buddy gets. She loves his food(which we have to put up and take down and put up and take down) and just hangs out with us all the time. She comes running with Buddy when Daddy comes home to get her tummy rubbed first. She loves going in the back yard and she loves the sun. She sun bathes a lot. She probably gets sunburned too but since we don't have that much sun it isn't a big problem. She loves to be brushed. Buddy does not, so when Buddy is getting brushed she immediately is there for her turn. She has to be brushed outside or things really get furry. Remnants of her go everywhere with us. We go through lint brushes like crazy. We have called her our temple cat because she is all white and we got her a week before we started serving in the Seattle Temple as Ordinance Workers in 2005. When Buddy came he became our temple dog because---he is all white too. That is a shortened version of Kitty's story. We love her. She's 8 years old now.

Happy Birthday Buddy!

Yes, it is true Buddy is one year old today. To celebrate we went to Petco where he got a few toys--his favorite being the one I got in the cat section--a little plastic ball that makes noise. He loves balls that make noise. He got a birthday card in the mail from Petco with a coupon for a free bag of doggie treats and he redeemed his coupon while we were there. Unfortunately for Buddy but fortunately for Ella(when she comes) Buddy can't have them because they are not on his special diet. But it was fun getting something for free. We also celebrated by going to his doctor's office and buying a 10 pound bag (the smallest the food comes in) of dry dog food. He hasn't had dry since he got sick but this is the same duck and potato he has in the wet food so hopefully he'll like it. I did give him one teaspoon mixed up with the wet food at lunch and he ate everything--but I think he swallowed the dry pieces whole which defeats the purpose because we want him to chew it to help his teeth. He's taking a birthday nap right now and he hasn't chewed on my arm once today--YET. We thought about giving him a party but we didn't. I don't think he cares much about things like that. He'll be content to walk around the block and maybe see a dog or two and if he gets real lucky do a little sniffing too. Happy Birthday Buddy. We love you.

Dewey has his MRI tomorrow to see if they can determine what the "fuzzy thing" is on his adrenal gland. Besides the fact he has a bad cold everything else is okay except for the anemia thing that we are trying to figure out.

Still cold, overcast and rainy off and on. It does look more like November than June--some are calling this Junuary. BUT the good part is I haven't had to water the grass. That will come soon enough. It's not the 4th of July yet.

Buddy and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

We love chocolate chip cookies. I love making them. I actually like the dough more than the cookies. Buddy loves me being in the kitchen because I have a tendency to be a wee bit messy and drop things. I've tried to be a lot better since Buddy has come to live with us and even better still since he got so sick and isn't suppose to have anything in his stomach but duck and potatoes. Today, however, I was a little clumsy with the cookie dough and I dropped a piece. I don't know how much he got and swallowed, but I will give him a Pepsid AC. The worse part is I dropped another piece and it landed on his back. Have you ever tried to get chocolate chip cookie dough out of a Maltese's hair? It's nearly impossible. If you try to pick it out it squishes, if you try to pull it out it smears and makes more of a mess so the last resort is getting a wet towel and rubbing the hair a whole lot in between the wet towel and finally it is removed. Now my suggestion to solve this little problem is 1. Put Buddy in his crate so he's out of the kitchen and can't see what I'm doing but if he hears me he'll just make this pitiful little whimper( and that makes me feel bad) 2. Put him outside and shut the screen door but if it's cold and it usually is here the house gets cold (and so does Buddy) and 3. Don't make Chocolate Chip Cookies which is probably the easiest and best solution (and the only one that won't cause me grief on WW weigh in day.) Devin gave me this particular recipe and I think they are delicious. Paul thinks they are delicious too but he says "Not as good as mamas." The cookies are done and there sure are a lot of them. Fortunately for Buddy and me, Dewey and Paul will take them to work tomorrow. The guys will love them.

In the meantime Buddy gets to eat his favorite food: Gerber's Beef and Gravy!

It's another rainy day today. Summer doesn't really arrive till the day after the 4th of July. Spencer, Jennifer, Spencer and Connor are coming on the 15th of June maybe we will have a little more sun by then.

A golf ball, a glass lens, and a showing personality.

What do these three things have in common? Give up? Buddy!

First off Sherlock Holmes has nothing on Buddy. This morning as I was getting ready to go to the temple I was cleaning my glasses and I put them on and the lens was missing. Dewey came in to help me find it and I got my other glasses so I could see and we started looking. I couldn't figure out why we couldn't see it anywhere. A moment later Dewey discovered that Buddy had found it instantly and they were in his mouth( getting chewed on.) If you ever drop something on the floor and lose it, you can borrow Buddy and he'll find it for you. It may be a little damaged by the time you retrieve it from his mouth but you'll have it.

Buddy found a golf ball in our backyard on Saturday. He loves it. It's a little louder rolling on the floor than his other balls but he has a fun time flipping it, rolling it and laying on his back with the golf ball in his mouth--you guessed it-chewing on it. We're not sure how a golf ball landed in our back yard but we figure only one way--somebody hit it from somewhere. That's a scary thought. We are thankful it didn't hit a window or our heads or worse Buddy's head. Who practices putting in their back yard with houses all around?????


Today was beauty shop day. Yes, he is beautiful again. Roxanne, his groomer and I talked a bit about how good Buddy is feeling now. She said that his personality is showing. She said he was always good and quiet but today he let her know what he liked or didn't like. I guess he hasn't done this before. When I told Dewey about this he said uh oh so Buddy was ornery today. I hope it doesn't show up too much and he gets kicked out of the beauty shop. He did get kicked out of the puppy party at Petco. Actually they were more polite and said Buddy needed a time out.

It's beginning to FEEL a lot like Christmas. It's breezy and 48 degrees.

Buddy and the Crocs

Buddy loves my Crocs. He thinks they are his. Dewey says that NASA ought to look into the materials that Crocs are made of because they have endured so much chewing, carrying, flipping, and biting...and never ever get damaged.

He can find them wherever they are and he carries them to where he wants them to be. His favorite ones are the tan ones (I have blue, black and tan). I love them---so does Buddy. When I put them on he immediately grabs hold of them and then he is either dragged or thrown around depending on how gentle I am. Sometimes he gets part of my foot when he bites into the shoe. Ouch !!It's hard to get things done because I have to go slow or else he might get hurt...or I will. Now I have solved this problem--I take off my shoes and go barefoot. All hail Buddy the Croc Hunter!