In the Christmas Spirit!

Ashleigh & Tinkerbell - 2008

Allison & Brian - 2008

Danya - 2008

Shae - 2008

Justisse - 2007 (New picture coming soon!)

Haleigh (April 28, 2000 - May 10, 2000)

Merry Christmas!

Wanted to take a moment to wish all of our family and friends the Merriest of Christmases wherever you may be. I hope your Christmas is filled with the love and magic of Christmas! If you're traveling over the holidays...travel safe! Lots of winter weather to contend with!

Check back NEXT WEEK! I'm working on a MAJOR update to our blog! :-) I know, I know...it's long overdue!

Merry Christmas!

With love,

Vicki & Don, Tess & Furby too!

Aftermath of (Hurricane) Ike...

Being a little paranoid after going through a tornado (I can't imagine why anyone would be paranoid after going through a natural disaster) I spent a sleepless night on Saturday. The motorhome was rocking back and forth and it wasn't a pleasant, calming rocking! Once I went to bed I laid there thinking that I wished we were either in the house or at least in the RV garage in the motorhome! I slept for a few hours and woke up again and again when there were some particularly strong gusts! You could hear the rain coming sideways! Each time I got up and looked out the windows, you couldn't see a thing...it was VERY dark outside. Finally around 4:30 am I could see! Couldn't see anything except the trees blowing and some sand blowing (from the sand pile we have for concrete/brick work), but at least I could see outside!! Once we got up and got around, we surveyed the yards. Porta Potty in both our yard and our neighbors 2 houses over were upset (thankfully they are "contained" even when on their sides!), a few pots with plants were blown about and an empty container had blown into the neighbors!

Once you left our neighborhood...things weren't so great! In my mom's neighborhood, several trees had fallen. The ground is so moist from the rain that we've had over the summer (very unusual we've been told) that the strong winds just took them with it! One of her neighbors had a tree fall on their car, another had a tree on the roof (no damage visable), and yet another had a tree land on their deck (again, no damage). Several more of her neighbors were lucky in that the trees that fell didn't hit a thing. Just caused an inconveniece!! A few days later Don and I were driving through Greers Ferry and noticed quite a few more trees that had been downed by the wind! We don't have that many trees left, but I guess we were lucky anyway! :-) Later in the day the only thing we had was bright blue skies with fluffy white clouds!

I've been having fun with a couple of hummingbird feeders! One on the window of the motorhome and another on the window of the house! There have been a dozen hummingbirds feeding there! Man those guys can go through a LOT of sugar water! They are pretty gutsy things! I'll open up the window to refill the feeder and they'll be buzzing outside just waiting for me to put it back together! It's fun to watch them flit back and forth, buzz each other and fill their tummies! Someone told Don that you had to stop feeding them otherwise they wouldn't head south and would die. I checked out the Official US Hummingbird site and they said that isn't the case! You might even be feeding a hummer that's in route south! They've also been known to leave while the feeder is still constantly being filled! That was good to know because I wouldn't want to be responsbile for keeping them longer than they should stay or killing them if they didn't leave!

Finally, I've included one of the many reasons we love living on a lake! We've had some beautiful sunsets and look forward to seeing many, many more from the comforts of our deck! We hope that to be within 60 days! Did you read that right? SIXTY DAYS! Yeah! :-)

Our newest granddaughter...

On July 15, 2008 we welcomed Danya Elizabeth to our family. She is my son, Nathan's first child. Danya lives in Northern California. She weighed 6 lbs. 8 ozs., and was 19-1/2" long. She was born at 4:11 pm by C-section. She's doing well and is a very good baby!

My sister, Karen was able to meet her and hold her before I was! :-) Danya made a trip to Southern California about a week ago! The best thing about it was I got LOTS of pictures since Karen likes to take pictures even more than I do! :-)

Unfortunately, this week a blood test was positive for Down syndrome. A nurse at the hospital noticed a crease in Danya's hand that is sometimes a "sign" of DS. There are so many obstacles to face in life as it is, that this is just one more stumbling block for her. I know how heavy my heart has been since we received this news and I can't even imagine what her parents must feel.

What is Down syndrome? Down syndrome is a chromosomal disorder that includes a combination of birth defects. Affected individuals have some degree of mental retardation, characteristic facial features and, often, heart defects and other health problems. The severity of these problems varies greatly among affected individuals.

How common is Down syndrome? Down syndrome is one of the most common genetic birth defects, affecting about 1 in 800 babies.

What causes Down syndrome? Down syndrome is caused by extra genetic material from chromosome 21. Chromosomes are the structures in cells that contain the genes. Each person normally has 23 pairs of chromosomes, or 46 in all. An individual inherits one chromosome per pair from the mother's egg and one from the father's sperm. When an egg and sperm cell join together, they normally form a fertilized egg with 46 chromosomes. Sometimes something goes wrong before fertilization. A developing egg or sperm cell may divide incorrectly, sometimes resulting in an egg or sperm cell with an extra chromosome number 21. When this cell joins with a normal egg or sperm cell, the resulting embryo has 47 chromosomes instead of 46. Down syndrome also is called trisomy 21 because affected individuals have three number 21 chromosomes, instead of two. This type of error in cell division causes about 95 percent of the cases of Down syndrome.

The symptoms of Down syndrome can vary widely from child to child. While some kids with DS need a lot of medical attention, others lead very healthy and independent lives. Down syndrome affects kids' cognitive abilities in different ways, but most have mild to moderate mental retardation. Kids with DS can and do learn, and are capable of developing skills throughout their lives. They simply reach goals at a different pace - which is why it's important not to compare a child with DS with typically developing siblings or even other children with the condition. Kids with DS have a wide range of abilities, and there's no way to tell at birth what they will be capable of as they grow up.

Myth: People with Down syndrome are severely retarded.
Truth: Most people with Down syndrome have IQs that fall in the mild to moderate range of retardation. Children with Down syndrome are definitely educable and educators and researchers are still discovering the full educational potential of people with Down syndrome.

Myth: Most people with Down syndrome are institutionalized.
Truth: Today people with Down syndrome live at home with their families and are active participants in the educational, vocational, social and recreational activities of the community. They are integrated into the regular education system, and take part in sports, camping, music, art programs and all the other activities of their communities. In addition, they are socializing with people with and without disabilities, and as adults are obtaining employment and living in group homes and other independent housing arrangements.

Myth: Adults with Down syndrome are unemployable.
Truth: Businesses are seeking young adults with Down syndrome for a variety of positions. They are being employed in small and medium sized offices: by banks, corporations, nursing homes, hotels and restaurants. They work in the music and entertainment industry, in clerical positions and in the computer industry. People with Down syndrome bring to their jobs enthusiasm, reliability and dedication.

Myth: Adults with Down syndrome are unable to form close interpersonal relationships leading to marriage.
Truth: People with Down syndrome date, socialize and form ongoing relationships. Some are beginning to marry. Women with Down syndrome can and do have children, but there is a 50 percent chance that their child will have Down syndrome. Men with Down syndrome are believed to be sterile, with only one documented instance of a male with Down syndrome who has fathered a child.

Danya's mom, Christine has said it best "Down Syndrome is just a label and doesn't reflect who she is or who she will become".

With lots of love and support from her mom, dad and all of her family, Danya is sure to thrive! It doesn't matter...she's still a beautiful baby if I say so myself!

And the build goes on...

As you can imagine, the building process feels like it's gone on forever! But I guess that is what we should expect when it gets blown away just as it's finished. We broke ground for the house on July 5, 2007. Never once in our wildest dreams did we consider that we would "still" be building over a year later! We are anticipating a "move in" date of November 2008! Guess we don't have to worry too much since we don't have much left to move in! :-( Good news is that most of our furniture (we think) made it through the tornado! It actually was wisked away so fast we really have no idea! Don and I heard just recently that the first few days after the tornado we kind of were zombies...I can believe it!

The outside of the house is just about done. The driveway and the rest of the sidewalks have to be poured, but now our septic is complete and once the house is "finished", it's official, we can move in completely! Inside is still a work in progress. The walls have been sheetrocked and today the texturing of the walls was completed. Trim starts next, with cabinets to be re-installed somewhere in between. After that caulking and painting! It seems like it should go faster the second time, but it doesn't! Of the entire house, we were able to save one complete bathroom! Guess that would be a great place to go in the event of another tornado, but we now have a door on our safe room, so that's where we would go! We never felt the least bit threatened down there and were pretty clueless what was happening upstairs!

As with everything, there seems to be a silver lining...with us, it's the view! We now have an awesome view of the lake! Too bad the water level has gone down to a "normal" level! We loved it when it was so high, but that's o.k. we will still enjoy our view! :-) BTW there is plywood covering the deck to try to protect it...from everything!

Another visit from friends...

Jerri & Lloyd Wood came to visit this last week! They arrived on Friday afternoon and stayed until after lunch on Monday! We even talked them into taking a boat ride! Lloyd only agreed if "my lunatic husband would keep it under 40 mph"! There was something else in there, but that's the jest of it! :-) Jerri was a good sport because she doesn't know how to swim, doesn't really like the water and often gets motion sickness! She did well this day and I think she even enjoyed herself!

While we were riding around the lake we spotted these kids at the "cliffs" jumping off! I've included two of the ways "up"! Seems like they work awfully hard at getting up only to spend seconds getting down!

Sometime I'll have to blog about the first time we met Jerri & Lloyd in Oregon at the Monaco factory! It's pretty funny! We've had lots of good times since then and always enjoy getting together with them! They are a fun couple to be with!

Ostrander's Return!

One of the best things we've gotten out of our 3 years of full-timing is some wonderful friends! Dave & Marie Ostrander brought their 8-year old grandson, Ben with them during their visit this time! They didn't stay long but we had a great day out on the lake with them having a lot of "firsts" with Ben! :-)

Ben had never been out on a lake with a ski/speed boat and he'd never been knee boarding. He'd also never swam in the middle of a lake before! :-) At first he was more than a little leery, but by the end of the day he was having a great time! It was great to have Ben visit while we had our 9-year old grandson, Shae with us! They both had a great time together! Ben decided after watching Shae at his first attempt to wake board that it might be a bit much for him (I have to agree) but after watching Shaw nail knee boarding he did decide to give it a try!

We had lots of fun swimming in the lake, even getting Dave in there for a brief respite from the heat (well, I won't say what the REAL reason was)! After spending the day on the water...it was a beautiful day with great water...we put the boat away and then stopped for some pizza! It was also Marie's birthday, but she didn't tell anyone until AFTER the fact so we couldn't even surprise her with cake! We felt honored that she would want to spend her birthday with US!

Happy Birthday, Marie!

Shae...

Nothing better than a visit from your grandkids, even if it's only one of them! Shae is our 9-year old grandson who lives in Dover, DE. We last saw him two summers ago when we had him fly to Denver, CO and took him from Denver to Rapid City, SD where his mom lived. We didn't get a chance to see him last summer since we started building the house at that time. We thought we would see him around Thanksgiving, but that never worked out. We had planned on having him visit this summer but really thought it would be IN the house. We decided that house or no house, we needed to see him! :-)

Shae and I have always shared a special bond. He stayed with us for a month when he was just a year old while both his parents were off with thier respective jobs. He took his first steps with us! :-) When his mom was stationed in Okinawa, Japan it was me that picked him up in Dover and flew with him to Okinawa for the summer. We have so many memories of that time and always have such fun when we are together! In fact, when we delivered him to his mom's...he cried because he wanted to stay with us! :-( That about broke my heart, but I told him he couldn't cry every time we saw him during that stay or we wouldn't be able to come see him. He was brave, but he really wanted to be with us!

Shae must have grown 2 feet in the last two years! He's always been very tall for his age...I can remember people commenting about how much older he looked when he was still little! The bad thing about that (when he was younger) he would act his age and people thought he should be acting older! He has the sweetest personality and is just an awesome young man! Shae has always loved the water and we have done a lot of "water" things since he's been here! We've taught him to ski, wake board, and knee board. He really wanted to wake board so we borrowed a wake board. The first day we never could get his foot in the boot. Our second try we came equipped with soap and after a time or two...he got it! He really didn't want to knee board, I think he got the impression from his dad that it wasn't very fun, but after one of our friends told him how fun it was (and easy) he decided to try it! You should have seen the smile on his face! :-)

We've played a few games, watched a few movies (when we were in Japan...Shae and I must have watched "Top Gun" a 1,000 times...we've watched in twice this time) and spent lots of time in the water!

He's only here for 12 days so we are trying to enjoy each and every day!!

Sweetpea...what happened?

Today ended up to be a terrible day. It was a day of shock and sadness. I'm still not sure what happened It all started out with a phone call from my mom about her cat, Sweetpea. My mom and I got both of our cats (Sweetpea and Furby) in early March, they were 7 and 8 months old. When my mom called she asked me if I thought it was possible for a cats legs to go to sleep. Sweetpea's legs had been "twitching" since she had jumped out of the bathroom sink a few minutes earlier and she was meowing. For some reason, cats like to lay in the sink. I think it's because it's cool. The only problem, our cats are rather large even though they are young. My mom thought that since Sweetpea might have been cramped in the sink, that might be the reason. I told her that I thought it might be possible, but to watch her and let me know if anything changed. About 5-10 minutes later she called again to tell me that now Sweetpea wasn't using her back legs. I had her call the vet and he agreed to meet us at his office (it was after hours).

I picked them both up and we headed to the vet. Sweetpea was meowing but I figured she was upset because (1) she was in her carrier and (2) we were going in the car. It was a few miles down the road and I thought I heard her vomit. Again, I figured it was because she was so upset...she had been meowing the whole time. I heard her do that several times, with the last time just minutes before we got to the vets. Once we got there, I opened the carrier to see if she was covered in vomit. When I looked at her, I knew she wasn't breathing. I told my mom, "I think she's gone" and she asked me what I meant. I said "I think she's gone". Just then Dr. Sartain arrived and we went inside. I told him that I didn't think she was breathing and he verified it. My mom and I stared at each other in shock. How could this have happened? What caused it? The doctor asked if she could have gotten to a plant but my mom doesn't have any inside. Then he asked if she had been outside at all (thinking that possibly she had gotten bitten by a poisonous snake) but we told him that she was strictly an indoor cat and had never been outside. He did mention a blot clot, said he'd been thinking about it as he was driving over, but he felt that the sudden onset of her symptoms pointed more to poisoning of some kind. We left there not knowing exactly what happened except that Sweetpea was gone and we were leaving without her.

Once we got back to my mom's I looked around for anything that Sweetpea could have gotten into, even checking to see if there was anything wet on the floor that might have spilled and she could have gotten into. There was nothing there. I didn't see any signs of anything that she had eaten. I didn't find anything wet or dry. There was nothing open on the counters or the floor. When I got back to the motorhome I did some quick research on the internet and I personally think she might have had Cardiomyopathy. It's a heart disease that cats can have. Unfortunately, Ragdolls are sometimes more prone to it than others. There are more symptoms that Sweetpea didn't have, but the major one, the weakness in her back legs, is often one of the most critical...and the most likely to cause sudden death.

Since Sweetpea and Furby are related (by their grandfather), I'm thinking I'd like to have him tested to make sure this doesn't happen to him. Even though we haven't had them for years, they quickly capture a place in your heart and become members of your family. I know that my mom will miss Sweetpea! Every time I went to my mom's, Sweetpea was the first to greet me at the door and always expected me to pet her and play with her! She will be greatly missed.

Baker-Vegas 2008

Hurricane Bay - Another side of the tornado!

The Clerc's come to town!

Could it be?

Could this one trailer have caused all of this?

It's our theory that this trailer hit our garage first, knocking it off the foundation, came around again and made the hole in our roof. From there it hit the corner of our neighbor's house, bounced off their railing and finally hit the house on the west of them, making it pancake. It ended up there.

Of course, it's all speculation but from the lumber in our ceiling we know that something went through there. There is paint transfer on the railing next door.

The trailer was parked next to the house next door. His wife had been telling him to get rid of it for a few weeks! It was his partners trailer and they had used it for moving! If the trailer hadn't come through we probably would have suffered some major roof damage and possibly some water damage, but nothing as severe as we have! I'm not real fond of that trailer I'll tell you!

Rebuilding begins...