Would you believe we were seeing green grass yesterday..?

Well it is true!

Matter of fact, Earl, Porter, and I left Parma a day early due to the up and coming winter storm watch...Last night we arrived in Spokane to balmy winter temperatures (40's) and woke up to SNOW!

This is the backyard (our maple tree) at about 630 PM

The front yard at about the same time...Between Earl and I we have been shoveling machines (more Earl than myself to be honest)...Oh and you can see in the photos - STILL SNOWING!

An up close and personal shot of Porter this morning, he is really enjoying his romps in the snow. It was windy this morning - the snow is almost horizontal in the photo so he was squinting to keep the snow out of his eyes...

Merry Christmas! A few days late...

Christmas was in Parma, ID with my family, it was a lot of fun! We had a busy house with five dogs, so we took four of them down to my mom and dad's field for a bit of a run and play time. Earl, Brian and I took time for a quick photo

Merry Christmas!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend - Part I

I am a little late with our Thanksgiving blog but here it goes...

We started out our Thanksgiving weekend in Sandpoint, Wednesday, Thursday, and up to Friday afternoon, which was really nice and well, pretty snowy but good drives both to and from. Thanksgiving dinner was beautiful and tasted wonderful! We also had a visit from a small family of raccoons on Grandma Dee's deck during Thanksgiving dinner - too funny!

We then headed out to Brian and Charlie's cabin so that Earl could finish up with the stair and loft railings (he finished welding them up and installed them)...we also took advantage of the hills and the snow for a little sledding!

Earl had a bit of crash off of his sled...I for some reason could hardly stay on my sled and went down most of the time on my rear-end...

Happy sledders!


Charlie making her way down the driveway - the snow berms acted as bumpers as we made our way down the driveway!

Thanksgiving weekend - Part II

Earl and I got a chance to shoot with Brian, we had a lot of fun!

I don't shoot often but I did pretty well, totally blasted a milk jug through the cap!

Earl beat me to the cap of the plastic juice bottle...bummer for me but great for Earl!
Earl looks like he is really concentrating on his target in this picture...

Thanksgiving Weekend - Part III

Cabin railing and stairs - FINISHED and they look great!

From the top of the stairs

From the bottom of the stairs

Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last weekend's CABIN UPDATE! Part I

Last weekend Earl and I went out to the cabin to help Charlie and Brian with the stair and loft railings. Earl is fabricating the metal portion of the project.

Here is an update of the cabin ceiling - it is just beautiful!

Another great shot of the ceiling, as well as, the installed posts and rails for the stairs...the 4x4 post were cut from extra log pieces left from the cabin and the main post at the bottom of the stairs was from extra beam...

Here's a shot of Porter out in front of the cabin...he was really hoping that Shaggy would come down and play...no luck!

See Part II and III for more photos from the weekend, we all really moved and got a lot finished! Soon the loft and stairs will be finished! We really had a great time working on the cabin and it is so awesome to see such progress every time we come out!

Enjoy!

Last weekend's CABIN UPDATE! Part II

Earl welding up the stair railing

Yes, Earl is welding inside the cabin...one of us was on spark duty at all times.

Porter sneaking a nap on the airbed...naughty boy...I let him sleep, he was a tired boy!

It is funny how we find him curled up where he shouldn't be when we are at the cabin...about this time last year he was curled up in Earl's duffle bag!

Last weekend's CABIN UPDATE! Part III

Stair railing is finished and installed

Half of the loft railing is fitted...

The view from the loft down the stairs looks great!

Porter tried to be a good helper...his tail is dangerous sometimes!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I know...Porter looks a little worried to be a little devil for Halloween...I told him he was a cute devil and he didn't think it was totally bad to be dressed up.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
I hope everyone has a great time and is safe this Halloween,

LOVE,
Dawn, Earl and Porter

Fall Harvest!

Okay so the first photo is just of Porter, he was modeling his new bandana in honor of the Griz away game against Portland State University

Now here is a photo of our Fall Harvest...I already canned the banana peppers and jalapeno peppers - separate and mixed, our pumpkins and our onions...Porter modeled with our harvest, as well!

Our garden is pretty much finished...the frost has really been hitting us hard this past week but that is okay, we have gotten a ton of veggies from our garden this year - can't wait for next year and maybe a try at a few new items!

PS The Griz bandana has a few tears in it now...Porter got a bit carried away when trying to take his bandana off while he was in his "house" when we were away...a little anxiety maybe...?

Griz game...Idaho State vs. Montana

This weekend was the Idaho State vs Montana Grizzlies game...here are few pictures from our great win! GO GRIZ...oh and GO SPARTANS (nice win over Michigan!!!)!!!

Earl and I after the game down on the field - it was Breast Cancer Awareness Game - I got to wear my pink Griz shirt and got this super cute free hat!
Charlie and Bev - sisters together at the game! It was fun being at the game with you Bev!!!

One of the biggest Griz fans, and our friend, down on the Montana Grizzlies' center field, Diane, along with Charlie and Brian.

A panorama of the stadium after the game

Earl and I in the stands after the game...we had a great weekend!!!

CABIN UPDATES

Last weekend we stayed the night at the cabin with Brian and Charlie, we had a blast and we wanted to show a few updated photos from a week ago...much has changed though since we were there...

Earl and Brian working on the ceiling...Charlie and Brian had done all but the two rows that Earl helped work on...the pine tongue and groove made a huge difference with the lighting and looks amazing! Over the past week, Charlie and Brian were able to get the other half of the cabin ceiling done as well. We can't wait to see and take pictures of their progress!

Earl working on the ceiling...




A shot of the kitchen area...working very nicely at this time! Running water, working oven and refrigerator - JUST PERFECT!

From the dining area here is a shot of the finished stairway up to the loft. Earl and Brian made 4x4's from some extra logs and Earl will be welding up a set of handrails for the stairs...hope to be coming this November!

The Deck is DONE!!!

We finished the deck this weekend!!! Isn't it beautiful!?! As you can see there is PLENTY of room for our table and chairs and BBQ which is GREAT!!!

Thank you to Brian and Charlie for giving Earl and I, an entire Friday - our lunch, dinner and dessert just isn't enough to repay you for your time and energy to help us get this deck finished.

We were able to get the top of the deck finished Friday, and the top step which is even with the top of the deck on Saturday, and on Sunday (today) we were able to get the lower step finished. This coming up weekend we will be putting on the final stain over deck and then it will be VERY finished!

Yard Progress - Back

This weekend we have been able to really get moving on our NEW much LARGER DECK! We are really excited! We have been sanding and staining our deck boards and we were able to get the joists set in place yesterday.

Earl cutting spacer blocks

Porter thinking it was a fine idea to sit under the chop saw while wood is being cut...you can see all of the saw-dust on his body...He wouldn't move!

The joists are in! The new deck is really beginning to look like a deck! Still a bunch to do...there will be a step all the way around the deck - between the top set which will be level with the deck surface and the lower step the deck will extend out to the grass...

Here is a panorama view of our backyard with all of our progress...the veggie garden to the left, the deck and our staining project and then on over to the shed...We've been busy and we only hope the weather holds so we can finish sanding and staining the rest of the deck boards!

Yard Progress - Fruits and Veggies

I had this whole series planned...anyway the blog wasn't uploading photos like I would like so the series begins again today...

A few of our larger pumpkins...I think we have 6 or so pumpkins, all sizes I am hoping for more...There are three in this picture and a possible four with a flower still attached.

Crazy orange colored "cherry-sized" tomatoes...There are a million! Okay maybe not a million but there are a lot! We have given a bunch away so far this Summer.

A cute zucchini...they are a stripped variety. We have given a bunch away already this Summer as well.

Banana Peppers! I love it! We are getting peppers on our Jalapenos plants! We'll be making salsa in no time!

Grandma Bernie's apples are looking good! We only have a few apples this year between both of our trees...thanks to Porter for tearing branches off of the trees and thanks to Dawn for trimming the flowering areas of the branch off to clean up the limbs a bit...Oops!

We had our first onion this weekend for Philly Cheese-steak Sandwiches - YUMMY sweet onion!

Yard Progress - Front

Just a few pictures from the font yard...

Periwinkle Cosmo...

Daisy family flower that I don't remember the name of...

These are all volunteer Wave Petunias...They have taken over the rocks in this flower bed...I am not complaining but I cannot get Waves to grow so nice usually but apparently when you just let them go and show up wherever they want to, it is just perfect! Oh there is a toad or frog (not sure which) that lives in cover of the Waves, I have only seen it once...maybe tomorrow..?

Happy Birthday Porter!

Yesterday was Porter's First Birthday! He was a good boy and played hard. We went to PetSmart to pick out a new toy - he chose the Duck and took it up to the counter for us. Porter also got a wooden stake for his birthday from Earl. As you can see, he loves them both!

The night prior to his birthday Porter was an ornery boy...he just about didn't make it to his first birthday - He pulled out the weed preventer cloth under the gravel in the back yard, pulled out the wooden stake (the one he was given for his birthday), chewed up the BBQ cover, chewed up part of the hose, dug a hole through the gravel and weed preventer cloth, chewed the handle off of the spray nozzle (luckily we didn't like that one), and he clawed at the blinds (again)!

Flowers and New Camera...

As I said before...Photos of a few flowers that we planted this Summer...Oh and we had to get a new camera because the lens of our other decided to stop working so the camera would just freak out so that is the new camera part...

I think this is a Cosmo...I can't remember but they are tall and super cute and we have a few different colors...

Oooh I think these are super cute flowers as well but I do not remember the name of them for the life of me...I have a few different colors of these ones as well.

These are our window boxes...Wave Petunias and Ivy Geraniums

Oh and this last one is just the panorama function of the new camera...Earl is flying our RC plane, the camera caught the plane in motion...looked really neat!

I need to get a few posts of our veggie garden's yummy treats! We have plenty of zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes right now! The onions are ready but we're going to wait a bit longer to see if they get any larger and I think the potatoes are just about ready (I think) we just haven't seen them flower yet.