SNAGGLETOOTH AND ONE EYE.

Early last week my best friends, the McNamaras, expanded their family yet again! They adopted BELLA, a German Shorthair Pointer! I am so excited they finally got a dog! I've only been nagging them to do so for a few YEARS now! :) As expected, Bella is absolutely wonderful! She has beautiful green eyes and such a sweet, mellow personality. She is going to be a PERFECT McNamara! I think dogs are an ESSENTIAL part of every family! She will be a great and faithful friend, a devoted protector, an endless source of entertainment, and willing provider of comfort and kisses! Welcome home Bella! I can't wait to doggie sit!

Dear Mike and Amber,

This is where you should stop reading. The rest of this story is totally silly and you shouldn't even waste your time by continuing to read. Just turn off the computer and go pet your new, beautiful baby girl. Seriously. YOUR dog is going to be perfect and wonderful! Love you, Tess

SUCH PRETTY EYES!

AS ALWAYS, A PROUD AUNT!

(mike and amber--you better not have gotten this far!)

Now that they proud new puppy parents AREN'T listening, I'll tell you the stories of

SNAGGLETOOTH AND ONE EYE

both of which occurred THIS week!

Some of you may recall that my beloved old man, Jackson, is TERRIFIED of chirping smoke alarms. They literally make him CRAZY! Apparently while I was at work on Tuesday, a battery ran low at some point during the day. UH OH! I have no idea how long Jackson endured the insane chirping noise. I only know he had plenty of time . . .

TO DO THIS!

He, among other things, managed to completely destroy my laundry room!

He knocked down, pulled out--chewed on EVERYTHING!

YES, THAT IS THE DRYER HOSE!

AT SOME POINT DURING ALL OF HIS DESTRUCTION, JACKSON MANAGED TO CUT HIS GUM AND SEVERELY LOOSEN A FRONT TOOTH! ON TOP OF ALL THE MESS, THERE WAS BLOOD EVERYWHERE! WALLS, DOORS, FLOORS--EVERYWHERE! HE WAS PRETTY SORE THAT NIGHT AND VERY DETERMINED TO NOT LET ME HAVE A GOOD LOOK AT THE DAMAGE HE HAD DONE TO HIMSELF! SINCE THEN HIS GUM HAS HEALED AND THE TOOTH HAS STIFFENED BACK UP SOME. IT DOES STILL STICK OUT ALL GOOFY THOUGH! HE HAS A SNAGGLETOOTH FOR SURE!

AND THEN, ON SATURDAY, SADIE GOT STUNG BY A WASP . . . ON THE EYE!

HER EYE VERY QUICKLY SWELLED SHUT!

SHE WAS MORE THAN WILLING TO LET ME APPLY A COLD COMPRESS TO IT THOUGH AND BY THE END OF THE DAY, THE SWELLING WAS MINIMAL!

AFTER ALL THAT DRAMA, WE'RE ALL BACK TO NORMAL NOW--WELL, AS NORMAL AS WE CORMELLS CAN POSSIBLY BE! I HAVE FOUND AND SPRAYED THE WASP NEST SADIE GOT INTO AND REPLACED ALL THE SMOKE ALARM BATTERIES. SNAGGLETOOTH AND ONE EYE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO FIND A NEW KIND OF TROUBLE TO GET INTO THIS WEEK!

SNOWBANK 2009.

Driving to the top of Snowbank Mountain every spring is a long-standing family tradition! Every year, the road (which is plowed year-round for access to the radar dome) is re-opened to the public on May 31st. If you drive to the top of Snowbank shortly after the road opens, you will find a HUGE remaining wall of snow cut by the snowplow! As sort of a mighty celebration for the arrival of SUMMER, we, as a family, drive up the mountain for a final look at winter's dreary snow. Every year we arrive to a different size of snowbank and certainly to different weather conditions! Some years we have snowball fights in the sunshine and pack up some of the snow to be used to make a batch of homemade ice cream back at home! Other years we have arrived to find snow still falling from the sky! We faithfully drive to the top of our mountain though, regardless of the weather! This year was certainly no exception. With a giant THUNDERSTORM looming over the mountain, Mom, Dad and I made our annual trek to the top!

THE SNOWPLOW CUT MARKS INTO THE TREE AS IT PASSED!

LOOK AT HOW DEEP THE SNOW GETS!

HAD I NOT STOPPED FOR A THOUSAND WILDFLOWER PHOTOS,

WE MIGHT HAVE MADE IT TO THE TOP BEFORE THE STORM HIT!

ALAS, WE DID NOT!!!

SNOWBANK 2009

AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE TRADITION . . .

CARVING YOUR NAME IN THE SNOWBANK!

TESS

MOM AND DAD WORKING ON THEIR TRADITIONAL MARKINGS

ON A BETTER DAY, THERE WOULD BE A GORGEOUS VIEW OF THE VALLEY!

BUT IT WAS PRETTY MISERABLE UP THERE IN THE CLOUDS THAT DAY!

A STILL FROSTY BLUE LAKE

AND THE VALLEY OF WHICH I AM SO FOND!

A PIZZA OVEN HIJACKING.

Last week Dad learned he was awarded the contract on a job he bid for this summer that will require the removal of some lead paint. This means (for reasons I still don't entirely understand) he needs an OLD PIZZA OVEN! Basically he'll be using the oven to create a safe and effective paint removal machine. Conveniently enough, the local pizza parlor in town had recently replaced their pizza ovens--and still had the old ovens stored out at the concrete plant. They were more than willing to donate an oven to Dad's endeavor IF he was willing to dig it out of the giant recycling dumpster! It sounded like an awesome adventure to me so I was definitely in on his PIZZA-VENTURE! Fortunately Mom went with us too because she got some pictures I am pretty tickled with! I never would have guessed I would get to participate so much! In fact, I hung around and took a few pictures when we first arrived but was quickly distracted by a field of wildflowers! Fortunately, I wandered back (and handed my camera off to Mom) before all the fun began! I am so glad I didn't miss out on this!

DUMPSTER DIVING DAD!

HE QUICKLY REALIZED HE WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO LIFT THE OVEN OUT OF THE DUMPSTER BY HIMSELF. WE HAD TO CALL IN SOME MUSCLE . . .

WHICH I GOT TO DRIVE!

THE OWNER OF THE CONCRETE PLANT DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO HELP US WITH THE OVEN HIMSELF BUT HE WAS MORE THAN WILLING TO OFFER UP THE USE OF HIS MINI-EXCAVATOR!

DAD ASKED IF I WANTED TO DRIVE IT . . . AND YOU KNOW I DID!

BUT I DIDN'T REALIZE . . .

HE WANTED ME TO RUN IT!

HOOKING THE OVEN UP . . .

LIFTING IT UP AND OUT . . .

AND LOADING IT IN DAD'S TRUCK!

I THINK I AM A PRETTY DARN GOOD MINI-EX OPERATOR!

IF I EVER NEED TO, I THINK I COULD EASILY GET A JOB IN EXCAVATION! ;)

WHAT AN ADVENTURE! AND WHAT A WOMAN!

MOUNTAIN SAMBA.

Last week I was able to go to Cascade for several days.  As I was there during the middle of the week, Laura, Makayla and I were able to take a Wednesday night SAMBA LESSON!  Last year, after watching the dancers perform in the Winter Carnival Parade in McCall, Laura and I both fell in love with the Samba!  In fact, I have had SAMBA LESSONS on my infamous to-do list ever since!  I was simply thrilled to be able to attend the lessons with my sister!  What a special treat for the two of us!  We quickly learned that the lessons were being held in preparation for Mountain Samba's performance in Cascade's Fourth of July parade!  Although both of us were pretty adamant about NOT wanting to be in the parade, we were eager to learn anyway!  Unfortunately most of the students were already lessons ahead of us and already deep into learning the routines.  The instructor moved so fast, I was quickly in way over my head!  Laura managed to hang in there way longer than I did!  However, I am now INSPIRED!  I have ordered a Samba DVD and fully intend to cross this feat off my to-do list!  Maybe, just maybe, Laura and I can join the Mountain Samba dancers in the 2010 Fourth of July parade!  Actually, probably not!  But we should definitely know how to samba by then (just not down Main Street)!  Laura is going to keep attending lessons with Mountain Samba, I however, am hoping to find an instructor here in Boise.  Driving to Cascade every Wednesday just isn't feasible!

THE MOUNTAIN SAMBA LADIES

  

OUR DELIGHTFUL INSTRUCTOR, JAN

  

  

LOVELY LAURA!

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE SAMBA MOVES . . .

THE THRILLER.

THE DIP-POINT SHIMMY!

AND OF COURSE . . . THE FLIRTY WALK!

MAKAYALA AND I

WHAT A FUN NIGHT FOR US GIRLS!