Thank you ~

A HUGE THANK YOU!!! to everyone who helped make the JPD Warrior Fisheree making it such a HUGE SUCCESS!!  We have a great family, friends and community that came together this year again showing support towards our quest of getting the word out on suicide awareness.

 You can check out the winners green ticket and fishing winners HERE  There were some really nice fish registered again this year.

As soon as I get some time ~ I will  be putting the photos of the event into the JPD Warrior Photo Album.

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A sad note for me today ... I found out that Slide.Com is closing down on March 6th.  That's where I have my slideshows stored.   I had to do some exporting of files this evening so I didn't lose the files and photos... bummer.  If you still want to see my some of my scrapbooking pages just click on the links  up above while they are still working.  I'll soon be taking them off. 

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Another sad note ... my little deer has gone missing.
I've been feeding him since early October and would see him just about every day.

I haven't seen him now for 4 days.  Tonight I could hear the wolves howling like crazy down in the swamp ... I sure hope he hasn't met his demise to those nasty critters.

Now that we have the fund raiser behind us ... maybe Slim and I can get back to doing taxes and cutting wood all those other fun things!  I'll keep you updated :)

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

snow much fun~

Brr... it's a chilly one out there this morning.  When I got up at 4:30 with Dear Hubby to pack his lunch and send him off to work this morning the thermometer read -20 ~ add the windchill on top of that and we're looking at a minus 30 degree morning.  That's even a bit on the frosty side for me!

Yesterday afternoon, when I went outside to fill the woodstove ... I couldn't get the front door to open.  I was locked in the house.   The mechanism in the door was frozen shut.  Luckily, the sliding side doors by the dining room worked and I was able to go through those.  After some wiggling and jiggling I finally got the front door to work.  At least I was on the inside looking out and not the other way around :)

Last weekend - when we had our tropical heat wave of 20 above zero Fahrenheit I got in on some of the fun in the snow with my eldest and my youngest, Staci and Sam and two of my Grandloves, Brooke and Bailey.  We went for rides in the sled behind the snowmobile through the trails in the woods.

I did some of the driving ...  but more riding.  The kids just giggled with excitement that I dressed up and came outside to play in the snow with them.

What the pictures don't show are the SCREAMS coming from Brooke.  She was hollaring up a storm the whole time she was in that sled.

Bailey is somewhere behind all those layers of clothes ...

It was fun for me too ... I know there were smiles behind those masks and goggles.

It was a joy too that my baby boy Sam ... who's in his 20's ... but still my baby no matter how old he gets ... was out there being a fun and loving uncle letting Bailey drive the snowmobile for him.

Speaking of the snowmobile - how do you like that old bugger.  I believe it's a 1985 model.  It's older than Jack ~ well at least older than Sam.  We haven't had a snowmobile for years; but a few weeks back the guys came across this one for sale.  It hadn't been run for years ... a few minor adjustments ... and they got it running.  It's their trapping mobile for running the river this winter.  It isn't a fancy machine like the new ones are now days ... but it will serve it's purpose ... getting the guys from point A to point B ... and hopefully will make their trapping days a bit easier.  It'll also provide some winter fun for me ~ and the kids :)

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

i'm lazy ~

I admit it ... I'm feeling pretty lazy lately.  Not that I have time to be lazy; because I really don't.  I have tons of things that need to be done.  Now whether or not they get done ... that's another story.

I have a file cabinet of papers that have been haunting me ... saying "tax time" "tax time" ... "are you going to get the tax papers taken care of or what?"

That really wasn't the file cabinet haunting me ... it was my hubby!  Oh... I swear... the day I die he might as well go with me; because he sure is going to be lost if I go before him.  I have tried to organize things that "IF" I should not be available to him he'll be able to figure some of this stuff out ... BUT ... I have come to the conclusion that he is going to be a pain in the butt to my kids because they'll be the ones having to help him figure things out.

Note to self ... be nicer to the kids :)

Now he wants me to get on the horn and call around for a bunch of insurance quotes on the house, autos, boat, etc...   SO.......... do I jump right at that request?  Nope... I'm lazy.  I'm still "trying" to get into the taxes mode of mind.  So far it's not happening.  I think I'll procrastinate a bit longer on both.

Besides that ... it's cold out.

Now for a northerner like me to say it's cold out ... it's COLD OUT.  Tonight ~ with the windchill factors figured in we're suppose to be around MINUS 30F.  Today's high with the windchill factor figured in is around minus 15.  If you stand outside for 10 minutes with unprotected exposed skin you're a candidate for frostbite.  Not a good thing :(

Days like this I appreciate having the big wood stove and a shed full of wood; but just wish I didn't have to go outside to fill it.  When it's really cold like it is now we like to put some wood on it about every 8 hours or so.

We heat the house and the garage from that stove and all our hot water comes from it.  No gas bill or hot water heater bill here :)

The guys like this cold weather ... it's making ice!  As you know, our family is partially reliant on the fur harvesting industry.  The guys have been out beaver trapping and a good thick layer of ice for them to be on sure puts this momma more at ease. It is hard, laborious work in the winter for the the guys chopping through a foot or more of ice to make their sets.  Here they are with two of four beaver they harvested last weekend.

Nothing much going on around here.  The guys have been trapping.  I've been trying to be more creative with my cooking ~ trying to cut out the carbs isn't easy.  I'm missing my whites ... flour, potatoes, noodles and rice.

I think I'll go make some jello.  Isn't that creative! I don't want to blow my lazy streak!!

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

jpd warrior project ~

I have been AWOL from my blog; but with good reason.  I've been super busy working on the JPD Warrior Project website ~ and getting ready for the upcoming fisheree that we host every year.  This is our 7th year already coming up the 28th of January.  You would think it would get easier every year; but it has quadrupled in size and - I'm not complaining - but it has quadrupled in what needs to be done to be ready :) too.

If you have a minute ... check out the website and see what I and the rest of the family and our great group of volunteers have been up to.

http://jpdwarrior.com

P.S. Please come back here and let me know what you think?  Does the site look okay?  I'm still tweaking it and trying to make sure everything works.

Until next time ...
So it goes in my neck of the woods.
~mel

thru my window pane~

I hear a woodpecker raising havoc over something.  He's not a very chipper little fellar ~ what's ruffled his feathers now?

There's the problem ...

The little deer is in the yard and it's cleaning off the bird feeder.









Or maybe the turkeys are just a little bit too big and intimidating for the woodpecker's comfort ~

Or maybe he had his eye on the apple that deer put a claim on ...

... and has the gall to eat it in front of him!

Don't worry Mr. Squawky Woodpecker ~

the deer is leaving ...

... the turkeys have had enough of you too ~

one more glance over the shoulder to see if you're still having a hissy fit ...

You won this round; but tomorrows another day.
I'll be back :)

Until next time ...

So it goes in my neck of the woods.

~mel