Clarisse & EJ's Family

Sarah & Tim's Wedding

2008-05-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

April 26, 2008

The new family, Alayna, Sarah, Tim and Alyssa. Alayna and Alyssa are Tim's girls from a previous marriage and a very welcome addition to our family too.

E.J loves a good party, and this was one of the best :) I just had to share this video. It's too bad that it's too dark to really see well, but I think you get the idea that he is having a blast and so is everybody watching him go!

Sarah and Ed, her Dad

E.J and Sarah, his baby sister, the bride.

E.J. and Brad, his other brother in law, who happens to be the grooms uncle, yes, you might be a redneck if.... lol!!! Explanation, Brad Oskey is married to Jean, E.J.'s older sister. Sarah, the baby sister met Tim Oskey, the new groom, at a family gathering and they hit it off :) Just keeping it all in the family LOL!!!

E.J. and his Dad all dressed up :)

Jean is on the right, the empty spot is to represent Pamela, our niece who has been deployed to Irag at the last minute, then it's Casey, Kelsey (Jean's girls) and Alayna. Alyssa was standing on the other side of her father in front of the groomsmen.

The Groom's Mom on the left and Evelyn, E.J. and Sarah's Mom, on the right. With family poems and family singers the wedding was quite the production. There was even sand blowing in the wind :)

And us... all worn out at the end of the day :)

First Flash Flood of the Monsoon July 2007

2007-08-30T22:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a little video I took of the flash flood that came careening down the wash behind our house. It's all very exciting when we get these during our monsoon time of year, and as you can see from the photo's below, Augie just loves it! Nellie will swim, but only because she is chasing Augie, Scooby won't go near it and we worried that Ren would get swept away but he was smart enough to stay to the edge only :) What fun!

That's Augie with a log in his mouth in the middle of the wash, it's about 3 feet deep at this point.

Doesn't look much like a dog that was on his death bed last November does he :) Oh, the somewhat broken up, disheveled fence is ours and the other gentlemen are one of our neighbors and his son :)

and I just liked this shot :)

Welcome Emcee (Middle Cat)

2007-07-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

First Kiss:)

First Hiss :)

Emcee (actually MC for Middle Cat as she was named by her first homies) joined our family today. She was born on May 12, 2007 in Mohave Valley, AZ. She is decended from a dumped-by-the-pond litter of baby kitties that some very kind folks happened to hear mewing one day and took into their home. Since Tank passed away back in February, 2007, Xena has been kind of lonely and we decided she should have a new buddy to play with. When we leave the house, she meows and meows till she is hoarse. She just doesn't like being left alone, and we just can't stay inside all the time, so the solution is Emcee :)

I sure miss Tank, he was a beautiful true Manx, he didn't even have a nub of a bone where his tail would have been, just a little tuft of hair. He rode back and forth with me when I was commuting between California and Arizona and he was so well behaved, my mother would let him come inside her house when we visited with her too :) He was a pretty trippy kitty and I miss him. We believe he ate some kind of poison. He was kind of lethargic one evening and gone the next morning.

This was Tank when he was about 9 months old. Patricio was a rescued from the street starving little guy. My friend Patricia found him and gave him to me, so he was named after her. He came to the desert with us. He started spending more and more days away from home so I knew we were sharing him with another family. Then one day, he came home snuggled all of us said goodbye and moved out. We still see him from time to time 2 blocks away. He really hated our dogs and I suppose he decided it was time to move on. It's nice to know that he found a good home for himself :)

Becca's 4th of July Visit

2007-07-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

This is Justin, Becca's new love. They came to vacation with us over the 4th of July this year. They spent a couple of days in Las Vegas while we watched Trinity and Severen. Severen is 5 and is Justin's son.
Although I burned the poor little guy to a crisp letting him swim too much in the pool (yes I used lots of sunscreen, but he has more delicate skin and no one warned me and yes I feel terrible about it). I think they had a good time.
Trinity and I made this Barbie dress on her Barbie tube knitter. She usually is really interested in making things, but this trip she had Severen to play with and we were only able to spend a couple of days so those were all spent out in the pool. Hopefully next summer we will be able to spend more time together so we can make stuff :)

We spent 2 more days down in Laughlin and watched an awesome fireworks display over the river and then the kids suddenly cut their trip short and went home. I yearn for the day that Becca and I can spend some time together without getting all stressed out.

Mohave Lake

2007-07-15T01:01:00.000-07:00

Augie loves to fetch, he lives for it, and dry land is not a requirement, he is true to his breed for sure :)
Scooby is Mom, Nellie is her daughter, our pretty girls :)

Scooby loves to run, and she will run all along the beach in the water as long as it doesn't go deeper than her belly. We have to haul her out or pretend we're drowning to make her actully go over her head, swimming just ain't her thing :)
Nellie is like her daddy and loves to swim and play fetch....

However, her idea of fetch is to steal it out of Augies mouth. Ren loves to swim too, but he doesn't fetch, he dives in and just wants to be where the action is and where his people are.Nellie being a lovey girl.
Augie has fetched the bottle and Ren is trying to fetch E.J. :)

Lake Mohave is the result of the Davis Dam on the Colorado River between Laughlin, NV and Hoover Dam. It's wonderful and boat beaches are everywhere and it's not over crowded at all. We had a very relaxing day here and had I known it was so great, we would have been spending alot more time here. It's only about 45 minutes away too. I wish I had known how great this was when Becca and her family were visiting, I'm sure she would have enjoyed camping out here. The water was perfect too. It's also a good sized reservoir, the pictures don't give you any idea of the size, but it reminds me alot of Melones in Angels Camp. We are definitely going to have to get a party boat soon.

Me and Eileen

2007-03-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

E.J. found a box of old pictures and he came across this one taken in May of 2002 of me (the big girl) and my friend Eileen Real. She worked with me as my Youth Program Aide and we sure made a wonderful team helping at risk teenagers become employable through the Federally funded J.T.P.A. Summer Youth Employment Program of Tuolumne County back in the 1990's. She passed away about a year and a half later from Hepatitis C. I loved her very much and I still miss her very much and this was one of her "good days".

Eileen Real
Oct. 28, 1948 — Aug. 8, 2003
Longtime Sonora resident Eileen Real died suddenly Friday at a Sonora hospital. She was 54.
She was born in Long Island, N.Y. She lived in Sonora for 25 years. She worked as a training supervisor for Mother Lode Job Training for nine years.
Her family said she loved motorcycling, dancing and spending time with her family.
She is survived by her sons Brett Cawley of Oregon, David Rose of Sonora and Michael Rose of Modesto; two sisters, Maryann Grant of Ellensburg, Wash., and Teresa Lawson of St. Louis; and four grandchildren.
Services will be held at a later date. Heuton Memorial Chapel is handling arrangements.

Thanksgiving 2006

2006-12-05T22:04:00.000-08:00

Trinity getting dolled up for her day in the ghost town and the burro's.

Oatman, AZ, a ghost gold town that's turned tourist town, famous for the wild burro's. Trinity is a horse lover so we had to go feed carrots to the burro's in the streets. It was a very nice day and we all had a really good time.The coffin sits on main street with the measurements carved on the wall behind it so they know how big to build the box when you're gunned down in the street :) E.J. couldn't stop laughing long enough to get a picture with his tongue out.

Becca did better....
she cracked up too .... and then Trinity insisted that she get in on the fun! I especially love the giant ice cream cone, it's darn near bigger than she is :)
That picture just cracks me up!!!

Since we won't be in California for Christmas this year, it came a little early for Trinity. A new bike and gear for it.

Grandpa is going to teach her to ride a 2 wheeler.

and he gave it a good try, but notice the back? Training wheels after all :)

I'm hoping to get some pictures from E.J.'s mom from the actual Turkey day feast. When I get them, I'll add them to the post. We have lots to be thankful for and it was wonderful to be able to spend quality time with my daugher and granddaughter too.

Lions vs Cardinals

2006-11-19T23:38:00.000-08:00

Today was the big day. E.J. and his friend Bob drove the 4 hours to Glendale to watch the Detroit Lions play against the Arizona Cardinals. I wasn't sure Bob was going to let him ride in his car in this get up, but he just laughed and off they went. Oh, that's a giant flag that he wears like a cape across his back. What a fun guy, at least his face isn't painted blue :)

The "Kids" going for a ride.

2006-11-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

From the left, Nellie, Augie, Ren and Scooby Do. We had all the neighbors outside laughing at us because we were trying to take Augie to the Vet and leave the other 3 behind. Not so easy a task! I even had to run down the road after Ren and Nellie because Nellie has figured out how to climb a hurricane link fence and Ren found a little space to crawl under it! Scooby is the only one of the bunch that really minds well :)
Augie is very very ill. He has been infected with Lyme disease and it is wreaking all kinds of havoc in his system. He has symptoms of both Valley Fever and Lyme disease so he is one very miserable dog and it was seeming like the antibiotics were making him sicker instead of better. E.J. took him back to the vet yesterday because it had been a week and he seemed to be getting worse. She put him on Prednisone. I live on a low dose Prednisone regimen and thought it kind of funny that the dog and I are on the same medication, but I am so excited. Augie is like a new dog! Just after 2 doses, the nose bleeds have stopped, he barked at the electric meter guy, he can actually move his body without showing any signs of pain at all and he is HUNGRY! It's just a miracle! He's not out of the woods yet, we have to watch for ulcerations and any other damage he might sustain on his body, but it is so wonderful to see this improvement.

Football and the "kids"

2006-09-10T00:40:00.000-07:00

E.J. is a very dedicated Detroit Lions fan. Yes, I am a football widow but I don't really mind because it keeps him busy while I work on my knitting and other activities. Well, except when he tries to engage me in conversations about the game, last week I just handed him the phone and suggested he call his Dad. Wouldn't ya know it? His Dad wasn't in the mood to talk football either, they talked for a long time, but not about football, so I still had to hear all about it anyway.

This is the part of the "shrine" that he has in the living room. Oh, he has little cars and trucks and shot glasses that sit around the tv too. We saw a Detroit Lion couch on the NFL website. Oh My! Guess I know what he will be asking Santa for this year :)

Ren and Xena are finally beginning to play together. She actually will do the wiggle rump ambush move with him now, she's having a ball torturing him. Ren isn't sure if she is going to smack him with her claws out or not, and he is a big chicken. He's trying to hide behind E.J.'s leg. It's very funny when she chases him down the hall. We've actually had to scold the cat for being so mean to the dog and to stop picking on him. As you can see below, she just glares at us :)

Bye Bye Alex

2006-08-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

Bye Bye Sweetheart. This was as far as I could go at the airport today. His Grandpa took him through security and to the plane. We didn't realize I would need a special pass to be allowed to go too :( It was a little bit of a tearful farewell for us grandparents, but at least we'll have a little peace and quiet around here, well, till next summer.

Launching Model Rockets

2006-08-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not sure but I think Grandpa enjoyed this just as much, if not more than the kids did. Alex and his friend Tyler thought it was great. The rockets make a loud hiss and shot straight up out of site except for a little white trail. Then the parachute opens and you can see it. Below is the recovery of the rockets. NASA would have been proud, when the rockets landed in a fenced heavy equipment yard, calls were made to get permission to climb over and "recover" them. They landed a good quarter of a mile away. Needless to say, we moved the operation to a larger open area to continue firing where we only had to worry about them landing in the middle of Route 66! Talk about getting your kicks!

Since E.J. thinks he has found a new hobby, we'll have to find a better place to shoot them off, like way out in the boonies somewhere, maybe out Stockton Hill Road towards Meadview? :)

Mom's Birthday Presents

2006-08-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

Alex picked some flowers, laid them out in the flower press, patiently waited (yeah right! Are they ready yet Grandma? every day for a week!) for them to dry, laminated them and "embellished" (his new word, that and "texture". I have way to many home improvement shows on the tv) to make book marks for his Mom. She likes to read a lot and dog ears the pages, we had a little conversation about that and he decided to make her book marks for her birthday.

So, Happy Birthday, Amanda! Oh, and do you think he looks bored? He told his mom it was kind of boring to make them. Sheesh! He also hot glued shells he had gathered from Lake Mead onto a picture frame and we made a collage of pictures from his visit last winter. I hope she likes it.

Paper Mache Project

2006-08-08T02:30:00.000-07:00

Alex has decided that getting all goopy is ok after all. At first he was a little stressed out about the mess on his hands. It's ok for every where else to be a mess, as long as it isn't on him :) Ok, doesn't feel icky on him. We made a knitting needle holder and a paintbrush/craft tool holder from Pringle and Oatmeal containers.

2006-07-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

Relaxing after swimming....The Pirate's of the Carribean McDonald's Happy Meal toys have been a lot of fun around here.and Trinity is back with Mommy.

The Grandkids and Grandpa in the Pool

2006-07-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

Swim, Swim, Swim ... and then Swim some more!

Trinity's Visit This Summer

2006-07-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

Alex, Ren and Trinity hanging out between swimming sessions.

More Swimming (Flying?)

2006-07-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Grandpa is so much more fun than Grandma! She taught me how to swim under water and hold my breath and all, but Grandpa.... He is so strong, he can toss me through the air! This is sooooo much fun!!!!

Alex's Summer Visit 2006

2006-07-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

Our grandson, Alex, is spending the summer with us. This was his first unaccompanied minor flight and he is very proud of himself. This is his new bike.

2006-07-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

and swimming in the backyard pool.....

2006-07-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

and learning how to ride his new bike. Run Grandpa, Run! He took alot of static because Alex has all this protection gear on and then he's wearing flip flops, LOL!

2006-07-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

and notice the tent in the background? Camping next to the vegetable garden of course!

Trinity's Visit Spring 2005

2006-05-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

And then, of course, we had to go back the next weekend and do it all over again :) Yup, that's me in the background. We both had on blue and white striped shirts. She didn't think it was much of anything, but I loved it that we sort of matched :)

Giddy Up Trinity

2006-05-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

This was taken when Trinity came to visit us in April 2005. She is a very passionate horse lover and we really enjoyed spending most of the morning on repeated pony rides at the swap meet. She insisted on riding each pony at least 3 times each. Good thing they only had 3 ponies and it was only $3 a ride :)

Happy Valentine's Day 2006

2006-04-24T22:54:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I hadn't posted this picture of my Valentine's Day present! Isn't it beautiful? I tried to take pictures of it on my finger, but I wiggle too much when I try to click a picture with one hand. I'll see if I can get E.J. to take it for me so you can all see it on me. Well, maybe after a manicure :) I'm so very lucky to have a good man to share my life with.

The Kiddies

2006-04-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Meet Xena. She was born on April 14th, 2005 and a little girl was giving her away in front of the Albertson's store here in Kingman. Loving Siamese kitties like I do, I couldn't resist. When I was growing up we used to breed them, and I never knew that you could have a part siamese that had marks until recently. All our kittens that were not pure blood were born black and as far as I knew that was just the way it was. I was sooooo very very wrong :)
This is Xena in February of 2006, all grown up and her coloring is fully developed. Her eyes are so light blue they look almost white.

This is a picture of her when she was around 4 months old, see how light her colors are?

These are my babies :) Xena is the very best mother ever, very very protective and attentive. They were born on April 4th and their eyes are open now. It's sooo cute, they think they are tough and hiss at me. 2 of them are talkers like their mom and they are starting to get their coloring. They are like siameses in that they were born creamy white/beige and will get tan and brown markings as they get older.

Alex and Grandpa August, 2004

2006-03-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

2006-03-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

2006-03-06T08:38:00.000-08:00

2006-03-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

2006-03-06T08:32:00.000-08:00