Slushy snow this week...

Last week the outdoor temperature at night was close to zero, making the snow cruchy to walk in. Today, the thermometer is hovering about 32 degrees, so we have slushy snow. There was some rain early this morning, and then snow when I got home from church - coming down so fast that I just barely got the car swept off and quickly into the garage - did I really just sweep the top of the car?

Notice that the gutters are running full of water, especially after the snow plow came through
good thing those snow boots are rubberized :-). Another 4-5 inches forecast for tonight

Then a bit later in the afternoon, the snow quit and here came the Mower Snow Removal Team - my neighbor and three of his sons... I am so grateful they have "adopted" me and my driveway.



attacking the driveway




attacking the slushy "river bank"

birthday boy

When snow crunches...

When snow crunches under your feet, you know it is darn cold, at least zero and below zero. Brrrr...

The radio says it was -4 in Provo last night

And here is a little evidence that the Youth came by last night, singing carols... and it is trash day.

Remembering my parents' birthdays in November

Both of my parents had birthdays in November - my dad on 10 Nov 1907 and my mom on 29 Nov 1914.

1962 at the Ft. Worth Stock Show

Here are some of my favorite blogs about them... I know, I should be past the bringing up old memorials and memories stuff - I think it has to do with catching up with my Christmas cards list persons this year. I have not sent any for two years.

Plus, I have an new external hard drive, that I will collect and back-up every photo and text document onto, a 1TB size - I am already calling it the "MotherShip". I just got tired of wondering where certain files were, and where did I save that photo - in which collection - well, you get the picture?? When I was a military spouse and PCS (permanent change of station) time came, I could just reorganize stuff into a new home. Looking back, I have been in this house for nearly 17 years.


back to the review...

** from Becky about Don Cox's 100th birthday party http://randomlyoddbits.blogspot.com/2007/11/cowboy-memorial-bloopers.html

**from Sue at the time of Gram's passing in February 2008 - http://suerichardson.blogspot.com/2008/02/gone-to-be-with-her-cowboy.html

**from Sue about her memorial service http://suerichardson.blogspot.com/2008/08/grams-memorial-service.html I love being reminded of her friends and the family members who came to Sheridan


My nieces Chris and Katy blogged about them too...

Twenty Years?

Good grief! Has it really been 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down? I remember the news unfolding while watching AFN (Armed Forces Network TV) while living in Heidelberg, Germany that fall of 1989. Six months later, Sue and I drove to Berlin, just before we went home to the States. People were still visiting the Wall and taking home chunks of it. Us too.

Great hair, Sue...

Lois Ann at Check Point Charlie before crossing into East Berlin.

See, still people writing on the Wall six months later

In the meantime, Becky was going to college in Sheridan, Wyoming. Gram let her drive the old gold Chevy pick up around the Sheridan cemetery. In fact here is part of a letter from Gram....



“Dear Ones, (from Gram’s house, 30 Sept 1989)
I’ve just given Becky her first Driver’s lesson. This is Sat. morning, and we just had GrandDad’s waffles – and she didn’t have any special plans for today, so we went to a couple of garage sales, didn’t buy anything – then I wanted to take her to the cemetery. I told her I wanted to take her before we were suddenly in the trauma of a funeral. So after I took a couple of pictures and west into some family background, I told her I’d let her drive. We had the old Chevy pickup – and what an ideal place… lots of little roads branching off and places to back-up – and she didn’t knock over any tombstones. We may go up there again.” “ You’d have laughed to see that old gold pick up jerking and stopping and starting up at the cemetery. Love from us all, Gram”.

feeding the goats 26 Sept 2009

When I went to visit David's family in September, Aimee took me to vist Cox Farm, a harvest time kids adventure outing, about 20 minutes from her home in Northern Virginia


How about a hayride into the Haunted Forest?

Very exciting slides - don't forget the gunny (burlap) sack so you can slide like crazy

Now where did that peacock go?

I should remember how to milk a cow - I was doing it at the age of six, when my dad took my mom from the D Ranch, north of Morcroft Wyoming, to Sheridan to deliver that sister Elizabeth.

Newly hatched baby chicks under a warming lamp

Couldn't resist the sign - Oh yes, I am A Cox Girl

Feeding the goats consists of "goat food" (pellets, grain, etc>) in an ice cream cone - easy for a child or Grammie to hold onto - and easy for the baby goats to grab, chomp on, supposedly without eating the kid fingers. The little brown and white goat sure knows the drill - took the whole cone and ran off with it stuck in his mouth.




this may be what they mean when they say " as happy as a pig in poo..."

Later that trip... a visit to the MacGregor library collection at the University of Baltimore. Standing with me is Aiden Faust, archivist, and Tom Hollowak, director of Special Collections. They monitor and care for over 100 separate collections housed there.Did I mention a side trip to Baltimore's Inner Harbor and the enticing Nessie paddle boats just outside the window at Cheesecake Factory? You don't need to be psychic to understand the real drawing card :-). There is nothing mediocre on their menu.

the vacation look

Here are a few photos....

Our plan worked, we met up in Newark and climbed on the plane ... hold hands and stay together

Jane at the Old Parish Church in Govan, a visit to John McGregor and Annie Lang

How is this for 100 BP (British pounds) per night? but the rail station, the taxies, the food , the underground, the bus trip to Skye are all within a block. Wonderful A/C. The older travelers like their creature comforts, you understand.

Hogwarts anyone?

What is wrong with this picture? You will have to read the small print on the two buildings to understand this one

The Way We Were....... in 2003

"My bags are packed, I'm ready to go..." so sang John Denver years ago. Here are Jane and I on our Scotland trip 6 years ago:



"...leavin' on a jet plane..."
at Culloden battlefield near Inverness. Highlanders' lives changed forever after that battle in April 1745.

watching for Nessie at Loch Ness

Hail to the Chief Sir Malcolm! he is fabulous...

ready for a very formal banquet at Stirling Castle when we acknowledged Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor as our hereditary Chief.

Jane is preparing to do a "rubbing" of our ancestors' grave stone at Govan's Old Parish Church on the south side of the Clyde River in Glasgow

home again, home again, rigetty jig - LOL - no 50# limit on luggage in those days

I have a bunch more images, but let's start with these....

First pickin's

Let's see, Sunday night, a steak sounds good, I wonder if anything is ready in the garden?

The pumpkins, potatoes and squash act like they are on steroids.

Wow! Look at these...

Yummy - there are supper veggies....

Even the formerly sick-looking hollyhocks are blooming too..

And just in time for me to leave for Scotland -I better let the neighbors know :-) so they can come get some squash and tomatoes while I am gone.

When Pigs Fly.....

One of my favorite activities to do every summer is to go watch (and listen) to the hot air balloons launch at Provo's Freedom Festival every 4th of July. It was one of Gram's favorite too. So I bet you can tell already where this post is going...

Jane and I enjoyed pancakes.

And now I am off to Cokeville for more fun .....

Spring is here

A few photos from my yard, and of the Young Men and their leaders in my neighborhood who came last night to dig grass out of my flower beds. Yahoo! They were awesome!


What a neglected mess this front step area is. All my flower beds were like that.


A wine barrel full of tulips that I planted last year. I sure am loving the "container garden" concept where I don't have to bend over to weed them.


Yellow tulips beside the front aspen trees


Whitney crab apple tree blossums in the front yard


Ross Maxfield and Young Men at work


Yikes! Look how big that tree root is that was pulled up from around the corner of the house.


The totally awesome Young Mens' crew

Next part of the project is to get my vegetable garden grow boxes built, and haul in a pickup load of good topsoil.

Wisdom for our day

Monday, 20 April 2009

Every time he opens his mouth, wisdom rolls forth… Zen, maybe you remember how much we enjoyed learning in his Sunday School class when you lived here? He always had something thought provoking to say and to remember about how the Savior would have us live. Yesterday was no exception as President David Richards (formerly a stake pres., a missionary with his wife Maryl to the Lamanites a couple of years ago, a temple worker now) spoke about Provident Living in Sacrament meeting.

There are more kinds of addictions than drugs and pornography. Like food, sports, computer time, etc. that take us away from the things that matter most. He spoke of acting on the difference between wanting and needing “things” in our lives. Do we own things or do thy own us? If we go into debt for them; then we are in bondage. Even if we can afford the payments, can we afford the adddiction?

No child should leave our home without knowing how to balance a checkbook. They should have the experience of having a job, even if it is just a paper route, and know how to handle their own money.

Five actions to guide us : 1] pay tithing, 2] spend less than you earn, 3] learn to save, 4] honor financial obligations, and 5] teach your children by your example. “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.” Bishop Sharp remarked that Pres. Richards “is wise beyond his years” . We chuckled, as Pres. Richards is in his 70’s .

Freaky April Weather

What happened to the weather man last night? Must have been trying to get his taxes in on time and then stopped at the local pub.

View out the front door this morning


View out the Heritage Room window


That ol' pony and play house look mighty cold in my back yard


Here comes the sun over the moutains in Alpine... view out my kitchen window


I bet those tomato plants I bought earlier this week are happy I brought them into the living room yesterday. And to think I had a tiny bit of foresight on Monday and gave my yard a GI harcut to start the spring off right. Spring? What was I thinking?? That is Utah weather for you.....

Feeding the baby animals

In response to Sue's blog "Fair spring, where art thou?" I have spent a good part of the day hunting for and scanning some photos to put on my blog, I guess most of what I have of your granddad taking care of animals are in my own memory banks. But I'll keep looking around. I did find this cute one of Jane and I feeding two bum lambs when we lived at the D Ranch, 40 miles north of Moorcroft in northeastern Wyoming, another 12 miles north of Oshoto. (probably 1948-50?) Oshoto is still on a Wyoming map.



The story behind this goes something like this. There was a sheep rancher that lived a little ways from us, maybe 15-20 miles. In the spring, ewes often had twins and not every one was accepted by their mothers, thus the bum lambs. When it appeared that a lamb would need to be fed by a human, he'd call up my dad (yes, we had a phone - of sorts - out there) So my dad would go over and pick up those lambs and as a family - it was probably mostly him - feed them through the summer, and when fall came, would sell them.

Time Flys...

My, how time flys 

Christmas/New Year’s letter still aren’t sent and it’s already March with the Easter bunny on the way…. In Feb., my neighbor Carol Bramwell and I visited the new Draper Temple, then into March - attended the BYU’s Family History Technology workshop, walked a couple of miles in Salt Lake City's St. Patrick’s Day parade, my sister Jane packed up and moved to Denver to accept a regional position with the Veteran’s Administration system, me gone 6 days to see my granddaughter Aimee in Washington DC, where I also helped conduct some business for the American Clan Gregor Society. And here I was wondering if I was a mostly a slacker… maybe not?

Now it is girls’ weekend to supposedly get some scrapbooking and journaling done. I have to keep reminding myself that we are sort of on vacation and if we don’t jump right to the task at hand, but watch TV and snack a lot instead, it’s OK . Becky has already blogged a bunch about the girls’ weekend so I don’t need to get into that. See http://randomlyoddbits.blogspot.com/

Smarter Than a Two Year Old?

So, what'cha gonna do? You have loaned your favorite bracelets to your two year old granddaughter so she can amuse herself while she visits you, tries on the costume jewelry necklaces, and fills a couple of fingers with CTR rings, then dances around the living room, with three visiting neighbor kids. Later, when it is time for her to return to Wyoming, only one bracelet is to be found - the Austrian glass trade beads from Jamestown, Virginia trip with my sister Jane. But not the ropes of silver strands one. So you ask the two year old, and her 7 year old sister, and they smile, but that's not the right answer....

So after the kids leave, and you are cleaning up, shaking out the bedclothes to wash sheets, and looking under the beds, giving those corners of the playroom a dose of your eagle eye, you think - oh relax, it is only a bracelet.... Yes, but it was a favorite. I don’t even remember how long I have had it - maybe purchased in Sheridan, Wyoming at Kraft's Jewelers when I bought some other Indian jewelry a long time ago. Buck up, just go get another one. But (in a whiney voice) it has been fun to wear it every day, reminding me that I am retired and no longer have the "no jewelry" restriction of working at the hospital and wearing scrubs.

Well, tomorrow is Sunday and I should vacuum one more time down here where the kids were playing and eating potato chips. Becky said something about Connor hiding his baby sister Emma's binky clip in one of his toys. You know how it is when you have to move toys to get the crud out from under them - surely not, but let's look in the trunk of the riding car. Glory Be! What is that shiny thing sticking out of the pencil case?? Halleluiah! It is my bracelet! LOL! I just had to take a photo :-)







Bracelets reunited :-) the third one with the magnets clasp is one Jane gave to me last fall on our way to join all those MacGregors in Georgia and Tennessee. The stone is buttermilk amber, traditionally from the Black Sea in Europe, and the silver is from spoon handles, made by Jane's friend Karen.



This is almost as good a mystery solved as the binky found hidden deep under the rigging in the Don Cox saddle, not to mention the plastic cell phone in the saddle bag.

Maybe if my brain was wired like a two year old, I'd get a lot more fun out of life! LOL