MAGICAL LITTLE CREATURES...

Little hummingbirds just fascinate me... They're absolutely fearless! So territorial...and oh soooo cute!

So... I was out taking pictures of them yesterday when I really should have been working! Oh well... I really liked the backlighting!

RANCH LIFE...

I went to St. David this weekend to visit Barb... I LOVE Ranch Life! Although I didn't really end up taking a lot of pictures, the ones I did get were really fun!

First of all... Look at the beautiful creature that was staring at me through my bedroom window on Saturday morning! She stayed around for the longest time letting me take pictures of her!

Then there's the new Rooster, "Tyson"! He didn't start off with the name of Tyson, but was re-named when he went into viscious attack mode when anyone comes into 'his territory'! I totally fell in love with this guy! His job is to protect "his" hens, and he does it with all his heart! He jumps about 3-feet in the air and karate kicks you with his feet trying to spur you! The feathers around his face fluff, he gives you this evil eye and next thing you know, you're sporting bruises!

There are also a couple shots of her kittens, Fluffy and Milton! They're so sweet! I LOVE kitten energy.

Went horseback riding on Saturday. Sooooo much fun!

I could easily become a farm girl!!

MORE DOG BEACH PHOTOS!

THE LEAVES ARE A-CHANGIN'...

This weekend Squirt and I had a chance to run up to the cabin to check out the changing color. Because most of the trees in the Heber area are pines, there's not a lot of color change, but there was some! Every year I forget how pretty the fall colors are!

RACE FOR THE CURE...BREAST CANCER WALK - 2009

I finally had a chance to be part of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk! One of about 30,000 people !! It was so organized and such an inspirational event!

I walked with some of the people from Liberty Wildlife... I walked in memory of Julie Rissman, who sadly, succumbed to breast cancer right around this time last year.

There were bands, cheerleaders, people handing out water, ice tea, and energy drinks! It was so much fun!

TRIP TO INDY - SEPTEMBER 24-28TH, 2009

Mom and I took a fun trip to Indianapolis this month so she could meet her newest Great-Grandchild, Haidyn! What a cutie! And Kennedy is getting so big!! We hadn't see Bill and Dianne and the family in so long.... We had a great time!

Had to stop at the first White Castle we saw, of course!

The first day we went with Lisa to Kennedy's gymnastics class in the morning... in an ELITE gym, nonetheless! In the afternoon we went to "Monkey Joes"! I'm not sure who had more fun; Kennedy or me!! Great photo ops because it was all so colorful and the expressions were priceless! But I have to say... I had just as much fun playing on the slides! There are times I just have to have a child with me so I don't look like a complete idiot playing on all the kids bouncy slides!

Bill and Dianne took us to the Indianapolis Speedway! What an awesome track! Too bad the Indy cars weren't racing that day! I WILL ride in one someday!! Went through the museum to see former race cars and then out to the pits to see some stock cars racing! Actually, some of the drivers were giving the public rides and some were paying a heavy price to race around the track by themselves!

Went to the bar with Bill, Dianne and Lisa and listened to some Karaoke! It was hard to keep Mom from getting up to sing...but we managed! (Just kidding!)

And...White Castles! Did I mention we had a few White Castles??!

Thanks, guys...for a GREAT time!

DOG BEACH - 2009

Squirt and I hit the road for an awesome trip to Ocean Beach in San Diego! We went back to Dog Beach from September 10-13! We hadn't been there for about 6 years! What a blast! We stayed at the Ocean Villa Inn! It actually backs up to Dog Beach so it was so easy to run back and forth to the room!

For all the fear Squirt shows of water when I try to get him to go in the pool, I couldn't keep him out of the ocean! We walked MILES back and forth the length of the beach!

I met another photographer on the beach who told me about the "Dog Surfing" Championships to be held at Del Mar Dog Beach on Sunday! Though I couldn't take a lot of pictures because there were about 3,000 people there and I couldn't go out deep enough in the water without drowning Squirt to get good shots, it was a alot of fun just the same!

Bob drove down to San Diego while I was there. He was going watch Brianna in a softball game in town, so we caught a quick breakfast before the game! Check out the bread pudding, covered in yogurt, topped with granola and fresh strawberries and blueberries! Yum!

Squirt and I also did a morning at Balboa Park... Lots of great photo ops!

With the 3 nights I stayed in the motel we got 2 additional nights for free to be used between January and May 2010... so we'll be making a return trip early next year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Happy Birthday, Mom! 85 years YOUNG today!

I'm so proud of you! Water aerobics 5 times/week... Line dancing or exercise class when the pool is too cold during the winter! You can run circles around me!

You can also consume more Culver's Custard than I can!! The proof is in the pictures! And as Culver's says... "you're 365 Flavors of the Day older"!

Anyway...it was a fun day! Shopped, ate...ate some more...and then got around to the best part...opening gifts! We'll save the Casino trip for another day!

Wishing you many, many more! Love you Mom...

A TAD overheated....the car, that is!

Headed up to the cabin last weekend, it was about 115-degrees! We rented a U-Haul to take up the last mattress/box spring combination. I never thought about turning off the A/C while climbing the hills up to Heber… But, I guess I should have!

The car totally overheated! A cop stoppd by and said it had been called in that "the car was on fire and they weren’t sure…but they thought the person that opened th hood was too"! Gotta love a person with a great imagination, a cell phone and too much time on their hands!

Anyway, after about 30 minutes hanging out by the side of the road, we were on our way! It was long enough to pull out the camera, though, and get a few pictures!

The rest of the weekend was great! About mid-60s at night and high 80’s during the day! AHHHHHHH!

Happy 4th of July!!

And Happy Birthday to Grandma Aldrich, too! (She would have been 111 today!)

This is Mom's topiary bunny dressed in his patriotic garb!

As I write this post, fireworks are booming in the distance! They're just below the treeline from here, but Mom will have a front-row seat over at her place! Last night Mom, Joe and I went up to Cave Creek for the annual Fireworks display! Every year we say it was better than the last! It was a great display with lots of new designs!

Since my creativity (and energy level) is totally running on empty right now, our big 4th of July meal today was hot dogs and chips! Oh, and Mom brought the dessert and appetizers! Where is Martha Stewart when you really need her??

Hope everyone had a fun holiday weekend!

HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY, PUFFIN!

Sunday, June 21st, we celebrated the BIG-20 for Mom's Cockatiel, Puffin! The average age for a cockatiel is 13-15 years!! I'm sure it's because he has the best life in the world! He's always soooo busy...just like his Mom! He runs over to the counter in the morning to have his breakfast, takes bird baths in his giant heated pool, and can be found admiring himself in any one of the 15 or so mirrors hung up around the house just for him! He also gets no less than 6-7 different types of food every morning... Wow, over 20 years that means she's prepared 7,300 meals for him!

He also has started playing on his own little elevated play gym suspended over Mom's enclosed porch. It's a little structural miracle made up of intersecting ladders and yes...more mirrors. There is even a little house up there for him (modified kleenex box) with, yep, you guessed it...a mirror inside! He'll play up there for hours! Lately, tho, with temperatures getting up in the low 100's, he can only stay outside for a couple hours in the morning! Come fall, he'll be spending the better part of his days out there!

Anyway... We celebrated with his own special cake, lots of gifts and cupcakes for us! Oh yeah... a lunch of Chinese food, too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY little buddy...and many more!!

Extreme Makeover...THE VIDEO!

Okay…because I couldn’t help myself, I had to play with the feature on my video camera that does “interval recording”. I thought the five-hour span of time for the kitchen remodel would be a good test! I edited out some of the time that nothing was happening and speeded it up for effect… Kind of fun! The whole metamorphosis only took 2.5 minutes! Geez, those guys were fast!

Our own Florence Nightingale...

We have our own Florence Nightingale in our midst! Mom saved the life of two baby doves today!

She's been watching a nest of babies in her carport and today went out to find the smaller of the two babies on her driveway. Almost mistaking it for dead, she put it in a box to get it out of the hot sun. Within about 1/2 hour the other baby tried flying and ended up in the stones. (Phoenix's version of "grass"!)

First solo flights don't always go real smoothly and today was no exception. She gathered up the other baby and put it in the box with the first one on her patio. Within a short time the mother dove was IN the box with her babies. She put out some bird seed and water for Mom and she stayed snuggled up with her babies all day on the patio. Before nightfall, the older of the two babies flew up to the rooftop of the house next door to be with the mother. The smallest baby took up refuge under a Hibiscus plant for the night!

Way to go Mom... You saved two little lives today!

Miss you Dad...

It's been twelve years today since Dad passed away and I still miss him so much... So, it's my "Tribute to Dad Day"!

Dad never met a stranger...everyone was his friend! He was such a "people-person". Humm, I guess that gene must have skipped a generation with me! I sort of believe that the more I know people, the more I love my animals! They're so 'non-judgemental'!!

I remember that if I wanted to talk to him as a kid growing up, I usually had to lean over the engine of a car that he, Bob and Bill were working on! Not that it was a bad thing! I totally understood the engine of the Mustang! I could gap my own spark plugs, change my own oil, change belts and hoses... Now with everything so computerized only Bill has a clue of what goes on under the hood! Oh... and I've just given up changing my oil... When it gets really bad, I just sell the car! (Just kidding, Bill!)

We had such a great childhood... Two wonderful supportive parents!

Remember:

• Tawas and the "Hobby Lot"?
• "Rock a Teeter" with Roberta and Annette?
• Building the garage on Rosemont?
• The trailer and the mini-bikes?
• The Honda 50's?? (One green, one purple!)
• Time spent on the farm with Aunt Von and Uncle Len?
• The boats and water skiing?

Great Memories! I'm going to have to dig out some old pictures!!

Love you Dad!!

Extreme Makeover...The Home Edition!

Finally the dust has settled, but it was all worth it! We had granite countertops, new sinks and faucets installed this week in the kitchen and both bathrooms! It's beautiful! The granite slab has so much fire! It really gives a much warmer feel to the rooms...

The sinks were chosen solely for the comfort of the cats! They're the perfect size to curl up in! But, they're NOT spoiled, really!!

We're going to re-do the tub and shower in the master bath with tile as the next project and I'm going to install stacked stone under the counter by the barstools and over the "phone desk" in the kitchen. Hey, I took the free "Tile installation for Women" class at Home Depot and I'm ready to re-tile the whole house... Look Out! :)

Legacy Ranch, Heber, AZ

This is the 21,000 s.f. Legacy Ranch by Black Canyon Lake with it's man-made lake between the 'house' and the barn!

Memorial Day Weekend at the Cabin...

We just got back from spending a LAZY couple days at the cabin! Actually, I'm not usually that lazy, it's just that it rained most of the time so my options for hiking with Squirt were limited! We did manage to get out every time the rain let up, tho! Saturday afternoon we even had huge hail come pelting down!

We drove over to Legacy Ranch by Black Canyon Lake. This ranch sits on acres and acres, anchored by a 'tiny little' 21,000 s.f. log home! Next to that is a man-made lake leading to this beautiful red and white barn! Usually there are llamas in the pasture, but this weekend, even the llamas weren't out! Apparently, it's owned by the people that own the "In-Flight" magazine that you see on planes! Hummmm, just think about that the next time something in their catalog seems a bit pricey! You're actually helping to finance this massive ranch!

The nights were cool and Joe built a couple blazing fires in the fireplace! We tossed in some of the pine cones that Mom gave us that makes the fire dance in bright blue and purple colors! And I had a chance to catch up on some of the reading that I never seem to have time to do!

A great weekend, but way too short!

Culver's... YUM!!

I finally got a day off, so Mom and I headed over to one of our favorite places...Culver's!! Mom just tells the girl at the counter that she wants anything (or maybe she said "everything") they have that's chocolate! She settled on a Chocolate-Caramel Sundae with Whipped Cream and a Cherry...DOUBLE-SCOOP! She's really hard core!

I got their "Flavor of the Day"... Raspberry Cobbler! It was awesome!

Did I mention that she all but licked the cup clean when she was finished??!!

My Dog Has a Blog...

Okay, this has only been up and running for about 2 days now and I decided "The Del'Ve Family Blog" just sounded a little too boring! Not that we're a boring bunch or anything, but "Rodent Dog Blog" just has a better ring to it! I named the blog after Squirt...

If you don't happen to know how he got the nickname of 'Rodent Dog', it happened at Agility class one night. Barb, my girlfriend and the instructor, looked over into the tall grass where Squirt was laying and all you could see were his nose and those giant ears coming up out of the grass. She told me he looked like a 'Giant Rodent'! The name just kind of stuck...

Personally, I think giant rodents are kind of cute! And really, sometimes Squirt's life is a lot more exciting than mine! So now... My dog has a blog! But, he'll share it with the rest of the family so we can all keep in touch! What do you think??

Now all I have to do is figure out why the aspect ratio of the slideshow got out of whack! It was fine yesterday when I set it up!! Cyberspace seems to work in strange ways!!

Mother's Day at Schnepf Farms...

Okay... I thought it was about time to start a personal blog so that everyone scattered all over the country can check in to see what's going on here in sunny Phoenix! (Actually, very sunny today...about 102 degrees sunny!!) And...If I've set it up right, everyone in the family can also add their own posts, pictures and videos so it will be easier to keep up with what everyone else is up to!

For Mother's Day today, Mom and I went out to Schnepf Farms and picked fresh peaches right off the tree! What a blast! Mom found the best trees that were just LOADED with peaches after she walked down the "railroad tracks" a ways!! (Okay, so they were 'kiddie train tracks', but you get the idea!)

After that we went to the "Down on the Farm" restaurant right there on the grounds of Schnepf Farms for a late breakfast where I had the opportunity to practice my waitressing skills! I guess one of the cooks didn't up and they were more than a little backed up, so we ate on very high-end styrofoam carry-out containers on our own private patio...as long as I served the coffee and food and was able to scrounge around to find silverware! Ha...never let it be said I don't do things 'First Class'!! Hey, at least I didn't have to cook the food too!

We took home some AWESOME Peach Cinnamon Rolls and a Fresh Peach Pie that we used in place of dinner to celebrate the day! Everyone chipped in for Mom's trip to Indianapolis, which we're trying to get scheduled for this summer!