A little bit of Fall nesting going on.

 The other day I was out looking at the grapes.  I came across this.  Aren't they so lovely?  Did you know that people have phobia's of dragonflies?  What do you think of this one Matt K.?

Mr. Ted here loves the pumpkins.  He'll bite the stems and roll them around.  I had a few of them on my fireplace hearth and he would decide to play with them in the middle of the night.

 I love to see this when I go walking.  I always have my camera in case I come across the momma deer and her two babies.

 I got this shot of Mt. Baker while I was waiting at the bus stop for the younger kids. The corn was almost ready to be cut down.

 The day after the corn was cut down I kept hearing all kinds of chirping and screeching sounds.  I was on our couch watching out the window and saw a bald eagle and a hawk fighting on the ground.  I ran outside to catch a pic, but scared them off.

 You can see the eagle in the middle of the picture.

 The two eagles are sitting on the branch sticking out the farthest.  The hawk is circling above them.  After observing them for a few hours I think the hawks must have a nest close by in another stand of trees.

 I got these shots while I was coming back from trying to get pictures of the eagles and hawks.  I'm sad the corn is gone.  It was so beautiful and I loved listening to them rustling in the wind.  Speaking of wind, the pine trees around the house sway like crazy when it's windy.  Sometimes it's a little freaky.  None of them are close enough to fall on the house.  I made sure of that.

 Waiting for the little kids to get off the bus.  Izzie knows when the are coming and gets so excited.

 Love the pumpkins they have along the roads here.

 The house is somewhat clean so I thought I would show some of my fall decorating. 

 Not a fan of the drapes in the house.  Oh well, just have to work with them.

 These are the hazelnuts that I gathered, dried and peeled. 

The poplars down the road.  I am waiting for them to turn colors.  Can't wait!

Ella's very noisy birthday party.

 Ella celebrated her 12th birthday. 

Why does it get harder and harder for me when my kids have another birthday?

She had some really amazing kids come and celebrate with her.  I was impressed with how polite they were.  What shocked me the most was how much all the kids get along with another.  There was not one speck of drama or tantrums within the group.  They all got along really well.

 Big sister Anna made the cake, Daddy frosted it and Mom put the 1D on it.  It's not a beauty but it's made with tons of love.

I had all the kids stand with Ella for a picture.  It was one of those tender Mother moments to see my daughter being loved by others.  As you can see Ella is the tallest of all her friends.  She just takes it all in stride. 

Happy Birthday to my beautiful blue eyed little girl!

The tale of two friends.

Our little Nutmeg has past away.  We were all very sad to see him go, but we know that it was his time.  He's not suffering anymore.

We got Nutmeg from our friends in New Mexico several years ago.  His name when he came to us was Thomas.  Anna quickly changed that and gave him a very cutsie name of Nutmeg.  I'm sure that really got his goat.  Right from the start he was very affectionate with the all of us.  Sometimes a little too affectionate.  We would take him to the park and play tag with him.  Where ever we went, he would follow. 

It wasn't until we moved to Washington that we realized that Izzie, our older dog loved Nutmeg and didn't want to hurt him.  They became the best of friends, spending almost all their time together.  Then we got Buster.  Nutmeg and Buster were almost the same size and spent hours playing together.  Then Buster was killed and Nutmeg and Izzie were very sad.  They couldn't tell me themselves but they acted sad and depressed.  They became even closer.  We would let Nutmeg spend almost all his time outside with Izzie because we knew that Izzie would keep him safe.

Several weeks ago we noticed that Nutmeg was loosing weight.  I found out that his teeth had over grown and caused some abscesses on his mouth.  We took care of the teeth and got him on some medicine for the infection.  He just didn't seem like his old self.  He was slowly eeating and making progress, but it wasn't enough.  Toward the end he would sleep on Izzies dirty old chair in the garage.  It's the chair that Izzie sleeps on when she's been outside playing in the mud.  I kept him in his cage a lot more so I could monitor his food and water more. 

A few days ago I had Troy helping me make a grapevine wreath.  We decided the get Nutmeg out for some fresh air.  We put him down right by us and by the time we were done he was gone.  We looked every where for him.  I was stressed because I knew he wasn't strong enough to be left outside.  The family kept looking for him, day and night.  We would have Izzie help us too.  I knew she was worried. 

This morning Soren was out helping me pick blackberries and he found Nutmeg right by Izzie's doghouse.  Izzie had found Nutmeg and brought him back to us.  I have a feeling that Nutmeg went out to die.  He knew it was his time, even though I was trying so hard to make him better.  Izzie is sad that her friend is gone.  She made sure to bring him home to us.  Troy and Logan went and dug a grave right next to Busters.  The kids all came out and said goodbye to him.

It's so hard to loose a pet.  I find that I become way to attached to them.  It makes me angry when people say that animals don't have feelings.  They haven't seen Izzie in her grief when she lost Buster and then Nutmeg.  Those two were an unlikely pair.

A dog and a bunny.

We still have our Izzie girl who we are loving like crazy right now.  A few hours ago she was inside looking out the kitchen window when she realized the kids had gone for a walk down to the pond without her.  I let her out the door and she ran straight to the kids.  Troy and I just stood at the window and watched her.  I got a little choked up at the unconditional love that Izzie has for the kids.  The kids love her back that much too.  We have our Poppy and Ted.  The cats and Izzie just ignore each other. 

We will keep our eyes open and watch Izzie and make sure she does OK.  We are all sad and it will take time to heal.  I just think we were really lucky to have Nutmeg in our lives.

Homecoming night at the Dunow's

First of all my camera wasn't the greatest last night.  I'm very upset about this.  It was my little girls first Homecoming dance and her pictures are yucky.  Good thing she's beautiful.  Can't say that much for the Daddy that's teasing his little girl.

 Anna went with her friend Cypress.  They met some other girls at the dance.  It kills me how long her legs are.

 Aren't they they gorgeous?  I had so much fun fixing their hair!

 Cathy is Cypress's Mom.  She has become such a dear friend of mine.  She's always smiling and laughing.  Matt is just trouble.  Just kidding Matt. 

 Troy is trouble too.  Not joking either.  He teases way too much.

 Logan took Megan to the dance.  She's such a cute little thing.  He forgot the corsage at the house and had to drive clear back to get it. 

 Anna was getting bored waiting to leave.

 Ok, these photo's are really funny to me.  Can you tell the difference between the girls who have gone to the dances before, and the girls who are pro's at this.

 This one of Anna and Logan is my favorite.  Can't believe how grown up they are.  Soren needed a picture with his big bro. 

 I decided to post this pic just for a good laugh.  She used the web cam. She is such a little drama queen.