Family Feathers

I've been to the mountain and back and all future vacations will be at sea level where oxygen is plentiful and nothing more then shorts and a t-shirt are needed.  I had grandiose plans of taking the family to the Rocky Mountains for a little fun in the snow.  In hindsight, I realize now that bouncing back from bronchitis doesn't necessarily mean you are ready to don 50 extra pounds of clothes and trek up a mountain with three children in tow, all of whom need assistance getting their own snow gear on.   I believe I was approaching a near death experience as I sat on the bumper of the jeep in the extreme cold of the public parking lot trying to shove my son's foot into a boot that looked like he could walk through swamps or pools of nuclear waste.  These were the biggest, heaviest boots I've ever seen and I had to wonder why he selected these.  They warded off cold and water and probably cute girls, too. As I gasped for oxygen and forced children into clothing that d

   Wolf!!!!   No.... This is my backyard where Randi Hope and Jaci are checking out the new snowfall.  In an earlier post, "Hope Comes in Many Forms" I told the story of how Randi Hope came to be.  This is simply a quick update on Randi and what she's up to.  I've received comments from people who wonder why the deer is not afraid of the dog, but you have to understand that they have been raised together. I'm not certain the deer even knows she's a deer.  She imprinted on my husband and she believes she is supposed to lounge around on the pool deck eating pistachios and sipping Sam Adams beer when nobody is looking.      She is free to roam the woods, but she stays here with her dog friends in a make-shift stable where they all pile together at night.   She is gone at the moment and I can only guess that her boyfriend, Turner from the woods, has lured her out for some reindeer games or a little mischief.   She always comes home after a few days and I'm

Southern Snow!  Nothing is more exciting than the possibility of snow in the southern Delta.   Moms race to the grocery store to stock up on bread and milk so they are prepared should the seventh seal be opened or we are snowed in for more than a few hours.  It's not like we don't already have enough groceries on hand to sustain a small army, but you never know when one might need some fresh guacamole and home-made salsa to fight off the cold.  I stand ready to meet these needs.  Kids begin mining for hats and gloves and full Arctic expedition gear in case we get that 1 - 3 inches of snow that will stop everything in its tracks.   The news anchors report about being prepared and sheltering in place.  That particular term, "Shelter In Place"  makes me think of a concrete bunker, cans of tuna and bottles of water.  My children understand that to mean that we have raced to the video store and have half a dozen of the latest movies, we have ice cream in an assortment of

The classic game of Monopoly comes in many different versions.  My daughter has the "Pink Boutique" version that comes in a fashionable pink suede box and offers trips to wonderful shopping spots around the globe with a simple roll of the dice.  My son owns the latest Monopoly World edition that comes with titles to cities around the world, six credit cards, and an ATM machine.  Somewhere in my past I owned the traditional game with paper money and a  race car playing piece that we all fought over.  At the beginning of our modern day game of Monopoly, we each had 20 million dollars.  I was the only adult at the table and sadly, twenty minutes later, I was broke, had mortgaged seven large European cities and owed my daughter a million dollars for an illegal loan not allowed by the Monopoly guy.  My son was building sky-rise hotels in Istanbul and Kyiv and charging his own mother $9 million every time I stopped by to say hello.  It didn't take long to realize that my chil