Christmas Greetings from Floyd & Jeanie

December 2011

Dear Family & Friends,

I'm happy to be visiting with you again as another year comes to an end. I love being in touch with each of you. Here are some different ways to contact us including my beloved US Postal Service (P.O. Box 996, Inyokern, CA 93527) and the good old telephone! (You can remove our landline number from your files because it's gone. Floyd's cell is 760-677-9162 and mine is 760-677-9174.) Email Floyd at salyer@iwvisp.com and me at jeanie1951@yahoo.com. Visit the blog upon occasion at simplystated4u.blogspot.com and please leave me a comment! I'm on Facebook (search for Jeanie Salyer). I turn to Facebook quite often to get snippets of news from those important to me and to send out little slices of our life as the year proceeds.

As our card and letter arrive in your mailbox, I hope you're doing well and have had a good year. Overall, our year has been a good one! Floyd completed a couple of neat projects for his buddy including a large shed and a fancy chicken coop. Both buildings were Floyd's own design and turned out very nice. The chicken coop was especially challenging to put up because it needed to be built in a very narrow side yard and on an incline!

Interpreting assignments are way down lately, and so I might have had only ten assignments this year. I had plenty of scrapbooking events, cardmaking workshops, books to read, letters and blog posts to write, plus time spent with family and friends whenever possible to keep me busy.

On April 20th, Floyd & I celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary at a new restaurant in Ridgecrest called Maddy's Cafe. We had a wonderful time and a delicious dinner.

It was a great year for La Leche League of Ridgecrest with the ideal number of 10-12 moms (plus their little ones) attending each monthly meeting. In May, the new Leader I was training was accredited, and several of us attended the LLL of So. CA Conference. July and August were busy with preparations for and holding an event for World Breastfeeding Week which is 1-7 August every year. I am now training another Leader Applicant.

In the Spring, two longtime interpreting friends, Diane and Derby, and I went to the Deaf West production of "Pinocchio." We had a great time, and Derb treated us to a wonderful dinner afterward.

We were very sad to say goodbye to our beloved Mollie the Blue Tick Hound in May. She was such a faithful, well-behaved dog who will always hold a special place in our hearts. I remember 16 years ago when we went to choose a puppy, she picked me by sitting on my foot and not moving till we picked her up to take her home with us. One of our kitty-cats, Sunshine, had grown especially close to Mollie, and it was obvious he couldn't figure out where his friend had gone. We would find him lying alone on the bedroom floor where Sunshine and Mollie had spent so much time snuggled up together. Eventually, Sunshine has accepted the loss and now spends more time with us than he ever did while Mollie was living.

All of our other cats are doing well, although Blaze was anemic and feeling out of sorts recently. We improved her diet, added feline vitamins, and are generally trying to boost her immune system. Her normally pink pads had lost all color, but they're now pink again. Blaze is our little mischief maker, and she is again getting into all sorts of things, so we know she's feeling like herself again. Sadie, our Great Pyrenees watchdog is outstanding at her job and is such a sweetheart!

When I turned 60 in September, I threw a big party and invited people from all eras and phases of my life. It was a good turn out and a fun time. Jacqueline, Pine, my dad, brother & sister-in-law, aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, and a whole bunch of friends joined us to help celebrate! Every day we have is a Gift!!

We hope you'll have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2012!




{Snowman card at top made at Nov. 2011 Stampin' Up Christmas Card Club!}

Happy Birthday, Little Lucky-13!

Here she is, the Birthday Girl.

June 8, 2011 marked one year since we found a tiny little kitten under our deck steps. We call the 8th her birthday because as close as we can figure she was newly born hours before we heard her incessant crying and eventually brought her indoors to baby, nurture, and love.

Now, the pocket on the tee-shirt I'm wearing is clearly too small for Lucky to squeeze into like she did around June 10th, last year. You can see she is a small cat, but she continues to gain and is solid muscle.

It's been an adventure, and Lucky still believes she rules the roost. She's always ready for a game of chase with any of the other cats whether they're in the mood or not.

Her most endearing quality at this time is the way she jumps up on the bed as soon as Floyd turns in for the night and begins padding with both her front and back paws. She purrs loudly while she rhythmically kneads the blanket. We call it Paddy Paws or Paddy Purrs. She moves around as she pads and puts her face near Floyd's showing that all is right with Lucky's world.

Happy Birthday, Little Girl!

Below are more shots of her taken this month.











Thanks for stopping by!

hugs,

Well, Whadda Ya Know?

I recently learned a piece of exciting information about the newest member of our family.

As you see here, she is a beautiful Tortoiseshell cat in shades of black and gold. Notice her paws: the front left is gold, while the right front is black. Her back left paw (not shown) is black, while her back right paw is gold. I just think that's so cool. She is perfectly balanced, but not symmetrical!

Her eyes are also golden and usually, very serious. We "inherited" this sweet, affectionate kitty when we lost my dear, former brother-in-law, Art, and she needed a good home. Originally, she was my former mother-in-law's cat. When Grandma passed away, she lived with Grandpa till his passing, then with Art. I had heard her name many, many times over the years, and even "met" her during my visits to Grandpa.

But until yesterday, I'd never seen her name spelled out and mistakenly assumed it was spelled: J-U-L-I-E. When she came to live with us, I began calling her Miss Julie-Jewels because she is such a jewel of a cat. Loving, well-behaved, well-mannered, never a bother!

Yesterday, Pine showed me the Christmas card Grandpa had written her in 2001. In among the other treasures contained in his handwriting, there it was...the CORRECT spelling of her name: J-E-W-E-L-Y. Grandma & Grandpa obviously saw what a jewel of a kitten she was when they brought her home some eight years ago.

So, it's now official, she is Jewely, a.k.a., Miss Jewely-Jewels, Baby Girl, Sweet Girl, and who knows how many more names she'll earn over the coming years!