Hang on, Mom, I think Will set the trash can on fire....

Will loves to clean out the fireplace. He loves to take it from messy and full of ashes to swept nicely clean. We have a fire almost every night and anytime Will has an extra ten minutes, he cleans it out. This morning was no different, except I wouldn't let him do it because we went to church. After church, Will gets the trash can and cleans it out. He took the trashbag and put it in the outside trash. A bit later I notice the outside trashcan is smoking. I go out, lift the lid and sure enough there is a small slow fire with papers and the ashes. Apparently Will (in his autistic mode) didn't notice the heat of the coals or ashes and just scooped them up. I turned the hose on and checked with the local fire department to see if there was anything else I needed to do. I was told to turn the ashes into mud and fill up the can. And to call back if there were problems. He kinda thought it was funny, so maybe this happens fairly often. Of course, Steve was at work, so he missed it! AGAIN! Like just last week when the boys opened a second story window and hung out of it while wearing hard hats.

And just an FYI:

The Portales Fire Department has a response time of five minutes or less to my house.

The Roosevelt General ER only needs to ask me which kid it is anymore.

The Roosevelt County Sheriff's department knows not to leave their trucks anywhere near the boys and we have already had a lengthy chat about what constitutes criminal mischief.

The Second Amendment Rocks..........

This is the enemy......

This is the solution..............

Ok, the AR-15 isn't mine, but I loved firing it!
The .22 rifle is mine
and I love it!
The world is safe from
an alliance of
bad hay bales and rogue pumpkins.

We lasted a week.................

We lasted a week without a dog. We grieved for our dear Mickey. We floundered in sadness, all of us. Then we went to Caprock Vet and looked at Dr. Bartlett's rescue dogs. We saw this one dear one with a cute face. While we were visiting with her, her cage mate unlatched the gate and ran over to see us too. We went home and thought about them. Then we decided that we absolutely couldn't split them up. So we adopted both of them. They are both about six months old. They are sweet and lovely. And playful! The lab mix is named Cricket and the mix is called Holly. They have helped ease the pain in our hearts. We still miss our dear Mick, as we miss all of them, but their love helps fill the void. And they are so grateful to have found their forever family.

School......they grew

Our kiddos have grown so much. These are the pictures from this year, taken by Donita of Times Remembered. She is fantastic with a gift for bringing out the true personality of her subjects!

The Passing of Mickey Rooney....

It is the end of an era. Today our beloved, Mickey, was released from his pain. He joins his dearest friend, Maggie. Mickey was a wonderful dog, even said from the unbiased. He came to us as a small broken puppy. Just six pounds, he was covered in road rash and had a broken leg. A vet with a heart refused to euthanize him right then and there. This sweet pup with the loving eyes deserved a chance. So we came on as "foster" parents who knew that it would be a permanent post. Mick was ours, and we were his. He grew, and then grew again. And then he grew even more. He topped out at about 115 pounds. Long of limb, he enjoyed bounding along with Maggie bulleting by his side. Sometimes that old broken leg would hurt, and he would tripod his way through life. Always happy. He could sing along to "Old MacDonald" and remember to woof in the right places. He could also sing his own songs.

Mickey moved with us to the country side of New Mexico. He discovered the joys of being a country dog. Chasing errant cows, treeing the cat and chasing guineas were all things he enjoyed. Mickey also loved the snow. He was the first one to go out and play and the last one to come in.

Mickey loved his job with his family. Those were his babies. No one who didn't have his approval could get near them. And even then they were closely watched. When the therapists came to work with the twins, he was right there. Any floor time with a child also meant floor time with Mickey. One therapist refered to him as "the Bubble Nazi" because no bubbles were permitted to touch the floor--ever. The children were always safe from rogue bubbles.

We some times called him the "Fun Police" because any horsing around that caused the kids to squeal and scream was quickly dispersed by him.

Mickey went on vacation to Ute Lake this past summer. He loved being with "his" kids and by "his" it also meant the Gramzow kids. He got to go to the beach and play in the lake. He fussed and cried if his kids swam out too far. He perfered that everyone stay in chest deep water-his chest deep. He was able to ramble freely all over a spit of land with no leash or tether. He spent the evenings with Jori and I, with his head over one of the house's A/C floor vents.

But the past couple of weeks held little joy for one so happy. His back hurt, his legs hurt, things had gotten so confusing. He cried at night. He paced. He isolated from his beloved family. We think it was either a stroke or dementia. Finally last night, as Steve sat with him and tried to hold his paw, he lashed out in pain. Mickey the gentle giant could hold it together no more. He was on every arthritis med and painkiller we could give him, but it was time.

Kindly our vet, Dr. Bartlet, and her assitant, Joan, came to the house and Mickey slipped into his deep sleep. We so miss our "Mouse". We buried him next to Maggie and are very sure that even now, they romp and play as they had in their youth. Joined by Sprocket who was there first.

Good Bye, my baby Mickey. You gave us 12 wonderful years. I love you and I can't wait to see you again.

Mickey Rooney

8/1996 - 9/2008

Baldies........

Some of you have heard of a friend from Dora who has osteosarcoma, bone cancer. Lance is 8 and is in the third grade. He is under going treatment at St. Jude's. Well, chemo being what it is, Lance's hair started to fall out......so he shaved it. My boys wanted to support Lance in his fight. Here is the result:

Soccer Saturday

We had a blast last Saturday on an all day soccer high. It was a beautiful day, hence we all got sun touched because it wasn't so hot we felt we didn't needed sunscreen.

Caitlyn's team, the Dragon Ladies, started off with a great first game. I have never seen Caitlyn play so well. She ran, she chased and she fought for that ball. She had her first stint as keeper and nothing got by her. I was afraid that she would fall into her old habit of keeping back from the scuffle. I couldn't have been more wrong. She didn't score, but it wasn't for a lack of effort on her part. I am so proud of her. The game was a delight with wonderful sportsmanship on both sides. They played a wonderful team called the Killer Bees and those girls are good! We won 3-2. Parents on boths sides agreed that it was an exciting game and we were all very happy with our girls.

Next game - a game for the FireBalls. Jim decided he wanted to play. And so did Ambrelyn. What! A 4 year old girl on a U6 boy's team? There were NO U5 girls teams from Portales to put her on. Rather than stick her with U6 girls she didn't know (or worse with the U8 team her sisters are on) we stuck her on the Fireballs. Coach Ben had watched her in practice and had no worries. She was a tiger. She got into the flow and would go toe to toe with any of the boys. At one point the other coach called out to the players to get them to stop, "Hey, Boys" and Ambrelyn called back, "No, I'm a girl." Also another player took a deliberate hit at her. She told him off and then told his coach. We were laughing so hard.

But the highlight wasn't Ambrelyn's game(though I am sure Jori would disagree!) It wasn't Wild Bill's 5 goals and amazing save. It wasn't Conner going after the ball like a rat terrier. It was James. Mr. I Am Not Good At Anything. Coach and I decided not to play Will and Jim at the same time. Jim took the field, got aggressive and scored a goal. We were cheering, Jim was beaming! And from the sidelines comes William. Yelling and hugging his brother, so happy that his brother made a goal. It brought me to tears. Will was telling everyone, "that's my brother". Then Jim went on to score ANOTHER goal! It was incredible. Then when my heart was bursting, Conner was upset because "everyone is scoring goals but me!" Jim takes Conner to the center line to get ready, puts his arm around Conner and says, "Don't worry, this time it's your turn." I darned near bawled! The Fireballs won the field!

Then (because this was a marathon soccer day) we had the girls' second game. Once again, Caitlyn played hard. She was able to do some fancy guarding and passing and assisted Haileah into a goal. They worked very well together. The girls were definitly more tired at this point but they stayed strong. Haileah and another young lady bounced off each other and the parents of the other girl went after our coach! The ref had to pull them off. It was so insane! I think it was sour grapes. Despite that being their second game, the Dragon Ladies were victorious again!

Such heroic efforts earned out soccer warriors the ultimate reward...Dairy Queen!