My Own Private Buffalo

I want a buffalo ranch, I want to wake up to the sight of a herd of bison running across the field. They move as one across the landscape. I think buffalo are beautiful and even more beautiful as a herd.

As this is a goal unlikely to be fulfilled I present to you a buffalo of my own.
Made with Celluclay (a fancy paper mache,) by me, every single bump. My mom refused to help. I am glad she did.

My dad suggested I give him to the Gardners (friends of ours who have a buffalo ranch) I refused flatly pointing out that they have their own bison and unless they were willing to consider an even exchange my buffalo for one of theirs they can settle for a picture.

Shall we have a contest? What to name my buffalo. Leave your suggestion in the comments. The winner gets bragging rights!

A Trip To Remember

There is snow and Portland and you know what that means, hijinks!

But let's go back to the beginning. We woke up with a start at 7:38 am MST. "No," I screamed inwardly, "It can't be time to get up yet!" I got up, padded through my parent's house to find another clock to confirm. Drat. Not only was it time to get up, we were late. So I forced Moose out of bed and we loaded up and were on the road at 8:40 MST.

At 11:40 am PST were arriving in Spokane for lunch, gas and a chat with our cousins. I pulled out my purse and found that the small bottle of coconut oil I keep as a moisturizer had melted into liquid thanks to Moose's attempt to keep me warm by roasting me with the car heater. I set it on top of the car to cool down while we ate.
At 12:40 we were on the road again headed for Portland or bust. I stopped a little short behind a bus and my coconut oil went flying off the car. We laughed hysterically and Moose retrieved it. We thought "Boy, will we remember this tip as the time I left the coconut oil on top of the car!" Cute.
At Tri-cities I was very sleepy so I stopped for more gas and to let Moose drive and wash the windows. Oh, yeah did I mention that our windshield wiper fluid was frozen until Hood River?

Since our cell phones don't work in Montana we had forgotten to charge them before we left. I had no power and Moose had one tiny bar. If only we had remembered to charge them up, we might have received some of the warning calls.
So at 4:30 we are getting a little excited, there looked like rain up ahead but there was just a little more than an hour left of the drive and there was a house fire in The Dalles visible from the road, surely it would be big news on the TV tonight. Around Hood River we hit snow. It was bad for Oregon and I was afraid they would close the road for the 2 inches of snow. The road wasn't closed and at 5:30 I thought to call La Keira to see about snow in Portland. Yes, there was a little snow on the ground about and inch. I guess she hadn't listened to the news.

We came into Portland still excited about our quick trip and being home for a reasonable dinner. Then we realized, it is 6 pm rush hour, in Portland, in a snowstorm. An hour later we had made it to the Lloyd Center Exit and had dinner at Red Robin. Everything was packed like a parking lot and 26 was closed, there isn't really an alternate route. We watched the snow fall in huge clumps and discussed the irony of driving 1,400 miles to Montana and back with no snow only to be snowed in at the Red Robin 10 miles from our house.

At 8:15, our bellies full we piled back into the car for another hour and fifteen minutes of inching our way home the remaining 10 miles. Really, waiting it out at Red Robin was genius even though we didn't get home until 9:30 pm PST, I don't think it would have been any faster had we stayed our course on the freeway, and we would have been hungry, cranky and have exploded bladders.


Blessings: We were prepared for a long trip, most people were just out in town and blindsided by the storm and didn't get home for hours and we had TONS of weight being loaded up with all the spoils of Christmas.


Boba Fett put it best. "When it snows in Portland people lose their minds." It wasn't the snow that was the problem it is the complete lack of ability to drive in snow AND the fact that there are only a few major roads in and out of Portland. There isn't anyway around it you have to go through it.

Ice Ballerinas

Skating at the Woodland Park skating rink wasn't quite the same as skating at the old Woodland Park pond. I missed the dark, smoky warming hut with ancient grafitti carved by ice skate blades and risking my life to get down the hill to the lumpy and bumpy pond that may or may not be frozen solid. Not one crazy boy climbed to the top of the hill and skated down the hill to land on the ice at great speed.
But there was an Ice Machine which Dad called a "Zambomi" but it was a Honda not a Zamboni. That was cool. You see, it was too warm to skate on the pond and the rink had skates for rent!It could have been a disaster, 3 children and 3 adults only two of them skaters and it was bit overwhelming at the beginning.
But Moose picked it up immediately,
Commander C was determined to figure it out himself,

Boba Fett was aided by the "walker."
Nutmeg refused help so we followed along behind her. Everyone was skating on their own before we left for the day.
Nutmeg liked skating between two people so she could do tricks like the above. She now wants to be an "Ice Ballerina."Grandma skated as hard as anyone and I couldn't have handled 3 kids on the ice without her. We did spins together and she taught me how to spin around while skating backwards. There were races, and cash prizes from Grandpa.
Moose and I skated several laps holding hands and even kissed. Which was fun but not as memorable as my first kiss, which happened behind the Woodland Park warming hut.

Won't You Meet Me in Montana

I am headed to Montana for my little sister's wedding. The kids are ecstatic and I am aching to see the big sky. I realized that I haven't been in Montana in the autumn since our wedding 10 years ago. Moose and I planned an outdoor Montana wedding in October and were rained out. Here's hoping my sister has better luck. If all goes well she will be wed overlooking these mountains. Yeah, that's pretty much the view from my parent's house.

Moose has to stay behind and work but will be flying in just before the wedding. This one's for you, Babe.

Sabbath Leaves

Our Beautiful World: Did you know that once Beargrass blooms and then dies, a new stalk will bloom 5-10 years after that? (Thanks to Glacier National Park for that info.)
Blessings: For a visit with my family.
Striving: to be a better wife.

Sabbath Leaves

Our Beautiful World: Big Sky Country, the sky really is bigger here.
Blessings: I am thankful for Montana, cowboys and the first Moss Family Round Up.
Striving: To pray.

Saddle Up!

We are off to Montana for the first Moss Family Round Up.
I will have cell service until the moment we hit the Montana border.
With the sunset scheduled at 9:41pm we should be pulling in just as it gets dark at 11pm.

Luckily, will not be travelling along Going to the Sun Road, so it's all good.

Do You Yudu?

Today we brought 22 black shirts and 2 pizzas to the Kang House for the first of our summer crafty days. The kids started playing and I didn't see them for the next 6 hours as I printed up our family reunion t-shirts. Boba Fett didn't want to leave, usually he is the first one to ask when we are going home.

We are pretty pleased with the results of Sarah's Yudu machine. I wish that the ink was a little more opaque though.

In other news we are busily scrubbing the house in preparation to our bi-annual trip to Big Sky Country and the first ever Moss Family Round Up. Funny how going on vacation necessitates a top to bottom house cleaning.

The House Where Samurai Mom Grew Up.

This is the house where Samurai Mom Grew up (well sort of, yes, I did grow up in this house but it was much smaller and way less cool when I lived here.)
This is the living room that I did not grow up watching TV in, this used to be our yard and deck. But now it is a large and fabulous room for having one's friends over to visit in. Note the balcony and hard wood floors and how the rooms flow so freely. We had tiny little boxes unfit for company.This is not the kitchen I learned to cook in. The original kitchen was as wide as a hallway and as long as a bathroom. It was tiny and had a cut out that looked into the living room.
This is the Living room that I did grow up watching TV in, it had pink carpet, there was a door where the china cabinet is.This is the Piano that belongs to me but lives at my parent's house. Since I don't play, I don't miss it too much, but I do love it. There used to be a wood stove and brick hearth in the corner on the left. That stove kept the house so warm that sometimes we would have to open the doors in the winter because it was so hot.
This is the bedroom I slept in from 5-8 years and 14-17 years. It used to have a dark 80's trim window that I would sometimes imagine was ebony. That is the vanity that was in my room and It is one of my favorite pieces of furniture, there is a matching dresser and bed, but the bed has structural issues. Yes that is a massage table in there. Don't ask.
This is the bedroom that I slept in from 8-14 years. My dad and the missionaries built it for my eighth birthday. (Those are my snowflake toes.)
It used to be pink with a fantastic old fashioned blue and plaster ceiling, not pictured here because it has been painted over because no one around here respects tradition. The plaster on the ceiling made little pictures that you could look up and imagine stories about - like finding shapes in the clouds.
That is the little window that was all the natural light for the room, and the fire escape. Nice.
This is the laundry chute in the bathroom. It is a hole my dad cut in the floor of the bathroom closet. I am sure a few children went down it, (never me - definitely Mr. Moss) we were always being told to keep the door shut so the current baby would not fall down it. Now there is no door and grandbabies are free to fall down the hole at will.
These are some of Boss Moss' cowboy hats. To the right you can see the sleeves of his band uniforms...Remind me to tell you about Boss Moss' musical talents some day.

This is a new addition to one of the walls in the house, a huge framed map of Montana, I am jade green with envy, my mom will not give it to me and Moose says I can't bring it home.

I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my childhood home. I meant to publish this in December but the pictures wouldn't load and then ...I forgot.

Mother Daughter Moments

On the list of things to do while in Montana there was "go antiquing" this was put off until the last day, which happened to be the day we were snowed in. I was pretty sad about it especially since there were a few things in particular I wanted to look for.

Today, I took Boba Fett's cello in to have some adjustments and found myself on Main Street in Hillsboro. There are at least 4 antique stores. Nutmeg and I popped into one and I watched as she flitted from case to case pointing out items that appealed to a 3 year old. She pointed out one of the prettiest sets of China I have ever seen, white with a fat pink band and silver flowers.

I am looking forward to more antiquing trips with my daughter. Maybe Nutmeg growing up isn't SO bad.

We saw a sewing bird only $395!

The Lovely Mrs Moss

This is The Lovely Mrs Moss. She is married to my brother Mr. Moss, and today is her birthday!
The Lovely Mrs Moss stayed married to my brother even though he forgot to bring his passport on their honeymoon and they missed their flight.
The lovely Mrs. Moss wasn't born into a family with any sisters but she sure married into one.
We love her just like a sister except we don't fight with her, she is too nice.
The Lovely Mrs Moss likes dogs.
The Lovely Mrs Moss like to go fishing and camping and such with Mr Moss and her Dad. The Lovely Mrs Moss is a true Montana girl.

The Lovely Mrs Moss is musical. She plays the violin and piano and composes music. For Christmas she composed a song for a string quartet as a gift to me.

The Lovely Mrs Moss has many friend but she and her mom are totally BFF.
The Lovely Mrs Moss is lovely as you can see. Look at that beautiful dark hair and pretty eyes.

The Lovely Mrs Moss says that she is not crafty, we don't believe it for a minute and we are teaching her how to be a crafter.
Mr Moss bought her a vintage sewing machine for Christmas and we are teaching her how to sew. It is a little difficult to arrange sewing lessons when she is in Arizona and the rest of us are not. If you are in the Mesa area and would like to help The Lovely Mrs Moss learn to sew please contact Samurai Mom.

The Lovely Mrs Moss loves Audrey Hepburn and nobody can fault her for that, it also proves that she has good taste.
The Lovely Mrs Moss took a trip to Italy with the Honors Society in High School. She got to go because she was so smart. The Lovely Mrs Moss is a patriot just like me.

The Lovely Mrs. Moss works very hard on Mr Moss' business endeavors.
Nutmeg loves The Lovely Mrs Moss. This picture is before she was her favorite.

I have been informed that The Lovely Mrs Moss wants to have SIX BOYS. I find this very ill advised and I hope that she has not cursed herself. I am telling her now, five boys and a girl is acceptable, but you need to have the girl first because I need nieces and I need them soon!
We Love You. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

An unlucky day

When I woke Boba Fett this morning he opened his eyes and said with all the ferver of a 5 year old "Yes! This is my lucky day!" Why lucky? Well because during the vacation he had been saving up to buy a toy rifle at the truck stop in St. Regis (also known as "The Fish Store.") He spied it during our potty break on the way to Grandma's house. I grabbed it out of his hand looked at the price tag, $9.95 and said "Maybe you can earn some money and buy it when we come back." And then rushed him to the car, it was 4:00 and it was the shortest day of the year and we were trying to beat the dark.

So all vacation he shoveled Grandma's Porch and there was a LOT of snow. Santa brought $5 in his stocking and he earned enough for the gun. So when we arrived at "The Fish Store" I said to him "This is your lucky minute." He was so excited and we went back to the toys and the gun he wanted was not there. We asked the kind sales lady if they had any more and she went and looked and even called gift shops in Coeur d'Alene and Kellogg to no avail. No gun. Boba Fett was in heartbroken tears.

Then in the last half hour of the trip he declared he "couldn't take it any more." because he had been in the car for so long and was clutching at his throat as if in pain.

Then when unpacking we opened his whoopee cushion and it had a hole in it.

An unlucky day.

You had me at Irene Dunne

One of the things we like to do when we are in Montana is watch old movies with my dad. Last night we ended the year with Cary Grant in An Affair To Remember. This morning he informed me that there should be good old movies on New Year's Day. He was going through the list reading the titles and stars when I said "Stop! You had me at Irene Dunne."

Snow

Here in Montana the snow keeps falling and falling. Moose and I have decided we LOVE snow like this. We are also glad that we are leaving it all behind and it is not our problem.

We have been having so much fun in Montana. I would like to have been blogging more but we are having trouble uploading pictures. There will indeed be photos of the kids up to their armpits in snow.

Happy New Year!

The 5 stages of snow in Portland

****Special Post by Guest Blogger Moosedrool.****
How the city of Portland deals with snow is a lot like the 5 stages of grief. First everyone is in denial, where they stay home and convince themselves that the snow will go away soon. Then the anger starts as people realize they hate driving in snow. Then barganing starts when folks start to go places again, slowly and only if it's a short distance to drive. Next comes depression because even if the snow were to all go away, we still have another 4 to 5 months of cold, cloudy, rainy weather. And finally acceptance as we all buckle down and go on about our lives all bundled up.

Everyone except ODOT. They apparently are stuck in the denial phase. Every year it seems we have severe enough weather that closes down the roads, and every year ODOT shows that the most they can do is hold press conferences and close the roads. Other cities have snow plows and even hire equipment to help clear things up.

Needless to say, with the closure of I-84, we had to find an alternative route to go home for Christmas. That route took us through Seattle. It would have taken us further on to Spokane, but it got dark and late and we decided to hole up in a hotel and wait for more daylight (and hopefully for more snowplows). For the kids who didn't have to drive all that way in the snow and ruts, they are having a great time jumping on the beds and watching cable tv. For the rest of us, we only have another day of snow covered mountain passes to look forward to. I miss denial.

Turkey Review

Thanksgiving went off well, the only hiccups were when Nutmeg knocked my computer desk over, (incredibly, my ancient laptop continued playing You Tube Christmas carols without a blip) and when the Arizona wing of the family found that their turkey had not defrosted. You might wonder why this was our problem, well Mr. Moss had the fantastic idea of hooking up the webcams and having dinner together. 3 siblings in Arizona and our family and Grandma and Grandpa in Oregon. The younger siblings were in Montana because they couldn't come to Oregon.
This is the Arizona part of our Family, oddly the girl on the screen is not a member of the family, but a friend. It was so fun to see everyone preparing dinner together.
This is the Oregon wing of the family just before digging in.
And Moose finishing off a bottle of Sparkling Apple Juice.
The food was great, we tried sausage in the stuffing this year and decided it was OK but we won't do it again. My yams were great. Pies tasted fine.
It hardly felt like work, my mom kept everything so organized and I feel like I hardly did any work. I am so glad someone else made the rolls. I don't ever want to do Thanksgiving alone again.Dad spent the whole week fixing up little things in my house like sticky doors, crossed hot and cold water lines and my broken FAUCET! I think my parents should come visit more often! We miss them already. The first think Nutmeg said this morning was "I want Grandma." The kids are counting down to the drive to Montana for our Cool Yule.