It's Been Awhile!

A couple out riding their bikes today stopped me as I was on the way back from the laundry room and asked if I was the lady who did the blog. I thought they meant the Periwinkle Park blog but he said, no, they meant mine. And they said they were worried about me because I hadn't posted for so long. I admitted that I spend a lot of time on Facebook, therefore have let my blog go by the wayside. But--it did kind of give me a kick in the you know what so thought I would catch everyone up on what I've been up to.

I was spending 4-5 days a week at CROW but with the snowbird volunteers back, I'm only working 3. We pick up patients on Thursdays and I work in the clinic on Fridays and Saturdays. We have been feeding MANY baby squirrels this fall. Very time consuming but I really enjoy it. Another plus was that we have hired another vet. Dr. Steph was an intern a couple of years ago and stayed on for two years as a rehabber. She left last June but they hired her back this fall. YAY!!! Be sure and check out CROW's up to date, new and improved website.

In October we headed to Walt Disney World for 4 nights staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. If you stay there, you can take a special tour of the Savannah and get up close and personal with the animals. Part of the tour includes a wonderful meal at Jiko's, their really nice restaurant.
I also treated myself to the Characters in Flight in Downtown Disney. This is a balloon which is tethered but goes up in the air. I've been wanting to do that forever. Chuck doesn't like heights so I went alone.
From Orlando, we headed up to Stone Mountain, Georgia to attend the Stone Mountain Highland Games. We met up with our friends, Vard and Lora from Michigan, and our Montgomery "cousins" from Clan Montgomery and we got to see our favorite Scottish singer, Alex Beaton. We are enjoying the cooler weather here in SW Florida. It was a very hot summer. And thankfully, we have (so far) escaped any hurricanes or tropical storms. We still enjoy our deck. Here are a couple of sights from our deck. So, I guess this posting is thanks to the people who stopped me today and asked if I was the lady who had the blog. I neglected to get their names but thanks guys. Hope you read this.

Catching Up is Hard to Do!!

Ok, so I admit it. It has been forever since I've posted on here. I've had some spare time but when I did, I just wanted to crash and not work on my blog. Sorry! But, here I am for a few minutes anyway.

First of all, on August 20th, we went to San Diego to visit my daughter, son in law, and 3 grandsons. Usually we do lots of sightseeing while we are there but this time, it was mostly spent working on their new house which they had just moved into a couple of weeks prior to our arrival. There were still boxes to be unpacked, windows (LOTS of them) to be washed, cupboards (LOTS of them) to be washed, kids to be watched while parents ran errands, etc etc etc. They bought a wonderful ranch home on an acre of land in the Mt. Helix section of La Mesa. It has a large pool, a wonderful patio, a small orchard, a small barn (full of spiders right now), and lots and lots of different kinds of vegetation. What a fantastic place to raise three energetic boys. I took lots and lots of pictures. Here are a few.

Oh, and did I mention the pool???

We worked but did take time for some family fun, such as a campfire on the patio. Or a trip to one of my favorite spots--Old Town San Diego.

And a meal in my favorite Old Town restaurant.

We had a great trip but all good things must come to an end. We headed home the day after Labor Day and then the real work began!

As some of you know, there has been a big upheaval at CROW where I have volunteered for almost 9 years now. Our head vet, Dr. PJ, resigned after more than 10 years at CROW. She pretty much made CROW what it is today. A new executive director and assistant were hired last January and in 6 months have kind of made CROW their own leading to the resignation of at least 5 employees, Dr. PJ being one of them. Along with her was the acting Development Director, The Buildings director, the Senior Rehabber and one of the receptionists. That on top of letting one of our other rehabbers go in June and out new intern not showing up has left CROW is a terrible bind! We depend a lot on students and volunteers. The students have all gone back to school so we only have 2 now and many of the volunteers are snowbirds and aren't back yet. We have one vet and 1 full time rehabber in the clinic as well as l full time rehabber/handyman and 2 part time rehabbers outside. Even the receptionists are busy cleaning cages when they aren't answering phones. Sooooo--to make a long story short, I am trying to take up some of the slack myself and am volunteering in the clinic 4 days a week now. I usually work between 6 and 8 hours a day---or as long as my back holds up. My main job right now is taking care of and feeding MANY baby squirrels. Thank goodness baby bird season and baby squirrel season don't happen at the same time!

This is pretty much how I spend my days--and no, I did not take this picture, I borrowed it from online.

So that is pretty much my life right now. Not that I'm complaining. I love working with Dr. Amber, Nikki, my baby animals and most of the rest of my CROW family.

First Day of School

My daughter's 3 boys had a first this week. Noah started 3rd grade in the Gifted Seminar Program. And the twins started Pre School. They've all grown so fast.

More Reunions

After our reunions with old friends and former students in Findlay, we traveled east to Twinsburg for a few days to visit our son and his family. We just relaxed and didn't even take any pictures.

Then on Friday, we drove up to Lincoln Park, Michigan to visit our friend, Bob, and his family for several days. On Saturday, we drove to my brother's house in Westland (about a half hour away) for a family get together. Got to see my big bro, my 3 nieces, my grand niece, my two grand nephews, my nephew in law, my sister in law's two sisters and my brother's lady. It was a get together not only for us but because it was Gerry's birthday. And I hadn't seen the two sisters in about 15 years. Lots of fun seeing everyone.

Lighting the birthday candles. Gerry, Billy, Kevin, their mom, Laurie (my niece), Maddie, and Jane.

My niece, Shannon, and her better half, Kyle.

Two of my nieces, Megan and Shannon

My big brother, Bill, and his lady, Miss Gerry.

Maddie, Billy and Kevin

After a wonderful evening with family and friends, we headed back to Bob's. Yesterday, Bob and his friend, Richard, treated us to a boat trip on the Detroit River. Joining us were Bob's daughter, son in law, and granddaughter. We left from the pier at Wyandotte and cruised south going by Grosse Ile and back up by Bois Blanc (Boblo Island) and Amherstburg, Canada. It was so relaxing and a lot of fun.

Waiting for the cruise to begin.Jana

Some of the sights along the way

It was a great day, then we headed back to Bob's for corn on the cob and Chicken kabobs on the grill served by our master chef, Richard.
So far it has been a fantastic trip. Gaining a lot more weight than I would like, but hey, I'm on vacation!!!