Willie the Brat.........

I made this layout by following this really fun sketch offer by the 'Sketchy Thursdays' Blog.

.  I submitted my layout for their May 20th. challenge.  This is an extra nice layout.  One of my favorites.

 This is my two page layout introducing Willie, our cat.  Willie loves our dogs.  He truly believes dogs are cool.  The pictures in this layout show Willie having a great time with our two dogs Rebel & Britt.  I don't think the dogs are having as much fun as Willie, but then, Willie doesn't care about that.

The first page is 'Fun with Rebel.' Rebel is our 14 year old longhaired miniature dachshund.  Willie really does enjoy Rebel. Fortunately, Willie isn't a mean cat.  He's just a prankster.  It's all just a joke.

Britt is our lab/pit bull mix.  She is the best behaved dog ever.  She doesn't have a mean bone in her body.  Willie adores Britt.  Fortunately, Britt has an unbelievable amount of patience.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Geocaching and electrical safety

As part of a geocaching team with over 2000 finds and the wife of an Electrical Safety Instructor, I'd like to share what I consider one of the most important and informative blogs I've read.

Johnnygeo's Geocaching Electrical Safety Blog

The blog belongs to a man who works for a large power utility company as a Health & Safety Advisor in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  He is a Master Electrician and teaches electrical safety, often visiting grade schools. One of his job duties is to investigate high voltage power line accidents involving the general public where someone has been hurt or killed.

This gentleman is also an avid geocacher with over 1300 finds and 45 hides.  He goes by Johnnygeo. He loves geocaching but is very disturbed by caches hidden on, inside or near high voltage electrical equipment. 

I've always had a healthy respect for electricity and it's possible dangers, but Johnnygeo has pointed out some things that have not occured to me or that I was simply unaware of.

A couple of quick examples of things I learned:

Did you know?........

Due to the world wide rise in copper prices, there has been a dramatic increase in copper thefts.  This includes the copper wire used by power companies. The one that scares me the most is the theft of ground wires from the power boxes that you so often see caches hidden by.  If there is no ground wire.... and a live wire inside the box comes loose and touches the side of the metal box, any person near that box is in a dangerously, deadly situation. This is a huge concern for power companies.  Pretty scary.

Did you know?........

Electricity tries to go to the ground.  It will follow the easiest path.  That could be a geocacher touching the side of a damaged electrical box.  These boxes can be damaged by being hit by a car or vandalism.  Some times there is no visible signs of damage to the outside of the box.  If there are loose wires inside the box due to the impact it can energize the ground around the box.  This is true with downed power lines, also.  Wow--it would never have occured to me that it was possible to be electrocuted by the ground around a power box..

Have you ever stopped to think?..............

While lifting the skirt on the infamous 'light post cache' we are trusting the lamp post wiring has not failed due to old age or vandalism.  Should we trust that??  Remember--power equipment can fail, like anything else.  This is a link to a heartbreaking news article about a 9 year old boy who died from electrocution caused by the failure of the insulation in a 480-volt wire in the base of a light post.  Unfortunately, this isn't the only news story like this one. There are more sad stories about children and dogs.  Are we sending our kids the wrong message by encouraging them to search for these 'light post caches?'

It just takes a few minutes to read through this important blog.

Johnnygeo's Geocaching Electrical Safety Blog

If you cache or even if you don't........if you have kids or even if you don't.....please take the time to visit this educational blog. This concerned man has taken his time to try to educate the geocaching community.  He's done his part to make it a safer community.  I can almost promise you'll learn something.

Please take the time to read it, show it to your kids and pass it to your friends.  Please take the time because it's just that important.

Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful summer.

News story:

Thieves strip copper wire from Arlington Substation

Scrapping the Girls

This layout is in honor of two of my favorite women.

My daughter and sister.

The pictures include:

My sister, Teri.

My daughter, Tracy.

And.......myself, Jan.

We've been called all of the above.  As a joke, of course.  We do sing alot when we are together.  We can also assume a pretty fair Charlie's Angels pose with guns aimed and everything.

Jan, Tracy & Teri  (bottom right corner picture)

The picture were taken while camping at Rainbow Group Camp near Quilcene, Wa.  We camped there for four days.  It was a blast.

It was a great weekend full of family, friends, camping, dogs & geocaching.

This layout was submitted to the 'Scrap the Girls', First of May Challenge.

"No boys allowed."

Colors allowed: blue, yellow, white, pink & black.

Our first RV--a wonderful little Coleman Taos popup..........

When Don & I first started camping we started out with a three room Coleman tent and a mini van.  Well, that was short lived.  Within a couple of years, we had made our first RV purchase.
 

We bought a darling little popup camper, Another Coleman.  A Coleman Taos. It was so cute and was in perfect condition.  It had been well loved by it's previous owner.  

 We loved our little popup and had many wonderful trips in it. 

Don outside our little Coleman.

Two queen sized beds. One at each end.

A cute little kitchen area with a stove, sink and ice box. 

I'll be honest.  I found the ice box more trouble than it was worth.  I used it for a pantry.

A very reasonable amount of seating for such a little rig.

A campfire meal.  Yummy potato packs.

I always decorate for any holiday.  Even if we're camping.

After four years of camping often, we outgrew our little Coleman and decided it was time to graduate up to a 22' hard sided travel trailer.

It was bitter sweet when we pulled up to the dealership to drop off our little popup and pick up our new travel trailer.  We were so excited about our new RV but couldn't help feeling sad at the same time.  

We love that little popup.  I hope the new owners love, enjoy and care for it as much as Don & I did.   That little Coleman will always have a special place in my hearts. 

The next page......

This is my second page for my two page scrapbook layout of my daughter, Tracy.  Page one is my previous blog.

The 'Just My Sketches' blog offered this great sketch for their May 1st. challenge.  This challenge is hosted by Deanne Burton of Newfoundland. 

Along with the monthly sketch is a list of five songs.  You choose a song to inspire your creativity on the project.  I chose,  'From a Distance', by Bette Midler.  I used the words 'love' and 'hope' spelled out with chipboard letters.  I pray my daughter's generation can make some improvements in the world.

Here is my layout:

Tracy got those beautiful flowers for her birthday.  This picture is what prompted me to buy this paper for her layout.  They were perfect together.

I also submitted this project to the "Chipboard Technique Challenge" over at The Shabby Tea Room Blog. This is their challenge for week 9. Thank you for a super fun challenge.

It was also submitted to the Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays Blog Challenge #39, "Anything but a card."

And

The Easy Craft Projects Challenge Blog, challenge #12, "Spring--flowers, baby animals or new beginnings."

 

FROM A DISTANCE
Bette Midler

 From a distance the world looks blue and green,
and the snow-capped mountains white.
From a distance the ocean meets the stream,
and the eagle takes to flight.  

From a distance, there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace,
it's the voice of every man.

From a distance we all have enough,
and no one is in need.
And there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no hungry mouths to feed.

From a distance we are instruments
marching in a common band.
Playing songs of hope, playing songs of peace.
They're the songs of every man.

God is watching us. God is watching us.
God is watching us from a distance.
From a distance you look like my friend,
even though we are at war.
From a distance I just cannot comprehend
what all this fighting is for.

From a distance there is harmony,
and it echoes through the land.
And it's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves,
it's the heart of every man.

It's the hope of hopes, it's the love of loves.
This is the song of every man.
And God is watching us, God is watching us,
God is watching us from a distance. Oh,
God is watching us, God is watching.
God is watching us from a distance


Thanks so much for visiting.

My latest scrapbook page of my daughter, Tracy..........

The Magical Crafts Fortnightly Challenges blog offered this great sketch for their Challenge #14. What a great sketch.  I liked it the moment I saw it.

I had this beautiful sunflower designer paper I bought especially to do a layout of my daughter, Tracy.  I decided to used this sketch for Tracy's layout.  Here was the outcome.

I think it came out great.  I loved working with this sketch.  I'll use this in the future for other layouts.  Thanks for a great challenge.

I also submitted this project to the "Chipboard Technique Challenge" over at The Shabby Tea Room Blog.  This is their challenge for week 9.  Thank you for a super fun challenge.  I love working with chipboard.

It was also submitted to the Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays Blog Challenge #39, "Anything but a card."

And  

The Easy Craft Projects Challenge Blog, challenge #12, "Spring--flowers, baby animals or new beginnings." 

 

Thanks for stopping by.