Training The Army. . . Seriously.

(I started this post a couple of weeks ago and then got busy and didn't return to it. It makes sense to post it tonight because we are headed out of town with our army buddies in the morning and we'll soon see just how helpful our training day was!!)

Sunday was "training day" out at the army base. And we were in charge. Seriously.

Fortunately it wasn't combat training, it was audio-lighting-canopy training. . .

Each one of us had an "expert" position with a team of soldiers ready and willing to learn from us. Rob was the "expert" in audio, Kurt was the "expert" in lighting and I was the "expert" canopy setter-upper. The first two make sense but I'm no expert in setting up the canopy! But I still knew more about it than the crew assigned to me so I faked my way through it with a lot of help from Rob and Kurt. . .

The whole point of our training day was to help prepare the army band for their big trip up North over the 4th of July. . .

They have purchased a canopy like ours and will be taking it to Sandpoint for two concerts. . .

We set this thing up so often in the summer with a very small crew (IF we have a crew at all!) so it was really nice (and kind of funny) to have such a large amount of people working together to set it up! It took about the same amount of time, though. . .

We've gotten to know some of these guys pretty well over the last year and a half and I really have a new appreciation for what they do.

Once everything was set up, the band did a full rehearsal and even had their evaluations done by the commander. . .

It was all very interesting . . .

It took the better part of the day to set everything up, have the rehearsals and then take it all back down. . .

In spite of the the long hours, I really didn't have to do much so it wasn't especially difficult!!

Wish we had this much help on every event. . .

We leave for Sandpoint on July 1st for what I hope will be a "working vacation". . . We'll see just how restful it really is. . .

Just Another Busy Weekend. . .

On Tour. . .

So. . . we're taking our two song repertoire on the road! Our first stop was today at Meridian Friends; next stop in two weeks at Star Friends. . .

Eventually we may even make it to Boise Friends. I think it might be time to invest in a tour bus. . .

Friends . . .

Hope. . .

We saw a full double rainbow in the park this evening. My camera phone didn't do it justice, but it's worth posting just for the memory. . .

Emma. . . 2003-2010. . . Rest In Peace. . .

Yesterday Emma was seemingly healthy. She snuggled with Rob in the morning, she played in the backyard with Zach in the afternoon and she followed me around looking for attention when I got home from work. At about 9:30 this morning, Emma was gone.


It all happened so fast, I think we're still a little bit in shock. . .


I woke up around midnight to a funny noise in the bathroom and found Emma standing between the toilet and the cupboard with her nose almost to the wall. At first I thought she was getting into the garbage but I quickly realized there was something very wrong. . .


She followed me out to the kitchen where I proceeded to show Rob and Zach how strange she was acting (Gloria was fast asleep). She stumbled over her food dish, ran head first into the refrigerator and tried to drown herself in her water dish. . .

We kept a close eye on her until about 2 am when Rob decided to take her to an emergency clinic. He called me intermittently between 2 and 4:30, always with the news that they didn't know what was wrong. They took x-rays, ran blood tests and even took an ultrasound. Nothing was sending up red flags except for the fact that she was terribly lethargic and suddenly very, very bloated. . .

The emergency vet recommended exploratory surgery that could cost between 1500-5000 depending on what they would have to do when they got in there. Rob and I decided that since it was almost 5 a.m., he would bring her home and we would take her to our regular vet at 7 a.m. when they opened. We love our vet and Emma is very comfortable with him. . .

I assumed that she was sedated from the drugs she was given at the hospital, so I wasn't overly alarmed at the fact that she wasn't moving. It was a little odd that she wouldn't close her eyes, even to blink but I was still hoping she had gotten into the garbage and had a stomach ache. I even thought maybe she had another obstruction in her intestine like she did last fall. . .

After fighting another flat tire on my truck, we finally got Emma to our vet around 7:45. . .

He set aside everything he was doing and focused all of his attention on her. The other staff in the office quickly came to Emma's side and began giving her an IV and prepping her for surgery. The doctor said her body was shutting down and it would be too dangerous at that point to try surgery so he would try to stabilize her first. At one point, I was holding my hand around her heart when she shuddered and her heart stopped. I was terrified. The doctor came running just as her heart began to beat again. He said the only thing that could possibly save her was to try surgery right away even though she was very unstable. Within 20 minutes we were given the news that Emma was full of cancer. The doctor described her liver as looking like cottage cheese. There was nothing anyone could do so we made the decision to not revive her. She was gone. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do when we went home to tell the kids. Gloria was still asleep and, of course, shocked by the turn of events and the loss of her beloved pet. Zach had a little more warning but nothing really prepares you for this. . .

Emma was born in May of 2003 and passed away on June 24, 2010. She was only 7 years old. She will always be remembered as a sweet, loving companion who was scared to death of the vacuum, who threw her dish when she was hungry, who gave tight squeezes around the neck and who loved us unconditionally. She was my Yemma, my sturdy girl, my baby. She will be missed.

My Week In A Nutshell. . .

And So It Begins. . .

Zach's New Friend. . .

These fun pictures that Zach took were a much better alternative to the pictures I took of our Cherry Festival set up. Some things are just better left unposted. . .

After Midnight. . .

. . . in the dark, in the rain. . .

I hope this isn't an indicator of how the rest of the week is going to be. . .

Variety. . .

When I was looking through the pictures I took this week I was struck by what an odd assortment of shows we had.


Saturday was a Red Carpet Premiere of a Vampire Film . . .


Wednesday was a literary event with the acclaimed Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie . . .


Thursday was Nampa Nights with the big band, High Street. . .


Saturday, at Hawks Stadium with the nationally known children's singer, Jana Alayra (and a crowd of about 700 kids!) . . .

And, finally, Sunday out at the base with our friends from the 25th Army Band. . .

It was an interesting week but I'm pretty sure next week will top it. . .

Dusting Off The Vocal Chords. . .

A few years ago I was invited to sing with a few friends at the local George Fox University Graduation. At that time, I sang with Ellen Morse, Lynne Smith, Tresa Redford and Katrina McConaughey. We had such a good time that we made plans to "take it on the road". Of course, with all of our busy lives, the road didn't happen and when we were asked back the next year, we were too busy to commit and turned it down.


When they asked us again this year, I decided to just say yes and figure out how to make it happen. . .

We practiced 3-4 times over the last few weeks and then showed up early this morning ready to sing. . .

In spite of young, unknowledgable, unhelpful sound guys, it went really well. The only thing missing was Katrina.

I guess when we take it on the road this time, we'll just have to stop in Newberg and pick her up!!

Thursday Night With High Street. . .