Idaho Roses

On September 8th, I received a text from my daughter, Jenn, who had heard from a neighborhood friend who had discovered two baby squirrels in their yard.  Unfortunately, one of the babies was already deceased and the other was way too young to survive on his own.  I contacted two of my “animal people” and found the baby a new momma in Sharon Rae. Sharon and I researched the heck out of what to do and she began the long, arduous, scary and time consuming work to keep this little one alive and healthy.  Keeping the little one warm, hydrated, fed (about every two hours) and making sure that he peed and pooped at each feeding, was a huge task. Sharon shed many tears of worry fearing his imenent demise after aspirating formula or not eating.  She is amazing! I was given the opportunity to babysit the little one periodically which involved a lot of holding and snuggling, feeding him special formula with a syringe and helping the little critter poop and pee.  ...

Tradition is defined as “   a belief or custom handed down from one generation to another”.  Today marked the start of a new tradition, which has its roots in earlier outings with our beautiful Mom. Our family matriarch, Camelia Jeanne, decided this past summer that it would be fun to do a tea party with my daughters and their oldest (or only) daughters.  Our biggest obstacle was trying to work around everyone’s crazy schedules.  Yes, it’s not just the gainfully employed and intellectually stimulated, even house fraus (or ranch fraus) have schedules!!!   In Mountain Home there is this cool little cafe/shop with great food that puts on Victorian Teas.  We finally got it scheduled and all arrived ready to celebrate.  After a welcome “speech”, we were ready to enjoy our scones with butter and lemon curd, and our tea. Look at all these beautiful ladies!!!  Three generations of strong, smart, hilarious Vedder women!  Starting on the left, my daugh...

Being women of a certain age, we are all about celebrating birthday MONTHS, not birthDAY.  I mean, when you’ve devoted this much time to bringing joy to all you encounter on this earth, surely there MUST be some rewards.  All that to say that September is MY birthday month! We were able to plan our celebration to coincide with Artsy Raub’s Halloween themed paint n sip!   But first, food and drink!   Dining with my sisters is always an adventure.  And, unfortunately, our server was a newbie, so they made her work. You may think they look innocent here, but if you truly know them, you know better! Shortly after ordering, our youngest sister, Tracy, discovered that she “forgot” her wallet.  Fortunately, we covered her for the night. Tracy, being mildly ill, limited her imbibment to hot apple cider (with a shot of Fireball).  CJ, our lightweight, chose Blue Moon......and we confirmed why she should really only drink once in a blue moon.....she became q...

The caption for this particular blog sounds much more dire than it really is....but, after we sisters have enjoyed the sole company of each other, our firstborn brother, Tim, and his lovely wife , Debbie, finally set their GPS to Meridian and spent some time with us!  We were all so tickled to have them for a visit.  As a matter of fact, we prepared the fatted calf (pork ribs, really) and celebrated with a communal dinner.....all the Roses and their spouses, Tim and Deb, and Devon Abrego ( only invited to keep the average age of the diners under 60!). I just did the math, the average age was 47.66666! Now, this Thorn businesss....as there can be only a Three Idaho Roses, we need some kind of tie in for our brothers.  I figured a Thorn would be better than an Aphid, right??? We couldn't fit all nine of us into the picture, and besides, everyone was getting hungry! If you think the Roses are giddy, just try adding another Vedder, and a Vedder Spouse!!  W...

HERE'S HOW THE IDAHO ROSES CELEBRATE BIRTHDAYS First, an update.  After months (6) of research, and some (lots) of whining, Cammi finally got her new car!   And to complete the happiness, she got a RED car!!!  Each Rose now has a red car....so, of course, it became a photo op.  We are celebrating Tracy's Birthday month, and before lunch we all met at my home.  Previously deciding on a nose to nose (of the cars, of course!) shot, Tracy, the last to arrive (huh?) Decided that we were parked incorrectly and had to move each vehicle. Michelle and I "helping" Tracy position her car correctly.   Hubby George graciously consented to be our official photographer, which led to the following silliness...... As you can see, Bump was not impressed..... BUT ON TO THE BUSINESS OF BIRTHDAYS Tracy chose a downtown Boise location for her lunch, not only downtown, but in the Basque District.   This is a must see for anyone visiting, charming area,...

Well, Michelle has done it again!  Roped the Idaho Roses into another of her schemes!  This one involved Blazing Hot Sun, Rickety Ladders, Quarts of Gold Bond Hand Lotion, Several Boxes of Cheezits, and Lots of Hanging Around in ALLEYS!!! I’ll let her explain why she led us astray........ Michelle here...what my sister refers to as a “scheme”, was actually an amazing artistic opportunity to expand our creativity and share with the world our unique talents (well, MY corner of the world).  These lovely ladies entered into to this venture with willing hearts and ready paintbrushes.  How to explain such a wildly diverse description of the same event is best done by presenting the facts and letting you, our gentle reader, decide for yourselves. Community Canvas of Mountain Home began 3 years ago, the brainchild of Brenda Raub, Amber Cobos and Eric Tautfest. Each year local artists submit artwork in preparation of getting approval from business owners to paint their...