Our Christmas Card To You

A friends of mine told me that she loves getting the mail this time of year because of the Christmas cards. So consider this our very special card to all of our friends and family.

(Don't forget to pause the My Tunes before you play this video)



May you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
With Love from Mary, Steve, Casey, Ryan and Michael.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...enough already!

It started yesterday at about 7am and hasn't stopped since. The record for the most snow fall in one day WAS 5" until yesterday, we got 12.5". There was 3 feet of snow fall in 24 hours. They say they've NEVER had this much snow at this time of year before... Figures. The news on TV is all about the snow. They are requesting that all non-essential vehicles stay off the roads. The hospital in Spokane canceled all elective surgeries and most of the schools are closed.
We used to joke that Blanchard would have the worst winter the year we moved up here. After the record snow that they had last year, we thought that we would be spared. Could It possibly be worse this year?! It's still too soon to tell since winter hasn't even officially started. Or better yet, this may be the last big snow storm we get, (I can dream can't I?)

Stoneridge Guy shoveled last night, but this was what we woke to this morning. We started shoveling out the truck then started working on the cars under our car port.

Our little 13 year old Stoneridge Neighbor Keonah standing in front of their truck.

We headed to the Forest Section to check out the house. On the way we saw our Realtor and neighbor Joe trying to dig out the walkway to the office. Check out how high the snow is on top of the mailbox shelter.

This is Lake San Souci as we drove over the bridge at the entrance to Stoneridge. We didn't quite know what to expect when we got to the house. As you will see below, our expectations of parking in our driveway were quickly dashed.

Even though I missed our regularly scheduled exercise session, I got plenty by shoveling snow. We got the car port done OK, at the condo, but quickly decided that getting this driveway cleared with a snow shovels was futile.

We body plowed our way to the front door. Stoneridge guy was worried that there would be too much snow on our deck, (It only has plywood down right now so they can work out there). He didn't want to just leave it in case it warmed up and started to melt and then freeze and ice up and get too heavy.

Here you can see how much snow had accumulated on the deck. Once he got the slider opened in our bedroom we were able to get out there and push it over the edge.

This shot was taken once I got out on the deck looking across so you can see how high it was.

As I write this I can look out of our front window and watch the snow drop from the boughs of the heavily loaded branches.

I think Maggie is the only one who is really enjoying all of this snow. Play the short video below and see for yourself.



Today we plan to stay in, except to maybe shovel more snow. Tomorrow Stoneridge guy has to travel to Ione, 30 miles away, to do a couple of appraisals. Keep your fingers crossed that it stops snowing soon!
Stay warm wherever you are!

Be Careful What You Wish For

It was not unusual to see Stoneridge Guy looking out the window only to comment, "Where's the snow? They said it was supposed to snow on the news!" This went on for a few days. He would check first thing in the morning and many more times during the day and evening.
Let me repeat the wise words of Sean & Sean. "Only newbies and idiots believe the weather report." Stoneridge Guy could only hope.
Yesterday afternoon his wish came true. The storm that the weather guys have been talking about hit. It started snowing at 1pm and continued on and off through the night. We woke this morning to the sound of snow plows and about 8-10" of snow on the ground. We drove over to the house to clean up and shovel.
We ended up at our neighbors drinking coffee and when we left them at 11am it started again. But along with snow came an arctic wind. by 1pm it had dropped to 20 degrees and it's expected to go down to -18 degrees tonight. Even with all of the snow they had last year it never got this cold. They say it hasn't been this cold since 2004. We plan to hunker down for the weekend and try to stay warm. We can only hope that the dogs don't need to make too many trips outside.

Lake San Souci from the bridge at the entrance of Stoneridge

Under all of that snow we now have a roof, along with windows and sliders

The stairs went in yesterday
This is the view from our front door

The view from our bedroom slider

From our deck off of the great room

I still can't get over how beautiful it is here. And we get to see it everyday. The house is really starting to take shape. It will be completely dried in by the end of this week. Then our fun begins.

Lights of Coeur d'Alene

Last weekend, Me and Stoneridge Guy joined some of our Stoneridge neighbors on a trip into town. The six of us drove in one car into Coeur d'Alene to see the Christmas Lights and have dinner. We left Blanchard at 3pm and arrived by 4pm, just in time for a fabulous sunset.

We started off our evening at the bar for a cocktail.

Then strolled through the resort and the mall for some window shopping and goofing off.

By 5:00 it was completely dark and all of the the lights were on. Everyone had the same thought in mind. "How would you like to be the guy who had to put up all of these lights?!"

We walked through the mall to get to main street and the restaurant.

Great dinner, great company, great night!

We're Going On A Moose Hunt!

Our neighbors in the Forest see moose on a regular basis.
Everyone I talk to has seen the moose.
It seems like Stoneridge friend Tammy and I are the only ones that haven't seen the moose.

Yesterday Stoneridge guy and I went to the house to check things out. The framers, Sean & Sean, see the moose every morning as they come to the job site. So Tammy and I decided that if the moose weren't coming to us, we were going to the moose.

We planned a 7am meeting. I picked her up and we headed towards Stewart Drive. From Blanchard Road she spotted it! There it was. A young buck just 70 yards from the side of the road, up the hill. I pulled over to park and she jumped out to get the first picture. (Sunrise here, this time of year, is 7:20am. Daylight was just starting to peak out from over the hills.)
She hit the dirt, so she would not to be seen by the moose, to get her first shot.


It was still too dark and he was too far away for the flash to get a good picture using our cameras. So like any wildlife photographer would do, we decided to sneak up on him to get a closer shot.

Indian trackers we not. We crashed our way through the brush, spooking him a couple of times. But we were determined to get a picture. It took about 30 minutes for us to get in optimum position. He finally got used to us because he didn't appear to really care that we were there. He continued eating whatever shrubs he could get as we snapped away.


As you can see, I got to about 20 yards from him. Even though I was able to get really close, all of my shots were too dark, so all of the photo's shown were taken by Tammy from about 40 yards away.

A Weekend of Thanks

This Thanksgiving brought with it mixed emotions. Our first year without family and in Idaho where we plan on spending many more holidays. We joined 5 other families in the Forest Neighborhood where we are building. Our contribution was a deep fried turkey which has been our tradition for the past 4 years. Our host and neighbor, Gabe prepared a turkey & ham along with most of the side dishes. His wife Terry decorated the house and table which made dinner even more appealing to the eye.

Then on Friday, I went with friend Tammy to shop. Yes, believe it or not, I joined all of the other nuts that dared to venture out at 4am to take advantage of the deals to be had. And shop we did! We hit most of the hot spots and by mid day it started to snow.

By 3pm it was sticking pretty good and the snow really started to pile up. We got about 1-3 inches, which makes for great pictures but not fun driving.

This was the view Saturday morning from our condo deck.Along with our first snowfall, I want to update everyone on the status of the house.

Last week the trusses were delivered and secured.

Most of the roof has been sheathed, so not too much snow in the house.

Finally, this is the view from our deck:

Looking left

Looking right

We can't wait for everyone to visit and enjoy it with us.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Check back again soon!

Our House

Here's a little video to get everyone up to speed on the progress of our new house. I hope you all enjoy it.

***Make sure to pause the playlist, (scroll down on right side), so the music doesn't clash with the video music***

Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes...

The other day, in water aerobics class, Stoneridge Neighbor Jim commented "You've got a lot of wood on the lot." That was because our delivery to begin framing the house arrived that morning.We have changed our minds, again, and are proceeding with the building.
Stoneridge Guy got a bid that we couldn't refuse. Sean and Sean, the framers, are willing and able to work in the cold. So right now it looks like we'll have the house closed in by mid December.

We had the slab poured in the basement and they have started the framing. The beams and floor joices get delivered today, so they'll start on the main floor. Once we get the garage plumbed, the slab will get poured and then the framing for that part of the house can begin, (Probably next week).

We leave for Portland to visit Stoneridge Guy's best friend Bill. We'll be gone for 5 days and I can't wait to see how everything will look when we return.