Santa needs all the help he can get. He was going to send Rudolph to find some elves but Rudolph is very busy this time of year so he had to send Kruzer, the kitty elf. He is a rookie elf so we have to cut him some slack. Here are some of the elves Kruzer Elf found:

First there are the princely elves:
Then there are the princess elves:
And last, but not least, there is the littlest elf of all:


This is presented with love by the Grandma Elf.

As most of you know, our daughter Beth lives in Jackson, Wyoming. She has the wonderful opportunity to see all kinds of wildlife from her living room!!! Thought we would share some of her experiences. Remember, these are taken from inside her home.





We saved the cutest critter for last!

We had a major windstorm here on the Oregon Coast on December 2nd and 3rd. There was a lot of damage to the Schooner Creek Fish Trap which is one of the traps our Fishing Club helps to check and maintain. On Friday, December 7th, several members of our LVH Fishing Club went up to the trap with ODFW to assess the damage. We had to clear the road before we could even get down the road to the trap. There was some sawing of tree limbs (to get them to a size we could work with) and a lot of clearing off of branches and wood. There was no way anyone could look at the damage done and not be in awe of Mother Nature's wrath. We were lucky no one was hurt.

To view more photos on the damage to the trap go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/barbdud/SchoonerCreekTrapCleanUp120707.

Also, please click on the link on the left that says LVH Fishermen's Club to learn more about what we do.

Wayde and I were involved in a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) drill here at Longview Hills several months ago. That drill made us realize how important it is to be prepared to take care ourselves as well as others. We attended the CERT classes, graduated and got our certificates. Here's a picture of our "graduating class."


We had a meeting of all the members of Central Coast CERT (Newport and surrounding areas) at our clubhouse a few weeks ago.

Some of you may be aware that we had a big windstorm here last week, December 2nd and 3rd. Thanks to planning and teamwork the CERT group was able to help a few people here who had problems and give a little comfort and reassurance to many who were listening to the events on their FRS radios. Not bad for a bunch of old guys!

Note: If you would like to learn more about CERT, click on the Longview Hills link on this webpage. After you are on the Longview Hills blog, scan down until you see the CERT link on the left hand side and click on it.

A few of our friends in the LVH Fishing Club approached Wayde about going out and doing a little "target practice." You know Wayde and guns, he certainly didn't need to be asked twice! They all went out to a quarry not too far from our house a few weeks ago and had a ball. Our friend, John Spangler, dubbed the group the LVH Posse. They had so much fun they are already talking about their next outing.

In August we went to Southern California. Wayde met his brother, Parus, in San Diego where they went fishing. He caught albacore, yellow tail and bottom fish. Had a great time, as always, fishing with his brother.


Luckily for me, he dropped me off in Arcadia where I spent the week with my sister and brother-in-law, Bonnie and Bob. I also got to spend a lot of time with my great niece, Marissa.
Then in September Wayde went fishing with a friend of ours from Newport, Hank Bryson. He is a commercial fisherman so Wayde fulfilled a dream of going out on a commercial fishing boat. By the third day he was so tired he could hardly stand up and with the boat rocking Hank said it was like watching a big yellow ping-pong ball going from one side of the boat to the other. He really enjoyed the experience but was glad to get home. His side of the story is further down, keep reading . . .

On September 1st Wayde and I met the kids in Salem. We originally went so we could watch all the kids (Scott, Wayde, Cassidy and Addie) while the "big" kids went to the Keith Anderson concert. If you don't listen to Country music, you may not know who Keith Anderson is but, trust me, Mariah and Bonnie were very excited about seeing him (you would have thought he was Elvis or something . . .) Anyway we watched the kids Friday night (actually we watched Cassidy and Addie, Scott and Wayde were able to stay alone in the room next door and just "popped" in once in a while for a visit) and then went on to the Oregon State Fair on Saturday. Well, all of us but Wayde who had a pistol match that day. There was so much to see it was hard to decide where to go first.

Cassidy loves animals and the goats were really cute, especially this one. It would be hard to say which made her happier, seeing the animals or being with her Aunt Bonnie. She loves her Aunt Bonnie more than just about anyone.
Mariah and Addie couldn't resist the goats either.
Addie loves John Deere tractors and, even though this wasn't a green John Deere, she was pretty excited to be sitting a tractor of any kind. Her dad had to stick close by because if there was any way she could, Addie would have started the tractor and driven off.
West and the boys enjoyed the rides. Our little Wayde rode everything in sight. Grandma even rode the sky tram with them (of course, she did it so she wouldn't have to walk from end of the fairgrounds to the other but they don't have to know that).
All in all, it was a fun couple of days. I am hoping we can make it an annual event.