72-hour Kits

Emergency heavy duty blanket/tarp/tent, multi-tool, body/hair wash soap, sunscreen, micro towel, N100 respirators (3 count)

water packets, hand-warmers, energy bars, kleenex, rope, first aid kit, glow sticks, wet ones

dried fruit snacks, whistle, spoon/fork, toothpaste, lip balm, fold-up toothbrush, potassium iodide tablets, earplugs, bottle of water purification solution

Surefire flashlight and batteries

The Ranch Today

My Grandma Nona and Grandpa Albert's house, Christmas Day. It was built in the early 1900s.

Upstairs, on the cracked linoleum.

Loving the musty smell!

Confused, and a little afraid.....

of the crack in the corner of the room!

There it is! Isn't it creepy? It scared me when I was little....

In the kitchen sink area.

The window decal bird thing that we saw every single time we came in or left the house.

Cracking up about....something!

I like this picture (above) cause it shows the corner of the kitchen no one else photographed, and I am talking about the 'snack cabinet' when the picture was taken.

The granary, where my grandpa was born in 1907.

On the front porch, which was never used for entering the house or hanging out on or, anything!

If I lived there, I would've sat out there often!

The barn, sorry there are no pictures of the front of me...or anyone else.

Grandma's House (different version)

On our way to Grandma's, we drive out into the country.

She waits for us at the kitchen table, while reading an autobiography.

Coming upon an old house, that's hot and dry in the summer, 

cold and cozy in the winter - familiar thoughts enter my mind.

I think of that old house and what it could tell;

how the old linoleum cracked, or how the upstairs had its musty smell.

The golden fields rimmed with barb-wire fences,

opened my mind and cleared my senses.

The dogs would run to their granite bowls, at the sound of Grandma's call.

She'd fill 'em up with corn cobs and meat scraps - "Snoopy" was her name for them all.

We watched the dogs run in and out of the eucalyptus trees

while talking around the kitchen table and feeling the breeze.

Grandma loved to listen to the birds there, 

it was a place where she relaxed.

Even when interrupted by the TV, 

with its volume turned up to the max.

Many years she spent getting to know this place, 

the story of the ranch was written upon her face.

That story will be on my mind, 

as I think of the memories she left behind.

Christmas

The Scheel's Santa, Carson had a private chat with him.

Can you find Woody in this picture? Savannah let Santa have Woody for a little bit, 

but she wouldn't go sit with him!

These are our 72-hour kits, bought with our Christmas money. We are now prepared for survival, we hope.

Snowy Christmas! 

Carson's gift from Santa.

Savannah and Aunt Andrea at the Livermore Christmas Eve party.

Taking pictures off the camera

Here's lots of random pictures. We got cheesecake one night from Isaac, the kids loved picking at it!

At the River Rock Park, Truckee River.

Savannah enjoying her babydoll.

The kids enjoying play mustaches that Grandma Bea sent at Halloween.

Halloween at Grandma and Grandpa Knight's house.

Carson in his miner costume and holding his homemade radio that he made with Grandpa Gene's help.

Fun in the jacuzzi in a hotel in Bishop, California on our San Diego trip.

Hotel in San Diego right in back of Legoland.

Eating breakfast at Ruby's Diner in SD, Carson's coloring page is great!

Elevator cutie. 

Coming Upon an Old House

Here's a poem I wrote years ago about the house of my grandparents in Livermore, California. 

Coming Upon an Old House

by Angela Knight

We Drive out in the country, 

On our way to Grandma's.

Coming upon an old house,

That's hot and dry in the summer; cold and cozy in the winter.

Familiar thoughts enter my mind.

Feeding the cows and playing in the mill, 

or sitting on the bedroom window sill.

I think of that old house, and what it could tell;

how the old linoleum cracked, or how the upstairs had its musty smell.

The golden fields rimmed with barbed-wire fences 

opened my mind and cleared my senses.

They invited me in, never pushed me away,

 I eagerly accepted and came everyday.

We watched the dogs run in and out of the swaying eucalyptus trees, 

while talking around the kitchen table and feeling the breeze.

Hearing the call of birds just before sunset, 

and the blare of the television while the table is set.

Many years I have spent getting to know this place, 

the story of this ranch must be written upon my face.

Never will I forget the times I had, 

they will forever be memories of good, not bad.