Oddessey: Scout being silly at the border

The Journey Begins: Images

 It is a builder of faith, that one takes ones only and first born son, out into the desperate wilderness and lets him out of the car, and then turns around and drives away. Ugh! Hardest thing ever!

 Scout and Kenz look on as Blake does his final prep

 A boy and his sisters are not parted by miles.

 2 years of prep and planning yield the securest (as possible) results.

 The boy and his sisters, not soon parted, are never the less always goofy.

 For the record...beginning at the southern most terminus to the Pacific Crest Trail at the Mexican Border.

A mom's heart starts walking...

A mom's heart walks further...

A mom's heart will soon walk out of sight... but a mom's heart will still continue alongside.

Photos pre-Oddessey April 4th and 5th

Scout Driving some where between Sacramento and Santa Nella while Blake does Navigatee things.

  Sketchy town USA - aka El Cajon. "Scout says, Mom, don't look anybody in the eye."

Ika oversees the final packing job in our last motel before wilderness. I have to point out that tomorrows Easter Breakfast was found at a truly hidden jewel in Descanzo CA. It was called the Descanzo Outpost and it was truly a small farming community outreach. Excellent food! Excellent atmostphere. I can not say enough about this place!

The Oddyssey: not mine

So after 2 years, the day has finally come. My son Blake has been planning, studying, saving and prepping for 2 years to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border to the Canada. I knew this day would come. I have had 2 years to get ready. Even so, there is something wrong about driving your first born child to the border of a crazy country and after he gets out of the car, turn around and drive away. leaving him there. 2000 miles away from his home. For the next 5 months I will be camping on 3 truths. 3 mind and fear cleansing facts:

1). As hard as it is for me to believe, God actually loves him MORE than I ever can and will.

2). God is every where all at once. I can't do that. He can be with my son where I can't. out on the trail.

3). Since God loves him more than I can and can do things and know things that I can't, I need to take peace in the fact that God is out there on the trail beside him. God is always working circumstances for Blakes good. 

Because of these truths, I can wash fear and doubt away, using the truths(tm).

So yesterday, 12:30pm Easter Sunday (how auspicious is THAT?) I left Blake at the southern terminus to the Pacific Crest Trail. As we watched him hike away, we took photos. The lone traveler beginning his journey. We got into the car to drive away and as we cruised down the dirt road back toward civilization we encountered him on a trail beside the road. This allowed us to yell at him, "you're going the wrong way!" He laughed. He knows how stupid we are. What pranksters we are. We hit El Cajon around 1pm-ish and headed toward L.A. LONGEST bloody 100 miles I have EVER spent going 10 miles per hour! We FINALLY got past those mountains north of L.A. (grapevine?) And busted it out on the flats. Arrived in Sacramento around 11:30 last night. The entire trip my mind was stuck on how I left my child in a wasteland. It bounced back and forth between that and God is with him and The Three Truths(tm). Slept fitfully and got on the road this morning - Sacramento to Sisters.All this long trip, I had been fighting the stupid unrealistic worries that only a mom can have - is his injured elbow troubling him? What about his allergies? What if he gets lost along the way? etc. At about 12:30 in the afternoon, while we were driving over the summit of the pass at Mt Shasta I actually got signal and a phone call. It was FROM BLAKE!!!  "Hi mom, Where are you guys at?" I asked him about his elbow. His answer was like I was being random, "uuuhhhh, its fine? Why? Its more my knees that are bugging me right now." Looking at his progress via the spot locator, He covered 15 miles in the first half day and now that its the second day it looks that he has covered another 20-ish? Not bad for 24 hours on day one! I am so proud of him! Tomorrow is Tuesday Apr 6th. Rain is forecast. He left the majority of his cold weather stuff here for me to ship to him later when he hits higher altitude. Please pray for his warm and dryness at this early stage of the game. Thank you! :o)


As of Monday Night April 6th, this was his position:  Blake's Pacific Crest Path

De-Christmassing, as Og calls it, is a lengthy process in my life right now.
Largely due to the fact that The Drugstore where I work has been handling and processing Christmas decor since July. I did not even set up our Nativity set until Christmas day. Today is January 10th, and I finally have almost completed the tasks. At work, I will spend the bulk of January de-Christmassing until the last ornament is packed back up and lobbed into the storage unit.

So I found a lovely car for Blake to use in Portland so I can get my jeep back. Today however, I got a call from Blake saying that the jeep was making a hideous "sewing machine" sound under the hood and smelled of burnt plastic. O goody. I find him a car just in time to replace the engine in my jeep. Cars! What a pain in the butt!

Managed to flip the utility trailer I bought in 2012 for $200. While the above is NOT a photo of it, it is VERY similar. Anyway, I sunk an extra $140 in it for upgraded electrical, tires and 4 stabilizers and flipped it for $850. Used the profits to purchase this:

My neighbor was selling it for $1200 and she let me make random payments on it the rest of the year. I finally took ownership of it in late summer of 2013. It's maiden voyage occurred the 2nd weekend in September. Looking forward to summer of 2014...as long as I can get the jeep fixed to pull it. :o/

At the drugstore, we sell a lot of Dept. 56 decor items, including Snow Babies and Snow Pinions.
When I was introduced to Snow Pinions, I thought of pine trees and pinion cones and pinion jays.
Today...I "got it"...

SnowPinions have very "opinionated faces" and often carry a little sign with some form of pithy saying or comment. Talk about delayed reaction - I've been working here since April and only just now made the correlation between the words "Opinions" and "SnowPinions".

Duh.

Lastly, the local community theatre group has cast me in our winter play : "Web of Murder" as the crochety cranky, wheel-chair bound Minerva Osterman.
The details of which can be seen HERE

 Ok....I WAS going to sell these but after having looked them up I think I will keep them, as I grew up with them on my walls through my entire childhood:

M. Medieros circa 1963. Litho's.
#2313. Unsigned.

If you go HERE, and scroll down a bit, there is a fascinating article on these pieces as well as those of the other "Big Eyed Children Artists" of the 60's.

Emergency Pumpkin Dessert Thingy: 
(PS- the above image is NOT what it looks like.
 I just chose this image to represent all of it's pumpkiny bretheren.)

1 can pumpkin. 1 block cream cheese. 
1 container of "Cool-Whip-like" substance. 
1 reg size graham cracker crust.Mix 1st 2 ingredients with half tub of Cool-ish Whip. 
Add powdered sugar if necessary. 
Dump into pie crust. 
Top with remaining Cool-ish Whip. Chill (or freeze) 
Serve after a while.

You could probably substitute some other fruity or chocolatey filling for the pumpkin here.
If there is extra filling, you can store it in an air tight container in the fridge and when needed, spread it on graham crackers for a quickie snack.

For 3 days I have been cooking up a storm because all my people are gone and I get the kitchen to myself.
Why do I not cook when my people are here?
A): Somebody is always under foot, needing to make some lunch or some snack or do this or that. It's
      invasive.
B): If I screw up what I am trying to make, there is no one around to ask, "Hey mom, where'd that thing go that you were making?" To which I feel compelled to respond innocently, "What thing?" They then will probe more deeply with their questions until I can only either tell the truth - "I buggered it up and threw it away okay are you happy?" or I can lie, "Oh that, I was making soap."

I laid carpet in "The Maggot". Tomorrow its paint touch up over silicone plugged holes. Then storage installation.

Dolly Lawna : Chap 1.

Once upon a time there was a little girl who liked to take the
heads off her dollies. She would attach them to fork handles 
and then stick the forks in the ground in spiral patterns
across the front lawn.

The little girl liked to walk the paths between the forked dolly spirals. Sometimes she would stand in the center of one and  twirl around and around and around gazing up at the clouds, imagining she was a tiny little drill, boring her way through the clouds and out the other side into the Great Blue of the sky. Although she had never seen it, she had heard stories about the other side of the sky being blue. She did not understand how there could be two skies, and often wondered what it would be like to live under a sky that was not white. How strange a thing. (This little girl was from Oregon where, as we all know the colour of the sky is white.) The little girl wondered how her forked dollies would look beneath the blue sky and above their green lawn. The idea of so much colour gave her a head ache, so she went back in to the house to look for more dollies.

As time went on, the little girl found it necessary to expand her lovely Dolly Lawn. She collected dollies from Santa Clause and from Auntie Vyrdie and Uncle Ned at birthdays. She once took the trash out for the elderly neighbor lady for a whole year, for a nickel a week, to earn enough to buy a Chatty Kathy Dolly. Unfortunately when she removed Chatty Kathy's head there was a cord attached. When that was snipped, Kathy's head refused to be chatty any more. This was both a great discouragement for the little girl as well as a great lesson. The Dolly Lawn grew beyond the borders of the front lawn, extending into the grassy rectangles between the sidewalk and the curb in front of her house, as well as through the sideyard and was now growing in the backyard. It was not long after this that the little girl found herself in a most disturbing dilemma...

Introduction to David Sedaris

This is one of my current favorite pieces done by Author/Humorist David Sedaris:

Start the player and let it run for a sec, then move the slider on the player up to about 17:30 minutes into the piece.

"The Detectives:

tortellini

Tonight its tortellini with garden tomatoes, corn, green beans and green salsa.
Fun, cheap and nutrients and actual ingredients.

Stude's New Engine

The Studebaker's engine being restored by master mechanic Dave Graham of Redmond Oregon.

At the top of the hill by my house.
Today was an ashen mess.
We actually ended up closing the store early due to no customers out walking in it.
I saw people walking with respirator masks and I also saw a guy riding a bike while smoking a cigarette. Dude? Seriously? Is the ambient smoke not enough for ya, huh?

On a separate note: I don't plan to wash my car until this first rain, just for the sake of ash-collection-on-a-speeding-vehicle recording purposes.

Pole Creek Fire Friday Night

I just happened to stop at the airport around 10pm and saw the fire line exploding as it would progress and hit new fuels. This photo does NOT do it justice, but I didn't have a tripod and had to expose for 3 secs hand held. Still it gives you an idea. ANd this was actually in the pitch dark so I am kinda happy with how much light my camera collected in the process. :o)

Thunder and Lightening Tomatoes

The glorious bounty from Kristi's tomato house, displayed atop her stove, after we drove Scout home during the horrendous Thunder and Lightening storm that started the recent fire at Wilt Rocks. Fortunately our local fire fighters were on top of it in no time at all. I don't think any of the residents realised there was a fire so near them.

The firefighters stomped it dead within what appeared to be approx 45 min.

Smoked Vennison?

Good Mornin' Smokeshine

The start of the day, before the breeze pushes it all out to what ever direction the winds will.

Don't "breathe deep" THIS gathering gloom.

Graduations again...

...and of these graduates tonight, none of them are mine.
Tonights is the largest graduating class for SHS in a long time. 200+ students.
I think of some of them and remember years past.
How proud I am of all these kids. Some of them are mine and some are not.

They are rappers and poets, mathematicians and musicians. Savantes and actors.
All unique in their own flavour and bents.
Such a great town to live in and grow kids in.

I have awesome kids!

Twizzle Knock

So, when I was a kid I did a lot of sleep walking.
A lot.
Doing and saying a lot of bizarre things.
As I got older I grew out of it.
Somewhat.

But when I am super tired, or sound asleep at the beginning of the night, I am entirely incoherent. If anyone tries to speak with me, get any info out of me, or try to hold any form of conversation with me, words that have nothing to do with each other or any subject come flying out of my mouth, eventually in a tirade, which is probably intended to mean " Hey you rotten kids quit bugging me and let me sleep!" But none of those words are actually strung together.

This causes no end of humour and practical joking on the part of my kids,
"Hey lets go ask mom something while she's asleep! Hahahahah!"

So in the nighttime last night, I awakened (apparently) and jotted myself a note, which, today
as I look at it, makes no sense what so ever.

The message reads: "twizzle knock".

Now to be fair, Twizzle is the cat.
Did she knock on the door?
Did she knock on wood?
Did she knock off the other cat and stuff her body in a trash can?
Who can say, who can know?

I go to work.

I come home.

There is the stupid note I wrote still on the counter.
I look at it again. WTH was I thinking?
("I am going kookoo", I tell myself.)

Oh well, time to make dinner.

I say to myself: "Oh, I should turn on some music while I make dinner. I will fire up my playlist on Grooveshark.com"

What?
Now what!
There's no friggin internet?
I can't cook dinner with no internet!

Now I realise that my note is not stupid.
I realise that in my nocturnal stupor, I managed, with what meager faculties I could engage, to scrape out of my sleep the only two words that would explain the dilemma to a future, awake Me:

"Twizzle knocked the modem off the book case in the middle of the night resulting in all the wires falling out and some body has to dig it out from behind the book cases, re-plug in all the crap and then re-boot."

And I used two words to 'splain all that?
I am not so kookoo as I thought.

Or maybe I am...

I love how...

...my kids love me when they want something, or when they need a shoulder to cry on or when they need a listening ear or a ready defender. But apparently on all the other days they are just too embarrassed to bring a friend home. Today for example. I bust my butt to make a nice bar B que for my kids. 1 goes to a bar b que some where else at the last minute, the other texts me that she is too embarrassed to bring her friend to our house for dinner.
Great.
What am I...?
Uh-huh.
Yeah.
Tell me that don't hurt.

Todays Game: Find the Pin

Must have dissolved over the years. Still, you can see the screws easily enough. (click on images to enlarge.)

You can see the screws holding together what I am told is the talus/sub-talus area of my ankle joint. And yes, the tech laughed at my stupidly high arches, which cause me no end of shoe shopping issues.

It may be something as simple as just opening the skin and removing the screws, as apparently the tech mentioned that sometimes they can work their way back out. He worked for a local Foot and Ankle Surgery clinic for 20 years before coming to the Radiology clinic so I like to think his shooting my Xray was providential.

Dry bones and stripped screws

Backstory: 22 years ago I suffered a crushed ankle (technically the talus/sub-talus bones). The Portland Winterhawks Hockey Team Doctor happened by the E.R. and said, "don't fuse it, I think I can save it."
So 3 screws and a pin later (and 6 months non weight bearing in a wheelchair), he was right. He projected that I would get another good 10 years out of it before needing a fusion. He was wrong. I've had a good 22 year run with it.

But now I can tell that the joint is bad, and it feels like the screws have stripped inside the bones. (You carpenters will have a good idea of what that might entail, but in bones not wood.)

So, the dilemma is tempting: it feels so GOOD to strap on that velcro protective boot that comes wtih orthopedic foot injuries. It relieves SO much (if not all of the pain.) The problem is, it's like being in a cast and so you lose muscle tone. The only muscle tone left that would allow you to remove the boot and remain walking.

Right now, I can tell that my gait is becoming more and more stunted, in order to guard the weak bones. Going up and down steps is a fascinating physical gyration that few but myself would recognize as being "off".

I am so tempted to strap on the boot and live in it...but such ongoing restriction only weakens whatever muscle tone remains.

What to do, what to do...

...and yet...
I long for the boot.

I am feeling angry and frustrated:Episode 1

So because of my dad's medical situation and his needs came up against my work hours, I was forced to send my dad to the doctor visits with Stu. Its fine because he is good with interpersonal stuff and releiveing stress in such situations etc, but he is also really BAD at getting all the fine details of the data and arrogantly reports in a manner that suggests that whatever he says is the right answer. I have found his data to be inaccurate on many counts today when I actually was able to attend a crucial Dr appt.

Back story thingie:
But so, Stu recently lost his mom. Due to his unemployed status, he was able to go over and stay with both his mom and dad while they walked together through the end of life process, which is great. I did not tell him or his siblings how to handle any thing with regard to their choices. They are the ones who are family and I am not. I am an in-law and I know my place. SO anyway, now Stu is thinking to tell me his opinion in how we shoudl handle my dad. My dads sensibilities are completely opposite of Stu's parents. Stu needs to butt out. Besides, he is (hopefully) going to be in ND getting a job which will support the family. I don't care if he makes $30, 000 a month as long as he deposits $2400 monthlyu to cover the basic necessities of the household and his children - not groceries or my gas. Anyway, we will see. He needs to remember his place. And he gets pissed at me for reminding him. To define what my dads needs is none of his business.

Strange Days

Well yesterday we went from "when Kenz gets home lets spend the evening watching movies and chillling out" to "hey mom, I got that job in Tigard! I gotta leave RIGHT NOW to get over the pass before it freezes!".

The sudden change left me with the bizarre stress of having her yanked mysteriously from my life and also leaving me with the responsibility of her dog and two rats to care for.

I work at the store today.
I can't be leaving Ika home so suddenly after Scout has departed and so my only other option is to take the dog to work with me and have her spend time in the car, with me going outside once each and every hour to let her out and take her for a trot around the vacant lot next to the store.

Weird day.

STUPID COW!

**ATTENTION** Art work of Cow is by Norma Wilson.
View/shop her gallery at http://normawilsonfineart.com/


ok so, coming home from Portland friday night, we were going over Hood after having dropped Blake back off at Meyer's. We hit the top of Warm Springs and started the descent into Cow Canyon (I remember now, that's what that part of the canyon is called, now I know why) at about 1:15 am. I am cruising at about 60 mph. (Who snickered?? Ok FINE! Add 7 more!)

ALL OF A SUDDEN this COW - entirely jet black except for the white face - comes walking right bloody into the path of my car!!!
STUPID COW!!!
I swerved and managed to narrowly miss the thing. I must have exclaimed "something"(tm) because Scout woke up from her place in the passenger seat and said, "What's going on?"

I didn't even stop to see if I grazed the dumb thing but just kept on going.
I told her I almost just hit an entirely black cow.

Can you imagine hitting a cow at highway speed? We all would have died!

Oh the dumb things we do for boys...

When I was 12 I got a typewriter, and old Underwood portable that had been my grandfathers.
This was in the days before the internet.
In these days there were mere rumours of an invention called a video disc and VHS Cassettes were still being dreamed of.
So when a teen girl needs to vent, and there is no blog to turn to, she typed her brains out.
At first stories, but later poems. Filled with angst and teen-girl gusto.
I typed everyday. Sometimes for hours, depending upon the drama level in my life.

And then one day, at the edge of my teen-dom I did the unthinkably stupid:
I gave them, all of them, to a BOY.

Now I have none of them.

Girls.
Dont be stupid.

Foiled once in Brownsmead.

Oh I was so close! If only I had done a little more research I wouldn't feel the need to go back and capture what I was SO close to. A mere 100 yards or so? Ugh! I KNEW(!) there was an abandoned railway around there some where. The fact that there was a derelict, uprooted and moved depot down at the crossroads by the grange was proof enough. Aldrich Point Road. At the washout. PArk the car and keep going...only first (!) get permission because this place is ooky and extremely well guarded by all of the residents. They will come after you with a shotgun if you even stop on the paved road and get out of your car. Anyway, if I go back in Feb I had better have some calendar samples to hand out to The Big Man, so he will let me back into the town to shoot. :o)

Windows 7 Screensaver not working-FIXED!!!

For some people, it is the use of their Windows 7 gadgets that keep the screensaver from engaging. For some people, their wireless mouse seems to interfere with the screensaver starting.
For many others, it is very simply the power management options. I carried out the following fix and it worked!!!

For my part, I WANT my screensaver to ALWAYS kick in after 3 minutes for security reasons. When I set my screensaver, I alwasy click the box that says "Require password"and/or "Show Welcome Screen on Resume" (or whatever the exact verbage is, it's something like that. ANYWAY...
my screensaver woudl never activate, leaving my compie open to whoever walked by to get in and mess with at their will. This is why I rely on my screensaver. Besides, I have vacation and my kids pix on there, and I like to see them. :o)

The solution did not come as part of my own cleverness, but from the following person and so far he was the only person that had the right answer for me:

http://www.troublefixers.com/screen-saver-not-activating-working-in-windows/

So frustrated was I with not being able to get my screensaver to work all this time, that I carried his instructions to the Nth degree although, his were a little different than mine I was able to get the basic idea. I went into the following options:

-Right click the center of your desktop and select PERSONALISE
-Select SCREENSAVER
-Select CHANGE POWER SETTINGS

At this point odds are great that you have either monekeyed with your power settings at some point, or like me, never messed with them at all yet. This is an excellent time to do so. :o)

On this POWER PLANS screen you have a multitude of options.

I took about 10 min. and selected CHANGE SETTINGS for every power plan offered.
I left the battery settings much the same, but for all the options where is it tells the computer what to do when its plugged in, I clicked all the arrows on the drop down menus and selected NEVER for all the options, on all the power plans listed.

I didn't even have to reboot, and in 3 minutes I was looking at craggy pacific coast rocks and my kids climbing them!

YAY!

If I can do this, so can you!
:o)

Kooky Ghoulash thing my dad used to make. (I bet James Lileks could ID this thing!)

I haven't thought of this in years. It used to make me crazy!
To coin a phrase from our favorite gourmand of the all things disgusting James Lileks,"Glop In a pot!".
This thing my dad and mom made is the TRUEST form of Glop In a Pot. and yet, it's kinda good and hearty if you don't think about the 1950's - 1970's style of ingredients.

I don't know what they called it. I am sure it had no right name.
They just called it "Macaroni."
Ok Yankee Doodle, here it comes:

1 lb ground beef
1 green pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped.

Begin to fry up this lot.
When burger is cooked through add:
1 can of pork and beans (yes. thats what I said.)
1 can of diced tomatoes
Optional - it seems like my mom used to throw the tiny can of Tomato paste in this mess as well.
And then add enough pasta to soak up what ever liquid is abounding in the pan.
Let it all simmer until liquid is soaked up and pasta is soft.
If liquid still abounds, remove lid and let cook off for a while.

Eat.

So I made this for my family tonight.
Why?
I had all the ingredients and was wondering what I could make and suddenly, like an epiphany/deja vu moment, I remembered "This thing" my mom and dad made. (Besides me and my brother, that is.)

Verdict?
They loved it (face palm).

Happy Kid Times

So during the weeks prior to Christmas (kinda since December 1st) our household has consisted of Me, Stu, Blake ,Scout ,MacKenzie, Jason, James and Jeremy. (And Brogin randomly). The week before Christmas we lost James and Jeremy, but were rewarded with Cousin Colin on Christmas night. Even so...he departed today. So we are now back down to 6 + Grampa - that makes 7. Oh wait, Brogin is here so that is back to 7. No! 8! Crap I can't count!
Anyway,
it is a happy thing that all these people who are under the age of 26 are filling my house with loud energy and cutting edge thought/philosophy. (Of course we all know they are young and what ever they are spouting is utter crap...) ;o) no just KIDDING! (sorta.)
Anyway, it is a happy house that is filled with people, all young and all different from each other. Especially during the holidays.

These make the days when I am glad that I am still above ground.
;o)

Blog Books?

Normally when I see the obvious marketing strategies of online printers advertising that you can "turn your blog into a book" I think to myself, "ugh! As if anyone wants to read anyone elses inner krap! what a self absorbed thing to imagine!"

Today as I sat in Lisa W's office we were chitty-chatting about where our lives were in the past and things that happened back then to shape you we are today with God and such.

She said, "Michelle, you should write some of this down!"
Apparently there is this guy who put forth a Nove3mber challenge to write everyday no matter what.

As I listened to Lisa she3 mentioned that at times when she had gone back to read stuff she had written adn to write down things she remembered from her past, she was amazed and reminded of how good life is and how active God had been in so many ways at the time.

So I thought, "I have at LEAST 5 years of blogging going here. Surely I can pull our a few highlights for myself to remind myself of how good things really are.

Since my blog has aplty fallen on the title "Stop Talking, I'm Out of Aspiring" perhaps the only title for the snippets would be "Aspirin."
I dunno.
And I dunno how I will format these snippets into any sort of valuable entertaining retrospective.

But it got me thinking.
Soemtimes it is GOOD to revisit the past to remind yoru self of
A). How far you have come
B). How life is a series of hills and valleys. When yoaure on the mountain, remember that you will again be in the valley someday, so write down the good times. When you are in the valley, write it down so that you can remember how God brought you through it.

So it has set me to thinking...


ADDENDUM:
sometimes it is also good to give oneself a break and to say, "Screw the Typos. I Yam What I Yam." so yeah, there are a poo-load of typos in that, and I am going to turn a blind eye to them. Besides I am certain most of you can read fluent typo. ;o)

Beaters

So it's the holidays and I found my self buying a new hand held electric mixer.
I threw out the old one and was prepping to throw out the matching beaters. (It seems as though I go through this process every few years). I thought to myself, "what if I just take the beaters to the thrift store?" And then I thought about that.

How many electric mixers do I imagine come into the thrift store with no beaters?
None.
Because we throw them out because they are DEAD. It's the beaters that go on and on and on for ever with no hope of use or solace.(Pregnant pause...looks at self in mirror? Moves on...).

So THEN I thought to myslf, "I wonder if there is a sculpture or some sort of wind art I could create using all of these beaters?"
I bet the thrift store would practically GIVE me them all to create a sculpture or something for their silent auction each year.

Hmmmmm......food 4 thot....

Kristi's Kritters

Got a few photo's of Kristi's animals. Ok only a few - there are like 30-ish horses and 3 dogs and 2 cats and a bunch of cows and peacocks, so this is only, uhm...2 animals but hey!

Here they are in all of their fuzzy, fluffy glory:

Kristi's Kritters (All two of them for today)

I Am Yurt

Love the Yurts!

New, exciting, fun AND cheap. $40 a night. Heated with electricity. What's not to like?!

So I did a prelim investigatory visit to Newport.

Pics can be seen here.

Also, I checked out the November Yurt site for Lynn Nancy and Paula and I:

Seen here

Basically, the yurt is heated and has electric lights and plug ins. There is a covered porch where we are allowed to cook - as there is no cooking allowed INSIDE the yurts. There is a water spigot next to the yurt but we must walk to use the camp ground restrooms and showers - which aren't too far. There is a small table and chairs inside as well as to heavy duty plastic lawn chairs. There is an exterior picnic table and fire pit.

I did not bring my campstove but I did bring my electric cook pot - shaped like a soup pan but plugs in like an electric fry pan. I used it to cook soup and boil water for coffee in the coffee press.

I think maybe the most effeicient way of getting here might be to go up to Albany and take Hwy 20 west to Corvallis / Toledo /Newport...but you guys may have a more efficient path. Each additional car costs and extra $5 to park so I dunno if you all want to come together or what.

Anyway, there is the scoop so far.

I can't wait!!!!

the Aftermath...

The resulting images of our sojourn at the beach can be viewed at the following link: Manzanita September.

Sunday Church with Cat Stevens.

Yes you read that correctly.

Some people would say that he got a lot of stuff wrong.
I would counter that by saying that he also got a lot of stuff right.
Now that I am older I can really connect with some of the truths he came in contact with
and purveyed them in their context.

I downloaded a bunch of old music from Buddha and the Chocolate Box, Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the Firecat.
On my way in to town to feed the cat and get groceries before everyone woke up, I put in this CD and was reintroduced to a song called "Wind".

It brought on a prayerful moment that wanted to last the entire day, so I changed my plans on the way back from the store. I decided i would take my camera and head south toward Fort Rock and Paulina Caldera, and the obsidian flow. I never made it to Fort Rock. I spent the day climbing around in the lava flow (and still have more to investigate there), and ran out of time to go further south.

Getting used to this new camera is really frustrating! I am just not familiar enough with the settings to get even remotely passable photo's with it. I have immense difficulty learning from written material, manuals etc. It's like I have this disconnect in my brain with regard to learning via reading. I am more of a "hands on, show me, gotta do it myself" style of learner.

So as it ended up I only got 2 barely passable images, but it was an awesome day to drive around, meditate on things, and climb about in the park and hike.

:o)

True thang.

Thanks to J Ryd for sharing this.

Found: Lost Surfer Beach Pics!

Lynn will be SO happy!

This was the June trip. It rained the first day but it was ok, the surfers were still out and it made everything that much more vibrant. Please excuse water drops on some images. I am too lazy to photo-shop them out right now.

Surfer Beach, June 2011.

This was the same weekend as when the boys came up and climbed the house and Arcadia Rock.

FINALLY!! Graduation pics!

Tah-DAH!
And now I give you:
Graduation, 2011

I apologize to Scout, Allan and everyone else for how longs it's taken me to get these posted...but at least I got it done before the end of the summer.
;o)

Dufur Threshing Bee 2011

Dufur is a wonderful little secret. Who would ever go somewhere purposefully, as a destination, to a place named "Dufur"? Well, I can't wait to go back next year. Hot as 12 yards of "you know where", it is also a picturesque farming valley. And for one weekend a year it is filled with draft horses, steam tractors, horse drawn farm equipment, parades, and a field full of food, craft and antique vendors. Not to mention the many garage sales that pop up to take advantage of the tourist traffic. Having said all of this, I heartily admonish you to avoid the place. Why? Because a well kept secret needs to stay that way. ;o)

If you MUST see, then here are just a few photos from my trip this year.

WHAT a DAY!!!

UGLY RANT.
DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR SOUL DARKENED.
HORRIBLE NEGATIVITY ABOUT TO COMMENCE:









-Stu's new Volvo dead again. Fixed and paid. so far this $2400 car has cost me
approx $4000.
-Visitor ends up being a pot/coke head coming down off meth.
(NOT the visitor from Mich. The OTHER visitor from Cali.)
I am not capable of seeing this person thru rehab.
We all thought he was clean to begin with B4 arriving.
Does that make me a bad person for saying, "Uh dude? I did not sign up to hold your hand through rehab. And apparently it would be rehab that you don't even think you need?)

-Against my wishes and better judgement, I LET Stu take the Montero!
-Montero breaks, needs new engine now! Blake James and Stu are stuck out in Jordan Valley, OR. Blake n James stay at the mechanic shop with the vehicle while Stu walks / hitch hikes the 150 mi to Nampa Idaho.

-Scout is burnt out and tired.
(How this is my responsibility I don't know other than...something.)

-Stu informs me that if he is supposed to pick kenz up from camp as was previously planned, then he will be forced to drive the Volvo - as if I am a bad person for not giving him the next good car in line to make that trip. He insisted on buying the Volvo! Now bloody drive it! I've sunk a krap load of $$ into and not a dime of his, so he has no right to insist that I owe him a different car to use, aka Scout's Subaru.

Can you tell, people?
Can you see?

Right now I'm A DONKEY ON THE EDGE!!!

A month before Blake was born, I was involved in a car crash at 9+ months pregnant.
I spent the first 6 months of his life in a wheel chair and on crutches. In order to move the baby around the house, I crawled on my knees and pushed him from room to room in a bassinette exactly like this one. When he was asleep in his crib, I filled this bassinette with laundry and pushed it down the hall to the washer on my hands and knees.

When I saw this in the store today, it brought back SO MANY memories.


Unlike this thing below, which I found in a booth while dusting. If one of my friends had found this, he might have put it in his "Um..." photo album on Facebook. It certainly does have "um..." value:



Yes it is an antique pottery jar.
Below is a close up of the text.




...um...