Our Last Day at Peaceful Pines

It's been a cloudy rainy day today, chilly and not very pleasant. It definitely is fall.

Today was are last day at Peaceful Pines RV Park for this year. (I'm sure we will find occasion to stay here again the next time we're in the Spokane area.) I did a little bit today getting ready to move, but will do most of it in the morning.

We will be moving down to our ranch, out in the country between Ritzville and Moses Lake. It will be handy for getting ready for the Mennonite Country Auction which will be this Saturday.

This horse, which can be ridden by a child weighing up to one hundred pounds or so, came from the National Arabian Horse Show
in Scottsdale, Arizona. Donated by the Hardts and Dennis and Colleen, it would be ideal at any grandparents' house for that special child in your life. It is one of the items that will be sold at Saturday's auction which begins at noon.

The only downside of being at the ranch for a few days is lack of access to the internet. I most likely will have to drive up to the top of the hill in order to post anything -- or to get cell phone coverage.

Yes, It's Monday

It's Monday and there was a crew out again raking pine needles. I chatted with the manager a bit and he commented that they had cleaned them ALL up just last Thursday. The pile over on the edge of the campground is now over seven feet tall and maybe twenty-five feet long. He did say that they have found that they can be taken to the Waste-to-Energy incinerator. The local composting plant will not take them as there is gravel mixed in (from raking the needles off the roads). The manager said that now that he knows that, next year he'll make separate stacks of the needles from the roads and needles from the grass. That way more of them can be recycled.

We made an appointment this afternoon with our new insurance agent for crop insurance, making sure that all of our property in Adams County is covered even though it is not all farmed by the same tenant. From there we headed for the grocery store. It seems we are always out of fresh fruit as well as Forry's favorite breakfast sandwiches.

With the end of the Mariners 2014 season, we now are free in the evenings to see what is new on TV for the fall season. Tonight we saw the first episode this year of Castle -- what a strange show it was!

This Morning at Menno

This year's Mennonite Country Auction is coming NEXT Saturday, October 4th!



Cold winter days are coming too! This is one of several gorgeous afghans that will be auctioned Saturday at noon. Held at the Menno Mennonite Church grounds, this 57x90 afghan or any of the others would be perfect for wrapping up in with a cup of hot chocolate on one of those chilly evenings.

This morning we drove down to Menno for church. I debated briefly about not going as I was VERY tired after my travels of the last few days, but we definitely wanted to make sure we took down the rest of the coins we have been collecting all year for Penny Power. This year the Mennonite kids' project all over the country is to raise funds to build or re-build house destroyed by typhoons in the Philippines. Judging from the heaping buckets the kids collected today (I think everyone else had saved their year's stash for today also), the "match" of ten percent that we were lucky enough to win today could be a considerable amount...

We got home in time to watch the last Mariners game of 2014. It was a great game that they won 4-1, but unfortunately Oakland won their game in Texas and took the last Wild Card slot. Felix pitched a great 5 1/3 innings and got a standing ovation when he left the field. In fact, the whole team got lots of cheers when the game was over. They've had a great season. Can't wait for Spring Training!

Home Again

My flight was a bit early, so we were actually home and ready for bed by ten o'clock.

After this morning's meetings, I was picked up at the hotel by a friend from my National Rural Health Association days. Rob and Dennis took me out to the little river town of Weston, Kansas  for lunch and a good visit. It was so nice just to chat and catch up. Besides it was a beautiful warm, sunny afternoon for a drive. There are some fall colors of red and yellow starting to show.

The fellows dropped me off at the airport on the way back to Kansas City. I had a quick quiet flight to Minneapolis with a half full plane. Not so the last leg to Spokane -- that was a full, full flight complete with not one, but two screaming toddlers!

It's good to be home again!

Day 2

The second day of the Fall Executive Board meetings is done! It's been a long day with some good sessions.

Joy and I led worship again today. I think it went well. Getting a piano for the meeting room really added to the atmosphere. Joy is a good pianist. We spent a great deal of time today talking about the upcoming Assembly here in Kansas City next July. The KC Visitors Bureau brought by some sinfully rich cinnamon rolls from Big Mama's this morning for our break. Even after only eating a half of one, I skipped lunch!

One Day Down

The first half day of the Executive Board meeting is in the books. We didn't meet tonight as the Executive Committee had another meeting (with the executive Committee of one of the Agencies). I went with five of the guys over to a restaurant on the other side of Union Station. It shouldn't have been a very long walk, but there was some kind of private event at Union Station, so we had to go around instead of cutting through.

We were going for BBQ, but there was a 45-50 minute wait, so went next door to an Italien place instead. I had one of the best duck breasts with a tart cherry sauce that I've ever eaten. Fortunately, on the way home, we took a taxi!

Finally!

It's 1:30 am and I am finally in my room at the Westin Hyatt Crown Plaza in Kansas City. I used to stay here a lot in my National Rural Health Association days. (NRHA had a contract with Hyatt). The old girl has had a lovely spruce-up in her lobby, but she is showing her age in the rooms.

It's been a very long day. My 10:10 flight had still not arrived nor left when I took an alternate flight at 1:30. But I had missed my connection in Salt Lake City to Kansas City, so had to hang around until  8 pm. That flight was late leaving as the pilots were coming in on another flight two gates down the concourse. We watched them walk off that plane and onto ours. Poor guys didn't even get to go to the john

Finally arrived in KC about quarter to twelve. Of course, my gate was at one end of the terminal and the Super Shuttle was at the other. But, they were there! I had called ahead with the flight change..

Got to the hotel and a rather slow desk clerk took forever to check me in - at least they didn't cancel my room reservation as it was now after midnite. Sent me finally up to 1510 which turned out to be one of those business suites - living room, dining area, bar, etc. but NO bed. It did look like ther might be a Murphy bed, but it was on the wall behind a big couch and coffee table.

I called downstairs and the guy acted surprised. Finally said he would find my another room and send someone up with a key. A HALF HOUR later, a bellman showed up with the keys to another room. I had been sitting in that rather cold room trying to stay awake -- didn't even want to use the bathroom and mess it up...

Oh well, I don't have to get up early as the meeting doesn't start until after lunch. Hopefully, I can sleep in!

Packing Today

I leave tomorrow morning for Kansas City for Mennonite Church USA Executive Board meetings Thursday through Saturday morning. With the time change in this direction, I'll actually make it back to Spokane a little after five Saturday afternoon. Like almost always going east, I have to leave the day before in order to be there on time for a meeting that starts at one.

My main accomplishment today was getting my little carry-on packed. I'll only be gone two nights, so I don't need to take much. The nicest thing about it is being able to have all of the documents for the meeting on my iPad. No need to take along a computer, even a light weight one! Or reams of paper documents! I do like "the cloud!"

Now, my Sister Roxy is leaving early tomorrow morning (2 AM) on a REAL trip. She is heading on an extremely long flight to Bali! A gift from her hubby, the trip is designed for quilters. It will be interesting to see all of the beautiful batiks she brings back.

A Quiet Monday

And it was a very quiet day. Only about half of the RV park is full and three or four of those units pulled out as the day went on. There was one couple we saw taking their three dogs for a walk and the manager was out this morning turning on the sprinklers on the center grass for a couple of hours. Other than that we did not see a single soul. There were not even the usual cars driving around raising dust.

Forry disconnected the antenna for the Wii system from the TV today to add it to the box of pieces. He forgot how he had attached it in the first place and went to a lot of unnecessary work before he realized it. But now the antenna and wires are in the box with the rest of the parts ready to be taken down to Menno for the MCA auction.

Since we are not hooked up to the septic system, we are in the water conservation mode and I am not doing my usual laundry. Makes for a bit of a lazy day. We listened to an awful Mariners game from Toronto late this afternoon. This has been a VERY bad week for the Mariners. They don't seem to have a starting pitcher that can pitch more than a few innings, if that.

Definitely a Rest Day

We were tired this morning! I woke up early enough that we could have made it to Menno for church, but very quickly decided to go back to bed.

That's pretty much how the day went. We made waffles and bacon for breakfast. We listened to the Mariners game. They lost. We napped. We listened to the Seahawks game. They won. We napped.

Finally decided we at least had to go out and take a walk. I was just going to walk around the circle of the RV park, but Forry wanted to walk out into the neighboring woods. We hadn't walked in that direction in all the times we have been here. I'm glad we did. This is what we found -

I love the look on the cherubim's face. He looks like he's been naughty and is waiting to find out how much trouble he's in. There's no sign or information anywhere around. He's just sitting on that rock out in the woods.

Further on through the woods are the train tracks. Over a hundred trains go by here every day on the two sets of tracks. You can see one carrying coal cars if you look through the trees on the right.

Forry can't stand very long nor walk very far without his back becoming extremely painful, but the walking sticks seem to help a bit.

Smoked Tri-Tip

Our friends Katherine and Dennis bid on and won a smoked Tri-Tip beef dinner at their grandsons' school auction. The dinner was more than enough for the dozen or so guests that gathered in the front yard at their farm late this afternoon. I believe that the chef furnished the meat and potatoes while Kay fixed the salad, sides, and appetizers. All of it was very good, but as usual at this sort of thing, the visiting was even better.

One of the couple are a pair we only see once every couple of years, usually at something like this. His father was my father's contemporary and we were good friends with many of his family back in the Carico Hills days. One couple was new to us, but the other couples were also church family friends. Dennis and Kay's son and daughter were also there, along with their two young grandsons. It was a good group of folks.

But, it's a bit of a long trip from here to their farm - almost a hundred miles - so it made for a long day. Time for bed!

The Fix-it Man

When we were in town a couple of days ago, we picked up some fresh glue and some screws so that Forry could do some repairs on his bedroom drawers. They are probably the only ones left in the RV that he hasn't re-glued the bottoms or repaired or replaced the slides. You add the normal wear and tear of living, then you add the shaking and bouncing of being on the road for several  hundred miles, it's surprising they stand up as well as they do.

It's nice to be married to someone who can fix things. My Dad was the same way, both in the house and on the farm. It's not as easy as it used to be due to all the electronics in everything now. But a good share of what needs to be fixed around the RV can be taken care of by Forry. (That doesn't mean it always gets done. After many years I've learned that "Yeah, I CAN fix that." doesn't necessarily mean "Yes, I WILL fix that...")

The park managers had a work crew out today raking up pine needles. (They said they had just done it three days ago...) There were five of them out there raking up needles and hauling them over to the HUGE pile they have over on the edge of the campground. They're having a terrible time getting rid of them. The local refuse company won't take them and they can't burn them. When we were in Georgia, we were surprised to see bales of pine needles for sale at garden shops (remember, we were surprised to see all the pine trees in the south also!). I understand they were using them for mulch?

I had thawed some hamburger today for dinner as I wanted to make meat loaf to  go with the acorn squash I planned to bake. Instead of putting half the meat aside for another meal, I went ahead and made it all into meat loaf, then made two pans and put one into the freezer for another day. I don't have much freezer space, but since we defrosted it a few weeks ago, I seem to have more room...

Moving Day Again

It really hasn't been two weeks since we moved, has it? This should be our last move in the Cheney area. After our two weeks here at Peaceful Pines, we will head down to the ranch to stay until after the  Mennonite Country Auction on October 4th

It was actually a fairly easy move today. It's so much easier when it is overcast and not so blinking hot. We slipped right into Site 14 just like we had been there before.

I spent most of the afternoon loading PDF files from my laptop computer to "the Cloud" so that I could download them from the Cloud to my iPad. They are all the files from the docket for next week's Executive Board meeting in Kansas City. The files are all in a "gathering place" that works on Internet Explorer, so of course, my iPad's Safari browser isn't supported by it.(Forry says it's all supposed to be teaching me patience...)

It was a gloomy enough day today that a pot of stew sounded good. This one had beef cubes, new carrots, a sweet potato, an onion, celery and of course, a good couple of splashes of red wine!

Practically Overnight

On Monday this tree was green. This is what it looked like this morning --

I think it's saying something to us! We are definitely thinking about our travels south the first part of next month. I think we are both ready.

We packaged up much of our work of the last week today and took a trip into Spokane to Goodwill. On the way, we stopped off at the Waste to Energy plant and deposited our recyclables, the plastic and glass bottles and the aluminum cans. It was quiet there today. I think the last time we stopped there, it was a Saturday and there was lots of traffic in and out. Today there was so little traffic the attendant was dumped the plastic bingees into the big dumpsters as soon as anything was put into them.
,
We had just gotten home when Sister Sherry called (we'd been playing telephone tag since yesterday). She had lots to say about Keiko San's dog show last weekend. Usually, the mastiffs don't do well in Group (the Working Dogs category). But this weekend two different judges placed him in Group. He got second one day and came in fourth the next. The dog has to place first in his/her own breed in order to show again in Group. It will be interesting to see what his national standings are after doing so well the last couple of weeks.

I washed a couple more loads today. I'm trying to get everything washed up before we move over to Peaceful Pines tomorrow where we won't have a sewer hookup and will be conserving water. Forry was unable to figure out what happened to the TV, so we are again listening to the Mariners on the radio.

Medallion Star

Here's another gorgeous hand-quilted beauty. It measures 100 x 112 and will be auctioned at the Mennonite Country Auction at Menno Mennonite Church on Saturday, October 4th. It's called Medallion Star and it is beautifully done.

Today we filled another bag with shirts and other clothing from Forry's drawers. Since he no longer wears shirts without a pocket (got to have a place for that cell phone, you know.), there were quite a few shirts that he doesn't wear any more. I think we need to definitely plan on making a Goodwill run tomorrow!

Late this afternoon we headed into the Safeway store in Cheney for groceries. It was almost five-thirty by the time we left the RV park, so the traffic was really heavy. I'm sure it was a combo of students from Eastern and people coming home from work. It took us a while to get onto the highway.

Forry punched something weird - or a combination of somethings - on the controller to shut the TV down as we were leaving the house. All of a sudden, there was this tremendous blast of static noise that actually hurt my ears. When we got back to the house and he tried to turn it back on, he got the same awful noise. After some fiddling, we decided we were too tired to deal with it tonight, so we're listening to the game on the radio. At least the Mariners are beating San Diego!

Another Gorgeous Quilt

I am always amazed at the absolutely beautiful quilts that start showing up the month before the Mennonite Country Auction (annually on the first Saturday in October). Here's another gorgeous one
that I saw Sunday -- not that I like blue or anything.

After Sunday School we went into Ritzville and met our friends Colleen and Dennis for lunch. As an added treat, the Earl of Lind was there as well. He's in his mid-eighties and quite a character. Earl just returned from a trip to Alaska with his three adult daughters. Sounds like they had a ball. This winter he's planning a trip to Cuba!

After lunch, we went over to Dennis and Colleen's to see their new travel trailer. They have a travel trailer toy hauler. They are making the toy garage into space for Dennis's shop for their silverplate jewelry business. Can you believe we were so busy ooing and ahing over the new rig to remember to take any pictures?

Dennis and Colleen make their winter base in Yuma and then travel to fairs in various communities in the Southwest to vend their jewelry. This way they won't have to pay for motel rooms on the road.

Today was another day at home. Forry is still sorting through his drawers in the bedroom. We filled another Goodwill bag with assorted shirts and jeans some of the shirts with logos from the early nineties...

A Trip to Menno

I was up and dressed early this morning. I woke Forry up and he was soon up and ready to go. We made a quick stop at the corner Mickey D's for breakfast sandwiches just before  we got on the freeway. We headed west the 90 or so miles out to the Mennonite Church.

The church was full this morning. Many of the summer travelers have returned now that school has started. This gorgeous quilt was hanging in the front of the sanctuary, a reminder that the Mennonite Country Auction is just a few weekends ago on October 4th.

We took part of our year-long collection of change along, as today was the start of this year's Penny Power collection. The children will be taking buckets out through the congregation the next three Sundays to collect everyone's loose change. The Penny Power project this year is going to help rebuild houses in Indonesia following last year's typhoon. It is neat to realize that pennies are being collected all over the country in Mennonite congregations for this purpose.

In addition, we took along Son Sean's coin collection of pennies in the bottom third of a gallon zip-lock bag. He gave us strict instructions to give it to Diane. She is the first one to get Penny Power started at Menno many years ago. I think Diane got a kick out of it.

OK, It Is Saturday

All day, it's Saturday, Okay?

Though it was a very quiet day. Forry started watching football first thing this morning. Daughter Dawn called late morning and we had a nice long visit with her. Since she works full-time and there is always something going on with the teens  and with the church, she's  usually pretty busy and often gets interrupted. This morning, she was alone -- except for that puppy -- and had lots of time to chat until she had to get ready to go to a wedding.

I looked at want is left to clean. It's all Forry's drawers and one upper cupboard, so he needs to be involved. With all of the games today, I didn't even suggest it. We are pretty much out of fresh fruit and vegetables, but I found half a head of a small cabbage in the back of the drawer. I sliced it up thinly and dropped it into a pot of very salty boiling water. I only left it  long enough for it came back to a boil, then drained it and dotted it with butter. It was still a bit crunchy when I served it with our baked potatoes and grilled steak. Cabbage fixed this way is one of Forry's favorites, but I haven't fixed it for a long time.

It's Not Friday

It's Saturday morning! I realized sometime during the night that I had NOT written my blog last night. I could have sworn I had...

I can actually blame it on the blog itself. While I was cleaning/sorting out the cupboards above the bed on my side, I pulled out the six volumes of Blog2Print books that were stored up there and brought them out to the living room. And then sat down and started to read. I think I read the first volumes before I went to bed.

Yesterday, I went back and read the last few years. I did that off and on throughout the whole day. It is any wonder that after being immersed in the thing for almost two days, I thought I had written yesterday's?

A Productive Day

We didn't get started very early, but I feel like we accomplished quite a bit. There is a set of cupboards above the head of the bed. I have stuff in the two on my side and Forry has stuff in the other two. These are not real usable cupboards as they are high and hard to get at, so I tend to store things in mine I don't use very often.

For example, the  Blog2Print books that I have printed each year of that year's blogs are stored there. Since I didn't start the blog, Hardtsonthehighway, until we had been on the road for a year and a half, there are now six fat heavy volumes there. There are also a couple of umbrellas, my traveling cosmetic bags and some handwork that I have kept. The one thing I use quite frequently is my earring stand. I was able to collect several earrings that had fallen off as I taken it in and out of the cupboard and also to "pair up" some that had gotten mixed up and in the wrong place.

While I was worked on the high cupboard, Forry was working on the stuff stashed alongside his side of the bed. One of things stored back there was the wii we had bought a couple of years ago and have only used a few times. After a bit of discussion, we decided the wii was one of those things that could find a good home at the Mennonite Country Auction.

I do have another bag with a pair of Forry's cowboy boots, several hats, a purse,  and a few other odds and ends that will make a trip to Goodwill. Forry's also filled one more bag that will go directly to the trash!

Getting Stuff Done

Today was a day for making phone calls and getting some stuff done and out of the way. We've decided to move back to Peaceful Pines for two weeks when our two week stay here is done. I called and made arrangements to get site 14 again. I will be gone during part of that time for an Executive Board meeting in Kansas City, so Forry will be there by himself. From there we will move down to the ranch a couple of days before the Mennonite Country Auction and Sale so that I can help Diane and Cleon on the Friday before.

Next I called Eagle View RV Resort in Fort McDowell, Arizona and paid the last of the deposit for our winter stay. Our reservation actually starts on October 1st, but we will most likely not arrive until mid-month. Sandy said that the campground had had some rain, but not the flooding going around in Mesa and Tucson.

After I talked to Sandy at Eagle View, I called Bobby Vodden at Kustom Coach Works in Junction City, Oregon. Bobby and his buddy Scott Adams had done the remodeling work on my desk a few years ago. They do great work and we would like to have them do some upgrading on our television system so that we can get DirectTV to install a recorder. I think we need another line to the satellite or something...

After I got that set up, I got a hold of Casey at Ulleman's RV in Chehalis, Washington for an appointment to get Auntie Violet's oil changed, her air conditioners serviced and her roof checked for leaks. All pretty minor stuff and we actually have an appointment. Usually, it seems we pull in with some kind of an emergent problem and they do their best to fit us in, usually working on the rig out in the parking lot!

Late this afternoon Forry emptied out the vacuum canister, then did some work on the stash in the small space between the bed and the wall. Looks like we may end up with enough stuff to make another trip to Goodwill.

Back to Town

Forrest had a follow-up appointment today with the Pulmonary doctor who set up his original sleep test. Dr. Elmer had the output from the card from the CPAP machine that we had taken to Apria a couple of weeks ago to be read and seemed to be extremely pleased with the results. I understand that the insurance companies require that the machine be used at least four hours per night to be paid for under Medicare. Since the card indicated that Forry has been using it eight to nine hours per night, that certainly is not a problem. The original sleep study showed that he was having as many as 70+ apnea episodes an hour without CPAP, so there is no doubt it has been a good thing. Dr. Elmer asked that Forry to have the card read again in about a month, but that he didn't need to be seen again for a year to year and a half (depending on what our next summer's schedule looks like).

While we were in the waiting room, I got an email from Jeff, our farm tenant, with the email address of his agent for federal crop insurance. We had decided earlier that it would be better if we switched and used the same agent Jeff did. That way there would be no problem identifying acreage and planting. Shannon, the agent, said she would be in her office until four this afternoon, if we wanted to come there and sign the necessary papers. Shannon's office is out in Airway Heights and we were there by three. So, now that task is taken care of.

I paid a few bills this morning that came in yesterday's batch of mail, then discovered I had used my last stamp. So we made a stop at the Post Office in Airway Heights. I had also used up my packet of "Forever" stamped business size envelopes, so wanted to get a packet of those as well. The other post offices I had bought them at had sold them in packets of 25 or 50. This clerk seemed quite surprised and told me she had never sold anything but a single envelope at a time -- and she only had six in her drawer! She went in the back and came back with a handful. Said she could let me have twenty of them. That will last me most of a year, so I was glad to get them as well as some neat bird commemorative Forever stamps. (The Forever stamps are guaranteed to be good, no matter how much the price may have gone up before they are used.)

A Trip to Town

We went into Cheney this afternoon to pick up the box of mail that Daughter Mary Mae had sent. It was a pretty full box, it had been a while. I'm not sure which of her family to thank for the mail. It was definitely not her handwriting -- or spelling -- on the box! Most of the mail was receipts and bills we had already taken care of, plus lots of  letters and notices from Group Health about the medical stuff we dealt with this summer. There was also a fairly large bunch of magazines and ads. The political stuff is just beginning. I don't relish the amount of junk mail yet to come this fall.

It had been a bit since I had been to the grocery store, so I ended up with a cart full. You can again tell the season is changing. There were lots of sweet potatoes and squash. No pumpkins yet or concord grapes. Concords are my favorites, but I only find them in the grocery stores every couple of years. Lots of peaches, nectarines and plums and even some sweet cherries from Canada on the shelves.

I picked up a take and bake pizza at the grocery store, so that's what we had for supper. By the time we get the groceries all into the RV and put away (my most disliked chore!), we are usually both tired and I'm not much in the mood to cook, so that works out well. Time to settle in and watch the Mariners game.

Just Hangin' Out

We did have an extremely lazy day today. I suggested I could make pancakes for breakfast, but Forry thought he'd rather have waffles. I had actually forgotten that he had bought a rotating Belgian waffle maker two or three years ago. Sure enough, he dug it out from under the couch! (Oops, that's one other place I haven't gone through yet! From the dust on the waffle maker, I think it needs it...) I wonder what else is under there? And what else I might stash there?

The whole grain mix I had bought a couple of weeks ago actually had a recipe that only needed water added to make some really good waffles. I warmed some maple syrup and fried up some little pork sausages and we had quite a feast.

The Mariners played their fourth game in Texas this afternoon. After winning the first three, they just couldn't pull off a sweep, though the score ended up 1-0. 

We spent part of the evening watching the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) who were in Nashville this weekend. It was so nice to see an American win this one. I guess I'm biased, but I just can't bring myself to root for those arrogant Brazilians...!

Procrastination

I had planned to go into Cheney to get groceries today, but he that procrastinates dinked around all day getting ready to take his shower. By the time that was out of the way, we only had an hour until the start of the five o'clock Mariners game. Since he had also decided he didn't want to go to Menno tomorrow, we decided we could get groceries tomorrow instead.

We really could have just gone and would have had plenty of time. Due a rain delay in Arlington, Texas, that game is just now starting at 8:30! That means it is already 10:30 in Texas and they are just starting the game. They really did not want to have to play a double-header tomorrow. If it was any other time of the year, they would have postponed the whole thing, but since the Mariners are in play-off contention they wanted to play it.

It was another gorgeous day today. The sun was shining and the temperature got into the low eighties. My sheets dried quickly -- and smell so good!

Catch Up Day

We have been camping without a sewer connection for the last two weeks. The Alpine coaches were built with some of the largest waste storage tanks in the business. We were careful with our water usage. I only ran the dishwasher every two to three days (watching how many pans I used when I cooked, of course!). We didn't do laundry. We practiced our Son-in-law Scott's mantra, "If it's yellow, let it mellow."

Needless to say I needed to do laundry when we got here. I actually washed two loads in my Splendide washer before Forry had to empty the tanks this morning. I washed a couple more loads this morning and I'll plan on washing the sheets tomorrow.

I made goulash this evening for supper along with some crescent rolls. We had a dab left of the lovely raspberry freezer jam our friend Mary had brought us when she visited earlier this summer. So good!

First Day of School 2014 - Our Grandkids!

Yesterday was the first day of the 2014 school year for our precious grandchildren. The top left hand picture is of Claire and Varick, Daughter Mary Mae and Scott's children. (Varick has had a thing for vests since he was just a little guy.) On the right is Micah, Daughter Dawn and Todd's youngest child while the bottom picture is of their daughter Kyra. Of course, the oldest, Havela, is off Kansas where she is a sophomore at Hesston College. MM and her family live in Mount Vernon, Washington while DT and her family are in Keizer, Oregon.

Today was moving day again for us. We are back at Ponderosa Falls with a two week stay as part of our K/M membership. It was an easy move as it was fairly cool today. I even got a couple loads of clothes washed this afternoon. (We've been without a sewer hook-up the past two weeks, so haven't used the washing machine. Though we've done pretty good - we still have room in both the gray and black tanks...!)

Overcast, Gloomy Day

It was down below sixty degrees in Auntie Violet when we got up this morning! What a contrast from the heat of just two days ago. It rained off and on last night following the thunderstorm and it certainly dropped the temperature. I ended up with long jeans, long sleeves and socks and was still chilly.

I guess it is September after all. Forry dug out the heaters and that helped. It took a couple of hours to get the temperature up to 70 degrees. I think the main reason it felt so chilly was the dampness.
.The Mariners had an early afternoon game down in Oakland today. It was one of those pitchers duels until almost the very end. But they did pull it out and ended up winning 2-1 and took the series.

We didn't do a whole lot today. It was one of those days where curling up on the couch with a good book on the iPad seemed like the best way to spend the day.

Emptier Living Room!

There is a great deal more room in Auntie Violet's living room tonight! We loaded up the five bags of clothing, bags and miscellaneous stuff that we have cleaned out of closets and cupboards the last few weeks. I have tried to be ruthless in my sorting and I am positive that in the future I will be lamenting about some of the items I have given away. (Though I did notice that there were some things missing after Forry had reviewed the discards...)

We had a bit of time after we dropped everything off at Goodwill, so went on over to Costco to pick up some seafood. I had been pretty focused on red meat when we were there last week, so wanted to pick up some shrimp and some scallops. My! Scallops have gotten EXPENSIVE! I paid a little over forty dollars for a 2.5 pound bag. I like to coat them with panko crumbs, saute them in lime olive oil, then finish them off with white wine. After I remove the scallops from the pan, I reduce the wine down to make a thickened sauce -- so good!

We went to pick up Son Sean at his apartment complex. He was waiting outside for us, anxious to go out to dinner. (I think he may have run out of money before he ran out of month...) We went over to Chili's out on Third Avenue just off of Division. It's been a while since we've been there, but the food was good. Forry and I only are half of our plates (Forry had beef rib enchiladas while I had chicken), so Sean has plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. He says he likes to go out to eat with us as "you guys never clean your plates!"

Happy Labor Day!

Before my grandfather retired, my Dad had a couple of different jobs. Before the war (WWII), he was employed by the local Grange Supply. Our Mom said that after he was drafted (late in the war as he had two children), she was told they had to hire two people to replace him!

After Dad returned home, he ran a service station. This was pre-freeway days when there was a service station on every corner of the town on the highway. There is now a bank there where his Union 76 station was. Sometime later Dad bought the Richfield bulk distributorship. He added on to the length of our garage there in town to accommodate his delivery truck. I recall him trying patiently to explain to the Senator's wife who lived next door that her demand that he only park an empty truck there was actually more dangerous than a full truck...

After my Grandfather retired, we moved out to the Haight farm in the Carico Hills and my Dad became a full-time wheat and hog farmer (both there and later in Moses Lake's Block 40) until he finally retired.

Forry was the 3rd generation to farm the land that his grandfather had homesteaded (though he lost the land during the Great Depression and Forry's Dad bought it back from the insurance company).

Forry and I farmed for thirty-five years on that same farm (I went back to school and got my nursing degree during that time, but that's another tale). What I am trying to say, is that I come from a long line of hard-working people that were not afraid to get their hands dirty. While all of the guys on both sides of my family look great in suits and ties, that was never their everyday attire.

Celebrating Labor Day gives us an opportunity to salute all these wonderful folks!