Final Blog

Tomorrow we sign the papers for our new house. We will no longer be "on the highway."   After almost eleven years of life in an RV, it is time to hang up the keys. It's been fun sharing our travels with all of you. Now it is time to begin another chapter in our lives.

Remember "All who wander are not lost!"

Ending An Era

We are winding down a chapter in our lives. By the end of this week we will have become the owners of a stix and brix home instead of an RV. This morning we signed, scanned and emailed the Closing Disclosure document to the bank. Now we have to wait three "cooling off" days before we can sign the actual papers.

It was HOT today. Forry said the outside temperature was 107 at one time this afternoon! Toward evening we loaded up his electric cart on the car carrier and took it and some of the yard art into the new house. We sat out on the deck for a while and enjoyed the breeze off of the lake. I think we're going to like it there.

REST!

The alarm on my phone went off. I looked at Forry and asked if he wanted to get up. Getting a very negative reply, I shut off the alarm and went back to sleep. We were both extremely tired. It had been a long couple of days. The Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference met Friday and Saturday at Menno. There were representatives from Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington as well as visitors from Kansas, Indiana and Pennsylvania.

By noon I had already taken a nap. The Mariners were playing at one o'clock, so had to be alert for that. Can't say that we did much of anything else today.

PNMC con.

Another day of conference. We are tired.  Think I will go to bed instead of finishing the Mariner's game.

PNMC

We spent this afternoon at Menno, taking care of registration for the Pacific Northwest Mennonite Conference which is being hosted by Menno. It was actually a fairly easy task as name tags had been made in advance by the PNMC staff. I had to find the right name tag, then check them off my list and give them a schedule. Then Forry gave each registrant a tote bag (advertising the Mennonite Country Auction the first Saturday in October) and let them choose a coffee mug.

It was actually pretty nice way to spend an afternoon. It wasn't too terribly hot and we got to see lots of people we hadn't seen for a long time

ANOTHER Trip to Town

We got an email from the bank last night saying they had gotten the approval for the flood insurance. BUT, it had been so long since they had started the process that the bank statements we gave them were outdated and we needed to bring them current ones! So back into town we went this morning!

Since there is a three day "cooling off" period before we can sign the papers, it looks like it will be the middle of next week at the earliest... Perhaps, it will actually happen before the end of the month?

We took the rocking lawn chairs from the patio here over to the new house this morning. They look pretty nice sitting on the deck outside the master bedroom.

I badly needed a haircut and Forry was looking shaggy, so instead of getting it done in Spokane, we decided to check out the shop here in Moses Lake. Even checking in on-line, we had about a half hour wait. With only two girls working today, they were very busy. We saw half a dozen people leave as they didn't want to wait 45-60 minutes. I think I got a pretty good haircut and Forry looks nice. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow after it gets washed.

Hanging Up the Keys?

If you've noticed (like Sister Sherry) that we've been making an awful lot of trips to town, it's true. We have been dealing with bankers, insurance agents, appraisers and now, engineers! We spent a great deal of time this winter trying to make up our minds about what we are going to do next. We've pretty much lived in our RV and on the road ever since we retired almost eleven years ago. When we decided last fall, for a variety of reasons, that we weren't going to spend the winter in Arizona, it started us down a different path.

We had wanted to remain in the area for our dear friend Vic, who was nearing the end of his time with us. Though the winter itself was just plain awful (between the snow, ice and cold!), we enjoyed being close to both our family and our church family. As we started talking about summer travel plans, we realized that, while we certainly haven't seen everything, there was nowhere we had a burning desire to see. We had reached our initial goal of traveling through all of the 48 contiguous states a year or so ago.

Forry needs to have some work (i.e. replacements) on both his hips and his knees. That also  meant staying in the area. Then there was the whole issue of how tiring setting up and tearing down was getting to be for us - we're not getting any younger you know...

I had always said that someday I wanted to live near a body of water and we had off and on talked about it. One day Niece Becky told us about the house on Moses Lake that her brother-in-law had gutted and was rebuilding. We went to take a look and were very impressed. Craig does beautiful work! We looked at several other lake front houses, but...

So that's what we've been doing. It's been a bit of an ordeal as nothing about it has gone easily. The latest snag was a letter from the Feds that the house was in a "flood zone" and would require pricey flood insurance. Which prompted our today's trip to an engineer's office to start the process of getting an Elevation Certificate which can be used to exempt the dwelling.

One of these days, we just may get all of the paperwork taken care of, then we'll park Auntie Violet in the driveway and begin to enjoy our new house on the lake.

Finally, An At-home Day

Man, it got HOT today! It was 98 degrees this afternoon. I don't like it when it goes from chilly to hot so terribly fast. No time for one's body to adjust.

At least I had a bit of energy this morning. I had gone to bed early last night which may have helped. I cleaned up the weekend's scattered dishes and loaded the dishwasher. Then started a load of white clothing in the Splendide. Only after I had those electrical servants working did I sit down for my first cup of coffee. Somewhere in there, I also cleaned up the bathroom sink and counter. Not that it needed it or anything like that!

I don't think I've done any laundry since we got back from our last weekend's trips to Wenatchee and Mount Vernon. The drying rack in the living room is loaded. It's a good thing it was so hot this morning. The first load of clothes was dry enough for Forry to fold so that there was room for the next ones.

I did break down and shut all the windows so that I could turn on the A/C. On a day like today it is easy for me to give up my dislike of closed windows and put up with the noise of the A/C. We pulled the front curtains as well. It really helped to not have the sun shining in through that big front windshield.

I bought some pre-made skewers at Safeway the other day. Each skewer had pineapple, onions, peppers and mushrooms already on it. I thawed and marinated a thick piece of sirloin steak that I had sliced into one inch cubes. After grilling the pre-made skewers on all sides,  I threaded the steak on skewers and quickly grilled them as well. It made a really nice dinner without a lot of fuss.

Another Good Day

We were Greeters at church today, so were up early and heading for Menno. Since it was Father's Day, there were many families gone, camping and visiting parents. As they arrived, Pastor Jeanie had us give each person a puzzle piece. After the service, which was from the passage that talks about needing ears and eyes, hands and feet to make a whole church; each person took their puzzle piece into the education wing and attempted to put the puzzle together. Each piece together made the whole.

Following church, we went over to the parsonage for lunch with Pastor Jeanie and Pastor Lyn. I had brought the strawberries I had picked at Brother Pat's yesterday. We sliced them and had them with pound cake and whipped cream for dessert. They sure were good!

An In Town Day

We had an early appointment this morning in Moses Lake. We decided we would stop and pick up breakfast at Starbucks on the way. We did and took our breakfasts along to the meeting, sitting outside to enjoy them.

We had some shopping to do, then went to take care of our grocery needs. It had been a while since I had picked up groceries, so it took a while. Forry stayed in the car while I did my shopping as he felt he had walked enough.

Our last stop was out at Brother Pat's house. He wasn't home, but had invited me to come and pick strawberries and peas while he was gone. I picked a bowl full of strawberries and a grocery sack half full of peas. They were so abundant in his garden that you couldn't even tell I had picked any! I sat and ate peas for a good half hour after we got back home and hardly made a dent in the bag. They are so good!

Friday Evening

I was up at four-thirty for a while and the skies were relatively clear. Chilled, I went back to bed around six. When I woke up again it was clouded over. We did get another gentle rain today -- alas, not enough to clean off the front windshield. Now, at eight o'clock in the evening, the sky is blue and completely cloudless.

I bought a package of salt pork when we were in Mount Vernon last Sunday. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but when it started raining this afternoon, I figured it was a good day for a kettle of potato soup. I diced the salt pork, then rendered it until it was pretty brown. After I poured off most of the fat, I added half a diced onion to the mix. Some chicken broth and diced potatoes and let it simmer. An hour or so later, I added a can of coconut milk and some cilantro for color. Lots of ground pepper and we had a pretty good supper. Of course, by the time the soup was done, it was no longer a rainy day!

Another Day

It was slightly cloudy this morning. The clouds thickened throughout the afternoon until it finally started raining. It was a gentle but steady rain for a couple of hours. Along with the rain came a chill. We've gone from 80 degrees yesterday to a high of 53 today.

There was an early Mariners game today. I'm sure it was afternoon in the Twin Cities, but we were watching it this morning. It seems the Mariners and the Twins kept swapping wins - and today it was the Twins turn. They ended up splitting the series. I wonder if we'll ever get our pitchers back?

I spent a bit of time on the computer this afternoon. I've discovered that using the printer as much as possible keeps the printer in working order. Otherwise, the ink dries out and it doesn't print worth beans. It's amazing how well it works if used regularly. Sort of like people, huh?

Cooler Today

It was clear this morning, but by evening had pretty much clouded up. It was a bit breezy, but very comfortable.

The Mariners beat the Twins tonight 6-4. Last night they lost to them 20-4. It's been hard hitting games in Minneapolis. Lots and lots of home runs.

Frustration...

I don't know. Seemed like everything we tried to do today ended up with frustration. It's very hard to have to wait for other people to get things done so that you can do your part...

The wind warning we had for last night through today turned out to be much less than anticipated. It was still a bit breezy this morning, but nothing like we expected. The trees are still dancing quietly tonight.

Today

Oh,  it was hard to get going this morning! We are definitely tired - both physically and emotionally. We didn't do a lot. I paid some bills and Forry took the trash out and got the mail. I can't say we did much more than that.

I did make a pasta salad for dinner tonight with enough for tomorrow, too. We put away some of the stuff we'd gotten out this weekend and did a bit of cleanup.

The Mariners are in Minnesota playing the Rwins so the game was at five. They had a good offensive night with a final score of 14-3.

Home Again

In spite of the forecasts for thunder storms, yesterday was a perfect weather day. Daughter Mary Mae and Scott - along with Sister Roxy - set up tables and chairs outside on their newly remodeled and enlarged back deck. They set up a taco bar with several crock pots containing tortillas and two kinds of meat. Next in line were all the condiments, diced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, olive, cheese, etc. and then the salsas and bottles of hot sauces. At the very end were trays of lemon bars.

The open house for Varick's Graduation Party ran from 2 until 7. It worked out well as there was a steady stream of visitors coming and going throughout the afternoon. The highlight of the afternoon was the presentation to Varick of the traditional quilt that had been made for him. The ladies of Evergreen Mennonite Church picked steam punk and gear fabric and pieced the top. One of MM's friends machine quilted it using gear motifs and then Sister Roxy finished the binding. They had managed to keep it a secret and I think Varick was very pleased.

We didn't get a very early start this morning. MM and Scott and Forry and I left the teenagers home while we went over to the CO-OP for breakfast (we did get takeout for the kids). I was able to make use of the gift card I had gotten for Christmas, buying some smoked bacon and pork belly at the CO -OP shop.

When we got back to the house, we loaded up a picture and some lamps that MM wanted to return to me, a bag of mail, Forry's CPAP machine and our dirty clothes and headed out. It was a lovely day to be crossing the mountains, this time going over Snoqualmie Pass.

Another Hard Day

We were up early. I had gotten everything packed last night, so it was pretty much shower, eat breakfast and go. Not knowing if the cool weather was going to hold, I soaked my plants as we were going out the door.

The service for Forry's Sister Grace was at the Memorial Gardens Cemetery in East Wenatchee. The staff of the cemetery had done a good job of putting up arrows to direct you to the proper portion of the cemetery. The chaplain from the hospital who had been with us at the hospital conducted the short service. After his comments, the nine adult children toasted their mother with a glass of the Manichevitz wine she enjoyed every afternoon.  Many of Grace and Les' 27 grandchildren were there with their families. It was quite a crowd.

After the service and visiting a bit with family we got back on the road and headed over Stevens Pass on Hwy 2. It was a beautiful drive with lots of wild flowers on the roadside. I was excited to see a couple of flowering digitalis plants. Then as we went on, they were on the roadside by the hundreds! The road is narrow, two lane and curvy. There was lots of traffic which made for somewhat tense driving.

But we made good time and arrived at Daughter Mary Mae's by four o'clock. Sister Roxy was already there, hard at work prepping the ingredients for tomorrow's taco party for Grandson Varick's graduation from high school. I helped a bit cutting up tomatoes and peppers, then took a nap!

It's Son-in-law Scott's birthday today, so I had gotten him a Starbucks card. The fellow at the store said he was out of the envelopes for the cards, so took a small cup, filled it half full of coffee beans, stuck the gift card in and popped a lid on. It made for a cute gift.

Catch-up Day

As you can imagine, we are both emotionally and physically exhausted. We slept in this morning, then Forry drained the tanks and I started on the laundry.

It was cloudy and chilly today. We did get one shower early in the afternoon, but it didn't amount to much. When I talked with Sister Sherry, she was getting a thunderstorm and had been chased into the house by rain at least three times.

Grandson Varick graduated from high school this evening and we weren't able to be there. Since we need to be in East Wenatchee tomorrow morning by ten o'clock for Forry's sister's graveside service, we just couldn't make both. We will head over to Mount Vernon after tomorrow's family gathering and at least will be there for Varick's Graduation Party Saturday afternoon.

I bought some cauliflower yesterday at Costco. Tonight I tossed it with olive oil and roasted it in the oven along with some baby potatoes and a couple ears of corn. It made for a good meal to go with the steak I put on the grill.

A Day in Spokane

Today was the start of our annual summer odyssey of medical visits (that's not quite right, Forry's already seen his dermatologist). It was our first visit with our primary care doctor since Kaiser Permanente absorbed Group Health. Other than signs, everything seemed pretty much the same. Our doctor's medical assistant did say she was nervous about potential changes - mainly because they have only been told there will be changes, not what they are.

After our medical visits, we made a Costco run. It was a very utilitarian visit. I needed things like TP and tissues. I did find some nice apricots and a few California cherries to add to the cart. Next we went out to the Valley JC Penny store and bought some bath towels and rugs.

The best part of going to Spokane was having a late lunch/early dinner at Gordy's! The special tonight was a beef tenderloin and red pepper stir-fry. It was delicious! As usual, we topped it off with a dish of vanilla ice cream with their chocolate orange rind sauce. It's so good! And we ended up with a surprise 20% discount for using our STCU card. Guess I should start paying more attention to the notes about the Passport program on their website.

A Hard Day

Yesterday was tough. Nephew David called to tell us they had done an MRI on Forry's sister Grace and there was no evidence at all of brain activity. The decision was made to discontinue life support as soon as all of the family could get there.

We stayed at the hospital most of the day and evening, heading home under an almost full moon. Shortly after we returned home we received a message that Grace had passed away.

Rest Day

We were up early this morning, but didn't seem to get ourselves organized. We ended up having to get breakfast in Moses Lake after church. It's so hard to have to have a Starbucks Gouda and Bacon or their Double Bacon Breakfast sandwich! Forry really enjoys their Mint Mocha Frappachinos while I still prefer plain ol' nonfat latte's.

Church was interesting this morning. For the first time that I can ever remember, there were NO children in church! A couple of teenagers, but no little ones. Pastor Lyn was alone this morning, Pastor Jeanie is with her recently widowed friend on the Oregon coast.

Forry's Brother-in-law Les seemed pretty discouraged when we talked with him this evening. It has got to be terribly hard to watch your spouse in such difficult circumstances. They are going to do more scans tomorrow and plan next steps.

I made buckwheat pancakes for supper, using the last of my hoarded maple syrup. I guess we really do need to make a Costco run when we go to Spokane this week.

Broken Ribs

Trying to let Forry's sister Grace breath without the ventilator again didn't work very well. Her breaths were too shallow to be effective. Another scan shows that she has SEVEN broken ribs on each side - no wonder she can't take deep breaths! The CPR definitely restarted her heart, but I guess at 89, you can expect collateral damage. So we wait for ribs to heal...

Funky day today; slightly cloudy and nice and warm. Listened to a webinar this morning in preparation for next month's biennial Mennonite USA convention in Orlando. Much of it was very familiar from my years of serving on the Executive Board, but there was also a good discussion of the Israel/Palestine Resolution which is on the docket for the July meeting.

I made beef kabobs for supper tonight; adding Walla Walla green onions, pineapple squares, grape tomatoes and par-boiled miniature potatoes. We had some of yesterday's potato salad as well. Good stuff!

Improvement?

When Forry talked to his Brother-in-law Les today, he was told there was some improvement in his Sister Grace's condition. They closed off the breathing tube for a short period and she took some breaths on her own, but not enough to take it out. They'll try again tomorrow. Les sounded much more hopeful today then he had been yesterday...

Since we were gone on the first, I went up to the office to pay the site rent for the month. I was only going to pay for a couple weeks, but it's almost cheaper to pay for a month. And that way there won't be any hurry if we decide to leave here.

It was a pleasure getting the mail today as there was an announcement/invitation of Grandson Varick's high school graduation party in Mount Vernon on June 10th. He has been battling POTS with horrible migraine headaches for the last several years. Graduation is a major accomplishment for him!

What started out as a hazy overcast morning morphed into a very nice sunshiny day. I got most of the grass between the patio blocks pulled out while I was talking with Sister Sherry on the telephone this morning. It looks a lot better.

A Tough Day

We got a message late last night from Forry's nephew John that his Mom, Forry's 89 year old sister Grace, was in the ICU at Wenatchee Medical Center. She had collapsed at home earlier. The EMTs had had to do CPR in the ambulance, in the process breaking a couple of ribs and causing a pneumothorax. She's is on a ventilator and is non-responsive.

First thing this morning we headed for the hospital and spent the afternoon in Grace's room, visiting with her husband Lester and seven of their nine children, some of whom we had not seen for more than twenty years.

It was a bittersweet afternoon, having a chance to see so many of her family, but not being able to communicate with her. Grace is eleven years older than Forry and is his only living sibling (his brother Melvin was killed in a farm accident in 1961.).

We can only wait and see if Grace is able to recover. We covet your prayers. It's been a tough day.

Isn't It Monday?

Man, this week is messed up! For some reason, today has felt like Monday all day. Why? I have no idea.

We had an appointment in town at eleven this morning. Got that taken care of, then picked up a few groceries and some graduation gifts. I was going to pick up some more nyjer seed for the finches, but totally spaced it.

I did another couple loads of laundry, mostly jeans, but threw in a pair of sandals with each of them. Walking through the CRP ground on Monday had made a mess of my newer ones. I wore my older pair to town, but realized a bath would do them good as well. I have some really good deodorizing spray for sandals, but occasionally that isn't enough to do the job.

It was chilly and overcast this morning and didn't change much all day. The clouds dissipated about sunset, but it didn't really warm up. One of the Thursday morning ladies stopped by this afternoon with a nice little zip lock bag of radishes from her garden. I was planning to make more potato salad tomorrow, so I was glad to get them. Life is good.

A Let Down Day

After our very busy three day weekend, I definitely planned to sleep in this morning. But, our neighbor decided he needed to rev up his motor bike so that he could get it up the ramp onto the carrier on the back of his pickup. He was having trouble, but the maintenance guys were out loading fallen branches into a wagon so that they could mow the lawns. They came over to help him - it turned out to be a very noisy production. Since Forry doesn't sleep with his hearing aids in, he didn't even hear them...

Since it was so hot all weekend, we had a pile of very sweaty dress clothes. I spent a good share of the day doing laundry. I boiled some pasta early on and made a salad with more of the Walla Walla green onions, some grape tomatoes and a cucumber. I added some corn on the cob along with some Maryland crab cakes I had in the freezer for a pretty good supper.

About four o'clock our sunny day began to become overcast. All of a sudden there were angry black clouds and wind gusts. We had a few drops of rain and some dust and that was about it. I think we only got the edge of the thunderstorms that were predicted. It did drop the temperature considerably and we are having a pleasant evening.

And the Mariners beat the Colorado Rockies for the second day in a row!

Decoration Day

When I was growing up, I never heard it called Memorial Day. It was Decoration Day when we went to the cemetery and placed flowers on the graves of deceased relatives. Mom always had a big bucket of her gorgeous peonies, which in my memory, were always in bloom the end of May. She would take along a knife and trim around the gravestones and then wash them off. Then she divided up the flowers for her Kubik grandparents, and later for her parents.

We have been on the road most years and nowhere near the family plots. I've always felt a little bit guilty about not being home to tend the graves...

But this year we are here. Friday when we were in town I bought five bundles of miniature carnations. We put flowers on Forry's parents' graves at the Menno Cemetery when we were there Saturday - and I felt bad that I hadn't brought water and a brush to clean the guano off of their headstone.

Today we made an excursion to the old Lutheran Cemetery where Forry's grandparents are buried. The old church is gone and the cemetery is now on Hutterite land. You can't drive up to it. We had to walk through CRP ground to get to the little cemetery. Fortunately, it had been mowed and it wasn't too rough. But I was glad I had told Forry to use his cane. Forry's Hardt grandmother died the year he was born, so he never knew her. He was seven when his grandfather died, so he has lots of memories of him - most notably of getting in trouble for snitching carrots from Grandpa's truck garden.

Our next stop was at the Ritzville City Cemetery. This is where most of my childhood memories occurred. Many of my maternal Telecky and Kubik family are buried there. When doing genealogy research, I discovered that my father's Blackwood maternal grandparents are also buried there. I have no memory of Mom putting flowers on their graves. I wonder if she even knew they were there?

Then we went to the Ritzville Lutheran Cemetery where Forry's mother's parents are buried. There is a very distinctive round headstone next to where the Steffens are buried. Forry was pretty smug because he didn't have to hunt for their resting place like I had to do with my grandparents.

Our last stop was at the Cow Creek Restaurant where we met up with our friends Dennis and Colleen. Colleen is a couple of weeks post total knee replacement and is doing really well. It was a perfect way to end the day, having dinner with good friends.

Family Time

Pastor Jeanie spoke this morning of how we come together on a Sunday morning as a family that gives support to each other. We were delighted this morning to have our friends Darryl and Linda show up at Menno to worship with us. They were on their way home back to Maple Valley after having been in Alberta, Canada helping family.

After church we headed back to Moses Lake, made a stop at Safeway, then headed over to Brother Pat and Cindy's home. We watched the last few innings of the Mariners game with the Red Sox - which the Mariners won! We spent a bit of time cutting up mushrooms, peppers, little potatoes, Walla Walla onion trimmings, as well as shrimp and chicken, then put them on wooden skewers. Actually, Pat and Cindy did almost all the work while I "supervised..."

Nephew Jared and his wife Becky came over later in the afternoon from her parents where they had been helping build fence. Their two children were over playing with their cousins, but soon Niece Becky and David showed up with all five kids. It was such a lovely day that we were able to eat outside. Pat put all the skewered goodies on the barbecue - they were so tasty!

It's been a lovely day.

What a Day!

It was another early day. We showered and headed  for Menno and the Memorial Service for Roger Jantz. Keith Schaefer, a long-time Jantz family friend, led the service. I think we all learned many things about Roger that we hadn't known before - like the fact he threw a wicked curve ball that was the envy of his cousins. Many of Roger's classmates were in attendance - I had a nice visit with Dena and her sister, Barbara. After lunch at the church, we took flowers over to the graves of my beloved in-laws, Forry's parents.

Next stop was Pasco for the five o'clock wedding of Tyler Greenwalt and Samantha Hendrickson. It was quite warm at Stone Ridge, the venue they had chosen, in the middle of a vineyard. The bride was lovely, the groom was VERY handsome in his US Army uniform. We had arrived early enough to be able to sit on the shady side of the grass. It was pretty special to visit with many of our old neighbors. The buffet dinner had a choice of beef kabobs or chicken Marsala.

It was late when we arrived back home - we put on a lot of miles today!

Early Birds

We were up VERY early this morning. We headed into Moses Lake; gassed Toad II; got coffee at Starbucks; and made it out to the parsonage at Menno by 8:30! The installers from Bargain Blinds were already there with the new window coverings. We double-checked them as they were installed. They were exactly as ordered and looked very nice.

I had a cup of coffee and a nice visit with Pastor Jeanie while Forry walked over to the church and visited with Pastor Lyn. It was good to spend a little time with them.

After the window coverings were all installed, we headed back into town and picked up a some groceries and a few bunchs of flowers for decorating graves this weekend. We got home in time to have a nap before watching the 4 PM Mariners game. Unfortunately, yesterday's win was not enough to fire them up to beat the Red Sox...

Overcast

So much for the forecasts saying we were going to have sunshine through until after the holiday. It was very overcast all day and actually felt like it might rain. There was still a certain amount of wind, but nothing like what we have had the last couple of days. By late afternoon it began to clear off and we actually had a bit of sunshine.

There was not a lot going on here today. I did a bit of cleaning around the shower, but that was about the extent of any work. I used the egg cooker from Sister Sherry to hard boil some eggs, boiled a few potatoes and chopped up a couple of the Walla Walla onion thinnings and some celery (for crunch since I didn't have any radishes) and made some potato salad. Like Sherry says, it's not time for potato salad until the WW onions are here.

A box of mail from Daughter MM in Mount Vernon arrived this afternoon, so now I have my meds. I really needed them, but certainly didn't need, nor want the bills she sent as well.

The Mariners played this morning early as a terrific rainstorm was predicted this evening in the Washington DC area. And the Mariners won! It was a very good day.

Wind Storm

Yesterday's Severe Weather Warning meant what it said! The wind blew all night! And all morning! And all afternoon! And it's still blowing!

The temperature has dropped as well. It was 63 degrees this afternoon. Quite a change from the almost 97 degrees we had yesterday. I think this weather has no idea what it's supposed to be doing!

I was on the phone yesterday with the mail order pharmacy that Keizer Permanante uses. They had sent my prescriptions to our billing address in Mount Vernon instead of Othello as I had instructed. After I talked with both the pharmacy and customer services and expressed my displeasure, they finally agreed they would resend them here - and assured me they would get mailed out immediately. So this morning I get a call from a pharmacy tech saying they could not refill the prescription until July 8th as it was too soon for a refill! I was not a happy camper! After I rather strongly suggested she should clarify the order with customer service, she said something to the effect "Oh, that's why there was a note attached to the order..!" Grr!

Tried making some beef kabobs for supper. I had bought some nice thick sirloin steak from Costco that I cubed and then marinated in soy sauce, lemon juice, oil, worcheshire sauce, salt and pepper. I strung the marinated meat on skewers with some of the little sweet peppers, a couple of the Walla Walla onion thinnings and a cherry tomato. I grilled the laden skewers on my Cuisinart Grill. They turned out pretty good, I think I'll try them again.

Lovely Warm Day

Needless to say we were not up very early this morning. In fact, I was up for a couple of hours before Forry joined me. It was hot today, but there was a lovely breeze most of the day so it was very comfortable. I was quite surprised to receive a Weather Warning a little after one o'clock. It was predicting high winds until sometime tomorrow. Sure enough, the wind began to pick up about four o'clock. Forry brought the awning in when it began to dance.  It is a very gusty wind that has the trees bending.

I got our suitcase emptied and washed the clothes we had soiled over the weekend. I cut up some grape tomatoes, cucumbers and the Walla Walla onion thinnings I bought at the Mercantile yesterday and added them to some orzo pasta. With a lime juice and avocado oil dressing, it tasted like summer.  I added some Dungeness crab to make a great salad supper on a hot day.

The maintenance crew mowed the lawns today. The smell of freshly cut grass is a good thing!

I've Been Quirkeled!

Granddaughter Kyra convinced us we didn't want to head home yesterday afternoon since it had already gotten fairly late. We had walked a couple of blocks over to an El Salavadorian restaurant that they all liked. The food was wonderful - I had crab tacos! - but they were short-handed. Service was really slow, so we didn't get back to Daughter Dawn's very early, hence the decision to remain another night.

When we got home, Son-in-law Todd suggested we play a game of Quirkel. Never having heard of it, we agreed. Playing games with the grandkids is always a riot. It is so interesting to watch Grandson Micah's analytical mind at work. He has an incredible memory and he's also very lucky! Kyra ended up letting him make her moves for her. Quirkle is sort of a cross between Scrabble and Dominos. If you can line up six different designs of the same color, you've made a Quirkel! It's a fun game.

We slept in a bit this morning. Dawn was off to work, Micah and Todd were off to school. We woke Ky up to see us off and headed out. It's a long way from Keizer, Oregon to Sun Desert RV Park. And it was a hot drive. Every time we stopped to take a break, it was hotter. It was 91 degrees outside when we got home! And 98 degrees inside Auntie Violet! I promptly turned on the A/C and then we both took a nap. It was a good weekend.

Peonies and Hostas

This afternoon, Daughter Dawn, Granddaughter Kyra and I went on a flower drive. We went to a peony farm that had the most gorgeous flowers. Many different peonies of many different colors were in bloom. I did not know that there were yellow peonies! There were at least six different versions of yellow and many multi-colored bushes that I was able to post on Facebook. Many of the bushes on display were crosses between the familier bush peonies and tree peonies. This has resulted in a whole lot of new colors and shades. This garden was immaculately maintained - not a weed to be seen! Their display gardens were gorgeously landscaped with lot of benches and sitting areas. Prices ranged from about twenty dollars per plant to over two hundred!

We went a few miles further to a hosts and shade plant farm. There was a greenhouse with a hundred or more different hosta plants large and small. They also had a display garden with many interesting plantings of shade loving plants.

This evening we celebrated Forry's upcoming birthday with a peanut butter chocolate pie. We had had a good supper with sausage (both apple and mango), roasted fingerling potatoes and broccoli and coleslaw. It was made even better by being able to sit outside and eat. It was another lovely day.

On the Road...

After a few false starts, we headed in Toad II for the Tri-cities and then on to Oregon. We were heading to Daughter Dawn's in Keizer. We had not been down to see Dawn and Todd's since the reception for Granddaughter Havela and Ben last fall. Every time we tried to head that direction last winter, we ran into very nasty weather. Today was a total contrast, sunshine and blue skies. It was a beautiful day for a road trip.

During the trip, we got a chance to Skype with Havela and Greatgranddaughter Kahlyn
as they were getting ready to go to Havela's graduation from her CNA program.

We arrived at Dawn and Todd's home in Oregon just in time for dinner. We had grilled chicken breasts, pasta with homemade pesto, fresh asparagus - and sautéed portobello mushrooms! Granddaughter Kyra is home from college in Virginia - it was good to see her! Later in the evening, Grandson Micah also returned home from his Magic Card gathering. It was good to see him as well! They have all gotten so terribly grown up.

Another Laundry Day

I had gone to bed early last night - didn't even stay up to watch the end of the Mariners game! And this morning I slept in. I was sort of thinking I didn't enjoy going to the Thursday morning Koffee Klatches much anymore since they seem to have morphed into gripe sessions. It is interesting how the dynamics change as different ladies come and go. There are a couple returnees who spent the winter in Arizona that I swear don't have anything positive to say about anything or anybody.

I had a good visit on the phone with Sister Sherry. For a change, the phone line was clear. The rainy weather we have been having has not been good for the old phone lines in Touchet.

Once we were up and fed, I started on the laundry. We've been in town a lot, so there seems to be more  items in the wash. We also had company over the weekend, so I managed to get more things dirty. We are planning to go to Oregon this coming weekend, so I needed to make sure we had enough clean clothes for that as well. I ended up with four loads of laundry. The clothes drying rack is full!

Safeway had some fresh ears of corn yesterday (from California) that I fixed for dinner. I sliced up an apple in some avocado oil, then added a couple of pork chops to the pan. After they browned, I added some white wine and simmered them while the corn cooked. Turned out to be a pretty good meal to finish off a pretty nice day.

Grocery Run

You'd think that stopping at Costco yesterday would have made it unnecessary to have to go grocery shopping today, but...

The sun was shining when we got up this morning, but by the time we left for town in the early afternoon it had clouded over again. It felt muggy and sultry and very much like rain, but it didn't. We ran an errand or two and then got groceries. I bought some wooden skewers thinking that I could use some of the top sirloin I bought yesterday for shish kabobs. I also bought some more orzo for a grape tomato and cucumber salad. Sister Sherry said she found Walla Walla sweet onion thinnings at her grocery last week, but evidently they didn't make it as far as Moses Lake.

As they've been doing lately, the clouds cleared mostly off by evening and we had a lovely sunset. Seems like the nicest time of day lately is after five o'clock.

What a Day!

It was a busy one. We awoke to a rain shower and dealt with showers off and on all day long. We headed for Ritzville fairly early and stopped at a nursery called Boxwood to order a plant for our friend Colleen who had knee replacement surgery last week. They had a cute set of succulents planted in a cigar box that I thought she'd get a kick out of.

Our next stop was at Starbucks to have coffee with Danny. We had originally planned to have breakfast while we were there, but had forgotten that we were supposed to be fasting for our blood work later, so ended up just having coffee as we visited. Dan has recently started at Starbucks as a Shift Manager. It was so busy when we got there, we didn't know if we'd get to visit, but it slowed enough to enable us to catch up with this delightful young man.

Our first stop when we arrived in Spokane was at Kaiser Permanente, formerly Group Health. Our primary care doctor had already ordered the labs, so we were quickly in and out. We went to the downtown Starbucks and finally got breakfast. Forry had an appointment at the dermatologist for his annual skin check, I got a haircut while Forry got a beard trim, and we made a Costco run.

I had texted Colleen to see if she was up for a short visit on our way home from Spokane. Her Daughter Nicole, who is here from Idaho "helping out" post Colleen's knee surgery, invited us to come and stay for dinner! I offered to pick up "takeout" for everyone, but she said she was already cooking. And was she ever! We had chicken with orange sauce, quinoa and a tomato and cucumber salad. It was all delicious and we had a good visit as well.

It was dark when we got home and unloaded our Costco goodies. The Mariners were playing Oakland, so we settled in to watch the last few innings.

Busy Weekend

What a great weekend we ended up having! Bill and Leslie had brought some little chicken breakfast sausage links with them that I grilled for breakfast Sunday morning along with eggs and bagels or toast. After our late breakfast, we all got into the "yellow taxi" and headed out. Their jeep "Sunny" turned over 200,000 miles while they were here. We had to speculate how many of those miles we had ridden with them all around this country.

We were celebrating May together. My birthday was last week, Bill's is this week and Forry's is the 22nd; our 58th wedding anniversary was Sunday; and it was Mother's Day!

We headed towards Washtucna and Palouse Falls which Bill and Leslie had never seen. The falls is out in the country, a long way from anywhere. I can remember going there as a child for a Grange picnic with my Haight grandparents. There used to be a rope line along the cliffs down to the Palouse River that we would scramble down. Forry and I have stopped there over the years and there has hardly ever been anyone there.

Then the kids at the Kahlotus School started a successful campaign to get the State Legislature to declare it the Washington State Waterfall. Man, has that changed things! There was a long line of cars waiting to get in. You had to wait for someone to leave before you could come in and park! There were people everywhere, many having Mother's Day picnics. The cliffs are now all fenced off and there are even Camp Hosts there in a motorhome.

We stopped in Washtucna on our way home for milkshakes. While we were there, I had phone calls from Daughters Mary Mae and Dawn and Son Sean. Since we were traveling, the calls were short but sweet.

Bill and Leslie headed back over the Pass to Bothell while we made an early night of it. Today we've not been very ambitious. I hung a new bag of nyjer seed, replacing the deleted one. Forry met the mail lady who brought a box of forwarded mail and an anniversary card from our good friend Mary. Life is good.

Company!

We kept in touch by Facebook's Messenger, so we knew what kind of progress our friends Leslie and Bill were making as we impatiently awaited their arrival. They left Bothell this morning and came over to the east side via Snoqualmie Pass. We had seen reports of snow on Stevens Pass, but they said all they got on Snoqualmie was rain.

I had made reservations at Simmer, a restaurant in Moses Lake that Brother Pat had taken us to a few weeks ago. It was just as good tonight as it was then. A couple of us had "Duck in the Woods," Forry had chicken and waffles, and Leslie had a salmon risotto. The duck had morel mushrooms, fiddle neck ferns and sea beans - such fun spring flavors! The ferns and sea beans were firsts for me - I really liked them. The chef explained that the beans were actually grown in the ocean which is what gave them their delightful saltiness.

Update: Both of our friends who had knee surgery this week are now at home and according to all reports are doing well.

Cloudy...Sun....Thunder

Its been one of those days. It was overcast and gloomy when we got up. Then the wind came and the clouds blew way somewhat and we saw some blue sky. Then there were some big black clouds that went over. We heard a couple of rumbles of thunder. Then there were some scattered showers, but not enough to wash off the dust from yesterday's wet windstorm.

We went into Moses Lake at Daughter Mary Mae's request to pick up a garden basket she had ordered for me for Mother's Day. Very pretty. While we were in town we ordered a herb garden for our friend Cleon who had a total knee replacement earlier this week. Our other friend Colleen also had her knee replaced yesterday. She's still in the hospital in Spokane. It's been almost ten years since I had mine done - but it sure brings back memories!

Koffee Klatch Day

Today is Thursday, therefore it's Koffee Klatch day. I walked over to the Clubhouse. I was a few minutes early, so ended up making the first pot of coffee. I'm not sure what was going on, but the ladies sort of just straggled in. Maybe it was the cool overcast day after several lovely days of sunshine.

It felt like rain all day, but didn't get serious until about four o'clock. All of a sudden the wind came up and the next thing you know, there were raindrops on the window.

I started reading Noah Graham's Dr Robert Cole Trilogy: The Physician, Shaman, and Matters of Choice. It's been a while since I read a series that has engrossed me as much as this one has. It follows a family of physicians from early midieval times. So far, it's a good read.

Laundry Day

I started on the laundry fairly early this morning. It's all on the rack in the living room drying. It seems like it didn't dry very fast today, even though it was quite warm. Forry said it got up to almost 80 degrees. It's pretty humid, maybe that's why things are taking so long to dry.

I spent a bit of time on the the computer typing up the notes I took at last night's Board meeting for Cleon. I had written notes on the paper agenda so I just went ahead and typed them in on a copy and sent them off.

There are a pair of large ravens who have a nest over in the large fir trees up by the mobile homes. We saw them hauling twigs and sticks for nest building earlier and now we see them gong back and forth with food. The ladies said at Koffee last week that they had been seen raiding the nests of the smaller birds  and taking their eggs. I know they are continually chased by the little birds. They are not very well liked!

The Mariners played the Phillies this morning (an afternoon game back east). It was a fun game to watch. So nice to see them winning! They won both games in Philadelphia. Now they're off to Toronto tomorrow.

Another Busy Day

Today was our monthly Church Board meeting. I drove over to Menno on a lovely Spring evening. It was our first meeting with our new interim co-pastors. It is so nice to have them here!

I drove home under a great big full moon! It was so light out you'd have thought it was almost daytime. It's amazing how differently the country looks with less than three hours difference in time!

And the Mariners won a yo-yo game with Philadelphia 10-9!

Trips to Town

You would think we could get everything we needed to do in one or two trips to town. But we ended running into Moses Lake this afternoon to do a couple of errands. Sure messes up my idea of a lazy day!

It was another lovely day today. The sun was out with just a few clouds meandering across the sky. I think it got up to seventy degrees. The birds had emptied another sock of nyjer seed and there were none of them around. I took out and hung a new bag - and there they were! I swear they have scouts out.

The weekend may be over, but there are still a great many boats out. I didn't think there were quite so many fishermen in the world and I think a good share of them are around the Potholes. The swallows and the cormorants are both back. Seems like every year the swallows show up near my birthday.

Such a Lovely Day

It's Sunday, so we were up early. I put together the romaine and mandarin orange salad and simmered the sausage in beer, getting things ready for the after church potluck.

As Board Chair Dennis said, it was a momentous occasion for Menno: it was the first time we have had co-pastors and the first time we have had a woman pastor. And lightening did NOT strike! It was a good service. The Music Team led the singing and Butch sang a beautiful solo of Pastor Jeanie's favorite hymn.

There was a large group for the potluck after church - and more food than we could possibly eat! It was a very good day. And besides, the Mariners won again this afternoon!

Grocery Run

Although we've been in town a couple of times, we've not gone to the grocery store for quite a while. Seems we think about stopping on our way home, but either it's way too late or we're too tired. I needed to pick up some ingredients for the salad I plan to make for tomorrow's potluck. And we were totally out of breakfast stuff.

However, we did want to watch the Kentucky Derby. The broadcast started at 11:30, but the actual race didn't run until after three PDT. After actually seeing and walking on the track when we were in Kentucky, we are very interested in the race. It's been raining the last two days and did they ever have a sloppy, muddy track. The sun came out by racetime. Fortunately Always Dreaming was in the lead all the way, so his jockey didn't end up with a face full of mud.

We headed into Moses Lake after the race and did our grocery shopping. We started listening to the Mariners game on Toad II's radio and finished it up on TV after we got home. It was a good game that they won 8-2. Quite a change from last night's horrid 13 inning loss!

Birthday con.

The thunder booms and the hard rain woke me suddenly about 3 AM! The noise was incredible. I walked out into the living room of the RV that was lit up almost like daylight! There were constant flashes of lightening on both sides of the coach. It was scary enough to make me hesitate to go to the windows on either side. The raindrops were pelting so soundly on the coach roof, I almost couldn't hear the thunder. I watched the show for a while, then a little spooked, I went back to bed - Forry hadn't even awakened! (Though he says he thought he had heard the rain in the night...)

Mid-afternoon, we drove over to the parsonage at Menno to greet our new interim pastors and their family who drove over from Payette, Idaho with them. The Hersheys made several stops on the way to make sure Lyn got out and walked around as he is only a couple weeks post hip surgery.  As a result it was almost four-thirty when they arrived. It is so nice to have them finally here!

From the church we headed over to Brother Pat and Cindy's to continue my birthday celebration. Pat had barbecued ribs to which Cindy added fresh asparagus with hollandaise sauce and cheesy potatoes! It definitely was a feast! Niece Becky and her family, Niece Ashley and her family, and Nephew Nick  were there as well. I was surprised with a bouquet of flowers, a luscious smelling candle jar and a quilted wall hanging. All totally unexpected and a delight. Becky also picked a lovely bouquet of purple and white lilacs for me to take home. The biggest surprise - Cindy, who claims she is not a pie baker, made scrumptious three-berry pies for dessert! Cute little Greatniece Kiera tried very hard to help me blow out the candles on the pie.

Life is good! Life with family is very good!

Birthday

Lovely sunshine this morning! Actually, it got HOT today! It was over 90 degrees. Yesterday it was in the sixties. That's too hot too fast. My poor little pea plants got all crispy even though they were nice and wet. I think everyone is ready for warmth. A couple of ladies at Koffee this morning even had shorts on - though I heard several comments about white leg syndrome...

It's fun to wake up on your birthday and start seeing birthday greetings on Facebook. First the early ones from folks on the east coast, then you can almost follow them across the country to the west. I don't think I'd ever have gotten that many snail mail birthday cards! I've talked with all three of our children and Leslie and Bill  today and Skyped with Granddaughter Havelita. It's been fun just touching bases with everyone.

The heat was all across the state today. About four o'clock we started seeing reports on TV of thunderstorms and lightening in the Tacoma/Olympia areas. The storm gradually came east. We thought it had passed us by, but about nine o'clock we started seeing flashes of lightening. It didn't last long, lots of light and noise and a brief, but hard rain shower. It brought the temperature down a bit, but now it's sticky out.

Busy Day

Another morning with sunshine! It is amazing how much my mood improves with sunshine - it's hard to even think about being crabby on a day like this! Then the UPS driver showed up with an early birthday present from Sister Sherry! Surprises are always nice.

In the afternoon, we drove into Moses Lake, stopping at the bank to pick up my new debit card. I had asked them to send it to the bank rather then mailing it to Mount Vernon. Saves MM from having to send it on. From there we went on out to Menno to join Linda who had been working with Elizabeth all morning to get the parsonage ready for our new pastors' arrival on Friday. All of the new windows have been installed and they look very nice. There is trim left to finish up on a few, but that should be done tomorrow. Randy was there working as well, touching up the paint on the window trim.

By the time we finished up at the parsonage and visited with Randy a bit, it was time to head back to Moses Lake. We barely had time to grab a hamburger before I needed to be at Bible Study at Monroe House. This was our last session. We need to see what we would like to study next fall.

I love these longer evenings. The sun was setting as we drove home, sending beautiful pink streaks across Sullivan Dam Lake.

Sunshine!

The sun was shining when we woke up this morning! How much nicer it is to wake up to blue skies instead of grey ones.

Fairly early we spotted Park Manager Louie out with a wagon picking up the many branches that had fallen during Sunday's nasty windstorm. The willow trees, especially, shed an awful lot. He definitely had a wagon load. Later we heard noise and here came Louie once more, this time on the big lawn mower. The nicest two things about this RV Park are all the trees and the expanses of lawn. It definitely is a pretty place.

I hung another bag of nyjer seed on the little tree by the patio. The little red house finches showed up first, then the brightly colored gold finches. I wonder if they send out scouts? The bag on the tree had been empty when we came home Sunday afternoon. I didn't see any birds flying by or checking on the empty bag. But when I hung the full one today, they were there within fifteen minutes!

May Day

I can remember taking small bouquets of flowers to the door of Grandma Kubik's house and to that of "Grandma" Duncan who lived a few houses from us. I can recall seeing newsreels of May Day parades in Russia with lots of tanks and red flags. I remember learning about the chill of hearing "Mayday!" when we were learning to fly. And now we watch the protests on the streets of Seattle and Portland on TV. All these different expressions of the first day of May.

It was a drippy day here at Sun Desert as I drove up to Barb and Louie's mobile home to pay the rent for May. It was a pretty heavy overcast, but at least the rain wasn't heavy. I had a cup of coffee with the managers and left my check.

It warmed up a bit as the day went on, but the sun never did come out. The forecast says it will continue to warm up as the week goes on. I certainly hope they are right for a change.

Another Sabbath Day

Of course, since it was Sunday, we were up early. I had some poppyseed mini-muffins in the freezer that I took out, stuck in the microwave for a minute, and served for breakfast. It works a lot better when I think about Sunday breakfasts ahead of time.

It was windy on the way over to Menno. The wind gusts were pretty nasty. Many farmers have been out in the fields during the last week or so, so there is a certain amount of loose soil. As the wind hit that loose ground, it picked it up and then we had DUST! The wind gusts were localized, so these were just individual little dust storms, not the rolling clouds of dust that mean an actual dust storm. It still wasn't pleasant driving.

Today was the last Sunday before our Interim pastors arrive. Keith Schaeffer has filled the pulpit for us many times over the past four months. It's been great having him. He's often mentioned his addiction to Snickers bars, so this morning the children each brought him one when it was time for the Children's Story. Then at the end of the service, Board Chair Dennis presented him with a huge Snickers bar and several other small momentos. We will certainly miss him.

Saturday All Day

The sun was shining this morning and the birds were singing. It was a lovely day to wake up to. But, as has been usual all month long, by late afternoon it was overcast again. By the time we went out for a walk, it was almost chilly. It was nice while it lasted - we were able to have all the windows open for a good share of the day.

It's always a good day when you can talk with family. We were able to chat today with both Daughter Dawn and Granddaughter Havela - and even heard some chatter from Greatgranddaughter Kahlyn from the back seat.

We've noticed quite a change in the activity around the park. Our neighbor, whose trailer has sat empty all winter, has been here with his boat the last couple of weekends. The three fellows who moved trailers in a couple of weeks ago that sit empty all week, have shown up on Fridays with their boats. We watched our neighbor clean and filet a whole mess of fish this afternoon. I think that many of the folks who come here to stay, do so because of the fishing.

Girls' Day Out

The women of our Bible Study group have been taking turns having a Girls' Day Out with our friend Dorene. She gets picked up at her house, then taken into her massage appointment in Moses Lake. After the massage, it's on to the hairdresser for her weekly hair appointment. Then they get to go out to lunch.

The roads were so bad this winter, I really couldn't participate as far out as we are. But, now that it's nice, I could take my turn. But the way the day went, I maybe shouldn't have offered! I managed to get lost getting over to her house on a Road U, so we were late getting to her massage appointment. The hair appointment went fine, then we went to lunch.

We had a good lunch, enjoying a chance to visit and catch up. When I went to pay the check, I discovered I didn't have my wallet! Panicked, I called Forry who said my wallet was on my chair at home. I was trying to figure out if there was someone around that I could get to come bail us out. While I was on the phone, Dorene went through the pockets in her purse and found her "mad" money. Fortunately, she had enough to pay for our lunch!

I guess it's a good thing I didn't get pulled over anytime this morning. Oh my, it was definitely one of those days!

Koffee Day

Thursday morning is Koffee Klatch Day. The ladies meet over at the Clubhouse at 9 AM for coffee. We've had as few as three, but this morning there were thirteen of us. Pat brought some delicious apple cake to share. There is no structure to the gathering. On rare occasions one person talks, but most of the time, there are multiple conversations going on at once. It gets a bit crazy at times.

The walk to and from the Clubhouse was very pleasant. It was a bit chilly in the shady spots, but the sun was out. There were blackbirds accessing the bird feeder over by the Clubhouse and killdeers along the road.

I didn't sleep well last night, so laid down and tried to take a nap during the baseball game. At least I tried, but it wasn't too successful. At least the Mariners won again today!

Wednesday

It was raining when we went to bed last night and was overcast and chilly this morning. We got a bit ambitious and did some overdue housecleaning this morning. It takes two of us to vacuum. We each do a bit - it hurts our backs - then the other one takes over for a bit. Between us, we get the job done. We had all the laundry from yesterday to put away. The heavier sweaters were it even dry yet, so they'll have to hang for a while longer.

We went into Moses Lake late this afternoon; mailed the 1/2 tax payment off to Adams County and picked up some more nyjer seed socks at Lowes. We picked up a few groceries, then went to Denny's for an early dinner. Bible Study started at six at Monroe House. It was a long session tonight as there seemed to be so much going on in our little community.

Laundry!

I don't know how many loads of laundry I did today, but it was a lot. Many of our clothes from this weekend weren't really dirty, but they were damp. We had gotten caught in a couple of downpours in Tacoma. The last one, Sunday afternoon after the Bull Riding, was a doozy. We were drenched by the time we got from the Tacoma Dome to the car in the parking lot!

It was nice today! We had sunshine most of the day and it got up to 72 degrees. I went out to hang a new bag of nyjer seed in the tree in my bare feet! After the winter we've had, I'll take it!

I spent some time sorting, discarding and filing the mail we had picked up at Daughter Mary Mae's last week. I added up the parcels and wrote a check for the first 1/2 property taxes that are due the end of April. I got caught up with the homework for tomorrow's Bible Study and spent some time reviewing the lesson I'm going to teach Sunday.

Then I settled in to re-read Daughter Dawn and Todd's missives from Bolivia from back in 1990. They were in one of the old files I found when I was cleaning out the study at the church. Shortly after they finished college, they had gone as Mennonite Central Committee volunteers to work as Ag Specialists in Bolivia, where they lived and worked for six years. What memories re-reading their letters home brought back!

Home Once More

We drove into Sun Desert RV Park about six thirty this evening after a lovely weekend away. We left Thursday afternoon arriving at Daughter Mary Mae's in Mount Vernon just in time to go out to dinner  with her and Scott and Granddaughter Claire. Claire was our chauffeur - it's hard to believe that our youngest grandchild is old enough to be driving!

From Mount Vernon, we went to Tacoma where we attended the Tacoma PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. We enjoyed time and meals with our friends Leslie and Bill who drove down from Bothell to Tacoma - twice! - to meet up with us and go out to eat.

As a bonus we made connection with an old friend from our National Rural Health Association days. Rob and Dennis have moved to Washington from Kansas City. They were on their way from their new home in Olympia to a Oldtime Radio show in Seattle and stopped by on their way to take us to lunch at a favorite tea house they have discovered. Such a delight to spend time together and get caught up.

The Bull Riding was terrific. We actually enjoyed the Sunday performance more as there was no concert. The Saturday night show included an eighties group called Warrant. We are not fans of heavy metal - especially as loud as they were! But in spite of the noise, the bulls were terrific. We were pleased that Stormy Wing won.

Wednesday Project

My self-imposed task today was to finish cleaning out the pastor's study at church. Linda came to help. She is planning to paint, so we took down shelves, pictures, etc. We went though the files I didn't get to last week and did a lot sorting and discarding of stuff. We got rid of many out-dated papers and empty boxes. Then we moved the desk and file cabinets out into the sanctuary so they would not get in the way of the painting.

When we finished in the study, we took a load out to the dumpster, then went over to look at the new windows being installed in the parsonage. The contractor started last Monday and has many of them finished. They are looking nice!

Forry and I headed back into Moses Lake and went to Denny's for dinner before it was time for our Bible Study class over at Monroe House. It's been a couple of weeks since we've met due to Holy Week and I missed a session due to a Board meeting, so it was good to visit with everyone.

Home Day

Sometimes it becomes important to just stay home. Seems like we haven't had a quiet day for a while, so today was it. I finished laundering Forry's jeans and sweatshirt from our visit to the farm plus a load of underwear.

It rained again during the night and was overcast this morning. Then the clouds burned off and there was a bit of actual sun. Next it got windy and a bunch of very black cumulonimbus clouds startd coming over. We began to hear thunder rumblings that came closer and closer until they were right overhead. And it poured! Great big drops of rain and even a bit of hail! About fifteen minutes or so later, it was all gone and the sun was shining again. It's been a long time since we've been in a thunderstorm.

I grilled a steak for dinner to split with Forry along with some dressing. I had bought a jar of pickled asparagus at the Mercantile. I served some spears with dinner, but they were so hot that neither of us could eat them. I think my brother is going to be gifted with the rest of the jar!

Monday, Monday

I spent the morning on the telephone. Everyone I talked with was in a very talkative mood! I got quite a few things taken care of though.

We headed into town in the early afternoon for a much needed shopping trip. We stopped at Bob's Cafe for brunch as we were totally out of breakfast food at our house. Then it was a round of stops at Lowes, the Posr Office, and the grocery store.

Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike grocery shopping? My aversion is certainly getting worse.  It was exceptionally bad today as we haven't really stocked up for a while. Then we had to come home, haul it into the RV - and put it all away! Yuck!

At least we had leftover asparagus quiche and ribs, courtesy of Sister Sherry, to look forward to for supper...

Easter!

Home again! Feet up! Already missing Sister Sherry and the mastiffs.

What did we do the last two days, you ask? What we always do, cook and eat! In between, we checked out the yard with all the spring blooming bulbs. We fed the miniature horses and the donkeys - and the llamas; gathered the eggs; watered the chickens and horses; watched the new baby chicks following their mother around; and petted the mastiffs.

Today we made the lemon curd and whipped cream filling for the lemon cake Sherry made yesterday.      I brought in some garlic chives for Sherry to incorporate into the crust she was making for the quiche we were going to have later. Forry shredded the gruyere cheese, we sliced the rest of the asparagus we bought yesterday; sliced and sautéed some leeks; sliced some mushrooms and crumbled up some of the sausage patties we had had for breakfast. All this was added to some very fresh eggs and cream, some nutmeg, salt and pepper and added to the par-baked pie shell. Once baked, we had an incredible meal. It was so good - a perfect spring feast!

To top off a perfect day of eating and visiting, we listened to the Mariners beat Texas. It was a cliffhanger with the lead changing back and forth until the very last inning!

We drove home after the game, arriving just about sunset. Life is good!

Extra Passenger

We were getting ourselves organized to head down to Sister Sherry's by Touchet for the Easter weekend, when Brother Pat called and told us he had a passenger for us. Seems he had caught a stray cat in his skunk trap. He asked around the neighborhood, but no one claimed it or recognized it. So since Sherry has been short of cats, he thought we should take down to her. We met him at the Fishing Area parking lot at the intersection of Road M. He handed over a carrier with a very quiet striped kitty.

The valley of the Touchet River was gorgeous as we drove through it today. Everything is so green and lovely. Sherry met us at the farm gate with her younger mastiff Keiko San. We talk on the telephone frequently and are in email contact pretty much daily, but we had not seen her in person since Thanksgiving. So, happy hugs!

We settled the new cat in the shop with food, water and a heat lamp, then settled in for a chat. Sherry fixed a supper of spare ribs and fresh asparagus that we had picked on the way at the Mercantile. Today was a very nice day!

A Day at Home

Clouds, clouds and more clouds! It was overcast and fairly windy all day. Then towards sunset those fast moving clouds moved away and we had sunshine. It's supposed to be nice all weekend. I've got my fingers crossed that the weatherman knows what he/she is talking about!

Today was finally a stay-at-home day. We really should have gotten groceries, but we figured we could get by. Forry drained the tanks and I did a lot of small chores that had just sort of piled up.

We had a whole bunch of brilliantly yellow goldfinches at the Nyjer seed bag this morning. At one time there must have been a dozen of them. As it got windier, the little birds had quite a time hanging on to the bag. It's a good thing they don't get seasick as that bag was really swinging with the wind.

Forry and I have always eaten a lot of sweet peppers. I usually buy at least six every time we get groceries. I cook with them and we often eat them sliced and salted in lieu of canned or frozen vegetables with meals. Brother Pat convinced me to try a bag of Sweet Mini Peppers. The seeds for these tasty little critters had been developed by the seed company he works for. They come in a two pound zip lock bag and are they ever good! It's always fun to find something new to eat - especially something that doesn't need any "fixing."

A Very Busy Day

Thursday morning. So it's RV Park Koffee Klatch morning. It was breezy but sunny when I walked over to the Clubhouse. I don't know what was in the coffee, but lordy, the ladies were in a bitchy mood this morning. I heard more griping about just about everything than I've heard all winter!

Early this afternoon, Forry and I headed over to Menno to clean out the Pastor's Study. It has not been done for several years. There was just a lot of very old stuff that no one had gone through for a very long time. Forry removed paper clips and shredded papers while I emptied out shelves. It was a pretty dusty job.  We made our way through the file cabinets, but there are still a couple of shelving units that I need to sort through.

We  stayed at Menno for tonight's Seder meal. There were about thirty people in attendance. Diane and her crew prepared an a delicious meal. It was an excellent way to spend Maundy Thursday evening.

We drove home under a starry sky. There has been many cumulonimbus clouds building up as we drove to Menno, but they had all anvilled out and cleared out by this evening.

And More Rain!

I heard rain on the roof during the night. AND it has rained on and off ALL day - mostly on. There are puddles in all the roads around and through the park. The maintenance guys mowed the lawns again yesterday. With all the rain, they are greening up nicely. I even saw a few dandelions behind Auntie Violet. The willow trees are leafing out into a pretty yellow green. The birch trees behind us are also beginning to leaf out. The little tree in front of the RV is showing its brilliant red leaves.

I went out during a short lull in the rain and hung a new bag of niger seed for the finches. We saw one of the red-headed ones there for a few minutes, but it was just too wet for most of them to come out. The first bag I had put out was completely empty when we got home last night.

What do you do on a very rainy day? Bible Study was cancelled for tonight, so we decided not to go in and get groceries. I did some cleaning up at my desk, putting some stuff away in the files. It is so much easier to get something out than it is to put it away...!

I took a couple of boneless chicken thighs out of the freezer and used them to make some chicken noodle soup. Some dried parsley flakes, egg noodles, a couple of carrots, some celery chopped up along with a bit of garlic. I added some lemon juice when I served it for a bit of zest. It was good and hit the spot on a damp night.

Driving Day

We made a trip in to Moses Lake late morning, then headed on up to Spokane. It is so strange to see the "wetlands" from outside of Sprague Lake to outside of Spokane. There are small lakes in places I've never seen water before. The ditches along the road are filled and the fields look pretty soggy.

We made a short stop at Costco and picked up a couple of inexpensive sleeping bags to use at camp. I think we gave all of ours away. Forry thinks there may still be a couple yet down at the ranch... We stopped at the storage unit in Spokane to get Forry's other walker. We want to loan it to our new interim pastor to use after his hip surgery.

Our last stop was at my favorite place to eat, Gordy's Szechuan. We enjoyed our usual appetizer of Sesame Seed Shrimp then shared one of tonight's specials,  Beef Medallions and Fresh Asparagus in Black Bean Sauce. We always seem to finish by sharing a dish of ice cream topped with their house chocolate sauce with orange rind - so good!

We returned home in time to catch the third inning of the Mariners/Astros game. They're in the 7th and are behind 6-3. Hmm, I don't like that!

Sunshine and Clouds

This seems to be the pattern of our days. It rained - again - during the night. This morning the sun was shining. Then the clouds started coming by and coming over. It was quite warm in the afternoon, then the sun would go behind a cloud and it was chilly. By the time the sun set, we had occasional pink clouds flirting with the beautiful full moon.

The finches are back! I bought some bags of niger seed when we were in town the other day and hung one in the little tree by the RV. This morning the finches had found it.

They are such bright yellow colors and the white and black of their wings and tails is very new and crisp. It's such fun to watch them. By this evening they had the bag down to almost its last quarter!

We watched the Mariners first home game this afternoon. Paxton did a wonderful job of pitching. It was so nice to see them get their act together for the home crowd.

Other than watching the game, I did a couple loads of laundry and some paperwork and that was about it for today.

Rest Day

We had gone to bed early last night, so it was much easier getting up this morning. Evidently, I didn't go back and check last night's blog posting. After Sister Sherry said something, I looked and sure enough I had to post it today...

The sun was shining, sun glasses were very necessary! So nice. There was a good turnout this morning for Palm Sunday. It was a delight to have Sally Dyck speaking this morning. She was here from Chicago both to visit her parents, Al and Marge; and to preside at Rose Bauer's Memorial Service yesterday. Sally grew up at Menno and is now a bishop in the Methodist Church. Sally's brother Bill was Worship Leader. When I glanced over, I could see a very happy smile on their mother's face.

I queried people on Facebook yesterday about whether it was time to take off the flannel sheets. I took the majority opinion and put them back on last night. And sure enough, it got really cold.

The Mariners had a very good game going when we got home this afternoon - until the 9th inning anyway! I couldn't believe the Bullpen gave it away - AGAIN!

We had taped the PBR in Montana today, so watched it after the baseball game. It was fun to see JB Mooney win this one. I think it's his first win this year. And better yet, he's healthy, which means we'll get to see him ride in person in Tacoma in two weeks. He was convalescing last time we saw the PBR live in Arizona.

Weird Weather Day

It was overcast and a bit windy when we got up this morning - and chilly besides. Then as the day went on the clouds began to disappear. Then another batch would come over. Then there would be some sunshine. Then clouds again. Finally, there were a couple of hours with no wind and some sunshine. About sundown, the wind picked up again. It's like it just can't make up its mind what to do next. When we watched the weather on TV, we could see that there are lots of clouds and stormy weather swirling around out in the Pacific Ocean. We may be looking at this sort of weird stuff for a while.

Curious, I posted a note on Facebook querying whether it was time to take off the flannel sheets. The majority of folks seemed to think it was too early. To my surprise, a couple of people said they left their flannel sheets on the bed all year, saying they absorbed sweat and made for a cozy light blanket...

Felix Hernandez pitched against the Angels tonight. He threw 100 pitches. The score is 3-0. We'll see what happens when the Bullpen takes over.

Wind!

It rained again during the night and it was overcast when we got up this morning. There was a bit of a breeze early, but it got windier the longer the day went on. By mid-afternooo it had gotten very gusty. It rattles the covers on the slides when it blows that hard. It's not the most pleasant sound to listen to.

Not sure what was happening with the neighbor's plans to move after his wife got here on Saturday. Mid-morning he drove up in his truck (which he's had parked down in the storage lot); hooked up his trailer; and drove it away. A while later, he came back in his pickup and dug up the pole that had his TV satellite antenna. And just like that, he was gone and Site A11 was empty.

By sundown the wind finally began to die down. Most of the clouds were gone and the almost full moon was showing its face. It may end up being pretty chilly tonight.

We are watching the Mariners game. They've certainly not had a very good start to their season. They only won one of the four games they played in Houston. Now they are down 5-1 in their first  game in Los Angeles in the 8th inning...

Coffee

Even though it was overcast and felt like more rain, the walk over to the Clubhouse for this morning's Koffee Klatch was nice. It was warm enough to only need a sweater. I met Pat on the way over - she was walking also.  The fellows were all up at Jerry's house.

I heard a great deal about our neighbor, who has been "sort of" moving to the other side of the park for the last week or so. Evidently he was supposed to be moved by the first. Then he convinced the managers to allow him another five days, which would have been yesterday. He has moved over his two boats, all of his pots and his lawn chairs. There was also a whole bunch if other stuff in addition to whatever was in his shed that he moved over. But the trailer was still here, slides out and still hooked up. Evidently he told the managers he couldn't move it without his wife, who won't be here until Saturday.  I got quite a chuckle out of the discussion and how much everyone seemed to know all about what was going on.

Another Fifth wheel pulled in while we were at coffee and moved into A4. The "A" section now only has one empty spot, though there will be two if our neighbor ever gets moved. All of the new arrivals since the first appear to be here for the rest of the summer, so I guess we won't be seeing a lot of movement in and out. Perhaps they had best get busy getting the "E" section finished.

Sorting Stuff

It was another overcast day today. Just not any sunshine to be seen.

I've been sorting out winter stuff and putting it away. In the process I've discovered I needed to wash some of the jackets and hoodies. So back to doing laundry. I think I still need to go out to the car and collect the mittens and snow boots that are stashed in the back seat. Now I need to figure out where I am going to find a place to put them all away.

I spent some time this afternoon making a poster to put it the mailboxes at church on Sunday. We are using an idea I saw in Oregon several years ago. We are having a "Pounding," a grocery shower, for our Interim pastors who will be arriving the first week in May. We are asking members to bring a "pound" of food for the shower. It could be a five pound bag of sugar, or a ten pound bag of flour, or a can or two of beans or corn etc., or a box of oatmeal or other staple item. There is space in the refrigerator and freezer for perishable items.

Tonight was the Church Board meeting. We had music with the first part of the meeting as the Music Team was practicing. There is a great deal of activity going on with new windows and doors being installed over at the parsonage; the PNMC conference we will be hosting in June; and the arrival of our Interim pastors in May.

I drove through a couple of rain showers on the way home tonight. Seems like we're going to continue to have wet weather...

Laundry Day

It was overcast and chilly this this morning. Very discouraging after the absolutely beautiful day we had yesterday. It seems like Spring is acting like a big tease. We have a lovely day, get our hopes up, then she swings back to nasty wet and cold!

I folded and put away the clothes I had hung to dry yesterday, then promptly washed a couple more loads and hung them up to finish drying. My little Splendide washer/dryer works best if I wash a load, dry it on the shortest cycle, then hang it to finish drying. There's very little wrinkling that way.

i spent some time this afternoon working on preparations for tomorrow night's Church Board meeting. I printed off the agenda and last month's minutes. Then I worked on the Devotions I am in charge of this month. I think I've got everything ready.

Dinner tonight was a hamburger for me and a cheeseburger for Forry. I had thought about broiling a steak and baking some potatoes, but neither one of us were that hungry. Add some chips and life is good.

It Smells So Good

I know it is finally Spring! Why? Because the maintenance crew mowed the lawn today! It was warm enough to have all the windows open. It smelled so good!

Almost as if I had been thinking about him - and I had - José knocked on the door this morning. He has followed us around since we first parked in Moses Lake early last Spring. He washes and waxes the rig for us. He lives in Othello. When we told him last summer we were moving to Sun Desert, he just grinned and said we'd be even closer for him. José is an incredibly hard worker, as well as fast. He spent a little over three hours, even going up on the roof.

Of course, since José washed the outside windows, I had to get busy and clean the insides. What a difference it made! It was an absolutely gorgeous warm day today, with the sun shining into the windows. I even got a couple of loads of laundry done.

I got aggravated enough at my laptop today to go on line on the iPad to figure out why I could not get onto the Internet with it. It connects just fine, but has not been able to make the next step. I had tried all of the trouble-shooting tips. Turns out there were a couple of articles I found on how to fix this glitch with Windows 10! I had to go into the Command area as administrator, but it worked! What a relief.

All in all, it was a very nice day!

They're Back!

I had trouble getting going this morning. I think I fell back to sleep after the alarm went off on my phone...

So we had to hustle a bit to get to church in time. It was busy as we went by the Dam. There were lots and lots of rigs and trailers. But we didn't see many boats out on the lake - think it was just too rough out there. The wind was gusting and there were some hefty waves. About half the RV spaces at Mardon are filled as well.

When we got to Menno, we were welcomed with hugs from our friends Dennis and Colleen. They had just returned to Ritzville from their winter vending season in the Southwest. It was so good to see them! We usually meet up with them several times during the season when we are in Arizona. We've missed them greatly.

We drove into Ritzville after SS and met Dennis and Colleen at the Crab Creek Cafe and caught up over a long lunch. They've got a couple more shows, then they'll be here for a while, while Colleen gets some new knees. It will be great having them here for most of the summer.

Games

Unreal! Another month has gone by! I'm not sure where it's gone, but it is officially April. It was sort of a blah day; overcast, but not raining, windy. There was a lot of activity in the park today. In our area, there are four new trailers, each with a boat. They've set up camp all together in the sites on the end of the row.

I didn't sleep well last night. I couldn't seem to convince my brain to stop making lists and go back to sleep. I finally got up just before six. Sat in my chair and watched the sun come up. I think maybe I will be going to bed early tonight.

We watched the last Mariner's Spring Training game early this afternoon at Salt River against the Diamondbacks. They played the same team in Peoria last night - two tie games. The team is looking good and the fellows seem anxious to get the season underway.

After the baseball game, a short interlude and it was time for the Final Four and the Gonzaga game. It was a bit of a cliff-hanger, but Gonzaga won by four points. Now we are watching the Oregon/N Carolina game to see who the Zags will play for the National Championship on Monday.

Trip to Town

We ran into Moses Lake this afternoon to take care of some banking business. Ended up bringing home some KFC chicken for supper.

It was gorgeous today. The sun was out, the wind wasn't blowing - it was just plain nice. Our neighbor up in the mobile home portion of the RV Park even started his lawn mower this morning. We left before he actually mowed his lawn, but he did get it out of his shed and ready to go.

There was lots of activity around the park today. Our immediate not-very-neighborly neighbor is packing up all of the stuff (and there's a lot of it!) and moving it over to the "C" section, on the very edge of the park. So evidently the rumor I heard at Thursday's Koffee Klatch is true and he is moving over there. Another fellow that left last fall is moving back in down the lane from us, along with his large boat.

When we went into town, we noticed quite a few RVs parked down at Mardon Resort, in spots that have been empty all winter. There are boat trailers and small RVs parked in the Public Fishing areas as well. Forry said he heard at the Men's Coffee that there was a fishing derby this weekend. I think spring and fishing season have both arrived!

Coffee!

I look forward to Thursday mornings and getting together with some of the ladies in the RV Park for coffee. I picked up my sweater to put on as I went out the door, but ended up just carrying it. I was beginning to think it would never get warm enough to walk outside without a wrap. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and the coffee was hot. It's not yet warm enough to have our coffee out on the deck, but I'm sure that day will come as well.

The fellows were meeting over at Darrell's this morning. As the weather gets nicer and more fishermen and families start showing up and staying at Mardon, I sure the Cafe will start opening earlier for breakfast and they can go back to meeting there.

Mike, one of the very nice Maintenance Crew guys, and his wife are expecting a baby early this summer. Much of the discussion this morning involved planning how to incorporate a baby shower into this month's potluck plans. I guess there's going to be a money tree. Mike is the one who chipped us out last winter when we had the ice storm and didn't dare step out on the icy steps with their quarter inch thick layer of ice.

I baked some Yukon Gold potatoes,  broiled some lamp chops, and chopped up a head of cabbage to drop into heavily salted boiling water for a few minutes. I had a couple of mini-pies I had picked up at the store yesterday. We ended up with a pretty good dinner.

Wednesday Working

It's been a busy day. I got my shower out of the way early, then got organized to head into town. The recycling/trash center closes at 2:45, so we needed to get going as it's on the other side of Moses Lake. We got there; got weighed in and got our number tag; then drove over and backed into Bay 5. I stayed in the car. After straining my back last week, I wasn't about to help Forry with that darn chair. Turns out, all he had to do was open the rear door. The workman reached in, grabbed each piece and casually tossed them in the pile! He said he used to move furniture; hated it; but knew just how to handle it. We drove back over the scale, gave the lady our $6 and left.

After we got back into town, we stopped by the grocery store. From there we went to a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place, Tree Cafe, that I spotted last week. There were no other customers dining, but three different people came in to pick up take-out orders while we were there. The food was very good! Nice crisp vegetables and good flavor. I think we'll eat there again.

Last stop of the day was at Monroe House for Bible Study in Dorothy's room. We had a smaller group tonight, there were three of us missing. But it was a good session. Forry and Stan went over to the bowling alley while they waited for us. Oops, I guess there was one more stop. We had to pick up DQ ice cream sandwiches for sustenance on the trip home.

Tuesday

Another Yo-Yo day, overcast and cloudy, then a few glimmers of sunshine, then more clouds and gloom.

We slept in this morning. There's something about this cloudiness that's just not very inspiring.  We spent most of the afternoon watching the Mariners play the Diamondbacks in Spring Training. Felix Hernandez pitched a great two innings. Probably the last we'll see of him until Opening Day. He really looked sharp and ready to go. The game went downhill from there while they kept bringing in the other pitchers who are hoping to be part of the Bullpen. There are still a couple of slots that haven't been solidified.

The clouds moving through came with wind. It was gusty most of the afternoon. I went out to scatter wheat for the quail and the wind did it for me. The doves are also taking advantage of the wheat. There's a pair that hang out in the little tree just for that reason.

A Sunny Day

Oh, what gorgeous sunshine we woke up to today! The willow trees are turning a yellowish color - you can see the beginnings of their leaves coming. The little tree in front of us has reddish buds. I'm not sure yet if they are for flowers or leaves. The birds are quite noisy early in the morning. There are a couple pairs of killdeer that are quite noisily "protecting" their nests. There is not yet any sign of life in the grasses we planted last fall. I hope they survived the cold winter.

I spent some time on the computer, getting the accountant changes into Quickbooks; paying a couple of bills and doing some filing. I made some phone calls for clarification of a couple of things and Forry sold some wheat. I've already figured out that April is going to be an expensive month with both income tax and property taxes due.

We went out for a walk later this afternoon. Forry made it all the way around the loop. We met a couple of the neighbors we hadn't met yet as they are usually gone. He works at a cold storage plant and she is a housekeeper at the Othello Hospital. We sat out for a bit, but every time a cloud came over, it got chilly. There were some huge cumulonimbus clouds around, but they disappated without getting us wet again.

Today is Sunday

Today is Sunday which means we were up early. After our beautiful sunshiny day yesterday, I was disappointed to see cloud cover. The forecast had predicted it wouldn't cloud up and rain again until late this afternoon. Obviously, the storm moved in much more quickly than expected.

We had breakfast, got dressed and headed for Menno. There were more than twenty rigs with trailers in the two Public Fishing Area parking lots. We saw several boatloads of fishermen out on the lake. Most of them were very bundled up.

There was not a lot of traffic on the freeway, but we did see several RVs - going in both directions. From what I am reading on the RV blogs, the northern movement of the Snowbirds has begun. Though I don't think many of them are too anxious to come to this rainy country. I heard on the Seattle news today that the I-5 area has, since October, already gotten more than the year's normal annual rainfall!

Keith Schaffer spoke at Menno today. We have greatly enjoyed having him as an occasional speaker during this period of time we have not had a permanent pastor. He has been a blessing for us - and he has a great sense of humor.

We stopped on the way home and picked up chicken for dinner. Then settled in to watch bull riding on TV. It was hard to stay awake and there may have been a nap or two in there somewhere as well.

Wins!

The Mariners beat the Royals today in Spring Training. Gonzaga beat Xavier in their Elite Eight NCAA basketball game, so next week they will play, for the first time ever, in the Final Four. That certainly took up a good share of our day. I did a couple more loads of laundry and that was about it.

The sun was out this morning and although there were a few clouds scudding across the sky, none of them stuck around. It is so nice just to bask in the warm sun - even though it shows up the dirty windows.

Friday

It was one of those days. We slept in a bit, but not really late. We watched the Mariners win another Spring Training game where Kama pitched a great three innings. Forry drained the tanks. I washed a load of clothes. I scattered wheat for the quail. It was a typical lazy retired folks Friday.

Late in the afternoon we headed in to Moses Lake and to the accountant's office where we signed our income tax forms so that they could be electronically filed. We stopped at the post office to get some mailing envelopes, then picked up a few groceries.

Our last stop was to meet up with Brother Pat and Cindy at Simmer. Simmer was a new restaurant to us, but I'm sure it won't be our last meal there. We started with a delicious crab cake appetizer. The menu is very eclectic and very fresh. Pat had a very tender pork chop; Cindy had prawns and grits; Forry had chicken and waffles; and I had duck breast. Everything was so good!

The restaurant is not very big and it was packed. We saw some good-looking plates going by our table. The service was excellent and friendly. But better than the food, was spending quality time with Pat and Cindy.

Coffee - and Corned Beef and Cabbage

We started the day out with coffee gatherings. I went over to the Clubhouse to join the ladies and Forry went over to Darrell's to meet with the guys. I took a coffee cake over with me to share.

This is the fourth Thursday of the month, which is Potluck Dinner Day in the RV Park. We had decided a couple of weeks ago that we would celebrate St. Patrick's Day a little late. We'd all chip in on the cost and Pat would make corned beef and cabbage. Pat was already getting things ready this morning  when we got to the Clubhouse for coffee.

We didn't do a lot today, I finished scrubbing up the stovetop and the area around the sink. We headed back over to the Clubhouse about 4:30. The smells were delicious! Pat had a roaster full of cabbage quarters, another with carrots and red potatoes, and a third with the corned beef. In spite of agreeing that we would only bring desserts (letting the cabbage and corned beef be the main attraction), there was a full spread of food.

I cannot believe that at our ages, neither of us have ever eaten corned beef. It was actually pretty good., especially with the cabbage. I don't think I would want to make it, but I would eat it again.

I brought our soiled plates and silverware home and stuck them in the dishwasher and went ahead and ran it. We were sitting quietly, watching the Gonzaga basketball game when the drain hose sprang out of the sink and splattered water all over! Including into my newly cleaned stovetop! It's a good thing Gonzaga won their game - and now proceeds into the Elite Eight - as otherwise it would have been a pretty discouraging mess.