4th of July and Baseball

I spent the 4th of July at the Central and Eastern Oregon All-Stars Little League tournament.  TJ's team played on the 4th and lost, then played on the 6th and won, then played on the 7th and lost again.  TJ played catcher most of the time.  In one game, he caught a pop-up foul ball, got a bunted ball thrown to first base in time to put the runner out, and tagged two other players out at home.  He also got one hit and stole 2nd, 3rd and home to make a run.  Needless to say Grandma is VERY PROUD!

The weather was very sunny and HOT.  I am so thankful that James & Amy brought their canopy.  It was a fun weekend but wore Grandma out!  I ended up taking naps when I got home.  Here is a video of TJ stealing 2nd base.

Things a trucker has to think about

Terry is taking a load of trucks from Portland, OR to Bangor ME (about 3200 miles).  Most of the time, there is now problem with the trucks, but this one had a tire problem so Terry was 'broke down' in LaGrande, OR.  The next thing that went haywire was the air conditioning not working.  When you think about the heat wave currently in the mid-west and east, driving without air conditioning would be very, very uncomfortable and also a safety hazard.  If you are too hot, you might be distracted while driving.  So, he stopped in Salt Lake City, UT to get it fixed.  Now he is heading toward Ohio which has power outages.  Hopefully, the power will be fixed and OK where he has to stay the night.  He also ran out of gas once!  Since he is hauling new trucks every load, the gas tanks are different sizes, the gas gauges are different and they are hard to estimate from one  load to the next.  Some trucks have small tanks and others large.  You also have to plan for toll roads, whether the motel has enough room to park a large truck hauling two other trucks, are their restaurants within walking distance?.  Then throw in all the driver regulations.  It really is not as 'easy' a job as many people think!!

June 17 - a special day

Twenty-nine years ago on June 17th - Terry and I got married on a Friday morning at 9:00 a.m.  It has been a wonderful journey raising 4 kids and adopting (in our hearts another) and then having the joy of being grandparents to 13 grandchildren.  We have 5 honorary grandchildren as well as 7 compassion children too.  Plus numerous nieces and nephews and grand-nieces and grand-nephews.  We have gone  scuba diving, traveled to Japan, the Bahamas, and taken 3 cruises.  We have also had lots of trips to Minnesota and Alaska, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California (together!!)  And we have managed to make our marriage work no matter what shifts we are working or what kind of traveling is needed for our jobs (which right now is ALOT!! )  We have so much to praise the Lord for.

June 17th is also the day our twin grandsons were born and now they are already a year old!!! How can time zip by so fast?

And June 17th is also our friend Marsha's birthday.

Portland Rhododendron Garden

I spent Memorial Day weekend in Portland, Oregon, visiting some of my  kids and grandkids who drove in from Minnesota AND visiting my nephew's family.  One of our excursions was to a Rhododendron Garden.  There were lots of beautiful flowers and bushes and baby ducks and geese.

Doctor said "Fantastic"

I have been trying to exercise and have a better diet in order to get my cholesterol level down and yesterday the Doctor called to say my blood test results were FANTASTIC!!!  My total cholesterol went from 314 down to 259 dropping 55 points!!  My LDL went from 182 to 144, my triglycerides went from 266 to 184 and my HDL level stayed the same.  It has been hard work trying to fit in 30 minutes of exercise each day and my average was about 5 days per week.  I have been working on it for 3 months.  I didn't do as well on my eating habits as I would have liked and my weight seems to be down one day and up the next.  So I was really surprised that what I had done dropped the level as much as it did because what I could see happening was on the discouraging side.  But these results give me incentive to keep pushing and moving forward and maybe eventually the weight will come down as well.  My doctor says I don't have to go on statin pills and to get my blood retested in 6 months.  I am so excited about the great news!

Yard walk

I have been trying to get in 30 minutes of walking everyday.  My average is 5-6.  I have a meandering path around our place which takes me 10 minutes to get through one round - so I try to walk it three times.  It could be rather boring BUT I am trying to learn to be more observant.  Spring is a fun time of year to look for new things each day on the path.  Today I noticed some desert flowers starting to get buds, and the baby apple tree is starting to get some leaves.  So are the lilac twigs and the rhubarb seemed to grow twice its size overnight!  The quail skitter from bush to bush and start shouting "Dogs are out! Dogs are out!"  We can also hear the doves cooing and the frogs croaking.  It is amazing how many 'voices' frogs have - high, low, gravelly.  We also have a woodpecker that visits the bird feeder.  And two deer visit quite often - even coming up to the front porch.  So I have seen their tracks in many places.  Unfortunately, I also see lots of mounds made by a mole and ant hills (some small but one is really large and covered with juniper "leaves".  There are juniper berries all over the ground because the robins have been eating them and dropping them everywhere.  The rabbitbrush, bitterbrush and sagebrush are all getting their leaves.  One of them looks feathery.  So everyday the walk is a little bit different.  Bogey and Birdie find lots of areas to sniff too!

A visit with Grandpa

Terry had a run that took him to Dodge Center, MN which was close enough for the Minnesota kids to take a Sunday drive to see him.  Ryan and Julie, Lance, Liam and Shella May met him for lunch and afterwards they went to get ice cream.  You really can't visit Grandpa without getting some ice cream right?  I remember the first time we met Shella May, Grandpa got her the first ice cream cone as a member of our family.  (They have grown quite a bit since the ice-cream picture was taken!!)  Terry called me so I got talk to everyone and share in the fun.

For supper time, Eric and Michelle, and the 6 kiddo's arrived.  Terry remembered to take pictures.

  Becca

 Christy showing the gloves she designed and crocheted.

Dan with Daddy Eric

                                  Silly Sam

The twins sleeping and Michelle watching.