Surprised by Flowers

Yesterday I was surprised to get flowers. They are beautiful autumn flowers with 2 little pumpkins that adds a nice touch. The flowers were from Happy Dane's Auto Service. They have taken care of our cars for almost 20 years and are very honest and caring and they do great work plus they are nice friends. They just did the 90,000 mile tuneup on my hybrid Highlander. The card they sent was wonderful too "Thank you for the opportunity and trust you have placed in us to work on your vehicle. It has not only been a pleasure but a friendship as well. The crew at Happy Dane's" The Lord keeps surrounding me with wonderfully thoughtful people!!

Kids visit and site seeing

Had a wonderful time the week of October 11th. Ryan, Lance, Liam and Shella May visited for about 4 days. We visited the High Desert Museum and took a short hike to Benham Falls. The kids proceeded to tell me "It's not a waterfall Grandma! It's just rapids". We also visited Great Grandma and cousins Terry, Skyler and Keon where they had a great time jumping on the trampoline. Also, played at the local park. After their short stay they headed to Portland to visit more cousins and pick up Julie who flew in from MN. Then they headed to the coast and I joined them and Brian, Mel, Holden and Esme. The coast at Manzanita had wonderful weather and we had a great time playing on the beach, and playing games and working on puzzles at the beach house, plus some shopping for salt water taffy which was yummy. Below are several pictures of our excursions. It was a very enjoyable visit - too short but very sweet!!!

Sunsets

I have been working some really long hours because of our big project at the mill and these wonderful sunsets really help lighten my steps. I am always in AWE of God's extremely beautiful artwork!!

Some other things that bring me joy - having Terry home for a few days, dogs on my lap, knowing that some of my kids and grandkids will be here for a visit from Minnesota in just a couple days and knowing that my other kids and grandkids WISH they could be here too. The Lord has blessed me tremendously and I want to give Him all the praise.

Remembering

Today would be my Dad's 83rd birthday but he has been gone now for 5 years, which is hard for me to believe. I wish to thank our Good and Merciful God that he gave me such a wonderful Dad. He called me 'punkin' and taught me how to keep my car maintained. Whenever we traveled we always sang folk songs together as a family. He took us camping and fishing and water skiing and to work with him in his welding shop. In later years, he watched the weather channel with the sound muted and we had wonderful discussions about books we were reading and history in general. I miss him!

More flowers

Got more flowers for my birthday and dinner and a scrumptious birthday cake from Amy & James and the boys. Sorry - no pictures of the cake since we ate it!! Bribed my grandsons into giving me hugs in order to get a piece of the cake. I don't mind having birthdays when I get flowers and cake and hugs!

Also, got a new purse from Ryan and Julie and kids. Not sure how they knew it was time for a new one but now I can try out another contender for the "perfect" purse. I am always looking for that perfect one!!!

Yesterday got weird "floaters" in my right eye. Co-workers said it was because I was getting old. That may be true but the eye doctor also said the vitreous jelly-like clear substance detached from the retina in a spot and made my eye bleed. Got to see the picture they took of the back of my eye and optic nerve and see the spot of blood next to the optic nerve - about the size of the tip of my little finger. Have to go back for a recheck in 6 weeks. Nothing to do but monitor it. In the meantime, have to try not to be annoyed by the "dust bunny" floating around my eye and making it hard to focus sometimes. Sigh.....

Happy Birthday to Me

I had a wonderful birthday - got to see Terry for a little bit before we both left for work. Then had a good day at work. Got lots of phone calls, cards, e-mails. Went to town after work and bought more border brick for around the yard and bought a new backpack to haul my work laptop (the old one was falling apart). The Lord treated me with a double rainbow and Eric and Michelle sent 18 multicolored roses. I have another present that will be here soon from Ryan and Julie so my birthday will last a few days longer. I am also going to order my present from Terry - a new winter coat from Cabela's. My old coat has lasted 15 years. I don't really worry about how old I am but instead am continually amazed at how fast time flies by!!!

Getting ready for Winter

Yesterday I was able to put a "checkmark" on my to-do list after I stacked two loads of wood!! There is another load of wood coming so the checkmark didn't last long but it still felt good to get one (like getting a gold star!). We had our first rain in 2 months and the weather was cooler (in the 70's) so it was a nice work day with the drizzly rain keeping me cool. Our doxie dogs, Bogey and Birdie, helped by looking for lizards. We spotted 2 plus a frog. There were no bunnies hiding in the wood pile though. Today the dogs ran all around the wood that was under the canvas wondering and looking for their favorite hunting spot. They couldn't figure out where their mountain had gone.