Weekend at the lodge.

Last week Bruce found a beautiful Red Speckled Enamelware Coffee Pot up in the woods.  The coffee pot was the inspiration for a laundry room makeover.  Bruce built a shelf using two cedar boards cut from an old telegraph pole and hung the moose horns that friends took off of an old house they bought.  The picture was a wedding gift from a great aunt.  The only original thing in the area besides the washer and dryer is the red speckle clock.  In the dark it looks like the walls may need to be painted a warmer color but that will be for another weekend.  The photo below is of the "Little Mule" up by the windmills on Friday.  Winter has arrived for sure. 

Hope everyone stayed warm and dry this weekend! PS: We had a discussion all afternoon about which side of the moose horns were up - I finally deferred to the proven hunter.  After all that work and lifting and screwing the 200 pound board to the wall, our hunter friend Rick stopped by and said "Hey, those horns are upside down!"  Funny, huh?  We're waiting for someone very strong to come for a visit before the horns will be rightside up.......

Wednesday post

The lost and found from the weekend - it's always fun to see what is left behind when the troops move out!

This is the shelf Wes built for Bruce.  It is so cool to have a second shelf in the closet for storage. 

It won't be empty for long.  

Last night we drove down to Pendleton Oregon for a little Christmas shopping.  This was the view we woke up to this morning.   A bit of rain and gorgeous rolling hills.  The motel was a Priceline special.  The rooms all had balcony's and lots of space.  We spent some time at the Pendleton store and then we shopped at a couple of antique stores. I finally found the cabinet I've been searching for.  This is a child's size dish cupboard.  I will sand it and stain it to match my other furniture.  Can't wait for the Grandkids to see it! 

Bruce wanted to take me to a special place he had eaten at with the railroad crew - Famous Dave's. We had a bit of a challenge finding it, Kennewick has a bunch of round-abouts! We finally spotting it the restaurant  behind the mall. The place was well worth the search - great food, atmosphere and service.

The drive home was nice.  Lots of sunshine and blue skies.  We stopped below the Wanapum Dam for some photos. 

PS: I'm still fighting with the new edition of blogger.....

60th Birthday weekend - sort of a party.

So when I tried to plan a party for Bruce's 60th it didn't pan out.  Marc, Tracy and Kimmie decided they would come over and spend time with their Dad anyway.  At 5:30am Saturday morning Bruce, Marc and Raymond headed up into the woods elk hunting.  Bruce came down around 9am to cut up meat at Shorty's house - the butcher we usually use was out of town.  At 6pm Bruce came home for a quick dinner and birthday celebration and headed back to Shorty's to finish up the butchering dragging along Marc, Raymond and Colby. They processed the elk until 1am.  The meat is now in the freezer and the promise has been made to never shoot anything again without a butcher lined up.  Here is a snippet of photo's from the weekend - I'm still fighting with the new format - some of the pictures jumped out of line after I uploaded them.  Grrrrr......

As you can see from the line of shoes there were lots of little feet at the house. 

Emma smiled for the camera.

Bruce received a special jug honoring his first wild turkey.  

Olivia enjoyed having two babies to play with. 

Marcus is almost two - December 3rd will be a big day for him!

Poppi and Emma loved the chocolate cake.

Giavanna made her mark on the new sled. 

Sophie is such a big girl now - she started Kindergarten this year. 

Ceci has such fashion flair!  Love the boots. 

Elleanor was the life of the party - just like her Mommie she didn't want to miss anything that was going on.  I'm sure she will sleep for days after this weekend.  Her giggle made me giggle.

The twins adored the babies.

The cousins played outside - excited to find ice!

Colby with the first batch of deep fried mushrooms.  This is the spot the picture of the guys with the deep fryer was supposed to appear - it jumped to the top of the page when I changed the placement. 

The deep fried turkey was delicious and ready in less than an hour. 

I love when the boys do the cooking outside!

Grami with the babies!

Ceci and Emma checking out the toy catalog.  We had such a wonderful weekend.  It was so nice that all the kids could come to Ellensburg to honor their Dad on his 60th.  The weekend was a success and Bruce felt truly honored on his big day. 

A visit at the Forgey's Elk Camp

Somewhere up high in the hills the Forgey brothers have set up a hunting camp.  Bruce and Lloyd searched out their camp on Tuesday to check up on them.  They found their camping site without any problems and hung around for a few hours.  I'm sure Bruce and Lloyd were really wishing they could go tent camping with the boys.   I know that Randy owns a beautiful camping trailer - as a woman that hasn't camped in many years I can't really understand the excitement of tent camping.  But the boys all think it's great.  Probably because nobody is nagging them to keep it clean.  Not really a problem when you are cooking over a camp fire and there isn't a floor in your tent.  I didn't ask about the bathroom accommodations - don't really want to know.  

Okay, I admit the campfire looks pretty inviting.  S'mores anyone? 

Opening Day of Elk Season 2009

This Season Elk Camp is in Ellensburg between Lloyd and Jeannie's and our place. I had a call at eleven o'clock that Bruce and Marc had been successful. By the time they arrived back to camp James had bagged his elk too.  The following photo's are a little graphic - I did try to change the colors to black and white for the more delicate viewers.  Black and white was too dark so here they are in living? color.   

The boys were getting a little rowdy after a few shots were taken.  Last night we had elk stew courtesy of the elk Lloyd bagged in Colorado last week.  I'm looking forward to a freezer full of meat.  

Pumpkin Farm Tour

We spent the weekend in Maple Valley with Kimmie and Colby.  And as you can tell Blogger has changed it's format and I don't know how to control it yet!  The last picture is usually the first and they never show up side by side - so what's the deal?

Bruce stood next to the giant pumpkin - yep he's now 6 feet tall. 

Funny how most folks shrink when they hit 60.  

Elle was in rare form - showing her little tongue off and smiling at everyone. 

As soon as she put on her chili pepper costume she fell fast asleep. 

We found lots of spaces to take pictures - check out the little hot pepper on the bench by the pumpkins and Kimmie showing a Dairy Calf - she's still got it! 

The Washington State Dairy Princess was at the farm giving out free chocolate milk to all the kids. 

We took the hay ride through the pumpkin field looking for that perfect pumpkin.  The farmer was the happiest guy I've ever seen.  Bruce said he was pretty sure the old dairy guy was laughing all the way to the bank with his pumpkin farm - no more taking  care of dairy cows - 5am milking in the freezing cold.  What a great way to make a living.  Hope everyone had a great fall weekend!
PS: I can't figure out how to do spell check so hope the spelling is okay......

Workday photo's

The past few days have been hectic at work - a couple of ladies have been out with the flu and the paperwork has been piling up. I haven't taken the time to look away from my computer monitor very much. This afternoon the office was getting stuffy so I opened my window. I was pleasantly surprised that autumn has finally hit the Burg. The trees are gorgeous - this is the view from my window. Dollar Store Halloween decorations in our office - the lanterns are fun and have battery lights.

The photo below is our official court reporter Jewel - isn't she a dignified lady? The chicken hat is actually for her brothers 60th birthday party on Halloween. The glasses are just her everyday readers - we've dared her to wear them in court sometime. Jewel is one funny, sassy, chick! She certainly knows how to liven the place up.

The office is always interesting - you never know who or what will come through our door. (thank goodness we do have security now) Hope you are having a fun and interesting week!