Memories of the way we were.....

 We drove over to the westside of the state on Friday.  First stop was Maple Valley and the delivery of Baylor's tent.  I couldn't get a decent picture of the kids with the tent because they were so excited to play in it!  Baylor brought down his campfire logs and flames and quickly made his bed inside.  Elle also brought down her pillow, blanket and baby dolls to camp for the evening. 

 The second stop was to our old stomping grounds of Rainier for a memorial service for an old friend.  He was 94 years old and the one of the last of the draft horse loggers.  We drove the back way into town and spotted our first house.  We bought this house in 1972 for $15,500.  The house was a little under 1,000 square feet and it had 3 acres.  Marc dug a lot of dirt in that yard, Tracy ate a lot of cherry tomatoes that we grew on the south side of the house.  We moved to our farm house before Kimmie was born. 

After the service we stopped by Pat and John's for a visit. We enjoyed seeing their grandchildren Maddy, Lindy, Beau and Jason (Troy was taking a nap). The Kirby vacuum salesman was busy doing a demonstration of his products and Pat was enjoying a free carpet shampoo. I have a real aversion to door-to-door salesmen so I visited with John and Bruce outside. 

 Our next stop was at brother Charlie's house.  Charlie was tinkering around his place and showed us his new quonset hut.  Dang, this guy is talented! 

 Charlie has a 1929 Ford in his front yard for sale and a 1930 Ford in pieces in his house. As soon as he sells this car he will build his 1930.

Duck radiator cap - too cool!

 I love this duck snarl!  I want a hood ornament on my car!!!

 Bruce got in to try out the car.  Notice the rumble seat?

 Charlie took the top down so Bruce could get the feel of the wind in his hair.  

 Charlie showed Bruce all the ends and outs of the car. 

 The amount of wood they used back in the 20's was awesome.  Oak everywhere!  The floors are even wooden. 

 Steering wheel. 

Gauges - only 58,000 miles.  Not bad for an 85 year old car!

Spare tire, love the orange spokes!

 And the original license plate.  We saw so many old friends and classmates at the service it was hard to leave Rainier to go home.  Bruce talked hunting fishing and retirement and I talked grandchildren with our old friends.  What a great trip down memory lane it was.  What a special day for the memory book! 

Autumn Weather and fall projects

 

It's a foggy day in Central Washington. After a couple of days of gloomy wet fall weather we woke up this morning to fog and the promise of blue sky. 

Bruce worked in his shop and finished carving a bowl from the chunk of Aspen we brought home from our jeep trip the other day. 

 This is Bruce's first bowl carving.  It is sitting on top of part of the log we brought home from Coleman Canyon.

I love how the bowl turned out. I'm seeing Christmas presents for everyone!

 While Bruce was busy carving I got busy sewing.  Kimmie brought me the sticks for a teepee and asked me to make a new cover out of canvas.  It turned into a bad news, good news kind of day. The Singer sewing machine I bought back in 1979 died. I had made $12 a month payments for ten months for that machine. I loved my Singer and sewed many hours on it. The good news - I had just finished sewing Baylor's tent when the machine took it's last stitch! 

The other good news Bruce found me a Pfaff sewing machine on Craigslist - the Pfaff was owned by a guy that loves to sew and had too many machines for his new house! The Pfaff is in perfect condition and fits into my sewing machine cabinet like it was made for it. Best part - the price was $120. Same as my Singer back in 1979!

This is the finished tent.  We will be taking it over to Maple Valley this coming weekend.  I think the kids will love it.  I kind of like it too - wish I had more canvas!

End of summer drive

 

On the last day of summer we drove up into the Coleman Canyon looking for fall color and wildlife.  Bruce got to drive his beloved jeep.  The jeep is not my favorite mode of transportation but it worked perfectly for this trip.  Just to clarify why  - I don't like the plastic windows in the jeep - they make everything looked scratched and distorted and I don't usually like to drive with the windows open.  Whine, whine, whine, I know it could be worse! 

The trees and bushes are starting to change color.

We saw a buck a doe and a bull.

This bull was not what we were expecting....we thought it should be an elk!

 Great drive on a beautiful warm day.  The jeep was perfect for this trip, I probably won't complain the next time Bruce suggests taking her into the hills!  Just thought I don't think the jeep has a name...hmm.....

Wenatchee

Kimmie, Colby, Elle and Baylor came over on Friday for a visit.  On Saturday morning we headed up to Wenatchee to watch Marcus play football.

 

We packed a picnic lunch and ate at Riverfront Park.  Wenatchee has changed a bunch since we were last there with a giant Public Market and bronze statues everywhere.  If I was rich I would buy one of the visiting statues - almost everyone of them are for sale! 

 Lunchables, sandwiches and salads were in our cooler along with plenty of juice and water.  I always forget how fun it is to eat in a park in the middle of the city. 

 The park was filled with beautiful oak trees.  I loved the heart carved into this one.  The Sheets family sort of humored me with a picture.  Kimmie and Colby are still sweethearts and it shows.  Elle and Baylor were searching for acorns for their Mom. 

 As soon as we arrived at the football field Emma and Olivia rushed over to show us the way to the Wildcats side.  Elle was thrilled to see her big girl cousins again. 

 Olivia was so proud of her brother playing on the team.  Look how summer blond she is!

 Marcus is number 50, standing between number 28 and number 7 in this shot.  Can you believe he is only 6 years old?  I wasn't too sure I would enjoy watching him play, I was afraid he might get hurt.  The kids have had lots of practice so they knew what they were doing and it was fun for me to watch. 

 Thank goodness they had numbers on their jersey's, they all look alike when they have their helmets on. 

 Last minute coaching.  I get misty every time I see the Oergel on the back of the jersey. 

I waved hello to Marcus and he gave me a funny little wave that ended with his hand on his helmet so nobody would notice.  Football players are so serious before the game!

 The team lined up to run through the sign.  These guys are ready for action!

The break-away sign was the perfect inspiration before the game with the help of Tracie and another parent. 

 With the referee towering over the kids you can tell how little they really are. 

 Emma used a pine cone to give us a play-by-play of the game. 

 Offensive move by Marcus - and a score for the Wildcats!

 Daddy Marc gave Marcus a little coaching during a time-out.  The temperature was in the 80's of the field I was glad to see Marcus get some water.

 After 1 hour of play the game was over and the team lined up to shake hands with their opposition. 

 Good Sportsmanship,

 and Parental Support are the keys to a successful season.  These kids have both!

 Marcus acted so mature during the game and afterwards.  I tried to get a video of him like we have of Marc when he played football but Marcus just smiled and said "Thanks for Coming"!  I was pretty impressed when Marcus took off his gear, put it together and carried it back to the car.  He is growing up!  Marc, Tracie, Olivia, Emma and Marcus headed back home to Spokane right after the game and we headed back home. 

The drive home from Wenatchee took about an hour and a half, and Baylor slept until we pulled onto our road.   Waking up just in time to drive us home. 

 The weather is changing and we realized Autumn begins on the 23rd so Elle held up the Home for the Harvest sign. 

 The Sheets family headed home first thing this morning so they would be home in time to watch the Seahawks game at 1 o'clock.  Great weekend with lots of football and fall fun. 

South, West, East and North - Clouds can tell a story.

 I went outside this evening and checked out the sky - this was looking Southeast.

 This was looking West - quite a bank of low clouds hanging over Mt. Rainer with the pretty blue sky above.

 Looking South toward Yakima.

This was looking North - what a strange cloud.  I think it looks like Teddy Roosevelt as a Rough Rider.  All of the photo's were taken within minutes of each other.  What an interesting valley we live in.