Christmas in Ashland

Esther & I have been making sand candles for the past 12 years at our annual Church Advent Faire. It's always one of the most popular craft tables averaging about 25 candles. We go non-stop from 11:30 to 4 pm before finishing and wicking the last candle!! This year Jana, Payton and Derrick came to Ashland for the week-end. They helped with set up and made crafts for their Eugene, Oregon Christmas.

Over the past year and a half, Esther has been working hard on completing Payton's special Afgan. Payton knew it was coming. She had picked the colors several years ago and then forgot how long it took to complete a project like this!! Grandma had learned this craft from her mother, Florence Tuckey and has been making Afgans for all the grandchildren!!!

We are now focusing on our Christmas Celebration at Lake Tahoe!!!

Relatives Land in Oregon

Debbie & Keith Hake with Nathan & Jonathon (Phoenix, AZ) made Oregon their Spring break destination! It just happens their oldest son Brian is beginning his graduate studies at the University of Oregon in Eugene, where Jana's family resides. They ended up in Ashland for a few days. Fall weather was beautiful so we headed up Mt. Ashland thinking we would see lots of snow. About 10 inches had fallen two weeks earlier with the promise of ski season opening on Thanksgiving!!! As we headed up the nearly 8000 ft peak, Mt Shasta appeared off in the distance. . .about 60 miles south. . .but no snow!! We arrived at the lodge and still no snow! Thinking we would drive to the summit, Keith bounced us in that direction and the fork in the road headed up looked more risky when Debbie chickened out. Esther and I have made that drive numerous. . .slow but doable. Keith decided to turn around. . .drove a few blocks and parked at a great scenic overlook with wonderful views in all directions. Everyone got in the mood to rock climb. On our way back, we stopped at the Ski Lodge to look at the ski run. . .and behold, several small patches of snow, enough to make a foot tall snowman!!! plus many near misses of wet snow balls. It was a great memory!

Wilson's Visit Oregon

Jane & Larry Wilson are those special friends that stay connected over the years. We met in Elkhart and have continued the friendship with gusto!! Both Wilsons are now retired and living on the East Coast. They arrived the last week of August at just the right time. We didn't plan on a health detour that grew full bloom August 28. We had spent several days at the coast and had a relaxing time. Esther's leg had been bothering her. On our way back to Ashland we stopped in Roseburg where a springy rest room door put Esther on the floor. It was now very difficult for her to walk and we ended up at the Ashland Emergency Room. Since then and many tests, a herniated disc seems to be causing the problem. Sept. 20, she had a Cortisone shot in the spine. Healing and pain relief has now made it possible for her to slowly walk around the house. We are thankful.

In spite of this detour, we had a wonderful time with the Wilson's, who were a big help during this stress. The photos are from the Charleston area on the coast. The top is Sunset Bay and the bottom, Bandon Shoreline. Dahlias were gorgeous at Shore Acres. The pink flowers at Hall Lake near Lakeside are unknown. The Oregon coastal beauty is breathtaking and refreshing to the human spirit. . .a wonderful masterpiece by our Creator!

The Best Tomatoes in the U.S.A.

Esther has 3 tomato plants, in pots, staked, tied and 4 feet tall! We have even had several nice bright red tomatoes about the size of a tennis ball! They also grow great tomatoes in Texas. I suppose Ashley & Zack are growing some in their raised bed garden. But Roly's have really entered the tomato competition in Corsicana, Texas. On Father's Day they sent me a box full of ripe tomatoes all properly hybrid labeled! We even rated them according to taste!!! What a treat!

Then I received a photo this Indiana tomato grown by our friend, Dan Monroe, who now lives near Indianapolis. He finally had to pick this 1 pound 14 ounce tomato before it broke his plant! I can almost taste it - it's been a long time since I've seen one this large! And I have to say to all you tomato growers, your as good as the best and better than the rest!!!!

Costa Rico at Age 11

Brady, just finished the 5th grade and at the Spanish/English school he attends, they earn the right to take a trip to Costa Rico just before they enter 6th grade. Jana & Paul worked all year getting him ready for his BIG trip this June! Brady flew from Portland and stayed the first week with local folks and had to use his Spanish!! Brady was assigned to a young family with a restaurant!!! How lucky can you be??? Their last 4 days were spent having fun as you can see. Brady says it was a blast!!! and he met many new friends. He was glad to get back to familiar surroundings with a new appreciation for home!!

Clipped in Eugene

Clipping is usually a football term but Derrick decided he needed a head clip! Long curls were too much for a growing boy headed into 3rd grade this fall! Very carefully, Jana & Paul started whacking off the curls! What a change! Congratulations, Derrick! You have grown up a bunch by giving up something you lived with so long!! The short of it is, you look Great!

Texas Cabbage Heads!

Joel, Holly & Joe's son, must have been visiting grandpa & grandma (Roly & Candy) cause I'm quite sure they are the big Texas growers! I understand they go to market in Mildred every Saturday with their fresh produce. I even got a box of wonderful tomatoes for father's day. . .and all 9 in excellent shape from Texas to Oregon all marked by hybrid names! We all agreed that Superfantistic was the best!

Joel got to learn his arithmetic or math as they now call it and I suppose grandpa made him figure how many square inches and of course how much this beautiful cabbage weighed. Needless to say their garden is growing like mad! Wish we were closer or there were more father's days!!

Tough ReHab

Thought you should see all the rough & tough rehab they are putting me thru at the hospital in Medford. All the nurses insist on 15 minutes on the tread mill with an incline of 4 degrees and a speed of nearly 2.5 - which is almost running!!! I can hardly keep up. . .that's when the whip comes out! After this workout, it's the arm/peddle to the metal. . .another 15 minutes! Of course they make me stretch before and after - and if there's time, I must do 1 or 2 complete arm lifts with 3 pound barbells and that means 15 lifts per exercise!!!! After all this and a viciden, I'm ready to be wheeled out the door! It's a tough life and I say avoid surgery if you can! And besides, I have to pay for all this attention!!! Oh well, I'm just resigned to it by now!

Sailing over Applegate Valley

Parasailing has come to our area!!! The largest gathering of parasailors, on the west coast, took off and landed in the Applegate Valley, about 25 miles from Ashland, near Jacksonville, Oregon. Nearly 175 jumpers from around the world, competed here. Points were achieved for their world standings! We decided to investigate this past Friday. Entering the Applegate Valley from Jacksonville, we were greeted by at least 40 parasailors at about 2000 ft. It was a spectacular sight and almost impossible to photograph with 24X! We eventually found that their assignment for the day was to catch a thermal and fly from Ruch, Oregon to Talent, Oregon, about 15 miles! using only wind currents!!! Since Talent is only about 5 miles from Ashland, we headed home, hoping to find their landing sight!!! Taking back roads thru orchards and staying as close to the mountains as possible, we began seeing 2 to 4 parasailors appearing in the sky searching for their landing spot. We finally found a road that took us to within 1/4 mile and several folks had gathered shooting photos from long distance!!! What a sight as we watched about 20 chutes glide in for a smooth landing!!

Morels in June

I decided to take one last look for morels today, June 20! Absolutely, the latest I have ever hunted mushrooms that I remember. All I had to do was call Will, our granddaughter, Amanda's boyfriend and they were both willing to go with me!!! We headed up the mountain to our favorite places to make one last check, since everything has been late this year and only a week ago, there was snow at one of these places. The snow was gone but we only found 5 morels. It is now about 4:30 in the afternoon on a beautiful, warm day even at 5000 ft. We decided to hit one more place close to Hyatt Lake where we always found morels in years past. We parked and headed up the hill. A half hour later, with empty hands we decided to call it quits and headed back to the truck. We knew finally that the season was almost over . . .lots of green growth and insects everywhere! I was on the road when Amanda hollered!!! One, two, three, four, . .hurry you gotta see this!!! Will and I hurried and within sight of the truck, there was a patch of 15 beautiful fresh morels. . .those you see in the photo weighing nearly 2 pounds!!! We couldn't believe it. . .that close to the truck and we had already given up our search for the year!!! And behold!!!!! Amanda saved the day and our last outing for the year gave us a send off for next year!!! Mushrooms in June!

Morels in Oregon

It can't be a month since my last posing but I'm still in slow gear even though the re-hab folks at the hospital are pushing me with exercise including bar bell lifts! In spite of these detours, I've managed to hunt mushrooms in the hills around Ashland. The doctor thought if I agreed to surgery by March 24, I could possibly be ready to hunt by the later part of May. We did and found morels every time we hunted but they were fewer and farther between. We are still hunting and it's now June 12 with plans to try again this week. Will, Amanda's boyfriend has become one of our best hunters and last Wednesday on our way out of the woods, we made a quick check at a place I usually find a few. . .you guessed it, Will walked right to a patch of 5 large morels!!! This made our day!! These measured between 4 & 5 inches helping us bag about 2 1/2 pounds for the day. All our favorite places are way behind in growth including snow still on the ground. If we don't find more this week, I'm ready to hang it up for this season!

Texas T Ball

How old do you have to be to play T-Ball in Texas? How about 3 or maybe 3 1/2? And at that age you should know what a baseball is and a bat! And if you don't know what T-ball is, imagine a baseball resting on top of a pole - that is adjustable to your height - then your instructed to hit that ball hard! with the bat, of course. Imagine yourself or Blake, 3 1/2 years old looking at that white ball & being told to swing!!! According to mom, Holly, Blake swung so hard the bat & Blake turned a complete circle and the momentum plopped him on the ground with a thud! She couldn't stop laughing! But I never heard whether Blake hit the ball!!

Blake does like to catch a ball and at his age he is remarkable!!! I watched him last fall and couldn't believe his uncanny ability to catch a ball. I still think his dad, Joe makes him practice every afternoon after day care! Catching is one thing, hitting is another. Maybe we'll get an update on Blake's batting average, in a couple years when he's in the big league!

Incidently, Blake is playing for the Mildred, Texas Day Care Team!

BIG Birthday In Ashland

It's hard to believe that my last post was March 17! Just a few days before my big surgery on March 24! I was planning to post photos of this ordeal but it took me a month before I wanted to see them!!! And, as I expected, they reminded me of events I didn't remember and did not want to remember! You have seen some of these photos so why inflict more of my misery on you? and especially now when gory photos are world headlines? Instead, I'm moving on to the grand treat I received on my BIG Birthday!!! All of you apparently talked and decided to give me balloons instead of candles to celebrate all my years on planet earth!! And to my surprise, when entering our living room late afternoon on April 29, I was greeted with a jungle of balloons!!! What a fun surprise!!! I could have never blown out all the candles anyway!!! So I just settled down in my favorite chair took in the beautiful sight!

Thanks to all of you who shared in this production! It was indeed a wonderful Birthday gift to me. Of course the next day, I felt like all the balloons that had lost their gas and now littered the floor!!! If you didn't know it, helium only lasts for one day in rubber balloons but it lasts a long time in Mylar balloons!!

I'm now in rehab twice a week exercising on treadmills and bikes. They're pushing me out of low gear even though most days I'd rather stay there! Overall, I'm doing well and healing well for which I'm very thankful!!! You have all been a great support to me with your love and prayers. . .THANKS!

Imagine Night Fishing Alone

Somebody sent me a e-mail from an unknown address all numeric which looked very suspect. . .the kind your afraid to open!!! With no clue who sent it, I ran it thru my virus protection who scrubbed it with penicillin then assured me it was not carrying any bad bugs!!! Opening it carefully, the above photo emerged! Out of focus and half there, I was hardly able to detect a familiar face with a silly cat grin barely hanging onto what appeared to be a 30 lb hybrid bass! Imagine, fishing at night, all alone, on your own pier, catching a whopper fish, and trying to tell this fishy story without a photo! Fortunately, Roly(the odd face in the photo without the scales) must have fumbled for his cell phone with one foot on top of this huge fish, then with left thumb grabbing the fish lip, trying to hold it steady, right arm stretched with cell camera in hand fumbling for the shoot button while hugging this wiggly heavy bass. The result is what you see!!! Now you make up your story from this evidence! So far, I have no details but was amazed that he being the techy he is, could take this his own picture, find my email address on his cell phone(something I didn't know was possible & it isn't on my phone - must be a Blackberry or IPod or new breed) and send it to me via the Internet!!! What a world we live in! It's about time for me to renew my cell phone contract and be sure I'll be asking a lot of new questions! Even getting a cell phone with a camera was putting me in the present age, then learning to text, I thought I was really living with the grandkids - but I'm still behind!!! and running as fast as I can to keep up! Thanks Roly for the photo! Now send me the details!

Great Grand Daughter Celeste

Jaime Freed, Dan & Sheila's daughter has been working hard completing her Naval computer training at Great Lakes, Illinois. She hasen't talked about all the snow in the Chicago but they have had around 100 inches this year which means it's pilled high in all the streets and parking areas!

Last Christmas, Jaime flew to Oklahoma and spent time with her daughter, Celeste who now walks everywhere and is in her second year! We just received these photos from Christmas! Jaime's photo is an earlier shot but it reminds us of our genetic transfer to our children. You know, everything is attached to everything!!! Thanks to Jaime for keeping in touch!

PS Just got a note this morning that Jaime has just completed her computer class with the highest grade in the class!! She's excited and now waiting for her new assignment!! Great job, Jaime!

Quiet in Ashland, Oregon

It seems that some weeks we have lots happening but the mingling of spring & winter has everyone in a winter funk! Although across the street where 11 houses were burned to the ground last August, there is now lots of activity. If you remember the fire photos of what remained, it is great to see 6 houses in process. . .one bright yellow is almost ready to live in!!! And our neighbor, directly across the street is completing the dry wall!! The busy activity and the rebuilding is much better than being reminded everyday of the August inferno. And to think we came within a whisker of losing all our photos, important papers, including tax records, computer with all my discs. . .there is no easy answer why we were spared. . .fortunate, yes but the Bible states that " Rain falls of the just and the unjust" which leads me to believe that God was not punishing anyone in particular or sparing anyone in particular. But it does remind us to be thankful for life itself!!!

If you click on the photo with the outhouse, you will note the burned trees.

Another postscript, the homeless man who started the fire was acquitted by jury and released from prison. That same day he came back to Ashland, walked behind our little mall and flipped all the breakers of about 15 stores. They thought a transformer had blown and it took the electric dept. all morning to figure out that all they needed to do was turn the breakers back on!!!! Two weeks ago, he threw debris from the overpass onto Interstate 5 and was arrested again!!!! Our society has no way of confining mentally disabled folks like him. . .so it looks like we'll just have to wait for another fire!

The Ducks Superbowl in Arizona

The University of Oregon Ducks had their Big Chance for national football title in Phoenix, Arizona, January 10! It was a photo finish game tied at 19 to 19 with 2 minutes to play. Auburn had a fluke play that appeared to be a firm tackle & all players stopped playing awaiting the whistle for the next play only to realize that no whistle had blown and the runner though tackled had not completely hit the ground so he began running and made it almost to the goal line allowing Auburn to kick a field goal as time ran out, winning the game, 22 to 19!!!! A big disappointment for all Duck fans but a hard fought game to the last second!!! But this Big event was extra special for Jana and Paul who at the last minute, were able to get tickets from a relative for face value ticket price!!! Prices on the Internet for their tickets were going for close to $3000 each!!! We even looked to verify these prices!! But they passed up the big bucks & jumped at the chance to have this great experience! Lori & us agreed to keep Payton, Brady & Derrick for the week! They drove to Phoenix in two days, and stayed with cousins, Kathy & Dave Collins - took in the sights, attended a rally that was so packed they couldn't move!!! became panicked and left! The day of the game, they spent most of that Monday tail-gating with friends & family from Eugene! Of course just being there was an event of a lifetime!!! with excitement everywhere!!! Paul was so excited that he lost his voice 2 days before the game and Jana said it was so exciting they couldn't hear, couldn't speak and could hardly breathe!!! The big game was played at the Pro Football Stadium in Phoenix. They rode on this wave of excitement all the way home and still can't believe they were actually among the record breaking 75,000 fans!!! A treat of a lifetime!!!