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!