Enterprise and Joseph OR

Well, Martin, Molly, the dogs and I piled into the van and headed for Eastern Oregon. It was a beautiful drive and we saw a little of every kind of weather. At 4100 feet in the Blue Mountains we even saw sleet. We are hoping to avoid bad weather when we head for home. Martin's mom is so excited to have us here. We have been able to spend lots of time with her and explore the area around Joseph and Enterprise. Molly is staying with her grandmother and Martin and I are staying at Barking Mad Farm in Enterprise. A great bed and breakfast who even accepts our huge guys. Diana the proprietor with her husband Hunter is an accomplished photographer and we had the wolfhounds pictures taken while we were here. Poor Guido didn't make the cut but we did get some good photos of him as well. The dogs are enjoying the 8 fenced in acres at the B&B as well as the half acre at grandma's. We are going out to eat at a Mexican Restaurant tonight in Enterprise. Spent the afternoon in Joseph and around Wallowa Lake. Above the post is Martin and Sailor enjoying the roadtrip; Guido in the field at Barking Mad Farm; Martin, Sailor and Guido at Barking Mad; Martin and I at the Wallowa County Courthouse; Martin and his mom at Lake Wallowa; and Molly and her grandmother in Joseph. Tomorrow back on the road!

Anna,Brandon & Grandma

Anna's birthday was this week, so yesterday we went to her party, in a park near where they live. It was raining when we left the house, but the sky cleared up by the time we got to the park, and it turned out to be very pleasant afternoon. The photos above show Anna opening one of her gifts as Brandon looks on. The other photo of the kids was taken in front of our house the day before the party with their new shirts we got them from Halifax. The top picture is one I took of Marlene and Grandma yesterday at the party....think it was a great one of both of them.

Today's our last day of freedom before returning to work tomorrow. After 3 weeks off it is going to be a big adjustment to return. Got to work on my attitude I think.

Another Busy Weekend

Another busy weekend flys by leaving us wondering where it went. We did get much done this weekend. I went to the plant and outdoor show at the Clark County Fairgrounds and purchased our tomato plants for this year as well as the plants for all our pots and some basil to replace the plants that didn't survive the cold snap. I bought 4 large tomato plants and 2 cherry tomato plants this year. I was happy to get everything planted. The dogs enjoyed the yard while we toiled getting to be in the "human" side for a change. The picture shows the raised garden bed that Martin built for me last year and I put the cherry tomato plants in big pots as I have done in previous years. I always love getting the plants in even though it means extra work to keep things up.

The other picture shows me with Anna, our grand daughter, instructing her on the fine art of the Japenese slot machine we have. It works on stainless steel tokens and requires manual reel stops with lit buttons. Anna enjoyed putting the "coins" in the machine, but wasn't too impressed when she won and the machine played music until all the tokens were collected in the prize. I'm really not training her for Vegas! She just likes the lights and sounds the machine makes.

Best Buddies

Not much to say with this photo, other than we just had to publish it in this blog....it was too good not to.

Grandma's holding Sailor's prized duck.....He has several favorite toys, and this is one of them, although I think he has disabled the quack in this particular duck.

In one of his stuffed animals recently (I think it was the stuffed elephant), it looked like he performed a precise surgical maneuver....there was a small slit made right down the back bone, and the little packet that held the squeaker, had been (apparently) very carefully removed. I wish the surgeon who had performed my Gall Bladder surgery had been as careful......