HUNKERING DOWN

It's been a while since I blogged probably because not much is going on that hasn't been going on for several weeks now!! As I look out my computer room window, the snow is falling rapidly. It's been snowing for about three hours now and is supposed to snow all night and then freeze. We're not all that sorry that it's snowing because the temperature is about 25 degrees warmer than it has been for the past week. Thought you would enjoy seeing our resident squirrel making a feast of our hanging corn cobs. The whole appartus is called a bungee squirrel feeder. The idea is that the squirrel jumps up to get the corn and has a big swing on the bungee cord. Our Kennedy yard squirrels are smarter than that!! They stand on the ground, pull the cord down, and eat their fill of corn. It's great fun to watch the squirrels and birds have their fill.

We're involved with our classes. Don't our students look studious and attentive? The picture on the left is of our University of Portland students attending the first ever devotional on campus!! The speaker is Edgardo Gubelin, who is the director of the Gresham Institute. It was wonderful to hear of Brother Gubelin's experiences during his boyhood in Chile. The other is of our evening class at the Institute. The students are looking up scripture references. I'm speaking with Bishop Hill of the Mt. Hood Ward who is a regular visitor to our class.

All is well. We're warm and busy. It won't be long until I send out a blog about the upcoming family reunion. We have reserved a lodge for the family for the dates of July 21, 22, 23, and 24!! Details to follow. Watching lacy snowflakes, Mom

JUST TRYING TO KEEP WARM

There's not much mystery to what we're trying to do these days--keep warm!! We've either had lots of snow or freezing and below freezing weather. Dad has kept himself busy keeping both woodstoves loaded with wood. In addition, our new quarter has begun, so we're busy working on prep for two classes, a monthly on-campus devotional, and a rigorous Sunday meeting schedule. For a joint Christmas gift, we decided to purchase a really nice camera. Once the camera arrived, I took one look at all the bells and whistles and took possession of the Sony digital that Susan and Eric gave use a few years ago!! Some of you will recognize Rocks Anne. (For those who don't know of Rocks Anne, she's a little abnormality in a rock formation on the highway near The Dalles. The formation reminds people of a little pioneer girl in a bonnet reading, so there is usually a pot of flowers in her lap.) Our life is busy and fulfilled, and we're snug as little bugs!! We hope this blog finds you all well. Love, Mom

THERE'S GOTTA BE A BLOG IN HERE SOMEWHERE

It's been quite a week. I knew as events unfolded, there had to be a blog in here somewhere. The gist of the story is that my computer hard disk had to be cloned, and I, computer expert that I am, had to re-install my Windows XP. Tragic situation!! Three or four days (Note the dinner at the computer) of time in front of the computer installing, re-installing, etc. all of my programs. I lost only a few email addresses in the process and learned more about the guts of a computer than I really cared to know. To top it off, I made a misstep on my stairs and banged myself up which added to my discomfort!!

I thoroughly enjoyed Darla's input. Remember years ago, if we had such problems, we sat on the telephone while a technician tried to walk we neophytes through the steps to correct our problems to the tune of a fairly sizeable amount per hour? No more of that. Gateway walked me through some of the process through a chatline in which I "chatted" with technicians who took control of my computer. It was a quiet process. One day Darla helped me! What a hoot! While I sat with my arms folded, Darla took over my computer. She whistled, drank her pop, chatted with me and Vale, but, by golly, she fixed the computer!

Life is so good. We are so blessed. Maybe a crashing computer is an excellent reminder that when all is said and done, it's family; it's love; it's the beauty of life experiences that REALLY count, and don't often crash. Love, Mom

A SHAKY BEGINNING

The new year has had a pretty shaky beginning; hopefully, not a predictor of things to come. Wyatt and Kahlil are faithfully guarding my monitor and cords, while the guts of the computer--the tower/hard drive--are vacationing in the computer shop. Grrr...one doesn't realize how dependent he's become on these annoying machines until he's crashed after five years of almost daily duty.

Vale and I also had a shaky--albeit hilarious experience with gingerbread. I finally remembered just a day or two before he left that I'd bought a gingerbread house kit and a package of pre-mixed gingerbread man cookie mix, so one day we launched upon our project. There was no gingerbread cookie cutter in my kitchen drawers, so Vale carefully drew his own pattern. He rolled out the cookies, cut them out and baked them, all the time talking a mile a minute about the state of his latest video game. While we waited for the cookies to cool, Vale began the house, propping up the walls with cans of turkey gravy.

Once the walls were cemented with icing, and the walls were propped up with cans, we went to the movie, planning to return and frost the gingerbread men. When we returned home, we found only three gingerbread men!! Grandpa had had a midnight snack. Vale gallantly conceded that they were a little mutated anyway. On to the house. Vale worked hard on decorating the house, sharing his thoughts, and he created a beautiful house. As he finished the last touches, he said, "Grandma, how do we get the cans out that are inside the house??" Good question. With the icing we'd made, they were so entombed in the house that there was no way they would escape!! Later in the evening, Vale decided he'd really made the house so he could eat the gingerbread, so he snapped a picture of the cans!!

Vale wanted badly to have snow while he was here, and we did get some on Christmas Day. He would be so envious!! Today, we have 8 to 10 inches of the stuff with more on the way. We'd always said that when we got older, we wouldn't worry about snowy days; we'd just take Louis Lamour's counsel and hunker down. We'd stock up plenty of food, wood, books, and movies and leave the snow shoveling to the working stiffs. After five or six snowstorms back to back since October, we've cleaned the house from stem to stern, eaten all the stocked up food, read the books, and watched the videos. We're grateful to be able to start teaching our classes again tomorrow--Provided we can get out of our driveway! Snowed in. Love, Mom