A Party for Jim

Here are the photos I took at Jim's Celebration of Life:

These are two of my brother, Ed's sons: Brian and Ron. Jessie had already left the party. These are my niece and nephews. I think the girl in the white coat is the daughter of Bud or Jackie, but I'm not sure. I'll update this post when I find out. The two boys on the ends are Brandon and Dustin (two of Jim's sons), but I don't know which is which. The middle three are Alan's kids Vernon, Jenny, and Toby.

These are three of Alan's kids Vernon, Jenny, and Toby. Christopher couldn't get away from work to come down from Alaska.

I'm disappointed in this photo, I was hoping it would be good enough to blow up and hang on the wall. These are me and my brothers. Well, the guy on the far left is Alan, Ed, and Jim's brother, Bud (their sister, Jackie, had already left) and the rest are Gordon, Alan, me, Ed, and Dave. Alan just goosed me and tried to blame it on Ed.

This is Ed and his oldest son, Ron:

This is Gordon's son Travis and his family Christina and one month old Curtis:

This is Alan, Ed, and Jim's mom Laura and her husband Ned:

Here is Jenny and Brian:

Alan and Toby:

Ed and Alan. Ed just came from a month in Hawaii.

Gordon with his grandson, Curtis:

Me and Laura:

Laura with my cousins Sue Gimby and Karla Bradly:

It was really nice to see so much of my family, but sad that it took the loss of one to get us all together. Don't ever miss an opportunity to be with loved ones.

Life Sucks

My aunt Opal passed away a couple of weeks ago and her family made plans to have a family get together in her honor yesterday. My brother, Alan, decided to fly down from Alaska to attend the event. He flew into Portland on Thursday and our brother, Jim, drove up to get him and they spent the day doing some business in the Portland area. We had a dinner date with Chad and Aliya on Friday so Alan came to visit with us that afternoon and we made arrangements to meet and drive to the party together.

Saturday morning I was relaxing around the house, kind of looking forward to seeing my cousins and spending more time with Alan when he called. (He's staying at Jim's house in Cottage Grove while he's here.) He called to tell me that he couldn't make it to the party because he found Jim dead when he got up.


It didn't register at first. What was he saying? What did it mean?

I think Jim was in his mid fifties. He had been having some health problems being a newly diagnosed diabetic, but that was getting under control and he was feeling better.

Jim left Margo, four grown sons, a granddaughter, five brothers, two sisters, and his mother. We will miss him.

Another Rainy Day

It has poured rain nonstop today. Our pastures still have patches of snow and now there are little rivers running through them as well. It was kind of funny doing my chores this evening. I got an MP3 player for Christmas and I learned how to download podcasts from the Clark Howard Show into it, so I enjoy listening to that while in the barn. Well, during the podcast I listened to this evening Clark talked a lot about drout and ways to save water; it all seemed irrelevant considering all the water I was surrounded by at the time.

I did manage to get Rocky out of the house today; we went to the Eugene Boat & Sportsman Show and saw Pete Serafin’s Worldwide Expeditions Collection. It was pretty neat to see those mounts up close; Rocky was envious.

We watched one of my favorite movies the other night. If you haven't seen A Walk in the Clouds, it is a must see. I've seen it several times and enjoyed it just as much as the first time. I've added a movie to my list yet to see; The Bucket List. My friend Darlene told me about it. She said that she and her husband really enjoyed it and thought it was better than the ratings it received.

I think if the rain doesn't let up tomorrow I'll drive in to check out the new Wilco that opened on Friday. A person has to find excitement where ever she can.

Snail Mail

I received a letter from one of my brothers who lives in The Dalles the other day. Kelly is six years older than me and he is mentally retarded. His letters take a little deciphering, but I can always figure them out and I'm proud of him just for making the effort. This letter is a little exciting.

He wrote to let me know that he'll be coming to Springfield in March to play basketball in the Special Olympics. I've marked my calendar and I'm looking forward to both watching Kelly play ball and attending the Special Olympics for the first time. I think it will also be extra fun for Kelly to actually know somebody who will come and watch when he's playing in a city so far from home. He also wrote in his letter that he will be staying in a motel, they cover his meals, his coach is very nice, and he'll be wearing black sweat pants because they can't wear blue jeans to play basketball.

Snow Day

Today is our second snow day of the year; that's two more than we usually get. Between yesterday and today we have about eight inches; that's a lot for us. Last night we tested the new car in the snow by driving around the neighborhood a couple of times. It wasn't bad. Whenever we would start to slide (we had to make it slide by hitting the brakes too hard or accelerating too fast) the slippery light would come on and the wheels would do what they do to self correct. It made me feel that if I had to drive in the snow I would be okay.



Our animals aren't sure about the snow. We've never had this much snow since we started raising them. Some had never seen it before and others have never seen more than what can melt off in a day. They've been spending a lot of time in the barn and are quite tentative when they do venture out into the snow.



We received an early morning phone call yesterday from my cousin; Aunt Opal passed away in her sleep Saturday night. She was in her 80's and has been going down hill for a few years. She was the last of my dad's siblings and their spouses to pass.



On a brighter note, the pellet stove is finally working well. Last Wednesday the spinning guild was here and I had it going; by the time they left the house was starting to smoke up again. That evening Rocky removed the door, tightened the hinges and latch, put an extension on the intake pipe and ran it up the chimney, and then sealed off the open spaces of the chimney with insulation. Now the stove is working almost perfectly. It is so nice to wake up to a comfortable rather than down right cold bedroom.

Busy New Year

Of course the beginning of every year is busy with year end tax preparations, but we've also been busy with fun stuff.

On the 9th we went to Riverdance. It was an exciting production. I enjoyed it, Rocky didn't think it was worth the money. I kind of feel that way about fishing. A few years ago I got to see Lord of the Dance with my sister in Portland; I will admit I enjoyed it even more. It could be that I was just in awe since it was the first time I had ever been to a production like that, but in my mind it was a little bit more exciting than Riverdance. I do believe both were worth the time and money to see.


Yesterday was another busy day for us; I can't believe what we did. We bought this:
We decided it was time that I get a grown up car. Rocky hates my Mustang and I've been thinking that I could get something larger with as good if not better gas mileage. I had a Honda Element, Cr-V, or Toyota Rav 4 in mind, but this Toyota Highlander Hybrid was in the paper yesterday and the seller was motivated enough to give us a really good deal. We weren't even thinking about getting a Hybrid at the time so I went on line to see what other owners thought about theirs and the only negative comment I found was that the 3rd row seating is a joke; and it is, but that's not something we'll use anyway. Anyway, this Highlander gets 25-30 mpg and that's a lot better than the Mustang. I just can't believe that I'm going to be driving a luxury vehicle. I hope I deserve it.

Happy 2008!

We rung in the new year by snoring. We're a pretty lively couple, you see.

Highlights from 2007:

February: We discovered that Rocky had a tumor behind his left eye and had to have surgery at OHSU in Portland. During the pre-op preparations we found out that he also has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. The rest of the year we spent learning how to modify our diet and manage medications.

April: We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary by doing nothing. Maybe this year will be different.

July: We took a trip to Alaska to visit my brothers Alan and Ed. We did a little fishing while we there. This is Ed (on the right) with his fish:

August: Rocky's daughter got married. (I don't have a photo of Aliya with Chad in my computer)

December: We celebrated the holidays once with my biological family and again with the Dean's. The month ended with a clogged plumbing system, malfunctioning water heater, and a new leak in the roof. It's a good thing we didn't have any New Year's party plans. We are ready to start a new month and a new year.