A WEEK IN OREGON.

Decisions were needed on my building project in Oregon. Doug was working on the first coat of primer when I arrived on Friday the 13th, after a five hour drive. Cement doesn't soak up paint as easily as wood. Weather is cool and damp, but luckily no rain.

Doug declined my invitation to take him out for dinner but promised me he'd be dragging my butt out at 6:30 a.m. to pick out paint colors at Home Depot. Headed for the hotel, I stopped at the VFW where they were celebrating Valentines Day with a special dinner of Cornish game hens and a luscious, chocolate cherry dessert. They invited me to stay since a couple of reservations had canceled.

Making new friends, and a toast to Valentines. The Rogue River Post is very active and supportive of their vets. Two young men from Rogue are serving on foreign soil and they've adopted their whole unit, sending cookies and letters from home.

Saturday was Valentines day and we left Home Depot with the wrong color paint. I picked  sunshine yellow, she wrote right under the paint swatch, the formula, but she had mixed the color beneath it, something called Terra Sol. We were asleep at the switch and didn't realize the mistake until we went to open the can. We decided to live with it since she might get fired over 20 gallons of oops paint. At lunch I picked up some yoghurt, chips and fruit at Ray's Market. A woman and child were handing out Valentines to every one. What a smile starter. Later, I found a heart shaped pebble on the ground near my building. Sweet.

Catching up with neighbors, Jenny & Phil. Phil is always surrounded by his fur children.

Jenny was preparing to go horseback riding. New horses since my last visit.

She has a paint looking pony. A new breed called gypsy.  While there, Jenny recommended the local Tarassco's fish tacos.

Every restaurant in town was loaded on Valentines day. A forty-five minute wait for a pizza. I went home with my favorite dish from Tarassco's,  a take out bowl of Albondigo soup.  I had the fish tacos on Sunday. Everyone knows I'm a foodie.

The terra sol wasn't too bad. I made headway with bids on heating and air from three companies. Got a dumpster ordered. Picked out and ordered my cabinets and vanities at Lowes. Bought a new washer dryer that Lowes will hold until needed.

I painted as far up as I could reach on the trim. Doug was using the ladder.

I moved rocks and placed them in a circle around this lovely old tree in my front yard.

Doug had to open up the Tyvek for bidders to get inside the house. I swept and cleaned a bit inside knowing it will be even dustier when the sheet rockers get finished.  Doug loves to clown around. We had a good time, made a lot of progress.  I'll have to return when we ask for the electrician who is next in line after the heating an air guys do their preliminary, in the wall, install.

It was nice to see snow on Mt. Shasta. I couldn't resist yet another picture of this beautiful mountain.

FAMILY TIME, PAWS AND PETUNIAS.

Saturday, daughter-in-law, Laurie and I walked and rode the trails of PAWS, Performing Animal Welfare Society. All of the animals that come here are in trouble, have been abused or tied up for years, confined in zoos, and so on. PAWS gives the animals freedom near the end of their lives. It is a great charity. The sad part is how awful some of them have been treated before they arrive at PAWS. Tigers, a black leopard, and lions, were off somewhere in the bushes and trees enjoying their freedom and space except this barely visible lion who took a liking to a nap on a platform next to the fence.

We saw four active  Black Bears. They have red or black fur.
Protective fencing makes it tough to photograph them. The camera wants to focus on the fence.

Laurie is an elephant lover and has never touched one and felt their leathery skin. She has a vast collection of elephant items that started when she was in grammar school. She hopes someday to ride an elephant. It is pleasant to view them out in the open enjoying a spacious range. PAWS has 2300 acres for the animals to roam.

This is Nikolaus, a young bull. PAWS is the only sanctuary to take bull elephants.

He wanted to be playful and stay where all of us were gathered.
He rested his heavy trunk on the bars and seemed to say, "Isn't anybody gonna throw me a carrot?"

We bused past Asian elephants grazing in a flower filled field.

These two African Elephants rummaging for something good to eat next to an oak snag. r
A couple of females were grabbing everyone's attention as they staged themselves by the fence close to a road stop.

They came from a performing background and were obviously begging for goodies, though no one but staff is allowed to feed them anything. One kept tooting funky elephant calls with her trunk, and tossing dust over her head. The other would crowd the fence, step on the steel cord as though to say, "I could bust through this flimsy fence if I wanted too."

Of course, they can't.

We returned to the bear sanctuary and then had lunch in town. (PAWS is located in San Andreas.) If you plan to attend an event, contact them through their website and read the stories and see good pictures at this link. It was a fun time in on a nice day at PAWS.
http://www.pawsweb.org/
Sunday, Mother's Day, Laurie and Ken hosted a salad lunch and dessert.

Laurie is a stellar cook and loves to try new recipes. The salads were varied and different. She made deviled eggs with avocado as the binder instead of mayonaise. They were good. Of course, before the salads, we munched on all the snacks. Is it a habit to eat before we eat?

Lauries's sister, Michele brought carrot cake, Virginia made berry cobbler, and Laurie made a really good key lime pie also with avocado as part of the ingredients. Avocado makes it a healthy dessert.

Someone took all we mother's picture. I don't have a clue what we were laughing about. Laurie, Michele, Virginia and Me.

Then we trooped over to my brother, Clark's house for Mother's Day Dinner with a whole new set of mothers. Clark, with his future Mother-in-law, Sue.

Sue's sister, Jean.

Clark's father-in-law to be with their daughter, Tammy.

Clark's fiance, Theresa, on the right conferring with Laurie.

Theresa's daughter, Whitney is unmarried and has no children.
Theresa's daughter Courtney, with the newest member of the family,  seven month old Tyson.

Courtney with husband Josh, the baby,  and two of the cutest sisters who dote on baby brother.  Theresa has a third daughter, Lindsey who was unable to attend. Clark has a daughter, Melissa, who lives in Texas.

Tammy's son John, has two dogs. No kids.

Clark allowed each woman, and the grand-daughters, to pick from the bouquets of flowers hanging on the patio covers. Cammi picked this one because it matched her dress.

Her younger sister went for contrast, black and yellow petunias. Beautiful.

This is the gang, but everyone moves around. Somehow, I missed Matt, Tammy's husband. We had a good chat, though.
Baby Tyson is the new apple of Grandma's eye.

My brother Bill and Clark live near each other, that is makes three of us in Calaveras County. We said our goodbyes, and waddled off home, each of us with a huge bouquet of Petunias. Theresa, too, is a marvelous cook and we can't seem to help but eat. All of us decided we prefer family time to dinner in a restaurant, even if it means a lot of cooking.

SEXY NEIGHBOR CATS.

At Dinner, last night, with neighbors, the pictures of my friends turned out faded and mushy. This camera troubles me because my habit is to always take pictures without flash whenever I can. I’ve determined it does not do as well in low light conditions as the previous camera of the same  make and model?  When I used the flash on the cats, the pictures turned out  fine.

Suzy has bengals and one stole Jan’s keys off the counter and the cats examined them thoroughly, no doubt looking for a robotic mouse.

Then Shane decided to fish an ice-cube out of Jan’s glass.

She came close, but didn’t get it.  Honestly, we did have a great deal of party conversation before we became fascinated with the antics of the cats, including talk about our “famous” meteorite. It was quite a sensational event in our little corner of the world. A good article about the size and type and rarity of this meteorite was sent to me and can be read at this address:
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/APNewsBreak-Fireball-remnants-likely-in-Calif-3509651.php

Ron made a gigantic, man-sized meatloaf.  The picture didn’t turn out either, but it tasted good. I think he is planning to eat meatloaf for the next two weeks or maybe feed it to the horses.
I’m counting the days before I head back to the Motor Home and the life of a perpetual tourist.

THE THREE M'S AGAIN.

Living on the road is a wonderful  adventure. Yet, returning to Murphys every July for my family and friends reunion is a must. While home, I normally catch up with old friends and check out my favorite haunts, like the galleries around town, eat my favorite foods, go to my favorite restaurants, do a bit of partying.  This time, its been  strictly business. Rescuing over 4,000 pictures from my antiquated Mac alone was quite a chore. Finished it yesterday.

Paper work, off loading stuff from storage, I currently have four ads in the newspaper and on Craig’s list.  Sprucing up the yard and maintenance on the house are never ending affairs.  In seven days, I fly to Washington. It only seemed fitting to catch up with my two best girlfriends. So, last night, the Three M’s got together for dinner and drinks.

Michal Houston, Madalaine Krska and myself. Here we are at the Murphys Hotel for cocktails. The bar was noisy so we repaired to the courtyard for dinner.  Perfectly pleasant at 8:00 p.m. and still light out.

Michal is an avid traveler and is headed for Hilton Head, South Carolina.  Then, France. Mad is not retired yet. I needed some fun time and we all look forward getting together. We will meet again in October.