Snow and pictures of snow

Walkin' in a winter wonderland. Wow, the last thing I ever expected here in Washington was to have a mid-west style December. Cold, very cold and snowy. Not that typical sloppy wet snow, no the dry type. The type that doesn't go away. The type that cuts through your clothes and numbs your bones. The type that makes a mockery of Western Washington emergency preparedness. Maybe it will leave in time for Christmas - I'm NOT dreaming of a white Christmas - how about you? To see more - many more pictures - check on our web album. You will find it at http://picasaweb.google.com/daltons1980 .

Let it SNOW!

It's a winter wonderland! This is before the second snow!

Molly and the tree

Molly is staying close to the tree, and is in Ron's slipper. I just want y'all to know, she stripped the tree the minute we left the house. UGH! I have now decorated it two times. I will let you know if she learned anything from this experience.

After taking all the ornaments off of the Christmas tree, Molly needed a nap. She is napping in Ron's slipper - isn't she strange? Having this little kitty is constant entertainment.

WARNING!

Isn't this great? It's on every picnic table at Staircase. It reminds me of that trip to Yellowstone National Park when we were reprimanded for having our dog off the leash, he could have attracted bears! We told the ranger that was why we brought the dog, Bear Bait! They threatened to ticket us! So remember all food/spices and any smelly items - kids check your socks - can attract wildlife (specifically the wild Blue Jay, Racoon and dreaded Bear - assumed because they are pictured here)!

And probably this is just for the National Park system - protection against the potential lawsuits when a bear attackes little Johnny's smelly socks and the parents sue! Even bears know what to avoid!

Autumn

Fall in Washington is beautiful when it isn't raining. This is a picture at Staircase in the Olympic National Park. We love going to staircase in the fall, because of the great memories we have of this place. When Matt was two, we came here and he walked with Ron and I holding both hands and "swinging" him through the leaves! And later, as the boys grew, we would come here and they would charge through the leaves yelling "toot toot" for us to lift our held hands and form a bridge to go under.

Part of the campground washed away in the previous winter, so the changes were pretty obvious. It's amazing that a river can so easily reroute itself and not wash away the memories that go with it!

This year has been exceptional, with sunny days and cool nights. The trees have turned slowly and with a great display of colors. We had a few windy days since so there are no longer leaves on the trees.

I started a new job, Ron loves his job and our lives are pretty simple. Oh. . .did I mention we have a kitty? Molly is doing well and growing a ton! When she was tiny she would climb up on my shoulder and rub my face with hers and then would take a nap. She still does this, but she is getting heavy! I can't walk around with her on my shoulder asleep anymore, she is too heavy! And occasionally, she slips off due to gravity and her weight!

Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Okay, here is my opportunity to vent. What is the deal with Facebook? I have one friend, she signs up and boom! I have fifteen emails from people who want to be my "friend". UGH! I like friends, I really do, but it was a lot! I just seems easier for me to post once, here, then move on. Know what I mean?!

So, today I'm working in a few hours, I'm blogging with a cat sleeping on the back of my neck and I'm waiting for daylight!

Mt. Rainier

The picture is just so you read the blog. It is used to get the attention of the reader so that the reader can know something more about the writer. Usually the picture and the words match, but this is a test of your cognitive skills.

This is Mt. Rainier from a hike off of Sunrise. Its a different place for us to hike. These a great pics taken while I was resting and Ron was finishing the hike.

The real reason for the post is to update the world on our lives.

Life is good. Let me restate that: Life is very GOOD!

Every day Ron goes to a job he loves with benefits I love. We drive the two most economical cars in the world that don't need solar power to charge or an electrical cord. I am no longer a Target employee (didn't I mention that life was good) and things are going well. Maybe even if things didn't go well, we would still be saying that life is good. We are so blessed to live in this peaceful place. We had a storm this weekend and we just sat and watched the wind blow! I thought a power outage would be exciting, but no problem, it stayed on. We watched the shaggy dog and ate popcorn and chocolate chip cookies.

We have a cute new kitten and are just enjoying settling in here. We are looking forward to the holidays but think our Christmas tree will have to go outside on the porch. Hmmm. Details.

Ron is reading and I'm doing sudoku puzzles. Did I mention life is good? It is.

Issues

We thought living in this peaceful paradise would have no problems; but the deer, hawks, rabbits, and racoons have shown us that it would be otherwise. Let's see, we have virtually NO garden - and flowers? Very few! The deer even stand over the deck to eat a few geraniums. And can I find someone who is willing to sit around outside here to wait for them to show up so they can be removed? I fear that removing these few will not fix our problem but I have to have some general hope.

The hawks are incredible to watch. There are four of them and they seem young; but I don't know enough about them to be sure but they are cool. The call each other in the trees behind the house. There is about three feet behind the house to the tree and brush line. They fly through that and up into the tallest trees. Whew! I worry about my Molly's future.

So even though the critters have eaten all I have, I love it here and find each day to be a joy to see what or who moves in to share our space.

Our Hike

Ron and I went hiking yesterday. It was a wonderful glorious day! We did a five mile hike at Sunrise on Mt. Rainier to Fremont Outlook. It was an old fire watch in the past, but it isn't used now. It's just a great destination.









There were cool outcroppings of Rocks. I was impressed by this typical pile. It looks like a castle or a bit of rocks from "The Lord of the Rings.


















I love the look!

Mount Rainier in all of it's glory!

Our Yard Sale

New Arrival

So. . . not so long ago I blogged about our cat, Buddy, who was missing in action. Well, we have a new kitty, Buddy's half sister - Molly. To be exact - Miss Molly Malone. She is adorable, but hard to control. So here are her new pics - and more to come!

My Yard Sale

I want to have a yard sale. I put it off because I needed Ron's help going through all 15 boxes in storage. He helped and I now have three boxes of stuff to sell, a ton of questionable stuff, and 12 boxes left. . . not acceptable, I need to do it all over AGAIN and sort one more time. Saving 12 boxes of junk is NOT on my agenda.

As I planned this yard sale, I thought about having it here in the pasture and putting up signs and doing it on Labor Day weekend. Oops, I realized last night this is Labor Day weekend, I have no signs, no tables, and it's going to rain.

So I will sort through the 12 boxes again, make signs, and have the sale next weekend. Maybe.

I know it doesn't sound like I'm looking forward to this sale -but I am. I LOVE selling junk. Life is so good when I can get rid of stuff and have money to get more stuff. Only this time I don't think I'll get more stuff because its my main problem. If I make enough money, I will join a gym for the year (hahaha) or maybe get a cat.

I'm so looking forward to this sale that I'm even selling junk for everyone else! Maybe I'll charge a commission for my services!

Mt Rainier

So, Ron and I went on a hike two weeks ago. It was a 2500 foot elevation gain in 3 miles. . . and we only went 1.5 miles before my wimpy legs said they might not even make it back much less forward. So we went for a drive looking for beautiful views of the mountains instead. Wild flowers and peaks.

Inside the adorable house

Okay, we aren't done with Missions - I did go to Guatemala this summer, but we are done with living full time in a non-English speaking foreign country for the time being. Since we are here, why not live where we want, on the back of our property where the deer, hawks and rabbits roam - and eat my vegetables. So we do. We love this house and it's location is great!

Our House on the Edge of the Woods

Welcome to our new home. 400 sq. feet and we are very happy with it! Come on out for a visit! However if you are coming from a long way away, please bring your tent.

Our time here in the states has been one of continuous adjustment and seeing what God has planned for our lives. For sure God has encouraged us to settle down and wait through the next few years and see what He wants. And so, Ron has a good job with the Fife School District and I just began working with Media Logic. One thing we have done is hike, enjoy where we live, and we bought a new house. We live on the back of our property and are enjoying the peace and solitude. Not the deer (she is eating our garden) or the hawks (they may be the reason Buddy left) but the openness of the area. I'll post some pictures of the new place.

Team!

No Tocar means Don't Touch and would it
suprise you to know that her dad put that
sign from a skit on her back! Becca is a blond beauty who drew attention!

Our Team

We did street ministry and drew a huge crowd! What a great opportunity, there were many people of different nationalities. This was a fun time!

Land marks

These are various scenes in Guatemala - such a beautiful country! The old ruins are a Mayan sacrificial site. Under the large tree is a school! And this entire country is build on mountains! Every road is twisted and takes forever to go anywhere, but even the hillsides are productive.

Team Guatemala

Here a few pictures of our team before leaving for Guatemala. We wore our orange team shirts so that we could find each other in the airport. . . what do you think? Obvious?! Thanks that was the plan! I'll blog a bit on this experience with more pictures in the next few days, but what a fantastic time. God was with us, and we had a great time.

Buddy - MIA

This is just a sad note to express our sorrow at Buddy's disappearance. We assume, since he was a juvenile delinquent, that he ran away to join the circus.

There it is!

Buddy says, "Good job guys! but wait! What are you doing? You can't leave it in THAT position! I can't lay on it and sleep in the sun!!!!!" "STOP!" And yet you left it like that, not fair.

Doing Buddy's bidding

Good job, you are all working in the bushes together. . . but what is this? Joe! does every job always have to involve your 4 wheel drive truck????

Video of the rock job

This is a carefully watched video - the first time I ever had to figure out how to load a video, this ne is fairly simple and you don't have to watch it but it works, I did it and so here it is. I did check to verify that it had no obscene material on it, you know. . . like the result of drooping pants. . . . buddy does not run a tight ship so the pants are rather loose. But it is safe.

Buddy says. . .

Why are you watching Ron do all the work? Get to it y'all!

and thanks Ron for getting those stickery things out o the way.