Ideas

I think that having ideas could be detrimental to my sanity. I always have a GREAT idea and then pursue it with single minded determination until I get the next great idea. Sounds kinda sad doesn't it?!

I had an idea about an online bible study, it could be fairly interactive without using any gasoline or finding a babysitter for the kiddies - but in translation I don't know if it's feasible. I know that building relationships requires interaction - face to face. I can't always see other people's faces on the computer (as of yet, I can't see through the wires - but I'm working on it). But with our busy lifestyles we need to have some form of connection that works with our own schedule, so it might not be too bad. . . hmmm. Maybe better than nothing.

It's a bbbbbbbbear in my front yard

Joe's Wedding

A friend asked me what my favorite moment of Joe's wedding was - what a lot of thought it required.

One moment, Johanna began her walk down the path to the wedding arch across the green orchard and the eagles began to circle.

One moment, Johanna's dad says, "let's get'r done" and the wedding begins

One moment, Ron dances with Johanna

The wedding was beautiful and you can see the pictures at www.picasaweb.google.com/daltons1980 in the file Joe's wedding

The Wedding

Joe's wedding was sooooo nice - from her dad saying "let's get'r done" to the clean up! I like this change over from the unity candle to the sand - I don't know what it's called, but they had two containers of different colored sand and poured them together and the blend was unique and pretty - what a nice touch.


This is a picture of Ron and Joe - they clean up very nicely!

FaceBook Faceoff

I'm finding my way around facebook finally but I'm thinking I would like to "sound-off" just a bit about it. I find the 'what's on your mind' section good. . . and bad. You can only put in a sentance and I find reading snippets of sentances about the minds of others overwhelming. Then I feel compelled to let all these people know what is on my mind - but my mind is a scary place and I avoid fear at all times, so I have little to add.

I love hearing from my friends and stuff, and facebook lets it all be in one place which is convenient, but I could spend an hour just reading down the page to see what each person is doing; which I think is too time consuming - interaction without the interaction. Not my favorite way of being with others. So, call me and we can talk. Better yet, come and visit, I'll offer coffee.

Have a wonderful day!

Our home a year later

Last year, when I returned from Guatemala, Ron picked me up from the airpot and we arrived here to our new home about midnight. We talked and dreamed until dawn about what we were going to do and how we were going to do it.



Even though we had lived in this location for a year, to have this house here was so exciting. We did some landscaping and enjoyed where we were. This year, we learned how to keep the deer out of the garden, have saved money on catfood since Molly eats the rabbits that would like to have eaten the garden and we have settled in.

First things first, though, we needed to move in. That was a job - let me tell you. First we had to move our stuff out of the fifth wheel RV we were living in, then we needed to go though storage and see what was really there. Once in the storage unit, we found ourselves asking the question, "and why did we keep this?" Since there was no real reason for the keeping, we had a yard sale. Once we were moved in, we needed to paint - perhaps that should have come first, but we were so excited about moving in!

We had trouble with the Dirt King on craigslist, but bought our dirt for more money locally - we got it when we wanted it, not when it was "convenient" to deliver it. Ron spread it and planted grass seed. We decided on one flower bed and set it up, I designed it, spent sometime planning what to plant that would not become overgrown, but could withstand the heat if necessary.

We ended up with two flower beds - no three. Once small one around the ornamental plum tree, one around the only big tree in our front yard, and the one in front of the deck. They are easily maintaned and are very nice. This year, where there were no flowers, I planted impatients but I will fill in the spaces with strawberries.

Thanks for walking with me down memory lane - this was one road without switchbacks!

Mt. Rainier - again

Does this impress anyone? I love hiking and it feels good to get out there and do it. This is "atop" Sunrise on Mt. Rainier. This hike along the ridge had many of these snow fields that I needed to hike over.

Hiking is a great opportunity of seeing what I can so and how far I can go and at the same time see the beauty that God created.

New Post

I just realized it has been a long time since I posted here. Sorry about that. I have gone from being employed full time to part time to full time to part time to unemployed to planning employment in the next couple of months again. Long enough to have a cool summer without worry about finding a job in the fall.

Now I confess that my fun this summer has been hiking. The mountain (Mt. Rainier) has a huge amount of snow still, but we have done some lower level hikes and enjoyed new views of the mountain. Since Ron is working 4 - 10's we have one day to work, one day to hike and play and one day to worship. It makes for a fun summer.

There are no real words to understand this. . .

There are things I don't understand. Why there are mosquitoes - that makes no sense to me. Why they have interstate highways in Hawaii. And why we have a new and expensive traffic light to no-where. Feel free to go - but there is no road and there are trees in the way of the unroad!

Don't go! The red light warns you that it's not safe to drive on the unroad!

Kentucky - Home of the Derby and Chicken

Kentucky is a pretty place. We rented a car, drove around, got in trouble with the car's GPS and generally enjoyed our trip to Kentucky. We stayed near the capitol city of Frankfort, it's an old city that is working on renovation. I'm happy to say Ron got turned around a bit driving through the city; which means we saw the capitol building at least three times. Once from the front, the second time from across the river, and the third time when we drove under it through the parking garage. Capitol parking is under the Capitol grounds - interesting.

Unfortunately, only the restaurants were open. I guess the holiday just lingered for them.




















Our trip was enjoyable, there are few words to explain leaving Seattle in the snow and going to a place where it was warm, breezy, and dry. We were not really ready to return to the snow. To
be honest, we both groaned when we flew into the Seattle and saw that there was still much snow on the ground. Ick. I used to like snow - no more!

























About the GPS - it was a weekend special and came with the car rental. We would never have chosen it, but since we had it, we used it. We set it up on the dash, and programed where we wanted to go and watched it. It was better than a computer game or video game. You were signified by a cool truck with big tires and every move you made was mimicked on the GPS. The only thing is - it's real time driving which means you should be watching the road, not the toy. Ron almost ran a red light before I took it away from him.

Brandy's Wedding in Kentucky

Going to Kentucky to be with Brandy for her wedding was a dream come true for many reasons. It was so wonderful to see Brandy, Steph, and Andrea again. I missed them so much and now so much more. Another reason we enjoyed Kentucky so much - it was like a heat wave there, temps in the 60's and NO SNOW!

SNOW still

This was not the final total, but I found it fascinating to try and see how much there was at the half way point. The difficult part of snow in Western Washington is that it doesn't stay long. This did stay longer than usual, but it still has to rain. And then the snow puffs up with moisture before going away. We still have snow in our front "yard" but most of it is gone - FINALLY!

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.