May 29 &30, 2010

Saturday 29~~~~~Today is another rainy day here in the park, we have to remind ourselves this IS OREGON and it is Memorial Day weekend and it almost always rains on this weekend and also the Rose Festival in Portland, that too always brings rain for the weekend. These campers are sure a tough bunch, as the are out walking and riding bikes in the rain and sitting under their awnings around their camp fires. From all the happy laughter I hear when I am buzzing around the camp loop, I can tell they are sure having fun. It takes me back a few years to when my family was little and we camped in a tent trailer, we thought we were really hot stuff with our fancy tent trailer. It had a furnace, sink and a refrigerator, plus two tables that made into beds and two big beds plus a wardrobe for clothes. My sister and her family had the same camper as us, we did a lot of camping together with our 9 kids and our tent trailers!!!!! I made a big fire in our fire pit this afternoon for my grandchildren kids when they get here today. We get all the wood we want for campfires which is very nice, as I like BIG camp fires. Tress and Cory and the kids drove up to the park tonight with dinner; we cooked on the grill before heading over to the covered area where there was a band playing and some people dancing and more people listening to the band from their lawn chairs. The little kids had fun dancing and playing in the play ground near by. It was music from the 80's, so Tress and Cory and most of the crowd knew all the songs and Kent and I knew none. LOL At 9PM we walked over to the outdoor amplitheatre where the park had a movie, "Whats Around The Bend" for the families to watch. It was about all the beautiful camping and hiking places that are within 20 miles of this park. Kent and I have never been to one fourth of them and they are all so beautiful with water falls and so much beauty. By the time it was over, it was getting chilly and late, so we walked back to our place and we had warm Carmel rolls with cold milk and hot coffee. What a fun time we had together. I hope our other kids come up and see us, especially when it is warmer. Sunday 30~~~~We woke up to more rain this morning , we slept to the beautiful sound of it on the roof all night last night. People are walking around the park with their coffee cups bright and early this morning and the little ones are on their bikes riding around and around the loop. After we checked on our campsites, we went over to the office where we filled fun bags, the park gives them to the children when they check in to their camp. Kent and I handed out the last 4 that we had yesterday to a real neat family, so more needed to be made up. When we finished, we came home and fixed lunch and went for a ride in the golf cart down some trails we have never been on yet. We got back to the park to see " Big Foot". He was a friendly Big Foot and the little kids liked him, some of us BIG kids liked him also. (picture) Tonight at 8PM the park had a sing along for the kids in the outdoor Amplitheatre; they really had fun singing camping songs and some of the kids got on the stage and led a song. The little girls especially love to perform on the stage, the boys are more shy. At 9PM, (it was nice and dark) the parents took the little ones home and the older kids and parents stayed to hear the story of "Big Foot". Dan the Ranger standing by a bon-fire, told the story of these people who got lost in the forest, Kent and Floyd were out in the trees and I cued them to shake the trees and stomp around as the story enfolded. They had red eyes that glowed in the dark that they lit up at different times. There were a couple of park helper girls who wandered into the camp all excited with spooky stories about something that was out there in those trees and one girls dog was lost and she was worried. Kent and Floyd beat on trees with big sticks then and made spooky sounds. Then "Big Foot" appeared in the camp and he ran around making big noises scaring people before exiting out the back. As he ran by me I did a real blood curldling scream! I about scared myself as I didn't know I could scream that good. The funny thing was, the 8 year old girls in the audience weren't scared, they kept trying to run out of the
Amplitheatre to go out in the dark to see what was shaking those trees and making all that noise. The story was good and scary and everyone had a good time with it all. It started sprinkling about the time we finished, everyone got back to their campsites before the big rain hit again. tomorrow is our day off, so we will go into town in the morning.

May 27/28/29 2010

Thursday 27~~~~Two of the other hosts are off work today, we are covering their jobs for them. Actually one of them is the one we are replacing, so we did our loop alone for the first time. We drove all over in the golf cart and sold a lot of wood to the campers. The park is almost full, we sure have met a lot of nice people camping here. Tomorrow night will be busy when everyone gets off work for the holiday weekend and drive up. A lot of women come early and the husband joins them Friday night. I am amazed how many people still camp in tents and how improved the tent camping is now. I still prefer to have my first cup of coffee inside where it is warm and dry. LOL Friday 28~~~~It took me forever to get the showers cleaned this morning, as more ladies kept coming and coming. Next time I will put up my cleaning sign and make them wait, as I am a whole lot faster than them at getting finished fast. Everyone I have met is so polite and so appreciative of clean bathrooms. We only have 3 shower stalls in each bathroom and in the other side there is three stools to clean and a two sink counter. I do this job 4 days a week and the Park Rangers do it the other three, so its not too bad. Saturday 29~~~~I baked Carmel rolls for all the workers here today, I used a new recipe from the cookbook we got from the "Heath's" for a wedding gift. It was a recipe for "Speedy Rolls" and they sure didn't take long to make, I used the Carmel recipe in the book also and it was delicious!!!!! The hosts really liked them, I warned them when I first met them that I love to bake, and I will be sending sweets their way often. We rehearsed for the "Big Foot" story and props tonight; It is on Sunday evening after 9 PM, it should be a lot of fun.

May 19 through the 26, 2010

Wednesday 19~~~~What a busy morning we had getting everything back in the 5th wheel. We had the back seat of the truck full. It is 26 minutes from our house to the park, so if we do need something, we could run home after it if necessary. We really like the camp site we were given, it is so pretty looking out at the forest out our big windows. Kent worked for 2 hours setting up the dish network, so many trees and brush, he had to get some big clippers and do a little trimming. (picture) We hung our Topsy Turvy tomato and red pepper plant holders (picture) I received for Mother's Day on a Shepherds hook hanger. I took a long walk through the park and I took some pictures of the trees with the moss and some of the beauty of the park. (pictures) It is raining so hard here I think we will have to cover them from the rain if it continues. Kent had to drive around in the rain in the golf cart to check it all out. (picture) We met some of the hosts and they seem real nice, there are 53 sites here, 20 of them we are responsible for. Campers are a real neat bunch of people and appreciate almost anything you do for them. We have had a few learning experiences here already and one day poor Kent was about run ragged with three teenage (17 to 20) boys and one girl ( tent campers) who were there to get a space with no money or credit card, just the Golden Age Pass. About 3 times they came to Kent with a new plan, finally their parents showed up and asked if we could bill them the amount of the campsite.The park managers finally sent them on their way in a friendly way about 6PM. They were so polite and nice, you hated to send them away.The next night they came back again with money and stayed, two boys and one girl this time. At 9:30 PM the girl was knocking on our door, asking if we would call their cell phone because her boy fiend had lost it. Of course Kent called their number and one of the boys answered "I found It". They have been back camping here two more times this week with money, they filled out the park questionnaire that they really like this park to camp in because it is so friendly. I think it was Mr. Kent who was so friendly and helpful that brought them back. LOL Monday & Tuesday are our days off, so we drove into town on Sunday night and spent the night at our house. We spent most of Monday shopping for better rain gear and shoes for wet weather. Kent's feet were cold , so we ordered him a warm pair of rain shoes that slip off and on easy as you track in a lot of pine needles if you don't. I like my Crocks, as they are easy on and off and comfortable to wear. Kent bought a pair also believe it or not, a camouflage pair. The host warned us of a mouse problem in their trailers. So far we haven't had any, but we also shopped for that problem. One of the hosts has a metal box that mice go into and can't get out, he caught 40 already. Kent bought one for us, but I doubt if we will use it as Kent can't kill a mouse. LOL The reason they have mice in their homes are because they have motor homes and they get in by the brakes and gas pedal they said and underneath in places. Our trailer has a solid bottom with no place for the little creatures to visit us. (I hope) LOL Tuesday 25~~~We came home to the park this afternoon, stopping at my son Bill's house to visit them and take Kallie her birthday present. It was really raining in the park when we got here, Kent will be working in the office in the morning and I will be doing the camp ground work. This will only be a few hours a week and Kent will do great checking people in and I will do great cleaning campsites!!! This is Memorial Day week end and we will be full of campers.

May 17 & 18, 2010

Monday 17~~~~~ This morning I took Bodie to school and I stopped at the clinic to see my Dr. as I have been having a lot of chest pain for a week now. It feels sometimes like heart burn, but the antacid I took didn't do a thing for it, (I even tried baking soda in water like Granny Minnie used to give me) nothing worked. I have the pain 24 hours a day, so I decided I had better stop and see the Doctor. I got there at 8:30 and I went without breakfast in case they wanted to do any blood work. My Doctor ordered an EKG and blood work, so by the time I got out of there I was really hungry and needing my morning coffee. She ordered a stress test for tomorrow, as my EKG look OK, I was very relieved to hear that because heart attacks are common with mother's family. I met Kent and our friends John and Linda and we went out for a late lunch together. Today May 17 is the anniversary of my High School Graduation from Kimball South Dakota. I find it hard to believe it could be that long ago and I certainly don't feel that old!!!
Tuesday 18~~~~I had my stress test this morning, I warned them I was overweight and out of shape before we started the process. My blood pressure was nice and low as it usually is, so that was a plus!! Then they put me on the tread mill, it wasn't going that terribly fast, but very steep, I think I climbed the steepest mountain in Oregon doing it. The technician kept talking to me and asking me what we do while traveling and then she switched to talking about the earrings I had on, things that required an answer. By now, I am getting short of breath with my asthma, not tired, just real short of breath and I told her I didn't like to talk while I walked. She kept on talking anyway, and I was starting to sound like some kind of animal snorting and puffing and we continued on!! I told her I needed to stop and we did. She said she would have liked to have had me walk a little longer, but all the numbers of my heart rate and pulse and blood pressure were all good, so I didn't have to do anymore. She suggested I get more exercise and I agreed with her. My Doctor also told me to lose some weight and exercise more and we will keep an eye on the chest pain. I told her about our summer job and I promised her that the next time she sees me, I will be in better shape!! That promise I will keep!!! From t here Kent and I drove to the Casino for lunch and some fun on the slots. The slot machines were not paying anything, so we switched to playing Keno the Way system. The last time we were in Vegas with our friend Gary, I picked some numbers that won back the money I lost on the slots, so today I decided to try it again and by golly they won again, so I came home with what I started with. We could only play for a couple of hours as we are having my son Bill and his girls over for dinner and we are babysitting for Tress while she goes to a cooking class tonight also. Tomorrow we head to Fisherman's Bend to start our new job.

May 15,& 16, 2010

Saturday 15~~~~ Today we were all invited to go to Jen's (Justin's girlfriend) graduation party from College in Albany. Kent drove to Portland to watch his grandsons play ball and I drove with Shelby to the party. It was a fun day getting to meet Jen's parents, we enjoyed a lovely lunch and had a great time visiting and listening to all the college friends that were there telling funny stories. After we ate cake and Jen opened her presents and it was time to head home. When I got back to Salem, I picked up my grandson Bodie and took him to our house to spend a couple of nights with Kent and I. He loves it at Grandma's house and he is a real good little helper. He and Kent unloaded all those rocks we picked up Laughlin, Nevada. Bodie has gone to Mass with me since he was about 3 or4 years old, so he looks forward to that when he stays with me. He had a new shirt with him and he reminded me before Church that I needed to iron his new shirt to wear. One time when he was staying overnight at my house, (he was just learning the alphabet) I have a clock that shows the time on the ceiling. When he woke up, he looked at the ceiling, pointed and said " Hey Nonnie! It says AM just like we do when we go to your church!!!! I thought that was a classic coming so innocent from such a little boy!

Sunday 16~~~~Today was Kent's birthday and we celebrated it at Pam and Jeff's house as they now have the most room. We had a pot luck, so there was lots of good food. Pam and Jeff have added a new addition to their family room, by knocking out a few walls and building out, they really added a lot of square feet to the existing room. They are redoing the whole kitchen and the dining room will now extend further into the family room, so it really has a lot more room now. Some of us played hand and foot cards, some played "Screwie Louie" and some played golf and bowling with the "Wi" game. They have room to do it all now, Pammy and Jeff are going to do a lot of the work them selves, but the builders have it all framed, walled in and the doors and windows in. We are all excited about all the room we will have for Christmas already. Being's it was the last night for the "Survivor" show, we all headed home in time to watch the show, Bodie spent another night at or house and I will drive him to school in the morning.

May 10 & 11, 2010

Monday10~~~~~Kent had a Doctor appointment in Portland today and an oil change on the truck. I stayed home and did some weeding in my yard and I gave my grand daughter Breanna a hair cut and I colored her hair, she choose a bright red color this time and it really looks cute. We have had it brown with red highlights, with blond highlights and now all red!!!! She likes the change and I enjoy keeping my hands in doing hair!!!! Kallie had a ball game tonight, so Tress and the kids stopped by for Breanna and I and we all went to the game together. We about froze when we got there with the sprinkles of rain and the wind!!! I have been so used to so much warmer weather, I still am not dressing warm enough for these Oregon ball games. It was a great game, we had a very poor first inning and lost several runs which we never caught up, but we held them the rest of the game and it was a very good game with both teams plaing well. Kent was home when we got home, so Tress and I cooked a fast dinner together and we watched some television together before she had to get kids home to bed for school tomorrow.

Tuesday 11~~~~Kent and I drove up to Fisherman's Bend Park to check our where we will be parking our trailer when we go up there to camp host for the summer. It was just beautiful there and the campsite they are putting us in is a nice on. (pictures) Kent had to check it over real good to make sure our sattelite dish will work up there and the computer. No Dish, no computer or cell phone, NO KENT!!!!!! It alll checked out OK and we are excited about our new adventure. From here we headed back to Salem to go to Kallie's last softball game. She is the pitcher and does a great job at it. Kent took a beautiful picture of her through the fence!

May 09, 2010

Sunday 9~~~~After Mass this morning, I came home and made my families favorite chocolate cake and frosting. We are having a potluck at Pammy and Jeff's house today at 4:00. Beings we are all Mother's now, we made it a potluck and we sure had some great food. Tress made 2 big pans of Enchiladas (beef and chicken) Billy brought a delicious ham all sliced, Lisa made her yummy cornbread and beans salad, Jean Marie a pot of baked beans, a Marian berry pie and brownies Pammy a green salad, deviled eggs and chips and dip. I brought the salsa, chips, sour cream and avocados for the enchiladas and my cake. We certainly had enough wonderful food to eat and afterwards, we visited and played cards. We headed home about 7:30 to watch the final show of the "Amazing Race". Billy and his girls gave me one of those potted upside down tomato cages with a Cherry and a beef steak tomato plant in it. Tress and Cory gave me one for green and red peppers. We will have our own produce at our campground this year. Pammy and Jeff gave me a big potted pot of flowers to set out at our camp, so we are all set for camping at our new job this summer at Fisherman's Bend. Lisa and Gene gave me a couple of books on the life of Saint Joseph that I happened to mention I wanted to get and a cute swim suit cover up to wear down South when we go again!!!!!

May 8, 2010

Saturday 8~~~~What a wonderful feeling to wake up in bed at home again. Pepsi is even happier being home. He loves laying in front of the fireplace at night exposing his tummy to the heat. (picture) Kent has three ball games to go to in Portland for his Grandsons, I will be busy here with mine. I got into the Doctor yesterday for this terrible cough and bronchitis that I have had all winter down South. She put me on some prednisone since antibiotics or anything else is not working for me. I sure hope it works. As Kent was leaving for Portland, My daughter Lisa drove up and she stayed for morning coffee, what a nice quiet visit we had. Usually there are several of my kids here at the same time, plus Bodie and Blaize and you don't get the same individual visit. Lisa had just left and I was hurrying to get dressed when my son Bill and his two girls called and said they were on their way over to see me. We had a great visit and they brought me one of those upside down tomato plant hangers with two different tomato plants planted in it. That will be so great up at the camp ground where we are going to be camp host, having fresh tomatoes. The Bill's girls were on their way up to Sherwood to spend the weekend with their Mom for Mother's Day. I was so happy they had time to stop and see me. Just as they wee leaving, Tess and Cory and the kids called to see if I wanted to go to the Saturday market with them. It is about 4 blocks from my house. I love the fresh produce they have there and the food booths. Cory took Bodie to his ball practice and Tress, Blaize and I went to Ray's soccer game at 5:00, what a busy day!!!!!! Cory took both the kids shopping for their mommy's day present and Tress came home with me and stayed for dinner. Just the two of us and it was so nice with out two little ones interrupting us! Kent ate his favorite meal to go, (pizza) in Portland at Cindy and Eric's. Tomorrow is the big day for all of us Mom's, so it will be another busy one and I like that.

May 6 and 7, 2010

Thursday 6~~~~We arrived in Salem about 2:30 and we dropped the 5th wheel off at the Elk's Club. We didn't have a lot to take out of it because we will be heading to Fisherman's Bend in two weeks. Justin called shortly after we arrived and wanted to know where and what time we would be meeting for pizza. We have a tradition the first night we are home we all meet for dutch treat pizza and anyone and everyone who is free usually goes and we have a great welcome home get together. This time we went to Round Table Pizza and it was nice there, because it wasn't so crowded and noisy. We took Blaize with us, as Bodie had his guitar lesson and he and his mommy had to miss the pizza party this time. Blaize really likes the twins and she asked me how she could tell the twins (Justin and Joel) apart, I told her that Justin would be sitting by Jen, and the one sitting some where else would be Joel. Then we wound up with Justin by me and Joel sitting by Jen. ( Blaize never noticed)I thought that was a cute thing for a 5 year old to worry about. there were only 12 of us this time as some were at work and couldn't come, but we had our usual good time catching up on each other. Friday 7~~~ I have had so much trouble with my asthma and bronchitis while we were gone this winter, I made a Doctor appointment for my first morning home, I have coughed for so long and I cough so much people are starting to ask if I shouldn't be going to a doctor. So this morning is the day to get well. I think it is partly the desert that makes me cough. Well the Dr. put me on more prednisone for six days, so I know that will take away the cough, but I don't like taking it again, it makes my cheeks bright red and I feel funny with it, but it does make the cough go away and I will be able to breathe better.

May 2, 2010

Sunday 2~~~~~ Nathan called us this morning to tell us they were out for breakfast and they would be heading home at 10:00 AM and he thanked us for coming to his games. Grandpa Kent could hear the disappointment in his voice when he talked to him about not getting to play the 3rd game. But we feel the coach made a wise decision for the team to head home this morning instead of so late tonight. I have a cousin (Roberta Enright Sly) that lives here in the town where we played the games, so we called her this morning and we drove over to her place and we spent the afternoon there visiting with her. Kent took a break away from the girl talk, he walked about a block to McDonald's to get himself a Frappuccino, then he went for a nice walk around the complex where my cousin Bertie lives checking it out. She has a new apartment and it is so cute and decorated so nice, we really had a nice long visit talking over our childhood days with our special time we both had with our Grandma Enright and the special things she taught to both of us. Bertie is into making quilts now and they are beautiful. I told her I already did my Grandma E. quilt making several years ago, and now I am into writing stories about growing up in South Dakota and all the special people who were a part of my life. Bertie cuts her own hair and does a super good job at it, she asked me if I would re-cut the back a little where she can't reach too good. Of course I said yes, as I miss cutting hair so much and I will give a hair cut to anyone who sits in my chair. I put a roast beef in our crock pot before we left, so when we got home, it was done, I made mashed potatoes, gravy and fresh steamed carrots for the rest of our dinner. It was very good and we have enough roast left for sandwiches for tomorrow's picnic on the road. Yes we are on the road again heading to Oregon!!!!!!!!!

April 30, & May 1, 2010

Friday 30~~~~ We drove to Carmichael, California where we will be staying at the Elk's Club here. It is a few miles from the basketball tournament in Rockland, CA where the team will be playing basketball tomorrow. The first thing I did after we set up was bake two pans of Fudge Brownies to take to the game tomorrow for the team. I had trouble with my oven again baking around the edges and not the middle, so we had to cut the done ones off and rebake the middle. They weren't the best brownies I have ever made, so I frosted them with my delicious fudge chocolate frosting I make and we thought they would be OK. They were made with love, and I am sure the team appreciated them . We go to watch them play at 9:15 in the morning and they play their second game at 9:00 PM in the evening. Saturday May 1st~~~~The game was played at the Hardwood Palace in Rockland, CA, it is an Industrial Warehouse that was converted into 8 basketball courts. It is like the Hoop in Portland except they don't have curtains separating the courts and the noise was real noisy. I don't know how the boys could tell who the whistle was blown for or the game buzzer, the noise from the court a few feet away was so loud, it sure fooled my old ears and Kent's. We decided young ears must hear the sounds better as it didn't seem to confuse the players. We lost the game in this morning, the boys could have played better, we were ahead at the first of the game and after that we got behind about 10 points and we just couldn't seem to catch it up. It was great to watch Nathan play ball, Grandpa was very proud. (picture) We gave the brownies to the coach after the team had their pep talk from the coach. (picture) The team left to go to their motel to swim and enjoy the day till their evening game. Kent and I went home and I took a long nap because my asthma has been bothering me so bad lately, I can't sleep and I am up early trying to breathe. We went to Mass at 5PM and from there we went out for Kent's favorite meal, PIZZA!!! We brought it home to eat, as Kent loves Pepsi and if they serve Coke products, he likes to eat at home where he can have his Pepsi!! We watched a movie until time to go the the second game of the day. We got there early to watch the team warm up and to try and get a few pictures of the players to send to Cindy, Kent's daughter. The team started out real good and they were ahead at half time, then things slowly started slowing down and we ended up losing by 10 points again. The boys played a real good game on defence and offense, the teams were just better, partly because of having more experience playing together as a team and as a traveling team, our team is a first year team playing together and as a traveling team. Next year they will really do well we think. We were proud of how they played and their sportsmanship was fantastic. Our third game to play was to be on Sunday at 4:40 and with the distance to travel back home of 600 miles that late at night and to have the team back to go to school, our coach had to withdraw from playing. Of course the team was very disappointed, but it was for the safety of the kids to not be on the road traveling home to Oregon all night. They will have a lot more games to play and this just gives them more experience.