Visiting Portland and My Son!

There are some very special times of the year I get to spend the weekend with my Son Casey and his wife Holly. My time is short when I go to Portland but that doesn't matter to me because we always make our time spent wonderful.

Simon, Casey's dog just loves to cuddle!

Casey and I enjoying the moment!

Casey and Holly put together a very nice dinner for us which we started about 8pm and finished around 11pm. Boy do those two know how to cook my only regret was we were to tired to have desert so I missed out on that but maybe next time.

A nice start to dinner vegetable tempura.

During the night we (Glenn & I) woke up around 2 am and our camping mattress sprung a hole we were on the hardwood floor. Glenn starts the little compressor, when it is full he tells me to hurry and get into my sleeping bag because I only have about 4 good hours of sleep before we were on the floor again. He was right at 7am we were on the floor again so we got up.

After another wonderful meal, morning breakfast,espresso and another espresso.. We took off for our walk to I think its called Peninsula Crossing and Bybee Lake. What a beautiful area, I bet in the summer this area is something else to look at.




I find my times I get to spend with my Son in Portland are so memorable to me and I always enjoy myself so much. I can't wait till the next time we get to go.

Crystal Crane Hotsprings

Welcome!

Our Cabin!

I never really thought I would come to enjoy Eastern Oregon as much as I have. When I was growing up our vacations were going to places like Eastern Oregon looking at cattle ranches, at the time I found this very boring and just dreaded the driving. But now I just love it. There is so many adventures you can get into with out even trying. Hotsprings at 7:30am the water was great.

Crystal Crane Hot springs is about 2 1/2 hours from our house if you take the main road. I will explain later in my post. If you want to go online and take a look here is the website, http://www.cranehotsprings.com/ the water is perfect, the cabins are fun and the nights are dark.

The best swimming hole ever!

The 2nd chapter to this adventure is the drive back home, I thought it would be fun to follow the streets and trips GPS on our laptop. So I followed the route on the roads that I think no one has been on for months maybe longer. The route was very indirect probably 35 miles out of the way but I think it was the 3 hours it took to go the 35 miles that got a little intense.

Believe it or not there is a road in this photo, a GPS told me so!

For the record the roads listed on the program were not roads at times you could hardly see the ruts where tracks had been. But what fun it was going right down the center of some alkali flats, it made you feel like you were in a part from a mad max film.

Glad I packed a lunch I don't see a resturant anywhere.

Smiling now that we are almost on a paved road, after 3 hours of back country driving!

Karaoke keeps you young!

Little does our good friend Michael realize but his actions have been one the reasons Glenn and I have enjoyed the very unforgiven art of Karaoke.

When Michael is ready to get rid of one of his electronic items he offers them to Glenn before listing them to sell. If the price is right Glenn is right on it. This has been really nice for us. Years ago Michael gave us a little karaoke machine, that our family used till it finally died by means of freezing while we were out camping, that's all I will say about that.

Recently we acquired another Karaoke system from Michael. When you karaoke in your own home with no audience to worry about it really cleans out your "soul". You can really sing like no one is listening, because your friends will just smile at you and usually ask for another drink:)

I just wish I could carry a tune, but oh well, I am not going to let that stop me.

ps. The other guy in the photos are not Michael, that is Paul.

Annoying Wood Peckers

Yesterday while I was getting ready for work I kept hearing this funny noise, which at the time I thought was the ice maker doing it's thing. Then it got louder and more frequent, our dog Juniper was having a fit running around the house not understanding the noise and trying to figure out where it was coming from. As I was walking around the house I realized it was coming from outside on the patio when I went to the window, I saw the culprit a woodpecker.



Sitting in the gutter hammering on the roof was the biggest, red headed wood pecker I have seen in a long time. This woodpecker's head was moving so fast you couldn't even tell it was bobbing up and down and the noise! Then I see another one flying around from tree to tree trying to get onto the house gutter.


I did what any other person would do that doesn't want to deal with this situation, I called Glenn. Explaining the noise and how annoying this morning has been, I then explained I was leaving for work. While I am explaining this all to him, he is on the other end looking up wood peckers on the computer. He proceeds to read to me what needs to be done, "I just love him". I explain again I was going to work just like I said, and he proceeds to get a little wound up reading about the damage wood peckers can cause.



So now in my mind, I was done this problem and my Husband was going to take care of it. At least that is what I thought. The next morning before Glenn left we talked about allot of stuff but never about the wood peckers from yesterday, to be honest I didn't even think about them again. That is until I get a phone call from you know who..



You see today is my day off and I have quite a list to accomplish, but Glenn says to me on the phone "by the way if the wood peckers come back today I need you to go outside get the metal "ash" bucket and a stick and start banging on it!



My response; "are you serious, I can't go outside and do that, it isn't like we live out in the country where no one will know the difference. The neighbors will think I am indeed crazy, 1st they didn't even know I existed because I worked so much. (Our neighbors thought Glenn was a single parent) then one day I just starting being around, whatever! Back to the metal bucket and stick, Glenn's response was just do it we don't want them around by the house and they scare off easily. I tried to explain to him about the neighbors and we live in town, etc. I was really only trying to protect myself at least what pride I have.



So as of now, I am very agitated waiting to hear the "pecking" this morning, seeing the metal bucket sitting there also waiting asking myself "who has a metal bucket sitting around these days anyways and where did that one come from".



Maybe I can go get my hiking whistle and use it instead or just maybe it was a one day thing and they won't come back at least while I am trying to have a nice day off. This is just another day in the life of living in Central Oregon you just never know what is going to come your way.

http://birding.about.com/od/birdprofiles/ig/Woodpecker-Gallery/Red-Headed-Woodpecker.htm

Here is a website incase you want to learn more about these funny birds.

Betty's Book Review

I am very sad to say I have finished the book, One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. 1st of all I find it very amazing how a male author can understand how to write a novel from a woman perspective.

He had it down that is for sure, now if you were to ask me if I thought the story was true? I would still have to say, "it could be" even though in the front of the book under *Author's Note* he says " this book is entirely a work of fiction", OK if you say so.

I will miss being with May Dodd, Gertie and all the other women, white or Cheyenne, who took this journey from Chicago to the Nebraska Territory.

This book is a easy read, I recommend you read this book, you will become a part of their daily life's. Every day was about survival and learning how to co-exist.

Here are some photos I found on Google, about the area:

Buffalo was a huge part of their lives, they relied on them being around for everything from the food they ate to blankets to keep warm during the long winter months.

Small Batch Microwave Jam

It is a rainy day here on the high desert, I am so ready for summer. I started the day with watching TV, not interested so I put my laptop on the kitchen counter and while I watch MAMMA MIA! I made Jam!

This recipe I found is the best, it makes small batches and it is so easy. Here is the website in case you are inspired to make your own. Trust me it is 100 times better then the store bought Jam, an you get the satisfaction of saying "Oh, I made it,would you like some more?"

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/giftinajar/jam.shtml

Sterilizing is one of the most important parts of the jam making process, I re-read this section each time I make jam just so I make sure and get it right.

I buy the frozen berries at Costco, they seem to work when it isn't berry season. It took me a little less time then the movie, so you don't have to spend all day just making jam. My cooking hat off to Jane Lake who put this together to share with all us wanna be cooks:)

Remember at the beginning I told you it was raining, well I was not kidding it is really coming down. Our sun room has a metal roof so it is really loud, and when you don't get a lot of rain the noise can intimidate you a little bit. Maybe I could look at it like, it is natures way of cleaning up after a long winter. Now is a comment like "the glass is 1/2 full" or what!

Play date with Lucy

Lucy loves to play in this kitchen drawer, what she feels doesn't belong in this drawer she tosses in the sink including glass, I need to invest in plastic sink liners.

Lucy wanted to see what Grandpa was doing out in the garage, his new home away from home so to speak. This is where she found him sitting in his 74 MGB GT, so she got in to see what all the fuss is about.

She didn't find it so exciting as her Grandpa, so this didn't last long. Lucy wanted him to come into the house so they could make popcorn.

Lucy and her Grandpa manually stir pop this popcorn because it is grown in Salem by her Great Grandpa Jason. This is one of those repeated times that she will always remember in her life as she grows up.