For The Love of WILDFLOWERS!

A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or 

planted.

 Bitter Root

Red Clover

???

Harebell

???

???

 WOW! these wildflower photos were taken Saturday 6/12/10 in the Ochoco Mountain range where we will be camping in about a month. I am so excited to see what else we will find since we will have a week to explore this beautiful area.  I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I do.
So I got out my Wild Flowers spotters guide and still can't identify all of them. I bet my husband can tell us what some of these flowers are:) If you can identify any of these please leave me a comment.

Have a beautiful day, Betty

Outdoor Bathing!

Sometimes I think I should of been born in the 1800's. The everyday simple way of life they use to live is not that easy to pull off today. You know now that I think about it, I am sure it wasn't that simple then either; so here is what I have going on in a very small section of our backyard.

We gave one of our kids our hot tub, I was tired of the chemicals, and I am sure Glenn was tired of the electric bill:) I love being in water or around water so thanks to an article, "outdoor bathing...aaahhh" in a magazine called Mary Jane Farms vol. 9 #3 April-May 2010 I was inspired!

1st step - The Tub! Only cask iron will do so after "the search" we found one in Portland at Hippo Hardware Store, this tub was away from the rest, pretty much down some stairs in a corner with stuff piled on top of it. My new tub is pretty beat up and has been mistreated for some time now. The good thing about it is all 4 feet are present and we found a cold water knob that was missing so after some loving care this tub will look just like knew I just know it.

2nd step - Heating the water! Glenn has some ideas, that sound like it will work, more on that at a later date.

3rd step - Location! We have the perfect spot, I can't wait to blog about it when we get the tub moved to that area.

4th step - Pulling it all together!  This is where I will stop for now,  please feel free to check my blog in the future to see how things turn out.

Happy Bathing!

note: Hippo photo courtesy - Casey & Holly Rausch :)

I just know that summer is coming!

This time of the year is hard on me, like when I walk around my yard I see and take mental notes of what needs to be done before July 4th. That is the cut off date I have set for the yard to be "summer ready". I have found that if I take notes on what I see needs to be done then I can check them off when I am done with that task and that makes it a little bit easier, I guess:)

My cupboards are 3/4 of the way through, my goal was to be done by May 1st, but I didn't take into consideration some of my days off being occupied with other issues. So I have reset my new date to be June 1st and I am on target to make it, I just know I will. You see when I get the kitchen done then I can concentrate on the outside yard work the house projects will have to wait until this fall.

Also with summer coming means it is camping time, so when I get a weekend off we are "gone camping", it something that is very healthy for the mind, body and marriage I believe this whole heartily. I can't wait for the summer to come and spend some well deserved time with us.

Here is some photos of Glenn's spring camping trip I won't get to see this area but isn't it just breath taking. It is hard to believe that something so beautiful can be found out in the desert surrounded by nothing but sage brush and and few juniper trees. Take a look and enjoy!

kshocolat is the best!

Chocolate is usually not one of my desires but when we were in Portland a month or so ago, Holly and I went into a store that sells all different types of salt for cooking, crazy place but it was busy and people seem to like what they saw there. I picked up some chocolate two different kinds the actual brand is KSHOCOLAT. On there wrapper it says UNIQUE, INDULGENT, PURE. That really sums up the taste and quality I found in this kshocolat. There were all different flavors I picked out lemon & pepper white kshocolat and mini strawberrettes milk chocolate, WOW! what an experience if you are interested here is their website by all means take a look and order some great kshocolat you won't be disappointed I promise you!

http://www.kshocolat.co.uk/index.php/products

Busy Weekends!

Wow what a eventful weekend we had, first of all we were able to enjoy a day at home just doing the silly stuff that gets left behind or shoved into a corner by two people who work fulltime and like to have fun on our days off. On saturday we headed to southern oregon for the District finals for Toastmasters, Glenn has done very well during these few competitions. Boy do I feel he is riding the circut for Toastmasters:) by winning 1st place at regionals he is onto state competition in Portland Oregon on May 1st. I can't wait to cheer him on and try to keep him calm before his 7 minute speech. Let me tell you that can take a lot out of you and I am not talking about giving a 7 minute speech I am talking about keeping him calm. But thats is my job and I will follow him until he chooses not to place and go on.

After the competition we drove back to Bend to spend the night at the Oxford suites to celebrate Glenn's birthday. Our dinner at 10 BeLOW was one of the best we have had and I would have to say the most original, WOW what a meal and the drinks were to die for. http://www.oxfordhotelbend.com/

In our room andat the resturant 10 BeLOW.

Photo of a driveway we walked by in downtown Bend, I just loved it!

Beautiful flowers!

Cute dog waiting for his cup of coffee in downtown Bend.

Sunday we enjoyed tacos and marionberry pie from WestSide Bakery for Glenn's birthday dinner.

Glenn enjoying his gifts and his granddaughter Lucy!

Lucy playing in the backyard and Grandpa and Grandma Bettys.

Me & Totoro!

It's a good thing I work the next weekend so I can relax a little, just kidding I really do work hard and I can't wait for my next day off with my wonderful very talented speech giving Husband, Glenn. Happy Birthday to you my Dear! Love , Betty

The Painted Hills, Oregon

 

 http://www.paintedhillsvacation.com/index.htm

Fun Stuff going on at home!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Day! Glenn and I putts (sp) around the house until Easter Dinner. Amanda, Dustin and Lucy joined us for dinner, Lucy looked for Easter eggs and was a fun night for all.

Lets see to catch you up on our life; most of you already know Glenn's involvement with Toast Masters but what you don't know is, his competions in speech is doing really well. So far Glenn and Co Worker Carla are going to regional in April and if they place either 1st or 2nd they will go onto state in Portland. So far Carla has a wonderful 7 minute speech and has taken 1st place with Glenn right on her toes with his great 7 minute speech, his speech has put him in 2nd place through out these competitions and I must say I am really proud of him, Good Job Glenn!

Can you believe it I am over 1/2 way through with the kitchen cupboards, Yippee! This has been one long road to ride on but the final result will be much appreciated. When I get tired of the slow progress I just look back at the awful before photo, then look at the new results and that is enough to keep me on track.

I am excited for gardening to start, we are adding something every special to our front yard which needs it desperately. I tend to just keep the front yard free of weeds and such and then put the creativity in the back yard well not this year. We were inspired from the Country Gardens magazine that Better Homes and Garden puts out. Here is what we are going to do;

Hey guess what I found out from the same magazine, you can grow carrots in a container! Who would of thought, I have not had much luck with carrots and I really don't understand why so I am going to try this process and see what happens. So today I am off to the Redmond Antique store to see if I can find wooden crates.

Take a look at my Aero Garden! What a great way to get through the winter, while you are waiting spring or summer to come.

So if I forgot to add something I will blog about it next time, like the outdoor bathing area we are putting together! Have I peaked your interest well more to come. Betts