This looks like the pictures I took in December but it is actually February 26, 2009. I knew that there was snow in the forecast but it certainly was a surprise when I got up this morning to see so much. Hopefully most of it will be gone by afternoon.

Laif, Kyle and I had dinner at Red Robin last night. Michael is working there. It was his first night. Kyle insisted on treating Laif and me. Kyle is a wonderful young man. He is having trouble with his leg and the doctors are trying to figure out what is wrong. I hope they figure it out soon.

I should not complain about the snow. I am so spoiled. I have a warm house to stay in and I don't drive in the snow. I can remember winters when I had frozen pipes from the well to the house and had to chop ice in the water barrels to get water. We always had drinking water in containers in the house. A lot of times I had to struggle to get a fire going with wet wood.

So, life is good. I try to enjoy every day my Heavenly Father gives me.

This picture has nothing to do with my story. I just like putting pictures on.

My story for today:

On weekday mornings, I listen to the news on Kong TV (King 5 News on Kong) because I wake up so late now that I miss the news on the other channels. For years and years I always woke up everyday between 5 and 6AM. Now I usually don't wake up until about 8AM.

This morning on the news there was a blind person with a Guide dog. He explained some about the training and about the expense involved. The Guide dog that he had was a beautiful black Lab. Watching that beautiful dog, reminded me of the black Lab we had for awhile when we were in Bonney Lake.

We had a beautiful black Lab. We named her Princess. She was another dog that was dropped off at our place. She was a wonderful dog. She loved us all so much and we loved her. Princess was a great guard dog. Anyone she did not know would not get up our driveway. She would bark and growl (she had a deep growl) until one of us would say "It's OK, Princess".

Your Uncle Horace came out to spend a couple of weeks to help on the house. He had never been to our house before. We heard Princess barking and growling and I got to the door just in time to see your Uncle Horace run back and jump into his car. He must have had a bad experience with a dog because even when I got to the car, he was hesitant about getting out. I told him Princess would not bother him. Once we gave our approval, Princess always remembered the person.

Princess watched over you kids. Whenever Darrell and Dan were fighting, Princess would not put up with it. She would jump right between them and make them stop.

I'm sure you remember that one mean calf we had. It can't remember if that was "September" or another one. Anyway, I think that calf was born mean. He would come charging at you whenever he got out of the fence, which was pretty often, because the fence had a lot of places to get out of. He would run up and butt you as hard as he could. We were all scared of him. Babe was his mother and she was such a gentle cow.

One day that calf came charging after Darrell and Dan. They were both pretty small yet, maybe three and four. They both started screaming and Princess came running and got between the calf and the boys. She went right for the calf's throat and he took off. I had never seen anything like that. I can see why they use Labs for Guide dogs. Labs are very intelligent dogs.

Our property was all woods. One day Princess came out of the woods and she was covered with Porcupine Quills. Your dad wasn't home so I ran and got our neighbor, Mr. Todd, to help me get the quills out.. I'm sure we probably didn't get them out properly because a few days later she disappeared and never came back. Of course it could have been something else but we always figured she died in the woods from the quills. That was a very sad time.

I have a lot of nice memories of Princess. Even though I do not want the responsibility of a dog anymore, I do love dogs and cats too.

It was another really nice day Saturday. Debbie, Kent and Erik were still in Salt Lake. I got a nice surprise. Karl, Aimee and Tyler and Daryl and Rachel and Avery all came to visit. It is such a joy to be around to see my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and their wives or husbands.

I took these pictures yesterday so that I could put them on my blog. What great looking families. Having children is so wonderful. Time flies so quickly. Enjoy your children while they are young.

Writing about children made me think of a story I am going to write about Karl and Daryl. Diane , Karl, Daryl and I were coming back from somewhere. We might have been coming back from Everett, I'm not sure. Karl and Daryl had been fighting off and on all the way. Punching each other and arguing about everything. Finally Diane told them to knock it off and both of them quieted down. They both looked like they were over being mad at each other. It must have been at least a half hour or more and they did not fight anymore. I was still living at the Harkey Apts. and Diane pulled up front and we all got out. Diane and I got out first and then Daryl and then Karl. Karl, not even looking mad, just walked up to Daryl and punched him in the stomach. So I guess, quietly, he must have still been mad. It was so unexpected because he didn't look like he was mad.

Brothers and sisters fight growing up. I used to fight with my sister over silly stuff. Only it never seems silly when you are young. Brothers and sisters all grow up and become the best of friends. Every generation is the same.

I can still remember when I had David, I was in a room with a lady from Buckley who had just had her sixth baby. I wondered how anyone could take care of that many children. She seemed really happy about it. I never dreamed at that time I would have seven. No matter how many you have, you love them all and you manage to take care of them. I am very happy I had so many children and have lived to see the blessing of grandchildren and great-granchildren.

This is a picture I took of Charlie today. Charlie and I are in charge of the house until Sunday evening. If the room looks strange it is because Debbie and Kent are remodeling the kitchen. You can look at their blog for the remodeling steps. Debbie, Kent and Erik flew to Salt Lake yesterday to visit Jennie, Mike and Sophie. They will be driving a car back for Erik to drive eventually.

It was an absolutely beautiful day today. It was nicer than yesterday. I guess we are supposed to have one more nice day. I went to Fred Meyer today to see if I could find a pair of pants I liked. I found some I liked but they do not have Women's Petites and all the pants are too long for me. I could not find any tops I liked either. So I guess I will go back to what I normally do; order them on-line from JC Penney. After I got back from Fred Meyer, I got my cart and walked to Safeway. I haven't walked that far for awhile and I could really feel it in my legs. I just love being out in the sunshine.

Another story--from when we lived in Bonney Lake. I am sure most of you kids will remember. We used to make our own Root Beer. You have to put it in bottles and cap it and let it ferment for about 5 days. After that you need to keep it in a cool place--but we didn't know that at the time--so we left the bottles on some shelves near our chimney. If you leave the Root Beer in a warm place after a couple of weeks or so , the pressure builds up and they explode.

OK, back to the chimney. Your dad had built a fireplace which was not really very good (he knew it wasn't) and he also built this big chimney which was not very good either. Your dad always worried that the chimney might fall down. Anyway, we had this big batch of Root Beer on the shelves by the chimney and they were probably there a good couple of weeks or more.

One night when we were all sound asleep, the bottles started exploding. You cannot imagine the sound they made. Your dad flew out of bed and said " the chimney is falling down". The chimney was fine but what a mess we had to clean up.

Charlie follows me around most of the day and I have to watch him all the time so he doesn't trip me. Now he has been sleeping on my bed for about 2 hours. I hate to make him get off but I'm not about to sleep with him.

Here is a picture of my mother in front of her house in Helena, Montana. The fat baby is me. My mother was born and raised in Modale, Iowa. When she graduated from High School, she left for Chicago. She had started to go into Nurse's training but she got ill and did not finish. My mother then went to work at as a housekeeper for a very wealthy man in Chicago, who had lost his wife. My mother married him but found that he was a very cruel person. She got a divorce. They did not have any children.

My mother went to work as a housekeeper for a family in Chicago.--She was just about to become a Mail Order Bride--My mother saw an ad that my dad had put in the Chicago Paper looking for a wife. My dad was living in Helena, Montana. In his ad he said he was a Disabled Veteran and that he owned his own home and business. My mother answered his ad and my dad sent her the money for a railroad ticket from Chicago to Montana. When my dad met her at the station he said"If you don't want to get married, I will pay your way back to Chicago" and my mother said, "As long as I'm here, we just as well get married." Their marriage lasted 35 years until 1960 when my dad died.

After they got married (must have not been any waiting periods) my mother said my dad took her to his house and he said he would be back for dinner. He went back to work. The business he owned was a Shoe Shop in Helena, Montana. All the shoes and boots were handmade. He made shoes and boots for the Governor and members of the Legislature. He knew Gary Cooper and his family. They had a big ranch. He made boots for the family. He made boots and shoes for a lot of the ranchers. My mother said he made my sister and I shoes too, but I don't really remember of the shoemaking.

Anyway, back to my mother's first day as a bride. My mother said she went ahead and started dinner. She wasn't used to stove, of course, and she burned the biscuits. She said she was really upset and started crying. When my dad came home, he told her not to worry about it. My dad was a very good man and very kind. My dad had been married once before too. He told my mother his first wife was a fiery red-head and he couldn't do anything to please her. They did not have any children either.

My dad loved Montana but his Asthma started getting worse. His doctor told him he had to get out of the cold climate. They sold their house and his business and had decided to go to California. I was 5 and my sister was 3. I barely remember a little of the trip.

It was the Summer of 1932 when we started out in a brand new Chevrolet. We stayed in cabins along the way. I remember one place we stayed overnight, my mother was happy because the water faucet was right by the door. There was no indoor plumbing in the cabins.

My mother could not tolerate the heat well. Going through Idaho and Eastern Washington it was so hot, she could hardly stand it. My dad told her that they would stop at the first cool place we came to. We got into Seattle July 4, 1932 and it was raining.

My parents found a house to rent in Clearview, WA (which is outside of Snohomish) until they could find a house with some property to buy.

I didn't go to Church today. I have a cough which seems to be developing into a cold. I hope it will not get as bad as the one I had in November. So, anyway, here I am on my blog again. In my previous blog, I told you about my experience in High School about having to cook Scrambled Eggs and Brains. This morning I looked on line and Lo and Behold, I found several recipes. I am going to post this recipe for you in case you want to try it out on your family and friends. (Maybe they will not be your friends afterward)

SCRAMBLED EGGS & CALF'S BRAINS (This is a tradional appetizer in Hungary)

1 lb. Calf's Brain
1 Medium onion, diced
2 TBS. Butter
1/2 teas. White Pepper
1/2 teas. Paprika
3 Eggs
1 teas. Salt: approximately

Soak Brains in cold water, and peel off the membrane. Drop brains into boiling water for 1 minute, then remove. Dry brains and scrape with a knife, reducing them to a rough pulp. Cook onion in butter over low heat for about 10 minutes. Add pepper, paprika, and brains to the onion and continue to cook, covered, over very low heat for about 10 minutes. Beat eggs as for scrambling, just before serving, mix with the brains, making a soft scrambled egg out of the mixture. Be sure to mix brains and eggs thoroughly. The texture should be almost like a creamy Risotto, not like HARD scrambled eggs. Add salt to taste. Serves four.

( A Risotto is a creamy rice dish) The recipe doesn't say how long to soak them in cold water.

It has been a long time since I was in High School, but some memories never leave you.

My mother cooked Liver and Onions, which I never ate either but my dad liked them.

I have cooked a lot of Liver and Onions because your dad loved them. Oddly enough, Richard said that last week he and Dan went out to eat when Richard had gone over to Graham to
visit him. Richard said he could not believe it when Dan ordered Liver and Onions.
Dan told Richard that Liver and Onions were one of his favorite dishes. Richard said he
used to watch your dad eat Liver and Onions and wondered how people could eat them.

Strange World! My youngest son, Dan, is so much like his dad in all kinds of ways.

Here is a picture of nice looking food.

A little more about the World War II days.

I was looking on the Internet to see if I could find out how much we got in rationed food items during the war. I found a chart that showed some of the food items. Below it shows how much per person you got for a week. There were four people in our family.

Per Person--Per Week

Cheese - one and a half ounces
Butter/ Margarine - seven ounces
Cooking fats (Shortening or Lard) 7 ounces
Sugar - 8 ounces
Chocolate and Sweets- 4 ounces
Liquid milk - 3 pints
Bacon and Ham - 2 ounces a fortnight (14 days)
All meat was rationed. Mainly you could get hamburger or roasts with your stamps, if the butcher had any. You could not get steaks. Liver, Heart, Tripe, Brains, etc were not rationed.

Other items were rationed too--Gasoline, shoes, boots, some clothing. You could not get rubber tires.

I was still in High School when the war started. I will tell you a story about my Cooking Class.

In our Cooking Class, we were learning how to cook with some of the Wartime recipes. We all had partners in our cooking class. One day we had to make this recipe for Scrambled Eggs and Brains. Our teacher said that everyone had to take at least one bite. I knew I would die right there if I did and so did my partner. We had our forks out and were stirring this horrible mess around on our plates acting like we were going to eat. We had a waste basket by us and we were keeping an eye on the teacher and as soon as she started down the next row, we dumped ours in the waste basket and threw a cloth towel over the top. We kept inching our basket under the table when the teacher wasn't looking. When our teacher came back to our table, our plates were empty. I guess she trusted us because we were both good students. I did get an A in Homemaking. I don't know if anybody else did the same thing because we were too busy with our own problem.

I had told you the story about stockings last time too. I found this article on the Rationing articles I was reading.

"One of the most unusual items affected by the war was Women's stockings. With an embargo on Japanese silk, nylon was promptly drafted to make parachutes--and each chute required the equivalent of 36 pairs of stockings. The fashion and technology of Women's hosiery at the time was to show a dark seam up the back of the leg. With no stockings to be had, some enterprising young women applied leg makeup in place of stockings, using an eyebrow pencil to draw the seam up the back."

Once I was out of High School and went to work for the Newspaper, I really could see what was going on with the war. We had a Teletype so we got news fairly quickly. Messages didn't travel instantly like they do today.

JUST A STORY TONIGHT; NO PICTURE

I decided to write just a little about what my life was like in the late 1930's and a little during World War II.

Our house was just the average simple house that most of the people in our rural area had. My mother had a very nice wood cookstove. She kept it so clean. We had a refrigerator with a small freezer compartment that only held ice cube trays. The heat for our house was a wood stove in the front room. On cold nights, my dad would get up between 3 and 4 AM and build a fire in the heater. I stayed bundled under my blankets until the house started to warm up. For electrical appliances we had a wringer washer, a radio, a toaster and an electric iron. Almost every item of everyday clothing had to be ironed. We had lots and lots of handkerchiefs; big red ones for my dad and dainty ones for my mom, my sister and me which all had to be ironed. I always loved ironing the handkerchiefs and piling them in neat piles. My mom ironed all the sheets and pillowcases. One thing I remember is that I had this skirt that had tiny pleats all the way around. My mother would always carefully iron each little pleat. One day after my skirt was washed, I decided to iron it myself. I never had the patience my mother had. I just laid my skirt on the ironing board and pressed across the pleats and turned it over and pressed the back side. My mother was watching me and probably thinking she would have to do it over. When I held it up, the pleats were perfect. My mother said after watching me, she never did iron pleats one at a time again.

My dad always had big vegetable gardens. My mother would can jars and jars of everything. My sister and I helped her. I can still remember how sore my fingers got shelling peas. We had lots of jars of fruit too. Sugar was a very inexpensive item. Of course, when the war broke out, Sugar was rationed and women started canning with honey. Also, my dad and mother had a locker (freezer) downtown to keep the meat in. We always had lots of beef and chickens.

Now when I look back, I can see the late 1930's was a glorious time to live in. It was a peaceful time. Families worked together and had fun together. My dad enjoyed fishing. He would take all of us to the Snohomish River or to Mukilteo. My mother would take her magazines to read and my sister and I watched our dad or played around the water.

People didn't have a lot of money but most of the families around us had what they needed. Like my dad, they raised there own meat and had big gardens. People were careful with their money.

Usually a couple of Saturday afternoons a month I used to ride the bus into Everett with my two girl friends to see a show. About a half mile from our house you could catch the Northcoast bus.(you had to flag it down). At that time we lived close to Highway 99. When my mother, sister and I went shopping, we would take the Northcoast bus. It cost 25 cents to ride into Everett. On the Saturdays that I went to the show with my friends, we would walk 2 miles to the Intercity Bus because it only cost 10 cents to ride into Everett. We would go to the Matinee at the Roxy Theater which was only 10 cents.

During World War II, I was working at the Everett Daily Herald. Many items were rationed. Items like toilet tissue and Kleenex were in very short supply. They were not rationed. Stores would get a certain amount and it was first come, first served. People would line up at the door long before the store opened. The stores would run an ad saying they had a limited amount of toilet tissue or Kleenex. I was able to see the ads the day before. My mother, who had always used cloth handkerchiefs, suddenly decided she wanted Kleenex. (We still used lots of cloth handkerchiefs). When an ad came out saying there was a limited supply of toilet tissue or Kleenex, I would take the bus in 2 hrs. early before work. Once in a while, I didn't get any tissue or Kleenex but most of the time I was near enough to the front to get my one package of toilet tissue or l box of Kleenex. All during the war, there was no toilet tissue in public bathrooms. You carried your own in your purse. After the war was over, my mother said " I will never go without toilet tissue again". It is the one thing I still do today is stock up on toilet tissue and Kleenex. Debbie buys toilet tissue, but I still can't help myself. I keep the downstairs bathroom stocked and I always have extra tissue in my closet.

Nylon stockings had not come out yet during the war. Everyone wore silk stockings. (No panty hose) The department store close to the Newspaper Office advertised that they had a limited amount of silk stockings. I stood in this long line and when I finally got close to the counter there was only one pair left. Immediately two women were fighting over it. I never waited in line for stockings again. Shortly there were no silk stockings anyway because the silk had been coming from Japan. My mother was so careful when she put her silk stockings on. She put on her dress gloves and pulled the stockings up very carefully. Mr. Jeklin, the business manager at the Newspaper office, insisted all the girls wear silk stockings and high heels and of course women only wore dresses. Everyone was starting to run out of stockings. Then a miracle happened! Leg paint came out. There were four of us in the front office so we would paint our legs and when we got to work, we would take turns making a seam up the back of our legs with an eyebrow pencil. Unless you looked real close, it did look like you had stockings on. The trouble was it wore off pretty fast or smeared if your legs got wet. You would have to repaint them every morning.

It is sure a different world we live in now. I love it. I love all the nice things we have.

This is the big Cherry tree that was (still is) in the front yard of the house we had. I planted a lot of Tulips too. About every other year, we would get a lot of Cherries. We always had to share with the birds. Debbie and Kent and Erik came over and picked Cherries sometimes.

As you can see from the picture, it was a nice Spring Day. I am doing my countdown to Spring.
ONLY 36 DAYS UNTIL SPRING!

Now I know that doesn't mean the weather will be instantly warm because the calendar says it is Spring; but it will remind me that we are getting closer to Summer.
I LOVE SUMMER!

Here is another one of my stories:

While we were still living in Buckley, your dad decided he wanted to take us all camping. He rented a camping trailer for us. We were going to camp by the Ocean. I think it was near Ocean Shores. I am sure you older ones will remember. I didn't have all you children yet. There was David, Diane, Donna and maybe Richard. Can't remember for sure or else I may have been pregnant with him.

We got all packed up and ready to go and when I was getting out of the trailer I hit my upper arm on the trailer door and almost immediately had this huge bruise.

We finally got there and all set up. It was pouring rain but everyone went down to the water but me. I stayed in the trailer to fix dinner. The trailer had a gas cook stove. I had never had experience with a gas stove. I had always used kerosene stoves. With a Kerosene stove, you turn the burner on and let the kerosene soak up the wick and then you light it. (Yes, you know what is coming.)

Yes, I turned the burner on then started opening drawers to look for a match. I did find one pretty quickly; lucky for me. I lit the burner and there was this huge noise and I was just standing there with my ears ringing. Everyone came up from the water because they heard the explosion. My ears were ringing for a long time. I did manage to fix dinner anyway.

I think you kids had a good time. You always did like camping. I have never been much of a camper.

I decided I needed to write about one more thing today. I put this picture of Donna and Laif on. Donna hasn't got a blog. She has so many things going on in her life. I wanted to tell anyone who is reading this blog that Donna has a volunteer job being a DJ on a Sequim radio station. She will be on next from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on February 17th and 19th. You can listen to her on your computer. http://ksqmfm.org I just wanted to let her know how well she is doing. I also enjoy the music very much. Since most of you are from a younger generation, the music probably will not thrill you. I find it relaxing and I love to hear Donna's voice.

I didn't have a blog yet when we went to Salt Lake in October
of 2008. We went for Sophie's blessing. Donna, Laif, Kent,
Debbie, Erik and I all went. We spent the weekend. The weather
was absolutely gorgeous. It was very warm, which I love.

Jennie took us to Olympic Park. I think almost everyone knows
that I was crazy enough to go on the Zip Line. (I am one that
panics on the third rung of a ladder). I was really terrified when
I was up against the gate and I started to panic but before I
knew it, someone pushed me through the gate and there I was
sailing through the air. I went up with Debbie the first time.
Yes, I said the first time. I was terrified and I kept my eyes
closed most of the way. When I opened my eyes I could not
believe how beautiful the scenery was. After I rested a bit, I
decided that I wanted to go up again. I went with Donna the
second time. This time I kept my eyes open and almost forgot
that I was dangling in the air. It is breathtaking to see the
mountains and the scenery around there.


That weekend turned out to be one of the nicest weekends
I have ever had. I am so lucky to have family that will go to
the trouble to take me places.

In the picture, Donna and I are in the Ski Lift going up to the
top and the other picture shows how far down it is from the
top.

These pictures are of our trip through Alaska and Canada. The picture with the cruise ship was taken in Ketchikan and that is Clayton on his bike. He loved that old bike. He had a loud horn that he liked to honk at people with.

In May of 1995, two months after Clayton and I were married, Clayton wanted to go to Alaska. He wanted to go to Skagway. Clayton had spent some time there when he was working on the Alcan Highway in the 1940's.

We drove our motorhome. We took Darrell with us. I had only been married to Clayton for a short time, but I knew better than try to take that long a trip with just the two of us.

We drove to Prince Rupert and ferried to Ketchikan. We spent a week with my oldest son, David, and his wife, Debby. They were in a nice apt. near downtown. (Now they have a house, which I have not seen yet). I walked to the downtown section almost every day we were there. Ketchikan is a nice town. Everything is on hills there. I don't know how well I would do with hills now.

After our visit with David and Debby, we got on the ferry again. I can't remember how long we were on the ferry but we spent one night on the ferry. Of course, you cannot get into your motorhome when it is on the ferry. Not planning ahead, we did not have a room to sleep in. There was one big common room to sleep in. The chairs tilted back somewhat. I spent over an hour trying to make myself comfortable but I couldn't. I ended up sleeping on the floor, using my jacket for a pillow. Clayton and Darrell slept fine. Clayton can sleep anywhere. It is a wonder I got any sleep because so many people were snoring. I was so happy to get off that ferry and back into the motorhome.

We saw a lot of places but I will say that Skagway was the one I liked the best. It is a beautiful little town surrounded by mountains. It was the middle of May but it was very cold and windy when we were there.

It was a long trip back home on the Alcan Highway. There was so much to see. Everywhere was such beautiful scenery. It was just breathtaking. We even saw a Moose VERY CLOSE up. A Moose is a huge animal.

We did have a very nice trip. Clayton always loved traveling.

We used the motorhome quite a lot the first few years we were married. Clayton's brother lived in Spokane and Clayton's good friends Ed and Fred Larson lived there. We went there several times and spent the night. We went to Bellingham several times too. Another Larson lived in Bellingham and also some of his other friends. We also went to Clayton's High School Reunion.

I am so glad we were able to make those trips before Clayton's knees got so bad.


I have done very little traveling in my lifetime. Lots of reasons.

Probably the biggest reason was, we just didn't have the money to spend on trips.
I really don't feel that it was a loss in my life. Like I said before
I have had a good life.

Now that I am alone, I do look forward to trips. Donna, Laif, Diane and I are going
on a Mexican Riveria Cruise the end of March.

If I ever get the opportunity, I would like to go on a Caribbean cruise again. Donna, Laif, Diane, Frank, Clayton and I went on one. It had to be in 2000 because my passport expires in 2010 and I got the passport right before our cruise.

Our motorhome in the Canadian wilderness.

Darrell and me in front

of the motorhome in

Alaska.

Clayton on his bike in

Ketchikan.

Here are pictures of my children. Yes, I know I have them on my header. What I was trying to do was find a picture of all three girls together and find a picture of all four boys together. I did find a picture of all the boys together. These pictures are from my surprise birthday. This is a rare picture. David lives in Ketchikan, Alaska and Richard had been living in California for sometime. It was the first time all the boys have been together for some time. Darrell, the next to my youngest son, is on the left; David, my oldest son is next ; my youngest son, Daniel, is next and my middle son Richard is on the end.

I could not find a picture of all three girls together. I will try to remember to take a picture of them together the next time I get a chance. My oldest daughter, Diane, is sitting at the computer. Donna, my middle daughter, has the blue blouse on. Debbie is my youngest daughter. I could not find a picture of her by herself that I liked. She is with her husband, Kent. Don't they make such an adorable couple?

No matter how old your children are, they are always the greatest joy of your life.

I suppose I should put in one of my stories. When we were living in Bonney Lake someone just left a dog in our driveway. Our house was set aways back from the road. It apparently was a place that pets were abandoned. I think we got one of our cats that way. Anyway, this dog was a black mongrel dog and he only had one eye. He was a very friendly dog and he loved kids. The kids loved him too. I think we named him an original name like "Blackie". That dog especially liked being around Darrell and Dan. On the property right next to us was an old shed. Everyone called it the "Turner Property". I never saw the owner. In this shed there were lots of cans of paint and I don't know what all. Of course, the kids were not supposed to go in it, but they did. It never took those boys very long to disappear. They must have been about four and five years old. So everyone started looking for them. We found them finally over by the shed. They had found a can of green paint and a brush and they were painting the dog. They had painted a pretty big area on him. Like I said, that dog was so friendly. He was just standing there, not even trying to get away. I suppose he liked the attention. I guess the boys thought he would look better green. We gave the dog a bath. The kind of paint in those days was not washable. The paint just had to wear off.

Just felt like putting on a couple of pictures of sunsets. The picture on the left is a picture I took when I was at Donna and Laif's house in Sequim last Summer. I took this from their deck. It was already starting to get dark. The picture on the right is a Sunset that I took from the deck at Debbie and Kent's house a couple of months ago. Mother Nature paints beautiful scenes.

This is a picture of Dan and Darrell when they were in Grade School. The house was one we were renting. It was an old two story house with a full basement. It was right on Auburn Way South across from Market Foods. Behind us was Les Gove park and the Library. We spent lots of time at the Park and the Library.

You can see the fireplace in the front room. One of the boys got a Parakeet in a cage from a friend. His mother didn't want it anymore. We had the cage hanging from the ceiling fairly close to the fireplace. We had a cat. The cat was always getting on the fireplace mantel and would jump and swing on the cage trying to get the bird. We were forever after the cat about it. One day we had gone somewhere and when we came back, the cage was empty and there were just a couple of feathers on the floor. Everyone was very sad. We didn't get another bird, which was probably just as well.

Later, Darrell got a white rat. He kept it in a cage in his bedroom. He had it for quite awhile. He would let it out of the cage and let it run around in his room. I never wanted to touch it and Darrell was always trying to get me to pet it. Finally, one day I did pet it. It wasn't that bad. He was a nice friendly, clean rat. One morning when Darrell woke up the rat was dead. I don't know what happened. Darrell, Dan and Richard were all big pet lovers.

While we were still living there, I finally had to have a Hysterectomy. The doctor discovered I had a Fibroid Tumor after I had Darrell. I refused to have anything done for years. Finally the doctor said it was growing so large, I just had to have it removed. I was in the hospital on the Fourth of July. Every Fourth of July there was a big Celebration at Les Gove Park. There was always a band there. Dave went to the park and recorded the music. He brought the tape recorder to the hospital so I could hear the music.

Your dad was in Ketchikan, Alaska at that time. We sent Darrell and Dan to stay with him for a couple of weeks. Your dad decided to get both of the boys haircuts. The barber managed to nick both of Dan's ears. Before they went to Alaska, Dan was never crazy about getting his hair cut. After they came back, I could not get Dan to get his hair cut. Anyway, it was beginning to be the time a lot of boys were letting their hair grow long. Dan let his hair grow long for several years. In the picture I have on the blog with us in the Convertible, you can see his hair is still long.

This is a picture of my mother and Dave Thompson and that is me standing. This picture was taken at Dan and Michelle's wedding. Michelle was Dan's first wife and they had Daniel together. I don't know how I talked my mother into coming. It was very rare to see my mother outside of her apt.

Your dad and I were married 23 years before we got divorced. At the time you get divorced, you think that it will magically solve all your problems. Divorces rarely solve problems. Usually divorces make more problems.

Dave Thompson and I got married July 14, 1969 and he died September 3, 1994. We were married 25 years. Our best period was when we were managing the Harkey Apts.. We both liked doing that very much. Dave started having health problems. He was a smoker and also got Adult Onset Diabetes. The last few years of his life, he was tired a lot and eventually had very little strength. The doctors kept blaming everything on his Diabetes and smoking. We did not realize how sick he was. Little did we know that a fatal disease was taking over his body. He died of Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). The disease wasn't diagonased until nearly the end.

Dave was in the Auburn Hospital on our 25th Wedding Anniversary. Diane brought us an Anniversary Card. Dave read it and then looked up at me and said "The last 25 years of my life have been the happiest." I will always remember that. (That day I did not know that he would be dead in two months.)

Dave was a very intelligent person. He was a Techinal Illustrator for Boeing for 17 years. Dave loved going to the Library. He would spend so much time there. He would bring home books I couldn't begin to comprehend.

Dave had been married once before to Rosemary. They had three children together. Brian, Laurlie and Bruce.

The other picture is of me on a Moped. One year while we were still managing the Harkey Apts., Dave and I went to Victoria on the ferry for the weekend. We rented Mopeds and rode all over. It was fun. I don't remember what month it was. It must have been summer because it was warm and sunny.

Today I decided to mention about the trip that Debbie and I took to Washington DC the first week of September 2008. We were there 8 days and it was 90 degrees or more every day we were there. Debbie took lots of pictures and I have them on my computer. It was hard to decide what I wanted to put on my blog. I just picked these pictures because I liked them. Besides walking to museums and other places, we did do four bus tours. The top picture on the left was the last tour we took. It was Colonial Williamsburg. We got caught in the tail-end of a hurricane that was going up the East Coast. Almost every visitor site was closed. So the picture is an empty street. Debbie said she had been there before and there were so many things going on. It was still pouring rain when we got off the bus but it was very warm. There was a huge puddle on one of the streets we had to go across. I am way beyond jumping over puddles, so I just walked right through it. Like I said, the weather was so warm and with the rain I felt like I was walking in a bathroom shower. You don't get chilled like you do in Seattle when you get wet. Eventually it stopped raining and my shoes and socks dried out. It was an interesting experience. The picture on the right is Gettysburg. I think that was probably my favorite tour. There is so much history there that your mind can hardly comprehend it. I loved the towns of both Colonial Williamsburg and Gettysburg. I love small towns as I said before. The picture on the bottom is one that someone took of my beautiful daughter, Debbie, and me.

Debbie had booked us a hotel in Washington DC that was close to the museums and places we wanted to see. By 11:00 AM. in the mornings, it was already hot. I am surprised I was able to walk as much as I did. We took the Metro a few times but ended up taking a Taxi a lot going back to the hotel. I was usually exhausted by late afternoon. Debbie is very patient with me because I can be a whiner if something seems too hard. Sometimes I would ask her if we had to walk much further she would point out a nearby place and say that is where we are going but when we got there, I found out usually we were going further. She did a good job prodding me along. One day I did get very tired and hot. We must have walked about 4 miles.

The hotel we stayed in was an old hotel and had an elevator with an elevator operator. No matter whether we walked to the hotel or got out of a cab, someone was always there to help me up the stairs to the elevator.

I am not going to go into all the things we did and saw. We just had a nice time. I think that the best part of any vacation is just being with family. I will always remember our time in Washington DC. There is so much history in that whole area. You cannot appreciate all there is to see there in just a short trip.

I decided to do a story about Buckley. If you have never been to Buckley you should drive there one of these times. The town itself is pretty much like it was when I lived there but all around it has built out like everywhere else. Moses Lake and Buckley were my two favorite towns. Clayton and I drove our Motorhome through Moses Lake shortly after we were married. I barely recognized it. It has really grown. There is a hospital there even. When we lived there, you had to go to Ephrata to the hospital. Anyway, the photo is a picture of David on a pony in Buckley. I think he was about 4. A photographer used to come through several times to take pictures. He had the pony in a trailer behind his truck. I can't even remember how much he charged. I know he did pretty well. The kids just loved getting on the pony. In Buckley, if nothing else, there were lots of kids. It was a time when people were still having big families. I think Diane was too afraid to get on the pony, so we just had a picture of David. The pony is in our front yard. The photographer just went from house to house.

Today was another lovely February day. It got to 52 degrees today. Richard, my middle son, came over. It was Richard's day off. He works at Lowe's Hardware in Renton. We had a very nice visit. We went to Zuppa's (not sure I spelled that right) by Southcenter for Lunch. In the photo is Richard standing by his truck. Today was the first time I rode in his truck. I barely saw it once before during the snow storm. I know there are many stories about Richard while he was growing up. Richard or one of his younger brothers was always into something. In our house in Bonney Lake all the kids had to take turns carrying in wood. We had two sliding glass doors. One cold day with snow still on the ground Richard had his arms loaded with wood and I was on the phone and didn't quite get to the door to open it for him. The wood slipped and went right through the door. In those days the sliding glass doors were not safety glass. Fortunately, he didn't get cut. We had just barely replaced the door, when Debbie rode her tricycle through the other glass door and broke that and she didn't get cut either. Then another time, Richard was running up to the house and tripped over our dog and cut up both knees. We had a gravel driveway and he had so much gravel in his knees. We were cleaning his knees, probably with alcohol, and picking out gravel. I know whatever we did really hurt. Since hardly anybody had medical insurance you just did what you could at home. I think doctor visits had gone up to $7.00 by that time. Also, because we were still in the process of building, we had boards with nails in them all over the yard. I am sure almost all the kids ran a nail in their foot at least once and I even did once. We did not get an infection but Donna stepped on one of the nails and her foot got infected. We had to take her to the doctor. She has been prone to infections all her life. Another little story about Richard. In our house we had a heating stove made out of a 50 gallon drum. It was set upon cement blocks. Even burning wood, it got glowing hot. Our house was so cold in the winter that everyone hovered around it. One morning Richard got up early and he just had his shorts on and he backed into the heater and burned a big place on his behind. He got a huge blister. He didn't say anything about it at first because he probably thought he would be in trouble because he usually was in some kind of trouble. It did not get infected so we were lucky. So many things happened out there, that I am sure our Guardian Angels were working overtime to keep us safe. I had all seven children in 10 years time so it was pretty hard at times. David, Diane and Donna really helped me a lot with the younger ones. It is amazing what you can do if you have to.

Today has been a beautiful February day. I know the Groundhog probably saw his shadow today but today made me feel that Spring will come as it always does. I love the sun. I know all my children know I would love to live in a nice warm place all year around but I would not like to live there without my family. All in all this is a good place. The weather is usually mild. Of course, that was a little hard to remember when we had all that snow in December. So the picture I posted was another lovely Spring day. In the picture the driver is Dan, my youngest son, I am in the passenger seat. Dave Thompson, my second husband and Bruce, his son are in the back. This picture was taken in front of the Green River Village Apts. (Harkey Apts). Actually, you can't see our apt. from here. The picture was taken from our yard so you see the duplexes across the street. We managed 164 units. We were the managers there for over10 years. The complex was in the North end of Auburn. The units were all duplexes on J, K, L, & M Sts. NE and on M Place NE was the adult section which was all four-plexes. Managing apts. is a lot of work. I did all the bookkeeping and showed apts. Dave did all the maintenance. It is hard to believe now, but Dave and I used to ride our bikes on the Bike trail from Auburn to Kent. We both had single speed bikes. I had a wonderful little Schwinn bike that just rolled right along. We just took our time riding and it was so relaxing. I took care of Dan's boy, Daniel, when he was little. I had a basket on the front of my bike. Even though I had a car, I just loved riding up to Albertson's. After I started taking care of Daniel, I got a baby seat for the back. I used to ride all over town with him. Sometimes, I would ride clear to the Southend to the Library. This is before anyone thought about helmets. I never tipped him over once. Diane said she tipped Karyl over once when he was little.

I told you things wouldn't be in any particular order. I just wanted to write about my day today. I know all this must be exciting. I seem to come alive when the sun is out and it is warm. It got to 50 today here. I did my laundry this morning then decided to go to the store. When I came back, I decided to go get a Pedicure and Manicure. If I could have thought of anywhere else to go I probably would have. But I went through the Taco-Time Drive through and got me some lunch. I sat out in my lounge chair and read my book for about a half-hour so I could soak up some Vitamin D from the sun. I still had my sandals on from getting my feet done. When my feet started getting cold, I decided to come in. I feel like I am living the life of luxury Living over here with Debbie, Kent and Erik.

One story I am going to add is about our first winter at the Harkey Apts. The Duplexes on J and K street had no insulation around the pipes. (We didn't know that yet, but we were going to find that out very soon.) We had a snow storm and then the arctic air came in and it was bitterly cold. The majority of people on J and K and a few on L and M sts ended up with frozen pipes. It was New Year's Eve and the temperature warmed up just enough for the pipes to burst. We had water running everywhere. I called everywhere to try to get a plumber but every plumber already had so many calls they couldn't handle them all. So all Dave could do was shut the water off and we lost a lot of water before he could get around to all of them. People were so mad that they didn't have water that we got calls way into the night. Diane was over that weekend. It was getting so ridiculous we were almost laughing from Hysteria. One tenant came to our apt. and was so mad. He said how was he going to wash his hands after he went to the bathroom. (Diane will remember that. He didn't say it quite that politely.) Diane and I were playing Scrabble because there was no way we were getting to bed. We ended up giving him a big pitcher of water. The next day there was still no hope for a plumber for days, so Laif came down and helped Dave repair pipes. Bless his heart. I am so lucky to have such a good family.