I haven't written anything for a few days. Our trip is coming up soon. I was looking back at my pictures and decided to put these two pictures on from the Washington DC trip that Debbie and I took. This was in September of 2008. I am sure you recognize these pictures. It was hot when we were in Washington DC and it will definitly be hot when we are in the Midwest.

Today I went to Impressions

and got my perm. Sara is the beautician that works on my hair. She does such a good job. My hair is not easy to work with. Something happens to the texture of your hair when it gets white. I wanted my hair done before our trip. Right now my hair feels so nice and soft. Sara belongs to the Church too.

Donna is coming over tomorrow morning. I have to go to the Transit Center to pick her up. She is leaving her car on the other side. I guess we will have to use my car while she is here. We will be taking Kyle out to dinner for his birthday. Then I guess Debbie will take us to the ferry dock in Seattle to go back to Sequim. I think I am supposed to whine at this point. I never have been a walk-on passenger ever on the ferry. Dave and I used to go to Vashon Island a lot years ago. I won't need much for 4 days so I am just taking my little duffel bag.

I think everyone knows that I am still working on getting my car up to 10,000 miles. I am at 9,871 miles now. only 129 miles to go. My little Kia is 5 years old. I think I will have a celebration when I get to 10,000 miles. I am going to get an oil change when I get back from my trip. According to Grease Monkey I was supposed to have it done in February or 10,000 miles, whichever came first. I am really glad I bought this car. It is not a car for long trips but it is just right for me.

Picture of a street in Port Angeles. Donna, her neighbor, Marge and I went to Port Angeles to do a little shopping. It is a very nice looking old town. Some of the buildings are being repainted.

Donna and Marge in front of one of the shops.

Summer my favorite season is here. I love it when you can just go with no coat and wear sandals instead of shoes.

"That beautiful season, the summer! Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light.

By: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Debbie thought I should post another Bonney Lake Story---

I think I mentioned on one of my earlier blogs that we had to dig a well on the property. We had moved into the house in the summer of 1960 with just basically a roof and walls. We did not have water. We had to haul water. Your dad and David started working on the well in the summer. My baby was due in October and they were trying to get water before I had the baby.

We couldn't afford a drilled well. Bishop Neilson from the Buckley Branch came out to witch for water and told your dad where to dig. Several people had dug wells in that area but the wells always went dry late fall and depending on the rain, they would not fill up again until December or sometimes January. We hauled lots of water. We had rain barrels under the eaves to catch water. I always kept a good supply of drinking water. When Clayton and I got married he had rain barrels to catch water. I hated them. I had to watch in the fall for mosquitoes and dump the water. He insisted we needed them. I am sure he experienced the same thing I did in Bonney Lake; always afraid you wouldn't have water.

David was only 9 when he was helping with the well. Daniel was born in October 1960 and David would not be 10 until February 1961. We made David work so hard at such an early age. I guess that is one of the reasons he is such a hard worker and dependable person that he is today. He is the one who fishes in Alaska and that is not easy work. Your dad and David would dig the well and send the buckets of sand up to be dumped. I ended up helping dump the buckets. I helped with dumping those heavy buckets until about a week before Daniel was born. My days of miscarriages was long gone. My visiting teachers came out once while I was dumping buckets and they were sure something would happen to the baby. Daniel was a healthy baby but he was born breech and those sisters were positive it was because I was doing all that heavy work.

Anyway, we finally got the well done and your dad bought this old piston pump which stopped quite frequently. The pump was on this wobbly old platform. When the pump stopped, someone would have to go down on the platform and get it started again and then the pump would have to be primed everytime. The platform was not that large and a person could slip off it and fall into the well if you were not careful.

Your dad had been working different jobs and finally got one in Bremerton and only came home on weekends and sometimes every other weekend. We didn't have the money for gas for him to commute everyday. So, then, when the piston pump would stop I would send David down on that platform to take care of the pump. I would stand by and pray he would not slip off that platform. David never fussed about having to do it. In later years, I have thought about the way we lived out there. Sending a 10 year old kid down the well to take care of a pump, I think today they would take the kids away. It is also a miracle we did not get sick from the water.

I did do my best to keep things clean. It was very hard sometimes. I didn't even have an automatic washer most of the time. I would have to fill the wringer washer, wash the clothes, fill it again with rinse water and hang the clothes out to dry in good weather and dry them on a rack in the winter. Of course, I had to wash diapers everyday.

I can't say that all that work shortened my life. You kids all managed to grow up even with a mother like me. We had a lot of good times there too, like our little picnics and I always read to you and we played games. The Bookmobile came once a week to Werley's store and I would walk all you kids to the Bookmobile. It was probably close to two miles round trip. We always looked forward to going there.

The long line of cars at the Game Farm Park that we went to in Sequim.I took a picture of this Peacock. He is right up by the fence with his tail fanned out. It is hard to see because he blends in with the background. He is right between the two posts. I just noticed if you enlarge the picture of the Peacock you can see him good.

Another picture of a bear. The bears are so well fed with the bread you are allowed to feed them that a lot of time the bears don't even give the bread a second look.

SKUNK STORIES

Debbie remembers these stories and she thought I should put them on my blog. Another Bonney Lake story---

A little background.....We had a dugout partial basement under the house. We had a few shelves in the basement where I stored my home canned vegetables and fruits. We also had crocks for pickles and sauerkraut that I made.

I don't think we realized for awhile that we had skunks living in the basement. Usually skunks come out at night.

I am sure David in Alaska remembers this story too. We had the cat's dish out back by the sliding glass door. We would fill that dish in the morning and it used to last a couple of days or more. Then the dish started being empty every morning. We knew some animal was eating the cat food. We thought it was probably a Raccoon. One night we saw a skunk eating out of the dish. Your dad got his gun and he and David went out to sneak upon the skunk and shoot it. Someone had told your dad that if you shoot a skunk right between the eyes, it won't squirt. (Don't believe it) I know a couple of you kids, probably Dan and Darrell, were upset and said "don't shoot the kitty". I got everybody away from the door. We heard the gun go off and the next thing we noticed was the smell. The odor even filled the house. Linda, my step-daughter, took a can of hairspray and was spraying all over the house which I think just made it worse. We could hardly breathe the odor was so bad.

Poor David, being the oldest, always had to help with everything. They buried the skunk and had to come in to get other clothes. I made them bury the clothes they had on. Maybe I could have gotten the smell out but I just couldn't deal with it.

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We were still in Bonney Lake and we had an old station wagon. I guess a window must have been open. A lot of time we didn't close the driver's window unless it was raining because we had to use hand signals and it was just easier to have the window open unless it was cold or rainy. We were all going to a Church activity in Buckley. All you kids ran to the wagon and jumped into the back. I was just walking to the wagon when your dad opened the backdoor of the wagon and said in a voice none of us will ever forget. He said "get out of the car and don't make a sound and get into the house". I couldn't imagine what was going on. I thought something was going to explode in the car and even Debbie thought it must be a bomb. (That was way before people thought about violent things like we do now). Your dad came in to get his gun. He said there was a skunk in the car. He left the car door open. I imagine he was hoping it would get out of the car, which it did thank goodness. I guess he took the gun as a last resort. You would think after his other skunk experience he wouldn't even think about taking the gun. Anyway, we got back in the wagon and continued on to Buckley with no further problems.

What amazes me most about this incident is when all you kids jumped in the back and were probably fighting about where to sit as you usually did; that the skunk didn't spray on you guys. Another miracle in life.

Our Church wasn't even a ward at that time. It was just a branch. It was called the Buckley Branch. The building was originally a funeral parlor. The members put in a baptismal font. There was only cold water running into it. The Priesthood members had to carry hot water in big milk cans. The Bishop would try to wait and have several baptisms at once because it was so much work to fill the font. Even with the cans of hot water the water was still pretty cold. Debbie said she felt special because she actually got to be baptized on her birthday. The building the Buckley Branch was in is now a Museum.

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ANOTHER SKUNK STORY----This is a story that my mother told me about herself. My mother was actually somewhat of a tomboy. When she was a girl she said she was in their barn and she saw a skunk. She said she picked up a pitchfork and started to chase after the skunk. She said the skunk ran and hid in the hay so she decided not to go after it. I am sure that was very fortunate for her. Another thing my mother said was she and her sisters and brother did was get on top of the barn . She said you could look for miles. This was in Iowa where everything was so flat. My mother also lived through tornados. They had a storm cellar (like in the "Wizard of Oz". She said usually the cellar was half full of water when you had to climb into it. They could see the Tornado coming and they would run for the shelter. I hope Donna and I don't experience a Tornado in the Midwest.

A picture of Donna and Laif's dining room. The Grandfather clock is one that used to belong to Clayton. It has such nice chimes. I always loved it and I am glad it has a good home.

Donna had plants in the wooden barrels. They filled up with water and her plants were turning yellow. Donna is dumping water from one and Laif is drilling holes in the barrels. Their back yard looks so good.

This is the fence that Laif is building around the back yard. It is very nice looking.

Donna and laif had a rock wall put in along where the fence goes. You can see the top of it from here. When you are driving up to their house you can see the rock wall. It was very beautifully done.

Just a little information on "Our Great Adventure". I am working on our agenda. We fly into Minneapolis on July 21st. We are going to spend the first night in a hotel close to the Mall of America. On the 22nd, we are going to go to Pepin, Wisconsin to see the Laura Ingalls Museums. I am looking up other sites in and around Pepin. That is about as far as I got today.

Laura was born in Pepin.

A little info----Pepin County is Wisconsin's second smallest county and is one of the state's most colorful and historic vacation destinations and named for Lake Pepin. Lake Pepin is 28 miles long, 3 miles wide. It is a spectacularly beautiful and tranquil body of water formed where the delta of the Chippewa River flows into the mighty Mississippi River.

The front of the radio station KSQM 91.5 Sequim. It is a very nice looking building inside and out.

This a picture of Laif making a donation to the station. The owner's mother is 86 and is the receptionist one day a week.

I have been so busy today the time really flew. I took Erik to a luncheon given by his Seminary teacher. Decided to go to Safeway while I was out and barely got back when he called to have me pick him up. I ended taking two others home. I was just getting ready to fix my lunch and Richard called. We had a nice visit. I also did three loads of clothes. I finally got my lunch finished about 2pm. I am glad I can still drive and help out a little.

Today while I was taking everyone home I told them to be sure and tell me where to turn because I do not have the best sense of direction. After I said that I remembered an incident a long time ago that happened to me. If David and Debby in Alaska are reading this, David will remember.

We were building our house in Bonney Lake. Your dad had been blowing up stumps and he needed more blasting caps. We were still living in Buckley because the house wasn't far enough along to move into. I had to go to Enumclaw to get the blasting caps. I got to the hardware just fine, bought the blasting caps and stuck them in the glove compartment. You had to turn from the highway onto the Vandermark Road to get to our property. I turned one road too soon thinking it was the Vandermark Road. Once I turned, I was lost , very lost. The trip to the hardware store and back to Bonney Lake should not have taken more than a half hour at most. I drove and drove trying to find my way back at least to the highway. I ended up in South Prairie, Orting and all over the place. I finally came out at Duane's gas station where we bought our gas and then I knew where I was. By this time about two and a half hours had passed. I had the littlest ones with me. If I remember right I had Richard, Debbie and Darrell was lying on the front seat and I was pregnant with Dan. No car seats back then. I just kept hoping I would find my way back before Darrell woke up and wanted a bottle because I didn't take one because it was just going to be a short trip. Of course no one had cell phones and we didn't have a phone yet in Bonney Lake.

Then of course when I got back your dad was so happy. He said he was just about ready to go to a phone and call the State Patrol. He was so scared that somehow the blasting caps went off and blew us up or we had been in an accident.

I certainly put those blasting caps to the test. I was bouncing all over those country roads. When I talked to Richard today he thought blasting caps had to be hit hard to go off. I decided to read about blasting caps. You are wrong, Richard. My guardian angel was riding with me that day for sure.

This is what I found out---Blasting caps contain what is called a Primary explosive. A primary explosive is a high explosive compound that will explode from flame, heat or shock. Because of their size and appearance, blasting caps are sometimes not recognized as explosives, leading to injuries.

We lived dangerously in those days. Lead paint, no car seats and many other very unsafe things we did because we didn't know any different. When I look back now, it a miracle in itself that all you children grew to adulthood, but you all did and having children is the greatest blessing there is.

A picture of Donna and Laif's cabin. They have really fixed it up nice. I am standing on the new porch Laif built.

Just a picture of one of the streets in Sequim. The Kim's Nails sign on the right is where Donna gets her nails done.

The bottom picture is one of a couple of bears I took at the Game Farm Park.

I am finally home for awhile. Donna and I didn't get to Debbie's house until about 2:30pm. Of course to start with we had to get up early to catch a ferry so Donna would be in time for her doctor appointment. Her Asthma doctor is near the Children's Hospital. It is a good thing she went because she has a Sinus infection again and one of her Tonsils is enlarged. After that we headed off for Renton. By the time we got to Renton, it was lunch time. We ate at 5 Guys near the theater in the Mall by Lowe's and Fryes. Donna had never eaten there before. Also she had to go into Fryes to return a mouse. After that we continued on to the East Valley Highway near the theaters there to go to Triple A. Donna bought a one year membership. We had a very helpful, informed agent to help us. He gave us a lot of information and we left with a bag of maps and tour books for the area in the Midwest that we will be going through.

On the news they said that there was a car left on the Bainbridge ferry so there was a helicopter looking for a passenger. That was not on our run. On our run we were escorted all the way from Bainbridge to Seattle by Coast Guard boats with machine guns in front at the ready. The announcement was made about our escort so that we would not be worried.

It is nice to be back but I really had a very nice time with Donna and Laif. Being in Sequim is just like a different world. No traffic jams and very quiet. The only "traffic jam" we were in over there was at the Game Farm Park.

I will be over there from July 1st to July 5th. Then I will have to settle down and get ready for our trip. We have a hotel reserved for our first night (Minneapolis) near the Mall of America. It is only $61 because Donna used her Triple A Card. It is my job to study the maps and the travel books and mark things. I know it is not until the 21st of July but time just seems to be flying by this year. Donna is calling it "Our Great Adventure". It will certainly be that for us. I am getting very excited about it already.

This will be my last post until I get home. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Game Farm Park instead of the Civil War re-enactment. I am happy we did that. I have never been there. They had a special day. Dan Haggerty from "Grizzly Adams" was there. The admission for adults is normally $10.00 but for this Saturday it was $4.00 each for anyone. You cannot believe the people that were there. We did the car tour which normally takes 45 minutes but it took us one and a half hours. It was the worst traffic jam you can imagine. I doubt Laif got much above 2 miles an hour. I took some pictures. There are Peacocks and Peahens all over. I never realized how noisy they are. Except at least one of them will not be making noise as we saw Peacock feathers by the Bobcat cage.

We went to Church this morning. Donna gave the Relief Society Lesson. She did such a nice lesson. Now we are home and ready to eat lunch. I will have to pack this afternoon. I talked to Marge at Church again today. Laif invited her over for the 4th of July. She was excited about that. So now there will be Kyle, Marge and me for the 4th. Kyle will probably bring me back on the fifth.

I have been writing something everyday because it is easier to remember now than when I get home. Last evening Donna and I went to Costco to buy dinner. Donna got a chicken already cooked and some potato salad. We had that with some baked beans she had at home. Also, Donna made homemade rolls. Donna has a Kitchen-Aid. Donna ground her wheat on it and mixed up the dough on it.The rolls were absolutely delicious. On the way to Costco it is close to a Jack-In-the-Box. I had been watching those ads on TV for the Smoothies. We each got one. They are really good.

Earlier in the day we went to the radio station. Donna and Laif made a donation and left some chocolate cake for the employees to nibble on. I met the owner's mother, Judy Perry. She is 86 and volunteers there one day a week. She is very nice and was telling me all the work her son had to go to open the station and how he put in loads of money to get it going. She invited me to come back and visit her the next time I come to Sequim. If I could volunteer at a job like she has that would be fun.

We drove out to Donna and Laif's cabin. They have fixed it up really nice.

Sequim is a nice town. All the stores are so close together. The town still has that small town feeling like Ketchikan where David and Debby live. Sequim makes for great vacations. If it doesn't rain, I guess we are going to Port Gamble this afternoon to watch a Civil War Re-enactment.

Donna and I went to town early this morning. Donna got a manicure. I took a couple of more pictures of the town and also a picture of the front of the radio station. Donna has an interview at the school this morning. Laif is working from home. I don't know what we are going to do this afternoon. I am being very careful of my camera. The first of July is Kyle's birthday. Donna is coming over on the ferry and Laif will pick her up and then they will pick me up. We will celebrate Kyle's birthday and then I am going back to Donna's house and stay until after the 4th. Yes, Debbie, I know your birthday is the second. I am still gadding around. I am glad I still can and since I don't have a tight schedule going on I just as well enjoy myself.

I am writing to tell you that I had a tragic accident this morning. Donna and I were in downtown Sequim and I was taking pictures. I was carrying my camera in my tiny purse. I took several pictures downtown and when I got back to Donna's all my pictures were deleted but the last one. The delete button must have been pushed while it was crowded in my purse.

Anyway, I want to thank Richard that I did put the pictures of Donna on my blog from the radio station. I was going to wait until I got home to do all the pictures . Richard said I could do it from Donna's, which I did, thank goodness. I thank you very much Richard. Those were the pictures I really wanted.

Donna, her neighbor Marge and I are all going to Port Angeles in a few minutes. I have my camera in a better place now so I am off to take more pictures.

Donna's afternoon class. They watched a movie and had treats

Picture of the sound booth of KSQM.

Donna getting ready to go on the air.

I am not on my own computer so I am just putting on a few pictures. I will put on more pictures when I get home. I like this last picture of Donna with her headphones on. Doesn't she look great?

I went to school with Donna yesterday for her afternoon class because she had to get to the radio studio and we weren't going to have time to go home. After Donna got off the radio at 7pm, we had to go back to the school so she could clean up and bring some more things home. I washed off all the desks so that saved her a little time. We were both dragging by the time we got home.
I am not used to bending over low desks. My back could feel it. But I think Donna was twice as tired as I was.
It was very interesting seeing the station. I met the owners, the receptionist and some others. The station is so neat and clean. I took some pictures of Donna while she was talking on the air. I got to sit in the sound booth with her. You would think she would have time to do things while the songs are playing but she is busy the whole time. She writes down the songs as they are playing and takes bites of her dinner while the songs are playing and has to have the announcement ready that she is going to make and other small jobs. The radio station has to announce its call letters every half hour. When you hear the voice of a man on the radio, it is just a button Donna pushes that makes the announcement. She either has to make the announcement or push the button. We were there three hours but I was surprised how fast it went. The owner wants Donna to volunteer more hours this summer if she can. Anyway, even if we were both tired last night, it was a fun day.

I decided to put a few more words on today. Donna is at school. She will be back soon from her morning class. I will go with her to her afternoon class because she has to be at the radio station by 4pm. She is on Tuesdays now from 4 to 7 instead of from 5 to 7. She is only showing a movie for her classes. She made some treats for her students too. last evening Donna, her neighbor Marge and Marge's dog Mitze and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I did pretty well on the long hill. It was a little breezy but still quite warm when we walked. The sunset last night was so beautiful. I will write later about my radio station experience. I have never been in a radio station before. I miss Debbie, Kent and Erik but I am having a nice time with Donna. I enjoy being around any of my family. I am glad I made the decision to live with Debbie. If I had stayed at Merrill Gardens I would not only been spending all my money there but I know my mind and body would suffer and I would age much faster. If I had taken an apt. downtown then I would really be alone. I just thank my Heavenly Father for my children and all my extended family. I am fortunate to be in good health and I really do enjoy life.

Hi! I am doing my post from Sequim. I am taking pictures here but will put pictures on when I get back home. It was a spur of a moment thing to go to Sequim. Steven and Janet and their children came to Debbie's Friday night. They spent Friday night and Saturday night. One of Janet's sisters was getting married. The Olsons were not part of the wedding thing but Donna came over Saturday to attend a surprise 50th birthday party for the Bishop's wife. It was held at Tiffany Park near where we live. A lot of people came. There was a lot of food as there always is at any picnic or party. I have been wanting to spend some time in Sequim so Donna said why not this week. Donna spent Saturday night and we took off Sunday morning. I went to the ward in Sequim. Their ward starts at 11am. I am going to be here until the 22nd. Donna has a doctor appointment in Seattle that day. Donna got to see Steven and Janet and the kids, which was fun. Yesterday Dan called me and he and Heidi had wanted me to come over for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but I told him I was in Sequim so now they want to me to come over next week. Heidi has Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays off. She works 10 hour days and then gets 4 days off. Then next month Donna and I will do the big trip to the midwest. I do too much gadding around for someone my age. I am not sure I will write anymore until I get home. Maybe I will, I'll see. Have a good week.

Trailer and Laif's pickup loaded and ready to go to Pullman, WA

Michael finishing up his breakfast while his mom and dad are looking over paperwork. Donna is multi-tasking as you can see she is holding a bottle to Hazel's mouth.

Debbie making pancakes for everyone. Erik and Kent are enjoying Debbie's labor of love.

I have not written anything on my blog for a few days so thought I should so you can catch up with what has been happening. The pictures above were taken on Saturday morning, June 6th. Michael, Rachel, Noah and Hazel were moving to Pullman Saturday morning with help from Donna, Laif and Rachel's dad. Since everything was packed up from their apt., they spent Friday night here so that they could get an early start Saturday morning. We will miss them but I know they will be fine.

We had a mini-heatwave here. We had two very hot days. On Wednesday the 3rd, it got to 89 degrees and on Thursday the 4th, it got to 90 degrees. I just love the summer weather. If I get too hot, I just turn on my air conditioner for awhile.

The first real hot day, Wednesday, Heidi came over. She got here about 9am so we could go shopping, etc. We had a great time. I did not get home until almost 3pm. Heidi is like me she loves the hot weather. We just felt like we were in California. I am sure I will see some more hot weather when Donna and I go to the midwest.

Another interesting story. I was talking to one of the younger sisters at Church, Emily. I told Emily about the trip that Donna and I are planning for July and how we are planning to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder museums. She was so excited. She said just a few months ago she started reading the "Little House on the Prairie" books. She had never read them before. She said she started watching the TV series awhile back (all those re-runs) and a friend of hers told her to read the books because they were more factual than the TV series. Besides reading the "Little House on the Prairie" books she said she has started reading some of the books written by Rose Wilder. Emily said now her dream is to go back to the midwest and see the museums. When we get back from the trip, I will have to share some pictures with her.

I had not heard from Diane for so long, it was like she fell off the face of the earth. On her carepage I know she talked about going to Disneyland but I don't think she mentioned her business trip to Orlando, Florida. Richard had picked her and Frank up at the airport after the Disneyland trip and she was only home a few hours and had to get back on a plane to fly to Florida. Her business trip was a week too. I called her Saturday to see what was going on. She says she is still sore but is very tired from all the travel. Diane will probably be starting her Radiation treatments about the 16th.

Tomorrow I plan on going to the Senior Center to the handicraft class. It is nice to get out once in awhile. There are so many more people at the Senior Center than when Clayton and I were going. There was always lots of parking when we went (that was a few years ago) but now the parking lot is almost filled. One of the ladies in the class says she comes at 8:30 so she can find a place to park. The center doesn't open until nine. I am not that dedicated. If I can't find a place to park, I will just go home or shopping or something. Debbie asked me if there was parking on the street. I said yes, but who wants to park on the street. A lot of us old people get weirder as time goes on.

What a beautiful day! Rachel, Michael, Noah and Hazel came by for a bit. They are such a lovely little family. They came to borrow the truck. They will be moving to Pullman Saturday. It is both good and sad. It is sad that they will be so far away but it is good that Michael is going to have a good education and he is so lucky to have such a supportive wife.

I have an interesting little story. Last week I was telling Erik about when Donna and I take our trip to the Midwest that one place we are going to see is Modale, Iowa where my mother was born and raised. I said it was just a small town surrounded by farms. Erik asked if there were any deer there. I said I wasn't sure but when you read the following, I will say Yes, Erik, there are deer in Iowa.

Probably some of you saw the video on the KOMO news on the internet. The caption was "Deer plays leap frog over cop car". The video might still be on the website. Before the video goes on it says "Here's a story that will make you look and think twice. A police officer in Iowa couldn't believe his eyes when a deer jumped across the hood of his patrol car and cleared it. And he might have questioned whether it happened at all, if he didn't have the tape to prove it. "

This amazing video shows the downtown busy street of Indianola, Iowa. I did a little research and found that the town of Indianola has a population of 12,000. As you know some of the places Donna and I want to see are Laura Ingalls Wilder exhibits. Laura Ingalls Wilder museums are big visitor draws throughout the midwest. Interestingly a new grade school was built in 2008 in Indianola and was named the "Laura Ingalls Wilder Elementary School".

Indianola is about 2 hours from Des Moines, Iowa. I am not sure if we will be going anywhere near there. Donna is coming over on the 22nd so we can go over our trip details a little more. I am really excited, not by just the trip but having time with Donna.

It was nice to find a lighter news item. Everyday there is so much sad news. It is certainly tragic about the plane that went down between Brazil and France. I suppose it will take some time before the investigators find what caused it.

This is a picture of my mother and her sisters and her brother and my grandmother in Modale, Iowa. I never knew my grandmother because she died while my mother was in high school. My mother is the second one from the right. I just ran across this picture. I know it doesn't show up too well. Girls were not allowed to wear pants. They had to wear dresses with petticoats underneath. I can remember my mother saying how hot you got in those dresses. My mother and her sisters and her brother used to weed onions in that Iowa heat. She said your dresses would drag through the dirt and you would have to wash your dresses every night. I went to the Senior Center and spent all morning there. In the brochure the class is called "Handiwork Crochet Class" but everyone just brings whatever they want to work on. The class is free. The class is from 9-11:30 on Mondays. I got there about 9:15 and I thought I would just stay for about an hour but I ended up staying until almost 11:30. There were about 30 ladies there. Most of them were crocheting pot holders, hats and other small items. One lady was making a red, white and blue shawl for the 4th of July. A couple of ladies were doing Crewel embroidery. I am doing the "No-Count Cross stitch" Dolphin picture. Everybody kept coming by and saying how pretty it was and wanting to know how I could do such small work. I guess my eyes must be pretty good yet. I think the Crewel Embroidery looks like a lot more work to me.

Dorothy, the lady who wanted me to come was not there. Something must have come up because she says she goes to the Senior Center everyday. I sat next to two ladies, one was Lois and she said this was her first day. She is working on a Crewel embroidery picture and the other lady was Betty. Betty was crocheting a hat. She said she made a mistake a few rows back but she was just going to finish it anyway because it was too much trouble to do it over.

Then I saw Ingrid coming down the hall on her walker and I had to run out and see her. Ingrid lived at Merrill Gardens for awhile when we did. Ingrid is one year younger than me but she looks much older. She is very thin like my mother was but her face is so wrinkled. She left Merrill Gardens because it was too expensive for her and she moved in with her son who has an apt. right by the Senior Center. Ingrid said she comes over everyday for lunch at the Senior Center and comes on Thursday to play Bingo. Ingrid does beautiful embroidery work but she doesn't want to go to the class on Mondays. She used to put some of her embroidered pillowcases in the Beauty Shop at Merrill Gardens to sell.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to visit with the ladies. It will take me a while to remember names. When I left, everyone said be sure and come back Monday. I looked at the lunch menu but it did not look interesting so I just bought me some Taco Time food on the way home.

Saturday after Erik got back from his campout, Kent, Kyle, Erik and I went to the movies. We saw the 3-D picture "Up". It was a cute movie. I really enjoyed it.

Sunday evening we went to the Bellevue South Stake Center for the "Women of Worth" Fireside. We met at the Desler's home first for some refreshments. Debbie just got off the plane and did her quick change act and looked so refreshed. I don't know how she does it. That girl is so busy all the time. I just marvel at her energy. She was my little girl who could never find her shoes and stood in front of the chest of drawers with her eyes closed and crying so her sisters would help her find her clothes. Now she is about the most organized person I know.