Busy, busy, busy??

Well another two weeks have passed and it seems we've been busy, busy, busy, but for some reason haven’t accomplished anything.

The weekend of August 8, 9 & 10 was Ken’s “multi-year” high school reunion (47 years for him). This was a special reunion hosted by the class of 1958 who invited other classes from past years to attend. Several hundred people accepted, and a good portion of them showed up Friday evening (8th) at the Knights of Columbus hall for the first get together and for pictures of the individual classes. It was a hot humid evening, but still so much fun to see all those folks from the various classes.

This is who was present from Ken’s class of ’61.

Saturday, there was a river/dinner cruise and a sock hop ("senior" prom) later that evening at the high school. On Sunday, after Mass, we attended a pot-luck picnic. As the heat grew and the weekend ebbed, the attendance dwindled, but we still had a great time and got to see several class mates that Ken hadn’t seen since high school, plus many more from classes that were before and behind him. Now, I have my 50th coming up in two years (YIKES, has it really been that long??).

The next week, we had several days of super hot and humid days (triple digits). We didn’t feel like it, but we had work to do around our friend’s place and get things ready to move to storage. All we could manage was a couple hours during the mornings because of the heat and humidity (the hottest we have had all summer). We have about half of the furniture and lots of boxes moved out, but still have sooooo much more to do before we are able to put the property up for sale.

Saturday the 16th, we had a family get together to wish our nephew (Chris) a safe and healthy deployment to Iraq. He is in the Army and will soon be deployed to Camp Anaconda in Bagdad. We truly appreciate what these young men are doing in the service of our country and pray they all remain safe and healthy during this trying time. God Bless Chris and everyone in his unit who are leaving soon!! We love and respect all of you guys!!!

Sunday after Mass, we went to a Geocaching Picnic and had a fantastic time. Ken took his extra geo-coins and was able to trade and sell some of them. Thankfully, it was a cooler day, but the humidity was still high. In fact there were thunder storms coming up from the south and moving over the Cascades which kept the sun behind clouds for most of the day. Thankfully, we didn't get any rain. We were at the picnic until about 4 pm, then got some caching done on the way back to Salem. All in all, it was a fun, but tiring day.

Monday came the rain and much cooler temps. It is supposed to stay cool with scattered showers till the end of this week, but after that the temps will once again rise....hopefully in the 80s and not much higher.

Our next big outing will be when we go to Alaska and hopefully catch those elusive Salmon (grin).

In the blink of an eye!

It’s so amazing how life can change in the blink of an eye. Just this last week, we watched the sad news story about a small airplane crashing into a vacation home located in the Oregon coastal town of Gearhart. Five people were killed: the pilot and passenger in the plane and three children in the house. A mother and two more of her children escaped with severe burns, but they are alive. That mother also lost one other child in that fire/crash. Earlier that morning the parents of the other two children who died in the house, had gone out on an early morning walk and returned to find their lives changed forever. Our hearts and prayers go out to those families who lost so much in that “blink of an eye.” We tend to complain about our problematic lives, but they seem so trivial compared to what those families are now going through. We all must count our blessings and be thankful for our lives and health.

While we were camping over the 4th of July, I received an email about a friend who had died. I had worked with “Don” for 28 years at Moore Business Forms, and it was quite a shock to hear that he had passed away. Again our hearts and prayers are with his wife and family during this sorrowful time

One piece of happy news is my beautiful “older” sister turned 80 last month. Thank God, she is doing well and staying happy and healthy (even in her old age…. LOL). Vonna, I love you and wish you many, many, more birthdays!!

Since our elderly lady friend passed away in May, Ken has been working with an attorney on her will and getting her house and property placed in probate. She had several bequests in her will, and once all the paper work is done, he will be spending more time on those. Oregon’s probate process can last from 4 months to much longer, so we aren’t holding our breath on getting this finished any time soon. There is so much to do in and around her “dilapidated” house that we can’t get it all done before we head back to Arizona in October.

Time is running out for us because there is so much going on in the next couple months. This weekend, Ken has a high school multi-year class reunion. We hear there are several hundred alumnae from Sacred Heart and Serra High Schools attending. It is going to be a busy weekend with all the activities that are planned.

On Labor Day, we drive to Seattle, then early the next morning fly to Yakutat, Alaska for our annual Salmon fishing trip. This year Ken’s brother, Richard (Dick) and a friend (Bob) from Boise, Idaho will be going with us. This is going to be Dick’s third time to Yakutat, but for Bob, it will be his first (sure hope he enjoys it as much as we do).

Right after we get home from Alaska, there is a Monaco RV Rally at the Oregon State Fairgrounds (Sept. 21 through Sept. 25). We will have the coach parked there, but plan on spending the nights here at home (only a couple miles away). A couple days after the rally, we are scheduled to have the coach in Junction City for some remodeling work on the front cabinets. If all goes well, we plan on heading to Arizona the second week of October.

Like I said earlier, we are running out of time!