Not a Gardener

Azathioprine (Imuran)

2010-09-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Almost fifteen years ago I started having weird symptoms that took my doctors a year to diagnose (Myasthenia Gravis). I think the worst symptom is a combination of fatigue and muscle weakness that feels like the earths gravity has been doubled (if your weight on Earth is 170 lbs then your weight with Myasthenia Gravis is 340 lbs - Yikes!!!) Last year I talked to my Neurologist about doing more to improve my health. He did not want to try any of the non-steroid medications, but wanted me to try IVIG (intravenous immunoglobin - a blood product containing lots of other peoples antibodies). It took 3 months to get my insurance to approve the treatment and during that time my health really declined. By the time the treatments started in February I was spending most of my time sleeping. Eight months later, I am finally starting to feel better. I have been over doing it with fundraising for Matt's science camp, swing dancing on Sundays and gardening. It tires me out, but I bounce back with in a few days. That is a great improvement. I am still getting the IVIG (intravenous immunoglobin) treatments. The IVIG is definitely helping, but it is really expensive and having an IV over night four times a month is kind of annoying(and it makes me very tired for a few days afterward). Yesterday when I went to the Neurologist he suggested I try Azathioprine (Imuran). Originally he said that if I wanted to try this medication I would have to be referred to Stanford or UCLA. I'm not sure why he changed his mind. There have been some recent studies that may have helped convince him. So I guess I am happy, but a little nervous too. I hope this medication helps and that I don't have any side effects. Ten % of people taking Azthioprine (Imuran) for the first time have side effects. The side effects range from flu like symptoms, nausea and diarrhea to rare but serious organ failure and allergic reaction. Longterm there is also an increased chance of skin cancer or lymphoma. But the other 90% have very little trouble and their health is improved. If all goes as planned the IVIG will be tapered off and only used if I have increased symptoms. It takes a year to see results with this new drug, but my health is improved so if I stay the same that is very good. If my blood tests come back OK, I will start the new medication tomorrow.

So say some prayers for me.

Absolutely Hilarious!

2010-09-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

The Great Marshmallow Shoot Out at the Creston Rodeo. The pictures don't do it justice, but I assure you it was absolutely hilarious. We had an area of about 30 feet by 100 feet and 14 hay bails set up as hide outs. The kids "rented" marshmallow guns for $1 and then the fun started. Marshmallows were flying every where. The parents were lined up along one side laughing at the chaos. We had planned to have 5 minute sessions, but it worked out better to give the kids one small bag of marshmallows and then let them pick up the ones off the ground. They played until we got new customers or until they were exausted. They all had a great time. We also sold lemonaid, sweet tea and baked goods.

The shooters we "rented" out were not painted. We left the end unattached so we could bleach them in between rentals. There were some painted ones to sell. The favorite color was "tiger striped" which kind of looked like camoflage. They were just the left over paint. So Wayne had to paint up more for the second day.

We are still selling marshmallow shooters. I even made some gift bags. They do make excellent Christmas gifts. Matt still has the one he got from Jason and Anna a few years back, but it is painted gold now (soon to be striped).

This is the cool old sewing machine that I got for $25. It works really great and has its own cabinet. It needs a new belt for the bobbin winder, but I really like it. It will be perfect for making little gift bags, and some curtains for Matt and Luke's bedrooms.

I will try to be better about up dating this blog. At least now you know what has kept us so busy.

Fifty Years of Marriage

2010-08-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

My parents celebrated fifty years of marriage yesterday. It was a great party in the Atascadero Lake Pavillion with an beautiful view of the lake. My Aunt Collen worked so hard and it really could not have been better. This is the marshmallow fondant cake that Anna made. The picture doesn't do it justice - the flash washed out all of the intricate details. It was fun to see all of the photos that my Aunt found of my parents and my brother and I as kids. The cutest story was one my Mom told of their first kiss.

It is so great to see them in love after all these years.

DEBT FREE!!!!!

2010-07-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

It has been over 18 months since we attended the Dave Ramsey class. As of May we are debt free!(paid off everything except mortgage).

So that puts us on baby step 3 - the fully funded emergency fund of 3 to 6 months expenses. It may be another couple of years before we get that one knocked out as we had some expensive car repairs in May, but we are still building on the baby emergency fund from step1. When we started it seemed almost impossible. We have built up some good habits and now even when I have been sick and not really giving our finances the proper attention we have made it through the month on track. It is so hard not to be impatient, but if we keep at it (and don't borrow for anything) we will continue making progress.

What a great class, I highly recommend it. It will change your future.

http://www.daveramsey.com/fpu

GO YANKEES!!!!!

2010-06-05T05:57:00.000-07:00

Matt's has been playing in the Templeton Youth Baseball League this spring. His team is the Yankees. They were a bit rough at the begining of the season. They lost the first ten games. As their skills grew they began getting a big lead early on which was exciting to see. But they needed more stamina, and had a few disapointing losses as they got tired and the opposing team caught up. Going into the play offs the Yankees were 4th out of 5 teams. The first game against the 5th place Dodgers was a real morale buster. The second game was against the 1st place Angels. One of the few games that the Yankees won during the season was against the Angels, so they knew it was possible.

The game last night was a real nail bitter. They got an early lead 5-1. The Angels fought back and then it was 7-7. The pressure was on both teams. It really could have gone either way. It was very exciting. The Yankees coaches were able to keep the players focused on the great plays they made rather than the mistakes. The last ining the score was 9-8. As the Yankees pitcher grew tired there seemed like there was no way to hold them off. The coach finally put in a new pitcher. A risky move as it usually takes awhile for them to warm up. When they got that third out the crowd went wild.

The Yankees won 9-8.

The last game is today against the 3rd place Giants who already won against the 2nd place Athletics. If the Yankees win today they will finish in 1st place. What a great come back.

GO YANKEES!!!!!!

Apology

2010-05-16T20:34:00.000-07:00

Apology - I have not been very successful in communicating to my friends and familyu what it is like for me to have Myasthenia Gravis. My intention in my last post was not to steal anything. I apologizes for any hurt feelings I have caused. I was actually trying to encourage my family to join the group so they could read the information on the web site. The main comment I got in the past was that they could not view anything with out joining the web site. I was hoping if they saw why it was a great site they would be willing to join. Also to assure them that their information was not going to be used to spam them or sell them anything.

So my effort not only offended the web site, but also assured that my family will not join and there for not really understand what is going on with me. So very unfortunate all the way around.

Good Books

2010-05-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

"The Book Thief", by Markus Zusak

- It was a sad story about a girl whose father was a communist in Nazi Germany. Why did I like it? The colors, the sounds, the poetry of the writing. How words become such a life line to the girl as she learns to read. It is all my favorite, but here are two quotes: "Mistakes, mistakes, it's all I seem capable of at times." (sometimes my life is like that) "You think you're the only one? You think you're the only one?" (yes, yes I do some times). Those quotes probably only make sense to me. There is so much beauty in the sights, sounds, words, relationships in this book all set against the ugly realities that life some times holds. It was captivating.

"Edgar Sawtelle" by David Wroblewski

-It is the story of a boy who can not speak and the dog (Almondine) his parents train to watch over him. Also a tragedy like Macbeth - a greedy person trying to take for himself what someone else has, ending in disaster. I loved every word that described the "smart" dogs and what they were thinking. Do dogs think in such poetic verse? You would have to be a dog lover or have had a beloved pet that is more like your best friend to really love this book or to think that the ending is happy (as the author seems to think). I loved the beauty and poetry of the language. Later I found out it was an "Oprah book pick" glad I did not know that before or I might never have read it.

"How to Train Your Dragon" by Cressida Crowell

Matt and I have been reading these books(there is a whole series). At first I was reading them to him. Now we take turns reading them. Cressida Crowell writes books for small children. The cutest board books. Like "What do we do with the Boo Hoo Baby?" She has a remarkable sense of humor. The dragon books are for older children. Her sharp wit really comes out in the Dragon books. They are silly stories about a Viking boy who is destined to be the leader of his tribe, but he does not look like it just yet. They are very inventive and laugh out loud funny. Better than any other series I have seen written for 9 - 12 year olds. I have enjoyed each one. (The movie uses the basic formula and characters, but is completely different than the books - the movie is good, but not as humorous as the books.)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians a series written by Rick Riordan

-These are fun adventure books written for pre-teens and older. They have a lot of action, but not the beautiful writing I like. Matt, Wayne and I all read them. They are exciting and suspenseful but plainly written. Not sure if all of the mythology in them is correct. Matt and I will have to research it.

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peal Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows

Another book about World War II and its aftermath. It took awhile for this book to draw me in. Eventually I was charmed by the characters and how books drew them together and helped form their friendships. The characters are mostly British. So the humor and emotions are more subtle. Lighter and more hopeful than the first two books on my list.

So this is the best of the new books I have been reading over the last few months. I have been told that I need to go to Parkfield and get a library card there. The librarian is very good at looking at your reading taste and recommending books you will love. I will try to do that some time over the next month. I am always looking for good books to read.

What have you been reading? Anything I might like?

Myasthenia Gravis and IVIG (intervenous immunoglobin)

2010-03-04T09:50:00.000-08:00

I have not been blogging much as my health has not been very good. There are so many things going un-done around here that any time I spend on the computer seems criminal (except for our budget - that is a necessity).

Myasthenia Gravis is an auto-immune disease. Anti-bodies in my system attack the neuro-transmitters to my muscles. This keeps messages from reaching my muscles making my muscles weak and causing general fatigue. Fatigue is really not an adequate word for what I have been feeling the last few months. So I'll just tell you what IVIG is all about.

IVIG comes mostly from plasma donations and a little from recovered blood (the blood donations that are too "old" to be use for transfusions but the proteins are still intact). I have no idea how they pull out just the anti-bodies, but IVIG is basically anti-bodies from over 1,000 people. In the dosage I have been getting my nurse says that each bag(dose) contains anti-bodies from 10,000 to 20,000 people (which is weird to say the least). So my blood is swamped with large amounts of anti-bodies which causes my body to remove anti-bodies (including the ones attacking my neuro-transmitters). My body should then be able to repair the damaged nerves (over time) and my strength should improve.

I have had 6 treatments so far. For each treatment a nurse comes to my house and inserts a catheter into my arm and then a pump pushes the immunoglobin into my veins. Takes about 5-6 hours. So it takes up most of a day between dropping off and picking up Matt and Luke from school. It makes me even more tired (one of the side effects) plus it means I can't get a nap (which I need to be able to take care of Matt and Luke in the evening).

I have been trying to keep my sense of humor and not worry too much about the mess and the work that is not getting done (meals, homework and rides to/from school are mandatory - baths, laundry and clean floors are negotiable -to a point). Of course the negotiable stuff doesn't have to bee done every day, but it does have to get done some time. I try to pace myself so it doesn't pile up. Wayne is very helpful, but it is a lot of work. I feel bad about the things I can't do: the activities the kids miss out on, the PTA (Parent Teachers Association) desperately needs help, the after school track program needs helpers or they may have to cancel the program, Matt and Luke not having friends over very often and all the extra work that Wayne has to do and still things are marginal at best. If only I were healthier.

Well my nurse Marti says that it a little early to see results, but that next month I should see an improvement. I have 12 more infusions to go. (less if they run the pump over night and increase the amount per dose). And I did have the energy to write all of this (of course I am laying back in a recliner and taking a nap when I am done). So I will post again when this all starts to work and I get to do something fun.

Another Marathon

2010-02-16T09:46:00.000-08:00

Now I know two people who are planning on running a marathon this summer. Not sure which one Anna has decided to run, but my sister-in-law Aimee Lyons is running the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon June 6, 2010. Aimee is keeping a blog of her marathon trainig. If you want to see how she is doing with her training or support her fundraising for lukemia research her blog is:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/gat/rnr10/alyonskzk1

Never did get to fullfill that particular dream, so run a few miles for me Anna and Aimee.

Mars Attacks!

2010-01-20T09:09:00.001-08:00

This is Mars. His name fits him. He has taken over our house. He is jealous of Polly so he sleeps all day in Polly's crate and eats her dog food. Weird!!! As I was writing this they were chasing each other around on the couch. Very cute, but I think I need a training device like a water sprayer.

Creston Christmas Tree Lighting!

2009-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

The highlight of the year out here in Creston is the annual lighting of the Christmas tree. Twenty two years ago a tree was planted in front of the old Chapel in Creston. Every year the community gathers to sing Christmas carols, eat chili, eat lots and lots of cookies and wish their neighbors a Merry Christmas.

My camera is really terrible so the pictures are not the best, but here they are. The first is the carriage that gives rides around the town. There was also a flat bed truck for hay ride and singing Christmas carols around the neighborhood. What amazingly yummy cookies. It was hard to wait.

The children sang before the tree was lighted.

Then the candles where lit.

Wow has that tree grown over the years. It is beautiful

Feliz Navidad!

The Birthday Party

2009-12-06T19:35:00.000-08:00

We had a combined party for Matt and Luke. Their birthdays are not exactly close together, but since we are out in the middle of no where it is the only way to get enough kids. Matt had two guests and Luke had four(only because one of his friends brought two cousins which was great). We only had one group get lost. I spotted them on the twisty road behind our property and drove out to guide them in (they drove around for an hour looking for us on the crazy dirt roads of our neighborhood).

The Pinata was fun.Littlest ones go first.
Luke hits the snowman.

Candy flies every where.

The pizza and cup cakes were yummy and the presents were fun.

A fun time was had by all.

Now I am really tired and will be recovering for a week at least.

Holiday Blues

2009-11-30T09:10:00.000-08:00

Tis the season to be blue. It is for me any way. Considering my list of things I am thankful for I really have no right to be blue. It is just something I struggle with every year. What can I do?

1. Dwell on the positive when ever possible. Good things do happen in December.

The Creston Christmas Tree Lighting - hay rides, chili, hot cocoa, a zillion yummy cookies, and singing Christmas carols with about 300 neighbors.
My 16th Anniversary is on Dec 11th
Matt was born Dec 15, 1998
Time to visit with family
Christmas Eve Morning in Creston - yummy cowboy breakfast and a visit from Santa
Celebrate the birth of Christ (He was really born in the Spring but it is great to celebrate)
New Years Eve

2. Get my Christmas shopping done early. (As in this week so if you have any suggestions make them now or I can save the receipts).

3. Take naps and do not get over tired.

4. Listen to classic Christmas Carols.

5. Accept the blues and enjoy the rest.

Got any other suggestions?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T08:16:00.001-08:00

We are having a non-traditional meal this year. No Turkey. We give great thanks to Warren for ordering us tri-tip for the occassion. It has turned out to be a huge amount of food. Yesterday after Wayne picked it up he broke it open at work and they cooked up about five pounds to taste test. He left that for the guys back at the police station to enjoy last night and today. They all thought it was delicious and add their thanks to ours.

Doesn't it look yummy!

We are doing our part for the birds today(sorry cows) . Hope you can read this.

That cartoon reminds me of one of my favorite Thanksgiving memories. Anna, do you remember the year we went out to the Traver's in Carrisa Plains? All day long you and Emily sang the Mr. Turkey Song (over and over and over). It was cute.

Soon t'will be Thanksgiving day, gobble, gobble, gobble.
What does Mr. Turkey say? Gobble, gobble, gobble.
People say that it's such fun, but I think that I will run
And hide until the day is day is done, gobble, gobble, gobble.

We have so many things to be thankful for this year.

- I am thankful for my wonderful husband and my four children.

- I am thankful for Polly. Matt and Luke reall love her.

- I am thankful for Wayne's job (and the fact that he really enjoys his work).

Cal Poly SLO

- I am thankful for my Mom and Dad. It is so nice that they live near by and we get to do fun

stuff with them.

- I am thankful that my I have slept pretty well this last week and feel relatively enegetic. ( Enough that Matt got to have two friends spend the night this week and Luke got to have his friend over twice).

- I am thankful for God's gift of natural beauty.

For example Big Sur (in honor of your marathon)

Devil's Bathtub near Mono Hot Springs. (my favorite camp spot)

And Morro Bay (favorite local view)

Hope you guys are finding lots of things to be thankful for and having fun traveling.

Halloween Templeton Style

2009-11-19T20:50:00.001-08:00

Some how these photo's didn't make it in the Oct/Nov post. Just as well I guess as it was so long. Also missing was a few shots of the surf spot near where we camped. I'm leaving those for your Dad so he can tell the story.

Some friends of ours are seriously into decking out for Halloween. Every year they do a haunted house in their garage and a cemetery in the front yard. They moved to a new neighborhood and weren't sure how many people would come by so we said we would come by and see it.

Don't say Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice or he will show up.

Watch out or the lady of the cemetary will scare you.
There were over 20 tombstones. I couldn't get pics of them all.

Inside there were aliens and spooks (one of them was your Dad).

What is up with the headless guy?

There was a lot more too. Under neath the table where your Dad took up residence were helpers who would grab your ankle when you least expected it. After we hit up some of the houses Matt and Luke hid under there and helped out too. When I came through they got me. It was so unexpected. The turn out was large. They really did not need to worry at all. There were swarms of kids and many from other areas came in. Not sure what to do next year. Every one but me is all psyched to go back. I have some reservations about the spooky Halloween stuff, but I think I'm going to loose this battle. At least they will go aroundwith me in Creston first. I like it because it is so much more family friendly.

October and November

2009-11-19T12:45:00.000-08:00

This is our lawn doesn't it look great! Well that's cause you can't see all the weeds from this angle. The plugs are quite small still and the weeds fill in the rest. At least it looks green.

My Birthday.

Luke's Birthday!

The redwood trees up in the Santa Cruz mountains.

Grandma Diane showing off Bennie's ears. Yeah, they let the dogs on the train.

A neighbor at our campground had her bunny along. I guess bunnies like camping.

Luke chowing on camp food by the fire.

Time for smores!

This is us on the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. We got cotton candy at the shop in the background.

Grandpa dog sitting while we checked out the houses right on the beach. I wonder how often they get flooded?

It was cloudy, but relatively warm.

Halloween Creston style. This is the gathering at the Creston Garden where the kids load up on candy, eat hot dogs, cookies and cupcakes. Later we came back for hot cocoa and coffee. The Garden Club sponsers all of this for free. Very sweet of them. The pic is Grandpa, Luke as a Storm Trooper, and Matt as a Little Leager.

We had visitors the begining of the month. This is Lily, Brian Toney (your Dad's cousin), Sue (Brian and Rosies Daughter) Wayne (Dad) in back of Rosie (Brian's Wife), Matt, and Luke in front. They came out for lunch and we got to hear all about what is going on back in Minnisota. Sue heard about our missing cat and offered to send us one of her many barn cats. We sure could use on for all the mice and gophers we have. It was great to see them. I am so impressed that they drove all the way out here. We were shocked to hear that Lily was in the hospital at the begining of September due to some small strokes. She looked great when she was here, so pray for her to stay healthy.

This is Bubbles our little hampster that passed away. We miss her.

The Spiders keep coming. This is one inside an aquarium. Luke took it to school and the kids loved it. Our weather has all come late. It hasn't frozen at night yet. So the spiders haven't started to hibernate yet.

The airplane is progressing. It is really cool how the wings fold up.

Regular or Unleaded?

2009-10-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have a really funny story for you.

We had a great time on our camping trip (pictures come later). But a storm came in so we had to leave a day early (I would have complained but the night before with zero wind a tree fell right behind us and they were expecting high winds). We were really tired so it was nice to have a day at home to rest. Your Dad got up and took the boys to school so I could sleep in. When he came home he laid down and slept most of the day (I was a little worried). The next morning he had a late start so he got up with the boys again. When I came down stairs he was sitting in a chair looking really miserable. He was very tired and his head hurt. When I told my Mom she said "It must be swine flu". He sat there trying to will himself to get going. No luck. But he couldn't call in sick. This was SWAT training day. They had planned a five hour shooting range, an FBI class and a night time assault on the AMTRAK train. He would be out until midnight. How painful.

So I got him some Advil liquid gel caps and some vitamins. And he swallowed those down hoping they would help. Then I started putting away the dry goods from our camping trip. As I was unpacking I found the coffee. Why was it still in the box? Did we have two bags? He's been making coffee every morning. What has he been drinking? I find this large bag of coffee - same blue bag - says Kirkland, House Blend, Roasted by Starbucks Coffee Co. It looks good. Until I see the word DECAFFEINATED. Yes, he has been drinking decaf for two days. No wonder he looks like he is going to die.

He was out in the garage getting ready, so I put on a pot of coffee. When he came in and I told him he looked so relieved. He no longer wishes he was dead. The cure is at hand.

He called me later. What a difference. The training was a blast, but after he got home at midnight he had to get up at 6am the next morning for his regular shift. Which was so much easier to do with REAL coffee to drink.

Aprender Español

2009-09-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hola Jason y Anna,

Estoy aprendiendo español gratis en mi computadora a través de la biblioteca local. Usé su herramienta de traducción para hacer esto. Yo no soy muy bueno todavía.

Amor,

Mamá

In English that is:

Learning Spanish

Hi Jason and Anna, I am learning Spanish for free on my computer through the local library. I used their translation tool to do this. I'm not very good yet.

Love,

Mom

Creston Family Dance

2009-09-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday from 5pm - 8pm Matt, Luke and I went to the Creston Family Dance. Your Dad had a football game at Cal Poly so he couldn't come with us. It started out with a riding and shooting demonstration. Three riders competed for the best time. In between shooters the 4H kids ran out and put up new balloons, which was very cute. They use blanks in the guns and have to get with in 6 feet of the balloons for them to break when they shoot. It was really fun to watch how skilled they are. Dinner was tri-tip sandwiches and hamburgers. Yummy. One little boy brought his match cars and all the boys took turns shooting them off of one of the tables to see how far they would go(which made the whole night for Luke). Then we played "Cow Plop Bingo". They have a small corral that is painted with numbered squares. We picked a number between 1 and 30 (ours was 24). Then they let the cow out of a trailer and into the corral. The cow "plopped" right away so it was not as exciting as Matt and Luke hoped. She hit #18 so we lost.

Then the dancing started. There were not as many dancers as I expected. They did some instruction, but it was pretty informal so I wasn't able to follow it all that well. The highlight of this part was the jail. They had a Sheriff (a 7th grader dressed up) round up the misbehaving kids and put them in a small jail. Then the parents had to bail them out. They were raising funds for the Community Center. Matt and Luke spent quite a bit of time in there. Matt escaped once. They really enjoyed the jail for some reason and said they definitely want to come back next year. I want to come back, but think I ought to get some dancing lessons. I forgot to bring my camera so I don't have any pictures.

Hamster Invasion

2009-09-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

Meet Cupcake and Bubbles. They live on Matt's new dresser. Friday while I was at the Post Office I saw a neighbor of ours. She asked if we wanted a couple of hamsters. Your Dad was with me so we asked him. He thought it would be fine. So later that day the hamsters complete with home, water bottle, food, bedding and hamster balls were delivered. Aren't they cute!
We only allow them to run in their ball down stairs. It makes it easier to clean up after them.

Matt is trying to get Bubbles to hold still for the camera.Luke is holding Cupcake.

They are sisters and both are very sweet. They are a little messy as rodents tend to be. Getting them out of their cage is a challenge. They were taught to stand up and beg for treats so when you put your hand in they bite. We have gotten around this by putting the ball in the cage. They love the balls so they jump right in. Then once they are out we can pour them into our hands and no biting(well mostly anyway). They have been a lot of fun and the price was right (free).

Tada!!!!!

2009-09-08T19:52:00.000-07:00

Luke is showing off his newly refurbished room. The painting is finished, the furniture is moved and Grandma got him a Star Wars comforter and curtains. This is his old book shelf (remember painting it before Matt was born?) and his train set that he had before has more room now.

Matt got the "big" (full size) bed in his room. I hope he knows that he will have to give it up and sleep in the bunk bed with Luke when we have company. Right now I think he is just delighted to have his own room.

His most cherished addition is now on the dresser pictured above and can be seen in the next post.

Luke's Friend

2009-09-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Luke was very excited to learn that we have a new neighbor. He got to go to Eddie's house and play last week. So now there are four first grade boys in our neighborhood including Luke. Of course they are all about a mile away but for the middle of nowhere that is as good as it gets. They had so much fun that Eddie came to our house a few days latter, but I forgot to get a picture.

Now all we need is some fifth grader's for Matt to hang out with. There are only eight kids in the fifth grade class and four of them are boys (including Matt). Matt's closest friend is about 12 miles away. So it is a bit of a challenge to hang out after school. Luckily they are going to have sports activities 2 days a week after school starting next month.

Did anyone get the license plate # of that truck?

2009-09-08T19:17:00.000-07:00

This was my view of the grass planting. Bent over crawling in the mud with hair in my eyes. Oh, what fun times. We split it up into four planting sessions of about 2 hours each which doesn't sound like much when you put it that way, but it wore me out. I would feel like a total wimp except Wayne was hobbling around like an old man for two days himself.The good part about my job was that I did not have to bend over and get up as much as Matt did. We sure couldn't have done it with out his help.

So now I feel like I have been hit by a truck. It may be a few weeks before I fully recover. But it is nice to have the grass all planted. It has only been four days, but it seems like it is growing already. We totally lucked out. The blazing hot weather has subsided to a mere 92 degrees and is expected to stay that way for awhile. Perfect weather for sprouting a new lawn. While at night it gets down to the low 60's. So I have been leaving the windows open at night (I love the cold) and it stays below 70 in the house until late afternoon when the air conditioning kicks in.

Happy Birthday Anna!

2009-08-26T15:25:00.001-07:00

Hey Anna - Look what Matt made you for your birthday. Luke and Matt have graciously volunteered to eat it for you and let you know how it tastes. Doesn't it look yummy? There are two yellow candles and five pink candles to make 25. Congratulations on being officially one quarter of a century old.

We all love you and hope you have a great day.

Little Town of Creston

2009-08-26T13:56:00.000-07:00

After we took the pics of the school we took a few of the rest of Creston. This is the sanctuary of the Creston Church. It is right across the street from the school office. If you look closely you can see benches on the front porch. If it is cooler weather there are lap blankets for the people who sit out on the porch (they really start at about 8:45AM and we struggle to get there by 9AM so we tend to be out on the porch a lot). This is the orginal old church building. From this angle it is just to the left of the sanctuary. They still have special events in the old chapel. It is really cute.

This is a front view of the old chapel with the new sanctuary in the background. At Christmas they decorate the tree in front.
This is the inside of the Sanctuary. It holds around 250 people (plus probably another 20 sit out on the porch. They keep the double doors open and have a speaker outside so we can see and hear what is going on in the service.

Across the street from the school (opposite the commemorative bell) is the public library. It is small, but the kids love it. Our librarian is very sweet. She has a candy dish for the kids.

After school some times we go to the store to get a treat.

Right next to the store is the Post Office where we get our mail. We are in the no-zip code zone and would have to put our mail box about 3 miles from our house, so we have a PO Box instead.

This is the view from the road out in front of the store and Post Office. To the left is the local Pub and on the right is the old black smith shop that is still maintained for historic reasons.

Hope you enjoyed your picture tour of the little town of Creston.

Creston Elementary - First Day of School

2009-08-26T13:24:00.000-07:00

Since you have never seen Matt and Luke's school here is a little photo tour on the first day of back to school. This is in front of the front gate. There is a nice tree in the center court yard in front of the cafeteria.
This is the playground equipment. The pool in the background was free and open all summer. The pool is not heated so it needs to be quite hot to be enjoyable.It is closed now which is very sad for us as it is still warm.

This is the front office (where we have to go if we are late)

as all the gates are locked at 8:20 AM.

This tree is between the office and the front gate in the first pic.

This is the side entrance to the courtyard and cafeteria. The bell commemorates the original school house. It has a nice ring and is very loud. It is quite a challenge to keep the kids from ringing it for fun (which is frowned on).

Hope you enjoyed our tour of Creston Elementary.

This year Luke is in first grade and Matt is now in fifth grade. We just got Matt's test scores for last year. Not sure what to do with that child. In Math he got 600 out of 600 in Math and 587 out of 600 in English. He was better than 100% of other 4th grade students in every category except Writing Strategies(he only did better than 93%). Not sure how you challenge some one with those kinds of scores. He is in a 5th/6th class this year and has a great teacher - Mr. Perruzi who really pushes the kids so I guess he won't get bored. So far they have been loving being back at school.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Art!

2009-08-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

So Wednesday was your(Anna's) Grandpa Art's Birthday. Matt and Luke loved how silly he was being.
We had pizza and then cake.

Grandma Diane - Matt - Grandpa Art - Luke

Grandpa was telling us about all the strange accidents he has seen lately while he has been out on the road for work. Lots more than most people see in a year (or two years). We were glad he made it home safe and sound for the party.

Oh, No!

2009-08-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

While Wayne was cooking the Ciopino for Barb. I went to return the movies we rented the night before, and boy was it hot. Unfortunately the air conditioning was no longer working. What a disaster. Fortunately in New Mexico they sell the coolant refills at the Auto Zone. So when I got back I finished up dinner and your Dad(Wayne) charged up the A/C. We had a yummy dinner and went to bed early. The guys woke up early (as they did every day) and played on the computer and watched TV.

Here is a shot that Zach took of Gabe on the couch.While we were packing the guys found a horny toad in Barbara's cactus garden.

After chasing it around and around under that stickery bush Jackson grabbed it. Here he is wiping all the burrs off. He also got some nasty cuts on his hands from the thorns.

Luke wanted to see either a scorpion or a horny toad and talked about it for hours on the way in the car so it was really great that he finally got to see one before we left.

This is the clan on their front porch. (Jackson - Barbara - Gabriel)

I took this shot of everyone just as we were leaving. We had so much fun it was hard to say good bye.

With the A/C blasting we set out for Lake Havasu City, AZ. It was a long drive, and when we arrived we were hot and tired. We stayed at the cheap Motel 6, which we hoped had a pool. It was clean and comfortable and really cheap, but unfortunately the pool was closed. Very sad. So instead of swimming, we watched a little TV and went to bed.

The next day when I went out to bring back coffee I found this cute little beach at the London Bridge Park. This is a shot of your Dad fixing the A/C again. This time with a special coolant plus stop leak.

It was a really nice park.

Although it was only around 10AM it was already getting hot so the water felt great.

Here is the beach.

The guys kept playing while I took Poly to the dog park.

This is the nicest dog park I have ever seen. I guess it gets too hot in the area not to have grass. One of the ladies walking her dogs said that in Palm Springs they have booties in all different sizes for the dogs feet, due to the frying hot pavement. We Americans sure love our dogs.
Behind us is the London Bridge.

It seems so weird that they dismantled the London Bridge and moved it to Arizona, but it was interesting to see.

After our fun morning we took off for home.

Luke was an absolute angel in the car. Ha! Ha!

The Mohave Desert was hot, hot, hot!

Good thing we had A/C and saw it all going by at 65 mph.

When we finally made it home Polly and Benjamin were so happy to see each other they stood on their hind legs and sniffed each other. It looked like they were hugging. Very cute but I didn't get my camera fast enough. So here they are together again.

It was a great trip.

The Transformation

2009-08-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

This is Barbara's Saturn. It needed a new radiator and a new hood. Your Dad fought with it for quite awhile trying to get the new radiator in, he finally had to lay in the ground underneath it to reach the bolts.While he slaved away. The boys and I went to the pool. During the break Zach tried to throw cat cookies into Matt's mouth. Ready, aim, fire.

Look he got one.

Yummy!

Break time is over, back in the pool.

Matt is going off the high dive.

Geronimo!

Matt and Gabe waiting to jump.

Gabe's going to dive.

Zach, Matt, Gabe, and Luke play tag.

While we played, your Dad kept on working. His back was covered with dirt by the time we got back.The transformation is complete, the conquering hero is successful. All his hard work payed off.

That night we stayed in and watched movies and ate pizza and junk food. Tomorrow is our last day. We plan to hang out, make Barb dinner and get ready to head out.

La Posta De Mesilla

2009-08-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

Hi - Jason and Anna -

All of this may be more than you are interested in, but my parents are following along to see how the trip is going and I want to make sure they get to see the pictures right away. Also I won't have much time when we get back as school is starting and our house was a bit messy when we left. So you may not hear from me for awhile.

Any ways last night we went out on a date (your dad and I). Went to that really cute Mexican food place I mentioned earlier. They had the best food. The menu wasn't much different than any other Mexican restaurant, but it was sooooo much better than anything I have had around our place. I wonder what the difference is? The wait was a little bit long, but the lobby with the birds and fish was so fun we didn't mind. It was nice to just sit in the tranquility (five boys can be quite loud - 3 of ours and 2 of Barbs). Barb was so good to let us go. While we were waiting we got to read about the history of the town. Actually it is not Old Town Las Cruces, but Mesilla. It was the largest town between Dallas and CA way back in the 1850's. The town was the major supplier for the military. In 1851 Billy the Kid was caught tried and hanged right across from the restaurant where we ate (La Posta used to be the Mesilla post office). Unfortunately they did not want the railroad in 1880 and it went through Las Cruces 5 miles away. So the town died out, which is really fortunate for historians as it means that all the historic buildings remained intact as the area grew. After dinner we walked along the square and listened to some music from an open patio restaurant on the plaza. Very peaceful. We even saw a police car marked Mesilla Marshall. It seemed funny as the place is so small, but tradition dies hard I guess.

I forgot to mention it before, but the weather has been really great. Yesterday during our hike it was only 85 degrees in the middle of the day. It seems a little warmer to day but not bad at all. Especially considering it is probably over 100 back in Creston.

Today your Dad is replacing the radiator and installing a new hood on Barbara's Saturn. I will try to get the boys out again. Maybe we will go to the pool. If I get any pictures I will post them tomorrow.

Dripping Springs

2009-08-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

Dripping Springs is a nice 3 mile hike (round trip) into the mountains. The views are lovely.

Here are the guys as we set out.

Van Patten's camp was a resort in the late 1800's up near the springs. I don't know if you can tell from the picture bellow, but it was a lot bigger back then. The trail is so rough that they must have come up on horse back.

Here is the "resort" now.

Luke had me chasing all the bugs trying to get a picture, this was the only one I could catch.

Luke is taking a break.

This was up past the resort. It is a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients.

Up at the top was the little damn and the water for the resort. Not drinkable any more though.

Luke, Gabe and Wayne up on the look out point.

Taking a break on the way back down.

After the hike we headed home for lunch.

I am just killing time right now waiting for Barb to get back. Wayne and I are going out to dinner at that yummy Mexican food restaurant. I can't wait.

Your Aunt Barbara's House

2009-08-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

These are the mountains that you can see from your Aunt Barbara's house. This is the view from the front of the house.

This is the front porch.

This is Dad enjoying the amenities at Chateau Lyons.

Chef Barbara cooked bacon, eggs, pancakes and coffee.

Yummy!

Jackson (left) and Gabriel (right) in the living room.

They have a pet ferret. She is really sweet.

Barbara has double wide mobile home on 2 1/2 acres of land. The layout is very open so it feels really roomy.

Next is our hike.

University of New Mexico

2009-08-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is where Barbara works at UNM.Inside Barb's office. The chicken in the back is holding a sign that says "Feeling henpecked? Have a chocolate".

Barb's office door. The sign reads " Certainty of death, small chance of success, what are we waiting for? Good "Mad Scientist" Motto don't you think?

This is the lab where all the "Mad Scientist" work is done. There was another picture of an odd machine that looked a bit like a milker, but it didn't come out. They use that machine to MRI a molecule they are studying. I think it is called spectroscopy (sp?)- very technical and over my head.

This large display was in the corridor. It details their breast cancer research.

Matt's favorite spot was the tree out front.

This is a giant sun dial. Not sure if it works as it was cloudy.

This is old town Las Cruces. This church was on one end of a square surrounded by one story historic adobe buildings. Inside the adobe buildings you can see how the roof was made. There are small branches woven with reeds to form the roof. There was also a fun little Mexican food restaurant. It has an atrium in the middle with parrots, macaws, and tropical fish on display. Luke especially liked the Parana.

It has been there since 1852.

Barbara says the the rain came early this year and is mostly over. But we did get some sprinkles in the evening and a lightening storm could be seen from her front porch.

I couldn't get a picture of any really impressive lightening strikes.

Today we are going on a hike in the mountains near by. Jackson and Gabriel came home last night so they are going with us. So I can get some pictures of them today.

Desert Here We Come!

2009-08-06T10:23:00.000-07:00

So after all the fun at Legoland we were on the road again. We wanted to get close enough to Barb's to make the last part in one day. That meant driving 3 1/2 hours to our hotel. What a shock we got. About half way between Palm Springs and Blythe I started feeling drafts of hot air. When I touched the window it was blazing hot (at 9:30 at night). Weird. When we got out at the rest stop it was like being blasted by a furnace. Things were not looking good. Fortunately by the time we reached our hotel (11:20 PM) it was a lot cooler (90 degrees) What a relief.

I posted some pictures on the blog while the guys slept in a bit. We explored the lovely city of Blythe while waiting for the pool to open. Here are Zach and Matt playing pool baseball. Luke found an interesting water gun at the local dollar store. You attach a bottled water to the end and it pumps out a long stream of water. He thought it was great.

When I saw this covered wagon I was struck by how very small it is. We were saying how long the trip is and we were in a car and didn't have to bring all our food and everything along. How did they do it in one of these.

This looks like a park or something with the cool buggies and wagons, but it was just a gas and food rest stop off the Hwy in eastern Arizona.

Well it was long and tiring, but we finally made it to Las Cruces. I slept really well on Barb's comfy bed. And we are going to see the University of NM where she works and old town Las Cruces today.

More pictures later.

Legoland 2

2009-08-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

This is the cool play structure. It has a castle theme. Wouldn't it be great to have one of these in our back yard. There sure is enough room.The water play area was really great when it warmed up in the afternoon. Up above your Dad and Luke is a giant bucket that fills and then dumps down on the people below.

The next one is Luke fighting the evil Lego-Darth Vader. R2D2 is helping.

The dinosuars were really great too. Look this one is Luke's best friend.

This is Polly wishing she had stayed home. The kennel was cool and comfortable, but she was really afraid due to being away from home. We took her with us mostly because it would have been a lot of work for my parents. Polly and their dog Bengamin get along great, but two dogs is more than twice the work it is more like four times the work.

Well we are off to Barbara's now.

Mini Land

2009-08-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

Our first stop in Legoland was Mini Land. Look it is Mount Rushmore built out of legos. This is lego-New York. They even have the partialy built Freedom Tower. The head in the picture is Zach.

They have the entire Las Vegas Strip - all in legos. I wish I could remember how many thousands of legos they said they had to use.

They had the Paris France Eiffel Tower out of legos, but this is the Las Vegas Eiffel tower in legos.

We were laughing about tearing up the town like Godzilla. They did a great job of making it look just like the origional.

Here is Matt and Luke with San Francisco in the background.

They called it Legowood, but didn't have a duplicate of Hollywood any where I guess they ran out of Legos.

The Daytona speed way had little cars that the kids could race each other with. Luke love all the minis.

And this was just our first stop in Legoland.

San Diego

2009-08-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

We found a great dog friendly hotel in San Diego - the Comfort Inn. It was really great.Zach enjoyed the inter-net access so he could contact some friends in the area. He went out to the Olive Garden and to the movies with some ladies. The rest of us enjoyed swimming.

And the jacuzzi was nice too.

We stayed in our room and watched Shrek III on HBO and got to bed early. Who knows when Zach came in he did great at being extra quiet and didn't wake anyone up. Loved the breakfast. They had make your own belgium waffles. Yumm.

After breakfast I took off Polly's leash for just a minute to get a picture and off she went out the back door, off he patio and away. (I really do need to spend more time training her. She's just not used to being away from the ranch. She is scared of everything. She has only gone potty once so far as she doesn't like going on leash and she barks at everyone.) So, she ran off and I couldn't find her. Fortunately there were some homeless people in the field down the way and they helped me find her and round her up. But then I had to chase her around while she barked at the guys helping me. So annoying as she kept running toward the road. I finally cornered her in a fenced in area and then she let me catch up. I am so thankful that those guys helped me. What a relief. I thought we had lost her for good.

Now we are going to pack up and head off to Legoland. So we will add more pictures latter.

Good Dog!

2009-07-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Polly is finally trained on the radio electric dog fence. Hurray! It has been a lot more difficult than I imagined. Self-control is very hard for a 10 month old pup to learn. She learned the boundaries right away, but ran through the fence quite a few times and got shocked when other dogs or people came to the house. Now she usually stops 20 ft or so away(she doesn't like to get too close) and sits down. Good dog! Next week we are off to Legoland and then on to Barbara's in Las Cruces, NM. It will be fun to get out of the house, but I am not looking forward to all that time in the car. I will try to take some pictures of Barbara's house so you can see it. Also of Jackson and Gabriel, they are growing up fast you might not recognize them. This is the monsoon season so it will be wet and a little cooler (it is still hot though). I am interested to see the sights there. New Mexico is called the land of enchantment.

By the time we get home we will have a week or so to get ready for school. Where did the summer go? Matt and Luke are not ready to go back yet, but I am secretly looking forward to it.

The next picture is of Zach out surfing with your Dad. They try to get out once a week. Zach is volunteering at the amputee surf camp in Pismo in mid-August. Not sure if I can get pictures of that or not. Sounds like it will be a lot of fun.
We have loved seeing your vacation photos. Looks like you had an entertaining time even with Jason getting the flu. Glad to hear you are back to school and both healthy.

My garden (or yeah! some things have survived!)

2009-07-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

I am not much of a gardener, but when you live out in the middle of now where on ten acres of thorns and thistles you have to at least try. Here is one of my favorite flowers that seems to be able to survive out here in the heat and dry clay soil. It is some kind of galardia. The holly hocks are another favorite that can live out here. There are a lot of colors. So far I only have burgundy, dark red and pink. I saw some really pretty clear red ones in Cambria and bought some seeds. Down the road on Hwy 41 there are some white ones growing wild. So if I can get them to grow I will go for the whole rainbow (white, pink, peach, clear red, dark red, purple, burgundy).

This next picture is my lawn. You have to use a lot of imagination, but if you look really hard you will see the beginnings of a really nice lawn. See it. O.K. you probably can't see the sprinkler heads in this picture. With the sprinklers in all we need is a layer of top soil some fertilizer and the grass plugs. It will be UC Verde Buffalo Grass, which only needs 1/2 inch of water per month.

Oh, by the way it has been hot, hot, hot here.

Do you recognize this room?

2009-07-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

The furniture may look familiar, but do you recognize this room?

Last time you saw it the paint was a creamy coffe brown and there was a bunch of junk in it from our storage room. Now it is Matt's room. He picked out the colors and helped paint it. Right now he is still sharing a room with Luke until we can paint their old room and divide up the furniture. That is not going to be easy. There was a full size bed in this room before and everyone wants it. Matt figures it should go with the room, Zach says he is bigger and needs a bigger bed(I thought he was only staying a couple of months) and Luke thinks that he should have the big bed because his room is a bit bigger. I think I'll let your Dad decide as it is looking a bit like WWIII.

I have to say that I totally over did it during the painting and I am still recovering. All of my muscles are either sore or numb(just totally dead, unresponsive and feel numb). I think I will let Matt and Zach do more of the work on Luke's room (he is getting the same colors but with waves on the top of the dark blue).

Stay tuned to find out how the battle is resolved. Hopefully a peaceful solution will be found.

SNOOPY COME HOME!!!!

2009-07-24T10:10:00.001-07:00

Snoopy has been missing for over a week now. He must have gotten outside at night. I don't remember him being out all night, but it must have happened. The official story is that he found a new better home out in the country and some day maybe he will come back for a visit. But if you tell that story to Luke he will say "No way, he got eaten by coyotes. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!" Ugh! What a horrible thought. So I am sticking to my story and hoping Snoopy will come home. Anyone who knows Snoopy will recognize that look. All received it. He was a cat's cat. This is his softer sweeter side (He did have one although most wouldn't know it).

Snoopy was tolerant and well loved.

We miss him terribly.and say "SNOOPY COME HOME!" Last night the coyotes were quite close singing loudly. I yelled out the window "Go away!" Wayne thought I had gone crazy. I just hope those old coyotes got indigestion.

2009-07-04T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hey Anna and Jason - I don't know if you were able to view the airplane pictures I sent. I thought this might be an easier way for you to see what is happening back home while you are exploring in Chile. Zach inspired me by having me take pictures for his facebook page. And your Dad walked me through getting this started. I don't quite have the hang of it yet. But here is my best shot at blogging.

Here is a shot of your Dad on Father's Day. Yummy BBQ.

This next one is of Luke and a friend at Star Farms the little lake I wrote you about. Matt and Luke had so much fun they didn't want to leave.

Yesterday we had a family beach trip. This bird was very tame. He had a fish hook caught in his bill. Thankfully the people next to us captured him and took out the hook and all the fishing line wrapped around him. Matt and Luke are trying to feed him chips.

This is the whole gang out at Pismo Pier. Zach caught his first wave. Matt tried it and with some help rode a wave standing up. Luke just rode on his tummy. They all had wet suits so I rented one too so I could try it.

So it was a surfing day all around.

We ended our day by cooking some Chiopino. Your Dad has really perfected the recipe. We used Mahi, shrimp and a shell fish combo all from Trader Joe's and fresh spices from the back yard and he cut out some of the butter to make a yummy dish that is not too rich. He will have to cook some up for you when you get back.

Oh and for a really funny picture check out Zach's Facebook page. His first photo home he looks like a mountain man as he hadn't shaved in four months.

Hope you guys are having fun in Chile.