We’ve only just begun….

We left home about 10 days ago with mixed feelings of excitement and apprehension. I have never not seen my kids for 2 months. Life at home is pretty great too. Part of me wanted to say never mind. But I knew I couldn’t do that, we may never have the chance again. The first few nights were spent with a few of our closest friends who spoiled us with anniversary dinners. We then headed to Oregon to spend time with my mom. I hadn’t seen her in over a year because of COVID. We had a great week with her. She is such a crazy fun old lady who doesn’t seem old at all. She is 79 years old and she hauls bricks around her property to build random fire pits and BBQ’s. She climbs ladders to paint the house, she climbs trees with chain saws to prune them. She got on this camera kick a few years ago and bought about 100 of them. So whatever you are doing anywhere in the house or on the property your being recorded. A few years ago my sister looked on her cameras to check on her and found that she had climbed a ladder to do something on this trailer parked in front of the house. Her feet then couldn’t find the ladder and she was on her belly. She looked like she was swimming on the roof of the trailer. I think Judy had to call someone to help her down. Her knew kick is Amazon Alexa. She must have 50 of them. So first think in morning she tells it to play classic western music on all devices. Good thing the neighbors are kind because at 7:00am Willie Nelson or Dolly Parton is blaring for the whole mountain to hear. It kind of has an amusement park feel but sleeping in is not an option. 

  She has over the years surrounded the house with ponds. The big one in front is quite nice with a waterfall feature. We sat around a camp fire in front of her pond most nights, but the pond itself I find quite terrifying. She has many old huge koi fish which have suddenly became very fertile apparently because there are literally thousands of babies swimming around. Anything in such quantity is somewhat disgusting to me for some reason. The water is a thick green color. You can’t see the koi or any of the other various creatures she has put in there. Only the thousands of babies that swim near the top. There’s big bull frogs and turtles and snakes and whatever other kind of creatures she finds, she sticks them in this pond. I am not sure what kind of eco system she has created but I am pretty sure there’s some weird crap in there.  

  Anyhow I love my mom. She is one of the most unique woman I have ever know. We had a great time. We then drove from Gold Beach Oregon to Central point where my sister and her kids live. It’s a beautiful drive along a sparkling clean river. We got out and swam. It was wonderful. So many times I have driven by and wanted to stop but didn’t because we were in a hurry. This time were in no hurry. We stopped off at Taylor’s meat market in Cave Junction, Oregon. It’s a neat place to stop so long as your not a vegan. I’m pretty sure this is the kind of place vegans have nightmares about but if you like a juicy steak, some sausage and some great jerky its the place to stop. We stocked up for our travels.

  The next two days we spent with my sister and her family. Again it had been way to long since I have seen them. We had a great time. I have always adored my nieces. Sadly, Mandy if you are reading this, as you know, you were out of town, but you were most definitely missed. The kids are great!  We played cards with them, Jimmie bought a gun that kills bugs with salt. 8 year old Ellie said in her squeaky little voice “uncle Jimmie can we blow things up with your salt rifle?” They ran around killing spiders and flies. Later Ellie said “lets tell scary stories so we can have scary nightmares” these kids cracked us up. Loved every minute. 

  Monday after meeting some old friends for lunch we were finally heading east..