#304 Fall in the Evergreens

I just realized that the fall colors are not only in the oaks around here but also in the evergreens. I couldn't figure what this bright yellow was in the midst of the pine until I shook out my brain to really focus. Then I discovered that only some of the evergreens are changing and others are a deep green. Go figure.

So today is a fine tune all my quilting projects and get them delivered for our quilt show next weekend. I also have to measure out the hay and oats for the next week and do some mud mucking and get rid of the manure that piled up while I was sick.

I do have a 3 day weekend so that's going to be nice!

#303 Scarecrow Contest

Shady Cove's Second Annual Scarecrow Contest
My favorites....

#302 Jack's Gate

Jack was busy while I slept on the couch all day. He is making our gates. I just cannot believe how talented he is. What did I do to deserve this man, I'll never know!

Just the one gate weighs more than Jack can handle. He had to flip it over to weld the back side and had a devil of a time figuring out how to do that.
Here's his shop. Fortunately, he has a huge space to lay it out and work. It is hard on his knees. I think he is enjoying working in metal for a change from his wood work.

#301 Curly Plant

This curly plant has fascinated me for years. I believe it is in the hoya family. The blooms are just like other hoyas and there are 200-300 varieties - according to my Google search!

I've tried to take cuttings from this but they will not grow. Any hints on how to do this, I'll try them all.

#298, 299, 300 - catchin' up

OmG....I feel like I could sleep another week and feel good about it. Day 300?! How the heck did that happen?!! Only 65 days left of 2009. That's more scary than Amy's Scare Mare!!

So I've read 4 books and listened to one on tape and dove under my down comforter more times than I'm willing to admit. Today, I'm much better. I could have forced myself back to work but I had a sub willing to cover for me, so I figured...why not finish another book!!

I managed to walk outside and snap these photos - the elk are back and I have a new camera that zooms up so close, it's exciting! There are over 80 elk in this herd.

This is the normal view...the elk are in that upper strip of light green... an alfalfa field.

and this is the zoomed in view....

#297 got the bug

No photos until I'm up and around. I believe I have the flu bug so I'm curling up with a book and a quilt today. Jack made chicken soup and it's cooking in the crock pot. Is he the BEST or what?

#296 Kai's VW Bug / Herbie the Love Bug Quilt

Okay....get the 100 days check list out. Uh Huh! (CHECK!) One more item crossed off the list. (Whew). They are staying on the list much too long these days, but at least the list is shrinking... so are the days left until the end of Project 365.

Kai's in the driver's seat.

The fine print reads "To Gramie's and Grampie's"

#295 My #1 Cure for Most Anything

....having Hook nearby to purr my cares away.

#294 At ease, disease, there's a fungus among us!

This fungus is growing at the base of an oak tree. It is about 9" across and a bright yellow.

#293 Pour Joseph

Joseph, my son-in-law, is in Paris. (It's not fair!) I want to be there too! So, Joseph, I heard you stood outside La Louvre debating about going inside. Surely, the only debate was which wing to visit first! I'm going back.....who wouldn't after seeing such beauty in every direction you turn your head!

This was one of my favorite pieces that I saw. How can you have a favorite with such an incredible variety and such talent, but I did love this one.

S'amusez bien, Joseph!

Je t'aime!

#292 We're All a Bit Quirky

Kari wears high heels most every day to work and different pair of earrings most every day of the school year. How the heck does she do that? Her earring rack was "empty" according to her. I do have to commend her for passing up a cute pair of shoes in the store because she is "cutting back".

It's fun to see our quirky sides.

#291 My Halloween Photo

I dont' know if this little guy couldn't find his way home or what, but he was hanging out in the middle of the day. I think he's waiting for Halloween to scare the kiddies!

#290 not MY grandsons!

I love to take photos of the boys at school with their baggy britches. I hope to present the photos to them on their high school graduation day so they can see how silly they looked in midlde school! So far, the styles haven't changed so they high schoolers still think it is "cool".

I was surprised to see MY very own grandsons with baggy pants. Actually, they told me they don't like the style and they both need belts. Guess what they are getting in their Christmas stockings from me???
Looking back on the style of the 50's, I know I must have made my folks cringe sometimes.

Seriously, if the baggy pants and shaggy hair is worn at school, I can deal with it as long as the kids are respectful -- so far so good this year!

#289 Whew!

Whew! FINALLY, I was able to check off another item from my list. I'm feeling the crunch now as there is only 21 days left until our quilt show. I hope to be posting some more finished projects SOON!! This is a twin size quilt for Joshua, age 14. (Shhhhh, he doesn't know about it.)

#288 Power Outage

For most of my life, I've felt that I was born in the wrong era. I thought for sure I should have been placed here pre-electricity and riding on horseback and living in a teepee. All that changed yesterday when our power went out BEFORE I had my shower! That old saying, "Don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today"... holds true for sure.

I did NOT feel like cleaning the kitchen after Jack had cooked dinner. (BIG hint in those last 4 words!) So I sat in candle light yesterday morning and looked at the mess I had left. Not a pretty sight - even in dim light.

I had emptied the tea kettle and hadn't re-filled it so we couldn't even have tea on the wood burning stove. Grrrrrrr...

I couldn't open the fridge for anything because we didn't know how long the power would be off and I didn't want any cold air to escape. I put pots outside to catch some rain water but that was too little too late.

I was able to see all the things that I had put off, that's for sure. It is amazing how we count on our electricity. It's one thing to live in a home w/o power as a choice and as a life style. Maybe I was born at the right time afterall.

My new checklist: Batteries?...check! Candles?...check! Water in jugs?...check! Clean kitchen?...check!

Catchin' Up With Some Photos...

We dropped by Danette's and said "howdy"....she ended up coming down with the flu after we left so she will most likely hate me for posting this photo. Do I care? Nope! I just love her curly hair. Heck, I love the fact that she has hair...period!

Zoe wants to be a witch for Halloween and Kai is going to be her black cat. How cute is that??

Here's Kai in his "Black Pearl" tree house.

At last, Kari and her family were healthy and we got to spend 3 days with them.

Josh with his new BB gun. When you live in the city, this is a big deal!

Here's Grandpa Jack trying to help site the BB gun in.

And here are my "bad" boys....

Josh and Jacob in the tree.

Here they are....Josh, Jacob and Jarod....pretending to like one another!! ('not easy to do when one of them is being a pill....)

#282-#286 California Bound and Back

So we had a whirlwind weekend. I had Friday off and we jammed to CA. We had to go to Danette's to give her a piece of molding Jack had made for her remodel, then over to Kari's to spend the weekend. I ended up calling in "sick" on Monday so we could have more time visiting. Actually, my call said, "I am sitting in CA in my daughter's back yard and I don't feel like driving home today so I won't be at work tomorrow." Hey....no lies there!

We gave Josh & Jacob each a BB gun for their birthdays and Jarod some figurines he wanted. Snake Eyes and Optimus Prime??? What do I know?? Anyway, we had to take them out in the hills to shoot their guns. What a kick. I ended up being the "pack mule" and loved every single minute of it.

Here are some photos of our weekend.

Okay....guess there won't be any photos afterall. I got a new camera and it takes such sharp photos, the end up being HUGE files and I can't upload them. Hmmmmm, I 'll work on this and see what I can do. Meanwhile, I'm going back to my old camera!

#281 Eileen, My Co-Heart in Caring

Here Eileen and I are dressed alike (not planned) ....the last day we could wear sandals as the weather turned cold! Anyway, in Language Arts class, the students are doing Acrostics - ('have no clue how to spell it!) I thought I'd do one for my buddy and co-worker and co-heart in caring/volunteering, Eileen.

E nergized

I ncredible

L oving

E nthusiastic

E ncouraging

N ice

She is without a doubt the best sport this side of the Mississippi River!!! I volunteer her for things he has no clue of and when informed of what I've done, she always agrees with a HUGE smile. She is there for anyone and everyone; always giving of herself. And always with a beautiful smile.

She is one awesome lady and I must have done something right to have her in my life!

#280 "twilight" - the movie

I finally got the chance to see "twilight". After reading the book and planting a vision of the characters firmly in my mind, I was disappointed with the casting. The only character I was comfortable with was Bella.
I did enjoy the movie and will probably see the second one someday. I liked the book better because I think my characters were much more charming. :o)

#279 Falling Letters

Years ago, when talking to Kari about her youngest son, Jarod, I had asked if he could write his name. She paused and said, "Yes, and the letters look like snowflakes falling from the sky." I had her send me a paper with his name written on it...she had described it perfectly!

Last week, I attended a meeting at another school and saw these lady bugs outside the kindergarten room. I thought of Jarod's snowflake letters when I saw these two bugs. It isn't quite the same because Lily and Easton were trying to keep their names inside the space provided, but I love the way in which children learn. Check out Lily's big spots and Easton's little freckled spots. Too cute.

#278 Snow on the Mountaintops

The first snow of the season just about covered Mt. McGlaughlin. I had to go into Eagle Point and had this great view of the mountain so I figured I'd share it with y'all.

#277 Girls Day Out

Yesterday was the annual Hugo Ladies Quilt Show and I went with 3 other quilters to see the show. It is held in a tiny old-time school house that the ladies actually own. They are some of the best quilters around. Thier hand quilting and applique is professional and they always have a challenge with art quilts that I can't wait to see. This year's challenge was "Games". They were to make a wall hanging that showed a game. They had tons of fun hangings from golf to Mexican Train.

Then there is the grounds outside the show filled with vendors of all sorts. We had to make our way through every booth and spend money as often as we could.

(This would be the raffle quilt I did NOT win.)

On the way home, we found a new restaurant in Grants Pass called TapRock and it was the icing on the days adventure.

(somehow my camera switched to B&W here.)

Statue in front of a bank.

Statue in front of the restaurant.

We also poked along old Highway 99 and saw where they are removing Savage Rapids Dam and got some information about an old house that is caving in that I want to put into a water color and a wall hanging.

#276 The Saggy Bottom Boys

The middle school boys think they are so cool with their britches hanging down low. We threathen to bring suspenders if they get too low. I lined some of them up and this is what I got... a bunch of Saggy Bottom Boys...hmmm, I wonder if they can sing?

#275 Flying Saucer cloud

When taking Shannon and Judy to the Amtrak station in Klamath Falls, we arrived as the sun was disappearing and this one lone flying saucer was hovering in the sky.

#274 Art on the Sidewalk

I thought I'd keep with my theme of artsy stuff, images, etc. today. This was taken this summer when Janet (sil) and Clay (bil) visited. We ate at a place in Medford called G'rilla Bites and this was just outside their door. I like the contrastof the rectangular bricks with the mosaic work.