Trees

We went to see the trees today. It is a 1 hour drive to the turn off and then another 10 miles into the forest. Our forests are mostly Ponderosa Pine with some Tamarack (Western Larch) with White Fire in the higher elevations. We stopped at the first campground and had a picnic and just enjoyed the trees. You need to understand that where we live in Eastern Oregon, except for trees planted in town, there are NO trees. You can drive to the top of a hill south of town and see for at least 50 miles and not see 1 tree. We are in what is called The Great Basin High Desert, with an average rainfall of 12 inches, mostly in the form of snow.

After the picnic we drove up the road and, after driving for 3 hours, came to a ranching region called Drewsey after the hamlet of the same name. From there it was a quick 75 miles to home on one of the main highways that pass through our area. We put a little over 200 miles on the car during our Sunday drive. Check out some of the pictures we took.

Paul Fred Meyer -- RIP

Today was a bittersweet day. We held Paul's funeral today at Grace Lutheran Church. I officiated and Linda Meuller, Grace's Pastor, assisted. It was pretty well attended considering that the temperature was near 100 at the 2 PM starting time. Paul was ready to go, he has been lonely since his wife, Juanita, died two years ago. The end came mercifully soon, he had been hospitalized for 4 days and came home at 9:30 AM on Friday, July 10. He died 2 hours later. I went to see him as soon as they had him settled in his bed. He was semi-conscious when I went in but I held his hand and said, "Welcome Home," his eyes fluttered and he said "So long" and I talked a little more as he dropped into a deeper sleep. Connie called me into the house an hour later saying she thought her dad had died. I went in and his pulse was weak and thready and his respirations were fast and nearly non-existent. Connie and I both said that he could go and I left her to get my prayer book to give him Last Rites and when I returned he was gone.

I'm going to miss him, we've been buddies for 25 years. He was a great neighbor and an even better man. I think we gave him a good send off. So Long old buddy.

July 4th in Vale, Oregon

Our little town has always done a lot of things for the 4th of July. This year has been no different. They have the Rodeo every year of course, it's held in the evening when it's cooler. We had a run at the crack of dawn along with the Lion's Club breakfast, later at 1 PM we had the parade and Oregon Trail Days in the City Park.
You can keep quite busy if you try to do all the activities available. This year we have kept our activities pretty low key, we watched the parade from our carport and that was it. The weather this year has been very good, temps in the low 90's during the day and cooling off to the high 50's/low 60's. A little thunder last night but no rain and little wind.

Sign Me Up For Another 50

Well, Our 50th Wedding Anniversary has come and gone and I'm ready for another 50.
We didn't plan anything special, just a good time with our family and friends. Our
daughter and her family came from Massachusetts and our son and his family drove up from Arkansas. Our daughter had told us her plans, but our son said nothing and surprised us Thursday (June 18) evening arriving just a short time before our daughter drove in from the Eugene area after a brief check in with her partner's family. We got a nice e-note from Louis Crew and cards from our siblings. On Saturday we had a brunch with our friends and family and beamed through numerous toasts with sparkling grape juice. Later, we had dinner at a restaurant where our waiter surprised us with a beautiful rendition of Kenny Roger's "Through The Years" and Chocolate Cheesecake.

When we weren't eating we were talking and just having a good time. The earliest bed time was Sunday because they were all headed home today. We were all in bed by 11:30 and sleeping except the kids who finally dropped off at 2:30 AM after Grandma reminded them that they were going to be leaving at 7 AM. After all had left, Jean and I headed for our recliners and took a long nap. We were exhausted! I didn't envy them for their long trip home. Ken drove 1719 miles from Fort Smith, Arkansas in two days and planned to go home the same way. Cathy and her family were driving 360 miles back to Eugene so Pam could take care of her mother who was having surgery today. Cathy and Alex were flying out of Portland back to Massachusetts to get back to work All in all we had a great time, I can hardly wait for the next 50 to pass so we can do it again.

Wahoo! Finally

I finally finished the bathroom remodel! I can't believe that I started this job on May 22. It didn't take me that long to remodel the kitchen and that involved building all the cabinets from scratch. I'm glad that I'm done, now I can concentrate on getting ready for our daughter and her family who will be here on June 18. They are coming to help us celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary.

I can't believe that we have been married that long, Jean still looks just the same as she did on that night in Prineville at the Community Church. Our Grandparents on our father's side both made 50 but neither of our parents did. Auto accidents and cancer took care of that.