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Today was the second day a crew has come to clear away the abundance of berry vines that just seem to take over one's property if neglected like ours have for the last ten years. We have guests coming in July and would like to make enough room to pitch a couple of tents in "our woods" behind our trailer for the summer. What a job it is, simply because we've just not made the time to do it ourselves. Who would rather do that kind of thing when there are quilts to be made, tole painting to be done, and wood crafting to do in the shop? Not us!
This is the "before" picture for the back property, and the front pretty much looked the same as far as berry bush and brush density. When our guests arrive there will be a couple nice flat areas where they can pitch their tent and sleep under the beautiful trees.
This is the front of our property minus a whole lot of brush and berry vines. We'll bring a load of dirt to level out the terrain and sprinkle on some grass seed when we leave this fall. Hopefully we'll have green grass this time next year!
Life is good!
Our Pegs and Jokers partners are here for just a couple weeks this summer, and we have lots of game boards to produce in that time. We even still have boards from last year that need to be sanded before they can come inside for Cecile and I to hand-paint them. Needless to say, we've been quite busy since their arrival just ten days ago. All the wood has been cut and the boards are in various stages. Sixteen completed sets are boxed and ready to ship. We have 64 new sets to make, plus around 35 from last year's inventory which will add up to nearly 100 sets to sell this coming year. Then, after all the sets have been sold, we're going on a cruise and celebrate our three-year adventure!
This morning, while waiting for boards to come from the sanding department into the "finishing room" I helped in the wood shop, drilling holes in the boards . . . 26 holes in each board. We have 384 boards to get finished before Gary and Cecile leave in a week . . . that's 9,984 holes to be drilled. I was happy to lend a hand drilling, while Ken routed out the ends of each board so that they fit snugly when the game is assembled.
Life is good!
We arrived yesterday afternoon, but not without incident. A couple days ago Ken noticed the truck was leaking what he thought was oil. Fortunately for us, we were only about 75 miles from the Cummins Northwest facility, can't get any better than that when you're in need of work on a Cummins engine! Ken checked the oil yesterday morning (just before leaving the Florence, on the Oregon coast) and it was still registered in the "safe" zone which puzzled him, but decided that we needn't top off the oil before we made the trip over the mountain. Upon arrival at Cummins, a mechanic came out to the truck to inspect it (which was nice since we didn't have to unhitch the trailer) and discovered that it was a combination of oil and fuel leaking! Since they could do nothing for us until next week, it was decided that we were safe enough to keep on going and get settled in Cascadia and Ken will take it back for repair next Wednesday.
We normally come up the coast before heading inland. I love Oregon's beautiful bridges along the coastal route. A bit of history of the bridges: Conde McCullough built eight of them, from Gold Beach to Tillamook, over his 30-year career starting in 1919, and each one is unique. When this one, in Coos Bay, was completed, its 5,305-foot bridge was the longest in the Oregon highway system and the largest structure in all of McCullough's impressive works of art. It's a green steel giant, with huge cantilevers hung high above the water for easy shipping clearance.
I love the fact that the "big guys" will be taking care of our truck. We've always taken good care our truck, changing the oil every 3000 miles, so we know these folks will care for it like only the pros can.
And here we are ready for a summer of fun, friends, and family!
Life is good!
This past Saturday was Mom's memorial service, a chance for the entire family to say farewell and, at the same time, a chance to celebrate the life of a woman who loved life herself. Thirty-five of her descendants gathered at Jackie and Rick's adobe house in Healdsburg. The weather was perfect after worrying for days that it would either be too hot, or raining. It was a sunny, clear, blue-sky day. After a beautiful memorial service we served lunch and reminisced about our younger years, sometimes laughing and sometimes a tear would roll down our cheeks, telling lots of stories about life with Mom (and Daddy). Cousins came whom we haven't seen in years, second cousins came whom we've never met before. It was an intimate, meaningful, and wonderful afternoon. We didn't want it to end.
I was too busy in the kitchen to get any pictures of how beautiful the setting was, in the patio area of the adobe house. Jackie and Rick have worked for weeks making it ready for this event. Tables and chairs were nicely set out under a giant and very old walnut tree. But I got lots of pictures of our family.
We've all heard Mom say so many times "I'm happiest when surrounded by my family!" I know Mom would have been very happy this afternoon. I know in my heart that she was certainly there in spirit and was most likely smiling.
Jen and family arrived Friday night. Thursday night KL received an award for the highest mathematical test score in her class at her her eighth grade graduation. She also won an award from the County for her scholarly achievements in eighth grade. Congratulations KL and Jen (her home-school teacher)!
And on Wednesday night we got a call from PD who was excited to tell us that CD hit a "in-park-home-run!" Now this was really special because all season I had told both boys if they could accomplish that feat that I'd give them $10 bucks! So here he is gladly receiving his prize money, the first I had to hand over this season. I wish I was there to see it in person, but we had already left to head north. Maybe next year it'll happen again!
The mid-western family arrived on Thursday night. Here are the boys, R and T, climbing the huge walnut tree at the adobe house. They loved that tree!
This building is what was the original cooking area for the adobe house. The adobe was built by the Spanish as a fort, located at the most northern part of California they could build it to meet the Russians who were coming from the north.
These beautiful poppies were growing all over the land surrounding the adobe. Some of the bushes were six feet tall. They are gorgeous, and thanks to Jackie's comment, they are called Matilija (pronounced Ma-til-EEE-ha) poppies. 
These are ten of Mom's thirteen great grandkids, ages 8 to 26!
Mom's Grandkids and their spouses, and Great Grandkids!
Five of Mom's nine grandkids plus a great niece and a great nephew.
These sweet young ladies are Patty's granddaughters. On the left is Amy who is a freshman in college and wants to go into medicine; and Chanelle, on the right, is starting her PhD in Theatre Arts.
These adorable kids are Shari's grandchildren, Maya, Eddie, and Andrew.
Here are the "four Burns girls" (from the left is me, Jackie, Shari, and Patty) and Mom's three sons-in-law!
Here are the cousins, lined up like we used to do when we were little kids, for family pictures.
Patty and her daughter, Kimmie, talking a walk in the vineyard. Look how blue that sky is!
It was a great time seeing most of our family gathered together. We all agreed we need to organize reunions more often. Life is good, but life, at times, seems very short! Now we're heading up to Oregon for the summer.
Life is good!
We recently upgraded our GPS and computer software in anticipation of a long trip we're planning to take next year. Ken installed the software and put in our starting and ending destination for this quick trip to Healdsburg via a three-day stopover at Turtle Beach Resort in Manteca, CA. The trip is 119 miles and should take about 2 1/2 hours pulling the trailer. We started out at 9:27 a.m. and pulled into Turtle Beach just a bit after 2 p.m.
I know you're dying to know what happened? Aren't you? Why on earth did it take us 4 1/2 hours, with the GPS telling us exactly where to turn, how fast we're going, etc., etc.? Well . . . I'll let the pictures tell the story. But first I have to tell you that when I checked the computer screen I realized that the GPS was taking us a totally different way than when we've made this same trip lots of times in the past. It was taking us on to a back country road that usually takes about 20 minutes longer in driving time, even though it's less mileage. We decided "What the heck? Let's try it!"
Big mistake . . . really big . . . huge! 
Now, realize that we're pulling a 25' trailer, which is difficult to make a U-turn even on a "normal" two-lane highway . . . here is the road our new fandangled GPS "made" us take.
Hmmm . . . a bit of a bumpy road . . . It's hard to hold the camera still.
We crossed over several of these contraptions that keep cattle from crossing the road on the fence-less Raynor Ranch.
I know this is hard to see . . . but I believe the GPS is telling us that we rolling down the road at a snails pace . . . 12 miles per hour . . . because it's so irregular with ruts and bumps.
In fact we going so slow that Ken can take time to watch the scenery roll by, knowing full well that there is nothing ahead . . . we never saw one vehicle or cowboy for nearly 20 miles.
This is what caught Ken's eye . . . cattle grazing . . . way out yonder!
Or right up close and personal . . . no fences between us and them!
This is where Ken said . . . look! A paved road.
A divided paved road! By this time we've been driving for a couple of hours. We even missed a crucial due to poorly marked roads and had to drive a half hour to find a place big enough to turn around.
I don't think a main highway and traffic ever looked so good!
Now we're rolling.
The trailer parked in place, Ken puts his feet up and takes a well deserved rest..
This is our view for the next three days.
That was yesterday . . .
Here's the happy camper tonight as I write this post.
He's hoping to get a catfish to take his bait!
Life is good!
This is what I've been doing for the last couple of weeks!
Cecile working in her area of finishing the front and back of each board.
There is often the constant sound of the sander. Note the tape on his fingers . . . to protect them from the slipping of the sander.
Final score - tied - 18 to 18. We'd play three games a night.
