Home Safe and Sound

It was a long day, but we are home and the RV is empty and Tule has already been in the pool. Elsie's priority was to crawl into her crate. Even dogs have their preferences.

The drive today was so interesting with all the amazing cloud formations to see--and no rain.



















Lake Shasta was the greenest I've ever seen it.






















We drove past what we call the "Lollipop Truck Store". They have every color of truck you can imagine, except plain black or white. The royal blue and lime green ones didn't make it into the photo, but they were there!


















One last interesting tidbit had to wait until we got home. In Fred Meyer in Roseburg, OR we saw the biggest marshmallows we had ever seen. Had to buy a bag. On the left is a typical California Marshmallow. On the right is the Oregon gigantaur Marshmallow. Neither of these is a mini-marshmallow, honest.


Now begins the reality of dealing with the insurance regarding the break in. Sigh.

Yarn Country

Southern Oregon has to be yarn country. We passed a zillion sheep today plus at least 2 dozen alpaca. It was a knitter's dream seeing all that potential yarn scattered along the freeway. The white dots in the field are sheep.

Gary has a quote for you--"Good old Oregon--lowest price of gas on the West Coast and they pump it for you."

Last night we fell asleep to the soothing patter of raindrops on the roof of the RV. Today we drove in and out of rain the whole way to Yreka. The clouds were amazing to see. They were super dark as we approached the Siskyous, then nice and white after we went over the summit. No rain here in Yreka.



































Tonight's entertainment was a rousing game of Cribbage where Gary beat me.


Tomorrow--home sweet home.

Finally heading home

It took awhile to get going this morning. I got up early and made Mom her favorite cinnamon rolls. Then we needed to go to a bank to try to solve a puzzle. We finally got on the road about 1 p.m.

The drive was beautiful, even though we had a bit of rain as we loaded the RV. Mt. St.Helens was out in her full glory as we drove south.

















We decided to stay in Salem and I found an RV park on Astoria St. Had to be good if it was on a street named after Gary's hometown. As you can see by the sign it is the Hee Hee Ilahee RV Park-and they are very fussy. It is new and no RV can stay if more than 10 years old.


































Turns out it has a very nice hot tub so Gary had a nice soak after his long day of driving.


Another two days and we'll be home, ready to hit the ground running on cleaning the rest of the way up after the break in.

Last night at Mom's

Today was a gorgeous day--mountains were out in both directions--Olympics and Cascades.

We went to church this morning with Mom, then shopped to fill her frig.

Her neighbor, Johnnie, came over for dinner.






















Elsie is feeling better so she spent much of the day down by the barn looking at the goat and the horse. Tule had a ball running back and forth keeping tabs on everybody.



It has been a good trip. Mom is doing very well and has a good prognosis. I am pooped and ready to head home where we'll pick up where we left off dealing with our break in.

Merry Christmas?

Lutefisk and Lefse is a traditional Christmas dinner--and that is what we had tonight. It was great--Gary tried baking the lutefisk and it came out perfect and a lot less mess. Three people ate all 4 pounds of lutefisk. I have never seen my mother eat so much food at one setting before in my life! The lefse I made was a hit. We all love lefse. I've never served lefse and had no leftovers before, but it was all gone tonight.





















Earlier today the yellow bird came back and showed us his back. We were able to identify him as a yellow goldfinch. What a beautiful bird. When they fly away, they do beautiful dips and swirls.




We hope to get to church tomorrow if Mom can wake up soon enough. It was a busy, fun day.

Soothing Rain

I love being able to hear it rain. Our house is too well insulated, but the RV is perfect for listening to the rain--and we had a lot of it last night. It was such a nice night.

Yesterday was busy all day long with nothing to talk about--plumbing, getting locks changed, hearing aids boosted, etc.

Today Mom got her stitches out and permission to do whatever she wants except soak in a tub. We also did a lot of errands so were gone almost all day.



These beautiful birds came to Mom's birdfeeder--sorry the photo isn't clearer--when I tried to move closer, they flew away and haven't come back yet. We've also been enjoying watching Mama bird teach baby bird how to feed himself bird seed. Today she decided he should feed himself.


Tomorrow family friends are coming over for Lutefisk and Lefse and Swedish meatballs--got the meatballs made tonight. Now I get to collapse with a glass of wine.

Summer is over

It was a quick summer here in Edmonds--75 degrees yesterday, 59 degrees today.

Gary and Doug enjoyed the cooler weather and played golf today. They look a bit like the Bobsey twins in their matching outfits, don't they?










The most exciting moment of the trip was when the crows started having a very loud fit this evening and we discovered a bald eagle in Mom's tree! The crows were dive bombing it and it just stayed on the same perch. The black blob is the eagle. The close up is fuzzier, but shows the eagle as close as my iPhone could get it. This is the first time we've ever seen an eagle around here!