On-the-Road Anniversary

This year – today, on our 43^rd Anniversary we have been married for 15,695 days/376,680 hours/22,600,800 minutes; which is over 1,356 million seconds … and by now we pretty much know everything there is to know about one another …

Wedding Pic; 1974

There are no gems associated with this Wedding Anniversary, and no material gifts associated with this Wedding Anniversary. There is, however, one theme assigned to this Wedding Anniversary, and that is travel: a location visit. So we hit the road early in the morning and spent the day revisiting places from our early days together.

We decided (actually I decided and Hubs went along with it) to head off to Seaside. On our way we stopped at the Sunday Market in Astoria because I was curious:

There really wasn't much to see; it was pretty disappointing. Most vendors were selling the same stuff packaged a bit differently.

This macramé art was interesting ... but not enough to purchase it.

Interesting shaped musical instruments. But neither of us are musicians ...

A goat on a leash strolling along and gawking at a dog dressed in pajamas!

Batman hats; yarn crafts always catch my eye.

Baby spuds - seed spuds actually, offered at an outrageous price. No doubt 'organic'.

This Eagle was nicely done, but the sticker price was sky-high; we do not carry that much moolah on us.

Well, I’ve done the Sunday Market and my curiosity was sated – I don’t think I’ll go back. There really wasn’t that much to interest me; a lot of vendors, but not a lot of variety or realistic options. There were many junk hawkers, and many ‘unique’ artsy stuff, but MPO is that there really was nothing worth parting with a $ for. So we got buckled in again and melded into the bumper-to-bumper traffic to Seaside where our plan was to stop by the Aquarium straight off, stroll the boardwalk, and then find the Elephant Ears and enjoy a delicious sugar-high from the sticky sweet delights ;-)

Finally made the Seaside Aquarium. Baby boy likes it here.

A tent-city has sprung up on Seaside's beach. Apparently it's another bicycling event. I am not a fan of bicycles on the roadway for any reason, so that event did not interest me in the least.

A 'tentacle' pen - how cute is that?

The seals are such little beggars …and impatient too for their stinky snacks.

The finned beggars are such hams ... we were soaked from head to toe by the spray kicked up with their silly antics as they vociferously barked loudly, slapped themselves so hard we hurt for them, vigorously splashed water, and openly begged for fish bits.

A Giant Pacific Octopus.

A big Wolf Eel.

Cool sand art.

After we left the Aquarium and gorged on our deep-fried Elephant Ears drizzled with sickeningly sweet (but utterly delicious!) thick maple syrup, we drove to Longbeach and ate burgers at ‘The Corral’ burger bar drive-in: the same little place we used to eat when we rode the Harley on our dating forays 43 years ago.

Then heartily stuffed and totally worn out, we drove back home.

It was a good day, and Elohei was gracious to us - and with us all day. We feel blessed in every way, and thankful for us IN HIM because our relationship with Him is why we have marked 43 years together today; on our own we would surely have screwed things up beyond repair: but Elohei is faithful to keep us faithful when we commit our lives to His care and Will. 

43 years together are great, but we have no doubt that 44 will be better :-D

THE PAST 3 WEEKS

The 1^st week we were all suffering some sort of summertime cold, so just laid around the house and did as little as possible; and we even managed to take a “fresh air day” outdoors when the temperature spiked and we felt energized enough to enjoy an outing to Willow Grove Beach.

The 2^nd week we spent a LOT of time snoozing and rebuilding our strength which was returning slowly, but steadily.

And this past weekend we felt up to an invigorating road trip for a change of scenery and fresh alpine air. Saturday was bright and sunny around 9 a.m. and I thought a drive to Tipso Lake in Cayuse Pass would be fun; but once we got there we saw detour signs telling us that the Pass was closed due to wildfires. Well darn >:-P So we changed course and thought perhaps a scenic drive up Sunrise Trail on the backside of Mt. Rainer past Cayuse Pass would be fun too … so off we drove happily anticipating our rebound adventure – and were sharply disappointed to find a freeway worthy traffic jam at the base of Sunset Trail. After waiting half an hour as traffic crawled one car at a time every 15 minutes, we pulled a U-turn and decided to enjoy the Sunrise Trail another day. The last option to salvage something of our unplanned road trip was a visit to Box Canyon in Mt. Rainer National Park, but when we arrived at the Toll Booth, the entrance to Mt. Rainer Park where Box Canyon is located was jammed bumper to bumper with cars too; but we’d come this far after a 3 hour drive one way, and were determined to see SOMETHING and have an adventure SOMEWHERE around this mountain; I love Box Canyon anyway, and even though it was not where we had planned to be when we left home, it was enjoyable just the same:

AUGUST 19th. Cayuse Pass was closed due to fires, so Tipso Lake was not visited. Tried for Sunrise Trail and was not able to make that either because of heavy traffic.

AUGUST 19th. This is crazy! We visit this mountain every year (several times a year) and have NEVER seen such a long line here; there were so many cars above that the Lodge staff were turning cars away because the parking lot is stuffed. We left for Box Canyon. 

AUGUST 19th. Unbelieveable. The traffic jams at every point are ridiculous. It has got to be the influx overflow from the out-of-state-lookeylou's flooding our State to view the eclipse Monday. Also saw on the message board that Lifetime Senior Passes will now cost $10 whereas they were FREE until recently. Hubs has a free card, I will have to pay for mine 18 months from now - I just hope they do not go up in price between now and then ...

AUGUST 19th. Box Canyon. Prehistoric glacial landscaping.

AUGUST 19th. Box Canyon. Ancient prehistoric glacial scored basalt. Vandals have defaced most of the scenic rock; I hope they are fined heavily for the damages they have done.

AUGUST 19th. Box Canyon. More prehistoric glacial handiwork.

AUGUST 19th. Box Canyon. I LOVE it here! My favorite view; if I could, I'd build a cabin right here in this spot and just drink in the scenery every day.

AUGUST 19th. Box Canyon. This bridge is very high over the steep, tight rushing water Gorge below.

AUGUST 19th. Box Canyon. Everywhere we looked was evidence of the storm damage; it must have been a doozy.

AUGUST 19th. Box Canyon. The high winds that blew these trees over must have howled through here like a wild banshee.

AUGUST 19th. Box Canyon. Crazy times ...

AUGUST 19th. Left the Loop Trail and are back on the main roadway that passes over the glacial water gorged Gorge below.

We have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and loved the time spent indulging our need for fresh air and wide-open spaces.

MOD Booklets For My Little Prince

I started this little project in April and have completed a set of A through Z Booklets for my little prince; he likes to be read to and I think he’ll like these ;-)

I just unpacked this old Franklin Mint Porcelain Animals Sets and set it up the other day… some figurines match MOD Booklets; my little prince will enjoy touching them and holding them while listening to his own personal story written just for him by ‘gamma’.

A few of MOD Home Education Booklets A-Z; Farm-Forest theme. MO storyline utilizes free public domain internet Pre - K Coloring Pages and Worksheets. So far these Booklets pictured are the only Booklets I have made that matches a few of the Old Franklin Mint Porcelain Animals Sets: I have more ideas for future Booklets that will spin off these ones to keep the theme going.

I created my own "cuddle-time" storyline around imaginary/characterized ‘toddler aged’ farm and forest animals, and fleshed MOD booklets out with Preschool & Kindergarten internet coloring pages/worksheets to match my impromptu storyline. Each booklet has between 10 to 14 pages total and the storyline is humorously simple to grab/keep his interest, yet educationally informative concerning the animal portrayed – and made to be used like a lite workbook with super easy mazes, various types of easy puzzles, simple dot-to-dot pages, simple counting, easy letter tracing, P - K word comprehension, simple pictures matches, Shapes, ect: everything a 3-5 year old would need to know without overwhelming him with the political nonsense he doesn’t need forced on him at this tender age.

Due to domestic complications with the boy's father, we have not seen our little prince in quite a while, but if we ever get to see him again these little books will be waiting - and if he's too big for them ... I make new ones ;-)

MOD Knit Pink Philippine Flower Slippers

I thought I’d try a new design theme this year – flowers.

I’ve done marine life, chameleons, dinosaurs, pandas and foxes over the years, but this is my first attempt at mimicking flowers.

This design is my first at designing round a flower … basically to see if I could. I chose a Philippine flower because I am thinking a lot of my grandson lately:

Pink Philippine flower with yellow throat.

MOD Pink Philippine Flower Slippers

These slippers are not for sale; I need a new pair of slippers, so I am keeping these ones for myself ;-)

Every time I wear them I will be thinking of my handsome, dearly loved ... and desperately missed ... 3 year old American-Filipino grandson.

Summer Slipper

This is a free domain Drops Pattern and it works up real easy I finished mine in 3 days … I’ve been busy outside too most of the time and could only work on them after Supper, turning in early because I was so darned tired; but if a person stayed on the pattern with minimal breaks, a pair of slippers could be finished in a day. These slippers are really comfortable.

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Working 2 slippers at a time – perfect way to make sure they are both the same size and of the same tension upon completion.

Slippers FINISHED.

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GARTER ST (back and forth on needle): K all rows.

INCREASING TIP: Inc 1 st from RS by making 1 YO. Work Yo into back of loop on return row to avoid a hole.

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SLIPPER: Work back and forth on needle from the toe towards the heel.

Cast on 12-13-14 sts on needle size 6 mm/US 10 with Eskimo (leave approx 30 c,/11-3/4 tail and use this to sew slipper tog afterwards). Insert a marker in st 4 and a marker in st 9-10-11. Work stockinette st, AT SAME TIME inc 1 st on each side of both markers - SEE INCREASING TIP, and repeat the inc on every other row a total of 4 times = 28-29-30 sts.

REMEMBER THE KNITTING GAUGE!

When piece measures 9-10-11 cm/3-1/2 inches-4 inches-4-3/8 inches, work as follows: 7 garter sts, 14-15-16 stockinette st, 7 garter sts. Continue like this until piece measures 22-24-27 cm/8-3/4 inches-9-1/2inches-10-5/8 inches; bind off.

ASSEMBLY: Tighten slipper at the top and sew tog mid upper front inside 1/2 st to where the garter st begs. Sew tog mid back, edge to edge to avoid a chunky seam.

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We got the roofing estimate this afternoon; it is double the cost we expected to hear, but the previous owner really let a LOT slide the 20 years she lived here: nothing was ever repaired or replaced. The house inspector told us that the roof would need to be reroofed before summer ended, but because he didn’t walk the roof himself he did not know that several places would have to be torn out and replaced, or that the ENTIRE carport would have to be taken down and replace; so the cost to reroof has gone up significantly: but it has to be done, so what are we gonna do? We’ll have to bite the bullet, storm the gates of Heaven, and fork the moolah out :-( we are hoping Elohim will be merciful and soften the cash blow and soothe our sticker price shock. Our nephew-in-law is a contractor and he will be doing the job, but even at a discount, it will be a blow to the wallet.

We spent most of the day today downtown buying groceries and looking for a microwave turntable because the dinosaur microwave that came with the house was missing the turntable – we could not find a turntable to save our souls (a turntable only comes with a microwave now), so we had to but a new microwave; thankfully it was on sale. We also came home with 6 large bags of Miracle Grow soil to fill the dug out stone planters (https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2017/07/racing-father-time.html); I’ll fill them with flowers I dug up and potted from our previous house after the roof is torn off because guys that are roofing are not careful about where the roof shingles land while they rip and throw – I do not want any flowers broken or destroyed by falling debris, so transplanting flowers into my flowerbeds will have to wait until around the middle of August. I hope they will be able to rebound and build a healthy root system before Jack Frost comes visiting.

I have also started book #3 of the ‘Earth’s Children’ series …

 … at the rate I am reading these novels, I’ll have all 5 books read before the weekend is over ;-)

Day by Day

A little at a time, and day by day … that is how we are getting our new home prepared for the Fall season.

Hubs built me another planter box to place along the sunny side border of our lot; these will look a lot nicer than a wire fence (fancy ones look nice, but they are still wire) and will do double duty – clearly define our border line, and serve as a bright focal point when filled with cheerful flowers and yummy veggies next Spring :-D

Planter Box #2 – deeper with a 3 board siding instead of 2.

Two finished planter boxes. Looking good! These will be permanently set in place once they are all finished.

Sunday I finished the second in the Earth's Children series by Jean Auel; these books are old friends and I am familiar with the story, so reading them is going quicker than the 1^st time around. But this 2^nd reading of the series is just as much of an adventure as the first time ;-)

In keeping with the theme of the novel series I am reading after my vigorous outdoor activity is finished for the day, I crafted these little slippers for the upcoming Bazaar Season; designing and working them up yesterday:

MOD Squid-headed Nautiloid Slippers; 3 to 4 YO  BOY

The inspiration for MOD Nautiloid slippers - an extinct prehistoric sea creature.

And this morning while Hubs worked on a third planter box for me, I got busy preparing the oval planter out front of our home for potting soil and plants …

Over the weekend Hubs had removed the stump from the oval planter out front …

… and today I got the darned thing totally dug out and ready to be refilled – HARD WORK in the brutal sunshine. But I am glad I pushed on to get it emptied and prepped.

Whooeee – I am beat. But we feel accomplished and are starting to feel that our new home is coming together as our new home ;-)