Fun weekend and Jon turns 17!

Wow....Jon turned 17 yesterday. Time sure flies. Another year and a half and he will be off to college. We had a low key day (Jon's choice)....we went to church and then worked some around the house. The weather was awesome. Cody and I took advantage of the mild temperatures on Saturday. We went up on the knoll where we have our "campsite". We cut down two small fir trees and used them to make a frame for a tarp that will keep us dry if we want to venture up there this winter.



Then of course we had to build a fire and make a pot of tea. Cody enjoys campfires.



Queenie just watched and couldn't figure out what
the big deal was.


Cody with a sharp object!


Then we found these cool mushrooms!






Another awesome weekend in the country.

Glynn Jr.

Adam was home for the weekend!

Adam came home for the weekend to see us and take a break from his busy school/work schedule. He is doing well and working very hard. Him and I took the boat and headed to the coast on Saturday. It was rainy and windy and we had a GREAT time! We got wet, we got water in the boat, we ventured out close to the jetties (which were closed to small boats) and rode the swells back into the bay. We talked about school, we talked about the economy, the elections and life in general. What a fun day we had. Below is Adam with a couple of the crabs we caught!



We cleaned up most of the garden on Sunday. We picked the last of the tomatoes and bell peppers. I also found some carrots that I had forgotten about. We turned the chickens out to help clean things up. In the afternoon I heard some squawking up on the knoll. It didn't sound like a chicken but it looks like only 9 hens made it back in the coop at the end of the day, so I am thinking that a coyote or some other critter had a chicken dinner last night. Jon cleaned out the rain catch system for the animals and we turned off the irrigation line so it will not freeze. I need to trim a few more fruit trees and clean the rain gutters and I think we are ready for the cold!

Cody was a big help also. He trimmed some maple trees and raked leaves. He and his friend down the street disappeared later in the afternoon with a wagon full of stuff they had put together. They went up on the knoll, built a campfire and made a pot of hot water and had some tea. They stayed up there until well after dark.

Lorelei is trying to use up the apples before they go bad. We had a great yield this year. She made us an awesome apple crisp yesterday. Last week she made apple sauce!

Below is a cool sunset from a couple of weeks ago.




Glynn Jr.

Cross Country season is over!

The guys and girls had a great season. We traveled to Eugene on Friday and had a great day. We ate dinner at coaches mom and dads house. The McChesneys are one incredible family that is famous in the track and field and cross country circles of America and the world.

Here is Lorelei looking over some of the memorabilia with Mrs. McChesney. There is a lifetime of accomplishments lining the walls of the McChesneys modest home in the hills above Eugene.

To this day although in his late 70's Bill McChesney Sr. still competes in various running events. He was telling me of a recent 5K that he ran. It seems at the last minute the organizers of the event decided to put hay bales out on the course so that they would need to be jumped over. Knowing something of these events I thought it may be ok to run around them and I asked Mr. McChesney if it would have been ok for him to do such. He looked at me somewhat surprised and said "now why would I want to do that?" That gives some insight to the tenacity and competitiveness of this family.

Below, Jon chats with Bill McChesney Sr. Mr. and Mrs. McChesney had spent the day at the PAC 10 meet helping out with things there. On Saturday at the State High School event they would also participate in helping run the meet. They truly enjoy having the kids over to their house and staying active in the running sports.


Below, the team chowing down on food from Mazzis, a local Italian restaurant.


We returned to the hotel and were hoping for a quiet evening. The boys had brought along "Guitar Heroe" and played that until about 10:30 when it was lights out. Race day turned out to be a little rainy. Below, some umbrellas shield Kelsey as Ken stretches her out in preparation for her race.

Kelsey ran great finishing 56th. The boys did great and finished 4th in the state and brought home a trophy!

What a great season. All the pictures from the state meet are here.