Picture of the Week

Agh! I've been so bad! Forgetting my pic of the week for 2 weeks at a time - bad! Just have a lot on my mind lately, the Shirley thing, Hawaii, Rach's house, etc. Well, let's see what I can find...


The theme for the day was "shoes".  I had Keith's shoes on my list of things to shoot someday.  I like this one...

Latest Goings On

Well, as usual life is moving on but without pizazz. So here's the latest.

Um, Rachel and Mark both currently have nice jobs that will be good if they last. Rachel's seems to be set for a while but Mark's is still a little iffy. It's for a month and then...? hopefully they'll get more work and he can stay on indefinitely. The kids start school in a week and a half and some are anxious and some are not. It's all new to all the kids going to school around here. The DeB's are in new schools and Joe is starting kindergarten!

Kev and Shirl just got a new vehicle up and running. Shirley has been working on a party this coming Saturday where she and Kevin are to retake their wedding vows. She wants it to be 50's style but with Motown music! Sounds like fun! It'll be in my back yard so I gotta fix up the yard some, it's ready for some late summer whacking. And I gotta see if I can make the grass greener in the next week.

Rach and Tony spent their first night in their new home. They've done lots of work and made it quite "Rach and Tony". The walls are colorful and they replaced the nasty carpet that remained in 2 rooms with laminate flooring. Yesterday Rach, Heather and I worked in the kitchen, pulling out more nasty stuff, this time it's contact paper. The cable guys came out (yes! on Sunday!) and hooked them up so they now have internet and TV. I painted their TV stand so it goes with the rest of the living room furniture and we bought them, as a house-warming gift, a new kitchen faucet. Congrats guys - you did it!

Denny and Heather and Hunter are just revamping things at their house for the coming winter and since they now have a spare room. They are also planning to have another baby but have to get help to get pregnant. Denny's getting his house down in Tacoma finished soon and should be able to rent it out again soon. It flooded back in December and GMAC finance has been screwing things up so they haven't been getting the money to finish the rebuild. Once it's all done Denny plans to try suing GMAC. Hope he wins, they're the WORST mortgage company I've ever dealt with.

Last week I joined the daughters-in-law on a field trip to a local farm. They are part of a "mommy group" that took their preschool kids there. They had all the farm critters and they were available for the little kids to pet. They also had a horse and pony to ride, a little covered bridge, a 2 story playhouse, a barn, chickens, a peacock, straw to play with, picnic areas. It was just so cute and the kids mostly seemed to enjoy it. I got some awesome pictures of a friend's little boy throwing straw.

Rick and I are just plodding along, nothing special. We go out on Saturdays to "play", usually take pictures somewhere. This Saturday we went to the Des Moines marina and Saturday Market, then found a little park with a trail that led to a nice beach on the sound in Normandy Park. Made for a pretty nice and fairly local outing with pleasing photo opportunities.

We ARE looking forward to our upcoming Kauai trip! We leave on the 9th. I'll take Rick to work and then in the afternoon we'll have someone, probably Rach, drive me back to Rick's work, pick him up and deliver us to the airport. Then we land in Lihue at about 7:30 Kauai time! We're renting a car so we'll go to Walmart from the airport to pick up whatever we need, then hit somewhere for a burger and a beer (Bubba's?) then go to the folks' place and maybe get there before they get home from meeting. But - maybe we'll stop at a beach on the way there too, then we WON'T beat them home! Rick comes home on the 20th and I'll stay til the 30th. That way I can spend time with the folks, going out in service, whatever, for a week and a half. Hopefully we'll get a bunch of painting done for them.

I didn't realize but this coming weekend is a 3 day weekend - Labor Day!  So next week Rick only has to work for 3 days before we take off!  Woo hoo!  I'm glad we're getting a chance to spend some time enjoying some summer, since we've only had maybe 20 days of 80º temps here in our temperate Pacific Northwest.

When I get home just before October autumn will be in full swing - I hope I don't miss my 2 trees  turning vivid red.  Well, I'll survive, even if I do miss them.   Hawaii - here we come!

Yay! Summer!

Yeah, we've had a pretty iffy summer this year. Early this week another of our photo-of-the-day themes was "summer". It wasn't the easiest to capture on that particular day, we were all wearing jackets, it was gray, cool and rainy. I got inventive and planted my sandal-clad foot on some playground sand - summer!

Well, yesterday it decided to heat up - way up! My min/max thermometer recorded yesterday's high in the shade at 101º and the low at 60º. It was already 80º at 8:45 in the AM. But we had plans and determined to go ahead with them, hot or not.

Auburn has an annual festival, as do most towns in our area. Auburn calls theirs "Good Ol' Days" and it's kicked off by a parade down - MAIN STREET! duh. I've attended various parts of Good Ol' Days including the sidewalk and craft sale, but never the parade. Our newly relocated family from Utah needs something to do on Saturdays so we all opted to go. We shoulda skipped it. This is an election year so all the local Senate, Congress, etc campaigners were there in force, I swear 1/3 of the parade was campaigning. There were the 3 high schools represented by small bands and cheerleading squads, which were colorful and showy. The fire trucks blew their horns and sirens down the street and local feed stores and farms had their prize tractors pulling homemade floats with waving kids riding in them. But the quirky synchronized shopping carts or briefcase squads were missing. Really, anything entertaining was missing. I don't think we'll go back, those "Good Ol' Days" are only in the past now, it seems.

I've enjoyed attending the Renaissance Faire for a few years now but you just never know what weather August will bring. Or maybe it's not the month but, rather, our area. One year it rained. One year it was so hot I nearly passed out. See, when you attend it's the most fun if you go in costume. Since I've already attended in the heat I knew what to expect so when we came home from the parade we made up some minimalist renaissance costumes. The costumes worked pretty well, we didn't find ourselves becoming heat exhausted. But after seeing the second emergency vehicle pulling in during our measly, maybe 1 hour visit to the Maris Farms in Buckley, I made the comment "They're dropping like flies!" One of the attendants at that point told us that they had had 10 emergency calls that day already! They WERE dropping like flies! I noticed at least 3 overweight females laying in the shade with cloths on their heads and partners attempting to make them comfortable.

So although feeling like we had totally wasted our entrance fee money we decided to leave. No one was having fun but we took a few pictures and Rick picked up a sling for carrying a water bottle. So we came home.

That's when our day turned around. We cooked up some dogs and brats on the BBQ. Then Markie and Bekah came up to play with Keith. Then Denny and Hunter showed up. We were just enjoying the cooler air in the back yard, since we have more shade than any of their houses. After a little while Rachyl showed up. Then finally Mark showed up and hung out with his kids at the swingset in the back. It was just a very pleasant evening and it was funny to watch everyone quietly creeping into our back yard.

Today and tomorrow promise to be just as hot, if not hotter. So far today Rick and I have just been sitting at our computers blogging, etc. We tried going to an estate sale that the kids went to yesterday but it wasn't open. So here we sit.

It sure is cool in this house.

Picture of the Week

This month my flickr group is following a set of themes, meaning that each day we have a subject or idea that we shoot. Last week one day the theme was "hats". I know of a group of hat models down the street so I grabbed some hats and headed down. The models all tried on the various hats and posed for me. This shot of Shayne became the obvious winner:

Picture of the Week

OK, enough of that newspaper talk, it's hard!

Here's my picture of the week for 2 weeks. It's good enough to cover both weeks, don't you think?

I was taking shots of the thistle and this bee just flew in front of my camera! New focus!

News Briefs


Auburn - As the sale of 31906 160th Pl SE nears its closing, FHA appraiser Tim Ellis finds repairs to be made. Bathroom floor, exterior siding and cabinet doors all need attention. When reinspecting said repairs he finds further necessary electrical repairs which frustrates future owners, Tony and Rachyl Miller of Auburn, WA. In addition to the supplemental work found this appraiser had in his company a realtor who was not involved in the sale of the property and, therefore, should not have been on the premises during the inspection. Mr Miller reminded the appraiser of this and asked that the realtor remove himself from the inspection.

On another day ABC Septic inspector found the distribution box and pipes leading into and out from the box needed replacement. This job would normally involve heavy machinery and thousands of dollars. Fortunately for the prospective owners, this inspector agreed that, if said work could be done to his satisfaction via a visual reinspection of the area directly surrounding the box, he would approve the inspection and submit his findings to the underwriter. Mr Miller was able to do the work personally and submit the repairs via digital photography and email.

In light of the repairs made over the last 2 weeks the Millers should be able to close the sale of their new home and move forward to the aesthetics needing attention before their potential relocation into their first purchased home. This would include painting the entire inside of the home and replacing flooring in 2 bedrooms. Mr and Mrs Dennis Sizemore anxiously await this relocation.


Auburn - Auburn residents Rick and Sue Williams enjoy their new gate built over the final weeks of July. The gate had been needing attention for approximately 2 years, given that the previous gate was constructed near the end of the last century. The new gate functions much better than the outdated one and opens on the opposite side, to accommodate the normal flow of traffic through that side of the house.

Mr and Mrs Williams are anxiously awaiting their future visit to the island of Kauai during the middle of September. They are to leave together on the 9th of September with Mr Williams returning on the 20th to afford him opportunity to continue his employment at LaCroix Industries in Kent, WA. Mrs Williams will remain until the 30th of the month to have more time to render further necessary assistance to her parents and time together.


Auburn - The newly relocated Utah residents, Mr and Mrs Mark DeBelling and their 3 children, Celeste, Rebekah and Markie, had a large family meal last evening. The menu included salad, cheesy potatoes, macaroni and cheese and grilled chicken breasts with hot dogs for the children. All the guests, including the families of Kevin Sizemore, Dennis Sizemore, Mr and Mrs Anthony Miller and Mr and Mrs Rick Williams, all also of 160th Place, enjoyed the feast and the accompanying camaraderie.

Mrs DeBelling is enjoying her newly acquired employment at the local restaurant, Ristorante Isabella. The owner of the establishment is also the cook and offers recipes formulated in his own kitchen. Mrs DeBelling admits to having difficulty in pronunciation of some of the dishes.


Auburn - Sue Williams enjoys some additional income as she attains jobs creating slideshow DVDs over the course of recent past weeks. Unfortunately, in light of the added work, she hasn't had the opportunity to give attention to her online journal, her "blog" found at idontcollectcats.blogspot.com. Mrs Williams has the intention of updating her section entitled "Picture of the week" sometime later today.

In addition to the DVD work, she has been contacted by a small business owner in Pennsylvania to make some improvements to his business website. His hope is to generate more sales of his "mini-lift."

  

About Me

My photo
After 2 unsuccessful marriages I spent 12 years as a divorcee, only to fall prey to another man's wiles. We had a fun 5 years together and then he decided he wanted more freedom so once again I'm single.

So I'm freshly divorced at 57 and have 5 great kids and now 7 grandkids. My kids are still a major part of my life but I'm busy helping my aging parents on Kauai.

I've lived in California, Hawaii and Oklahoma before finally settling here in Washington. I love Washington and come back to visit family, friends and take care of my garden often but will be temporarily a resident of Kauai.

I've moved 30 times in my life (no, my parents weren't in the service, at least not since I was about 2) and finally planted roots when I got my little house that I've owned since '91.

My family are Jehovah's Witnesses, I've been one since '72.