As Usual

As usual, if things are hopping around here, there is absolutely no time to update the blog. When all is quiet and nothing to report, it seems I have plenty of time to report it.

However, since it has been a month since updating here, I think I can report a few happenings. 

Valerie has continued to engage in her livestock judging team events. Her team came in 2nd place for the 4-H State contest at Davis and will now be representing the state of California at a competition in Kansas City this coming October. ! I hear the sound of more fund raising in our future.

We all managed to hop back to South Carolina for a quick visit in March. We managed to squeeze in a great visit with Cee Cee, Hugh, Cousin Callie and still do some fishing and have some Gator rides. Sadly, due to a phone/camera malfunction, I do not have as many photos of the event as I should.

I have to report that Valerie caught the most fish on that trip (as usual) but no turtles (this time). Honestly, as soon as we got to the pond, she had her hook in the water and was yelling, "I got one!" before the rest of us had gotten onto the dock. Amira and Michael helped remove the fish from the hook and before that first fish was released back into the pond Valerie shouted, "Hey! I got another one!" Amira informed her that it doesn't really count if you're not taking your own fish off the hook. Amira and Michael were wonderful "fish valets". 

After coming home and doing some laundry, Michael and I hopped on another plane to Long Beach to visit Rex and see a sumo wrestling tournament at Long Beach State. 

I am fascinated with the Japanese culture and LOVE sumo! I had always said that if Sumo came to the West Coast I needed to see it. Fortunately Rex was on the case. What a great visit and great show. The venu even sold bento boxes along with sparkling sake. (Sure, you could also get nachos and beer, but why?) Some local Taiko drummers came to open the event. That was fantastic as well. 

Meanwhile, back at home, spring has sprung intermittently between rain storms. Honestly, it has been one wet spring. Just last week I was bombarded by tornado warnings and flash flood warnings back for our neighborhood. Fortunately, neither materialized at my house. But there certainly was a lot of flooding in town. Anyhow, those rainy days we just hunker down with a good book or some Netflix and feed the pets. They are all adorable.

Those crazy turkey hens have been hiding their eggs. Although we have not been able to find the nest, some other critter did. There are a number of broken turkey egg shells strewn across my back yard.

The red buds, quince, forsythia and other flowers of spring all all over the place putting on a show. I just love looking out the windows at the color combinations. Of course the grass will grow up to our hips within one week. So, while beautiful, also overwhelming at times.

On the last day of March my friend Holly and I went up the Feather River Canyon to go hiking and hang out in the hot springs. I couldn't have asked for a more gorgeous day. It was about 74 degrees with clear blue skies and barely the whisper of a breeze. As we wound along the gushing Feather River with its sun bleached granite boulders we could see the snow capped peaks around us break into bright green patches of trees with roaring white waterfalls cutting through the hillsides as they cascaded down into the river. We hiked up a trail that constantly switched back and forth over a water fall. We could smell the fresh bay leaves that lined the trails while ferns and moss covered rocks poked out of the hillsides. It was pretty magical. And don't even get me started on the hot springs. They were so warm, effervescent and only a little stinky. One of them was supposed to be chock full of lithium. I soaked in that one and ate some birthday cake that Holly brought. It felt like a little slice of heaven. 

This past weekend was my actual birthday. I got another break in the weather and was able to get some yard work done on Saturday. The kids all pitched in and had these gorgeous flowers delivered. How sweet are they? There was even an adorable card. They know how I love flowers.

Sunday Valerie and I braved a torrential rainstorm as we drove back into Oregon for another College review.

Wait a minute, you say! Isn't that a done deal? I mean, first we were settled on Oregon State. Then we switched it up and Humboldt State was a sure thing. Then maybe OSU. Well, my friends, presently we are possibly settled on Linn-Benton Community College (degree partnership program with OSU). Here's what happened.

As I may have mentioned, Valerie is a very competitive component of an award winning live stock judging team for both 4-H and FFA in the state of California. Well, colleges have livestock judging teams also. (Who knew?!?) And coaches for those teams watch the high schools and try to recruit the best ones to their schools. (Like sports). LBCC (Linn-Benton Community College) has such a program. When we arrived Sunday evening, one of the LBCC coaches met us and took us to dinner to discuss the program and answer any questions we might have.

Monday morning we met him back at his office at LBCC and met the other coach as well. Then we sat in on one of his classes. This was followed by the two coaches giving us a personal tour of the school. When Valerie mentioned maybe wanting to get a job on campus, they took her to the Admin building and introduced her to some people and got her an application for the work study program. They asked her what she wanted to study when she transfered to a University (presumably OSU). When she said, "Environmental Sciences" they took her right up to meet the head biology teacher who printed out a list of classes that would matriculate for that major. Then they gave her a sweatshirt and took us out to lunch. They discussed with her some other names of people who had responded to their "wooing" and also told Valerie about the "pot of money" put aside for top performing students so that part of their tuition could be paid for. Well, it was a very nice visit with lots of personal attention. Valerie is now leaning toward this option and NOT staying in the OSU dorms. She is back to considering rooming in an off-campus apartment with other members of the livestock judging team. Holy cow! I'll keep you all updated.

Today I had a little break in the work flow. So, I took this opportunity to re-cap our busy, busy lives. Next weekend Michael is back off traveling again.