amen

46 days......really hard workers....thousands of trees....hundreds of trucks...hours and hours spent in the car...lots of Triscuts and Tillamook squares.....dozens of donuts and muffins and coffee....6 turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner in the barn.....snow storms....freezing weather......cars in ditches......helicopter crashes (not ours)...trucks wrecks (not our truck but our trees)....tree stealing theifs caught..... muddy roads....mean Mexico tree buyer....nice customers.....elevators, bailers and chainsaws put away...... slings hung back in the barn......pallets stacked......tractors pressure washed......prayers answered.....greatful heart......AMEN.........aaawwwwwwhhhhh

32 years ago

November 25, 1978.

I loved you then. I love you still. Always have, always will.

My way or the highway

I was watching the news the other day before I headed out the door for another crazy busy day of tree harvest. There was a short video from You Tube of a house cat standing up to a crocodile. The cat slowly crouched down and moved forward towards the croc. The crocodile then turned and retreated back to the safety of the water.
That is how I feel the last two weeks or so. In my case, the crocodile is a Mexican tree buyer that has been yanking my chain and being dishonest. We have went round and round about how our contract of him buying and me selling trees would work. Eventually I was like the house cat. I decided to stand up to him, tell him like it is. It's my way or the highway! He tried to lie some more. He begged for trees. But with everything I had, I stood up to him and sent him down the road. Ahhhhhhhh, sometimes stubborn trumps over smart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sAF8gMN9c0

timesheets

It's almost Christmas tree harvest time again. You know what that means. . . . . .it means that the punks have been asking where the time sheets are. They like to turn in time sheets with hours on it of things that they have done around here to get paid for. They really do work sometimes. Other times they put stuff on their time sheets that crack me up and so I pay them for that, too. The other day it was payday and they wanted to put something on their time sheet. I asked them what the did and they said . . . . . "well, we put the clothes pins on the clothes line in groups of five." HUH??!?!? I went and looked. Sure enough, they did group them in fives. Since I haven't used the clothes line in at least a year I would have never noticed. But now that I see what they have done, I know that the next time I need to hang clothes out to dry I won't even have to worry about how many clothes pins there are. I can just look and see the groups of five :) See, they saved me time and money. I think I should pay them for that, don't you?

reunited

Last night I sat glued to the television. I watched as the miners in Chile were lifted from the bottom of the mine and reunited with their loved ones. Each reunion was so amazing. I was overcome with tears with each miners reunion. You could see the emotion and joy on the faces of the families waiting as they were lifted. There was also excitement among everyone involved in the rescue. I couldn't take my eyes off of them. As I layed in bed I thought about that same kind of reunion that I imagine myself having one day with Jay. I pictured it in my mind. I felt it with my heart. And I know that, just like the miners and their families, if I stay focused and I remain positive that day will come and it too will be amazing.

FOCUS

Man, talk about stress. It is almost Christmas tree harvest time again. Because of the economy and the over supply of Christmas trees, the orders are SLOWLY coming in . We usually know by now how many trees we will be harvesting. This year is different than any year before. The buyers are waiting and waiting and waiting. I am not sure what the hold up is. I know that it is a buyers market and they have the control. We have really good trees and it is hard to sell so cheap but we will have to do what ever we need to do to move a bunch of trees.

I know, too, that all of this is making me crazy. I try my best to DON'T PANIC. BE STRONG. DON'T STRESS. HAVE FAITH. BE POSITIVE. Well, let me tell you, I failed the "don't panic." My hair is all turning grey. And the "be strong", I failed that too. I cried. It didn't help. "Don't stress" made me eat all the chocolate that I could get my hands on. I do "have faith." That one I can do. I talk to God and Jay a lot. The "be positive", well, I am positive that if lots of orders don't come in real soon that I will be a grey haired, chubby, crybaby. But I will keep talking to God and to Jay and I will get focused and we will get thru this harvest.

You make me smile

They make my world go round

Why does summer have to be over? Why do they have to go to school? We were just starting to have some fun!!!

BOYS!!!

Last Friday we took the punks and went to some yard sales. We love us a good yard sale. I gave them some money so they could make their own purchases. I think it is funny to see what they buy. Last time Connor bought a little coleman camp stove.
When we got home I got them some propane and we roasted marshmallows.
That was fun.
So, this time when we went, Caleb found a ball hitch. It was 50 cents.

Then Connor found one, too. They each bought them and said they would put them on their four wheelers.






































When we got in the pick up they got out the handy wipes and started cleaning their balls. I said, "Boys, quit playing with your balls, we have more yard sales to go to." They said, " we want to make our balls shiney." Whatever........ I'm glad that girls don't have balls to play with. We have way more important things to do.

Happy 95th Birthday Grandma

A little over a week ago we went back home to celebrate my Grandma's 95th birthday with her. There were lots of family and friends visiting. Some came from as far away as Wyoming.




















Grandma had five of her brothers come to share the day with her.


There were kids and grandkids, great grandkids and even great, great grandkids.


























When you are 95 years old, there isn't much you want or need. So, all of us, her family, got together and spiffied up the church. We put in new sod, new shrubs and new light fixtures. The trim got a new coat of paint. We stained the front doors and front steps. New gravel and new bark was spread around. A cute new sign was hung over the front doors. It all turned out really nice and made Grandma happy.

Then we partied. . . . . . There were around 150 of her family and friends that came to wish her a happy birthday. See, she is not just special to us but to everyone who knows her. She was the cook at the school forever and she is pretty much Grandma to all who live in her town. Even the UPS man was there. Heck, he stops by her house and watches an inning or two of a Mariner game with her now and then. (She hardly ever misses a Mariner game.) The Schwann man stops by every two weeks to see what she needs. Then he brings it in, takes it out of the boxes and places it in her freezer. Then he writes her check for her and she signs it. If she happens to not be home, he looks in the freezer to see what she needs, puts it in there and catches up with her next time to get paid. He's cool.
We put a tiara on her head and made her "Queen for the Day." In church on Sunday she requested that we sing "How Great Thou Art." She said it was her favorite song. As we sang I started leaking a few tears. I heard sniffles behind me. I like to call that liquid love. I know the song is about Our God but it was like we were singing about Our Grandma too. Happy Birthday sweet, sweet Grandma. Let's party again next summer for your 96th.