Category Archives: Colville

Early Morning Conditioning

Monday morning at dawn we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. We decided to head to the Rotary trail again to continue our walking conditioning.

An early morning walk on this trail is a real treat.

We continue to plan and condition for our trip to England in September. Our longest walk in Oxford is only 4.2 miles and those miles involve stops along the way so we are confident we should be good, conditioning on our 3 mile walk without stops on the Rotary trail. While on the trail we listen to sermons and the latest are from 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 3:18 ~  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

After our walk on Monday morning we came home and got to work, me with mowing, and Dear with finishing his work on the mount for our snowplow.

Snow this winter will be the test on whether this mounting and plow will work well.

We were in the upper 80’s today which was a nice change to our upper 90’s and low 100’s. For the rest of this week we have some Spokane shopping, some granddaughter soccer fun, a dessert get together with our church family and the Northeast Washington Fair.

Are you looking forward to anything this week and weekend?

Variety

We’ve been enjoying a variety of hummingbirds at our feeders this season.

We call this one, Rusty. I think it’s a Rufous

Besides the hummingbirds and all the other variety of birds in our yard we had some more visits from mama deer and 2 fawns.

After being under the weather the past week I’m good as new. Thank you for your kind thoughts! We had a quiet week and most of the weekend staying home. We decided to not attend church on Sunday morning just in case there were any lingering germs to share. We did go to the trail early on Sunday to continue our walking conditioning.

Here are some photos from the trail on Sunday morning we only passed one other human on the trail.

I only had my phone with me so this zoomed photo of the eagle isn’t too clear. This is a regular perch for this eagle.

This is getting to the last stretch before we are back at the parking area. We listened to a sermon from Second Corinthians on the New Covenant on this walk.

We both have appointments for eye exams this week so we’ll get in some Spokane shopping adventures while there. Dear avoided being in the house with me and my germs last week and worked in his shop on the mounting of the snow plow for his truck. He wants it ready for this coming winter and it involved a lot of thinking, welding and building of mounts, etc. A few tweaks and it should be good to go once we get snow.

His next project is our Master Bath. That won’t start till October. We’ll try to buy the tile for that project while we are in Spokane this week.

What’s new in your corner?

Back to School Hodgepodge

We are back on track for Wednesday Hodgepodge thanks to Jo From This Side of the Pond.

1. August is National Back To School Month…how does that make you feel? 

I’m pretty stuck in the tradition of school starting after Labor Day so I’m always surprised when we get the photos of our nieces and nephews starting school in August. Above is a photo of me in front of my high school that always started back to school after Labor Day.

Share a back-to-school memory. 

Our sons on the first day of school in 1986 or 1987, ready to walk to school. Our daughter waiting for the bus in 1991ish.

This memory of our daughter always sticks in my mind because she chose to wear that t-shirt on the first day of school a few years in a row. I was and am impressed with her boldness and resolve. This photo is from the first day of her senior year, 2003.

2. Something you’ve learned in ‘the school of life’? 

That God is in control and I am not.

Contentment is worth more than riches.

Here’s a quote from our sermon on Sunday. “If we displease God does it matter whom we please? If we please Him does it matter whom we displease? ~Leonard Ravenhill

3. Three words to describe your current mood.

Under the weather…

4. A summer food you’ve eaten too much of/are tired of?

Nada, Zip, nothing.

A summer food you haven’t had enough of? 

Nectarines and watermelon.

5. What small stuff do you sweat that you know you shouldn’t?

When planning a meal or event I always wonder if I ordered or made enough of this or that. It seems to always work out so I’m trying not to sweat over those things.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Speaking of Leonard Ravenhill here is another gem I’ll quote from him.

“A man who is intimate with God is not intimidated by men.”

Mid August Fun

Our grands were dropped off last Thursday for some time at Gramps and Baba’s.

The new dollar store water blasters were broken in.

Hunting for hidden marbles is always fun.

Big Wheels in the backyard…

…and Big Wheels in the front yard.

Inside fun consisted of washing dishes (tupperware), working on a craft and building with Construx. All too soon it was time for them to be picked up for home and lunch. Hope they were still hungry after all the snacks they had at Babas.

It was fun to see this photo of our ‘Coast kids’ enjoying time together at the Seattle Sounders game on Sunday night. Too bad the Sounders lost. Thank you Laura for taking this photo!!

We are in another hot pattern here with the high predicted over 100 on Thursday. Watering in the early hours will have to be the norm for a while longer. Hope this new week is going well in your corner.

Welcome to Ember!

Our kids added a puppy to their family in time for their older sweet dog Reyna to help train her.

Puppies sleep a lot.

How sweet is this.

Our daughter-in-law has had a puppy before but our son and grands are experiencing a puppy for the first time. This little Golden is adjusting to the family. It will be fun to watch it grow.

Me and My Shadow

The Hummers continue to entertain us. We have put out a second feeder that has perches that the hummers can rest on.

This is a week off for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

We were able to meet our local kids’ new puppy on Tuesday as they wanted to introduce her to their old dog Reyna on neutral ground before bringing the puppy into their home which has always been Reyna’s domain. Things will be busy as they train and enjoy a new puppy. Her name is Ember. I’ll let them share a photo first on Social Media before I do here. Sweet and mellow.

Vacation Bible School is in full swing and things went well with registration and making sure all the kids had their name bands on their wrists. I look forward to another evening helping out and doing my small part to help things go smoothly.

Raclette for a Worthy Cause

I managed to take a few photos of the Raclette Meal in progress. We served Steak, Shrimp, Asparagus, Red Bell Pepper strips, Mushrooms, Thinly sliced Onion, Pickles, Cheese, Boiled Potatoes, bread and butter. It was up to our guests what they would cook on the top of the grills and melt in the individual melting pans that fit under the grill. The usual item placed below the grills is the cheese or something else cooked with a little butter like mushrooms.

For dessert I served the Strawberry Ice Cream Cake that I posted the recipe for on Wednesday Hodgepodge.

The Raclette Meal was a hit and it was a first for all 6 guests. This was a meal that we offered up for an auction item at our church to raise money over and above our usual monthly support for our missionaries to the Ukraine. The couple that won the bid donated $450.00 for this meal for them and 4 of their guests. We enjoyed serving them. The Missionary Auction brought in $16,000 from items donated by our church members and then bid on by people in our church.

This week I’m very busy both helping out by watching the grands during the day and then in the evenings helping with our Vacation Bible School which runs from 6pm until 8:30. I won’t have much leisure time for visiting blogs. I’ll visit when I can.

Early Morning Visitors

This past week we’ve enjoyed seeing these visitors in the early morning hours. It’s always fun to see fawns. We’ve also had to dodge Turkeys crossing the roads with their poults (baby turkeys).

Because of the heat we’ve been doing our outdoor chores bright and early in the coolest part of the day. We have one more day creeping up to 100 or more degrees and then we’ll cool down to some 80’s and 90’s.

Welcome to August which already has many days filled in on our calendar with local events. What are you looking forward to in August?