Category Archives: Our Country Bungalow

Adios August Hodgepodge

Time for the last August Wednesday Hodgepodge! Thank you Jo From This Side of the Pond for asking the questions!

1. Something you’ve labored over recently? 

Pulling weeds, weeds and more weeds, to the point of my right arm/elbow screaming at me to stop it!

2. How will you rest on Labor Day? 

We rarely rest on Labor Day for many different reasons. We have been listening to and reading some great talks and articles on having a Lord’s Day Rest. We want to be more intentional on leaving Sundays for rest from our labors and being more in tune with keeping our ‘lamp tended and storing good oil for our lamps’. We also don’t want to ignore the importance of spending time each day with God through His Word, the Bible.

3. Margaret Mead is quoted as saying, “I learned the value of hard work by working hard.” Would you agree? Where and how did you learn the value of hard work? 

It is good for man to work. I have learned the value of hard work by working hard and by the example of my parents and others who worked hard and work hard. My Dear is a great example of someone who works hard to a good end not just spinning his wheels.

4. It’s National Eat Outside Day (August 31st). Will you? Do you enjoy dining ‘al fresco’ or prefer indoor seating? 

I prefer eating inside and if I have to eat outside I need a shady spot. I developed, in my late 50’s, a skin sensitivity to the sun shining directly on me, especially my thighs. When the sun hits them it immediately feels like they are burning. This happens through my clothing. When living in Southern California from 2006-2010, I had to put sunshades on the passenger window so the sun wouldn’t hit my thighs. Weird…

5. Somehow it’s the end of August. What was the best day of the month for you and tell us what made it so? 

We had a great day last Friday when our Colville family could have dinner together and the grands and I had some water gun and hose fun outside, getting a wee bit soaked. There were emergency surgeries and other issues over the course of the month that kept us from getting together for a meal. Then on Saturday I met up with our DIL and Grands to watch our small town parade. FUN. The collage at the top of the post is from our parade time.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

They Turned on Me!

The kids and grands were over for dinner last Friday night and after dinner the grands wanted to play with the water guns in the back yard. Soon the water guns were left behind for the hoses that offered more fun and power!

It was all good for a time and then they both decided to turn on me!

Little stinkers! We came inside to get dry clothes on and it was time for them to head home for bed.

I got dry clothes on and put my feet up for a little relaxation before going to bed.

I cherish these moments and am happy to have the opportunity to spend time with these two little humans!

On Saturday we met up on Main Street in Colville for the Fair Parade. I’ll share photos from the parade tomorrow.

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?

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.

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?