Fall colors

The fall colors around here have been so pretty this year.  Alexis and I decided to ride up the canyon and take advantage of them.  She is always good for a picture or two.  The last post was so long I will just leave you with a few pictures:

A little bit of fun and a whole lotta scare..

I tend to use this as a journal so occasionally I post things that are somewhat personal - this, in part, is one of those postings.

September started out pretty good around here but ended in a blur.  Carl had been working in Wyoming and was only an hour away from Mt. Rushmore.  I couldn't let him get that close and not go visit.  I flew into Gillette, Wyoming on the 6th and spent thru the 10th up there with him.  The little town he was working in was little but quaint.  We went into South Dakota to see the sights while I was there.  I can now officially cross Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills off the bucket list.

 

 

We decided to take a different route back into Wyoming and I sure am glad we did because we found this beautiful lake that we would have missed otherwise.

 



I returned back home on the 10th and the world fell apart-for a moment.  I hadn't even been home for 15 minutes when I received a phone call that Carl was in the hospital.  He had been taken into the emergency room with a heart attack.  Was this really happening?  Yes it was.  Oh my, I just got back from there and now I find myself making phone calls and searching for a flight right back up there.  Sierra was busy on the computer and I was busy on the phone. 

To make a long story short- By the end of the night, the hospital in Wyoming had transported him to Rapid City, SD where they had better equipment.  The cardiologist there had to go in and insert a stent, I was scheduled to be on the 9:45 am flight into Rapid City and was busy washing clothes only to repack-

I had no idea how long I was going to be there or what I was going to find when I did get there - But all is well.  We were able to return home on Thursday- just three day after the incident.  After seeing a couple different doctors and getting the medicine regulated, he has been able to return to work.  The damage was pretty significant but with time and tests we will see if the heart will be able to repair itself. 

To everyone from Chris (the guy who took him to the hospital), to the wonderful staff at both hospitals to family and friends I thank you for your concern, phone calls and prayers.

My most recent find

Recently while out riding my bike one morning I came across a pretty cool find - well I thought it was cool anyway.  But by the time I had finished riding and got back home I had completely forgotten about it.

Then that same night I was online and saw something similiar that reminded me of the find earlier in the day.  I immediately got in the car headed back to the house where I had seen it and wrote the phone number down.  I returned home and called the number and talked to the sweet lady on the other end, had a brief conversation with her and was quickly headed back to her house (in the truck) to retrieve my treasure.

What is this treasure you ask?  Well here it is----

Is this cool or what?  I have been looking for one for some time.  I can't wait to start redoing it - although it is at the bottom of a long line of other projects. 

The best part of it - It. was. FREE.  The lady has more like this (and some of just the desk) that had been given to her for her homeschool and she just didn't have room for them anymore so she was downsizing.   She just wanted it to go to a good home.  If you look close you can see the hole in the top - you ask what that is for - it's for the ink bottle.  How cool is that?

Where did August go !!

So I'm not sure where August went and I would like to say that we have done something wonderful but that's not the case.  Jake and Alexis got registered at their new school and started back on the 22nd.

Each year on the first day of school (and then the last day) I measure their height - it's fun to see how much they grow in just the short nine months of school.

This year on the first day:
  
     Jake is 5 ft 4 1/2 "                                  Alexis is an even 5 feet

The end of the month brought a surprise in the way of a bountiful garden.  I wish I could say that it was my garden but no such luck.  My sister's father and mother in-law has a large garden (haven't seen it but have heard about it).  They were very generous this year to us and gave me about 3 bushels of tomatoes, green beans, zucchini and yellow squash, carrots, cucumbers and other wonderful fruit and vegetables that I am sure I have missed.  We have thoroughly enjoyed his graciousness (is that a word?)  So after the kids would head off to school I got busy with my canning supplies.  Here's what I have been doing-

 



 

 

Here's the count to date:

 

27 pints of salsa

9 pints of beans

17 pints of tomato juice

6 quarts of tomatoes

26 pints of tomatoes

 

With our recent move I was actually pretty lucky to even find some of my canning supplies - I guess it was just meant to be, when I went to look for the bottles and canners they were on the tail end of the storage.

 

Thanks Mark & Ruth for the produce it has been greatly appreciated.



 

 





Deer in the city????

Ok, so we don't actually live in the "city" but we are in Mt. Pleasant City even though we consider it more of the country.   Last week we saw this cute couple across the street at the neighbors house just hanging out.....

Didn't see this very often at our old house.  

A New Chapter....

Things have been a little quiet here in blogland for me.  However, things have been less than quiet at home.  For the last several years (yes I mean several) we have had our house on and off the "For Sale" list.  It has been a long journey, lots of showings and an endless count of trying to keep the house clean.  A little more than a month ago, we received and accepted an offer on our house.  Let the craziness begin.  We were given 3 1/2 weeks to pack up and move out of our house - all at the same time I had to work up until the day before the moving truck shows up. 

And so the journey began:

The house is packed up and ready to go.

The moving van arrived right on time - we had the coolest driver ever.

There goes my baby (baby grand that is) up the driveway and into the truck:

And here we are crossing the state line to our latest adventure.

Yes, we have made a full circle back to where we started - It's nice to be closer to family after being away for over 10 years.  So...stay tuned for our adventures in the country.

FYI:

Rolls of packing tape - 24

Rolls of Bright Orange Duct Tape -  2

Number of boxes - 100's (or so it seemed)

Being closer to family - PRICELESS