Misc.

Ellsworth's long lost niece and her husband came to visit today. He hasn't seen her since she was a little girl and she is in her 70s now. It was a happy reunion. They are very nice people and will be attending the Curran reunion this year. We are excited about having them here.

Wow! Yesterday it reached over 100 degrees here and it is about 90 or so today. That is warm for this neck of the woods.

Garth arrived home from WA DC last night. All went well. He didn't get to see the historic sites he would have liked to see though.

Garth and Julie and family have a good plan for getting their year's supply of food. Every month they are ordering a case of food from the the Church site. By the end of the year they should have their emergency supply. It may not be the foods everyone likes (no pizza or lasagna) but they will not go hungry in case of an emergency.

Making Changes

Arlin and Cindy are taking out the big trees - they prevent the light from reaching their yard. Neil brought home this big truck from work (yes, that is him in the bucket with a chain saw in hand )and he and Arlin took a few big branches down this evening. I think they were enjoying it.

New Greenhouse in the Making

At last we have started our new greenhouse! We dug up part of the sod and then hauled up the ashes etc. from the burn site and are packing it down on the site and leveling it out; then we will put down some tin to hopefully keep the moles and other critters out and then the flooring. We have a lot of cement blocks which we will use for the foundation. As you can see by the picture, I use the term 'we' rather loosely here. Truthfully, I have helped also and try to do whatever 'he' will let me do.

Boys and Frogs

Oh it is great to have the grandchildren around. The guys love frogs (& toads & spiders & snakes & every other little living critter)Joey & Elijah & Nathaniel spent the morning with us, mostly down by the creek looking for frogs. They found one and had great fun with it - Joey tells me it is a girl. It is great fun to have the boys come to visit, especially when the weather is nice and they can have fun outdoors. Julie and the rest of the gang took Ammon to the dentist-not so fun.
Here is a slide show with the frog & the grandchildren - and a few of Aaron & Emmylou Newell's precious children, Garrett & Gracie

Ellsworth Curran - Community Service

A week or so ago the Aberdeen Daily World contacted us and came out to the house to do an article on Ellsworth and his Community Service for the past 60+ years.
So here is a link to that article (Just click on his name above) - I managed to get my name in there also a few times; even a picture. However there are a few misprints. One big one is that it says he is one of the co-founders of the Beehive Retirement Center which, of course, is not true; we are just stockholders. We haven't figured out how they came to that deduction. The article was two full pages long. Quite a surprise.

Eldon's Job and Mom's Return

Yesterday a couple of hours after we returned from the Seattle Temple Eldon stopped by. He is soooo happy with his job. He says it is just right for him. It has a lot of variety and the really big thing is it pays 100% of his health insurance; medical, dental, and vision. Wow! That is great. He doesn't have to do too much lifting so far so that is a good thing. The boys are doing good and growing!!

Tuesday David went to the airport and picked up mother. He took her over to the Good Samaritan Hospital Rehab where my brother, Ralph is (was - he went home today) and I met them there. We had a nice meal there in Ralph's dining room area. Then mother and I went home. She had a great trip but is awfully glad to be back to her own little place. There is nothing like home.
Today I went and fixed her medicines for the week and paid her bills and a few other things. She is doing very well. She just misses seeing so many of her grandchildren that she so seldom sees.

Today was a very special day. Arlin and Cindy were going to the Temple and took me along. It was a great trip. It is so peaceful in the Temple and once you enter, you feel like all the troubles of the world have disappeared. I love that feeling. The Spirit of the Lord is so strong there you feel so close to Him who gave his life for all of us. I feel a special help from the Lord while there while meditating upon the problems I encounter in daily life. I came away with a feeling of greater strength and a more positive attitude about solutions and what I need to do to bring them about.
Garth and Julie were there also. We were able to have lunch there in the Temple with them. That was a special treat.
Garth leaves for WA DC next week. Julie will not be going along. The Army told him she could not be present at the ceremony. Garth told them he didn't want to go along if he couldn't take his wife and they said "You are going!- You are the Platoon Sergeant!" So he is going.
I have a cousin back there who retired from the Army as a Lt. Colonel and is now in the CIA. We have made contact with him and hopefully they will be in contact with each other while there.
It was a nice trip today but I am glad to be back home again.

Aaron & Emmylou Visit

Aaron had a meeting on Monday, Jun 16th in Seattle so he and Emmylou and the kids decided to make a visit over here Sunday evening and spend the night. We had a great time playing games and eating and eating and playing more games. Some of the photos are prior to the visit,

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Life around here

These pictures are of a variety of people and things:

The Graduates - Party Time

Garth's Welcome Home

It was a great Homecoming! So many people from the community and church showed up to welcome him home.

Daddy's Tree

I'm glad I took this picture. The wind is blowing so hard today (6-9-08)we are having a snow shower of yellow blossoms.
Fourteen years ago we planted two trees - Pictures of Daddy's beautiful Golden Chain tree below.
The tree we planted for Sara will bloom later and I will get a picture of it then.

The Fence & Garden

We added some more pictures to this post - the Garden is growing and I have planted a few more plants.

Because we had a few problems with animals in the neighborhood getting into our garden, we decided yesterday to put up a fence. It had to be with materials we already had on hand so in looking around I found some fencing material that once belonged to the Beehive which they decided not to use so gave it to us. I found some old rusty metal posts and decided that would work.

I went to work dragging the materials over and had started putting the posts in when suddenly Arlin appeared and drug the rest of the materials over and took the post driver away from me and started in. We made pretty good progress, with Ellsworth cutting the wires, and me trying to do something to help and then Cindy came over and chipped right in, helping with tying the wires (we had to put two rows and they had to be tied together). Soon Neil came over and between them it wasn't long and we had a fence. The gate is one of our old pea vine fencing that we used.
They were kind enough to leave their own projects and help us out. We appreciate them very much.

Garth is going to Washington D.C.

Well, Garth did go to WA DC and is there as I write this. They had the awards program and he will be heading home in the morning. I don't know much more about it. It is a frustrating thing that he cannot tell us more than he does.

Yes, it is true. Here is an exerpt from Garth's letter:

"The DIRNSA (Director of NSA) gives out an award every year to the unit that has the best and most siginificant impact on the military through Signals Intelligence. Well, my Platoon won the award this year. Its usually given to a Battalion or at least a company size element so we are the first Platoon sized element to win it. Anyway, the award will be presented in Washington DC. Anyway, its a pretty prestigious thing and not too many people can say they have won it. Its pretty exciting!! I hope to get something for each member of my platoon as a commemorative gift for the event. If you have any ideas let me know. Well, it wont be too long now. I am brimming with anticipation mixed with severe anxiety. I miss and love you guys. Will see you soon."

Garth will be home in just a few days - we are waiting to hear when - won't know the exact day or time until he is on the plane. He called a few days ago and we got to hear his voice for a very few minutes but we loved hearing from him.