So Much to Catch Up On!

OK! Where was I? Oh, yes...the trip to the land.

We had a wonderful, relaxing time...especially me. Don did a lot of the cooking. Yes sir-ee, here's a picture of my personal chef fixing my breakfast on the front porch. I can almost smell the bacon.



This is a pile of T-posts near the cabin that we are going to use to put up some fencing. If you look to either side of the pile you will see fresh dirt scattered around. That's because Mia smelled a pack rat under the T-posts and began digging under them hoping to get to the pack rat. If you look carefully you can see her hind end poking out from the left.



I went back a little while later, and this is all I saw poking out.



Even Trooper seemed concerned at how far under she was.



So he assigned himself to guard duty. Good boy, Trooper!

The land had received a lot of water during the spring and summer, so there were many beautiful wild flowers growing.

The grasses were also beautiful. I love seeing them wave in the wind.

As we explored more parts of the ranch, we came across another large area of petrified wood. Here are some pictures:

This is the view looking south from near the area where the petrified wood was:

A soil feature in that same area:

On another note, Don's soccer team has lost only one game this season. I think the playoffs start next week. He loves playing keeper. That's him in the gray shirt jumping up to get the ball. Not bad for someone who is entering a new decade in a few months. Oops! I don't think I was supposed to let that little secret out of the bag!

I have worked hard all year long to condense my journals. I finally finished, and am now editing, with Don's help. I hope to leave something worthwhile for my posterity. Here are the journals I condensed (14 books, 1 ledger, and 1 three-ring binder):

WHEWWW!!! Big task. Now if I can just get it all edited.....

My brother has been working on scanning some newspaper clippings that he took possession of after my dad passed away in 2004. This is one that was written about my dad while he was serving in WWII (European theater).

And lastly, one of my favorite pictures taken by my daughter-in-law, Sarah, of Nathan and Carter grilling dinner a couple of months ago. I love it!

In spite of some of the difficult things life has sent our way, I have to say that I feel very blessed. I take strength from others of you as you face your trials with courage and faith. I appreciate having the friendship of such stalwart women. You are in my prayers.

No Pictures Again...But a New Reason

I actually have pictures to post. Problem is, the cable that lets the camera talk to the computer is not working anymore. I'll try to get a new one ordered soon.

Summary...We loved watching General Conference last weekend, and then we took the dogs and went up to the land for a week. We are home again and ready to jump back into rehearsals for The Messiah (our stake is sponsoring a community sing-along). It's been a while since I worked that hard at music. The soccer team is currently undefeated...way to go Don! He's the keeper for the team. Actually, he's a keeper in my book too. And Relief Society has also kept me running...there's always something that needs to be done.

I finally finished editing my journals. I got 15 volumes down to 103 pages. Not bad. I've also been working steadily on getting the family history information (that I have gathered over the years) put onto the newfamilysearch.org web site. Maybe one more year and I will be able to complete that goal. So far I have been able to add or confirm a few hundred names and dates. It does my heart good.

The family is well...we are well.