St. Mary's Peak

This is the view from the top. We drove most of the way, then a short hike...less than a mile to the very top. It seemed longer going up!

Dave and Roy. In the background are giant balsam firs, or something similar. It took us awhile to identify these trees.

And a waterfall. There is a man-made drain for this fall.

We have to credit FDR for our wonderful national parks here in Oregon. We have the pleasure of using stone steps, created under the New Deal in many areas. This labor intensive work stands the test of time, and we enjoy it very much!

House Rock Falls

On the spur of the moment, we decided to check out a new waterfall. This is connected to a campground I am dying to visit this summer. It has very nice camp sites right on a river. This is one of the views as were are hiking to the fall.

Another view. Every one is having a good time. Desirae is hiking great, holding on to our hands in the skinny steep parts. Roy-dog is in Dog Heaven.

A shot of the waterfall before we climbed down to it.

Desirae's face as we were standing as close as we could get. It wasn't a magnificent water fall, but a nice way to spend a sunny (!) Sunday afternoon.

The best picture I took of it.

Another little stream coming in from a different angle.

The hill above us. And as I was snapping this shot, Dave lost his footing and fell in. I looked down and he was on his back, head first, boot caught in a log. Our first scary accident out hiking. Luckily enough, he was able to free himself, and climb back up to us, only getting half wet in the icy water. With some bumps and bruises for his trophy. He's been accident prone this week. I'm not liking it much.

A good picture of Roy as we're hiking back.

Even if Dave is half wet, Roy needs the full immersion method. He's a water dog and must swim every chance he gets.
And here's the water-girl. Doing her best to dip the piggies. I was amazed her feet were dry when we got back to the car. In fact we all had dry feet! Hiking boots are great.

Then it was time for the work. No one wanted to go back to the car, except for Dave, who was wet. We coaxed Desi all the way there, by singing and marching and walking backwards. Fortunately, I keep a duffel bag of old clothes for all of us in the wagon. Dave put on all dry clothes, and we put some dry pants on Desi. Roy got toweled off, and we were on our way. 1/2 way home, Dave thought he lost his cell phone either in the car, or in the river when he fell. I tried calling it...no reception. Soon my phone rang. Someone found his phone! Apparently he set it on top of the car and it fell on the highway, and a nice young couple picked it up and found us. We pulled over when we got the call, and 2 minutes later, they delivered the phone. How cool was that!

What an adventure this time. I wish I had gotten a picture of Dave getting wet, but I was freaking out.

Camping trip to Scott Lake

This was our big adventure in August. I've been meaning to blog on it ever since. This is the most remote place I've ever camped. We had to carry our stuff in about 1/4 mile. But the fun began as we started out that Friday morning. We were going to try and squeeze us all into the pickup, and put Roy in his kennel in the back for the first time. At the last minute, it was decided to take both the wagon and the pickup. As we approached Sweet Home, about 15 minutes from our house, Dave pulled over with the pickup. I pulled over behind him and had to brake quickly as the rear pickup tire came flying off. (and that's a whole 'nother story) Since I was there with the car, it went smoothly, the wrecker came and hauled the truck to the Ford Store, and they had us back on the road by 5:30 that evening. We made camp while it was dark and had Cheetos and chips for dinner. The camp remained messy the whole time we were there---just couldn't recover from setting up in the dark.
Roy was in water-dog heaven. And so were we. We brought our little blow up boat and paddled around this shallow mountain lake. Fun. Roy swam til he was tired and then we hauled his wet hide in with us. We swam and paddled for most of Saturday afternoon.
This is lava-land and the trees show it. They grow tall and then die as the roots hit too much lava. No need to bring fire wood. In Oregon, you are allowed to cut and burn as much as you like, but the other campers don't take too kindly to the noise of chainsaws. So, Dave quickly uses the saw and then hides it :)
Picture of the 3 Sisters in the back ground after the morning fog burned off.

This is Desirae practicing her alphabet among the water containers.

The girl LOVES to go camping. She's been begging to sleep in the tent again, recently.

A rare picture of ME. This camp site was barely a site. There was a small fire ring, and that's it. Dave plans on returning next summer, and I'm hoping for a nicer camp site. It did get cold at night, and poor Roy didn't have much for a doggie bed. Now I know, even dogs need blankets. Especially spoiled house dogs.

The Hoffman's are impatiently waiting for warmer weather!

Some new words to live by

Kent Keith - People Are Often Unreasonable

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may just never be enough;
Give the world the best you have anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it's all between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

I SOOOOOO need these words, especially the last ones, to remind me that it's ALL GOD, and has nothing to do with the other person. Just like I'm given gifts in the people chosen for my life, I am also given lessons and hurdles in others. IT's so much easier to give thanks for the gifts, and use BLAME for the hurdles. I might just tack this to the wall somewhere.

He's still being counted

I was just looking over my bit about me here on the right. It says we have 2 cats, but Gabriel died, so we have one now. I wanted to do a follow up story about this subject.

Crystal, our case worker with Developmental Disabilities, paid us a visit the other day. She was meeting Desirae for the first time. She asked Desirae about her pets, and Desi responded that she has 2 cats. "Their names are Gabriel and Lily, and Gabriel died".

Apparently Gabriel is still with us, at least he is still being counted. Too cute.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Our Christmas tree, this year, was the biggest I've ever experienced. Our trees of the past have been small table top trees because of cats, kid, and dog. The last few years we've went into Willamette Nat'l Forest and cut a small tree. Family fun! This year we went to a tree farm and Dave insisted on cutting our own, even though they had a man with a chain saw available. He did accept help carrying this beauty to the car, where it was tied on top of the station wagon.

Dave fit the tree into the stand and strung the lights. We didn't have enough blinking lights, so only the top half of the tree blinked with multi-colored lights. The bottom tree was adorned in red lights. We'll be purchasing all blinking lights on after Christmas clearance sales for next year.

Here's Dave dressing the tree with the topper we bought together our first Christmas. He had an idea of what he wanted for a top, and we searched and searched for it that Christmas, finally finding it in a specialty shop at Stoneridge Mall in San Ramon, CA.

Here's the biggest reason for putting up a grand tree! Christmas Morning arrived!

I was so missing Nick while I decorated the rest of the tree. So, here's his corner of the tree. This was his hand when he was 6, and a picture of him the same year. A few of his "first" ornaments, and the "n" he made while I decorated the hand. There are more, too many to squeeze into one picture.
Do any of my Brown cousins recognize this?

How about this? These two ornaments were hand made by Grandpa Brown, oh so many years ago.
This Jingle Beanie was the beginning of Desirae's collection. Her Grandma Lynn decorated her tree with these for Desi's first Christmas.
And this is our newest ornament. Desirae made it in Kindergarten this year. Perfect!

Too much to do, so little lifetime!

My blog is always seriously behind. I have ideas and pictures of camping trips that never made it here. I have pics of produce that never made it here....and on it goes. Seriously, life is too short for all the things I want to do. I have a craft room full of fun stuff I dabble in. I have a small garden I dabble in. I have a dog and we walk, and I have a daughter that dances and I love to read. I want to listen to talk radio, music---not just Rock, I want some Classical thrown in too. But then, I love the sound of silence. I must have silence while I read or I get distracted. And I love to read. I love Face book, and playing games. I must prioritize, and that means people and pets come first. I love to shop, I even love grocery shopping. What's a girl to do? I pray for more hours in every day, but I only get those when I steal from my sleep time. Others have a bucket list....nice idea, I'm too busy doing stuff I already like to do. Oh, yeah....I LOVE LOVE LOVE not going to a boring job every day. So, that's on my list of stuff I want to do, get paid for doing something I like. It shouldn't be hard, since there is so much fun stuff. Anyone want to pay me to read....or blog...or walk their dog?