The title above seems appropriate since I just said good-by to Bill and Diana, Thursday I said good-by to George, Rossanna, Alex and Nina, and tomorrow, it is good-by again to Sid and Sandra. This morning there were mud puddles outside, it had rained last night. We drove out to the farm, and sang Happy Birthday to Tiffany. Yesterday we sang Happy Birthday to Tom and KC. What a lot of fun.
Yes, the wasabi was HOT, but I washed it down real quickly with some water. Sandra warned me--but I wanted to see what it tasted like!!
I found out the cell phone works at the farm. But I don't know if it would work in the woods so I will not rely on it until I know for sure.
Diana and Bill so generously offered to take us to dinner. So off we went to the new Japanese restaurant in town. It is impressive. It looks like the place is very lively - full of patrons.
Nice to see business is booming.
One of the more impressive things that happened is when Bopcha tasted the wasabi. As I warned her that she was about to taste something really really hot, she put a chunk of it in her mouth. Can you imagine. If you have ever tried wasabi, you know that a dot of the stuff can be too much. Amazingly enough Bopcha drank some water and she seemed to recover rather quickly. We don't think any of us could have handled it.
The food was excellent. Sid and I had our fill of sushi. The others decided to not go with the raw fish option. They also had excellent food.
I have been trying to tell you how nice it was to hear from you. Each time, something eats up the note I have written and it vanishes. I will try again. The third time should be the charm!
Oregon State University does research on game birds in Oregon. Quail is one of their interests. I was given a dozen of the eggs the quails
had laid. I sent the eggs to Kay to hatch in her little incubator. Lo, and behold, some hatched. I don't remember how many, but the little rascals escaped. So that is the quail story I have been trying to tell you. Good luck to you and your friend on the quail population. They are cute. They used to run around here in town, but the cat population has increased so no more quail. I do see them running across the road when I drive out to the farm.
Your story about the business was very interesting. I enjoyed it. Sid is here but will be leaving this coming Monday. I hope I can pursuade him to let me drive him to the airport in Portla nd.
It is great that at last KC is able to post her comments on the blog. It is fun reading.
Today was finger punching day. I need to go back again in a week for another punch. It was a little too high.
Today I was out at the farm and talked to the man that is cutting up the trees (two trees) that were pulled from the creek last year. They were very wet still after having been in the creek last year. The wood is nice and white, that is the Bamm tree (tee hee) and the other is a nice wood color.
Sid, George, Nina, and Alex went to the coast today. Sandra and Rossanna toured the town.
Sid and George caught up with Rick Smith, and are downtown, Sandra and Rossanna and children have gone back to the farm.
Diana and Bill are coming down this coming weekend. KC is flying home from Lincoln to CO Springs and is in the air as of this moment.
I'm sitting inn the airport at Lincoln, waiting for my plane (which just arrived it seems so this may be very short.) I love reading the blogs. I haven't been so privileged for a long time. So many exciting things going on while I sit in my little house with no computer. Boohoo. I'll be home tonight Lord willing. I'm spending Th thru Sun in Colorado and then back to the grind. I think this airport is smaller than Eugenes. Long term parking costs $4 a day and is within 100 feet of the terminal. Not too bad!!! My cell: 719.649.7450. It's the only telephone I have but I can't use it at work. At work I'm at 402.294.3883. Lots of love, Must dash for the plane. KC
I hope you all have had the opportunity to look at the pictures I sent of Tory's shindig. We all had a raucous good time, ate lots of good food, and enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Bill and I will be down to visit Sid, Sandra, and Bopcha this weekend. I'm sorry we will miss the Parsons. Glad we got a chance to see them in New Jersey.
Do not cook for us, Sandra!!! No no no. We love your cooking, but we want to take you guys out somewhere so that we can all relax at the same time.
Today is Sunday, the 12th. It is so nice to glance up from the computer to see my atomic clock and determine what day it is, what time it is, the temperature outside, 71°. and the temperature inside, 69°. Oh, I should tell you it is 2:28 p.m., but I think that is alread
recorded courtesy of this message.
This morning Sid and I went to see Aunt Martha. She was not in and they said she had gone to the Scandinavian (sp?) Festival, so we parked at Bi-Mart and walked down to see if we could find her. When we got back to her residence, she was home, but yes, she had gone to the Festival, walking all the way, to hear some group that sings there year after year. Aunt Martha looked well, and was very cheerful and delighted to see us. She gave us one of her l o n g cucumbers to take home and Sid ate the other ll o n g cucumber on the spot.
I'm getting ahead of myself--Sid and Sandra arrived in the wee hours Thursday, August 9.
The Parsons, with the little ones, Nina and Alex, arrived the l0th. During one of Sidl's tours around town, he found a pogo stick. It was so much fun watching the family try to ride it!!!! They haven't succeeded as of this writing. Kay used to bounce up and down on the pogo stick. I hadn't seen one in years. I wish I had a camera handy to record the delight in seeing George, and Sid try to make it go.
On the way back we , Sid and I, stopped at a garage sale. Sid got a croquet set and some tools. Garage sales are so much fun and so hard to pass by. I'm out of space so good-by for now. Love, Bopcha
I finished my last class today.. Yahooo!!!! It was a Fantastic final lecture!! We will soon be on our way- (Tomorrow of course). We will give a call when we get to Portland. The parsons will Will be arriving on the 10th around Noon. I believe they are leaving on the 17th
The weather will be somewhat cooler here in the Northwest for those of you traveling from the East Coast. Today it isn't even going to be 70!
Judi, Kay, Bill, Susan, and I went to the Benton County Fair last Saturday. It was Samaritan Health Services Day, and Susan works for Samaritan Health Services so we all got in for free AND got a free meal of hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, chips, drinks, and ice cream. Yummmm! It set a record for the least amount of money ever spent at a fair!
The Blakneys are getting a family picture taken today. It has been awhile (2 years) and we thought we'd better do it while it's summer. Once school starts it gets increasingly difficult to rope the kids into a set schedule.
We are all going over to Tory's new digs on Sunday, August 12, for a barbque/picnic. The following weekend we plan to return to Corvallis to see our east coast visitors.
Just think there are people who manage travel details and logistics for a living. Wow there is a job I could never do. It is truly insane at times. I have been trying to rent a car. Renting a car in August is always a challenge. I like the way the rental companies always claim they are out of the economy cars
I guess, being that it is summer, perhaps it's true that they are out of cars. Well after much a do I finally got something that we can drive out of Portland and actually return in Corvallis. That will be convenient.
On Saturday evening our power went out, so naturally we had to find something to do so that we did not sit in a 200 degree apt with no electricity. I vaguely remembered that there was a Shakespeare Performance at a local park. We walked over to the Clark Park and indeed at 7pm sharp, a performance of Romeo and Juliet. There were many people gathered around on picnic blankets sitting in the grass, with their wine and food. Of course we just brought ourselves and sat on the grass. It was really enjoyable and a nice break from the routine. It took loosing electricity to get us out to the park. Hmmm.
We all look forward to our trip to Oregon. Nina and Alex seem particularly excited.
Happy Birthday to one of the most wonderful people I know. You are a truly youthful and sage (of course) 59 years old. It sounds like you are having a wonderful birthday. And I would have loved to see that documentary on the Memphis music scene especially after having been there last summer. It would be so much more meaningful.
It sounds like you are truly powering through your exercise routine Bopcha. That is wonderful!
Spinning is certainly a crazy super intense work out. I would say it is one of the most intense workouts around. When I first started I felt like I was dying. I did not understand how anyone could possibly spin their legs around so so fast. Now I just feel like I am going to faint.
That story about Kay crumbler made me laugh. Kay is really funny and I can relate to her story. In fact I feel like everytime I try to make any kind of cake or dessert with apples, it turns out to be a disaster.
Nina is going to be in a High School musical which she begged me to go and see her. The performance is going to be at 10:30am. I had to change some meetings around so that I could see her. I know that I am inconveniencing a few "important" people but I figured, the memory of Nina dancing and singing around the stage will be more meaningful to me in the future than some meeting about the endless departmental problems.
I will have to close for now but will let you all know how Nina does in her performance.
Well, it is my birthday today and I am handling it quite well, if I do say so myself. Bill and the kids got me a 32" HDL TV to watch my movies on and it is really really cool! I stayed up way too late last night watching a documentary on the Nashville music scene. Jess set it up a day early because she works today. She and Bill took me out to dinner last night and today I'll have my cake with Bill and Noah. Noah worked yesterday until 10:30 pm so he missed the TV connection drama.
We moved Noah into his new townhouse yesterday morning. His bedroom is on the 3rd floor of a place sort of like the one Tom and KC had in D.C. Lots of climbing up and down. Anyway, the place is new and pretty and he is very happy to be out of his old place. Hopefully none of the mice moved to the new place with him.
