Our Christmas Party

We had our Christmas Party here a few days ago and it went very well.  I have uploaded some pictures of us.  And yes it created quite a stir around here for the tenants when they saw us all dressed up.   It was a lot of fun to see their reactions. 

Their was lots of food and fun for all involved.  The tenants are still talking about it. 

Christmas Party for the Residents

Tonight we had our Christmas Party for our residents.  Some of the tenants decided that they wanted to sing Christmas Carols.  Somehow they managed to talk Laurie into it as well.  The pictures are not very good but you get the idea.   Laurie has a very good singing voice and everyone has commented on it.  It was fun to see her get out of her comfort zone and do something like this.  I am very proud of her for doing it. 


However she is probably still mad at me for yesterday.  We had a layer of black ice all over the place.  All of Southern Oregon was like one great big skating rink.  I spent all day trying to get rock salt and liquid deicer out on the sidewalks.  Laurie was not exactly pleased with me when I told her to stay in the house that I did not need for her to be out there and slip and get hurt.  Just having to be out there myself was bad enough. I ending up falling three seperate times and once you were on the ground it was a real challange to get back onto your feet.  At one point I fell in the middle of the parking lot and had to crawl on my hands and knees to the edge of the lot onto the bark beds before I was able to get stood back up.  What a mess!  Several of our tenants decided that they were going to try to drive on the ice but none of them got very far.  The one car got as far as the speed bump and could not even get over it.  The others decided after they had a confrontation with me that it was not a good idea to be attempting to drive.  The whole town was a mess.  Thankfully it all thawed off during the day and we did not get that cold last night.  I ended up putting down over 200 pounds of rock salt and around 150 gallons of liquid ice melt.  Made for a long yet interesting day

getting cold out!!

The light area in the middle of the photo is actually ice in the trees.

I tried to zoom in a little to get a better look at it.

The pictures really do not do it justice.  It is a indication of how cold it is getting out.

The pictures were taken late this afternoon. Most of the day the mountains have been hidden in a blanket of thick fog.  We got down to a low of 28 last night and we are supposed to get down to 18 degrees tonight.  I got a couple of calls from one of our other properties today wanting to know to mix the de-icer for the sidewalks.  The prediction is that we are going to get snow later this week.  It will actually have to warm up a bit for it to start snowing.  Who knows we just may get a white Christmas this year!!

Our Christmas Lights

Over the weekend and then again today we put up the Christmas Lights.  It has been real cold out and then we have had fog set in as well.  Right now it is 34 degrees out.  I think it reached a high of 35 degrees today. The weekend was not much warmer.  This year we had a couple tenants that volunteered to help put up th elights and they have had a blast!   For the one tenant it is the first time he has ever put up Christmas lights.   He is fun to watch because he is just like a kid with a new toy.  Anyway I thought I would post some pictures so you can see how they look.

Fog, Fog, and more Fog

I cannot believe how foggy it has been this last week.  It has started to set in at about 6:00 every evening and hangs around until at least 9 or 10 the following morning.  Some days it just stays foggy all day long.   Maybe they should have named this area sleepy hollow :).   It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is tomorrow.  To me it seems like it should be about June or July.  Everything has just sort of snuck up on me this year.  I have only managed to get a couple of things done this year that I wanted to.  And here we are staring at the end of the year. Don't get me wrong I am very thankful for so many things.  Especially for my family.  They have brought a whole new meaning to my life.  I am glad that we were able to fly back and see them this year.   And I am looking forward to when we will be able to do it again. I am also thankful that I am able to be here for my Mom.  She turns 75 in just a few days and has started to enter that difficult stage of her life.   She tends to get frustrated more easily these days and although she is not having quite as many issues with her memory since the surgery.  It is still noticable. Thank god the tenants are understanding and help her to work through it.  Of course it could be that they are just as forgetful and do not realize that she told them the same thing just 10 minutes prior.  Either way it is good to be able to have her living so close that I can keep on eye on her and try to make sure she has what she needs. 

Bundt Dutch Apple Cake

Laurie found this recipe on allrecipes.com

Bundt Dutch Apple Cake

3 apples - peeled, cored, and cut into thin wedges

5 tablespoons white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 cup fresh orange juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan.  In a medium bowl, combine the apples, 5 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

2. Sift together the flour and baking powder; set aside.  In a large bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar.  Stir in the oil, vanilla and orange juice, mixing until blended.  Make a well in center of the dry ingredients and pour in the orange juice mixture.  Stir just until combined.

3. Layer batter and apple mixture in the prepared pan, beginning and ending with the batter.  Bake in the preheated oven for 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Allow to cool.

Interesting Weater

It never ceases to amaze me the beauty that surounds us here in Grants Pass.  Yesterday morning when I went over to unlocck the rec room ( about 7:30am) I was greeted with the amazing sight above.  The pictures don't do it justice.  It was totally amazing!  The Mountain you see in the picture was poking its head up through the only opening in the sky.  Everything else was shrouded in fog.   The mountain is known as  "Picket" mountain and is just to the south of us.   10 minutes after these photos were taken it disappeared back into the fog.  An hour later all the fog lifted and everything was normal again.  It never fails to amaze me.

We have already had some freezing weather here,  enough to make the ground crunchy when you walk across it.  Today it was a cold crispness to the air that means snow.  Laurie looked at me like I had lost my marbles when I told her that I could smell the snow.  At that point it was raining pretty good with a slight breeze.  A few minutes later the rain slowed to just a drizzle and the clouds that were hiding the mountain tops cleared and sure enough the mountain tops were white with fresh snow.  Laurie gave me another strange look like she thought I was totally whacko.  Guess I am just a bit more tuned into my senses than she is.... 

   The weather advisory for this area is from 2 to 4 inches of snow this weekend.  As far as I know if we get any down here it will just be a light dusting.  Who knows what this crazy weather is going to do.  Could be an interesting winter.

Sammy

I was at my desk trying to get some paperwork done when Sammy decided that I needed to pay attention to her.   She would not move until I spent 10 minutes or so petting her. Then she was happy and away she went.  It is amazing how an animal that has no voice can speak so loudly and clearly.  They can tell you exactly what they want and when they want it.

Grandma's Cookies

A couple of days ago the house was filled with this wonder aroma.  I love the smell of fresh baked cookies.  Laurie made oatmeal, raisin, chocolate chip cookies.  And yes she made them from scratch.  They did not come out of a box.  I have no idea who ate most of them.  I think it was a toss-up.  

    The aroma of the cookies baking sure brought back a lot of memories for me.  Almost made me feel like a kid again.  Especially at this time of year.

Burr Cold!

It is actually beginning to feel like snow around here.  Although the thermometer says it is in the mid forty range it feels a lot colder.   The rain drops feel like they came straignt off an iceburg.   It amazes me how penetrating the cold is.  Guess I better think about digging out the long-johns.
   I am still having trouble getting used to the time change, This daylight savings time is for the birds. It has my internal clock all messed up.   I am finding myself waking up at 3:00 am almost every morning. Hope I can get myself figured out here soon because this is for the birds. 
  Mom is doing better.  We actually went to church this last Sunday and she insisted that we go out to breakfast afterwards.  It actually made for a nice day. I have noticed that she is having less trouble with her memory.  Although she is wanting the doctor to thin down her medications.  She told me that she has been on them forever and she just does not think they are all necessary.  I told her she needs to stay on them until she gets the doctors okay to discontinue any of them.  She has an appointment on Friday so we will see what happens.  At least she is no longer in pain and the tests came back that the cists were non cancerous. The doctor told me that the reason she was having so much trouble with her ovaries was because of scar tissue from a previous operation.  That operation was over 40 years ago.  The doctor told me that she is in pretty good shape for someone being 75 years old in a few weeks. 

Where does the time go?

It is hard for me to believe that this year is almost gone.  It seems like it just got started. Here it is almost Thanksgiving and before you know it Christmas.   I think it really started to set in the other day when I noticed a guy actually putting up Christmas lights on his house.  I found myself thinking how foolish it was for him to be doing this already.  Then I realized that in a week or so I need to start getting ours put up! 
This coming weekend I need to start pulling the boxes of lights out of storage and start checking them to make sure they are working.  That is always a big undertaking that I am glad when it is done.  I have started thinking about how to set the lights up this year.  I like to change them a little from year to year.  It gives the residents something to talk about and feel good about! 
   Laurie and I just celebrated our anniversary.  It is hard to believe that we have been together for 12 years now.
   This last week I had to make a trip to Eugene for a board meeting.  I think I shocked a few people when I officially resigned from doing the websites for the boards.  I have too many other things I am responsible for and I needed to get rid of something.  It was a volunteer type of thing.  I could not be paid for the work I did on the websites  because I was a board member.  But now the boards have enough funds that they are able to afford to pay for someone to run the websites.  So I stepped away from that set of responsibilities. 
   I am still a board member I just will not have to worry about the boards websites anymore.  I was asked to become part of the AHMA (Affordable Housing Management Association) Board of Directors effective on January 1, 2010.  I will be part of the Rural Development Education Steering Commitee.  In other words I will help make sure that the training we offer our members is actually relevant.  And help decide the types of training needed for this industry. 
  I will close this entry for now.  As like always the time just seems to slip by.  And I have a couple of other things I need to get done before I go to work this morning. So I better get to them.

Grandma's Cake

I don't know what got into Laurie tonight. She actually made a cake! :) I don't know why, but a cake is a cake!! and I plan on enjoying every bite of it!!  I could not believe my eyes when I saw she was baking :)  I has been awhile since she has done anything like this.  I love it.   She made a wonderful looking red velvet cake with white frosting. Yum!  

Oh, and the Ingredients follow:   She wanted me to be sure and make sure I posted the ingredients like Michelle does. I told her I would. So here they are:

Yep, the Dunkin Hines method!! 

Works for me!

Beautiful Colors

These pictures were taken by Laurie.  They are the trees that flank the driveway.  They are absoultely beautiful this time of year.  They are ash trees and here in a few weeks they will be completely bare.  So we enjoy the beauty while it lasts. 

The garage at the end of the drive way gives me a chuckle when I see it.  There is a garage band that practices there all the time.   AT this point I think they have learned one song. Or at least it is the only one they play!  You can hear them all over the property.  It can be a bit funny at times and annoying at others.  I can't wait until they figure out that there is more than one song and they need to learn them as well.  :) 

Mom is Home!

Yesterday Mom had surgery, but is home now.  She is staying with us for a few days so that we can make sure she is taking her medications properly.  This morning when I got up Laurie was sick as well.  She complained that she was hurting all through her stomach and back. So I guess I am going to be nurse maid for a few days trying to get these women healthy again.  I just hope it is not the swine flew that is going around here in this area.  Got to get back to work now but will write more later

Bread, Bread and More Bread!

Delivery Day at HPG

I had to go pick up bread today.  I decided to take a picture of it so you can see what we mean when we pick up bread.   Doing some quick math it figures out to be about $800.00 worth of bread loaded in the back of the jeep.  We keep telling everyone to make sure that they fill up their freezers as we do not know how long it will last. 

What a beautiful morning!

What a glorious morning!.

  This is what I was greeted with this morning when I went out to unlock the community room. The air is bright and crisp and it just made me glad to be alive.  I am always amazed at mother natures beauty.  I cannot imagine living anywhere else in the world than right here in Oregon.  This time of year is always pretty here with all the leaves turning the bright fall colors.  I love it!

Here is how we spent our time after work today! 

It is actually nice out with a slight breeze blowing.  I was setting here with my computer and the next thing I knew we were all setting here with our computers.  I am the only one not playing games on it.  Everyone else is playing pogo. 

It was sure nice to be able to talk on skype with everyone.  It had been awhile. 

Love you all

Getting cold out

Can sure tell that it is the changing of the seasons around here.  It is right down cold out.  We have got frost warnings out for the orchards and the snow level is dropping.  Crater Lake has already got a dusting of snow.  The ski lodges are really excited because if this keeps up they will be able to open early this year.  I looked up the long term weather predictions for this area and they are predicting that we will get some snow this year.  I sure like the beauty of it but cannot say I care to much for the removal of it.  At least not with all the sidewalks I have to clear. 
  The wedding that was supposed to happen has been put off  until sometime in November.  I was approached yesterday and told that they still want me to be the Limo driver. 
I took Mom to a pre surgery appointment on Friday.  She has another one on Monday then on Wednesday she will actually have the surgery.  I am still shocked at how bad her memory has gotten.  5 minutes after the Doctor appointment she could not remember what he had even told her.  It can be really difficult knowing how to help someone when they start having  memory issues.  The hardest part though is seeing how fast it is progressing.  
  Laurie and I both lost a close friend this last week.   She had bacically adopted us as her kids.  Her son and I are pretty close and consider each other brothers.  On Friday as I took Mom to the doctor I recieved the call from Eddy that Atha had passed.  He had just gotten to her place and wanted me to know asap.  She was in her 80's and was having some health issues related to her age.  She ended up getting an infection in her lungs and it passed into her blood stream.  She just went to sleep and never awoke.
I am waiting to see if they are going to have a service or not. If so I will do my best to be there.  She is going to be missed. 
Well it is time for me to get the rec room open.  So I will close for now.  I hope anyone that reads this will take the time to look around and appreciate what they have in life.  Because we never know. 

Cooler weather - oh Yah

It looks like we are starting to get cooler weather again.  I love the feel of "fall" in the air.  Although a few days ago you would have never believed that fall is just around the corner.  It is staying dark later now.  I get up at 6:00am an this morning it was still dark out.  Right now the sun is just starting to peak it's head out above the horizon. 
A couple days ago we a humidity level of 5%.  During that time we also had several fires going on in hte areas around us.  Medford and Ashland both had fires going that they had a lot of trouble getting under control.  The one in ashland caused homes to be evacuated as well as a couple of schools.  They had to bring in fire equipment from all over to be able to combat it.  The smoke from those fires settled into the valley here and made for a miserable day.  I am happy to see the cooler weather as it will help to reducce the fire hazards.
  We got moms test results back and they have cleared her for surgery. Now we are waiting on the surgeon to call and get it scheduled.  Her primary doctor blaming mom's memory issues on a bladder infection.  She claims that it can lead to cognitive issues. I hope she is right because I can tell how frustrated Mom gets when she has her little spells where it is hard for her to remember things.  Each week I notice that it is a little worse.  For me the hard part is that I never know from day to day if she is going to have a good day or a bad day.  She is anxious to get the surgery over with.  I am sure that she is in more pain than what she is letting on.  I will let you know when she has her surgery. 
 

Back from the standdown

This was a busy weekend for us.  We have mixed feelings about the standdown.  We really walked into a mess when we got there. The canteen trailer was a total disaster.  When they set the thing up they forget one of the most important things - Clean the thing up and get it ready.  We knew about the electrical issue as I had to be there the day before to try and figure out what had happened.  But we had figured that someone would of at least cleaned the thing up a bit.  When we arrived we were greeted with a bunch of boxes with chips etc just pushed into the trailer.  No one had even attempted to organize it at all.  The grill was a sticky mess that looked like no-one had even bothered to clean it for months.  The cleaning brick was still in its wrapper and had never been used.  So for the first couple of hours Laurie and I busted our backsides trying to get the trailer cleaned up and setup.  As well as serve any of the guys who came up.  We did manage to get the thing cleaned up to the point it actually looked like a canteen!.  Laurie handled the window and I handled the grill.  We served hotcakes, which seemed to go over pretty well.  The biggest item was coffee. We had taken a small coffee pot with us because the others were burned up.  It was a good thing too.  Laurie would make a pot of coffee and then pour it into a serving caraffe and immediately get another pot going. This allowed us to keep up with those who wanted coffee without having to wait for another pot to brew.  The Vets were really surprised and pleased when they found out that there was no charge for anyhting!  When we offered them more than one sandwhich many of them were very surprised.  Our goal was to fill the hollow spot. God only knows how long it had been since some of them had anything to eat.  I am proud to have been a part of the standdown and hope that I will be able to do it again.

Volunteering at the Standdown

We are up early this morning. Right now it is 5:oo am. This morning we are volunteering at the Standdown in White City. It is just above Medford and has a Vets Domicilery there. Every year they hold a standdown where vets that are living on the streets or otherwise in need can get counseling and other help that they need to help get them back on the right track. We aill be manning the Salvation Army Canteen this morning. Last night we made 111 tuna sandwhiches to hand out and we will be cooking and serving hotcakes this morning. We are looking forward to being able to help these people. We will get there about 7:30 and work until noon then back home.
We had to take some supplies up yesterday and I had to check out the canteens electrical system. They kept burning out coffee pots and it looks like a couple of refrigerators bit the dust as well. Someone had hooked the power to the canteen wrong. Instead of the 120 volts it should of had it was hooked up to 208 volts. Needless to say it created some issues. They are just fortunate that they did not burn the thing down! It is going to cost some money to get everything corrected. Glad it was not me who made that mistake! I need to get going so that we are there on time. I will post more later today.

Cycle Oregon is in town

Right now Cycle Oregon is in town. It is about 2200 bicyclists that tour the state. They are going to be in Grants Pass tonight and tomorrow as a layover before they continue on their way. This is an annual event and it brings a bit of money into the economy.
It is amazing to see that many bicycles in one spot. They are gathered right down the street at the park. Of course the traffic has been tied up all day but that is pretty normal considering the amount of bicycles on the road. Other than that it has been a pretty quiet day.

Update on Mom

Mom had another Doctor appointment after her tests and the results are a little confusing. They have postponed her surgery for at least a week. I have to take her back for more tests on Saturday. Something had shown up on the EKG and her potasium is a little high and Sodium a little low. They altered her medication and are hoping that the levels will balance out a little by the end of the week. If they do she will be scheduled for surgery this next week. The confusing part to me is that her mind has gotten so bad. She thinks that she is 80 years old. ( she will be 75 this december) she also thinks that my Dad has been dead for 54 years. ( he died 23 years ago) but she seems to know my age. The doctor claims that it could be a sign of bladder infection. I really question that because of the severity of her confusion. Guess we will just have to wait and see. As I know more I will post it. But for now it is a wait and see issue.

Cooler Weather & Shorter Days

Although I hate to admit it, it is really starting to look like fall is here. The weather is getting to the point it is almost chilly in the mornings. Before you know it we will be dealing with frost. I have actually been able to reduce the watering cycle for the lawns here to every other day now. Another few weeks and I will be able to completely shut down the irrigation system for the winter.


We know it is getting cooler at night when the cats start hanging out in the bedroom all night long. I have to be careful when I get up in the night so I do not step on one of them. Especially Sammy, she is almost impossible to see in the dark.


Today Steven should be bringing by the Rolls Royce. He wants me to take a test drive in it with him. The reason for the test drive is because I will be the chauffer for his wedding on the 27th.

The Rolls Royce

Laurie will be involved as well so it should be a lot of fun. She keeps saying that I need to get the chauffer cap as well so I really look the part. I wish she would forget about the cap but somehow I think she is going to get her way.
well that is about all I have for this entry. Got a busy day ahead of me today, with Moms doctor appointments and all. Today they do a couple of tests to make sure she is strong enough for surgery. And God only knows how long that will take. Hope you have a wonderful day and a great week ahead!

Another work weekend

Laurie has decided that she wanted to paint the bathroom. And would you believe she is painting it black and white! I really have no color preference as long as it is not bright red, so her choice is fine with me. It just shocked me that she wanted it black and white. Once it is done I will post some pictures of it.
I have been working on the online training program I have got going right now. I am creating a online training program for the company we work for. It is about the only way I can get the training to all the employees in a cost effective manner. I have enjoyed the process so far. It is really keeping me busy though. It is hard to believe that the holidays are just around the corner now. It seems like time is just flying by these days. I was talking with some of the tenants the other day and I was asked what we are going to do here for halloween this year. I think it was then that I realized just how close it is. The tenants have some great ideas but it is going to be up to Laurie and I to figure out how to impliment them. This could get interesting. One of the ideas is to get a couple of fog machines and set them atop the soda machines so that anyone going into the rec room has to pass through a curtain of fog. This could be fun!

Sorry I have not kept up

Sorry about not keeping up with the posting here. It has been a bit hectic and stressful around here. We have finally got caught up on the turnovers here. It has seemed like it has been non-stop. We were not even able to get one unit completed before we had another one or two waiting to be worked on. I guess it is to be expected though, this property is now 18 years old and like everything the older it gets the more work it needs.
I went to the doctor this week for a checkup, cannot say I was pleased with it, the Doctor wants me to loose 20 pounds. Of course she told me this 3 months ago. And I have managed to loose a sum total of no pounds. However I have managed to loose several inches around the waist. It is really frustrating to starve yourself and yet you do not loose even a single pound. At least Laurie is doing good with her weight loss. I am pretty happy for her.
I should probably catch you up on what is happening with my Mom. As you know they found some cysts on her ovaries. The doctor sent her to a specialist because they thought it might be cancer, At this point they have ruled out the cancer but say that she needs to have surgery to remove the ovaries. This last week she had to go in and have an echogram done and every since then she has been down sick from the pain. Today she actually got out and came over to the rec room for the first time in several days. She looked like she was doing better than what she has been. I know a lot of it is fear, but I also know she has been in great pain. The specialist wants her to have surgery asap because of the pain she is in. But like always there is the jumping through the hoops to satisfy the insurance companies. So on Monday we go back to the hospital for an ekg and some bloodwork to make sure she is in good enough health for the surgery. They told her that when she has the surgery she will be home the same day. That made her feel better about the whole thing. Laurie and I are having to make and keep track of her appointments for her because she just cannot remember them. She seems to get confused real easily anymore. If the doctor calls her then we have to contact the doctor to find out what they needed because she cannot remember, or if she remembers she gets it totally confused to the point it does not make any sense. I wonder how much of it is because of the pain she is in and how much of it is dementia starting to take hold of her. I am sure glad we were able to get her to move closer to us when she did. It is a hard thing to see a parent go through these struggles, but at least with her being her with us we a re able to help make sure she gets what she needs. I feel that once she has the surgery she will be a lot better, but I also understand that she may not be. either way at least she won't be in the severe pain she has been in.
The weather today was above 100 degrees again. Although it is starting to feel like fall in the air. The temps are getting cooler at night now. Which makes it easier to get some sleep. I have noticed the geese are starting to gather in their migratory groups for the flight south for the winter. Right now we have about 50 or so that are hanging out here on the river. I sure love to watch them when they make their daily flights. They almost always come right over the property. There is something about them that always gives me pause for thought.
I will try to write more here tomorrow. Have a pleasent night everyone.

yEAH for the weekend

Friday is here Yeah!!!!!!

Quiet Weekend

This weekend has been pretty quiet for the most part. I spent most of yesterday sleeping. I have not done that in quite awhile. It actually felt pretty good. The weather has started cooling down some so we do not have to run the air conditioners quite as much. And I am actually able to cut back on the watering for the lawn. The deer have been hanging out here a lot. Everyone really enjoys watching them. In the last week we have seen a doe and her two fawns, a doe and a buck with one fawn, and yesterday we had two bucks hanging around ( a yearling and a 2 year old) munching on the clover and roses. It is really nice to see them around again. During the hot spell they stayed away. I think that maybe they were staying close to the river during that time.
It is always interesting to see the expressions on the faces of the new residents when they see the deer runnig around here. For me it is an indicator that everything is right with the world if even for just a brief moment. I love to just sit and watch them.

Shorty helping with the wash

Laurie was doing the wash yesterday and Shorty decided he needed to help. When Laurie brought the laundry in she had a couple of throw rugs that she had washed on top of her laundry cart. Shorty had been asleep on ht ebed that is until the moment Laurie entered the bedroom with the fresh laundry. She had stopped at the foot of the bed and Shorty jumped from the bed onto the top of the throw rugs. As you can see he has made himself right at home.

Great News for Great Grandma

This last week has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. My Mom has been undergoing some tests because they thought she may have ovarian cancer. On Monday I got a call from her doctor letting us know that the last set of tests had come in and they indicate no cancer. What a relief that news was. She still has some more tests to go through but they are pretty sure that she does not have any cancer. Maybe now I wil be able to sleep a little better. Although I am still concerned about the situation in Florida.
But more on that later right now I need to get to bed as it is after midnight.

Wow What a storm!

The weather here has been pretty darn strange lately. We went from hot to having hail storms in just a few hours. And what a doozy of a storm this one was. When the storm started it was just after work and we had some thunder and lightening. That lasted a couple of hours and then all of the sudden I heard what sounded like large fire crackers being set off. It started out as one every few seconds then got more frequent. Before we knew it the hail fas falling like gang busters. You can hear it in the videos. It made so much noise that the cats were really nervous. Shorty made a pittiful meow and was slinking along the floor looking for a place to hide. I grabbed the camera and took these videos they are not very good but you get the idea. The hail storm lasted a few minutes and then quit. When it quit everything quit with it. Everything became real quiet. Except the police scanner. We have had numerous reports of smoke in the forested areas around here. Started by lightning. We noticed the cover on our patio is going to have to be replaced now. It has 13 different cracks and holes in it from the storm. So I guess I will replacing it this weekend.

As I am typing this we have another storm brewing. The "Thunder" has started up again. This could prove to be an interesting night.

The rain has started again. It is kind of neat to sit here and listen to the rain with a big booming thunderclap once in awhile.

Lost Video

some how I managed to post the last entry without the video

Guess it is an indicator that I am getting old !! :)

I am really glad to see the deer back. Everyone here really enjoys watching them and it gives the tenants something positive to talk about.

The Deer Are Back!!

bWith the hot weather the deer that generally hang out here have been missing. Evidently they were staying down by the river trying to stay cool like the rest of us. A thunder storm had just passed over the area when we noticed the deer back out on the yard. It is sure good to see them back. The popping noise you hear in the video is the rain drops hitting the cover on our patio. The drops were very large probably some of the largest I have ever seen. A few miles away they were getting hail the size of golf balls. Sure been having some strange weather here!

Starting to cool down some

Finally the weather is starting to cool down a little, not very much but a little. Right now we have a thunder storm brewing right above us. It is bringing a few rain drops with it but only enough to tease us. The bad thing about the lightening right now is because it tends to start forest fires. And as dry as everything is right now the forest fires can get out of control real fast.
We still have a large one going to the northeast of us in an area called lost lake. They have been fighting it for almost a week. Hopefully it will be controlled before another week is out.
We were talking the other night that it seems strange to consider 90 degrees cooler weather.
I have been noticing that the fir trees are really loaded with cones this year. It could be an indicator of a hard winter coming. Mother nature has a way of averaging herself out. The hotter the summer the colder the winter. And the fir trees help back it up.

Record Temps

We are experiencing record temps here in Oregon. It is more than hot it is sweltering. The last couple of nights the lightning storms have moved in. These storms are caused because of the heat and they are responsible for most of the forest fires we experience. Right now most of the lightning strikes are causing small fires. So far the fire crews are able to get to them quickly and get them put out before they gain any real size. If we have a large one get started, it will be difficult to get it under control due to the heat. I do not envy the fire fighters at all. I respect the job they do becasue I have went through the forest fire training camp. It was a mandatory part of one of the jobs I had. (Boy does that bring back memories) As far as I am concerned it is one of the most dangerous and demanding jobs I can think of.
Other than that we are not doing a whole lot. The job is keeping us busy as all get out but after work we just come home and hide out in the air conditioning. It would be nice to get a couple days of cooler weather but it is not in the forecast, at least not this week. Well time to get to work. I will update more of this later.

Keeps getting hotter

It is currently 111 degrees downtown and 113 degrees here on the property. And I thought yesterday was hot ! there is a slight breeze but it sure is not helping much. Laurie just consigned me to the office for the rest of the day. YUK!

108 Degrees here

Yesterday was actually the warmest day of the year so far. It hit 108 on our parking lot. Medford had 105 (official temp). At 4:30 am it was still 70 degrees out. All I know for sure is that it was hot. I kept thinking about a conversation Michelle and I had at one time where she said that she would never move to Oregon because it was to "cold" Everytime I think of that conversation I have to chuckle to myself. Right now we are warmer than Florida is! I do have to admit that the heat effects us here on the west coast more than it does those living in Florida. We just are not used to it here! The predictions are for more high temps this week. And we still are not to the hot part of the year. YUK!
Other than work there has not been a lot going on here. Laurie and I are trying to walk every evening. If the weather cools enough that we can do it safely. We have been walking an average of 2 miles a night. My Mom walks with us. She loves it!
At present it looks like I am going to be on the road a bit this coming month I have got to be in Salem ( 200 miles away) twice in August. It is for a board meeting and training. Then we are hosting a training session here on property later in the month. Hopefully we will be caught up with our unit turnovers by then. So far we have had 11 turnovers in the last month. Ed and I are both getting tired of painting units. It just seems like it has been non-stop.

Hot again

This last week has been a hot one! With temps hitting in excess of 100 degrees it has made work a bit of a sweatbox. We are still trying to get empty apartments rehabbed so we can get them rented. But the heat has taken quite a tole on us. It can be rather interesting trying to paint in this heat.
We are trying to stay inside as much as possible, but like always the tenants wait until it is hotter than hot before they decide they need an air conditioner. And of course they want it installed this instant! The weatherman says we are going to get this for at least another week or so before we get any kind of cooling.
Shorty and Samantha sure are funny in this heat. They like to lay on the table out on the patio and then when they get to hot they come in and flop in front of the air conditioner. But before you know it they are right back out sunbathing again. :) If they are not out on the patio table they are on the window ledge in their room. They sure are silly.

Mom and Laurie planted tomatoes this year. It is amazing how well they are doing. I get a kick out of Mom as every time she walks by them she has to stop and take inventory. She just cannot get over how big they are getting. I have a feeling when they start getting ripe they are going to be able to feed half the complex here with tomatoes. :)

Mom's Suprise.

This last week we heard that an old friend of the family had died. Mom has been a little down by it but we all know it is better for him, as he is no longer suffering. Then this morning I got a call from Mom, and she was very very excited!! An old friend of hers had called her this morning and was on her way over to see Mom. It was really good to hear her be so excited!! Was was like a kid in a toystore that could get anything they wanted. It has been fun watching the two of them. they have really enjoyed the visit. Moms friend (Linda) is going to be in town a few days visiting her family. So they will get some time to visit. We just got back from dinner. They insisted that we go with them, we all had a great time but we all ate to much. Laurie claims she really blew her diet this evening. But she will be right back after it tomorrow.

End of the Week Yaaaa!!!

It's Friday !! Yaaaa!!! Boy what a week this has been, busy busy and hot! Today, the last time I saw a temp it was 103 degrees Tomorrow it will probably seem chilly, as it is only supposed to get to 95 or so. Should make for a nice weekend though.

The day of the refrigerators

This morning I got a call at about 8:00am telling me that the 5 refrigerators I had ordered would be here sometime between 9:00 am and 11:00 am. At a couple minutes after 9:00 the Sears truck pulled in with our load of refrigerators. I had to laugh because they had a refrigerator strapped onto the lift gate. They looked like a gypsy wagon gone awry. :) Ed and I made short work getting the things unloaded and ready to install. On several of them we had to reverse the doors so that they swing open the proper way. This is much easier for us to do before moving them into the apartment. By the time we got done with changing the doors we were dripping in sweat. Thankfully we only had one that had to go upstairs. Anyway we hurried up and got them all installed in 2 1/2 hours. Pretty good for a couple of old men. :) By this afternoon the temp was getting to the point of just plain hot. we actually reached 102 today! Right now it is still 99 degree hot out and it is 8:30 pm. Thankfully we have good air conditioning in our apartment. So we will be able to sleep tonight. Tomorrow we have our monthly breakfast in the rec room for our tenants

100 degrees today

The weatherman was right and we did reach 100 degrees here today. Right now it is 97 degrees at 6:00pm. But there is slight breeze so it is actually very nice out. Not much happening here today other than the same old stuff. We have been having an increase in crime around here lately. The other night we had someone get stabbed by his cousin just down the block from us. And the night before that there was a ruckus at a bar about a mile down the road and a guy shot off a pistol into the air. The police chased him, his getaway vehicle was a BMX type bike. He ended up at the old trailer court across the highway behind us. When the police asked his girlfriend if he was there she told them no. But they found him hiding behind the fence. The police turned loose a police dog on him and he hit the dog. They ended up apprehending him and he is now in the county jail on charges of assaulting a police officer ( the dog) and his girlfriend is also in jail for lying to the cops. It was also the girls 25th birthday. Bet she does not forget this one, wow what a birthday present A trip to jail!! This has all happened within the week and just a couple of blocks from us. Guess it is just another sign of how bad the economy really is here.

Sure is quiet

I was sitting her this morning doing my daily log when I realised just how quiet it is around here. I guess I started getting used to the controlled chaos that was always present when kids are around while we were at Michelles. I really do not know how she does it day, after day, after day. My hat is off to you Michelle!! I find it interesting that I actually sort of miss that chaos. It is so quiet around here that I feel like something is missing.

The weather is going to be a hot one today, we are supposed to be up to 100 today, 101 tomorrow, and then back to 100 on Friday. At least we do not have the humidity that Florida does. That is a good thing.

Work Work And More Work

This week has started out with a bang!! So far in the last 5 days I have had several refrigerators fail on me. Last thursday I had 2 of them fail, At that point it was very inconvenient but nothing out of the ordinary. I ordered 3 replacements so I would have an extra one on hand just in case. Then over the weekend I had 2 more refrigerators fail. So it was back to the store to get a couple more ordered. At this point all 5 of them will be delivered on thursday. At this point I am thankful that we had a couple of empty apartments that I could steal the refrigerators out of until the new ones arrive. Sure hurt the budget though. I actually found myself wondering why I came back from vacation. I think I needed a few more days.

Dolphins at Clearwater, Florida

After starting to recover from the jetlag and dealing with some issues here on the property I finally got a chance to go back and review some of the video that was taken during our vacation. I find myself coming back to view this segment of video over and over. It is totally amazing to me that the dolphins come this close to land and people. They are a beautiful sight. I also loved how excited Michelle becomes whenever she sees them. I will have a lot of great memories of this trip for years to come. Taking a vacation in Florida with our family has to be one of the biggest highlights of my life. Thank you so much Michelle and family for allowing this to happen. I love all of you!!

While the Managers away ........

I found myself wondering if I should have stayed in Florida reather than coming home. When we got home we knew we were going to be busy with catching up and all but having to take care of some of these other issues makes me wonder if coming home was the best choice :) ( just kidding)
We had a tenants son and girlfriend start a fight wheile we were gone and they threw around some flower pots and such tried to intimidate Ed our worker, etc. I knew this had happened before I left Florida and knew I would have to take care of it when we got home. So yesterday and today I have been dealing with that issue and throwing people off property issueing no tresspass orders on them etc. Today I also found out that I had 2 refrigerators die on me, So off to Sears, on the way I talked to the boss and she decided that I had better order a third refrigerator, and an extra water heater. She figures that by the time we get these delivered we will have another one to replace. And she is probably right. Anyway today was extremely busy for both Laurie and I trying to get things taken care of and get things back to normal around here. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better.

Back Home

We arrived back home last night a little after 6:00pm It was a mixed blessing. Part of us wants to be home yet part of us wants to be back with the family. The trip home was really something, the flights were packed like sardines and then we hit a little rough weather. The pilots were great and did everything they could to avert the rough spots but it still reminded me of being a sardine in a can that had been tossed into a blender. LAX was a joke. Those people that work there have to be the most unfriendly people I have ever met. When I asked them a question I was looked at and treated like I was a total "idiot that fell off the planet turnip". It was hard but I kept my cool as best as I could. I found myself getting frustrated alot.

Laurie was frustrated because she could not find anywhere to have a cigarette. She would have to go outside and then come back through security ech time she had to have one. I have no idea why she did not take some nicorette or something with her, we had talked about it before we left home. Anyway it sure makes me glad I quit that nasty habit long ago.We really enjoyed ourselves while in Florida. I found everyone that I had contact with pleasant, they have a tendency to treat everyone with diginity and respect. It was a nice change of pace for me.

Florida is a Beautiful State I am quite impressed with the cleanliness of it. I do not know what I expected but with the very large population in that area I guess I expected it to be more like Southern California. Boy was I wrong. I was also surprised to find highways that are layed out in a way that really makes sense. And I only came across a couple of places where the road was under construction, unlike Oregon where you cannot drive anywhere without the roads being under construction. Our highway engineers could learn alot from Florida.

The beach was interesting to me. I am used to the grainy sand we have here but in Florida it was more like a talcum powder. It actually supported your weight when you walked across it. And the beach was clean. Everywhere you looked there were people but I saw very little trash scattered around. When we walked on the beach we all left our shoes in a pile up by a grandstand where they preform music ( something you do not see in Oregon) I expected to come back to nothing. But when we came back, to my surprise the shoes were exactly as we had left them.

I had to laugh when I heard the news announcer warning everyone that the temp of the water had dropped by one degree and that the water temp was now 83 degrees. I know it had to do with the weather and the possibility of storms caused by the changes in water temp but the thought that crossed my mind was " what is this, is he afraid they might get a chill?" Our water temp here in Oregon never seems to get above 56 degrees, even in the hotest of summers. It was a nice treat to be able to walk in the water without freezing your toes off.

I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we are going to be making the trip again. Now that Laurie "knows" that she can do it.

The smell good shirt

Erin was really funny. Every time I turned around she was coming over and smelling my shirt. When I asked her what she was doing she told me she loved the smell of my clothes. I told her that she needed to thank Grandma Laurie because she was the one who did the laundry. Erin immediatly went over and told Grandma Laurie thanks for doing the laundry Grandpa's clothes smell good.

I was surprised at all the brightly colored umbrellas on the beach. These were placed on a wall to protect venders from the breeze.
The sand is totally different from that on the West Coast. Here in Florida it is a fine white powder instead of the yellow course sandd we have in Oregon. I rolled up the old pant legs and went for a walk in the surf and was amazed at how warm the water is. The water is 84 degrees here. Sure a lot different than at home. I had to laugh today when there was a warning on the radio that because of heavy rains this last week the temp of the water is down to 83 degrees. Now that sure is somenthing we do not hear at home.

The front of one of the motels downtown Clearwater.

Laurie and Tony