Thursday, August 27, 2009

M's, horse and new hobby

We were thrilled that Jackie's brother and sister-in-law, Brett and Katie, invited us to join them and several other family members at the Mariners' game on August 12th. Their daughter, Megan, had recently married an employee of the Mariners, and she obtained a "suite" for the game. Brett and Katie graciously provided all the food and drinks as well as picking us up at Tacoma Mall. What a great experience! Thanks so much, B & K!
A view of the infield from our suite:
And the outfield:


A view of the suite:

Jackie talking to Brett and Megan from our seating area:




Our hosts, Katie and Brett:




A view of the crowd and the "cheap seats":







Final score at the bottom of the 14th was 1 to 0 with an exciting base hit by Jr. who was brought in at the last minute.


A shot for the kids with the infield in the back and us in our M's hats. We had a ball, and Dick brought one home, thanks to one of the kids with our group who had two and wanted to share.

Before we left Miracle Ranch they had a day where they took all interested staff out on trail rides for about an hour each. It had been over 25 years since Dick and Jackie had ridden horses; not sure if and when there was a last time.
Dick got a horse that had a mind of it's own but he was able to maintain control and show who was boss.


Before "hitting the trail" Deanna got this cute shot of Grandpa and Daisy in the saddle.



Had to get a shot after returning of "Dick's cowgirl". All went well and we had a good time.


With all the rocks that we have found and Dick's run through the tumbler he decided it was time to take on a new hobby and try to do a little silver wire wrapping. This is his first and second attempt; he is not happy with the results but he will just have to keep practising and it will get better. He is using a silver coated copper wire at this time because of the high cost of silver and a it's a little hard to work.
He will just have to keep trying.
We left Miracle Ranch on the 20th and are now at Soap Lake, WA visiting friends and family in Ephrata as well as catching up on our doctor and dentist visits. We're both feeling better, so plan to become more active if the weather allows (currently 96 degrees).
To be continued...

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Automatic reply from D and J

Please be advised that this Blog will be shut down for about another week due to a nasty summer cold and flue. Please check back on or about the 26th of August for another update.

Pl e as e ex cuse th e slop py typ i n g as my n o se kee ps dri p ping all ov er the key b oa rd and m y fin g ers kee p slippi ng.


To b e con (wipe wipe, blow blow) tinued...

Friday, August 7, 2009

Ocean again...

We had to jump ahead with our last post as we have been busy and wanted to share the birth of our new granddaughter, Dani, with you. So lets get back to our travels, where the last half of July we spent about two weeks at Dick's favorite place, the ocean or what he calls "the beach".

We headed to Ocean Shores, Washington to the Western Horizon park there. It's a huge park with most of the sites buried in the trees with nice and flat grassy spots. We found a nice private site where we could put up the dish so we could watch the Mariners play ball. The only problem with the park is that they do not have sewer at the sites and the honey wagon is out of order with no plans for getting it repaired. No problem, we seem to make it work with whatever we are offered. We spent about a week there and then moved down the beach to another park for the remaining time.

We toured various ocean beaches for long walks and gave C C a chance to get out and run, and let us tell you she really enjoys running on the beach. Now why is the back seat of the truck covered with piles of sand?


We drove around the bay and headed to Westport to visit Dick's sister, Doll. It was Saturday but she works 7 days a week this time of the year. She and her husband, Dave own and operate Cachalot Charters and the local kite and gift store. We caught her relieving her employees so they could have lunch before she headed back to the Port Office for her full time job. Thanks Doll for the two birds; we will get them in the air when we get back to some place where there is wind.

If you are ever in Westport make sure you stop at Cachalot charters and say hi for us. And if you need a kite to fly at the beach, that's the place to go.

We did catch Dave, who just came back from a day fishing and it was great to see him again. Thanks for the fish Dave. Not only did we get some fish from him, another boat was selling fresh tuna, if you haven't had fresh tuna right off the boat you are missing out.

Another day we headed north to Dick's favorite beach, South Beach, and stopped to enjoy the sun, surf and relax on the logs. Note that C C is also relaxing after her run in circles.

The beach is all sand except when you get to the top of the beach there is a rather steep climb through all the flat rocks. We had to stop and bring back a bag full of them for a special gift to our son-in-law, Darin.


Back to Ocean Shores and a walk on the beach on the bay in the morning with a -2.2' tide. It was our plan to find some agates but could not find any so we settled for several pounds of beach rocks for the tumbler.

The remains of an old pier at the Willapa bay at the end of Ocean Shores.



With the minus tide we spent an hour or more just walking and enjoying all there was to see. A little overcast but with a light jacket it was great to just enjoy our time together.


At one time they ran charter boats out of the Ocean Shores Marina, owned by the local Indian tribe, but the river has decided to shift and has filled it and the surrounding area with sand. One can still get in and out, if you have a shallow draft vessel, and if you wait for high tide.
They used to run a ferry from here across the bay to Westport, but not any more.



The plug got pulled on the marina on this day.


So how do you like the looks of this 57' Chev?
While we were at Ocean Shores the town hosted it's annual motorcycle rally and there must have been over 1500 motorcycles--they were every place you looked. We partook of the festivities and spent part of the day wandering around and checking out what was going on.


Did we say "57' Chev?" Take a closer look as all you see on the side and back of this 3 wheel motorcycle is a great paint job. And yes it does have a V8 engine under the hood.


We had to get a shot of a group of motorcycles parked all over the place.


And a parting shot of crab pots in storage near the docks at Westport. Lots of great color.


To be continued...

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

It's a Girl -- Baby Dani

On Wednesday, July 29 (the hottest day EVER on record), the second daughter of our daughter Deanna and her husband Darin arrived. Another big girl -- 9 lbs, 2 oz, 20" long, Danielle Louise Gemmer. Here is a picture of baby Dani and her Mama.


The whole family, including big sister Daisy admiring Dani. We were lucky enough to stay with Daisy while her parents went to Tacoma to have the baby. Then after her nap we all went to the hospital. You can't see it, but her shirt says "I'm the Big Sister". And a great one, if we might say so.



Here is Gram (Jackie) holding the sweet baby. What fun!

And proud Grandpa (Dick). (He actually let Jackie take some pictures so he could hold the baby.)

Can you tell Daisy is enamored with her baby sister? This was day two in the hospital. She could hardly wait until after nap to go!


Papa (Darin) holding Dani's foot. She was a big baby, but still seems very small.



Auntie Debbie welcoming her new niece. (Auntie Michelle also came, but after we had gone, so we didn't get any pictures.)


We brought the family home on Friday, July 31st. Still hot, but not as bad. Then on Sunday, Deanna wanted to get out of the house (cabin fever, you know), so we all went down to the lake where Darin swam with Daisy. The rest of us sat in the shade. The heat didn't seem to bother Dani, as you can see by this picture. Of course it was like holding a hot water bottle! (But we won't complain.)


Isn't she just the most precious?


We are so enjoying our time here with the two little ones (and their Mama and Papa). We will be here for another two weeks or so, then "on the road again". We are trying to take advantage of "down time" to clean out the rig and get rid of stuff we haven't used. Of course Dick is able to do that more than Jackie as the nurses made her promise to help the new mom with housework, cooking, taking care of the two year old, etc. But what a nice assignment!


To be continued....