Merry Christmas

Our three grandchildren playing together

David & his special quilt

Getting ready to open those presents


The Christmas tree before the presents are opened

I was going to post this yesterday but between having too much fun with the comings and goings of family, playing with grandkids and taking a nice long nap, I just couldn't squeeze it in.

We have had a wonderful few days here, topped off with a great Christmas day. Because we were so focused on making sure the Christmas tree lot was running smoothly we lost focus of what Christmas is all about. Basically the Christmas spirit slowly drains out of us during the tree selling season. It takes a combination of things to bring it back. Getting to spend some time with our family is the first ingredient. The next is our tradition of going to Christmas Eve church services at the church where Gary was confirmed back in 1966. We have been doing this for the past five or six years and it is so wonderfully festive and reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas. The final ingredient is watching the grandchildren open their presents on Christmas day and all the family coming and going. A nice treat was having our son and his family visit. He was driving down from Portland, OR and we were concerned that all the snow they had been having would keep him from making it down. Our Christmas spirit is now back in high gear. A few more days here playing with grandkids, taking in a movie or two and culminating with the birthday celebration for our youngest grandchild and we will be ready to head back to the country.

Ain't life grand!

All Done

The last of the Christmas trees went out the gate today. We still had quite a few left but probably sold as many trees as last year. The 100 or so trees we had left were split between being taken to the local recycler and being taken to another lot where they will be sold to all of those last minute bargain hunters. We had enough of those this past week to last me a lifetime. It's hard for me to be civil to someone driving up in a Mercedes and demanding (yes demanding!) a tree for half price. But I suppose that is how they could afford that Mercedes.

I'm not posting any pictures because it has been too wet and cold for me to even think of bringing out the camera. We have most of the sales trailer packed up (yes, everything on the lot fits in the trailer) and will finish tomorrow. We just got tired of getting soaked.

We will be leaving here on Tuesday morning and head across the SF Bay to our daughter's place in Walnut Creek where we will stay until Dec 29. We normally wouldn't be staying that late but our son and his family will be having a first birthday celebration on Dec 28. His birthday isn't until January but they will be heading back up to Oregon so decided to celebrate early with all of the California family before they left.

We can't wait to get back to the peace and quiet of Coarsegold! We've had enough of all the planes trains, automobiles, ambulances and the millions of people!

We're done with the Christmas tree season so...ain't life grand!!

The Beginning of the End for Christmast Trees 2008

After the trees have been unbundled

Looking toward the cashout booth

Lot as the trees are coming in

Cecile & Betty keeping the count

Yes, we got the entire truck load

We have been very neglectful of this blog for the last two months. We have been busy but the biggest reason is that nothing much has been happening with us. We have been parked at the Pumpkin/Christmas tree lot since late September. Pumpkin season was, as usual, pretty boring...although we were busier than last year. Since pumpkin season finished we have mainly been working on setting up the lot for Christmas trees and doing the finishing work on our pegs and jokers sets. Sales have been fairly brisk for the pegs & jokers. We have been having a tough time keeping up with the demand for the standard sets. If we were not going to be busy running the Christmas tree lot for the next three weeks, selling a bunch of P & J sets would be a very good thing. We will have to wait and see what happens with the sales.

On Tuesday, Nov 25, we received our first load of trees...650 altogether which represents about 20% of what we will sell all season. The trees look much better this year than they did last year. It probably has to do with the fact that they have had more rain up in Oregon over the past twelve months. Hopefully people will appreciate the improved quality. Today was our first day of business. Still not very busy but sales were up from last year. We sold several of our big trees. Most of the big ones will be gone within the next six or seven days. Since the season is a bit shorter this year, we are expecting much busier weekends. That's a good thing as it makes the days go by so much quicker. I look at today as the beginning of the end...of the Christmas tree sales season, of course.

Tonight we go over to the owner's main lot at the San Mateo Expo Center for a Thanksgiving dinner put on for all of the managers. I say I'm not going to stuff myself but I probably will anyway. I do like a good Thanksgiving meal!

Happy Thanksgiving to any and all who read this!!!

Gary & Cecile
ain't life grand!!

A Gazillion Pumpkins

The pumpkins are delivered in these large
containers by a big semi

There were only two containers of these smaller ones

A Gazillion pumpkins!

Our monster slide...the real attraction of this lot!

Well, at least it seemed like I unloaded that many. Cecile started out helping me with some of the smaller ones but her fibromyalgia quickly told her that she probably should not continue. A gazillion is probably a slight overstatement. Doing a very rough count, it is probably more like 1600-1700. Plenty though, when you consider that you have to reach over the sides of the containers and lift them out. If I was to just pull the sides off the containers, it would cause too much bruising and breaking. Luckily that was the last heavy physical work that I will have to do...at least until it is time for Christmas trees.

Today is our second day of being opened and, amazingly enough, people are wanting to come out here and buy pumpkins and play on the slides in the rain. Go figure!

Ain't life grand?

Long Time

Yum! Nothing like fresh caught crab!

This was the big guy that I mention below. He
was probably the biggest crab I have ever caught.

Sorry that it has taken so long to post our goings on. We have been pretty busy these past couple of weeks.

We left Winchester Bay, Oregon after three fairly successful days of crabbing. Our final count was thirteen crab altogether. A lot of these seemed to be 'new shell' crab so they didn't have a great deal of meat. But we did get a couple of meals out of our efforts and, of course, nothing beats fresh caught crab. The last crab I caught was the biggest, measuring out at almost 7 3/4". He was also a pretty good fighter!

From there we spent three days heading south to our lot at Park Sierra. We had to spend a little time here to get rid of our summer 'stuff' and pick up our fall and winter stuff. Luckily we got rid of more than we loaded back on.

After spending five days there, we again hit the road heading for the San Francisco bay area. We usually don't go up this early but the owners of the pumpkin & Christmas tree business that we work for asked us to help them out setting up the lots this year. It turned out to be a lot harder work that Gary was anticipating but he survived. Cecile didn't have to do much during this time so she decided to take BART over to Walnut Creek to visit Dana, David and the kids. She had a great time but everybody decided it was much too short a visit.

Ain't life grand?

Winchester Bay

The view from outside our door

The first trap that I pulled this morning...nothing but babies and mommas

A momma...unfortunately she had to go back to make more babies

I took this picture on our last full day at Camp Cascadia...Mittens last
day of hunting in the jungle...at least for a while. She's not all
that happy right now!

We made it to Winchester Bay, even though it is only for three days. We came for the crab and were not disappointed. Since we had to be here early this year, and my water taxi has yet to arrive, I am forced to crab off of the docks. The first day turned out to be pretty good as I got six crab off the docks. I have to admit, they aren't big and huge and full of meat but, after Cecile and Pat picked the meat, we ended up with over a pound of pure crab meat. It was enough to have crab and cheese on triscuit tonight and tomorrow we will have some crab on english muffins. Hopefully tomorrow will bring me as good luck as today. It made it worth while to drive over here.

Ain't life grand!!

Family Visit to Camp Cascadia

WR and Dad...he loves the clapping

WR and Mom

WR and Grandma Cecile

WR and Janice...OK where's my shirt?

Three generations...WR, Dad & Grandma

WR brought his mom & dad to see us at Camp Cascadia on Friday, and did he ever get a lot of attention. Cecile & Janice took turns holding, hugging and squeezing this adorable little baby while Gary & Ken just made stupid faces at him to make him smile. Making him smile is not hard as he is a very happy, good-natured baby. Even while he is teething he can still manage a lot of smiles.

It was a beautiful day so we sat outside most of the time and visited. We did manage to go inside so that the ladies could trounce on us in a few games of Pegs & Jokers. When evening came, Ken & Janice treated us to a dutch oven cooked meal of lasagna, sourdough bread and fresh berry cobbler. Nobody went away hungry. We were sad to see them have to go back home but we had a great visit!

Ain't life grand?

We are sad to say that we are leaving here on Monday. It was a fun seven weeks. We will stop in Cottage Grove (about 75 miles to the south) to visit with some good friends and then head on over to the coast for a few days of crabbing and visiting with our friend Pat. Then we head south, back into California. We have to be in Burlingame on Sep 26 to start working on opening the pumpkin and tree lots. We might try to make it to Park Sierra for a few days to change versions of our stuff but that's still up in the air.

Quilt Top Finished

The ladies worked very hard on this top, plus, Cecile even got the iron out and used it!!

They did it. Cecile and Janice were a little concerned that they would not finish the quilt top before it was time to leave but, working as a well-oiled machine they are, they finished it yesterday afternoon. Now it's on to Coarsegold for some more work. It is amazing how much work is involved in making a quilt.

The quilt is being made out of all the funky, colorful shorts that David's mother made him over the years, and were his trademark while he was going to school. David's mother would be proud that they are still going to some good use.

Ain't life grand?

The Latest at Camp Cascadia

Janice working on the quilt for David

Part of their quilting work

Cecile actually ironing!
Joni, you can be proud!

We're starting to change our focus here at Camp Cascadia. Ken & Janice will be leaving on Monday to visit family and we will also head out on Monday to either go crabbing at Winchester Bay or head on down to Coarsegold and do our fall transfer of stuff. Either way, this means a little packing, a little last minute stuff to do for pegs & jokers and some work on a quilt that Cecile & Janice are working on.

I have spent the last couple of days working on the pegs & jokers website...even getting up at 4:00am this morning to upload the majority of the files to the site. It's easier to do at that time because there are far fewer people online to slow down the upload progress. The website address is www.pegs-and-jokers.com

We're sad to have our summer at an end and to be leaving Camp Cascadia but we go away with more good memories...lots of hard work, lots of good meals and lots of pegs & jokers games.

Ain't life grand?

Lake Oswego visit

Here's Grandma with WR

Daddy & his happy baby

The happy baby hamming it up for the camera

On Sunday, Cecile & I headed north to the Portland area for a visit with our son Bob, his wife Kati and their beautiful son WR. He has got to be one of the happiest, best-looking babies in the world. WR is getting close to the age where he will start crawling all over the place. Mom & Dad look out! We had a very nice, although too short, visit with them.

Ain't Life Grand?

Wooden Boat Show

Jim Cooper's very elaborate boat

A beautifully restored 1950's Chris-Craft

Another nice boat built from scratch

The Puddle Duck Racer-an inexpensive, surprisingly stable sailboat

On Saturday, Ken & I took a day off from work to go down to the Eugene area and attend a wooden boat show. Ken has always been interested in boats and is very interested in building his own boat so he was there to get some ideas. It was held at the Eugene Yacht Club on Fern Ridge Reservoir about ten miles northwest of Eugene. There were some beautiful boats on display there...some which were just displayed on the lawn and many others tied up on the water. It was put on by the COOTS which is a loosely knit group of f0lks interested in building boats from scratch. I was amazed at the work on some of these boats. One of the more elaborate boats was built by a fellow who doesn't even like the water...but he has a strong passion for building beautiful craft. Ken was in heaven surrounded by all these boats and has future plans to build one of his own. It was an interesting morning.

Ain't Life Grand?

Welcome to Camp Cascadia

Our Rig and campsite at Camp Cascadia

Camp Cascadia

Looking down the road...now this is really rural!

Laundry central...hope they still let us do our clothes after the building sells!

Since Cecile and I have been here for ten days, it's probably about time we made a post on the blog. I have been very bad about updating this.

This is our second year staying up here with our friends Ken & Janice and we still love coming back. The night's are quiet and dark, great for sleeping...Ken & Janice are great people to just hang out with...and they have a great shop & art studio for working on projects. Last year we decided that we would make sets of pegs & jokers games to sell and give to friends as presents. We spent half of our time here last year coming up with designs and production methods and ended up making close to fifty sets. This year our goal was going to be 150 sets and we are now well on our way. We had some wood left over from last year and together with wood that Gary bought in California, we have the materials here to make around 80-90 sets. We already have about fifty sets in various stages of production...and we still are having fun!

Lou and Judy Stoetzer came by to visit us this week. They have had a lot in Park Sierra for a long time but just recently bought a place in Salem Oregon. It was great to see them and Janice even convinced them to learn how to play pegs & jokers.

Today was our day off...the one day of the week when we go to town and shop, do laundry, eat a couple of meals out, go to Wal-Mart, etc. We absolutely need one of these every so often.

This coming Saturday, Ken and Gary are going to the Eugene area for a wooden boat show and to do a little supply shopping. I will post photos of that trip when we return. More later!

Ain't life grand?

Family Visit & Leaving Mendocino

Sister Pat & her little one VF

Pat's husband Gary enjoying a break from paddling

JT & SS resting

Very photogenic VF...possibly a future actor?

One of the stars of our upriver adventure...a great blue heron

Gary's sister Pat, her husband Gary and their three girls came for a week long visit as they do every year at this time. It is great to have them here although the girls are tough to keep up with. They have high energy levels and love to do anything and everything they can during their short time up here. We love it though as they are a great deal of fun. Unfortunately during this visit, the Mendocino Music Festival ran longer than normal so their uncle Gary wasn't able to spend as much time with them as he wanted. We did all rent a big canoe and spend close to three hours going up (and coming back down too) the Big River just outside of Mendocino, which seemed to be a big hit with the kids (and uncle Gary too!). They have done some family trips on their own. They went horseback riding on Thursday and took the Skunk Train yesterday. Today maybe we can fit a trip over to Glass Beach in between our packing up duties.

Yes, it is that time of year again when we say goodbye to Mendocino. Our leaving is being accelerated a bit due to a major repair to our refrigerator that has to be done on Monday morning. If we did not make it then, we would have had to wait for another week so we are making a real quick packing job...in between spending time with the family and working the Music festival. Ain't life grand?

Mendocino Music Festival

We are again in the midst of the Mendocino Music Festival. It last for about two weeks and features a wide variety of music from classical and opera to folk and tango music. The Ford House is the dressing room for the performers which means long days for Gary but the music coming out of the tent (which you can see by the pictures is very close by) makes it all worth while.

Ain't life grand?

Grandikids Visit

Putting up the tent

Getting everything ready for smores

The best part...eating the smores!

Everybody in the outrigger canoe

The Intrepid Explorers

Our grandkids, C & J, came for a weekend visit and brought both of their parents with them. We had a great campfire waiting for them when they arrived...had barbecue kabobs for dinner and then stoked up the fire for some smores. It's always great when they come visit. This time they decided to set up a tent with wall to wall air mattresses and, all in all, they seemed to be very comfortable in there.

On Saturday we decided to rent an outrigger canoe and paddle up river a ways. We went upriver for about an hour and then slowly worked our way back down to the dock. This was the kids first time on the water. They seemed to enjoy it although C was anxious to get back...staying in one place for two hours was tough on her. The outrigger canoe was extremely stable and there was no way, barring a dam break, that we were going to tip over. Thank goodness there are no more dams on the Big River!

Ain't life grand?