Stevie Keeps Me On Track

As promised, I will complete my blogging on our family vacation in this post, with a focus on Stevie.

Every day we would discuss what we were going to do the following day.  Since my memory is now like swiss cheese, to say nothing of the fact we were busy, busy, busy every day, I would ask Stevie to remind me of the things she and I were going to do together.  For example, we needed to transplant some squash and other seedings, so I asked Stevie to remind me.  The next morning, this note was on the floor outside my bedroom door:

We spent a big part of that day transplanting, as a Grandma-and-Stevie project.

Moving the tomatoes out of the greenhouse

This girl can dress for gardening, let me tell you.

Planting crookneck squash, which I fear her daddy may have later sprayed with Round-up :(

Also planting blue pumpkins

Later that day, I looked at the floor and mused that it needed a good mopping.  Here's my note the next morning:

Never fear - no pics of us mopping

Finally, I asked Stevie to help me remember that we needed to make goat cheese out of the wonderful goat milk from Tara's Bantam Lane Goat Farm.  The next morning:

At some point in the trip, Bill bought Stevie a little bow with two arrows, and he and Ted took Stevie out to our "range" to practice.  She was naturally a very quick study and managed to hit the target sooner than I can remember doing it with a compound bow my first time shooting.  Check it out:

Look how well she anchors her release fingers against her cheek.

Love this face - I think she was getting a lot of unsolicited advice at the time!

Here's the first hit!

And here's the first stick!

Since the stick was a little low and right, Papa of course had to make sure the bow was shooting straight...

...because it's inconceivable - INCONCEIVABLE - that Stevie could have missed the center!

Throughout the Fabulous Embry 2011 Summer Tour, I could look at Stevie and see glimpses of the young lady she would become.



We still had fun playing,

Stevie discovered the concertina my parents bought me when I was in 6th grade.

A home-made quill.

My hair-do by Stevie.

but sometimes she would just surprise me and I felt I was looking into the future.

Please don't grow up too fast, sweetheart.   As a lullaby my mom used to sing said, childhood is but a day.

Grandma loves you.  ♥

Fabulous Embry 2011 Summer Tour Continues: Andi, Meg and Stevie Take an Unexpected Swim

Last year we rafted on the Deschutes at the Big Eddy, and had such a great time we thought we'd try a different spot this year.  Bill found an affordable three-hour tour (sound ominous?) out of Maupin which looked like fun, so that's what we booked.

We caravanned (because we can't fit everyone into one Prius) to Maupin on rafting day, and got there a little bit early so we had lunch at the only grocery store in town (great sandwich, I must say), then prepared for the trip.

We learned immediately that the rafting company had no photographers to take pictures - complete bummer!!  And because the instructions told us not to bring anything we didn't want to get wet, we left all our good cameras at home.  I was thus inspired to buy a crappy little waterproof disposable thing to try to get at least SOME shots!

The photo essay which follows will compare and contrast the Big Eddy trip (30 minutes) with the Harpham Flats to Sandy Beach trip (3 hours).

First, we get a group shot at the launch point, before anyone gets into the rafts:

Me photographed in a swimsuit.  Don't say I'm not fearless!

This is the only decent picture from the Harpham Flats trip.  Sorry.

Thence we load into two separate rafts (the Big Eddy trip we managed to fit into one) and I try to snap a few shots before we take off:

I asked Erica to pretend to paddle before we took off.

Here's the compare and contrast part:

Check out the guns on the guide for the Big Eddy:

Now check out our guide out of Maupin:

He was a nice guy, dont' get me wrong.  Just a little on the skinny side (the other raft had a nice young lady as the guide).

Now, here we are going through the Big Eddy:

And here we are shooting the rapids at Wapanita, Box Car, Surf City, White River and the Elevator:















That's right, no pictures.  Why?  Because I was PADDLING, my friends.

After shooting the Wapanita, a Class 3 rapid, I looked over at the other family raft which was in front of us, and noticed the guide and Bill hauling Andi back into the raft!  Yikes!  They were too far away then to tell us, but Megan and Stevie had also gone in!  The very first rapid of the trip!  My hats off to all three of them, tho, because I got a thumbs up from Megan and no one demanded to be taken to shore - for the next three hours, we all rode along like the troupers we are (although I think Ted was sick to his stomach when he learned they had gone in).  We made it over the Class 4 rapid with no incident >whew<

Incidentally, if the landing point was Sandy Beach, I would hate to see their version of Boulder Beach.

On our way back home, we stopped at the Depot in Terrebonne for a lovely meal and some well-deserved beer.  Way to go, Team Awesome!

Next:  Stevie Keeps Grandma on Track

♫♪ In the Good Old Summer Time ♪♫

We're winding down from the Fabulous Embry 2011 Summer Tour (boo hoo), and I think I can safely say we all had a wonderful time (well, except maybe for one of us).  Bill, Andi, Stevie, Dan, Scott and  Erica came in on a Thursday, and Meg and Emil joined us all on the following Saturday, and it was simply wonderful having a houseful of family.

One of the highlights of their stay was a visit to Tara and Shannon's Bantam Lane Goat farm where we all helped feed the adorable baby goats.

The Boot Brigage

Andi proved quite adept at feeding the doelings and bucklings.

Stevie enjoyed herself,

and even Erica put down her phone long enough to feed the babies!

Many, many thanks to Tara and Shannon for letting us help out, and for the milk (made into chevre) and soap (loved by all).

Afterwards, we all headed to Big Al's Firehouse BBQ stand in Powell Butte for some delicious brisket sandwiches (and Erica's slider - yes, only one).

Then home for some rollicking games of volleyball, badminton, and various and sundry other games before turning in.   A wonderful day!

Look at Meg cheering on her little sister!

A little manicure time....

Emil's Amazing Balancing Forks

Sunday was concert day in the park at the Les Schwab Amphitheater, where we saw the bluegrass group, The Chapmans, and ate a picnic lunch of chicken, chips, cashews, cherries and carrots.  Really?  All C foods??

Another great day!  Before bed, I told Stevie she needed to remind me that we were going to repot and transplant some veggies while she was here.  Wait until you see and hear about her own method of making sure Grandma made good on her schedule....

Up next:  Extreme Rafting on the Deschutes







A Journey of Detours (Spoiler Alert: Ted Gets Carded)

We set off for San Francisco earlier this week so Ted could get a second opinion (nothing life-threatening), and because it wasn't quite cold and rainy enough for us here in Powell Butte.  We usually stay downtown, but this time decided to try something new.  We ended up at the Queen Anne Hotel, a lovely pre-earthquake Victorian on Sutter.

We had a nice room, with a big four-poster and a little wood-burning fireplace.  Some of you may remember, in pre-blog days, my emails of a trip which included a bizarre bed and breakfast stuffed so full of Victorian-era bad taste and I had to tell the world.  This wasn't like that.

They served tea, sherry and cookies every evening from 4-6 in the downstairs parlor, which had two fireplaces of its own.  The hotel apparently started as a girls' school, then a "gentlemen's club" (something involving girls, but not school, I'm wagering), before it became a hotel.  It was lovely.

We had a bit of free time after Ted's appointment at the University, so we started hiking towards Fisherman's Wharf.  Ted was able to recognize this famous dry-cleanery from the Mel Brooks hit, "High Anxiety,"

and I got a huge charge out of the following electronic road sign:

We had a nice lunch, as always, at Alioto's, and after returning to the hotel for a nap, enjoyed a light supper at the nearby Majestic.

We decided to head home a day early (after I found the kimono I wanted online), and so headed up I5 to Weed, then into Oregon.  South of Klamath Falls, we stopped for a break and it began to snow.   It stopped eventually, and we found another interesting sign on the road:

Makes one wonder what kind of food they served previously, hmm?

We didn't wonder for long, because just north of Klamath Falls we came to a complete stand-still.  Look carefully at the next two photos - each of the white cube-like things is a semi stopped on the road miles ahead.

We waited about half an hour (which let me catch up on my I-Only-Work-On-This-In-The-Car Crochet-Shrug),

before Ted got fed up, turned around, and we backtracked to Klamath Falls, then over a winding mountain road into the Rogue River Valley at Ashland.  It was still rainy, but what beautiful scenery.

Ashland was an absolutely beautiful town and while we intended to press on to Eugene, we were too tired.  We didn't see anything we liked in Ashland proper, so I asked my phone for a recommendation and it came up with Callahan's Mountain Lodge, about ten miles south of Ashland.  THAT was a wonderful find.

Great room, nice restaurant, full bar....  Boy, we needed it after that ride.  In the middle of dinner, it started to snow.  Here's how we ended the day:

And here's what we faced the next morning, driving  near Cave Lake to reconnect with US97:

Oh- and Ted did get carded in Vacaville.  As did I.  The waitress said "they" were cracking down on people with expired licenses.  Ted wondered aloud whether drunk driving with an expired license was more serious than drunk driving with a valid one - to no response.  Here's the spot:

A mediocre bloody mary, but the laugh was priceless.

Bring Me A Kokanee

We've had just the most wonderful week with Roy and Jeff visiting!  The guys went fishing almost every day, and really knocked them dead at Haystack (remember where we froze to death and caught nothing, Meg and Emil?).

Ted has always told me that Roy could catch fish in a toilet bowl.  Apparently he has passed those genes down to Jeff, who was mighty successful with both trout and kokanee.  Here's the kokanee (a few, anyway.  I've had three for breakfast):

Delicious!

While the guys were fishing, I was transplanting and gardening in the nice weather.  Once again, we were invaded by trespassers.

These Canada geese must have thought the drive behind the barn was a pond.  Hm.  A loud pair, and they scared the chickens right into the corner of the run! 

Later that day I transplanted some seedlings and moved the tomatoes into the greenhouse.  Since the greenhouse isn't insulated (at all), I picked up a few more shop lights to hang there, and moved a fan in for sunny days.

Ever optimistic, even though we had another frost just last night.

Finally, the seedlings in the mechanical room are getting a little conditioning outside today, which is the second sunny day IN A ROW - woo hoo!

It's only a few more weeks until everything is moved outside permanently.  I wish the seedlings were a little larger and stronger, but what the heck.  To paraphrase the immoral immortal Donald Rumsfeld, you go to the raised beds with the seedlings you've got.

Good friends, good times.  We are lucky.

P.S.  Thanks to Jeff for the great fishing photos.  I especially love this one of Ted and Roy.♥