Beauty of Fall

A couple weeks ago Kai and I went up into Cougar, almost to the Ape caves, to trim a friends goats feet before winter.
The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky and the drive up and back was absolutely beautiful!!!!
Next year, I wan't to go to the Ape caves and Lava Canyon in Oct!

Anyways, we took photo's on the way up and back, here are the few I was able to take on our way out the long driveway. :)

Isn't fall beautiful?! Well, when it's not raining, then all the leaves are dull colored and soggy. :P

How you're fall going?
Can you believe it's November already! Wow! This year is going by so fast!
I think it goes by faster the older I get.... must be because now I have lots more responsibilities than when I was little, so time goes by faster.

I think I'll start putting a funny at the and of my posts.
Here is one that fits me. 😉

Oct. Thus Far

So far Oct. been a very busy month!
It started out with the online Virtual goat show I'm in charge of, so I had that to get done.

And we had the Fort Vancouver student selection day, that went really well!
Plenty of new students, I'm looking forward to meeting them all. 😄

Then last week our grandparents came up. For the 2nd time this year!!
They've NEVER come up twice in a year before!
Grandpa helped do some stuff on the house, he and I put up a new ceiling fan in our new living room.
And he and dad did a bunch of other stuff, new lights, light switches, etc.
Now we need to pick out flooring and get trim up and the living room will be done!
We had lots of fun while Grandma and Grandpa were here.
We played Phase 10, Golf (the card game), 10,000 (dice game), and a few board games like Aggravation and Sorry.
We also played Life, I lost, as usual. 😑😉

Oh! On the 1st of the month, we came home from church to find some guy had taken our mailbox and post out!
He had stolen the car and was on the run. The police are guessing he knew the area because he tried to go down the drive next to ours to shake the police as there is a curve in the main road right before our driveway.
Anyways he came in too fast and.....

See the brick in the first pic? That's a piece from the 2 ft. wide 3 ft. high brick base our mailbox sat on.
He took it out right at the ground! Broke it in 3-4 pieces!! There was one large piece farther down too!
After he went through our mailbox, he took out 5 of our arborvitae bushes as well.
But the car wasn't totaled! And the guy got out and ran away! They didn't catch him!
They even brought out the K-9. Nothing.....

Oh, well. At least no one was hurt. 😌

Not much going on the rest of the month for us, we have a fashion show we're going to be in on Saturday.
No other Fort stuff for us this month besides that, we're busy the first night of Lantern Tour.
So we'll go do it next month.

It's been an interesting week for me so far.
Monday I caught a feral kitten at our neighbors as we need a barn cat.
Bit the heck out of my right thumb! Ouch! Blood everywhere. Oh, sorry, hope that wasn't TMI?
Hurt like the dickens! But it seems to be doing alright, both my thumb and the kitten. 😉
Caught another kitten too, it bit Megs, but not so bad as my bites. (she only had 2 cuts and a scratch)
Then last night I sliced my other thumb making dinner. Darn Kitchen Aid spiral veggie noodle maker.
Not much blood and pain was almost nonexistent strangely enough, way bigger cut too the ones the kitten did. Weird....
So far I've made it through today with no blood! 😋

Hope you're all having a great month so far!

Fall is here!

And it still gets too warm in the afternoon's on most days for me to wear sweaters.... 😑
But hey, as long as the sun stays out, I won't complain!

This past Saturday we had our Summer's End Promenade.
It was so fun!! We had more people attend in costume then ever before that I can remember, and had more guys there in costume than ever before!
Which is great because we need them there otherwise those great outfits don't get to be shown off!

I'm ashamed to say that even after planning, leaving early to get down there... I forgot my camera!!
Ahhhh! That was the whole reason we wanted to get there 1 1/2 hrs early!!
Oh well, I was able to help some of the ladies with their hair, and do some others things.

I did get to get pictures with my phone, which I'm glad I got a new one with a better camera than my last phone....
The group shots turned out almost as nice as my camera, but the single shots were a little eh.

So I shall share pictures from the era's we had.

Here you shall start in the 1840's and go forward by decade (except we didn't have any 1850's) until you reach our final era of the 1940's.
Isn't it amazing how the styles changed over 100 years!

1840's outfits

The 1860's (the 1850's are very similar, but with bigger and rounder hoops)

The 1970's, from hoops to bustles.

1880's, still bustles, but they're getting smaller

1890's, practically no bustle left, they are more of a roll seated at the top of the hips.

And now we start into the Anne of Green Gables era, the early 1900's!

The 19 teens, these outfits are all from 1917, 100 years ago this year!! The boy-scout uniform is in the front. :)

The Roaring 1920's

The 1930's

And the 1940's! This era seemed to be the most popular this year!

 And then of course we had to get all the guys together for a guys only picture!

Only missing 1 of the guys! we had 18 guys this year!! Yay for all the outfits they got to show off!! :D

And now we are on break for the main events until Christmas at the fort on Dec. 9th.
We do have the schools to prepare for, including going over and accepting applicants this weekend.

Then we have the 2 orientations for those new students where us adults and 2nd year+ students show them the do's and don't of how to interpret and they get a "what to expect" from the leaders of the schools. :)

So how's your Fall going so far?
Hope studying is going well for those who are in school or collage. :)

Mac

Yesterday marked 1 year since we went and got Mac!!
Our trip to Spokane and back in a day for him was so much fun!
I can't believe it's been a year already and yet it seems as if we've had him forever!
He is such a good boy!

Here are some pictures from when we got him last Sept. in and some from this year to show how much he has grown!

Mac when we first got him:

Mac this year:

Isn't the difference amazing!

"Stick boy"! He likes to chew on stick and lay on his back. :P

Mac and Belinda playing, Mac is so happy he can be faster than Belinda now!

I would have taken pictures of him today, but the lighting inside isn't the greatest and it is raining buckets outside.
But I'm not complaining! (yet) ;)
We've needed this rain, especially with all the fires, hopefully this will either put them out, or greatly decrees it and help the firefighters. :)

September... Already?!

As I saw a funny the other day:
Summer should get a speeding ticket!

I cannot believe Autumn will be officially here in only 10 days!


This last Saturday we went to the Campfires & Candlelight event at Fort Vancouver.
It was very fun as it is every year.
I was in the WWI camp again, I like to call it "my WWI camp" as I've been stationed there for the past 4 years now. 😉
This year though was different.
None of the others that have been in that camp with me were there this year!
I had 5 new "re-cruets"!
Micah & Matty were dough-boys (soldiers) representing the mill workers and loggers of the Spruce Mill.
And we had a couple and their son, along with their 1917 Model-T ambulance!!
Wish I had pictures, but I didn't take my camera with me this year and my mom forgot to bring it when she came to visit. 😑
It rained on us!!!!
The weather had 3 weeks before to rain and put out nearby fires and relieve the fire ban so we could have fires to cook over at the event, but did it?
No, of course not! so we got damp/wet and had cold dinner!
But, at least it was a good dinner and even though the rain made us a bit chilly, we all enjoyed it very much. Well, I know I did anyways. 😊


Our next event will be Sept. 30th, 1pm-3pm on Officers Row at Fort Vancouver.
I'm looking forward to it as we will have 30+ people there in era's from the 1840's-1945!

I shall now share a few funnies to end this post as I cannot think of anything else to say and I have written a lot already.

I do wonder this.... I'm afraid to find out! ;)

I did this while doing this post! :P

My family & friends can attest to this.

Even If...

 ~~~~~~

 

They say sometimes you win some
Sometimes you lose some
And right now, right now I'm losing bad
I've stood on this stage night after night
Reminding the broken it'll be alright
But right now, oh right now I just can't

It's easy to sing
When there's nothing to bring me down
But what will I say
When I'm held to the flame
Like I am right now

 

 

I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

 

 

They say it only takes a little faith
To move a mountain
Well good thing
A little faith is all I have, right now
But God, when You choose
To leave mountains unmovable
Oh give me the strength to be able to sing
"It is well with my soul"

 

 

I know You're able and I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't,
My hope is You alone.
I know the sorrow, and I know the hurt
Would all go away if You'd just say the word
But even if You don't
My hope is You alone

 

 

You've been faithful, You've been good
All of my days
Jesus, I will cling to You
Come what may

‘Cause I know You're able.

I know You can.

 

I know You're able I know You can
Save through the fire with Your mighty hand
But even if You don't,
My hope is You alone
I know the sorrow, I know the hurt,
Would all go away if You'd just say the word

But even if You don't,
My hope is You alone.

 

It is well with my soul.
It is well, it is well with my soul.

 

 

 

~Amen~

Fun, Hiking, Birthdays....

Two Saturdays ago us girls took some friends to the Ape Caves. So much fun!
It was the first time I had filed all 7 seats in my car. Which was fun for me! 😊
I didn't get any pictures as I didn't want to carry my camera through the cave like I did last time. 😕
So here are pictures Aus (last 4) and Fritz (first 6) took and sent on to us. 😌

Suspension bridge at Lava canyon. SO fun to cross!

Lava canyon

Add caption

Last week Megs hit her 2 decade birthday!
So now Kai is the only teen left in our house!!
Megs went to the Christian Writers Conference in Portland for her birthday.
She went with 3 other friends, Emily, Ivy & Abigayle.
Two are from the Spokane area and one was from TX!
She had tons of fun and learned lots. :)
My moms birthday is next week!
We are going down to Salt & Straw for Ice Cream on her birthday. 😁

The Eclipse was today. SUPER AMAZING!!!
We stayed home, only had 98-99%, but it got darker and was like 5:30am out at 10am!
It cast the coolest shadows too! Wish I had thought to grab my camera! 😑😢
We watched it live on KGW, it was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!😍😍


So what'd ya'll do for the Eclipse.
I know quite a few of our friends went down to 100% totality to see it.
How was it?

Fair!

The Fair has come again.
Already!? It feels like just a few days ago it was last years fair!

Anyways, this year dad, us girls, and our friends the Hazen boys went to the fair on opening day.
We all entered items into the fair, and did pretty well.
Though I must confess I forgot to get a picture of Megs beading and the picture of Kai's horn didn't turn out so great.
But, I can post pictures of them once we get the back from the fair. :)

So here are pictures that I did get. Hope you enjoy. :)

The judges wrote they liked the detail on the donkey. :) Good job Megs!!

The boys entered their knives they make and Austin entered some S hooks he forged.

Mom had her post-op today, the doctor said she's healing well and can slowly start working in the office again. Yay!!! :D

I also finished the Virtual goat show I'd been in charge of, so things are starting to slow down a bit.

Welp, we're off to the Ape Caves tomorrow morning!
Have a great weekend everyone!

Already!

I can't believe it's August already!!!
I mean, I didn't really have time to work on a project to enter in the fair and the deadline was today!
I did get to enter a scrimshawed horn I did last summer and a scrimshaw piece I ended up doing this morning before we headed down to enter stuff. ;)

July went by in a whirl of craziness.
July 4th we were in the Ridgefield parade with our church. passing out candy and bracelets was fun!!

For my dad's birthday we all went and saw Cars 3, pretty good movie, I still like Cars 2 better. ;)

Then our Grandparents came up for a week, that was a busy week.
The day after they came up on the train, we all went to the beach. This year we went to the beach with the old wreck near Fort Stevens. Had lots of fun and ate wild caught fish n' chips for lunch. Yum!

Then mom had surgery that week, which is why Grandma wanted to come up that week. :)
Mom is doing fine and recovery well. Hopefully back to normal soon though they said its about an 8 week recovery time....

Then that Saturday we went to Fort Vancouver 1867 Base Ball game! Grandpa went with us and Grandma stayed home to keep mom company.
Our team won by 1 point in the last inning!! I think it was the most tense and close score game we've had yet! :)

Then these last 2 weeks I've been really busy. I have 4 jobs I'm juggling!
My normal membership/secratary at home job, the online Virtual goat show I'm in charge of, and I'm doing work registering the goats that come in for mom while she's on leave, and last week Blueberry season started so we pick blueberries for our next door neighbors.
Busy busy!

Anyway, here are some pictures from July.

Sand....... :)

Keep cool everyone in the heat this weekend and maybe see some of ya at the Fair Friday! :D