Tag! I'm It!

This a new game to me but looks like fun (and using a lot of remembering). Carole is the one who tagged me. I'll think of something for her. So here goes.

10 years ago I was...
1. Starting my 7th year as pastor of Allen Creek Neighborhood Church.
2. We had just had the Continental Singers at our church. We were able to get them as a last minute arrangement because some other group cancelled.
3. Preparing (with others) for the Harvest Carnival at church on the 31st.
4. I was on the Community Development Corporation Board involved in securing low income housing in Grants Pass. This was my "community involvement" ministry.

5 things on my to do list...
1. Finish the gel coat on the RV.
2. Organize the storage compartments.
3. Prepare for a funeral in St. Helens. This will be Saturday for a lady who was our pianist.
4. Make a shelf for the RV that will go next to my chair.
5. Fix the backdoor (on the house) so it closes easier.

5 snacks I enjoy...
1. Mixed nuts.
2. Peanuts.
3. Ice cream.
4. Popcorn.
5. Tortilla chips.

5 places I have lived... (in reverse order)
1. Grants Pass, OR (2 houses)
2. St. Helens, OR (4 houses -- that is along story)
3. Newberg, OR (2 houses)
4. Cottage Grove, OR (1 house)
5. Roseburg, OR (3 houses)
This happens to be the places where I pastored (in Newberg, I was the Director of Christian Education).

5 jobs I have had...
1. Pastor/Minister
2. School bus driver
3. Furniture mover for Mayflower
4. House inspector for insurance companies
5. Carpenter

3 people I tag...
1. Chuck and Susy H.
2. Jana T.
3. Kim B.

Day By Day

It seems our week has been focused on the RV -- with a little extra thrown in. Thought I would give you a day by day...

Last Sunday: attended church at Newman United Methodist. It is an old historic building in Grants Pass with a high steeple and a pipe organ. The worship was more liturgical than we're used to but still good. The minister is a lady. She had a good sermon.

Monday: did some more cleaning on the inside of the RV. Joyce's brother, Don came to pick up our old washer and dryer to give to a friend of his. Watched Monday Night Football.

Tuesday: went to Rascals -- that is the old people's computer group. Had lunch with James Downing, the pastor of Jerome Prairie Bible Church where we attend sometimes. Gave away our old freezer through a free ad in the paper. We weren't using any more. Cleaned the carpets in the RV. To rent a cleaner would cost money and they are too big to do a good job in the confined spaces of the RV. So I reasoned I could do it just a well with a scrub brush and a wet or dry vacuum. It was a lot of hands and knees work but it is a thousand per cent cleaner. I just mixed up a little carpet cleaner in some water, brushed it on, brushed it a lot, brushed some more, vacuumed it up, rinsed it, and vacuumed that up. Then let it dry... which took two days. Sure picked up a lot of dirt and sand.

Wednesday: washed the outside of the RV. gave away our old entertainment center via the free ad (I still have a food dryer no one seems to want). Most of the above work I did by myself while Joyce was inside working on crafts for the Daycare. In other words, she was inside earning money while I was outside playing with the RV! She finished November's crafts today so we took them to the Daycare.

Thursday: Joyce and I waxed the rear and street side of the RV. By "wax" I really mean applying a gel coat then wiping off the film. Lots of elbow work. I'm tired. Joyce worked for the Daycare's after school program at Allendale School -- about 3 hours.

Friday: cleaned the RV couch the same way I cleaned the carpet but with less water. Joyce and I gel coated part of the curb side of the RV until we ran out of the stuff. I applied Rejex to the front. That is a product that is supposed to reject bugs. Actually they stick, but will wash off easily (I hope). Joyce worked at Allendale School again.

Saturday: we went to Medford with Mike and Joann. We shopped at Costco and ate dinner at Appleby's. But the most fun was shopping for a new RV for them. It's the first time in my life that I got to buy an RV and it didn't cost me anything. But I did buy a generator to use with the RV. Roy: this information is mostly for you: I bought a Honda 2000 because it fits in my toolbox -- a 3000 won't fit. The 2000 will recharge the batteries and give power for everything except the AC (not sure about the microwave). If I feel I need to power the AC I can buy another 2000 and use them in tandem.

Today (Sunday): We attended worship at Jerome Prairie Bible Church then went to lunch with Fiskes, Lakers, and Curpheys ... all friends from Allen Creek.

The weather has been beautiful this week. In fact "beautiful" hardly describes it. Cool mornings; bright, sunny days. Fall leaves changing color. Gorgeous. Hope your week has been just as good.

Little Jobs, Big Success

We're getting them done. The little jobs, I mean. It is fun to be able to cross off another item. This week I washed the walls on the inside of the RV and took down all the drapes and removed the screens. Joyce carefully washed the drapes and I scrubbed the screens -- some of them twice. Then I washed the windows, and cleaned the inside of the place where the windows and screens sit. Whew! Dirrrrrty! I think there was some Alaska dirt still stuck in there. But it looks a lot better and smells so clean. I also installed a new door handle and lock. The reason... well, remember we bought this RV from my brother. One night a burglar broke a side window, reached in and unlocked the door, then packed out the TV, microwave, etc through the open door. He set about making sure that would never happen again so he broke the inside lock. The only way to lock the door "from the inside" (as for the night) was to use the key on a lock on the outside. Confusing, huh? Especially in the dark, in the rain, barefoot and ready for bed. Anyway, I decided we had paid our dues to the old lock and bought a new one.


The garden is now history. After the freeze last weekend we bagged up all the vines ready for the city to pick up this week. The tomato vines are still there but the green ones aren't turning red very fast. They will disappear in a few weeks also. It is that time of year when leaves are turning color. We have friends in Indiana and on the east coast who are seeing a spectacular array of color. (Check out Carole's News and Husted's Happenings on the right). We have a little in our area but not much around our house. But of course that means I don't have to rake leaves either! When we drive down by the river we can see a lot of changing color and it is indeed beautiful.


This weekend the weather has changed from cold at night but sunny during the day, to cool and cloudy and dreary. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and then we'll get some more nice weather. I sure hope so. I'm not ready for winter. I am ready for the elections to be over, though. The commercials are getting to be redundant. If people haven't made up their minds by now, they aren't paying attention. So what do you think? The poll on the right is just for fun. Let's see how it turns out. Have some fun this week. And take care of some little things.

We're Home Again

After a few daddy-do's at Ginger's we arrived back home Wednesday late afternoon. The days since have been mostly recovery and cleanup from the trip. We traveled 1600 miles and saw 34 people on our friends and family list. That counts Ginger but does not count the people on the MEG Board or strangers we met at church. The most we spent for diesel was $4.09.9 in Gig Harbor, Washington and the least was $3.73.9 in Salem. Fuel prices are always cheaper in Salem. It must have something to do with being so close to the state law makers!

Our garden was in good shape when we arrived home but the cucumbers and zucchini were HUGE. Friends picked some, but not enough. And the tomatoes were almost over-ripe. We managed to salvage a few. There are still many green tomatoes on the vines so we covered them with a tarp the last two nights. The temperature dropped to about 27 both nights. Yes, that is unseasonably low. A cold front from Alaska blew across the northwest but is mostly gone by now. Monday the high is supposed to be 73. I think we saved the tomatoes but there won't be anymore zucchini or cucumbers.

Here are four pumpkins we raised. Obviously the one between Josiah's and Lilly's was fed the best. When the kids were here, Jana carved their names on them -- and then they grew. They would still be growing if the freeze hadn't gotten them. We'll take them to the kids when we go south at Christmas time. Right after this picture was taken Joyce gave the third one to the neighbor kids for carving.

The week ahead will be a lot of odd jobs taking care of the little things around here. So remember, take care of the little things before they become big things. I think I could write a book about that!

Friends and Family Tour, Week 3

The poll results are in. Obama has... wait... stop... wrong poll. The results of the "My Favorite Season" poll reveals an underwhelming preference for spring with 4 votes. Summer and autumn tied with 3 each and it seems nobody likes old man winter. Thank you for your participation. We'll try another one in a few weeks.

We also have the results of Week 3 of the Friends and Family Tour. What a great week it was. And tiring. I'll let the pictures lead into a brief explanation of each.




I closed the last blog with a mention of Joyce's cousins. After church Sunday -- which, by the way, was a gorgeous day in the State of Washington -- we met her cousins at Boston Pizza in Smokey Point (a little ways north of Everett) for lunch. Lots of good catching up on relatives. Pictured are Marla and Gordon, Pat, Joyce, Barbara and Brian. There are a lot more cousins in the area but these were the ones who could make it.



After the cousins lunch, it was on to Bellingham and Sharon's house. She is Joyce's older sister and right now her granddaughter, Audra, lives with her. Sharon loves to help others which has led her to a lot of experiments in growing food products with very little water. She hopes to someday be able to share what she has learned with people in arid countries. She also dabbles in ceramics and gave us lots and lots and lots of ceramic pieces (probably enough to overload the RV). Many of these will be painted by the kids at camp next summer as one of their crafts. Some were painted tonight by some of Ginger's clients. Some will be given away. I think Sharon was trying to unload a bunch of stuff. Anybody want a ceramic pig? We have lots.


Sort of looks like the beginnings of a bathroom doesn't it? My project was NOT a storage shed this time. It was a bathroom. This is in Sharon's basement and she wants to make a small apartment down there. So I plumbed and partially framed this important room. To go into detail about how the intricacies of this small project caused it to last all week are too complicated to go into now. Ask me in person some day.


Sharon lives on a hill. There is no level ground on which to park an RV. The most level is up this driveway, around a bend, past a ditch, between a car and a bus -- don't ask! -- and as close to a van as possible. Backing up! I deemed that impossible for my limited skills so we parked in a wide spot part way up hill. I got the front as high as possible which still wasn't totally level. We found some concrete blocks to put in front of the wheels. For six nights we slept with our heads downhill or turned our beds around.


Galen was my youth pastor in Grants Pass for about the last 5 years. He married Rylee a few years ago. This past summer he moved from Grants Pass to Vancouver, B.C. to attend a Bible College. Being that close, Joyce and I HAD to go up and see them. We got a tour of their apartment (500 square feet!) and the school. Then had a wonderful meal with them and returned to Bellingham. By the way, he is loving school and Rylee is the manager (and only employee) of the coffee bar at the school.



We left Bellingham on Saturday, arriving in St. Helens, Oregon about 6:00 that evening. St. Helens is where Joyce and I pastored for nine years prior to going to Grants Pass. The church has since closed but we still have a lot of good friends there. Sunday we attended church at Warren Christian Fellowship with Tim and Connie. Unexpectedly we ran into Bob and Joann and all of went to lunch together at Sunshine Pizza. Pictured are David, Connie and Tim, Bob and Joann, and Joyce. David is Tim and Connie's youngest son. He was born while we were there and now he is as big as his dad. Time sure causes them to grow, doesn't it? These people were so important to our church. They taught classes, served on boards, and Bob was our song leader.



Barbara and Jim were teachers and wonderful supporters. One of their daughters was born while we were there and she is now married and living in Everett, WA. If we had known, we might have been able to look her up while we were there.





Shirley was our organist. It seems she has not changed a bit in the intervening years.



Jerry and Shirley were always active in the church. One thing that stands out is Jerry's participation in our annual Halloween Carnival. He developed the "scary" stuff in the "fun house" aspect of the event. In fact he still has those items stored in his garage.



Edith has a little beauty shop next to her house and was the one who kept Joyce's hair looking lovely. She still works part-time in that shop. I married her son and daughter-in-law. He was a fellow school bus driver and bought our house when we left St. Helens.

Well, after all this visiting we left Monday noon for Salem. We are now at Ginger's doing some more "daddy-do's" and expect to travel home tomorrow (Wednesday). We have had some rain -- it starting raining again last Thursday -- but considering that this trip has been the last part of September and the first part of October, the weather has really has been good. But the fellowship, visiting, reacquainting, and eating together (we did a lot of that) has been really good. Now we look forward to being home again.