Catching Up

I'm realizing anew the unique opportunity Michael and I had to serve a young congregation while he was in the Air Force chaplaincy..... somewhere along the line I made lots of "young" friends. I didn't realize how odd this was until the last few years when I realized most my friends were my daughter's ages. ::snort::  Funny how that works - we were all the same age at our first assignment. ::snort::

One such friend is Rachel and her husband Matt and children. It was a delight to be able to eat together tonight and connect in person.  These kids are my "first set of grand kids."  I was a bit worried Elli has entered the "stranger danger" phase since we last saw them.

WHO IS THAT MAN AND WOMAN?????

 I had no such concerns with Joy. She ran out to the driveway, "Grandma De'Etta and Stacia are here!" I'm sure she's thrilled to see the boys and Michael as well.

Joy & Stacia

Star Wars Risk...Nate, Zac and Seth prefer the boys company to mine. ::snort:: 

Melts my heart - Nate is a great big brother!

 Spending time with this family is a soothing balm to our hearts! We are blessed our stagnation has resulted in a few more visits. We are excited to see God confirming His call and plan in their lives.

And Elli? Yes, she warmed up to us. How do I know? Well - would one share her most impressive tricks with just ANYONE?????

I tried - I can't do this. 

 Seriously, she let me hold her, smiled for me, cooed...and this is all good because we're having a pizza game night with the kids next Friday so Rachel and Matt can go to a big shindig to honor Matt and the others receiving quarterly awards....it's a good thing she warmed back up to us.

I think she'll be an orator - look at those expressive eyes and gestures

Thanks, Matt and Rachel. We had a great evening!

"Sun" Day

My weather ap, installed for warnings while we travel, said Beale was supposed to get snow today! I uninstalled it.

There has been much rain in recent weeks. Today was sunny.  Michael and I chatted and decided we'd set aside plans for the day (school) and as soon we could we'd head out to explore the local area via geocaching.  He looked up coordinates for us to find and I finished baking bread. 

As soon as the bread came out of the oven, we left it cooling on the rack and headed out. 

Our first find was a "micro cache." I was a bit surprised when it took us right through a cattle corral.....it was titled. O.K. We figured we were in the right general area.

We climbed over the barbed wire and explored fence posts, river banks, around trees, up in trees......

Yuuki loves these days

 The clue was "hangar" - Michael checks out a hangar shaped wire hanging from the tree

We gave up. We climbed back over the barbed wire.  As we left, I spotted it. Can you? We wonder if someone moved it as it is NOT where the coordinates lead you and is out in the open. 

A little canister, covered in camo tape, attached by a clothes pin to the right corner of the fence thing

We kept reaching spots where the gps would say the cache was .28 miles directly right - across fields full of cows. Michael wondered if it was public land, but being respectful geocachers we skipped them. We finally ended up HERE - a familiar spot to us as we've cahced with the D family and tree cached here before.  We immediately knew were were looking for a micro cache - probably magnetic. It was fun to hug the rail when a car went by.

  Found! Unfortunately, we didn't realize the coordinates inside were part of a multi-cache. This means we need to go back and get those coordinates and go find the next one before we can count it as a find! But we did find it. LOL

The more we thought about it, the more we decided  the caches were planted inside the fields because we are allowed to be in there, it must be state land. This whole area seems to be part of the Spenceville Wildlife area.  We especially noted we are in the last few days of hunting season.

I so appreciated driving until we found a GATE this time. Barbed wire fences are not friends of those with short legs....which in our current family situation would mean me. LOL 

What fun! Miles of rolling pasture land...

Michael and I surmised the cache would be at this tree...it was the only thing for a long ways. 

Yep - pretty easy for four of us to spot it....Do you? 

Stacia was searching far and wide - we all finally congregated on the branches and she eventually came to explore....

Armed with the GPS, Stacia took the lead to find our next one....

  I thought it might be hidden at the bottom of this muck - it may be - we never found it

JUST like riding a horse - she tells me again she WILL have a horse when she grows up
on the farm, with the RV pad for Mom and Dad

This was also a multi cache. The first part over by the valve/pipe thing was a bust. When we got home and read the comments of others online, we see some say the coordinates are missing....but from the clue we headed to the burned out stump hoping to find something. We didn't.

We did, however, have a great day out roaming the hills and fields on Northern CA. Rain is predicted for Saturday - we'll catch up on school then.

Not one snowflake was seen.

Bella update

Yes, it IS, in fact time for our weekly Bella update! BreAnne is now 29 weeks pregnant. Bella is the size of a butternut squash and is gaining fat this week. Bre reports she moves a lot these days - and we are thankful.

Bre passed her glucose test.  This was a mild concern of mine as diabetes does run in our family and I had Gestational Diabetes....but she passed with flying colors. We are in awe of how this pregnancy is going.  We plan to be back in OR in early April to wait for face time with Bella.

Road Trip to the VA

What could be better on a Monday morning than a little road trip? The boys opted to stay at the Caboose and work on school. Michael, Stacia and I headed for Solano County.  It felt wonderful to be "on the road" and "going somewhere."  Was their a purpose for this road trip other than viewing this fantastic county office building? 

LOVED the windows and staring out of upper floor office windows

 Yes! We determined eBenefits was NOT going to be the best way for us to track this VA compensation claim. We had received a "nasty gram" from the VA and it took us two weeks to contact someone who could tell us what it meant - absolutely nothing they said. But, we were unsettled and not sure which of the three varying answers we received was MOST accurate. It was time to bring in outside help - either a Veteran's Service Organization (VSO) Rep or a lawyer specializing in VA compensation claims. Our budget led us to the first choice.  We visited a Veteran Services Organization and signed up a rep from American Legion - Bill Alcarez to represent us. He comes highly recommended and we really enjoyed talking with him.   He will be able to see much more than turns up on eBenefits and will help us navigate the craziness of VA Math. ::snort:: He is hopeful this will be settled in 9 - 12 months. He agreed we can begin traveling as soon as the initial intake appointments are done with the VA.  He'll track it and stay in contact with us.

Now, THIS looks like California! 

We jetted to Travis AFB to check out their AMC  terminal and their Fam Camp. We decided we like Beale's Fam Camp better....cheaper, surrounded by fields, larger spaces.....as opposed to pristine pavement and manicured grass - immediately off busy streets, surrounded by buildings and a school.

I fought a migraine all day and went directly to bed when we got home. The boys were on a trek to the library and Michael and Stacia went on a great sun-set walk. Photos will be forthcoming when "the man" selects the ones he wants to post.

Turning 52

I woke up with You Make Beautiful Things, playing in my mind. A beautiful song - especially meaningful to me as it was a song I listened to a lot after the Tsunami in Japan. It was also the background to a slide show about the recovery/youth missions at chapel in that season.

Nothing was set in stone, but after our planned but cancelled, vision trip in July 2015 to Tokyo, I assumed we'd be in Japan by my 52nd birthday. Some days the longing is big - today is one of those days. I continue to rest in the knowledge that God has a good plan and He will reveal it step by step. 

Sunday mornings can be hard around here. If we run into another camper in the shower house - it throws us off. We actually MADE IT TO CHURCH BEFORE 0900 TODAY!!!!! I consider that a cosmic birthday gift. We enjoyed another wonderful morning celebrating Jesus with The Rivers in Yuba City. I'll need to say more about this church in another post. 

Back at the campground, I opted for a nap. Michael took the laundry and braved the hoards....the playoff game was a perfect time to wait for laundry. Go Broncos. 

I was able to chat with all the kids - that's always an accomplishment and a highlight to any celebration. 

I'm not currently eating sugar. I had decided before embarking on this season I'd break for birthdays this year - if I wanted to. Michael began asking what sort of cake I'd like and I realized I didn't want one. What I REALLY wanted was a night without rain so we could enjoy the kids' Christmas fire pit.... s'mores seemed the perfect stand in  for a cake. We were blessed to do just this. 

Alex helpfully held a flashlight so I could see who each gift is from. Stacia got me some ERASABLE color pencils. I didn't even know they made them. She and I have been coloring together. I love the thought that goes into her gifts. 

I kept "things" to a minimum in the Caboose. I inadvertently bought two hot pads that should have been tossed when we moved out of our house. Alex got me two really lush oven mitts. The hot pads have been tossed. The one of the right says, "Life is beautiful, enjoy the ride."

I've been putting kitchen towels over the stove top to let dishes air dry. I don't want a drainer in my limited space. Nolan purchased this drying mat - fits perfectly over the stove top. It's also a color other than brown. LOL

My baby Bosch spent both the birthday and Christmas budget for me. Michael got me a couple of things anyway. I've been wanting an instant thermometer - and am thrilled to have one now. The Super woman shirt....well.....I'm happy to have the kids and Michael view me that way. One does feel a bit egotistical wearing the shirt.

Check out the hat. Stacia knitted it for me. She's been "reading" an AWFUL lot this week with her curtain closed. I've checked on her often and she always looked a bit sketchy to me. I worried - but now I get it. She was making me a hat to match my sweatshirt as the one she made me before is "only white."  The sifter is another gift from Michael as the Vitamix leaves a few wheat berries.....

Yes, they sang Happy Birthday and then I attempted to blow out the fire. 

We ended the day by streaming an episode of Leverage. Don't judge. We finished Monk and wanted something to end our days. 

It was a great day to reflect on another year....I'm healthy, I'm happy. I'm going to be a granna this year.  The day was a good balance of worship, community, family and fire. 

Wake Up Call #WYFF

Old bones like the heat

She's a darling - but oy vey! - she has GI issues. She pukes, she rumbles, emits horrendous gaseous fumes and has the most disgusting looking diarrhea.....we've tried everything. Dry and wet dog food. Prescription - organic dog food....on some of them she'd lose a couple of symptoms for a few months and then they'd all be back.

She's been tested for parasites, a host of diseases and all the "old dog" labs and everything comes back normal.

I make her food now. When I do she doesn't have gas, she usually doesn't have terrible diarrhea and the puking is lessened.  She also has a shiny coat....but the vet doesn't like it. I've tried every dog food they recommend....but she gets all the symptoms....and finally I've decided bloody stools are worse than any vitamin she may miss in the food I make for her. She's happier when I cook for her. She doesn't lose as much weight.  She gets a chicken like stew/mash with a spoonful of pumpkin on top.

And still......she wakes me up at 0430 puking at my doorway. Precious. ::snort:: I've told her I prefer the shaking collar as she tells me she wants a walk over the puking.

Turning this into our #WYFF entry as we totally forgot yesterday. My feet were busy staying dry and warm in the trailer.

#WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) is sponsored by Fulltime Families. View more of our Friday exploits by clicking the #WYFF tab above. 

We Did It

Yuuki woke me up at 0430. In our S&B home I would have gotten an early start on the day's chores by baking bread......

But the Vitamix sounds like "throwing rocks in a transmission" and smooths out to the sound of a jet engine (according to Michael - he knows).  

Even running the Baby Bosch will wake my sleeping family.  

I wait. 

I neglected to store my Honey Oat Wheat bread recipe on the blog. The book  it's from - No More Bricks - is in storage somewhere and I'm too cheap to buy a second copy. I looked up Marilyn's Famous Whole Wheat Bread recipe. It's an old standby. 

Eventually all are up, the wheat is ground, I figure out how to attach the dough hook to the Baby Bosch and how to get it "un-parked" and I'm ready to try, once again, to make bread in the trailer. 

I was happy and comfortable leaving the Bosch alone - we are never too many steps from it in the trailer - but Stacia stood and held the lid on the whole 8 minutes it kneaded. 

Bread dough! It worked 

Window Test - could have stood a bit more kneading

 Here is my dilemma. I want the bread to rise.....but this rack is lowered as low as possible. It is below the "groove."  The brick below is resting on the plate directly above the burner - to even out the heat.  Can you see the top of the loaf is touching the top of the oven?????  Yes that is the depth of the oven - you see here the rack below the lowest groove for it and the top of the bread is the top of the oven.  I've enjoyed the challenge of cooking for a family of 5 with this set up.

No more bricks! 

 We'll just have to put up with the occasional caved in loaf because it rose to high!  Beats the bricks. ::snort::  I'll keep playing with the best way to bake in the oven but it's safe to say - We're HOME - fresh baked bread is possible in the trailer. 

Not sure why they look so pale in the photo