Saturday, February 14, 2015

31st Anniversary

Happy First Anniversary to BreZaak. Happy 49th birthday to my brother, Will. Happy 31st Anniversary to Michael and I.
 
I awoke in a crabby mood as I contemplated our upcoming changes and living in such cramped quarters in a few months. Michael lovingly shared the following verses with me,
“If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out,
Then how can you compete with horses?
If you fall down in a land of peace,
How will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?" Jeremiah 12:5
 
Being exceedingly crabby makes one theologically dense and I asked how in the world that applied to the situation. Oh. If you can't survive in The Caboose in America which you know well...how are you going to survive in a Japanese apartment? Not one to give up easily, I retorted the apartment was sure to bigger than the trailer....however, point taken. Don't you hate it when there's a verse that point out your sin so clearly? I really was not choosing joy. Living in The Caboose will be training...it will make an apartment in Japan seem spacious - I HOPE. 
 
Our Valentine's Celebration got underway early in The Caboose with this treat bought in Misawa, Japan  and saved for the "right" occasion. Isn't that odd of me? This was my last tangible piece of Misawa and I simply didn't want to let it go.....and yet it seemed right to enjoy it together today....so 1 1/2 years later we all shared our Meiji chocolate almonds for Valentine's Day.

Krista packed  a lunch while the rest of us got ready and we headed across the river to visit Mom G. She is an amazingly tough woman. She's doing well after surgery.

We enjoyed making videos of some stories until we abruptly ran out of battery. Maybe more tomorrow.  It was a beautiful day and so we moved our party outside to the front deck. BEAUTIFUL day in CRESCENT CITY in FEBRUARY! We think it was up in the low 70's.

We did a couple of small jobs for Mom G and will do more tomorrow.

 It was SUCH a nice day that Stacia was determined to go swimming. Krista and Nolan were game.  My camera was dead;  I snapped a few shots with my phone. Stacia waded in...the rest were content to wade....just after this she dove in....and eventually these two followed suit.

 
Arielle was content to sit on this rock and think
 
At some point in the day caretakers at a home in the park threatened to unleash their two big dogs (Pit Bull and Rottweiler) and let them attack the children. Why? They felt the beach was their  "private beach." There IS no private beach along the Smith River.  Stacia was terrified.  Um....family has lived here for 80 years - we know  the boundaries. I could not BELIEVE someone would actually threaten  to sic attack dogs on children in the park. Neighbors are neighborly here. She said she was calling the cops. Michael nearly called the sheriff to file a complaint about the incident. We also discovered Mom G had had an incident with them also. He decided to call the owner of the property instead.  They are in Italy, but we have emailed them to let them know this behavior is not acceptable.  I hope he isn't aware of this and doesn't condone it.
 
Climbing right below Mom G's house - no ones private beach ::snort::
We burned some burgers and veggie burgers and had a yummy dinner at the campsite...We are enjoying Krista's quick visit.
 
Featherstone guarded the camp well while we were out
 
We brought this little stove from Mom's and we'll return it tomorrow.
 
No camping adventure would be complete without a chapter or two of Patrick McManus