Chapter 323

And don't forget to honor our four-legged soldiers that save so many military lives with their selfless bravery.

Our class is learning to do oil changes. Of course our truck and car are on the syllabus as a learning tool. Here our old truck is on the lift to get it's oil changed and to offer a rare look at a car that needs old-fashioned lubing at the grease zerks with an old-fashioned grease gun...

On the day my car is scheduled for an oil change, the "technicians" take a break to work up the courage to work on a "super cool" car like mine.

 Since the week before school started, we've asked for the ventilation to get up and running in the auto shop. While the contractor and school maintenance department discuss who is responsible for the heat in our auto shop, we are very slowly freezing to death. We don't care who is responsible, just fix it!  Fixing the heat would be a whole lot cheaper than treating us for frostbite.

And if you think retreating to the classroom will offer a warm island of respite from the cold, you'd be wrong. Very wrong.  

 I got home from work Thursday and it wasn't raining so I took Nitro out for a long past due walk in the yard. As you can see, he loves walks in the yard and happily checked out all the hot spots in our his backyard. 

Happy kitty with his tail up and whiskers out checking things out.

"Hurry up, I have a lot to see!"

 We went to a Jaguar club meeting Thursday evening at Bill and Rosmarie's home in Bellevue. And what a home it is. Bill built the house by himself and Rosemarie is about 70 and cooks all their food on this old wood stove. Yes, there is a modern stove in the kitchen but she doesn't use it at all. You can see the pan of coffee on the side of the stove keeping warm until we need it. She made an apple crisp for the meeting in this oven and it was delicious! I remember we had a stove like this at our log cabin in the California mountains when I was a kid.

Bill used to hunt a lot and brought home a lot of antlers which Rosemarie made into this huge antler chandelier. Although it doesn't look that big, this is a huge room and these antlers are probably about 10 feet across at the base.

The antlers make a beautiful centerpiece to their living room.

 Bill built this fireplace out of rocks he hunted. The antlers and fireplace compliment each other beautifully.

As well as building a beautiful house, Bill has collected Spode dishes for over 50 years. He has some beautiful pieces in his "Spode Room".

This weekend my friend Darla and I made a Parent Run to the Portland area. I dropped Darla at her dad's house in Vancouver, WA and then zipped on down to Milwaukee.  I dropped her at her dad's house in Vancouver, WA and then zipped on down I-5 20 minutes further to Milwaukee, Oregon to help my parents move from one apartment to another across the hall. Along the way we saw our first truckload of Christmas trees. 'Tis the season!

My parents have moved into the same building as my Aunt Rowena. Here's Rowena moving the shopping cart of stuff we moved from the old apartment to the new one across the hall. Thanks Aunt Rowena for letting me stay in your B & B for the night!

The leaves were so pretty down there along the highways.

On the corner that I turn on to get to Darla's dads is a big mansion. Darla called it "the Pepsi House". Darla didn't know much about it other than everyone calls it that. From what I could find, it was the founder of the Pepsi Company's west coast vacation home. I found houses for sale in that area referenced in distance from the Pepsi House.  

"It was the house with the most notoriety in the county, kind of THE house that people talked about,". "It was one of those no-chance-ever deals -- no chance you'd ever get to live in a house like that." - The Columbian, June 1998. 

Reagan at a beach throwing rocks into the Hood Canal. You can see the Hood Canal bridge behind her.

"Ok. I'm sitting on my new potty chair. Now what am I supposed to do?" 

Playing with dry pasta and her little kitchen pot set.

Bear is never too far away when something is happening.

Time to plop down in the middle of everything and have a nice sip of water.

Dad and Reagan watch the football game very closely.

Nothing like a day in the park to get some fresh air and exercise.

"School pictures. No thanks, I'll pass this time."