4am, Morning Sky...26º

Coffee almost ready...As I waited, I looked out the back door to a star filled sky and silently wished for a hot tub...Then had a second thought about braving the cold, slippery deck to get there and decided I would just have to live with the memory!

Glad I looked out when I did, saw all the stars as the forecast for the next 5 to 7 days is for scattered snow showers...So like yesterday I think we will have sunny/cloudy skies, few snow flakes...Herb and I both went for a walk yesterday, we wore our Yak Trax, for traction on the semi icy roads and will keep walking as long as its not too slick...Maybe resort to walking on the track at the Joseph school...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Christmas Spirit...30º

A couple of inches of snow overnight, maybe more to come...Yesterday I looked through photos both on my computer and sorted through 4 shoe boxes full of photos, trying to get in the Christmas spirit and also looked at the calendar to see how many days are left...Approximately 3 weeks until our family celebration...I think I'm supposed to be buying/making gifts, making candy and chex mix, cleaning house, listening to Christmas music and doing other Ho Ho stuff...Hmmmm, the Christmas Bazaar and Jingle thru Joseph last weekend didn't spark my interest...Years ago I would have been first in line to attend these events and before that I was in the thick of things, making ornaments and candy to sell at my very own booth!

It seems that nostalgia about family outings riding a bobsled, pulled by a team of horses, picking the perfect tree, got in the way of my Christmas spirit, as I spent the day remembering...Other celebrations with grandparents and our then young children, hunting for the illusive perfect tree, Santa was visited, presents wrapped, secrets kept...There was sledding on "saucers" over bumpy terrain with just enough snow, listening for reindeer on the roof and shouts of "Merry Christmas Everyone" echoed in dreams...Soon these little ones turned into teenagers, we still looked for a tree, filled stockings not with nuts and candy but funny gifts, all in the spirit of giving...The spirit of Christmas changed as we celebrated with Margarita glasses, toasting to many more years...And then we became the grandparents, Christmas again had the excitement of wonder, surprise, Rudolph, Santa decked out in a red suit, flying around the world bringing gifts to all good children.

Snow on the ground, counting down the days, looks like I better start making a list or maybe just get busy and at least make a couple of batches of candy, some chex mix, check out the local shops for stocking stuffers and put on some Christmas music...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

The year of the little tree

A shirt sleeve snowy Christmas

Presents Galore

Thanksmas Turkey

Thanksmas is Coming...45º

Our Thanksgiving celebration at B and J's was quiet, relaxing and fun...The traeger turkey was done to perfection, veggie snacks and wine kept us going until the dressing was done, potaoes mashed and green bean casserole out of the oven...Throughly stuffed we played cards, letting our food digest so we could sample the pies...I checked the time thinking it must be at least 9pm and in reality it was maybe 4:30...We called it a night about 8pm.

Yesterday we had turkey/dressing leftovers with salad...It was a lazy day for me, my body still trying to digest all that food...I was lazy, lethargic and mostly worthless...Hoping for more ambition today...Start with a walk to get me moving....Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Traeger Turkey, succulent inside.

John happy with all these veggies.

Now for the real food!

Thanksgiving Countdown...33º

For the past four years we have had "Thankmas" with our family joining us at the family home, here on Barton Heights at Thanksgiving time...This year our celebration will be held mid December when Cienna has a 3 week break from school, giving them more leeway to deal with roads, traffic etc...We have all become very flexible and take our celebration as a family whenever and wherever we can make it work.

Tomorrow, Thanksgiving (the national holiday) will be spent with friends...John is smoking a turkey (his first), Becky and Pam are doing side dishes and I will do pies and Bobi's Artichoke/sausage stuffing, to round out the meal...Guaranteed this won't be a vegan meal!

Speaking of vegan meals, Herb and I are still eating copious amounts of fruits and veggies with small amounts of meat/cheese added for flavor...I'm still trying to balance our meals, leaning to more veggies but I have to work at it because I did it the other way for over 50 years and coming from a meat and potatoes family it is a struggle.

Snow is predicted for Thanksgiving and through the weekend and even for last night, but the ground this morning is only frosty, no snow...Happy Thanksgiving to ALL...OWAV:)

Big salad, little dressing, healthy avocado 

and the first half of a veggie stuffed portobello.

The other portobello keeping warm...I think I got

a little carried away with the cheese...:(

Road Trip...35º

Friday seemed like a good day to go for a ride and taking a hot lunch to our wood gathering friends provided the excuse...2 quarts of chili, (home canned) 6 frozen tamales, cut into 3 pieces each, 1 quart of beef broth, all placed in a dutch oven and heated for a couple of hours...Condiments, veggie stix, grapes, chocolate covered nuts, plates, silverware etc all packed and ready to go by 10am...It turned out to be a cold, windy day, but we ate lunch, standing up and thankful that the chili/tamales were hot...The wood gatherers got back to work and we made a circle home, driving roads that Herb hadn't been on for  twenty years...It was a good day...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Threatening Sky

Seven Devils

Hardy Girls

Old Building

Old One Room School House

Love the Old Barn

Chief Joseph Mountain.

Brrrrr...16º

Looks like mostly sunny and cold today, still predicting snow showers for our area, but no major storm moving through...Winter is still a month away.

On Tuesday at water therapy, the water was a cool 83º, certainly kept us moving and we appreciated the hot tub and also the warmer temperature of the pool yesterday and a hot shower before getting dressed...This reminds me of a time many years ago in the late 80's when I joined a class of water aerobics held at Eagle Cap Chalets (motel at the head of the lake with an indoor pool.) Water temperature was about 83-85º and our exercise was vigorous...Of course it was winter time and we arrived at the pool, clad in layers of warm clothing covering our swimsuits...That worked well but the hard part came when after 45 minutes in the pool we shivered up a sweat getting dressed...LOL...You see this pool did not have dressing rooms, showers, nor a hot tub, so we struggled to dry off and get dressed in the many layers before going outside to a cold car for the 6 mile ride home...We were a bunch of hardy souls and loved the commradery of the group...We made new friends and always met at someones house for a grand finale potluck at the end of the winter season, when the pool was again reserved for motel guests, vacationing at Wallowa Lake...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

A winter scene on Barton Heights.

Motivation...32º

Motivation has been lacking the last few days, as I take a walk each morning and fix dinner later in the day...That and puttering around in the kitchen, reading books, playing on the computer and sorting through a few photos has been the sum total of ways to waste time...Today I have write group and water therapy and must make sure to pay our annual property taxes!...Also I should do some grocery shopping but might leave that until Thursday.

It is windy this morning and Herb just got back from a short walk, so I better get moving and get a walk in myself...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Serendipitous Moment...37º

This happened so quickly, a brief moment in our weekend in McCall, that I had totally spaced it since sending Pam an email with a web address (url) about the 80 foot Christmas tree (loaded on an enclosed truck that crossed in front of us at a McCall stop light.

 http://www.kivitv.com/news/christmas-tree-cut-down-in-mccall-will-tour-idaho-before-going-to-dc

http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/idaho/mccall-celebrates-capitol-christmas-tree/348711467

So this morning I have been doing more research on what we actually saw, taking a chunk of time out of my morning, when I should be going for a walk!!! I have a couple more web sites for you and will tell you briefly what we saw.

It was not the National Christmas Tree but the "Peoples US Capitol Christmas Tree" that sits outside on the lawn at the Nations Capitol...This tradition was started in 1964, taking trees from national forests across the country...This years tree was cut on Nov 2 from the Payette National Forest near the little ski hill in McCall...We saw it on Nov 5th as it began its almost 1000 mile tour in Idaho before it starts its 3000 mile trek to Washington DC...(I wonder if it will have any needles left by the time it arrives.) LOL

More website if you want to check this out, I must get moving...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

http://www.capitolchristmastree.com/history.html

http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/us-capitol-tree-to-be-cut-down-near-mccall-on-wednesday/345993461

http://kool965.com/the-u-s-capitol-christmas-tree-is-from-idaho-in-2016/

More Adventure...37º

Sunday November 6th, clocks turned back, we spent a leisurely morning before packing a lunch, stopping at the Albertson's store for water and snacks...(Our checker was a girl who grew up in Enterprise and her parents owned a grocery store there, small world)...Our destination, 30 miles from McCall was Burgdorf Hot Springs (history)...Official site (up to date info)...A paved road except for the last mile or two allowed us to enjoy the breath taking scenery, around Payette Lakes...Just beyond Burgdorf is the old gold mining town of Warren...Please click on these sites to get more info!

The temperature outside was in the high 50's, sun was shining...We checked in at the office, talked with the friendly lady, (who had a sister in Wallowa County) and in no time at all we were soaking in water with a constant temperature of 97º....Heaven must be like this!..We bobbed around on swim noodles for the next 1 1/2 hours, sitting on the steps occasionally to cool off, before we toweled off, and ate our lunch...Pam and Linda walked around the grounds, checking out the rustic cabins (wood heat, gas lantern and out houses nearby.) Then it was back in the pool for another soak before we finally called it a day, got back into McCall where we met our host and treated him to dinner at one of the many restaurants in McCall.

On our trip home we stopped at Last Chance Hot Springs (unimproved) but decided to save it for another time and our one disappointment of the trip was when we realized that Mundo Hot Springs was closed both Monday and Tuesday...But we found a great little cafe in Cambridge, where we dined on giant sized sandwiches and Udderly Chocolate ice cream, all for a bargain price...A leisurely drive along the reservoirs, glassy smooth water reflecting the hills and autumn colors...It was dark as we dropped into the Wallowa Valley, that we call home....Hugs To All...OWAV:)

The first three photos are of the old cabins surrounding Burgdorf (15 or so of them are rented to overnight guests) open year round and accessible only by snowmobile, skis, snowshoes, in the winter months.

Green house heated by hot water.

Burgdorf Pool 97º

Oxbow reservoir

Glassy waters

Fall foliage

Rock formations

What a TRIP....40º

Saturday Nov. 5th...Sunny day, quite warm for November, occasional clouds, little wind...The car was loaded with sleeping bags, suitcases, pillows, blankets, towels, swimsuits and food, all the things and more that women think they need when going on a trip....Pam navigated the 39 road (Wallowa Mountain Loop) with ease in our Subaru, as she was used to driving a forest service truck all summer over this very road, as well as many other forest roads...Linda, our third passenger had worked with Pam during the summer...It wasn't long before we were chatting, laughing, reminiscing like old friends...The miles flew by, although we were not in a hurry, stopping for breaks and a side trip into Halfway to see the changing colors and maybe possibilities for a future trip...We were scouting and talked about how we wanted to see our local country, not really interested in Europe, South America, Asia, Etc...

Pam had never been farther than maybe Oxbow, but she made all the right turns, with Linda navigating and me the backseat driver...What a team?...The barren hills of the Snake River country, where 3 dams, built in the 50's/60's(Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Canyon) back up the river to supply electricity and recreation, loomed on both sides of us...We traversed the winding road coming onto highway 95 at Cambridge, Idaho and stopped at Mundo (pronounced moon doe) Hot Springs with RV and tent camping as will as cabins for rent, a small Bistro and a lovely hot pool with a soaking tub...This small resort is situated alongside the Weiser River and the Weiser Trail (rail to trail) that runs from Weiser to New Meadows...Many years ago the Galloping Goose Train (railroad) was built because people needed an easy way to get to the County Seat of Weiser and also lumber was hauled out of Adams county by rail.

We spent time at Mundo, visiting with the owner (a delightful lady) and in our minds planning to "soak" there on our way home or maybe on a later trip...Mid afternoon we arrived in McCall (McCall/Lake Fork) where I grew up...We drove out to Ponderosa State Park, ate our lunch while taking in the surroundings and a lovely view of Payette Lake...From there we drove south to Donnelly and followed signs to Gold Fork Hot Springs...The setting is quite nice with natural rock walls nearly surrounding the area...Six or more large hot tubs are terraced down the hill, cooling off as they go...It was late afternoon and crowded, people and beach bags and towels everywhere...A small yurtlike building housed the office and the lady manning it was less than enthusiastic...It had been a long day for us so we made our way back to McCall on the Farm to Market road, stopped briefly at the old ranch, where I grew up, now called Jug Handle Estates...We met up with Linda's friend, and were soon at the house that would be home for a couple of days...To be continued...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Photos of Gold Fork Hot Springs.

Going on a Road Trip...33º

Pam has finished with her summer job and is ready for a road trip...Leaving Saturday morning, heading the back way, over the Wallowa Mountain Loop Road and will end up in my old stomping grounds, McCall, Idaho...Plan to check out some of the Hot Springs along the way and around McCall...Looking forward to a fun trip and some good soaking in mineral saturated water...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Quiet Days...32º

Quiet days of fall, cold nights, sunny days, not much going on...Halloween we had zero kids knock on our door...Tate is staying with us for a couple of days until John gets home from Idaho...Herb and I will be able to walk on these cold crisps days before the roads get slick and maybe I will sort through my mending/altering pile and actually sew a seam or two...Other than that it is just the usual figuring out what to have for dinner, sweep away the cobwebs and other mundane stuff...Below I'll post a few photos of the rainbow that lasted just seconds and the after glow that stayed around just a bit longer...Enough rambling....Hugs To All...OWAV:)