Possible High Winds Today...50º

We have weathered many storms in our 48 years in Joseph and this is the first one that we have known about ahead of time...Will get wood stove fired up, laundry done, showers taken, hopefully before the power goes off...(If it does?) Off hand I remember the Thanksgiving storm, (people cooked their turkey on the BBQ)...The Christmas storm, (blew the roof off of Joseph School cafeteria)..The Veterans Day storm (blew the neighbors lean-to roof into our pasture and demolished our storage shed)...We have thought many time that we might end up flying away with Dorothy and Toto, but so far we are still on Barton Heights...Hugs To All...OVAW:)

I think this was the Veteran's Day storm of 2007 and the storage shed.

Spring Days in February...51º

A warm wind and no rain early yesterday morning, gave Herb time to give our lawn one last mowing and also gather some leaves (chopped through the mower) to use as mulch in the vegetable garden...We would love more chopped leaves but it is iffy with rain and wind in the forecast for the next week...Will have to be satisfied with what we get.

Our apples from Imnaha arrived yesterday...Three 40# boxes (one for a friend) of Cameos', A newer variety, good keepers, sweet and juicy...We keep them in "cold storage", a small insulated garage...If temps get below freezing and stay there for several days later in the winter, we move them to our basement...Our chore for this week is peeling, slicing and drying this years garlic, our house will smell wonderful, but not as good as bread baking day!

Today I'm posting photos' from last spring, most of them you have already seen, but I'm having trouble loading new photos from phone to computer...Hoping to get that figured out in a few days...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...A warm, sunny day in February 2021, Pam joined us for a visit to the "Funny Farm," owned by our friends Tim and Debbie...Goats and Llamas were very friendly on this day...Days like this make winter go faster.

Baby Goats

Ready to Cuddle

So soft and sweet smelling.

Llamas on alert.

Herb and his friend Macho

Pam with a newborn.

Changing Weather...58º Balmy

 An unusual overnight temperature in the high 50's, with rain and cooling in the forecast...Our maple leaves are turning fast to all shades of gold and yellow...We are hoping to rake them up and then run through the lawn mower, then put on the garden for winter mulch...I'm afraid the rain and wind will come and the leaves will be blown away!..Not much we can do about that.

Wednesday found Pam and I on our way to LaGrande for shopping and my doctors' appointment...A sort of leisurely day and Chinese food for lunch...Yesterday we did water therapy and quietly celebrated my birthday, no cake and candles, didn't want to burn the house down with all those candles...LOL...I got many "Happy Birthday Wishes" and that  made it a great day.

Another summer event was a few days in July when Pat and Brian arrived to visit Wallowa County...We spent time visiting, eating and reminiscing about life when they lived here...The days flew by and soon they were back in Maryland, where we keep in touch with text messages and FaceTime...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...Appetizers from this summer, when I got kind of creative.

Off and Running...53º

 A busy day today, so a quick blog with photos of spring/summer activities...We don't have to work at keeping active, just follow our noses and keep moving.

Spring brings flowers and animals to the forefront, with a trip to "Gilberts Funny Farm" to see the llamas and baby goats...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Baby Goats

First bouquet of daffodils

Herb and his favorite llama, Macho

Spring day in Imnaha 

Babyhood to Teacher...31º

I'm sure most of my readers have heard me mention Cienna a few times over the years, she is our only Grandchild and we are so proud and love her very much!...A few random photos capture moments of her life...

Cienna as a baby, then a swimmer.

Learning to ride a bike.

Lover of all animals.

She learned to fly in Thailand

Came home from Thailand to find a boyfriend.

Now she is Miss Wall to 22 students.

When Cienna returned from her Rotary exchange in Thailand, she enrolled in her junior year in high school and her freshman year in college...Two years later she graduated from high school and Junior college, and now has graduated from OSU to become a full fledged elementary teacher.

 She worked the month of July, teaching/socializing 2nd graders, getting them prepared for in person learning in September...In September she started as a substitute in the Beaverton School District, teaching 3rd graders, while their "real" teacher is on maternity leave...Her lifelong dream is to teach English as a second language in foreign countries...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

PS...I tried to get the photos in order but I have a lot to relearn, after 5 months off...😀

Oma Returns...38º

 I'm not exactly sure when my "blog world" turned upside down, but it was either November or December of 2020...For some unknown reason I couldn't sign into the page, where a draft is typed...After writing there for almost 10 years, I was locked out...I finally figured out that I could type and post a blog on my phone, but that was very tedious, and it was impossible to add photos...So for 5 months I wrote my daily blathering in "notes," then copied and pasted it into the page on my iPhone...It worked but I still couldn't do photos and it was very frustrating, as it would leave out words, or sentences, leaving me wanting to scream...Finally I just stopped writing and made promises that I would start again soon.

Five months later I had finally made up my mind to start a new blog and go from there...The perfect opportunity happened this week...Bobi was coming to spend quality time with Herb and I was supposed to go on my annual hot springs trip to McCall..The trip got canceled, Bobi still came and we had several days to enjoy a visit with her...She mentioned several times, "Mom we have to see if we can fix your blog or start a new one," and we finally did."..After about an hour of intense frustration, she finally figured out, by comparing the iPhone blog to the computer blog, that the wrong address had gotten put in the computer blog, so my password no longer worked to let me in...We will never know how or why this happened but it is now fixed and I better start writing or i'm going to be in big trouble with our daughter.

                                                                                            

Some of the highlights of the past 5 months are: Rusty came for a visit in May, bought a house, 6 miles away from us in Enterprise and plans to move back to Wallowa County, maybe next year...In the meantime, he must sell everything in Bend, paint and repair things on the Enterprise house and continue with his job as a butcher/sausage maker.

Our granddaughter Cienna graduated from Oregon State University, in June, with honors and degrees in Elementary Education and Sociology...She is a delightful young lady and we are so proud of her!

                                                                                      

Life goes on for Herb and I, here on Barton Heights...It was an unusually hot and dry summer, so our days were spent, working outside in the early morning and shading up for the rest of the day..Our gardens struggled, while we worked hard to keep them watered.

                                                               

Bobi, Cienna and Rusty all came for a visit in early August...We BBQed, spent time at the lake, and tried to stay cool, as the hot, dry days continued.

I will stop here, and for the next couple of months will add more details to our summer highlights...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

testing blog

 This is a test of the emergency blog system. This is only a test..........

hugs