Our Weeds...oops, I mean Garden

We have been very blessed here in Bishop. Some members at church have given us a sizable plot in an acre lot that they own for us to garden. They garden for the farmer's market.

It is so much fun to start the garden...and then, reality hits...nothing grows, the birds eat your little green plants you were so excited for, the weeds are bigger than any of the plants, and in our case you have a very nice vole family living under your garden.

So, we have been working hard over there, things are starting to grow a bit and it is good exercise. Abel and I usually bike over there (about 4 miles round trip) once a day to water and weed.
We have carrots, beets (6 of them have decided to grow:), kolorabi, cabbage, onions, beans, dry black beans and dry yellow beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, watermelons, and pumpkins.

Taken about 2 weeks ago, you can see our dried beans to the far left are doing really well! The spot to the far right is where we have planted beets...2 times! Only 6 of them made it:)

Two weeks ago

It is starting to pick up a bit with the warmer weather sticking around. Abel has the most fun walking in the creek that runs through it and playing in the mud with his trucks. He also is quite good at watering (aka drowning) the plants.


For better or worse, it is a good experiment and we will try again next year:)

P.S. Since I wrote this things have been going MUCH better:) We are getting some tint on our tomatoes, we have had about 10 beans(!) and the corn is getting bigger every minute...I will put some updated pictures on soon.

Wooding

Wooding...something they do down here in Cali. Never hear of it? Me either!
It is a lot of fun though. Chainsaws, hatchets, outdoors, wood...fun stuff!

When we got here in Nov. we found that we had a wood stove in our home. We used it all winter for our heat and we loved it! One of the members of our church supplied us with almost 3 cords of wood last winter to get us started, so this year he took us wooding to repay him the 3 cords he gave us and also to get our own wood for this next winter. We have 4 cords that Samuel went and got and at least another cord and a half from a tree that we had taken down at the parsonage.

I was able to go once so far.

Dr. Gilliland and I marking to wood for cutting

Once I stopped being scared of the chainsaw it was exciting. It is hard work, but well worth it. A cord only costs $14. The member figured that he spends about $30 a month to heat his house in the winter...you can't beat that (esp. down here!).

Here is a picture of the 4 cords that Samuel got. It took them 7 hours to "wood" it all:). And it took Samuel and I about 4 hours to unload and stack it all.

As my Mom says, "Wood is great, it heats you twice!"

Off we go again...

This summer we also took a trip to MN. We drove there (about 32 hours of driving...). It took us about a day and a half of straight driving...not the most fun, but it beats 3 or 4 days in the car!
Abel did an amazing job. We borrowed a DVD player from some church members and that really did the trick.

We went to MN for the annual Synod Convention in Mankato. We first stopped off at the Bloedel's house (Abel and Simeon's godparents and good friends). We haven't seen them since last June and it was fun to catch up with them and relax after that loooong drive.Nick, Annie, Abel, Kelly Jo

Abel and Annie are about 6 weeks apart in age and got along really well! Abel is still talking about Annie.Abel and Annie before church in Scarville

We then drove up to Mankato for the convention. Abel sitting next to Great Grandma and Aunt Lois after the Opening Service

We stayed with our friends the MacPhersons. They hosted us last year and again we had a great time. Abel had friends to play with all day and I had a good friend to chat with! Not to mention the conversations/debates that take place after the kids are in bed!Price, Grace, Abel and Rose...kids are a bit wiggly!

This convention was rather big for our family. First, Samuel was accepted into the Synod as a Pastor (they let him in!!) :) Secondly, the first project from According to Your Word was published and distributed. It is a coloring book of Luther's Small Catechism. It takes a word or phrase of the primary text and illustrates it so that children can get a visual understanding of what the words mean. Many people were really excited about this project for their homes, churches, and schools. We are hoping that people continue to be excited for the projects that AtYW is planning to produce. Next year a coloring book of the Liturgy is slated to be available.

Samuel was able to do a presentation on the coloring book as well as introduce a chant tone for Luther's Evening Prayer written by Christina Harman (from BLC). We are hoping to have that available on the website soon (I will post it on here when it is ready).

We were able to spend some time with Samuel's Grandma.Great Grandma Gullixson and Abel

We also were invited over to Aunt Lois's house for a BBQ with more family.

Great Aunt Lois reading Abel a Curious George book that she got him

It was great to see everyone again. I think Abel enjoys the attention too:).

Our family with Great Grandma

After the convention we spent a week at Samuel's parent's house. We were able to visit with Samuel's two brothers and family. We spent one day at the Como Zoo. Grandpa and Grandma Gullixson with Abel at the zoo

Abel hasn't been to the zoo for a long time. I think he really enjoyed it! We did a bonfire, played lots of card games, and watched movies, it was relaxing.

We left on Wed. night and got home Fri. evening. We drove straight through again. Samuel was drinking coffee all night, but we got through it!

It was so nice to visit everyone, but we are glad to be back in our little town again! (Only takes 5 min. to get anywhere!!) Thanks to everyone who hosted us and saw us!

Mules, Death Valley and Trains

Between our two trips this summer we had the pleasure of hosting one of Samuel's friends from Highschool, John Danner. He stayed with us for about a week.

While he was here we made our first trip to Death Valley. It was a really fun trip (although both Abel and I got carsick on the way there...it isn't really a trip until some throws up, right?)

We first went to the Sand dunes. Abel was thrilled! This was the biggest sand box he had ever seen!Abel's sandbox!

We drove to Furnace Creek and ate lunch there. We then drove on the 20 Mule Team road (they used to use wagons pulled by 20 mules to haul borax out of Death Valley). We saw a 20 mule team in the "Mule Days" parade in town. It is an amazing feat to get 20 mules to turn!

We then drove to Scotty's Castle.

View from above where Scotty is buried (next to his beloved dog...)

The "castle" is very interesting. Apparently Walter Scott (Scotty) was scamming wealthy people to invest in his mine in Death Valley. Suspicions arose when people realized they were getting no return on their investments. Some of them decided to take a trip out to see the mine. Scotty heard of this plan and took some action. He didn't have a running mine (he used all the money given him to gamble and drink!) So, what did he do? He staged a hold up of the wagon carrying the men to the mine. When Scotty's brother was accidentally shot he called the whole thing off and confessed.
One man, Albert Johnson, had such a fun time playing "wild west" that he kept coming out to Death Valley and to visit Scotty. His health was improving drastically with each trip, so his wife also wanted to come. She insisted on a comfortable place for these trips. In 1922 construction began on the castle. They built it in a Spanish Colonial style. It was really something to see! They have all original furniture with most of it in the same place it was when the house was being used by the Johnson's.
The Johnson's and Scotty became such good friends that they built him his own little house on the property, he had his own dressing room in the main house and he was there all the time.
Word got out about this castle that people started going to see it. They hosted people for meals and sometimes even to spend the night. Scotty was such a dynamic man and storyteller that he took the spotlight (and the Johnson's were more than willing to let him have it). People came to know it as "Scotty's Castle".
The castle cost Johnson about 2 million (in the 20's!) to build. It never was finished.

We also went to the Laws Train Museum just outside of Bishop. They have made a little town there with buildings and items from the area that weren't being used anymore. Abel really enjoys it because you can go in the big train and ring the bell!

In Engine #9

Abel and John

Samuel and John also went to see the Bristlecone pines (Abel and I had enough of curvy roads!). These are some of the oldest trees in the world. One of them is called the Methusala tree and is about 4300 years old! We tried to get there on Sunday with a map from the computer. We ended up turning back because of a very deep hole in the road. We later found out that basically only four wheelers can go up that way! Our little car would never have made it...

Also during John's time with us we went to our first ever "Mule Days" where Bishop celebrates the contributions mules have had in this area in the past. As I mentioned before they were used in Death Valley to carry the borax out. One of our members has two mules and a wagon, he helps out at Mule Days every year. They have a rodeo of sorts, but it was a lot more fun than any rodeo I have ever been to.

We had a great time with John (hopefully he feels the same way!!). It was nice to have an excuse to go explore the area more. We are hoping to get up to Yosemite this summer (only about an hour away!) and some more of the sights. Hopefully (hint hint) we will have some visitors soon to go look at more sights with!!

Better late then never!

I thought I would show some pictures from our trip in May of this year to OR/WA.

On our trip...this would be the first part of our trip with lots of smiles...:)

Our first stop was with my cousin and his family and my aunt and uncle in OR. We drove 13+ hours there on Sunday (got in about 1:30 on Mon. morning). The kids had a great time together!


On Tue. we went up for a Pastoral Convention and Conference in the Tacoma area. We stayed with a Pastor and his family up there that we are friends with.
We also were able to see Samuel's sister and her family and cousin and some great aunts. (Hopefully I will get a picture to put up here soon.) Abel enjoyed seeing his cousin Lilly again!

We then went to my Mom's for a week and were able to see family and friends there. Samuel preached at Bethany, The Dalles and Concordia, Hood River where he did his vicarage.Abel with Great Grandma Dorothy and Great Grandpa Norman

Mother's day was the 10th. We went to visit Simeon's grave for the first time since we left Oregon.


It was also Simeon's 1st birthday on the 11th of May. It was a blessing to be able to celebrate his birthday with family and also to be able to go to his grave that day.

Grandma Beda, Great Grandpa Coolidge, Abel, Great Grandma Coolidge, Anna

We had a wonderful trip and I am hoping that Abel and I can make the trip again sometime this fall!

Trying Again...

Well, I started this blog in February...that didn't go so well. I obviously didn't tell anyone about it (which may have been a big part of the downfall...) but I have decided to try it again (and tell people about it!).

Our biggest news is that we just got back from a 2 week trip to Minnesota. We left on a Thurs morning at 8 and arrived at our destination on Friday at 6 pm. It was a loooong drive! We feel very blessed that we were able to attend the annual ELS Convention in Mankato and also that we were able to see so many friends and family. We stayed with Abel's godparents, friends from college in Mankato, and also with Samuel's parents. We have decided that next time we will certainly take our time and do a little site seeing on our way instead of driving straight through. We did get to see wild horses and a LOT of beautiful mountains this time and we drove through 3 states I had never been to before!

Our house is still standing after two weeks of being gone. We have many more weeds and our lawn is a little brown, but none the worse for wear! I can't say our garden is exactly thriving, but we have eaten an onion and a few peas from it...We have had some weather problems and pest problems that have made this garden more work than we thought it would be! It is fun work though and we enjoy the opportunity to work outside. Abel and I have been going in the mornings to water and weed. I should rephrase that...I go to water and weed, Abel goes to play in the water and get muddy.:)

Now that summer is officially here it is HOT! It is over 100 today and supposed to be in the low 100's to high 90's this week. I know what you midwesterners are thinking..."It's not bad, it's a dry heat." HA! It is still hot:). I do appreciate it though because I can do more laundry because it dries after about a 1/2 hour!

Our dear Abel is over 2 1/2 now. He tries our patience more now than ever, but is also more fun to be around then ever! He actually will converse and is a good helper when he wants to be. I am reading a book called "Raising Godly Tomatoes". It is a wonderful and practical perspective on Christian parenting. Abel is still a green little tomato, but we are hoping to ripen him up soon!

Samuel is still working hard at the church and is also working on the organization called According to Your Word (I will write a separate post about that). The church is happy to have us back after 2 weeks away and we are certainly happy to be back too.

Well, until I write again (hopefully?? :) !!