March 2009

Diane has been busy organizing how to rotate the 3 month supply and have it easy to access. I decided to change the coat closet into a pantry as well as the linnen closet. So we put shelves in and one holds the 14 recepies of breakfast and the other has the dinner supplies. I have the recipe with the food for each meal grouped together. It has been nice to find things. I have been teaching food storage classes again and wanted to make it easy to follow the prophets advice to have a 3 month supply of food that we use and rotate it.

Jared, Danell, Hannah, Ammon, and Debra came to live at our house this month. They are doing very well and we love having them here. Hannah likes to swing and slide down the two slides. She has helped Grandpa plant garden, and water the plants. She just goes outside by herself lots of times and swings and swings.

Hannah loves to sing and is very good playing with Ammon and loves kissing Debra who smiles at her. We are not sure if she recognizes her or if her hair tickles Debra's face when she kisses her.

Jonathan these kids are so glad that you spent so many days putting together this swing and slide project. Dad said he would not have been able to get it done. The rope latter on the back side was rotting so Dad and Jared had to buy new nylon rope and rungs and but it together.

Jared has been hunting for a job and went to COS and took the placement test and saw and counselor and got two years of school outlined with the classes he needs. I am sure glad he has decided to go back to school and get an education.

Danell has been accepted to sing with the group called Harmoney in Kingsburg so every Thursday they go to Selma and sing and the kids play with the other children there. She has a nice voice and enjoys this. Then they go to her parents and play with cousins for a few hours.

Diane is busy working on her two on line classes and Clifford is trying to learn how electric things work. He made his first little tooth brush robot and the kids watched it walk around a piece of paper. Pretty impressive.

Debra has really grown and now weighs 10 pounds and is 20 inches long. I think everyone that comes to live at our house get round cheeks.

Great Grandma Bunny made each of the children a quilt. Just like all of the family and Hannah want to show Grandma that she is using it on her bed.

February Activities

February has been pretty busy. Clifford has been getting the garden ready to plant the last week. We did some "No Till Gardening" beds and cleaned out the original tires. This is along the back of the house and we are planting tomato plants here. We can run them up on strings to the eves. We will do some Roma also.
Then planted some seeds in the house. Maybe we started those bush beans a little too soon they are already about 2 feet tall. We have small corn shoots in the kitchen and then in the living room. I am excited to do more gardening this summer because food and gas prices are going up again.

Today is February 15th and Clifford set all these little plants outside today so I pray we do not get a frost tomorrow morning. Some of you are saying it is a little early for this but we can hit 100 degrees by May or June at the latest so we have to plant early.










We asked Victor and Elaine Howell if we could plant corn at their home because they have more sun in their back yard and have a large garden area. They wanted to do some raised beds or truck tires so we helped them bring two tires to their yard and got them cleaned and set up. Then cleaned the garden spot and are ready to plant some corn and watermelon, squash, and large things at their home. We will share lettuce and tomatoes from our house.
















Ricky Johnson, has a walnut orchard and a small farm so they brought us over about 40 pounds of walnuts and some goose eggs and 2 dozen hen eggs. He had a dark variety of walnuts and the market has really dropped so they did not pick and take to the commercial companies. We were blessed. Wow!
We had scrambled eggs and pancakes and last years cherries for breakfast with the missionaries. Clifford has been spending many hours cracking walnuts and putting them in freezer bags. We are working on that next years supply.

Thank you all for the calls and "Birthday" wishes. Lily and Kate sent a wonderful picture and called to tell me about Valentine Day also Eve. It is fun to hear from these little ones and their parents. Sometimes I have a hard time understanding what they are saying but their cute little voices are music to the ears. We love you all.

2008 Christmas in Oregon

December 20, 2008

Clifford and I got up and left for Oregon to visit Duane and Leona Clatworthy for Christmas. The weather was in the 40's with roads clear and beautiful in California. We knew a winter storm was coming to Oregon and thought if we could get through the 3 high passes before it hit we would be fine. It is a 14 hour drive and by 7:00 p.m. we were in Salem Oregon. The roads had been clear all the way over the passes but it was cold and starting to snow. Yeah! not much further to go.

At Salem, It started raining and freezing ice on the roads and car windows. We had so much slush we had to stop and put on chains. We drove slowly and saw a sign that said Oregon City 9 miles but missed the turn because big trucks were off the road putting on chains for miles and miles.

I looked out the window and saw the Portland temple and knew we were too far. We took the next ramp off the freeway. The snow was about 7 inches by then and drifting and NO snow plows. We tried to go up a hill back onto the freeway to turn around but broke one of the chains on the tire. Now we were stuck in the snow so we had to call Dad. Jerry and Kevin, Dawn's husband and son, came in their 4 wheel drive truck with extra chains to help us get back to their house. We made it home by midnight. We really appreciate their time and effort. I kept thinking if we could find a motel for the night it would be better in the morning. But, good thing they took us home because it was much much worse the next morning.

December 21, 2008

Sunday Church was cancelled and no roads were open. Mom, teaches Gospel Doctrine so at 10:00 we had Sunday School together and talked about the gospel. Of course we played games and enjoyed the warm house and family. It snowed about 8 inches and then rained forming about a 1/2 inch layer of ice on everything. Then it snowed more so when you walked you hit the ice and would slide or break through the ice and it would cut into your legs.

Later in the day Mom took some lemons and oranges to the neighbors and walked with her cane so she would not fall. It had snowed 16 inches by that time. Oregon does not have many snow plows so they were not plowing the freeways or the side roads.

Monday December 22, 2008

Dad put chains on his truck and went to the store for us and may other people. Many areas were without electricity because of the ice storm that came during the night. Dawn had tree limbs falling in her yard and Dad and Clifford went to the shed to make sure the 4 generators were working just in case. Dawn came over because she could not go to work and the people that were at work were having to stay. Mom put on a quilt for one of the granddaughters and we visited and quilted.

Clifford had to get into the car for his medicine and He swept the snow off the car, broke through the layer of ice then swept the next layer of snow off the car and then took his can opener on his Swiss Army Knife and cut the ice out of the slit between the door and the metal frame. We laughed because he had to use his can opener to get into the car. It snowed all day and night.

Tuesday, December 24, 2008

Dad got out the tractor and started clearing our driveway so that we could get out if needed. He worked at it all day and it was still snowing (this picture is two days later and he is clearing the drive way again) He went out to water and feed the 2 cows and work around. At about 4:00 Tuesday our electricity went out and 2 hours later Dad decided he better hook up the generator to the house so we had heat and the fridge and water pipes would be ok. We stayed up until 12:00 p.m. to see if we needed to put more gas in the generator but it ran for a long time on a gallon. Another big storm is suppose to hit the area on Christmas.

Wednesday, December 25, 2008

Dawn, Jerry, Neal, Page, Tyler Clifford, Diane, Mom, Dad came to Mom and Dad's for dinner. We also invited the neighbors because they did not have food and were cold and hungry when the electricity went out. Of course this brought on a discussion about preparedness and food storage and the church. Dad had cleared their drive and 4 other people on the block the day before. I was so grateful for the example of Mom and Dad in helping others around them and it was something they do all the time not just in an emergency. It made me think of the teachings of the Savior and I was so thankful for them.

Grandpa Duane and Page Neal, Dawn, Bunny playing games