Catch up.

My new Job is very demanding and along with the commute is taking a lot of my time. Also as the weather is cool and rainy there is not as much to do that is noteworthy. This week I am just making some retroactive comments and some things that have happened during the month. The coolest thin that happened, OCT 13 (I've got pics) is that noticing that there was to be a break in the weather, arranged to have my Bros Riley and Micah come over and we went for an overnite backpacking trip in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to a lake named Lake Dorothy. After a month of cool and rainy this 65 degree weekend seemed like heaven. Indeed I hope heaven looks something like this. The fall colors were pretty awesome and of course it always feels good to have warm sun shining on your face while a cool breeze is blowing. It was about 4 miles to the camp at the far end of the lake. On the way to the camp we found several big thickets of Huckleberries (Wild Blueberries) so we spent some time munching down on them. We could've eaten them all afternoon, but we needed to get to camp and set up before nightfall. (Next time we do this hike (we are hoping to make it an annual event) we are going to bring pancake mix and have wild blueberry pancakes in the morning!) We got to camp, explored a bit, got the tent up, found a nice, high limb to tie our food up in to keep it away from the bears, and made a good diner with our backpacking stoves (No fires allowed) Just as we finished dinner it was dark, and I mean dark. Since there was nothing to do outside but freeze we hopped into the tent and yaked a while. I was exhausted from a long week of work so I didn't last long and by 8:30 ,was out. That night was cold. I was OK in my 20 degree bag, but was just cold enough to be uncomfortable. I even had all my clothes on and a heating pack too. What I lost in quality of sleep I made up in quantity, I slept for 12 hours which is more tan i have slept in several years. The next morning was gorgeous. We just stood on this log at the edge of the lake and watched the sun come up and the mist float across the lake. I could have stayed there the entire day, but we had to pack up camp and get back down. Next summer I am going to take Lyn and the kids up there and we are going to stay for several days. There were some nice shallow areas of the lake that would be great for swimming in, in August. We had a great time and think that we got to know each other better as Bros and hopefully formed a tighter bond. In my Sunday School lesson today we were talking about the purposes of life. One of them was to form solid family bonds. If through Christ we live for eternity, who else would you want to spend it with? Maybe if heaven looked like Lake Dorothy and we can be together as family forever, Maybe forming solid HIKING bonds is a good step...
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When Riley and Micah were here the night before the hike they helped me purchase my new, old refrigerator. It is to the best of my deducing a 1949 GM Frigidaire. (see pics)
It is in pristine condition. It looks as if it rolled of the assembly line a year ago. What a beaut!
We absolutely love the Art-deco styling of Mid-century design. It is quite the addition to our pearlescent turquoise kitchen. Every time I see it I just fall in love with it allover again. Now if I could just get it to run correctly...
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On the family front, we are all doing well. The kids are healthy. Lyn is keeping sane (relatively). And I am enjoying the creativity of being a designer. Henry is his usual sensitive and caring and imaginative self like usual. He is the joy of my life. Fern has been walking for about 2 weeks now, and it is very cute to see her waddling around everywhere. Right now she has FOUR molars coming in. I have to say she is NOT gracious when it comes to pain. Her already sassy/spunky attitude really gets magnified. It is hard to deal with sometimes, but hey whatyado?
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As and update to the family gift exchange: We will still be doing it, but IF you feel specially inclined to give someone else besides, in addition to, your chosen person, you may give them a gift too. Just don't feel obligated to. and don't feel entitled to a gift from everyone. We are doing gift EXCHANGE.