Camping is over!! Now I am sunburnt and tired, not to mention DIRTY!

We had a wonderful time camping and saying good bye to Tom Archibald (dad). We let 77 red, heart shaped balloons go by the lake into the air. Probably illegal or at least not environmentally friendly, but it was neat to see. We had a slide show (modern version) of dad from his first days to his last. We had fun laughing and visiting with friends and family. It was so good to see people who were so much a part of lives when dad was alive, and hopefully will remain a part of our lives. I feel so tired and my skin hurts, Kenzie, Chris, Mom and I are going to go to dinner and a movie now to cool off and unwind. My kids and grandson are now gone...mom doesn't need to go to work until 9 tonight so we are just going to go chill... Talk to you later. Love Cathy Jo

Camping in Bend? I left God's country to come here to go camping???

As I was driving across the bridge near my home, heading to Bend, I glanced sideways to see my favorite view...the Clark Fork River. If I had a camera I would spend one year taking a picture each day. The view changes so dramatically from day to day. It is always beautiful. Impossible to describe. Anyway, as I was crossing the bridge I thought "I am leaving God's country to drive over 400 miles to go camping?" How strange... Of course I would not miss this weekend camping trip for anything, as we are getting together to remember my dad. It's just too bad that everyone could not come north to my little piece of the world. It is so beautiful there. From the time I moved north I thought that someday my dad would move north too. He really loved it there, and he was only there once. He would have loved the wildness...the wild animals. I passed a moose on my way from Clark Fork to Sandpoint. It was just standing next to the river taking a drink. You never know what you will see when driving in that country. The only thing I have not seen while driving is a bear. Of course, I did walk near one (story in a previous post) and I have learned that there is a grizzly bear within about 5-10 miles of my home. Only one as far as the forest service knows. It has a homing (GPS) device around it's neck, so they can keep tabs on where it is. There are lots of black bears around my area though. I have not seen my "Yogi" bear this year yet. He may have decided that I have too many dogs now [one chihuahua and one labX]. The only animals I have had any problems with this spring is a skunk and voles!! None of my irises came up this spring...I guess the voles ate them all. They have gotten into my potatoes also. They have not touched the rhubarb yet. My raspberries and strawberries did not hold well over the winter and are all dead now. I will need to go dig up more at Jen's house. Her strawberries are a foot tall and covered with buds and berries already. I told her that I will come thin them out when I get back. Poor girl she is so pregnant that she can not even bend over to pick berries. But that what she has all those kids for, right? The wild raspberries are also covered with flowers. We have had so much rain this spring that all the berries will be huge and juicy, even the wild blackberries, the elderberries, and the huckleberries. There are also blueberries that grow around there not to mention some types of berries that I do not know a name for. My garden is so behind everyone else's. I was working when I should have been planting and then it rained so much that I postoned going outside to plant. I am planting when everyone else's plants are a foot tall. Now I am out of town for a week and a half and getting further behind. I am just hoping that since the spring was so late, maybe the fall will come late also. Anyway, I am now in Bend. It is Thursday and I will be going out to the campgrounds today to get set up and to hold campsites for those who will follow. We need to go shopping this morning for food (and a fishing license for Tre and me). While I am waiting for my turn in the shower I thought that I would just get online for a few minutes. Hope to see someone of you here this weekend. We will be at sheepbridge campground. The directions can be found on facebook on the site "Thomas Archibald Memorial". Just put this into the search box and it will come up on a list of sites. It is easy to find the campground with directions. Got to go get my shower and get moving, time is a wast'in.

This and That: Random Thoughts.

This and That: Random Thoughts.

Random Thoughts.

Hi friends/family, I have been spending the evening on facebook and blogsites, catching up on the last few weeks of information. For awhile I hadthree jobs, but now I am back to barely working again. The Census job is over, my new nursing job has only been 8 hrs the last two weeks (that is 8 hrs total for the two weeks) because the number of patients has declined. I am scheduled to work everyday this next week but if the census stays low I will be called off. I have only worked at the restaurant in Clark Fork once last week and tomorrow will be twice this week. We have moved into a bigger and nicer building because the restaurant business is really growing!! I will not work next week because of the nursing job and the following week because I will be in Oregon... Then on Friday of next week (not the Friday coming up in two days) I will be leaving from work and going directly to Oregon for my dad's memorial campout celebration. I will be visiting my family in Bend that week, then back home to get back to work. I need to arrange for my animals to be cared for while I am gone. I still have a goat, 15 chickens, and 6 rabbits. I also have my garden planted and it will need to be watered (if it stops raining). I will bring my dogs with me and leave the cat in the house with plenty of food and water. Oh, I will need to get a litter box for her also! Right now she just scratches the door to be let in or out. I like that better than a litter box to clean!! It has taken me awhile to get past the denial phase of greiving for my dad. I am now at the weepy stage. Everything seems to remind me of him and that he is not around for me to talk to or see. Everyone of the hospice patients at work seems to remind me of him. I come close to crying everytime one of them dies. Not real professional at work but what can ya do? I am looking forward to my trip to Oregon. I will see my brother Tom for the first time since a year ago, Christmas 2008. I will also see many old friends, like the Corkums, who I have not seen in years. Also some family that I have not seen in ages either. Many cousins! My kids also, except for Jennifer who will probably have her baby while I am out of town. Jen is having her baby at home with a midwife this time. This is her fourth girl. She has just turned 30 and has always said she wanted to have her last baby by 30 so she could still be young enough to enjoy life after they are all grown. So needless to say this will be the last (unless God decides otherwise!LOL). She wants the baby to come tomorrow because that fits her schedule the best...haha. Sure Jen. Her actual due date is July 3rd. Her other three have all been on-time or late, good luck on that Jen. Jennifer (Fern) is my baby and she just turned 30! Boy am I getting old. Ad today I feel like it. I worked in the garden yesterday, all day, and today I feel it in every joint and muscle. It felt so good to be outside in the sun yesterday. Of course the sun never stays long in this area. It was overcast and rainy all day but the transplants loved it. They are looking good today, thankfully. I should go to bed since I have things to do tomorrow and I can't be sleeping in. 11:30 pm is about my latest I can stay up and function tomorrow. Good night all.