looking for a babysitter on Nov. 11th early in the morning...7:30

Brian is elk hunting- and I would like to chaperone a field trip to Seattle- to see the “Bodies” exhibit- yes cadavers- 21 in total- supposed to be quite an exhibit at the Pacific Science Center….so- let me know if any aunts/uncles or grandma/pas are available to watch the girls.  We originally scheduled for Friday- but that’s a holiday which means we have to pay double for our bus driver costs- so it got moved today- to Saturday.

news from Delaware

I have enjoyed keeping up with all you so I will catch you up with my life.

Bob had back surgery in August and then, ten days later, played tennis and aggrevated the nerve. (He may be a college professor but he's obviously not too swift, huh?) He is much better now and played tennis last Sunday without any bad results. I think he is on the mend.

I am enjoying the weight training class I started with I got home from Oregon. I am developing very strong muscles and dense bones. Thank God all the ladies in the class are my age. I am slowly increasing the amount of weight I can lift - only up to 30 pounds with 15 reps but I will get better as I work it. I have dropped a clothing size but not lost one ounce. The trainer says that muscles weigh more than fat and I should be patient. I sure would like to see that needle on the scale go down.

It is fall in Delaware - warm days and cool nights. Lots and lots of people decorate for Halloween so it is very festive. Happy Halloween to all of you.

Joanne

Finally sun

The clouds have parted and I am sitting outside my hotel room typing in the sun. Things are starting to wrap up here with just two more days before I get to go home. I am almost not excited to get home because of the large amount of work I will have to catch up on when I get back. But I miss my hubby and my bed and could handle a dip in the hottub. I am going to splurg (diet wise) and get a big fat juicy bacon, mushroom cheeseburger with onion rings at the Rusty Skillet tonight. What could be better than that? It is kind of funny but when I call Greyson at night all I have to talk about is what I ate for dinner. That and the weather is the only thing that really changes for me out here.

That is it for me. How about the rest of you?
Dad?
Mom?
Traci and the Porters?
Grandmas?
Aunts?
.....

DEan family update

Ok- my intruder (Greyson) was great.  My students were surprised- and complaining ‘that’s not right’- so I had to remind them a murder isn’t planned for an eye witness..it just happens.  They will be turning in sketches and info on him on Monday. Today is homecoming so our school is a little crazy right now.  I’m a little worn out- I’ve had a parent come up to me right after our last two volleyball games and just lecture me about some complaint or another- one parent it was about her daughter’s playing time, and last night it was because I let them out of practice early to go to a meeting….its been a little frustrating- and I was tired, stressed and that was the last straw last night- I had to make a quick exit outdoors as the tears flooded out.  My girls have lost only one game this entire season- and I was up on this great feeling that I’d gotten all 13 girls into each of the three matches- and all with about equal playing time- and we were still able to win all three games…then to just still have complaints.  Its very trying.  I need a weekend!  Well the bell is about to ring- and I need to mark tardies.  Everyone have a great Friday!

sloshing through the rain

Well today was a wet one here in the forest. We had beautiful weather last week and made me forget that this was Oregon. But working out in the rain all day today snapped me back into reality. Things are going well here in McKenzie Bridge. The fish are swimming and work is good overall. The hotel is decent and there are actually a few restaurants out here with good food. I ordered a pizza to go tonight so I could get some work done. I have a class I am taking, or missing I should say. So I am trying to make up all my work in the evening after 12 hours of work. It isn't going so great so I am a little stressed out. My latest assignment was to work with this data off the internet. When I went to download it they wanted $400. I sent a "what's up" email to my teacher with him responding that the data is free, if you download it from a university. Well that doesn't do me a whole heck of a lot of good out here in nowhere now does it. And I made a special trip in to see him before I left to make sure all my bases were covered.

I don't have much time for writing but I do enjoy reading the blog quickly each night when I get in from work. -Mel

Raleigh's passage

Friday the 13th was a very sad day for the Manger family. Our sweet golden retriever helped his human family make the worst decision a pet owner has to do. We agonized about how he was doing, knowing full well that the end was drawing near. Our wonderful friend was 13 yrs old and not doing well. He had two very serious bouts with dehydration and abnormal liver labs. Appeared to rebound and gave us another 4 months together.

Then 2 wks ago, Raleigh stopped eating and drinking. Phil worked full time giving ice cubes, every possible type of dog food and human food to entice him to eat. We gave him 10-15 pills a day of antibiotics, narcotics to relieve any pain and natural drugs to heal his liver, etc. etc. One day would be good, with him gobbling up some very expensive meat balls, and the next barely raising his head from the floor. But always, always, doing his best to do what we wanted. Would try to stand up with the back legs sliding out from in front of him. Then just staying there waiting for us to put our arms under his back legs and raise him up. Would do pretty good then... would walk crookedly outside to do his duty. Wore a diaper with great dignity at night and never complained.

But friday was the day the vet put it all together. Even with all the love we could give him, he was dehydrating again, his tongue dry and heart beat rapid. He had lost more weight and was boney, but beautiful. So Phil and I made the sad decision ; Stephanie aware of it all and kept connected by phone calls; and said her good byes . Grandma came over and shared some time with Raleigh, too. He was pampered and pet, and brushed.. after all, he needed to be the best dog he could be. He always was.

Michelle and Christopher went with us..... and we came home without our Raleigh. I must say our vet was absolutely the most incredibly compassionate professional I have every met. She felt it was a priviledge to help with the passage of such a loved friend and guided us all the way.Helped us to know he was aware we were there, that he could hear us, and feel us.. And I guess in the end, it is all anyone could ask for when their lifecycle ends.

I hope this wasn't too long and sad, but just had to share .
Love, aunt chris

oh yeah

I got a job offer for part-time work, but it had a funny title to it, and paid too little. I gave them a counter, asking them to pay me more, change my title to "graphic designer", allow me to work one day a week at home, and buy a macintosh. They didn't go for it. It wasn't THAT demanding.

update for whatever

I've been caught up in a whirlwind of activity. It's what I wanted and it is what has happened. I've always been fortunate in that I get what I want in life I suppose. I wanted to design from my laptop in a coffee shop (or wherever) and I'm doing it. I wanted to take part in giving a certaing visual quality to stevenson and help it grow, and that is happening too.

About 5 weeks ago, I finally met this guy (john) in Stevenson that I'd been emailing with periodically, and we had a certain degree of musicianship in common. So we got together an played one evening. John is involved with business development, and he introduced me to another guy (Joe) who owns the two most successful restaurants here and is also an active member of the chamber of commerce and business development.

These two are great, and because of them I have enough work to keep me busy for quite some time. So I've been attending business meetings and really trying to make myself known in the community. All of these guys show up in a little homemade venue to play music each weekend, and I'm there. They appreciate a new drummer in town I think, and I am extremely grateful that I stuck with drumming. I went to locals night last night at the "walking man" and everyone was there, joe and john included. I also went to an internet security lecture last night, and learned about problems that are not really mine (macintosh). Joe was there also. I offered to do some legwork and writing in a "no whistle policy" for a local hotel owner, where the trains won't be allowed to toot their horns at 2:00 am, so maybe he'll give me some business down the road. I sent off a proposal today that should be approved for an interactive map of stevenson. I billed Joe because I'm at a halfway point on the first restaurant site. And I finally have a breather after a flurry of proposal writing and design work. It's a beautiful chilly day in Stevenson and I'm writing from Bahma with their refreshingly fast internet connection on my laptop. I'm learning how to create wireframes for the purpose of web design functional specs and estimating programming requirements, and I'm learning to write propsals to incorporate those estimates. I guess that's about it. I'll sip from this cup as long as it's in front of me. For fun, I'm learning guitar and I have been inline skating along the columbia river too. For a while there, I was getting way too into my TV shows, but I only allow an hour a day now. Things have since become a blur.

That's my update. It's a little dry, but I'm fried today, and all of this stuff has been the ONLY thing on my mind.

Michelle and Raleigh

Hi everyone,

Well ,Stephanie is 13-14 weeks pregnant and feeling great; no nausea or wierd cravings, yet. She and Nate are checking out daycare and baby furniture. Wish we lived closer so we could be a bigger part of their lives, but will just have to do so long distance.

Mom/ Grandma had a good time at the casinos, but couldn't win a thing. She moved into her new apartment last week-end and I'll have to send some pictures. She is on the third floor in a building with an elevator. It is a two bedroom, two bath but the living room is smaller than then her other one. So figuring out what to do with her furniture was a challenge. But what a view!!! She faces the new outdoor mall, swimming pool at the rental complex and all of Simi Valley. Here best part is being able to leave the bedroom windows open... hasn't been able to do that she she left Vancouver. Hope she meets more friends.. Her bestfriend did not move and they aren't as close as before.

Our sweet golden retriever, Raleigh, is on his last legs. He was hospitalized in June with severe dehydration while we were in Chicago at the wedding. I had to fly out of New Orleans to get home to care for him. Now he's done it again.. Strange how illness creeps up on animals since they don't let on that they are sick. He's 13 yrs old ( 91 yrs in human time) and definitely showing his age. He just stopped eating and drinking; it was so gradual. Went into doggie ICU with IV's, medications and expensive medical care. He just came home and is doing better; but his back legs have neurological impairment . He can hardly hold himself up at times, and then later does fairly well. With these animals that are such a great part of our family, it is so hard to let them go. Keep hoping we will know the time comes to let go. Right now the veterinarian says it's not time;

Michelle is taking Raleigh's pictures and sending them to Stephanie via phone. It's amazing what these phones can do; it makes Stephanie feel like she's more involved.

Enough about us,
The next time Mom/ Grandma is over, I'll show her all your blog entries.

Love,
Chris

Dean's quick message to family

Greyson:  my lunch on Wednesday is from 10:35-11:05. 

Dad:  dogs are not allowed in the house or trailer without a bath first ( I will not be home to enforce this- but I’ve sent an email to my husband), apples sound great

Mel:  have fun with your salmon ballooning- take some digital pictures of the process and I’ll share them with my students….we could make up a power point and you could bring in some of the equipment you work with to show to the students.  I’m going to be in the ecology unit for another two to three weeks.

Traci:  great job with the creative writing, your use of the English language is impressive, keep it up- we still need to come visit and check out your hot tub

Mom:  do you have school on Friday? We actually have an inservice this year on diversity training

To all others…just ran out of time to personalize the rest of this message..bell rang.  Take care- have a great week.  

work trip

So I am off for two weeks to work down outside of Eugene at McKenzie Bridge. It is the same spot I spent during the 2 summers after graduation for fire fighting. I am excited to go back and see it all again. I know my crew boss still lives there so I plan to look him up.

My next cycle of shots starts next week. I hope everything goes better this time but I am not too optimistic.

Greyson has some friends over tonight. He made a huge batch of fried chicken and I made some brownies for desert. He has been busy putting together some proposals for work in the community. He has made some great contacts in the last month and it looks like some work is going to come through.

We are going down to Louisiana for Christmas. I just need to figure out the best time. Greyson Was suggesting the 19th-27th. So if you all have some time off after that, maybe we can get together for a weekend. Maybe the New Year? That leaves us home for Thanksgiving so I will plan on being at mom and dad's.

I finished Traci's book last week. I thought it was great and really is better than 80% of what I have read. It is kind of funny but I see parts of our family, especially her, in the characters she writes about. I need to send her an email with some details of my thoughts. Keep working Traci, others will find out how good it is too. We will see you on Oprah's bookclub some day.

The kittens are sleeping on my chest as I write this so I better say "goodnight". I don't know if I will have internet for the next two weeks so I might not be in contact much.

Melanie

maybe you can get our two wheeler jeep working

Mel seems quite handy- the two seater we purchased from Craig’s list is not working- maybe she can get it functioning for us.  We are going to buy new batteries- hopefully that will do the trick.  Now we are on a search for the boys- 4 wheelers that are gas powered. Fun. Fun.  Even with the fixes- much better deals than buying new. 

Craig's list purchase

Well my cooktop was down to just one burner that worked consistently. The others sometime went on when you wanted or not and sometime instead turned the fan on instead. And sometimes turning the fan on turned the burner on instead. I had looked into getting a new cooktop, but to replace a 36" electric, downdraft model it was $1500 for the cheapest one. So I started watching Craig's list about a month ago and yesterday I clicked on an add for a cooktop. And when the picture came up I was staring at a duplicate to the one I have. Why would I want what I already have? Because I know it will fit! And the wiring will be a snap. So I talked the guy down from $125 to $65 and have me a new, used, almost exactly the same cooktop, except hopefully this one won't have electrical problems that could burn the house down. Mine was about 25 years old and this "new" model is only about 10 years old. So anyway, I have some installation to do tonight and hopefully I can now cook more then one thing at a time now.

You can really find some good bargains on craigs list. I see ads for free plants (you dig) all the time, dad.

porters

We have Lucy. She is a good, little dog.

I've stained my fence- looks awesome. Scrubbed tile, bathrooms, and cleaned the living room carpet. My new novel is coming together although we had to go to Helix this weekend for Stan Flershinger's funeral. That was Tim's old basketball coach. The kids rode four wheelers at their Uncle Kevin's house. India straddled their pony and sat very still for awhile. Lucy smelled the rabbits and the horses and played quite well with their 3 dogs. She ran all over their farm until she wore herself out exploring barns and fields with tumbleweed and mice and all kinds of terrier thrills. The kids dote on her and call her their "princess" so I think she's got a good life. We were thinking Dad could show Lucy and then we could breed her when she's old enough and he could have first pick of the litter???

Tim is gone again tonight doing a presentation on buildings and facilities; the gist is that schools of our size have much nicer facilities and these buildings are key to growth in the community etc.

Tucker scored all three of his teams goals tonight. I like soccer much more than baseball, especially when you have an aggressive little guy running around out there.

I'm going to hot tub and then go to sleep. I'll try and be a more active blogger in the future. With all these shootings it's good I have a million dollar policy on Tim. Now is that million tax-free?


Traci

Dean family update

Well not to be outdone by Melanie and her pet pack…I was reading the paper and saw an Airedale mix for $50….so I thought if this puppy (10 mo.  In Battleground) looks like an Airedale I’m getting it…it might be the great-great-grandson of Rosie- the dog my parents made me give up as a child.  Well to make a long story short- he looks like an Airedale and has the personality of a Walker hound…extremely mellow.  I will send pictures soon.  He’s 95 pounds- and my husband thinks retarded.  I think he’s just houndlike- kind of bumps into you- puts his head and body into everything you’re trying to do.  Just a good family dog….didn’t attack the cats, got along with the dogs and Kalena running at him didn’t make him flinch or really react.    Mariah and Edmond have a blast playing- Brody plays less and less- so this is good for Mariah to get some energy out.  My vball girls got 2^nd of 16 teams in our tournament this Saturday.  Kalena had another accident- she was watching her dad drive into the driveway- and wasn’t watching where she was walking- fell right off the deck and onto her nose (on the cement) so scraped her nose up- looks pretty beat up.  We are hoping it doesn’t scar.  Well the bell is about to ring. 

Nothing up with the Rudd/Sharp's

So I really don't have much going on. The kittens are good. They can be extremely cute one moment and then extremely, persistently obnoxious the next. Work has been very, very slow. I basically haven't had anything to do for the last month but go to my office and try to stay busy. I do have a short, two week trip down outside of Eugene in just over a week. The one new thing is that I am taking another GIS class 2 nights a week at PSU. So that adds long commutes with added stress of crammed in homework. Missing two weeks of class at a time certainly doesn't help things.

I think I am ready for a whole new field of work. I just don't know what that is yet.

Greyson and I went rollerblading around North Bonneville today. The entire town has paths all throughout it. You just have to make sure to avoid the acorns and pinecones that can trip you up.

That is all I have to share.
Mel