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.