MOUNTAIN TOP FIASCO

Today, my sister, her daughter Britta, my girls, and I all piled in the pickup to head up Mt. Emily for one last huckleberry picking expedition. We were happy to find a spot where the berries were huge and plentiful on both sides of the road. My sister and I headed up the steep incline on one side of the road, while Britta went down the gentle slope on the other side. The girls were content to just hang out by the pickup playing with sticks and rocks, etc. About 20 minutes in to picking, with about 1/3 of my gallon can filled, I hear Keanna cry out in pain. I stood up, turned around to see what was wrong when suddenly, her cry turned into an ear-piercing, blood-curdling scream that made me kick my descent into high gear. At this point, Kamille commences to screaming right along with her little sister.

My heart was in my throat when I finally see the girls because Keanna has blood POURING out of the top of her head, running down her face, down her ear into a large puddle forming in the neck of her sweatshirt. At this point, my feet find a huge hole camoflaged by leaves and bushes. After promptly spilling my huckleberries, I land on my backside and begin to tumble 2 or 3 times down the rest of the hill. My sister and I reach my girls at about the same time and all I can see is blood, blood and more blood. I grab my daughter, throw a wet rag and ice from somebody's drink on the spot I "think" the blood is coming from and jump into my sister's pickup. Let's just say we didn't waste any time getting down from the top of the mountain and into the parking lot of the hospital. After all the fear, the prayers that my daughter would be ok, keeping her talking and not going into shock, and the crazy driving, we get into the ER. This is where we discover that head wounds really do bleed bad and look worse than it really is. This is ALSO where we discover what happened to cause all this ruckus. Kamille took a notion to pick up a large, flat, sharp-edged rock and throw it like a frisbee, only to have it connect with her sister's scalp. There was nothing to staple or stitch, as it basically just skimmed the top layer of scalp off in a spot about the size of an almond. After all the adrenaline slowed down, I realized that falling like that at 36 hurts a LOT worse and longer than when you are 20 and I know a 10 year old who learned a VERY valuable lesson about listening when your mother tells you to "...STOP THROWING ROCKS!!!!" We were all glad to get home, get showers to wash all the blood and dirt off, and I was just happy to sit on the couch holding both my girls, contemplating how lucky I was that things were not as bad as they first appeared!

CYCLE OREGON COMES TO UNION

For the 2nd time, Cycle Oregon has chose to use our little town for one of it's over-night stops. If you are not familiar with Cycle Oregon, you can go to http://www.cycleoregon.com/ and learn more. Our little town swells to almost three times our normal population and back to normal within a 24-hour time period. It's neat to see such a HUGE production run so well and organized. It also gives local youth an opportunity for some community service as well as an opportunity for revenue for local businesses. My sister's little Bed & Breakfast is booked through the event

The town goes "all-out" when something this big hits Main St. and every business has some kind of "welcome" sign up.
The Elementary school football field as well as our brand new athletic complex (track, football field and concession building) are used by the cyclists, as well as the volunteer staff. These pictures show the HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of tents that are set up. This is only the volunteer staff tents (2 rows of each color, 3 colors, about 50 tents in each row, making approximately 300 tents just in this field alone).
They even come around into the recess playground at the Elementary school. These are tents that some of the directors, "bosses" and supervisors use. There is also 3 semi-trailers that are shower units, a huge food vendor area, an entertainment stage with music to help the cyclists unwind from a long, tiring day, and several miscellaneous booths, such as bike repair, bike accessories, a group of massage therapists that travel the entire route with the cyclists, and medical tents for the unfortunate, yet inevitable.
This is the road leading to the tent/events site. This is a new "addition" this time around. It reminds us of "Olympic Alley" but I thought it was very pretty, rather inviting, and added a colorful touch to our historic little town.

HOME FOR A SHORT VISIT

My oldest nephew, Ken, is currently home on a 3-week "vacation" from the Air Force. He is currently stationed in Little Rock, Arkansas. He is scheduled for another trip out of the country, so he came home for a short visit before deployment. My girls absolutely idolize him, as well as his younger brother Kyle, who is also in the Air Force currently. They have been attached at the hip with Kenny every waking moment since they laid eyes on him Labor Day weekend. We sure miss him, but glad to have time with him, however short. AMERICA: Home of the Free because of the Brave.

Getting some "good-night" lap time with "Big Cousin"
Ken in his "other life"
Backpacking on Mt. Emily while the rest of us picked huckleberries.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL-Aug 25, 2008

This year, Kamille is in Mrs. Eder's 5th grade class.
Keanna (or K.K. as she prefers to be called at school) is in Mrs. Meyer's 3rd grade class.
K.K. has had Mrs. Meyer's 2 other times, first as a student teacher in Kindergarten, then as her co-teacher with another teacher in 1st grade. She absolutely loves Mrs. Meyers (who previously was Ms. Locke, until she married during the summer) and couldn't wait to start school this year to be in her classroom again. K.K. absolutely LOVES school. Everything comes easily to her. She does not have a large group of friends, however, her and her few friends are a very close little group. I got to thinking when school started, K.K. has only had 3 teachers since she started school: my sister-in-law Rhondie(Ms. Kohr) in Kindergarten and 2nd grade, and Mrs. Meyers and Mrs. "K" (easier than her last name: Koshinsky) in 1st grade and now Mrs. Meyers again in 3rd grade. This only happens in small-town America, but is one of the biggest reasons why we do NOT want to move away from this town. The school is so small and the kids all know each other and the teachers know most all the kids and families very well. It creates a very comfortable, familiar setting for the kids to learn in. Kamille doesn't enjoy school for the same reason as K.K., but she does love hanging out with her friends. She is quite the little social butterfly and regularly changes her "best" friends. When Kamille was in 3rd grade, she went across to Mrs. Eder's (who taught 3rd grade then) room for reading, so she knows Kamille pretty well and I think we're in for a good year with Kamille making good progress in her studies.

HUCKLE BERRY PICKING FUN

We frequently go with my sister to a "secret" little patch up on a local mountain to pick the hugest, fat, juicy huckleberries I have ever seen. My niece, Britta, absolutely LIVES to pick huckleberries. In fact, this summer, she is selling gallons of berries to raise money for her trip to Europe next summer as an Oregon Ambassador of Music. So, these are just a few of the fun pictures from one of our many excursions. The mountain air is great, the berries are yummy, but more importantly, the fun and laughter shared with family is PRICELESS!!!

A typical trip with Britta consists of her plugging her iPod in her ears, disappearing in the woods with a bucket and stool, and coming back with the most berries of any person along for the trip.

My sister Leasa caught up in the berry picking fun

Miller in her boots, hat, and "berry picking clothes"

A little boquet of all the pretty wildflowers I found...so much color!!!

The view of La Grande coming down off the mountain where we pick

My nieces hands after a few hours of picking

My nephew Ken...not so much into berries. Instead, trying out his new hiking boots and pack for a quick trip around the mountain while we picked berries.

TELOCASET WIND FARM

We recently had a Wind Farm installed about 8 miles from our little town, in a wide spot in the road called Telocaset (prounounced Tell-a-cass-it). Every time we drive by on our way to fishing, I just marvel at the massive monstrosity these things. They don't look that big when you see them from the freeway, but while elk hunting last Fall, I stood only a few hundred yards from the base of one of these things and I'm here to tell you they are HUGE. I just wanted to share a few pictures of the change in scenery in our sky line.

FISHING AT PILCHER CREEK RESERVOIR

Steve and I love to fish, so we decided to try out Pilcher Creek Reservoir where my husband is currently the "Camp Host". The first few times we went, the fishing wasn't real good. One or two fish, here and there. They are always nice sized, but not very plentiful. We went over Labor Day weekend, however, and since they are draining the water at a pretty fast pace, the fishing was GREAT. We came home with 19 fish, anywhere from 8 inches up to 14 inches. I was too busy catching fish to get any pictures but I did get some pictures from an earlier trip. Kamille was so excited when she caught a fish all on her own. I don't have the heart to explain to her that it was purely LUCK that she actually got in on the bank, as she had snagged it in the nose with her hook and BARELY. But, whatever the method, the important part is she caught one. HOWEVER, when it came time to clean it, the drama began. I was raised being taught that you bait your own hook, and you catch it, you clean it. Of course, I'm not going to turn an 8 and 10 year old loose with an extremely sharp knife, so we helped them. Kamille was COMPLETELY grossed out by the guts and started crying like crazy. She is a tender-heart, so watching Steve slice up the belly was more than she could stand. Not surprisingly, she has not asked to fish since then. They are MUCH more happy just throwing rocks in the water or searching for snails and frogs on the bank. Maybe someday, they'll decide they like fishing as much as Mom and Steve. Until then, they are content

to play.

.

WELCOME HOME AIRMAN HARMON

My oldest nephew, Ken, is home from the Air Force for a short visit. My girls have always loved "Big Cousin". He has always been willing to take the time for a quick hug, a quick hello over the phone, or time to poke some fun at them. He loves to tease and they love to dish it back. Needless to say, they have drove us crazy for a week, counting down the days until they got to see Big Cousin. They about knocked him down, running to hug him when they finally set eyes on him. He was shocked to see how much they had grown. The girls have a picture of him from the military taped to their bed frame and they kiss "Big Cousin" goodnight every night befre laying their heads on their pillow. We are working on getting a picture of Ken's little brother Kyle who recently joined the Air Force as well so they can do the same for him.

My heart broke, but swelled with pride at the same time upon hearing the following conversation while driving down the road recently:

KEANNA: "Mommy, how long has Kenny been gone? Was I just a baby when he left?"

ME: "He has been gone just a little over 4 years, so you were 4 when he left."

KEANNA: "It seems like he's been gone my WHOLE LIFE!!!"

KAMILLE: "Mommy, how come he has to save the world?"

ME: "Well, he's not necessarily saving the world, but he is defending our freedom."

KAMILLE: "He has missed so much of our lives."

So, we plan on squeezing as much love, hugs, visits and fun into his short home visit as possible. We hate to see him leave, we hate the thought of him going to War, but we're so proud of him and feel safe knowing he's a small part of the many, many military personnel defending this Country we all love so much. Kenny, to you I say "Be safe, be true, be proud and thank you for providing such a solid example for my girls!! Love you!"

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY

This is just a sampling of some of the beautiful scenery we've enjoyed in the past few months.

Although it's unfortunate for nature, Forest Fire Season always gives us some beautiful sunsets.

Somehow, regardless of how many times we see it, we never tire of the beauty.