Tuesday 5/1
Today Steve had another doctor's appointment ...
we had to leave home at 6:45 this morning
so we could arrive on time.
His appointment was with a pulmonologist.
It began with him doing a bunch of
breathing tests in this "chamber".
We are just trying to get a little bit better
handle on his asthma ... all is well !
We had this little visitor in our
back yard today
It's always fun to watch the wildlife
Wednesday 5/2
Today we went to Home Depot and bought
some plants ....
Tomatoes & a Green pepper ....
Onions, Walla Walla Sweets ....
Pansie's .....
Lettuce & Spinach ....
Cucumbers, Pumpkin & Cantaloupe ....
Coleus in front, Clematis behind.
When we planted the Coleus we had to
move our ducks .... we planted some
pansies around them too.
Thursday 5/3
Steve works hard to keep our yard looking
beautiful. Today while working on
our drip lines he encountered ....
This piece of line totally encased in
one of our Maple tree roots ....
no wonder he couldn't get it to move !
Friday 5/4
It is a beautiful day to be outside
and for pictures ....
our 2018 garden
The strawberries are covered with blossoms
Steve at it again .... keeping our yard beautiful !
Monday 5/7
Steve continues to work hard out in our yard.
Today he started spreading some new
bark mulch around the planters
It always makes everything look so fresh.
We like the brown, fine texture mulch ....
besides looking great it smells good too !
Wednesday 5/9
This morning, in our back yard, we found ....
Our first Iris of the season .... the deep purple ones
aren't too far behind and will opening up soon.
This afternoon we did a little more shopping for
some plants then came home and got
to work !
This planter along our front walkway was getting
too overgrown so ....
we pulled out the ground cover and the day lilies and ....
began setting the new plants
( hostas, ajuga, clematis) around until ...
we were satisfied with their places. Soon we
began digging holes and
running new sprinkler lines because, of course,
the existing ones were no longer in the
right places nor were there enough of them.
We only had to stop once, because of rain,
actually it gave us a nice & needed little break.
Once all the new plants were planted we
gave them all a big drink of B12 water then ....
began spreading bark mulch around them.
We added a little white picket fence around the
base of the fountain, some trellis' behind
the fountain for the clematis to climb.
After several hours we finally finished and ....
are pleased with our newly renovated planter !
We can't wait to see how it will look as the plants
begin to grow and spread out.
(by the way, did you notice the Oregon decoration?)
why yes....After 10 years....we are still Duck fans
Once a duck .... always a duck !
Thursday 5/10
Steve had yet another appointment
this morning
This time with a Speech Therapist
but not for anything related to his speech.
It seems speech Therapists do more ....
The pulmonologist Steve saw the
first of the month asked to have this test done.
It was a video x-ray that watched as he swallowed
different types of foods
(The black is what he is swallowing)
They were trying to determine
if his silent acid reflux could be leaching into his
lungs and causing his chronic bronchitis or
contributing to his asthma.
They said it didn't look like that was happening
which is a good thing and eleminates
that as a possibility.
Sunday 5/13
Today was Mother's Day
It was good to go out to diner last night
and to hear from all of
my children today.
Love you mom ....
at 91+ years old I am grateful
to still be able to visit you and give you
a hug and tell you I Love You !
Monday 5/14
Tonight we attended the movie premier of
"Chair the Hope"
It is a documentary of our Niece, her quadriplegic husband
and their children's 1,200 mile bike ride from
Mt. Bachelor, Bend, Oregon to
Santa Monica, California and how they
raised money to buy wheelchairs for people in
Mexico and the time they spent
in Mexico with the recipients of those wheelchairs.
They filled two theaters, 600 seats, with all the
proceeds going to their foundation for
more wheelchairs.
Tuesday 5/15
Today was Idaho's Primary Election Day.
this afternoon we went over to the
Star Library Annex and ....
did our civic duty .... Voted !
Thursday 5/17
This evening we had a thunder storm here in Star
with big, black ominous clouds and ....
this funnel that formed during the storm.
Luckily, it didn't materialize further
and all is well...still...
A pretty rare sight for Star, Idaho.
Friday 5/18
Loving springtime and our
iris & raspberries
These purple iris just
make spring a little bit more beautiful
Monday 5/21
First thing this morning
a man came to aerate our lawn
In ten years this is the first time we have
had this done .... it really needed it !
Now we have these annoying little
"plugs" all over our yard.
Also, we are going to have our wood floors
refinished tomorrow so today we began
preparations for that.
One of our friends came over to help Steve
since Linda is having some back "issues"
We moved all the furniture around to make room
for the kitchen table and china hutch.
We had to empty the hutch before moving it so
all the china & crystal is piled on the
kitchen table
Tuesday 5/22
This morning we left for Cascade/McCall Idaho.
We are going to stay overnight at a little
Motel in Cascade while
our floors are being refinished.
Cascade Lake Inn
Our drive up was beautiful .... Spring is
a beautiful time of year.
The river's are very full with ....
lots of rapids
The mountains still have snow on them
big white thunderheads and everything
is very green
Scenic Bridges
The reflections in the lakes make beautiful pictures.
After checking into our motel we drove up to ....
McCall .... about a half an hour north of Cascade
Where we had lunch at STAX
just about everything is homemade
We enjoyed their homemade
Bread, Soup & Lemonade
After lunch we toured around the town
Smoke Jumper's tower out by the airport
A "Bear" sculpture by the Payette Lake
An old dead pine tree that was jammed up
against one of the docks
We also drove all the way around the Payette Lake
most of the east side was on a dirt road and
it began storming during our drive .
The lake is looking very full from the
north end
and this waterfall was beautiful overflowing
with the spring runoff
At dusk we drove along the Lake Shore Golf Course
and enjoyed watching the deer.
We called Marilyn & Keith to see if by chance
they might be up at their cabin
(just south of Cascade)
As it turned out they had to bring some building
supplies up so we worked out a plan
to get together tomorrow.
Wednesday 5/23
This morning after breakfast at
"Grandma's" Restaurant
We drove down to the Parker's Cabin
We missed our turn ....
How can you miss this sign? well, we did, but
saw it just as we were passing it so we
were able to turn around and get on the right road.
This is the first time we have seen their Cabin.
It is very nice and so peaceful on the
five acres full of green fields and a
beautiful "lazy river" running along the
southern border of the property.
We neglected to get a good picture but this one
shows the front of the cabin,
behind two large piles of sand and ....
this is where they are putting all that sand.
On the backside of the cabin they are adding on this
"storage" room
So, after a tour of the house and Steve helping
Keith move some rails for their porches
we all went for a drive.
These are some of the things we saw ....
Sand Hill Crane
Cabarton boat ramp
Wild Flowers
a truck in trouble ... we stopped to see if we could
help. The police came shortly after so
we left and continued our drive around the
Cascade Lake.
Tamarack Resort
Green meadows, wild flowers & the lake
Cascade Lake
Keith, Marilyn, Linda Steve
and .... More dirt roads ....
Once our drive around the lake was complete
we stopped for lunch at the Lake Shore Bar & Grill,
dropped Parker's off at their cabin, then
headed for home.
when we got home the friend that was
refinishing our floors was at the house and
he was not at all happy with
how the floor turned out.
He said he wanted to redo them ... Tomorrow
Thursday 5/24
This morning Steve noticed this wayward
raspberry plant ...
Looks like someone is going to have to
crawl under the house and kill some starts !
This afternoon the floor guy
Byron Johnson
(Steve's Home Teaching, now-Ministering partner)
came to redo the floor.
he sanded most all the floors with his
little hand sander ....
filled some wide gaps ....
Buffed out all the floors ....
cleaned the floors with this wet mop machine.
At this point we had to leave while he put the
finish product on the floors.
We were gone for a few hours then on our way
home Byron called and said he needed
to do another coat and could he come
back at 10 p.m.
Once he was ready to do the second coat
we retreated to our bedroom.
After a little sanding,
Byron got right to work, he ....
Poured the water based Polyurethane into a
watering can for ease in handling
Poured the solution on to the prepared floor and ...
began spreading it around !
He started in the back by our office & playroom then ...
worked his way down the hall to our bedroom
and we were trapped for the night!
Friday 5/25
The floor looks great this morning !
We don't have to, but we will wait a few days
before moving all our furniture back.
It has been ten years since we moved into this
house so it was time to refinish these floors.
Saturday 5/26
A couple of days ago Steve discovered a
raspberry plant growing out of
a little crack in our patio concrete foundation.
He crawled under the house expecting to
find masses of plants growing there.
Instead .....
He found this one lone plant and it wasn't
anywhere close to the misplaced
patio plant .... hmmm
Monday 5/28
Observed Memorial Day
We started out our day this morning with ....
A flag raising ceremony at the church and
followed by .....
A pancake breakfast.
We were back home by 8:30 where we
waited for Ron & Cheryl Fuller
(Steve's sister)
to pick us up and head to La Grande, Oregon
to spend the day with all of Steve's siblings.
Fullers, S. Waites, Parkers, D. Waites,
Mastrudes and Waldrops
After everyone arrived at the Waldrop's house
we visited for a little bit then piled back
in our cars and drove to some of the
cemeteries around town.
First stop was Steve's parents gravesite and
lots of other relatives including another sibling,
baby Vernon Waite, who died at birth and
a still born sister.
While there we met several cousins from the
Huntsman line and enjoyed visiting
with them.
Another cemetery we visited was
beautifully decorated
with lots of American Flags.
We took a break from decorating graves to have
some lunch at the Flying-J restaurant which is
owned by Don & Lila (Steve's sister)
After lunch we drove out through Mt. Glen where
Steve grew up and on to the little town
of Summerville.
Gayle's sister is buried here .... also
Steve's Grandma & Grandpa Berry and
many other relatives
We stopped at a Dairy Queen for a little
"treat" before parting ways and
heading for home.
It was a good day with beautiful weather.
We all had fun visiting,
teasing each other, and sharing family
news .... weddings, babies, etc.
Tuesday 5/29
Remember these ....
our beautiful strawberries ....
Well, look what has happened ....
this clover looking plant has completely taken over
half of our patch. Not sure where it all
came from but we will probably have to dig
everything up and start over
next season .... so sad
Update: Just found out it is Oxalis and yes,
we will have to start over.
Today we cut what will probably be our
last Iris bouquet of the year
Notice the lone yellow iris ....
Linda accidentally broke it off while
trimming the stems. With all those purple ones
why, oh why, did it have to be the
only yellow one that broke.
Today we put all our furniture back in place
after having our wood floors refinished.
Wednesday 5/30
Today we worked out in our front yard.
Steve had pulled all the leaves/stems off our
tulip bulbs yesterday and today
we dug all the bulbs up and replanted the
best ones around the outer edge of our tree ring.
We are still deciding where to put all the
remaining bulbs .... and there are a lot of them.
Next we planted some flowers ....
inside the tree ring ....
12 Zinnias & 12 Marigolds
hopefully they will be bright and "happy"
as they grow and fill in the ring.
Early this evening after our planting was done
a storm blew in.
There was thunder, lightning and heavy rain involved
But after the rain came ....
A beautiful rainbow reminding us
that God is the creator of heaven and earth.
Gotta love Rainbows ....
(too bad pictures never do them justice)
Thursday 5/31
Another month has come and gone. It seems
impossible that we are nearly halfway
through 2018 already.
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