Christmas Smiles

Yes, I'm gently tugging on Jason's ear trying to get him to look towards the camera. Instead he's looking up to see who's pulling his hear!! Ha Ha.

I thought you might like to see a glimpse of our Christmas Eve. Normally we would have waited till evening but since Laurie's work schedule required her to report for duty at 2:00pm that day we decided to get started in the morning. Laurie was happy to receive a book and dvd set on one of her favorite subjects.

Even "Jack" the dog got to be part of the festivities. It's hard to see if he's smiling although Annalie was glad to just in case he didn't! By the way he received one of his favorite doggy treats.


Next was Jason and myself receiving some gifts from his grandpa and Jonnie. I believe I saw this nice old framed photograph in the Colby blog as well. Jason received an interactive book of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" I believe he's also working on opening another Mr Potato Head for his ever growing collection. He's much better at opening presents than he used to be but still seems fasinated with the wrapping paper and packaging. Don't miss the purple bow on his head either!

Lastly Annalie was all smiles as she opened her "Go Go Dog" she had been hoping for and talking so much about. On this day her wish finally came true! I must say that although our Christmas Eve party was probably modest by some standards it was enjoyable none the less. It's funny to me that as I get older receiving gifts takes a back seat to the joy of giving them. I can honestly say for me that "It is more blessed to give than to receive" Acts 20:35. My hope is that our kids will figure this out even earlier than I did as we provide oportunities for them share with others. Happy New Year!

Bartlett Family Recent Picture

It is very difficult to get a good picture of all of us. Jason usually isn't able to look at the camera long enough for the shot. Our associate pastor managed to get a good shot of all of us for the church directory.

Visiting with Santa

Today Santa actually gave the children little presents of chocolate candy out of his bag. Jason gave him the customary kiss (Jason's trademark). I had to do some fast work in the store as nothing in the bag was appropriate for Jason. Thankfully we got it all worked out and a smiling Jason went home with a gift too--a c.d. which included the song "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree" on it. Many people know that "Apple Tree" is one of the few things Jason says ALOT. Notice Jason has his "comfort" wood spoons that he takes with him everywhere and very often leaves at the stores. We have wondered what employees think finding all of these wood spoons around Gold Beach and Brookings...people ask about them when they see Jason holding them. One man said, "Wooden spoons a COMFORT? They were no comfort to ME growing up!

Jack and Jason

I thought we would post a few pictures that our friend Corrina took.

She and Mark watched Jack for us this week when Jason was up at Doernbecher Hospital. Jack had daily access to the woods and the beach. These two pictures were of Jack on the beach where a little stream is located. He loves to fetch and be in the water! Someday I may train him in water rescue when we have the service dog training well-in-hand. He now weighs about 100 lbs. Only about 50 lbs to go!

Jack developed a "hot spot" on his neck yesterday, so I took him to Corrina's to help relieve him as she is a vet! Jason was very happy to just sit in Mark's lap while Jack was getting help, then Jack waited patiently in the sunroom wearing his "bib" until we were done visiting and ready to go home!

Collier Bar Hike in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness

A little over a week ago I had the opportunity to go hiking with my friend Mark who's an avid hiker. Our trip started at Game Lake about 20 miles east of where we live just on the edge of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. We left the house around 7:30am or so and were ready to begin our trip just before 9:00am. It was perfect weather although one could argue that it was maybe a bit too warm. I didn't mind because I knew that the Illinois R. lay ahead after about 5 or 6 miles.
As you probably could guess water is not as plentiful this time of year but we still managed to find a nice cool spot for a break by a refreshing little stream.
Our trail took us along a long ridge that slowly descended towards the river below. You can see that this area was affected by the Biscuit Fire of 2002. Here it also began to get hot since most of the shade trees had burned. The last section of this portion of the hike was tough since the trail had not been cleared and was full of fallen trees that we had to find our way around. Now I was beginning to feel like a swim!
Down at Collier Bar along the Illinois R. we found evidence of days gone by when miners were hoping to strike it rich. We uncovered several old steel traps and well as some mining chisels.
At the river it felt good to take of our shoes for awhile and take a much needed break. I will say the River was a bit cool but was still what we needed. There was no wind down in the canyon and the sun was hot so I guess it really didn't matter. Anyway I enjoyed my first swim since last December. Boy what a beautiful place to get wet!
By now it was about 3:00pm in the afternoon and we still had a lot of ground to cover so we packed up, forded the river, and started up the other side of the mountain. Again we came across a pile of stuff halled in by miners around 100 years ago or so.
Mark is not only a very capable hiker but also what I would call a true woodsman. Instead of hiking with a walking stick like I do his tool of choice is a bow saw which he always kept in his grasp for these kinds of situations. And believe me when I say there were plenty!
By the time we reached our camp site for the night is was around 8:00pm and we were beat! We set up our tents in the dark with the help of Mark's headlight and I was in bed about 8:45pm. The next morning I snapped this picture of our camp which was located on a bluff overlooking the mouth of Silver Creek which is a beautiful tributary of the Illinois R. We took our time eating our breakfast and and getting ready for the days trek. About 10:00am we were under way.
Here's a shot of me crossing the new Silver Creek bridge that was replaced about 4 or 5 years ago due to high waters removing the old one. This one is located higher up and hopefully will last a long long time.
One of the joys of of visiting this place is dealing with all the poisen oak. I will say it's quite lovely this time of year and easy to identify by its colorful bright red leaves. Even so Mark cut as much of it out of the way for me as he could since he's currently not allergic to it. I found out a few days later that I still get it. It seems to flourish along much of the trail.
Here's one of the few remaining buildings at the Briggs Ranch that wasn't burned from the Biscuit Fire. It's still a neat place to visit but honestly I was too tired to make the side trip to take a closer look. Also I've been there many times in the past.
This last picture was our lunch break at Indigo Creek. In another 5 miles or so we would be back at the truck that Mark had parked at Oak Flat near Agness. This is how we avoided having to do any backtracking which is what I prefer. I'm still amazed that we saw no bears because we sure saw where they had been! By the way we didn't see any other people either. Some would say walking around 20 miles with a pack on your back sounds like a lot of work and believe me it is but it's still my idea of a good time!


Dave

Wet 'n Wild

About a year ago I sold a guy a part for a good price for one of his vehicles. He also just happened to be the owner of the Rogue River Mail Boats at the time. He thanked me and said he would send me some free tickets for helping him out. I chose not to say anything to the rest of the family in case nothing happened but about 3 or 4 days later a set of 4 tickets arrived in the mail. Since it was late in the season he even dated them so they could be used for the 2010 season as well. This past weekend we finally were able to use them. He had originally given us the 80 mile trip package but when we arrived at the office they graciously upgraded us to the 104 mile trip for free! We rate these trips very highly and I would say that if someone had no other reason to come to Gold Beach this would still be a very good reason to show up. It was a beautiful day and the fog was just lifting as we made our way under the Patterson Bridge to began our voyage.

Soon the sun was shining, the temperature was rising and even more smiles were appearing. Animals started showing up too! Let's see if I can remember everything we saw. Osprey,Blue Heron,Egret,Bald Eagle,Merganser,Cormorant,deer,otter,bear,and turtles.

Here's a few pics showing what we saw.
Bald Eagle
Western Pond Turtles
River Otters
Black Bear
Jason was definitely happiest when we were moving. Whenever the driver announced that we were going to do a high speed spin he looked like this!
Fortunately we seem to always sit behind someone who doesn't mind the extra attention from Jason. This particular lady was a kindergarten teacher from Coos Bay and she seemed to enjoy it!
Annalie had a blast all day and was certainly the most lively one on board!

Everytime I get to take this trip I'm reminded of the beauty of this special place. It was also a busy day on the water with rafters who no doubt feel the same way. We feel fortunate to live so close.

Land Of The Giants

After 35 years I finally made it Prehistoric Gardens located about 15 miles north of Gold Beach. I had always wondered what was there that you couldn't see from the road and on this day it was my chance to find out. Although the kid to adult ratio was 2 to 1 I still managed to snap a few pictures without too many problems. It took less than an hour to take the self guided tour and it really is situated on a nice piece of real estate. Even so it may be another 35 years before I visit again! Who knows?

Full House

I took some pictures of our pets today. It was too rainy to get good shots of our fish out in the pond. Some friends gave Annalie two koi fish that were delivered this weekend. The goldfish and resident frog seem to be getting along fine with the newcomers. Annalie has named her two koi fish "Cheese" and "Crackers". I wish I could scan the picture she drew of them with their chin whiskers.

We are keeping one of Cecily's kittens. She is a seal point named Gwendolyn. They are named after two of the principal characters in the play "The Importance of Being Earnest". This kitten is going to be Annalie's cat.

Last Thursday Jason and I (Laurie) drove up to Portland to get Jason's new pet. He is a Newfoundland puppy. These dogs are known to be extremely sweet and gentle and great with children. It is like having a baby in the house again as he is only six weeks old and needs to take frequent "breaks" outside. He has been sleeping about 7 hours straight through the night the last two days. He absolutely loves his crate and is taking lots of naps. He is very tiny right now, but his sire is 160 pounds.
Hopefully we can get a cart so he can pull the kids on walks when he is bigger. We are hoping to get a grant to have him trained as a service dog for Jason.

More Room Please!

If I ever go through another home building project I will be more careful to make sure there is plenty of storage space. When I had our house built back in '96 I was single and really didn't see how I could ever fill the thing up. Unfortunately that is know longer the case and several months ago I began doing some prospecting to see if I could could find any more space to fill. I had a couple of walls in mind in our upstairs bedroom and one day Laurie agreed to let me do some surgery to see if my idea was possible. I checked for studs and wiring with my stud finder and then carefully began to cut with my drywall saw. So far so good. Soon I had an opening that with some work I could install a bookshelf cabinet that would accomidate 3 rows of books. Laurie had a matching wall on her side that would work as well.

The first step after framing in the 2 openings and adding extra insulation was to build 2 matching book shelves followed by 2 sets of raised panel doors. We also purchased some beautiful aromatic cedar to use for the backing of each cabinet. After test fitting everything I applied some honey pine stain and mounted them flush into the wall.

Here's a couple of pictures showing the finished product all trimmed out. My book collection is pretty modest so every one I own can fit in my cabinet along with a few other odds n ends. We've actually got a couple of other walls like this in our bedroom so there may be another similar project or 2 in the future.