Saturday, November 13, 2010

Time Flies

Oh yes time really does fly! As I can tell since I have not made a post for many months. Well that's what happens at the Hathaway household. Time changes to daylight savings and since the sun does not go down we don't go inside. The next thing I know it's 9 o'clock and still there is no dinner so how can I possibly sit at a computer and write?

Well daylight savings is over and it's getting dark now by 5:30 so I guess there is no excuse. What have we done these several months? Well finally, we finished the bathroom and it looks great if I do say so myself. It's fun to have your friends just say "WOW"!



We went camping at "Brown's Camp" just south of Mammoth for the long July 4th weekend. We met the Phelp's and several of their family and friends there and had a great time. Lots of food and fishing and fireworks over Owens Lake.




We also had a fabulous garden this year. Kurt met some folks that wanted to get rid of a bunch of horse manure, so we scored! What a difference real manure makes over the store bought kind. Not to mention the mild weather we had this year combined with rain. This is what a garden should do all the time! Check out our bounty! I even canned some veges just for fun!

Hey it's dark out and I'm hungry. Amazing Pavlov reaction 'cuse when I just looked at the clock it's only 5:30. I'll report again soon and fill in a few more details of our summer.























Wednesday, June 23, 2010

A visit to Portland

It's June and the sun is shinning in Portland (at least once anyway) what fun! Kurt and I headed up for a visit with the grand kids and to say goodbye to the Portland home.
This years visit included a trip to the playhouse to see Lion King with the 2 older girls. They stayed awake the entire time and for the next few days I heard a lot of singing. We went to the Rose garden that was in full bloom and beautiful. There was a special luncheon outside in the sun with chocolate milk served from a "real" teapot! The girls each had a "real" teacup (thanks to the goodwill) and we had a variety of sandwiches finished off by Rice Krispies treats that the kids made the night before in anticipation of the special luncheon.
One morning after chores we went garage sale hunting looking for a few books that the girls had earned. We found books, but the best buy was a "bigger" bike for $20 for the "bigger" girl. The best comment was from Miranda who said "Now I get a new bike too 'cuse Ansley can only have one!"
She was right and the bicycle shift downward took place. As you can see they were all happy. It will take Ansley awhile to get used to the "tipping" bike but I think she likes it.



I added the pictures all by myself! Now I just need to learn how to size them and move them around better. We had a great time and like always, it ends too soon. We decided to take the train home and even though it was a 30 hour ride it was fun. The first thing we noticed was as the train took off we could not hear a thing! No running, no toys clanking, no yelling or laughing. We had forgotten how noisy kids are in general and it made us laugh to think we noticed the quiet! No offense family!!!










Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Good Morning and

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, to a woman who started out as a little girl a long...long...(okay I'll be nice)...long time ago. She was born to Robert and Madeline Viault and grew up with Jeff and Debbie at her side. I am sure my Grr Grr and Papa feel she grew up much to fast as she meet my dad and moved from the beach to the hills.

Ahh, but how glad am I that they meet and feel in love! This is one of my favorite pictures of me as a little girl, wrapped up in her arms. There are plenty more and a little boy to come, but hey I'm a selfish girl and for a moment they were all mine. (Love you Ty)

Although these pictures were taken almost two years ago, they are some of my favorite summer time pictures with mom. Her granddaughters love the fact that Buelie (that's her grandma name) lives at a beach where we can actually play in the water and not freeze! I love the fact that they love and trust her so much that they will follow her anywhere. She is the greatest grandma in the world and still fulfills her duty as my mother.


Although today (June 9th 2010) she may be another year older, in our eyes she has merely been with us for one more amazing year. Mommy, I love you so much and am so grateful for all you have done for me, Ty, Dad, my family, Grr & Papa, and everyone else whos life you have touched. I hope you have a wonderful, fantastic, stupendous, Happy Happy Birthday!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

May Flowers

So incredibly it's May and we had to hit the road!

First weekend in May:

To get started we changed plans and since no one is motorcycle racing any more we did not go to the "Mothers Day cop out" race. We decided to go fishing instead. So off to Lake Isabella. And we did not take the trailer since this was going to be just a quick weekend trip. We packed way to much stuff in the truck and took off. We arrive Fri night around 8:30 pm in Isabella to find that every restaurant was closed for the night. Even the bar that boasted great burgers quit cooking at 6:30! We finally took our starving stomachs to the only lights we saw and snuck in behind a group of landscapers to a Burrito store. The small restaurant was actually putting up tables and sweeping the floors when we snuck in which was 9 pm now since we had made several stops looking for food. I politely ignored the look that said "you do realize we are closing, don't you" and placed an order for 2 burritos with the smirking counter girl. I think she thought Kurt was cute and his burrito was twice the size of mine!
Oddly it was windy when we arrived and maybe that should have been a clue. It never stopped blowing and blowing cold. We took our little boat out on the lake around 7 am Sat and by 10 am we were coming back on the ocean! We had no fish, the surf was up, and we were wet. Good thing we packed lunch supplies!
For our afternoon outing we went up to the wild life preserve and hiked around for a few hours. And honestly we never got off the trail. We must have just missed a turn or something?! We saw lots of birds and added a new guy to the list, a Lawrence's goldfinch.
On Sunday when it was still blowing cold wind, when we hadn't gotten out of our jackets and long pants, when we were tired of hiding behind the truck to stay out of the wind, we looked at each other and realized it was time to go! Ah but we did not just hop on the road home we took a dirt road and went on a Hathaway adventure. We found beautiful back valleys, more birds, a really cool graveyard from the early 1900's, and lots of spring flowers. We had a great time and realized that we have nothing to prove by staying put in the cold so ....hit the road jack and don't look back.

Second weekend in May:

So what to do now. I know..... my folks are out of town and the beach house is empty. Let's redeem our last weekend trip and go to the beach for some sun and fun. So pack up the car since parking is terrible and don't take much! Swim suits, cribbage, and a sweatshirt just in case. We arrived Fri night and found a great local restaurant that was....imagine this.....still open at 8pm! We had a fabulous Italian dinner and walked back along the strand to await the next day.

We woke up to a bit of fog but no problem the sun was already peeking out. However by the time breakfast was over the clouds were winning. We gave the day a bit more time to warm up before running to the beach. We did some chores and cleaning and still no sun. So we decided to walk to the Redondo pier and get our fish for dinner and smartly took our sweatshirts. The day just didn't want to kick into gear with the sun, in fact we moved from the front yard to the inside patio to play cribbage where the cold air was not blowing as hard!

And so once again on Sun we took the better part of valor and came home. After all the fog was now a heavy drizzle and no use sitting inside some one elses house in the cold when we could do the same at our own and I could even get some laundry done! 2 weekends down and 2 to go.

Third weekend in May:

We tried something different. The weather wasn't much improved but Kurt went hiking with our Armenian friend Hyak (pronounced hike). They went to Hard Luck campground and had the best of luck so far. They fished, slept under the stars, and had minimal conversations since Kurt doesn't speak alot of Armenian and Hyak is limited in his English. They both reported back on Sun that they had a great time.

I on the other hand helped my friend Minda put on a ladies tea at her church. We started preparing at 9am Sat (she did a lot of work on Fri) and I got home at 6pm that night. It was actually very nice and even though I was exhausted, literally serving people, has its spiritual perks. Not wanting to waste a day, I went shopping on Sun and bought what else, a new pair of shorts. I still have faith that the sun will shine soon.

Fourth weekend in May:

Last chance! It's Brad's 52nd birthday. We have been invited to go to the "cabin" up in the Angeles and spend the night with him and a gang of others to celebrate. So Early Sat am we pack up the Izusu. (Maybe a different car will produce better weather results) Kurt left in shorts all prepared for horse shoes, beer and RC car play. I wore long pants but a short sleeved shirt ready for "boys" weekend with a chair and book in the sun and maybe a beer if the mood is right.

We arrive and this is a real "old" style one room school house that was moved to the property and converted to a cabin. It looks like scout camp with one big room. It had propane hanging lights, a stove, a "spring" fed water bin, a pot bellied stove for heat, and the outhouse down back. We had ice chest lots of food and beverages, cots and chairs. Paradise! The only problem was the wind had followed us and on went the jackets. Cold wind and no where to hide....oh just have a beer and shut up!!!

We played horse shoes and I actually got a Double ringer to end the game with a win. I read a lot, we hiked and found lots of cool odd looking flowers, the guys nearly wore the little rock crawling car out, we bbq'ed dinner and had lights out around 10. And guess what it was still cold!

Sun was much nicer but we only had until noon before it was time to go. As we descended the mountain it got hotter and hotter. Oh my gosh ..... we actually came home and took the first official swim of the summer. Good thing since it was Memorial Day weekend and the "unofficial" start to summer.

Looking forward to June!! Where shall we go????

Sunday, April 25, 2010

April showers.....

And that is the reason we have done very little travel this month! Never fear though we do go somewhere at least once a month.

Our only real travel was to our timeshare in Indio. Yeah what is there to do there? Nothing, so it makes for a very relaxing get away. My parents were supposed to go with us but at the last moment the canceled. So just Kurt and I went and Santi the sick ferret. We snuck him in via a duffel bag (since pets are verbotten at time shares) and then brought in the cage in pieces. He lived in the 2nd bathroom. It was just warm enough to sit by the pool and BBQ on the deck (we were on the 3rd floor). It started to rain again as we left.

Kurt found 2 dry days and he went fishing with Brad. Once at Castaic and once at Pyramid. Neither time did they bring home any fish :(

We baby sat Oslo the dog so took him on a local hike up Haines Cyn. Then I had to spend nearly an hour brushing the stickers out of his fur before Ty got home!

All the other spare days (weekends) it seemed to be raining. The good news is that a lot of house chores were fixed, like the kitchen cabinet hinges. But the best news is the tile is done in the bathroom!!!!! That is not to say that the bathroom is done for there is a lot more sanding and then painting to be done but the end is in sight!!!!

To end the month we walked into "downtown" Tujunga and went to brunch at the new vegan restaurant that was holding a benefit for the "save the golf course" cause.

We have tried to fill May with more outings/trips, we'll see how it goes. the flowers have already been great so our hopes are to see many more in May.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

March

So I don't post on time but at least I am trying!! Not a whole lot went on in the travel dept in March. The weather is still trying to decide if its spring or winter.

However in the middle of the month we decided to go to Rincon Bch in Ventura. The reports said the fishing was "great"! (and we were sick of tiling the bathroom) We loaded up the trailer and fishing poles and headed out. Friday had fog, Sat was very pleasant, and Sun it was cold and drizzly.

We fished Sat near our camp spot, away from our camp spot, in front of our spot. We used big poles and light weight poles. We tried real bait and "fake" bait. I don't know where the report came from but our report was a bust. No fish, very few bites and I am so glad that I packed food for dinner!

Sun we decided to go hiking up the little stream. We had to hike through the very low muddy tunnel under the frwy and then once on the other side we had a fun trail to follow. After 15 min or so Kurt gave up trying to keep out of the stream and keeping his boots dry. I perservered for a lot longer! Eventually the mud sucked me in and that was that. We had to do a lot of stream hoping, rock scrambling and posion oak avoidance. But it was fun! We finally arrived at an old check dam and then climbed up to a road from there for the return trip.

So there was the together camp out and then Kurt had his fun in the sun. He went on a Dual sport ride from Ridgecrest through Death Valley to Beatty Nevada and then back. He rode with his buddies: Howard, Bill and Skip. Howard and Bill took the easier route and Kurt chased Skip. He returned very tired but with a lot of good stories.

Gemia has updated our blog with pictures and background. She is going to add music according to rumor. I will learn all of this so that one day I too can be a blog geek.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Feburary travels

Feb is a great month. Cold and raining, makes you stay inside. So thats what we did most of the month. However we never let too much time go by without a trip.

This time I got the "real" trip and I flew to see Gemia in Portland. I had a great time just hanging out with the girls and being a grandma. We dodged the rain and went on walks, played in the park and watched a few movies on tv. Nothing grand relaxing.

Kurt took the same long weekend and went to the desert with the fire dept group. They all rode their bikes and behaved like guys. The weather was perfect desert weather: damp ground and lots of great winter sun.

To round out the month we both took a hike up Blue Gum Cyn behind the house. We became the Tujunga trail maintainence crew. We took our clippers, shovels, and lunch and re-opened the old trail to Haines Cyn. Since the fire and all the rain the ground was very receptive to our task. We had a blast and I can't wait to go back and see how well it is surviving this last onslaught of rain. We also "relocated" some native plants to the back yard where they are very happy still.

It was a short month. The ground hog saw his shadow and mother nature is keeping true to custom with lots of rain and cold temps. Longer days are just around the corner!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

So this is the blog that Gemia had me set up. The whole purpose is to teach me how to journal our upcoming trip. Upcoming as in a year or two from now! So here are the Jan events that took place......

New years weekend we went to Ventura beach in the trailer. It started out raining, next came fog, and then finally sun on the last day. We fished with great luck ( I caught the smallest and Kurt caught the most). We ate with gusto and strolled the beach in between!

Next Kurt went hunting for Quail. He caught his first Mtn quail! Bad luck for the pretty little bird. The good luck was that I did not have to cook for a spell.

No sooner than Kurt getting home we loaded up and took my parents to Phoenix. We met with my sister and celebrated my folks 60th anniversary. We drove them (fri) and then flew home mon night. Thanks goes to the Chart House for a great celebration dinner.

Just to keep the month going Kurt turned right around and left for Mexico with Roger and Chris for a week of "wind surfing". They had been planning this for the end of Feb but when we returned from AZ the trip had surprisingly moved to the end of Jan. Why stand still?

So it seems that WE go on a trip then Kurt goes on one then we go then he goes?! I will have to work on improving this ratio.