The Monthly Grants Pass Shopping Trip

During winter months the pass to Grants Pass, Oregon is closed due to snow in the Siskiyou Mountains, but by late spring the road is open and we like to go over the hill every month ... once a month at least.

Today I drove over to Grants Pass with both my teenagers. Mainly we just go shopping at Walmart. When we got home tonight the kids were enthusiastic about using all the new toys. We got a new vacuum cleaner and of course they both had to try it out. Amazing how much dirt collected in our carpet since the last one broke. We live in the mountains and dust seems like a way of life around here.

I'm always happy to get back home after a long drive out of town. On the way home we saw the full moon and it was so pretty - we stopped just to look at it.

Missed Communications, Shopping and a Broken Playstation

Yesterday was Mother's Day. My oldest daughter, Simoné, called me from Georgia. Unfortunately I wasn't there to get the call and she just left a message. Then I called my mom and left a message. Then I called Simoné back and left a message. Yay for message machines, but I kind of miss the old days when we used to really connect with one another more often.

I drove to Grants Pass with my son in the afternoon - to buy him shoes. That was my primary purpose for going there. I like buying the kids' shoes at Big 5 Sporting Goods because the sales on brand-name athletic shoes are enticing. Aaron got a pair of Spaulding court shoes... they look great.

Then we went to Walmart and bought paint for his bedroom and the livingroom. He chose blue and yellow paint - to be applied with a roller that will make it looked textured, like stucco. The roller cost nearly as much as the paint! I got everything we need to complete the project. My livingroom will be white with green trim.

I also got all the supplies we need to fix his Playstation 2. I found a cool repair guide online so now all I need is nerves of steel and brains... to get this thing fixed. It is the second Playstation 2 he's owned. They seem to break down a lot. Right now we're dealing with disk-read errors and a CD tray that won't open.

My Daughter's Birthday

Today was my daughter's fifteenth birthday. She stayed home most of the time except for a short shopping trip and a drive up the mountain to check the snow level.

Thanks to Susan and Kyle for sending gifts to her!

I wanted to take her on a shopping trip to Oregon next month but she's decided she likes the idea of online shopping -- and staying home. We're many miles from any shopping centers. The nearest mall is a 3 hour drive away.

Now my son is asking me to take him to Yreka next month - to get gardening supplies. He's got a plan (on paper) for landscaping the front yard and already started implementing his side yard plan. It will look great here if he gets all this done this year. But because its raining this week not much is happening outside. He's been painting his bedroom instead.

Shopping, Restaurants, Water, and the Webdesign Business

Tonight my daughter and I drove to Oregon to go shopping. Well, on my birthday, which is already passed, I wanted to go out for dinner in Cave Junction (Oregon) and everyone I mentioned this to was telling me there were no restaurants there except a pizza place and a Chinese food place. So today we went through the town looking around and saw a lot of restaurants, both large and small, cheap looking and expensive looking... really a variety - and I wonder why those other people don't realize how cool it is to have all those places to eat out just over the hill... accessible in the summer when the road's not closed, anyhow. There were actually at least two pizza places and two Chinese food places. Anyhow, should we ever be able to afford it, we will go out to dinner there. Right now we barely have enough money to buy groceries until the end of the month.

When I got home, there was an email waiting from a guy who wants to talk to me about redesigning his website. I know I should be excited but for right now I'm having a panic attack. I don't know if I'm ready to start earning money! I don't even have my own webdesign site done, my business plan is only about half written... and I'm just plain scared. I'll go ahead and check out his project anyhow.

I love good bottled spring water. Now, if you happen to be in Mt. Shasta City or Dunsmuir, you can take your bottle and get your own fresh spring water at the source... filted through miles of lava within Mt. Shasta... I just love that. Here in town I'm at the mercy of the local grocery store, but usually there's some kind of good water. However....... over the hill in Oregon, there's some really interesting water. Right now I'm drinking Mountain Mist - premium artesian spring water - from Washington. It is so good! I also brought home four large jugs of Earth2O water from Opal Springs in Oregon - one of my favorite waters... and I don't know why it isn't sold in California... but every time I go north of the border, I get some of this.

My favorite water of all is Castle Rock spring water from Dunsmuir, CA... but the company changed hands and it is hard to find. I can only find little 16.9 oz. bottles here in town now. Castle Rock was my constant water source when I lived in the SF Bay Area - and when I moved north I found their bottling company in Dunsmuir - where I stayed for two months while looking for a home. The Dunsmuir site tells the story of The Best Water In The World... well, I believe it!... their "water supply" is piped into fountains all over town that run constantly (no on/off valve) so to get some, all we had to do was take our gallon jug to the nearest fountain and fill up.

Now if you look at a photo of Mossbrae Falls in Dunsmuir - you'll see where Keith and I went on our first "date" if you want to call it that..... the Falls are about 1/2 mile down the railroad tracks in northwest Dunsmuir and if a train comes you have to step aside... or else. Well, two trains passed us when we went to the Falls that day. It was fun and Mossbrae Falls is one of the most beautiful places in the world... just very hard to get to... so it is not crowded. :)

Fires continue and he air is smoke filled ... and fire crews were coming into Cave Junction to spend the night - at about the time we were leaving. There was so much smoke in the air tonight that on the way home the nearly-full moon looked like it was behind a cloud... barely visible. So far it hasn't been enough to make my eyes sting.

Riding the Stage to Yreka

We had a wonderful trip to Yreka a few days ago. My daughter wanted to ride on the Stage (our bus) with two of her friends. Aaron and I went in the car, and met up with the girls at Walmart. They had a great time shopping on their own - I was mainly there to make sure they got back on the Stage at the end of the day. It is a two hour trip down a long winding river highway, so if they were to miss the Stage there's no second chance... only one bus runs, and that's only two days per week.

On the way to Yreka Aaron and I stopped on the cliff overlooking the Tree of Heaven river access.