Doin' Nothin'

Sometimes it's just nice to do nothing. We went into Medford Thursday and came back the same day...it's an all-day affair. We tried out Abby's Legendary Pizza - there are a lot of these restaurants around - and it was good but not our favorite.

Mike went out this morning and got his dredge into his spot. It's been raining for a couple hours so he's not sure if he'll be able to start dredging tomorrow.

A little bit about this dredging stuff. The 4-incher that he bought has a 4" hose and nozzle. The diver is weighted down so that he can get to the bedrock under the water and vacuum up the bottom into the dredge. The intake is washed over the classifiers that are above ground and any gold settles into the grooves and moss cloth that lines the classifiers. The big rocks and dirt are washed away.


Now, for some cute stuff. The neighbor's cat, Matrix, likes to get away from their kids by sitting on the nearby deer statute. And this adorable picture of prairie dogs is from RV Dreams Journal, a 40ish couple that is RVing full-time and workcamping.

That's it from Happy Camp on this Friday evening.

Books from Childhood

It rained all last night and is still raining today. I love to sit and read in the rain and have been remembering some of my favorite childhood books.

The Boxcar Children was a great favorite. Four children run away and live by their wits in a boxcar. I think the story inspired my recent wanderlust and a fascination with using what is at hand. The books are now a series of over 100 titles; the first one was what I remember.

A Rocket in My Pocket was a book of poems I read sometime after 6th grade. I found a paperback copy a few years ago and its on my poetry shelf at home. I also have a set of the World Books of Childhood, I think they were called, that my father sold door-to-door when we first moved to Arizona. I love the smooth, glossy pages and the poems and stories that I memorized from reading them over and over.

I asked Mike what books he recalled. He described The Waverly Novels by Sir Walter Scott. He had an old set as a child that he kept with him for years. It gives me some insight into his chivalrous nature and sense of honor.

Now, dear Reader, I would like to know what books you remember from childhood. Click on the underlined "comments" link below the post to add your memories.

To my sister, Melanie

Today is my younger sister Melanie's 50th birthday. Melanie is a beautiful name and she is a beautiful person. Mel was the baby of the family for almost 7 years and put up with being picked on by us two older ones. She was also Mom's darling, with her beautiful blonde hair.

Melanie is a great Mom herself and raised two super kids and this fall will have her 3rd grandchild. She loved her husband, Ron, and she always worked hard right beside him.
So today, I'm honoring her and wishing her a wonderful half century. Love you Mel.