I'm not sure if it was the heat or the rain. Idaho's weather has been all
over the map. We have seen highs in the 60's one day and 80 to 90 the next.
We even had more rain-fall in one day than we usually get for the entire
month! (Maybe that will mean that the rest of the month will be warm and
dry? But don't count on it!)
The girls had a camping trip last week-end. They went up with the church
youth group and had a good time. They pitched tents in good weather and
packed things up in the rain. Needless to say they got back in dampened
spirits. They had hoped to have more fun than it turned out to be.
Pilar and I celebrated our 18'th wedding anniversary (on the day that it
rained all day) We had a wonderful time helping a friend pack all her
belongings and move them to storage. That is like a minus ten on the
romantic scale, but it was the right thing to do, even if the timing could
have and should have been better.
I drove school bus for a couple weeks (again) because the school year for
the local school district ended three weeks latter than my college classes
did. Meanwhile, I'd gotten an e-mail about a position open at a near-by
water park called Roaring Springs. I was interviewed and hired! This is
the answer to many prayers. It is a full time job that is seasonal and I
can return to it every summer until I'm finished with school. It will also
allow me some opportunity to apply the skills I am being taught.
I guess mom & dad have had a real trying time… ask her about their water woe's!
They hired a guy to come in and install a lawn sprinkler system. They knew
there was a tap for the water somewhere, but in all these years of living
there they had never been able to find it. After cutting the power and
phone lines to the shop and house, and digging up about half the yard I hear
they finally discovered that the tap was buried under their front steps. In
the mean time, their phones and internet access was down. Mom had to have
her lap-top set-up to run off my wireless here at home so she could keep up
with her work. She isn't allowed to return to work just yet since the knee
surgery, so she has done the mobile office thing and connects via the net to
her pc at work. That way she can still get her work done even if it means
putting up with being around her grandchildren instead of cranky office
co-workers; reclining on the sofa instead of bolt upright in a flimsy task
chair; having home cooked meals instead of fast food; and listing to some
TV, radio or water fountain gurgle in the back-ground as opposed to a lot of
chatter and telephone ringing and printers whirring and clicking. Rumor has
it that she just might be ready to get the other knee done about the time
the new school years starts up… ;-)
Pilar has been able to keep her time card filled. Maybe too much?! They
are two people short in a four-man office. In order to compensate they
shifted from four ten-hour shifts per week to five 8-hour shifts. The good
news is that they can cover all the days this way, the bad news is that they
can't get ten hours worth of work done in just 8 hours. It has caused her a
lot of stress. She is a very thorough worker. Leaving a job where only the
higher priority stuff has gotten finished is not her style. She has no job
satisfaction from a job like that! That, as well as the pressure to do more
in less time, has put a tremendous load on her.
Summers are always a blur of activities. The Mercedes is up for sale at a
local car lot. They took it on a consignment basis. A neighbor might be
interested in buying the trailer dad gave me several years ago. I told him
he could make me an offer. I would be just as happy with something about
half the size right now.
Well that is about all that is going on around here… what has your family
been up too? I'd love to hear from you too!