Saturday, August 18, 2012

Fred, Becky & the girls

As I posted last time, we went to the Great Northwest to see the kids.
We had a great time and iot was amazing to see how the girls had changed.

Lindsay is becoming quite the young lady, She is a lot less shy than she has been. I think that is because she is so involved in school activities and this is her second year as a cheer leader. She really seems to enjoy the interaction with the other girls.

Gracie, on the other hand is as shy as a left hook. She has never met a stranger. She is the opposite of what Lindsay was, and much more head strong.
It is said that the second child is the wild one, and I believe it. She has her own mind and it has become a challenge to her parents to keep her under control.
They are very consistent with her and it seems to be helping.

The flight to and from SEATAC was surprisingly easy. The flight to Seattle was long and the seats were not very comfortable, but if you don't expect much you won't be disappointed, and we weren't.
We much prefer to travel in our RV, but the cost of fuel and the amount of time we had made that impossible.

The kids are here now. The are staying in Mike & Barb's house. We are really enjoying their company.
Wednesday, the went to Graceland, and were pleasantly surprised the the number of fans there was not as bad as they had expected, as this the the 35th anniversary of Elvis's death.

There was a family get together at Bev's house on Sunday and 60+ family members were there to meet Fred and another family member.
Some of those folks I had not seen in years and some I had never met even though I have been in this family for nearly 40 years.
I was very proud of Fred as he was surely overwhelmed at the crowd of people. When he got too much, he went outside. The weather was cooler and bearable. The humidity was down, so hot but not so humid.

We are headed for Bealle street today to eat some of BB King's ribs and see the sights and hear the sounds of the home of the blues.
We are going during the day so the children can go, but they do have live music in the afternoon  so we can get our "Blues" fix.

The nursery is closing as of August 31st. and we are slowly decreasing the quantity of plants.
There is still going to be a lot of plants left and Barb is planning several planting beds on the property.
The caretakers cottage (our house) will require grasses in its landscape, so, we will use a good many there as well.

Over the last 2 weeks about 3 acres of the land has been cleared of trees and undergrowth. It has not been utilized and now is in the process of being converted to a secondary pasture. There has been a tremendous amount of ground work done as well as another pond being dug on the cleared area.
There is a large drainage ditch dividing the property and the 2 pastures will have to be bridged.
Southwest corner of barn & fence

close-up og electrobraid fence
We have almost completed the enclosure of the area in front of the barn (old nursery building) to make a pasture. with elecrobraid (nylon rope with copper wire braided thorough it) fencing. The fence will be powered by solar and will give the horses quite a jolt when they touch it.
All of the posts are in and we have run the wire. We have stretched the first time, but it requires stretching at least once more. That will be done on Monday.

The trailers
4 stalls are to be delivered next week, so we have more things to be removed from the barn so that they can be assembled and installed. As you can tell we have lots of work to do.

Mike and Barb want to move the horses as soon as possible. They are 20 miles away at another barn and it will be so much more convenient  to have the horses closer.

We are leaving here to return to Lake Livingston State Park as soon as we return from our visit to Mike & sally in Michigan.
We leave here on Sept. 3rd and plan to stay 4 to 7 days. They are super people and good friends and we look forward to seeing them and their neck of the woods. Sally always asks about Cleo and they are looking forward to seeing her.

Brenda & Fred



Ta ta for now.