Mountains and Birthdays and Hiring It Out.

Early last week, before our Family History Tour, the "kids", Jill, Jake, and Irene went mountain climbing. The parentheses are because my kids are 50 and 52, but still my kids, and still doing youthful things. 

Jake is a geology buff, it was his major in college, and he follows geologists on the internet and written material.

He decided the next challenge was Mount Aix, pronounced "aches", 25 mikes SE of Mt Rainier. It's an extinct volcano millions of years old.

It's just a day hike for there three. The report was that the views were awesome, with other Cascade mountains popping up. See that trail?  It was steep, a scramble up and trekking poles down. 

Jake was not on our History Tour because he was off to another adventure, called last minute for an opening on a trail maintenance crew in the wilderness near Mt Baker.

On Friday Tom and I were off to breakfast as usual , where we helped to celebrate Dede's 98th birthday, joined by her daughter and granddaughter from New York State. 

Dede is quite a remarkable 98 year old, still going strong.

Saturday we slowed down. I spent a lot of time putting my blog post of the History Tour together, and we watched our soccer team on TV.

Sunday we worked in the yard in the morning and then Tom prepared for the crew that was coming on Monday. 

Now it's mid-day on Monday. The crew is done and long gone.

We have reached that stage in life where it's impossible for me to do any big jobs and it'sjust not safe for Tom to be on the roof and on tall ladders. We hired Valentine Roofing to clean our roof and gutter microscreens and wash the exteriors of our windows. 

Two young men arrived at 8:00, got to work, and got the job done before noon. All the debris has been take care of and it's great to have clean windows!

Tom had all of the window screens off and washed before the crew came, and now has most of then put back on so we can open our windows and let what cool air there is vent the house We are cooler today, only in the high 70's, but we heat back up, reaching 92 by Wednesday. Tom still has the insides of the windows to do, but he can take his time. 

Now the Monday housework is done and the last load of laundry is calling me. Then it will be time for a leisurely lunch. 

Ah, summer!
 

Reeder Family Heritage Tour

 Tom is the family historian, with extensive files of family genealogy, covering decades and centuries, that he has compiled over many years of studying family history.

He decided it was time to take his two siblings and spouses and any offspring available on a tour of their history.

He had fun planning it. Although there were a few last minute additions and subtractions, most were presented with an itinerary and a "Boarding Pass". 

Our first stop was the Masonic Cemetery in Tumwater, just south of Olympia.

Here they dodged a sprinkler while locating Tom, Jan, and Dave's parents, paternal grandparents and great grandparents.

Siblings

Mother and daughter at Aunt Clessie's grave. Jill is wearing a crocheted dress that belonged to Aunt Clessie and Irene is wearing her baret. 

Jill is showing her California cousin Jason the grave of their grandparents, Grampa Bud and Gramma Bernice.

Two more generations were there, including Tom's great grandparents, with the Civil War marker. The younger generation had to figure out how many greats to add for their generation. 

Bud's sister Wanda, and some of her family were here too.

From here we drove across the prarie to Oakville and the cemetery where the maternal side of the Reeders, the Vandervoorts and the Bowers, are buried. Gertie and her sister Phosie, of the famous Phosie and Gerte Picnic, were Vandervoorts, and their line before that was Bower. Eventually the whole clan came from Nebraska to settle here on the prarie near Oakville. 

Tom explained the relationships. Again it was up to each generation to figure out how many "greats" to add to these grandparents and aunts and uncles. 

Now it was time for lunch, which Tom and I packed as a picnic to eat at nearby Millersylvania State Park. More history was shared. 

Then it was time to go in search of Reeder Road, which bordered the property in Maytown where Joe and Gertie Reeder took over a homestead and worked at the sawmill there. 

Siblings

added Spouses, Vicki and Linda

with offspring, Jason and Jill,

and with graddaughter Irene. 

We drove up Reeder Road to locate about where the property would have been. Eventually the mill and much of the mill housing burned down. Joe and Gertie bought the East Olympia store nearby. They ran the store, which at that time was a railroad stop on the main line. Gertie was the postmistress. During the depression much of the trade was through the barter systen, and cash was scarce. 

The old country store is more of a museum than a store now but the current owners are keepng it going. We shared who we were and why we were there and they were very pleased to know the story. 

Old stores always have an ice cream case. We all bought dessert and ate it on the front porch of the store. 

Our tour was winding down, but we still had to locate the property where the old cabin on Offiut Lake was, a rustic dwelling that was both a recreation property for family and a dwelling for Joe and Gertie. 

We think we know where it was. Of course there are big, modern homes there now. 

Then we arrived a bit early for our dinner reservations at Offiut Lake Resort, and the Lady of the Lake restaurant.  We had time to sit and relax lakeside. 

We picked up a few more people here, Vicki's cousin Kay and husband Don, who live in the area. Dinner was good, visiting continued, and then we were invited for dessert at Kay and Don's beautiful home. 

It was time to head home, about an hour away for most of us. We were tired when Tom and I arrived home about 9:30, but it had been a great day, a big success for Tom, and a good learning and bonding experience for everyone. 

This and That Days

 

Here is the this-and-that bouquet of flowers I gathered from our garden on Sunday. I reflects my this-and-that days lately. Nothing big happening, and not a great deal of energy to do much anyway. 

On Saturday we started slow, recovering from a busy 4th. I did about an hour of yardwork in the morning and another hour in the evening after dinner, but then the mosquitoes attacked me and I have been dealing with itchy bites since then. 

About 8:00 the neighbors from across the street came over to see the garden. Mostly we just visit across their fence when I go out to get the mail or newspaper. Since he had never been in our garden I invited them to come over. By the time they came I was ready to get inside away from the bugs so Tom took over and I joined them at the end of their tour. He is from Texas and was full of praise for our garden and what we have created over the many years we have been here. It was nice to hear. 

Sunday I traded yard work for a mile walk in the park. Mobility seems to be getting harder, but I try to keep moving. Jake came over for lunch and then Tom and Jake went to the stadium for a Sounders match. I watched on TV, and then watched the US Men's National Team play Mexico in the Gold Cup final. Then we went out for burgers. I told Tom that I was still on vacation too, since much of the country was enjoying a three day weekend. 

Monday was laundry and house cleaning day. Walking back and forth, washing and folding clothes, dusting, mopping floors, and organizing wears me out more than walking a mile. Glad that's done for the week. 

We had a friends Zoom meet up this morning and now I have not moved from my computer desk. It's going to be over 80 again today and I have no desire to go work outside and battle bugs. I think I'll just be lazy today.

I think I have slumped into summer. 

A Grand Old Fourth

 

Here we are in our team colors, the USA Team!

Our 4th of July celebrations are fairly simple. Other people do most of the work. We do love the Red,White, and Blue, everything and everywhere. 

We started our day by attending a parade-side potluck brunch in Jim and Becky's driveway.

This year, with no Gus-the-Bus to drive in the parade, Jill and Irene joined us. 

After eating and visiting, we moved to the curb for the Normandy Park Parade. 

Of course the fire department starts it off. 

I like red cars, old and new, but mostly old. This parade is mostly about vehicles. 

This Sounders Green one got my attention. We tried to identy the make of each one, but I can't remember. Just cool cars.

This one is older that I am!

The "floats" were vehicles too.

There were lots of kids standing by, eagerly awaiting the candy being tossed. They all came equipped with Ziplock bags. 

This is a neighborhood parade, with a small town feel. Even big cities like Seattle have "small town" suburbs. 

After the parade Tom and I came home to some quiet time before driving to SIL Jan's house on Henderson Bay near Gig Harbor. Our whole immediate family was there:

Front row: Linda, Tom, Jan, Back row: Jill, Seala(Isaac's girlfriend) Isaac, Irene, and Jake.

Then young people went canoeing and kyaking and paddleboarding. 

Before, in between, and after, there was food.

Hors d'oeurves 

Salmon dinner

Desserts. Irene made the Flag cherry pie, her first pie ever. She did good!

And of course there were fireworks. Jill provided a close up show, and there with pyrotechnics going on all around the bay.

Sparklers, fun for even me.

We enjoyed Jill's show and everyone elses too. 

It was after midnight when we got home. The booming of rockets bursting in air went on in the neighborhood until 2:00 am. I didn't care. We were all celebrating our nation's birthday.

It was another Grand old 4th!