My cousin Adam cast aside his earthly restraints on December 31st, heading off into the vast spiritual unknown to seek out whatever new adventures are in store for him. His body was found at his cabin by his friend, Jim Hollenbeck, who came up and told me.
After talking with Jim, I called the Sheriff to see what needed to be done. Since he was already dead, I was looking for the “non-emergency” phone number, but I couldn’t find one, so I called 911. Turns out they consider a dead body an emergency even if it has been dead for a while, so there were great goings-on to find an available Sheriff (we don’t have many in the county). I met him on the road about 2 hours later, and we went up to the cabin to see what was what.
Now that Christmas is over and everyone has received and opened their gifts, I can post the project that I completed and sent to a number of my family members!I got the idea from Family Tree Magazine and it looked like something that would be perfect, especially given that I’m currently working on the family tree.
The Family Tree Puzzle is on 8 2″ blocks. A total of 12 pictures, each cut into quarters and glued on the sides of the blocks. When I sent it out, it was jumbled into pieces, my theory being that family members would want to put it together!
I’ve been doing quite a bit of genealogy work recently, gathering up family documents and entering them into my new Family Tree Maker software. Genealogy and documenting my family tree is something I’ve been working on for years and now I finally feel like I’m getting a handle on it.
In doing some research on-line yesterday, I came across this poem I’d like to share. Fit’s me to a tee!
There are definitely some advantages to sticking with natural soaps, cosmetics and other products you put on or in your body. Studies show that women consume POUNDS of lipstick during their lives!
Check out this video … but probably not on an empty stomach!
I just completed the first phase of the website for the Coos Curry Small Woodlands Association. This website is a resource for CCSWA members and local small woodland owners.
I designed and made the site as a volunteer. This was my first website using java-scripted menus. I think they turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.
The picture used in the header is one that Jere took from a hillside near our house.
Yesterday we went to the Oregon Country Fair. If you haven’t ever heard of it, it’s an amazing collection of people and events. I can only describe it as “21st century hippies meet the Renaissance Festival”. People in costumes, children, really cool buildings and art creations, nature, good food, incredible stuff to buy (all handmade and very creative) … just amazing.
L to R: Coven, Elizabeth, me, Aurora, Miranda, Jere, Harley, Desi
Next weekend (the 17th), I fly to Dallas to be the keynote speaker at the Texas Soapmakers Convention. I’ll be speaking about the growth and development of the handcrafted soapmaking industry and soap and cosmetic labeling requirements.
I’m excited about going and looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones. What I’m NOT excited about, is flying on United Airlines. I’ve detailed my past bad experiences with United - one where I ended up sleeping in baggage claim in Chicago, and another when my tickets were changed. Unfortunately, I don’t have any options because United Express is the only airlines that flies out of our small airport at the moment.
I just got back from the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild conference in Palm Springs, CA. It was an awesome 3-day experience! Being the current President of the Soap Guild, I had responsibilities while there and was involved in the preparations (although Leigh O’Donnell, the Conference Chairman, was truly the mastermind behind it all). I loved having the opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones. We soapmakers certainly are an interesting and passionate lot!
Yesterday I got a call from the owner of our local Feed Store (capitalized because that’s actually the name of the store). Since it was 7:00pm on a Sunday evening, I knew something was up. Turns out that a woman in town, Carolyn, had become the unplanned foster parent of 11 mallard ducklings.
The back-story is that there was a momma and her babies trying to cross the road. The momma got scared by the cars and flew away, leaving the ducklings scattering. If you’ve never seen baby ducklings before, they are extremely small and very uncoordinated. A passing man picked them up (to save them from being run over) and - instead of leaving them safely by the road for momma to return to, he packed them in a box and took them to Carolyn.
Carolyn had just raised some chicks, so she had facilities to care for the ducklings overnight, but she lives in town (and is in her 70’s) and didn’t want the duck.
Long and short of it is that now we have 11 ducklings safely in our baby-duck-and-chick raising pen. As of this evening they were all healthy, warm and somewhat confused.
We’re hoping that some of them will be females. Turns out that of the 18 or so other ducks we still have living on the pond, only 3 are females. I think the drakes out there would appreciate evening up the score a little!
My cousin Adam cast aside his earthly restraints on December 31st, heading off into the vast spiritual unknown to seek out whatever new adventures are in store for him. His body was found at his cabin by his friend, Jim Hollenbeck, who came up and told me.
Now that Christmas is over and everyone has received and opened their gifts, I can post the project that I completed and sent to a number of my family members!I got the idea from 
