For Ben: 'Nuff said.

Get a napkin BEFORE you click the title.

Jim

Missed Ya All

Hi ya all, thanks for all the great pictures on the blog. Boy I missed you guys and gals and all the kids. I'm glad you had so much fun. We are in Jamestown NM right now going to Riverside.
I'm especially disappointed about not making it since you were there Chuck, that is the second one recently that we have not connected. I'm hoping we wont miss next year. Since I had just been there a couple month before, we just couldn't afford the fuel to drive out. It would be so great to have just one year that all of us were together. Just know that I love ya all and think of you every single day of my life.
Hugs and Kisses

Hey Chuck, If I miss to many more reunions you will have to pass the BLACK SHEEP TROPHY to me. PS> YOU LOOK GREAT, I love you and miss you

Something Old Yet New ?!!

Since it is so quiet I will add this. I finally made a fire call this monday with my new "job". Illa called me on the phone while she was coming home and said I should get ready for a dispatch sine she could see black smoke north of the valley. I didn't hear a dispatch but headed to the fire station to wait for one and met up with the fire engine heading out code 3, so I followed it. We ended up in the Town north of us and suited up as we watched the trees crowning with flames shooting up around 30 or 40 feet. One structure was engulfed and the surrounding area of trees was on fire with 3 or so houses in line with the fire because of the wind directions. We threw out two hoses and took the head of the fire and worked it for close to five hours and kept the fire from destroying and more structures.
Very hot and tiring and yet thrilling at the same time. I have been on so many fires over the years I can't remember a third of them. Yet, this was different because with the old job we usually arrived hours if not days after they had started Here, we are an initial response unit and the first or part of the first to arrive. Hard to explain how it feels to lay the hose and turn on the nozzle and beat back the power of the fire as it tries to beat you back.
I saw a couple of the "old" crew I worked with and they both where shocked to see me in a different uniform but still working fires ! lol
see? older men can ride bikes and fight fires even !!

What are we waiting for, another picture of my feet??????????

Click on title.

Ben should get a haircut!

7-20-08 Reunion

Peter will have to do the magic of Photoshop to get Ben into the pic. Dick's driving will be much more comfortable with his new powder.


Again, feel free to peruse the Rouzaud / Garcia blog. The reunion just took place this weekend at the Valley of the Rogue Campground in Rogue River.. There are up-to-date pictures of the event. It was, by at least my account, a very good occasion. As life unfolds it is a good thing to share this time with the others that make us who we are. Some of us are taking the place of those that were, others are finding out who we are. All of us are on a journey that we are sharing.

I hesitate to write any more, as I don't want to color your impression with my views. Thank you to all of those of you that could make it, young, older, and in-between (me). Know that if you were not there, you were missed and spoken highly of. FYI. Next year, tentatively, the get-together will be on the Oregon Coast around or above Gold Beach. The time needs to be at the end of August or first part of September.

Feel free to post your thoughts, opinions, pictures, and perspectives on the blog. It is ours, and yours.

Jim

Sat. July 19

Smores??????????

Rogue River 2008. We're batting .700!!!!!!

If we were a baseball player this would be very good batting average. But still, this is very good. It feels good to get together with those we love and care about.

Ode to the Master

my opinion

At times I think that there are more reasons to not attend these times when we get together and renew our relationship with our biological siblings and family. But then when I go I find more completion to who i am, and why i am how i am,
Yes, we are all differant and unusual. But so is life. I see our mother in all of us, and it makes me appreciate her more and more. Her Love her tenderness, her acceptance, her joy, her careing and her willingness to allow us to have a better life than which she could provide for all of us.
It wanst by chance that we all were in the homes we were. God knew that these homes would give us a little bit of that extended love that mom wasnt able to provide and yet keep us all together. Even if it was in our later years that we would all reunite.
I think that the best way that we can honor our mother is by continuing to have these annual reunions, no matter the cost the distance or the location, whos going to be there or not be there. I know that some of us have to sacrifice to make these events take place, but isnt that what life is about is sacrifice.
Some things only happen once in our life, and for those we need to be understanding and know that there is always next year or the year after. But know this. in our hearts your still there.

I am going to whine...

Well,the last two weeks have been full of a lot of frustration so I am going to whine!! I have so much going on I am not going to plan on being at the reunion. I thought school would be the only thing that would keep me California bound, but I was wrong.

Last weekend my computer developed major problems and it looks like I'm going to have to replace it with another very soon. I really have to have a computer for school. That is a major expense I am not looking forward to!! As I was stewing and feeling sorry for myself (I had a camera in mind that I have wanted to buy for the last 9 months) my daughter Teisha let me know that she plans to move out in September. Well, that in itself is not great news, but considering I cannot afford to live in San Francisco by myself, I have to spend as much time as possible looking for either a place to live or a roommate. Teisha has not liked living out here because we are a long ways out and it costs her extra transporation money because of her very busy lifestyle. Her very best friend came up looking for a roommate, and Teisha decided this was a good opportunity for her. She will pay $300 a month less for rent and the transportation problems will go away. It will be a good move for her.

Actually, I am trying to use this situation to lean on the Lord for strength and trusting Him to provide for me. It is the hard times that help us to build our spiritual muscles! Those of you who pray please pray that I will find a place that will allow me to provide for Lydia when she decides to come home.

I have one more thing to whine about and then I am done!! Whitney and Michelle have decided to baptize the children on the weekend of the family reunion. Now that makes me very sad because they did not know that I was not going to the reunion so how important was it for them to have me at the baptism? I mean these things are very important to a grandmother who prays for her children and grandchildren's spiritual life daily. Do I really mean so little to them that they give absouletely no thought to whether I can attend such a wonderful occassion? I mean this is absolutely the worst of all my pains!!! I think all of you parents understand my thoughts and probably have had to deal with disappointment and hurt with your children as well.

Well, I guess I am done whining. Thanks for listening and I will be praying for all of you as you go to the reunion. I am going to have a rough week this week so keep me in your prayers I love you all. Gi

Sorry, Peter.

I don't know if I should be happy or sad about this, but whatever it is, Peter is going to going to have to be much more creative to retain his title of D.E. Through no fault of his own some of his activities are being curtailed or at the very least being reduced. He'll have to get a different activity for Bonnie and Rick to present. Yeh, that's right, no snake handling demonstrations this time. On CNN, a snake-handling pastor was arrested, and 100 snakes, mostly deadly were confiscated. I think I'm happy about this.

Jim

Get Out..................of town. OK. Free Bird in Bend

We just got back from a Lynyrd Skynyrd Concert (Sweet Home Alabama, Free Bird) in Bend. Just before we got home, in fact, within 18 miles of home, we were stopped by a fire here in Del Norte. We ended up getting home at 5:00 this morning, by going over some backroads, after waiting about 12 hours in Gasquet. What a blitz!!

I'm no lover of Obama, but ya gotta be careful of the net - full of lies!!!

We shouldn't believe anything without confirmation from a reputable site or . Copy and paste the link below, or click on title above. http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/obama-birth.htm
Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter Peter
That makes up for the times I forget to sign.

interesting if true, and scary

YIKES! We may end up with Hillary yet!
>
>
>
> by Thomas Sowell
> Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow
> The Hoover Institution
> Stanford University
> Stanford, California 94305
>
> Thomas Sowell is one of the brightest, if in fact he did
> write it. If this
> turns out to be true can you imagine what will
> happen....... It has long
> been thought that
> as long as one parent was a U.S. citizen, the child would
> be recognized as
> a citizen.
>
> Interesting question: CAN OBAMA BE PRESIDENT ???
>
> It seems that Barack Obama is not qualified to be president
> after all for
> the following reason:
>
> Barack Obama is not legally a U.S. natural-born citizen
> according to the law
> on the books at the time of his birth, which falls between
> December 24, 1952
> to November 13, 1986.
>
>
> Presidential office requires a natural-born citizen, if the
> child was not
> born to two U.S. citizen parents, which of course is what
> exempts John
> McCain though he was born in the PanamaCanal.
>
> US Law very clearly stipulates: '.If only one parent
> was a U.S. citizen at
> the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in
> the United States
> for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be
> after the age of
> 16.
>
> ' Barack Obama's father was not a U.S. citizen and
> Obama's mother was only
> 18 when Obama was born, which means though she had been a
> U.S. citizen for
> 10 years, (or citizen perhaps because of Hawaii being a
> territory) the
> mother fails the test for being so for at least 5 years
> **prior to** Barack
> Obama's birth, but *after* age 16.
>
> It doesn't matter *after* . In essence, she was not
> old enough to qualify
> her son for automatic U.S. citizenship. At most, there were
> only 2 years
> elapsed since his mother turned 16 at the time of Barack
> Obama's birth. His
> mother would have needed to have been 16+5= 21 years old,
> at the time of
> Barack Obama's birth for him to have been a
> natural-born citizen
>
> As aforementioned, she was a young college student at the
> time. Barack
> Obama was already 3 years old at that time his mother would
> have needed to
> have waited to have him as the only U.S. Citizen parent.
> Obama instead
> should have been naturalized, but even then, that would
> still disqualify him
> from holding the office.
>
> *** Naturalized citizens are ineligible to hold the office
> of President.
>
> *** Though Barack Obama was sent back to Hawaii at age 10,
> all the other
> info does not matter because his mother is the one who
> needed to have been a
> U.S. citizen for 10 years prior to his birth on August 4,
> 1961, with 5 of
> those years being after age 16. Further, Obama may have had
> to have remained
> in the country for some time to protect any citizenship he
> would have had,
> rather than living in Indonesia.
>
> Now you can see why Obama's aides stopped his speech
> about how we
> technically have more than 50 states, because it would have
> led to this
> discovery. This is very clear cut and a blaring violation
> of U.S. election
> law. I think the present Gov. of California would be very
> interested in
> knowing this if Obama were to be elected --- in violation
> to U.S. LAW ---
> President without being a natural-born U.S. citizen, and it
> would set
> precedence.
>
> Stay tuned to your TV sets because I suspect some of this
> information will
> be leaking through over the next several days, weeks, and
> months.
>

If it Rains at the Reunion:

• Besides the obligatory Saturday evening Potluck, I've planned several things to help us all get involved if it starts raining.
• Saturday breakfast: Glenda will give instructions on how to properly store frogs in the attic.
• Saturday brunch: Lisi will model her latest crazy outfit and hats.
• Saturday brunch #2: Jess will give instructions on the proper way to carry a lap dog.
• Saturday before brunch: Lili will share how to make a man a willing slave. (Suzie asked for this one.
• Saturday at Noon: Jim will give a talk on how to make friends with Bigfoot:
Bigfoot likes women with mustaches; Grunts and Howells; Installing escape zippers in sleeping bags; Proper ways to groom for ticks. etc.
• Saturday after lunch: If Bon shows: To show her stay in Tennessee has merit, she will demonstrate the proper method for religious snake handling.
• Saturday before dinner: Leuria will lecture on 'The Joys of Being Mexican”.
• Saturday later: Ben will lecture on why women and old men should not ride motorcycles
• Sunday am: Chuck will give us a 12 step course in how to stop being a Black Sheep
• Sunday brunch: Dick will give us all lessons on how to be sweet and kind to one-another. (He will be wearing his cupid outfit)
• Sunday Lunch: Suzie will be sharing with the little girls “How to stop being a snotty little sister”.
• Me: I'll have to keep all this on schedule.

Electric cars on CNN...and our ZAP

Click on the title to see an iReport entry on CNN. Or, go to the main CNN page and scroll down to the iReport section and you'll see a title about electric cars, or copy and paste the link below.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-43026
Jim

last suday in yreka

this was in Yreka at about 6:00pm the hills are like about 3 miles away.

Sign up Here for reunion weekend of July 18-20

Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept.
Valley of the Rogue State Park
(Between Grants Pass and Medford right off I-5)
Call 1.800.452.5687
Most of us are at 'F' loop
www.OregonStateParks.org
copy and paste the following for reservations online or click title above:
http://www.reserveamerica.com/campgroundDirectoryList.do?contractCode=OR&pstate=null&letter=V

Happy 4th!!

This is some artwork, Claudia, Randy's wife, and I did today for Pastels in the Park at our 4th of July activities in CC.
We all have much to be grateful for.

Click on the title to see more pics.
Jim

Happy Birhtday to Bonnie and anyone else I don't know who's BD it is!

Hey All;

I love being married .. I love my husband and life is good .. God has blessed me.

So I have reserved my campsite. Nothing like waiting till the last minute. But with my life, I never know my availability. So I'll see you all who is going to the reunion. My kids & families are coming too. Who all is coming ?

Hopefully this is our last year without Chardo. I want to see if we can plan next years after his getting home and really have a great homecoming for him !!

Bolen Lake

Andrew and I went on an overnight camping trip to the Klamath. On the way home we went by Bolen Lake, a small campground without any people. I'd recommend it. We didn't camp there as we ran out of stove fuel and no fires were allowed.

Click on the title to see all the pics.

Jim

How About a Fire Update

BnI; what's the status of the fires around you all? I hope you have a fire break around your place! Are you working the fires? How are you both feeling? If your feeling OK, I know a guy that needs some wood split; he's still milking that minor surgery he had.