Donaldson Crew Adventures

Deer are normal to have around here, but over the past few months a pair of peacocks seems to have made a 6 house block in our neighborhood their home.   

Last summer, we did our front landscaping near the end of June.  We focused here as that was the first thing people saw when they came up to the house.   This spring I wanted to get our sides and back done a little earlier so we could enjoy the yard through the entire summer.   

Here is a 'before' video from about 2.5 weeks ago.  

Here is the 'after' video from today.  They finished Friday and spend the day today putting some rocks along edges where it was steep to prevent erosion.  

Abbie spent St. Paddy's day performing at many retirement homes in Bend and ending the day at a pub in town. It was a fun day for Abbie and all the dancers. 

A few weeks ago LuLu and Papa were visiting and were able to attend Grandparent's Day at school. They took some funny pictures and had a great morning.

Today Hunter’s youth group with Church did a snowshoe outing. It was also exciting for me as it was my first outdoor event since being in the hospital over a month ago. It was a great day.

Today at school was Dr. Seuss Day. Abbie and Hunter dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2 and Noah dressed up as the spotted dog from the book "Put Me In The Zoo." It was a fun day!

Last spring I did some pipe shelving for Noah in his room above his desk. Hunter wanted some as well but we came up with a different design for his. Like Noah’s we used reclaimed barn wood that is over 100 years old giving it a rustic feel with the pipe.

For the last few days we have been socked in with freezing fog.  It makes for yucky days that seem to stay the same time all day long.  There is almost zero air movement however the fog has produced some amazing frost art creations on all sorts of things outside.  There must also be some slight air movement as most of the ice crystals point northward.

And Not just plants... Pic 1 - chain links, Pic 2 - Wind chimes, Pic 3 - wire stuck in the trunk of a Juniper

Today we actually got about 1 hour of partial sun so took some pics with the sun shining

Here is another example of frost art that I found on my car one morning going to work when we lived in Wales.

Being Hunters 12th year this is a transitional year for him as he enters his teens, so we are trying to plan some memorable events for him.  This weekend he and I went down to the Steens mountain area of southeastern Oregon.  This is cowboy country so I thought it would be fun to go horse back riding while there.  We went with Steens Mountain Guest Ranch.  This is a working ranch where they heard 600 head of cattle.  Tim and Susan (owners) do week long trail rides during the summer as they move cattle around.  For us, it was just a 2 hour trail ride  up to the Kiger Ridge area. 

Being October the weather is starting to be more unsettled and in this wide open country it made for some great photos and lighting with storms and rain around.  

Amazing sunrise colors out front of the house this morning in late October.