Inn of the Mountain Gods

This past weekend was QUITE INTERESTING!!! As previously blogged, we had wonderful relatives over for supper Friday night.

Saturday, Phil participated with a group of counselling and outreach workers on whose governing board he is a member, in an outreach ministry to a low-income housing project. I regret not having any pictures but for most of the day, while giving out free lunch and hearing "Christain Rapping" the members shared the gospel with the apartment dwellers.


Amidst that, we attended a VERY interesting and unusual wedding mass! These attendent tuxs reminded me of the God Father movie!

Sunday, after church we drove to Ruidoso and had a great meal at the Inn of the Mountain Gods with our super, dupper friends Bruce and Beth! The "Buffet of the Nations" was fabulous. Phil especially enjoyed the "shrimp balls" although he got a little silly about them. Are they the seafood version of Rocky Mountain Oysters?

Monday morning we ate breakfast at "Ethel and Lucy's", a cute little shop with all kinds of I Love Lucy memorabilia and old shows constantly running on the t.v. in the corner. WE stopped at Bonita Park on the way home and visited some great friends.


In Roswell we picked up one of our favorite girls!!! Shanon was back from the far east where she helps care for abandoned, special needs children in an orphanage! She spent two wonderful days with us! On Monday we did something totally cool! There is a little lady in the same unit as Phil's dad at Retirement Ranch. No one speaks her language so in some way, she is in solitary confinement! I cannot understand why they have her there in the confined area. Shanon gave her a visit and they had a wonderful conversation. Among other things, she found out this precious lady is a Christian. She wouldn't tell Shanon how old she was other than she was older than twenty!

Regarding "Me at Six"

Well, I surely didn't figure I'd be hard to pick out and I didn't even notice the little girl in front on me looks like Hannah (ya think???) until one of Lesli's friends guessed it was me! I'm the girl with the pigtails! Actually, the girl that is front row, left side looks like Hannah, too!

Pork Chops and Patty Pan

There hasn't been anything to blog about for awhile but we finally bought a new grill! Phil has been wanting one for a long time and I can hardly drag him away from grill displays at Lowe's, etc. There are so may big, shiny ones out there but I was afraid some of them are pure junk and our shine would turn to rust in no time. We went for quality rather than looks and got a Weber! It's supposed to last a life time.


Phil was so thrilled, HE asked ME to take a picture, which is a first!
We had Mom, Aunt Mary and Bertha over for supper so Phil grilled pork chops and patty pan squash. We also served vine ripened, sliced tomatoes, garden fresh green beans, mixed greens and "peaches and cream corn on the cob" purchased off a roadside stand, stovetop stuffing. Topping it off was chocolate mocha zucchini cake!!


Don't like your daily commute? Click on "Alaskan Adventures & Polar - oids" and see how son, Pat is getting to work these days! I looked real close and couldn't see the harnesses that attached the men safely to the "billy pew". Evidently, they are invisible........ This is definitely NOT for those who don't like heights!

Me at six!

I don't have anything "blog worthy" lately but I came across this picture while going through a trunk of old pictures. This was taken in Lewiston, Idaho. My daddy pastored the church and at that time was critically ill with cancer. He passed away seven months later. I'm thankful for the Christian heritage I have.

Happy Anniversary, Babe!

The third was our thirty-sixth anniversary! Can't really say we did a lot to celebrate but we will later. We ended up having lunch with Dad at Retirement Ranch for their annual "Fourth of July" Barbecue which was really sitting at tables in the foyer! Then in the evening we went to the monthly Emmaus service. Since Phil will be working a Walk this month he didn't want to miss the "laying on of hands." Soooo, as far as an anniversary goes....well.

It's not hard to stop and reflect on an amazing life with a wonderful man, though! When I think of the abundance of special times we have spent together and how blessed we are to have a stable and lasting marriage, I am overwhelmed. We do anniversary type holidays numerous times a year and have a blast! Phil blessed me with say, "I'm sure glad to have been able to spend thirty-six years with you, Babe!" Since my love language is written and spoken words, that worked for me!

Got this email this week and it kind of fit the occasion!

-When I was married 25 years, I looked at me wife one day and said, "Honey, 25
years ago we had a cheap apartment, a cheap car, slept on a sofa bed and watched
a 10 inch black and white TV, but I got to sleep every night with a hot 25 year
old woman. Now we have a $500,000 home, a $45,000 car, nice big bed and plasma
screen TV, but I'm sleeping with a 50 year old woman. It seems to me that you
are not holding up your side of things." My wife is a very reasonable woman. She
told me to go out and find a hot 25 year old and she would make sure that I
would once again be living in a cheap apartment, driving a cheap car, sleeping
on a sofa bed and watching a 10 black and white TV.

Udder Insanity!

Our Fourth of July was quite different than it had ever been before. Phil started the day VERY early as he, along with fellow Kiwanians set out American flags all over town. Then he reported directly to Green Acres Lake in the middle of town to help set up for the first annual Great American Dairy Boat Races! This was a brain child of Kent Ware, a part of the Matt 25 board and was a fund raiser for Matt 25. They charged $5,000.00 entry fee to dairies to participate in this fun race across the lake. The event raised $85,000 and was quite entertaining. The boats could not use combustible engines but a couple devised nitrogen engines. There was a homemade paddle boat which would have been great except they couldn't steer it. Actually, quite a few of the entries had trouble steering which made the race really funny. Paddles won out in the end. However, the winner had a guy using a grain scoop to help paddle, also!! The boats were given cleaver names and painted in creative ways. My favorite had bovine udders sticking out the front! One boat was named "Udder Maniac".

The races lasted from two to four with the championship at six. Then we waited until 9:40 p.m. for the fireworks. It was quite a spectacular show, especially for a small town. It seemed like most of the town was there, too.