Pic-of-the-Month For July 22, 2021

 Hello Friends,

Ben, Zoey and I are in Oregon.  We are finally getting some cooler nighttime temperatures.  It has been unusually hot for Oregon this summer.  Drought, forest fires, and smoke seems to be the normal Oregon summer, unfortunately.  Right now it is clear here in the Bend area, but the biggest forest fire in the US is south of us near Bly, the Bootleg Fire.  It is bigger than the state of Rhode Island!  That area is where Ben hunted deer years ago with good friend Warren Ausland.  It's very sad that the gorgeous area is burned.  

We took our first little camping trip, after completing various doctor appointments, to a favorite camping spot on the Crooked River.  It was very quiet and peaceful, and there was no cell service or WIFI, so our quiet time was uninterrupted!  

 

 Even Zoey is visiting the doctor... again, we're not sure what she did, but she cries in pain every time we lift her in or out of the trailer house or the pickup (she cannot jump at all due to her injury 5 years ago).  She even starts crying before we pick her up, because she knows it's going to hurt.  The Vet we've seen has her on various meds, but we're not seeing much improvement, so we took her for her 3rd visit Friday afternoon.  We are headed out for a week-long camping trip starting on Sunday, so we hope she starts feeling better soon.  She can walk, but doesn't go far, and the Vet recommended kennel rest.  Since she doesn't have a kennel, she gets trailer house rest!   This picture of her is from the other day when this young boy asked if he could pet her.  They got along very well.  She got lots of petting, he got lots of kisses!  Anyhow, we're trying to be very careful with her, and hope she does well on our wilderness camping trip in her come-along kennel (the trailer house!) 

Speaking of trailer house... we found a small used trailer to tow down to Baja with us to use on camping trips down there!  It's single axle, has AC, a toilet and shower, microwave, a good sized refrigerator, a queen sized tent bed (advertised to sleep 8!!), and even a smart TV.  There is some "fixing up" to do, but it should work really well for where we'd like to go in Baja.  Today we bought some items we need for it, and I have cleaned out some excess things from our Oregon trailer to put in it; kitchen towels, extra utensils, coffee mugs, etc.  Also, I'm excited that I'll have a nice sized RV refrigerator to bring things down to Baja, like Tillamook cheese and salted butter!!  Maybe even frozen Marion berries!  Yum!  

In the meantime, while sitting in Ben's brother's driveway in our trailer, Ben has been very busy on a Baja project (That's why I'm writing this for July).   Just in the last 48 hours, 36 people have died as a result of COVID-19 in Baja California Sur (BCS), the highest death rate so far there during the pandemic.  We were told by Adam Greenburg, who heads up a non-profit for Baja projects called Leaders2Give, that people with COVID-19 needed help, and could the organization that Ben and I head up, called "Feeding the Hungry" assist people who were sick and out of work due to COVID-19?  Ben spent many hours figuring out how to get it done by our team in BCS while he was here in Oregon.  He came up with advertising, and a questionnaire for two Spanish/English speaking ladies to complete while interviewing likely candidates via phone who needed help.  We have another assistant in Baja who handles the funds and the vouchers or "coupons" we supply, each worth about $12.50 US.  Each family who qualifies receives 4 vouchers, or $50 worth for groceries, medicine, or whatever they need most.  Right now, Ben is reviewing applicant family #28, with more coming in daily.  Adam is doing most of the fund raising for us.  Here is a post Adam made the other day on "Everything Los Barriles" in Facebook.  If you would like to make a small contribution, we and the Mexican community would appreciate it very much! (FYI, his comment about "dozens of applications was a bit high at the moment, but they did 11 yesterday!)

"Friends: The Feeding the Hungry Program for Los Barriles residents struggling with Covid is receiving dozens of applications every day. Unless donations ramp up its simply unsustainable. Please consider making tax deductible donation to Leaders2Give.org today by selecting Feeding the Hungry from the giving menu and help our community stay strong. Thank you !"

If you'd like more information about Feeding the Hungry, check out this blog: Feeding the Hungry

We have managed to have some fun times since we got here. Friends from Walla Walla visited with us on their way through Sisters. Julie and Dick also got to go to our friend Katie's Garden Art show early in the day, and bought a beautiful piece of art. We attended the show later that night to help as we could. She had some amazing art displayed and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!

Tony and Janet bought a nice painting, too.

Ben had a birthday party with his "twin" Janet (who is two years younger), and I have gone shopping in Fabric stores and clothing stores and thrift stores...and also my friend Janet's store, Gypsy Wind. I helped her on the day of the Sister's Quilt show, which was held this year after being cancelled last year. She rewarded me with some very pretty clothing from her shop.

After our mini camping trip on the Crooked River, Ben backed our trailer into my cousin John's RV spot by his house in Prineville, and we spent Sunday visiting with him and Allyson.  We completely missed them last year, so it was great to connect again.  

Ben went hiking one day with his brother Ken, and nephew and niece Bryan and Beth.  They hiked into Steelhead Falls on the Deschutes River.  (I had another medical appointment that day, so did my hiking in the fabric store afterwards!)

I finished my quilt that I intended to use in our trailer, and decided it really wouldn't work well in here (it's also been way too warm at nights to use it!)  I certainly didn't want to leave it in the trailer over the winter (possibility of mice!) so I re-homed it as a wedding gift to our niece Beth.  She loves it, and I'm sure she'll enjoy using it very much.  (We couldn't hold it upright, so sideways is what you get!)  

 

We planned on going to the Willamette Valley (Eugene and Salem areas) in early August, but we've been delayed a bit due to more  doctor appointments for Ben, and a camping request from friends.  We will get there!  Honest!  We'll try to spend time there in September, too, although we do plan on going to the Pendleton Roundup in mid-September.  So many people to see and things to do, so little time!  

I've created a July 2021 photo album with a few more pictures; hopefully, most of them have a caption to explain them.  Enjoy!

Hope to see you later this summer!

Your Baja friends in Oregon,

Harriet, Ben & Zoey