10-18-25 Snow! Run Elk Run! Skookum.
Retired/Missionary Life. Sunday.
And we needed that Jesus Picture this morning because the alarm went off way too early! Fortunately, the picture reminded why church, even administrative meetings, makes us happy.
Branch Council Meeting (we discussed the difference between the Latino Day of the Dead and Halloween and planned a positive activity for it.) Sacrament Meeting. Men's Meeting. Missionary Correlation Meeting. (It was awesome to see the Sister Missionaries we serve with again! We missed them soooo much! Seeing them always gives us a boost.)
Back home, I fixed a lunch of leftover Pot Roast and Tomatoes Salad, then took a really long nap. Once I was back awake, I read, watched some church videos, studies Spanish. And then we had leftover Spaghetti for dinner while watching an episode of Heartland. (I think they are back together...)
It was good to hear and try to speak Spanish again after a couple-week long break.
Retired/Missionary Life. Monday.
Old people must eat. So today was THAT day. But first we spent some time with our favorite Real Estate Agent that is preparing to sell Hanna's Mom's House. After that though.....we carefully planned out our busy as ever week, we made up delicious and hopefully healthy menus, we created a shopping list, we drove to Worley, we played Rummy and ate salads at Red Tail, we filled up with cheap Idaho gas (I took pics for proof...easily a buck a gallon less than Washington right now...), we drove to Plummer and hiked on the Trail of the CDAs (mind you, it was cold out windchill likely in the 20s, snowed in the mountains this morning, but the boys loved the hike). We bought the groceries, took them home, brought them in the house, and put them away.
I did spend a bit of time after that working on my Spanish, reading, etc. plus cooking up a batch of Pork Ribs. And a friend of ours came by and gave me a much needed missionary hair cut.
In the evening, we watched part of a pre-recorded football game, W Virginia vs BYU from last week. (We'll have to schedule in the rest of the game another day.......)
And before going to bed, we tuned into a huge Zoom call with all the missionaries in our entire mission to hear the testimonies of some that are going home and to be instructed and taught by our Mission Leaders. We love meeting with these young missionaries!
Retired/Missionary Life. Tuesday.
Morning was the usual studying, reading, showering, and eating.
Afternoon and evening was spent in town. First up was a trip to get massaged, decompressed, and adjusted. (Hanna snuck back into the exam room for a surprise pic of me on the decompression table.) We picked up some drugs at the pharmacy and some other groceries. Ate sack lunches for dinner. And then we were supposed to go find someone to teach, but time was short, so we went to a local ice cream place that is owned by one of our congregation members and had some dessert. (Yummy Tres Leches Ice Cream for me!) Next up was a lesson, but the guy was sick, so no go. After that we went to our Spanish Tutor's place for a lesson on conjugation and conversations. Typical missionary work evening.
And yes, there is snow on Mt Spokane now. And we saw a funny dog-related thing on the back of a truck. I'll see if I can get Frivvy and Gus to play that with me...
Retired/Missionary Life. Wednesday.
Here, have a picture of this Elk up at the Highlands. He is my hero! The neighbors up there have been camping and hunting coming up on two weeks now. They are just a hundred yards away or so. And yet..........here he is! SURVIVOR! I'm thinking of sending them this picture, but I don't want to embarrass them.
Today was a full fledged missionary day. Morning was spent reading, studying, preparing. And we were set to teach three lessons in the late afternoon. But, one by one, all three cancelled. So, our mantra is "teach. And if you can't teach, find someone to teach." So off we went to find someone from our Congregation to teach. We visited several homes in the Otis Orchards and Liberty Lake areas. Had a really good visit with one gentleman who kind of committed to join us in church services Sunday. That made it worth the trip.
I'm torn. Elk steak is quite tasty, but I kind of like the fact that he is still around. RUN ELK RUN!!
Retired/Missionary Life. Thursday.
First, ham omelettes for breakfast.
Next picture contains three cache containers and a weird duck that showed up in my mini fridge. Can you spot the three containers?
First cache to replace is at Long Lake Dam. A very cool cache on a huge cliff. Then up to South Skookum for the others. "Anne's Cache"...someone had stolen the ammocan, but had placed all the contents in a plastic bag and hid that. Sigh........... We replaced the ammocan and hid it in a better place. And then continued around the loop of the lake checking on the other caches we have there. (All named after my kids).
There was a bit of snow on the ground in the shady places.
We let the boys off leash and they dove into the lake immediately upon seeing it. And dove in again several more times before the hike was over. Very fun day for them!
Ella's cache is still hanging in a tree waiting to be found....
At the rock outcropping/cliff, we paused and paid respects to my late son. His ashes are scattered in this location. We hadn't been up there since 2018 mostly due to Hanna's health issues and inability to make the hike. She did just fine today!
At the next cliff, the boys decided it would be a great idea to skoot down the cliff and into the lake. They ignored our yells! About half-way down, they decided it was too steep and decided to come back up. Frivvy made it up fairly quickly with a good struggle. Gussy tried several times and couldn't make it. Finally, he moved over a bit and tried again and made it back up. Crazy dogs!
Back to the truck, Frivvy posed by the sign and looked real sad. He didn't want to go back home. He loves being in the woods!! But he finally decided he didn't want to be left behind. Family over being in the woods, right? (They'll both need baths tonight.....)
Last geocache was on the campus of Gonzaga. Near the Crosby Building. Fun one that gets found a lot.
Dinner at Longhorn, where we ran into one of the Sister Missionaries we serve with. (Smaller town than we give it credit for).
Now we are home safe. No one fell off any of the several cliffs we were on top of today, although the two canines tried to climb down one......
Retired/Missionary Life. Friday.
But first, we declared it "Old People Go To Breakfast" Day and drove over to Harvester for some Rummy, Steak and Eggs, and an Omelette. Afterwards, we took the boys for their daily walk in the Spangle Cemetery.
Here's the list:
- Emptied, cleaned, and refilled the hot tub.
- Caught the bookkeeping and billpaying up.
- Changed the filter on the CPAP.
- Winterized the yard, which meant bringing all the hoses and sprinklers in and putting away the yellowjacket traps and the bird feeders.
- Dusted the house top to bottom.
- Put away and organized a bunch of stuff that had just been dumped on the floor.
- Cleaned out the truck.
- And there's probably more that I no longer remember. (Old people problems...)
We did our studying and such in the evening. It gets dark way too early now.
Now I feel accomplished!
Retired/Missionary Life. Saturday.
A sign of true love is when your spouse hangs your team's flag out on the deck. So, there it is! Proof! Hanna's school's flag on our deck! Welcome to Holy War Day!.
We met up with Dominick, Alisha and our grandkids in CDA for lunch. They hadn't met Gus yet. Very exciting time!
In the evening we worshipped in our temple. It was nice to be back in the Spokane Temple. They have a special Spanish session monthly and tonight was that night. The Latinos literally took over the temple! They had to fetch more chairs for folks to be able to sit down. I love these people! God-fearing Jesus-worshipping family-oriented hard-serving folks, no matter what church they attend! I just may end up meeting and serving with them for the duration. And am seriously considering another vacation trip to Chile.
And that BYU flag looked really fine after dark............and after the game. 
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