Day 103

Friends invited us to go with them Sabbath afternoon to Crater Lake. I haven't been there since I was probably 8 years old. I don't really remember much about it. Since it was a nice day, as well as free admission day, we happily accepted. It was beautiful!

Day 102

Today was the day. We were at Costco and I had to buy toilet paper. This is the first time in nearly 9 years that I have purchased toilet paper for our household. We've finally brought the last 24-pack of Grandpa's toilet paper into the house. I wonder how many hundreds of dollars our "inheritance" of toilet paper has saved us in purchases in that amount of time?



Editing to add the full story, just for Ruby! LOL

Ok... Charlie's Grandpa lived during the Depression. They couldn't afford things like toilet paper so they had to use pages out of catalogs, and when those ran out, they had to use corn cobs. He said they weren't so bad when they were fresh, but when they dried out...

So he always said "I'll never use corn cobs again" and every time he went to town (they lived out in the country), if there was a good price on toilet paper, he bought a case, whether they needed it or not. By the time he died in 2000, he had toilet paper stuffed in every nook and cranny of their place. They lived on 10 acres with a huge garage/shop. There were cases of toilet paper stuffed up in the rafters. Stacks of toilet paper in the basement. Everywhere he could store it, there was toilet paper.

My in-laws took a bunch of toilet paper back to SoCal with them after Grandpa died. Twice, they filled from the axles forward, to the top of the inside of the camper shell. Charlie's uncle took a bunch back to Tennessee with him, too. He was picky though and only took the "good" stuff, so he didn't take as much. We packed my station wagon to the brim, front, back and in between. There was barely room for me to sit in there and shift. We piled it up in our garage in a stack about 3 feet deep, 6 feet wide, and 5 feet tall. And that was 10 months after Grandpa had died and Grandma moved back to Tennessee with her son, so we lived in their house to take care of it for a while. So we used toilet paper there for 10 months, plus all the toilet paper that had gone to the other family.

Just last week we finally brought in the last of Grandpa's toilet paper. It's going to be quite a shock to me to have to start buying toilet paper after nearly 9 years!

Day 101

Back at the park again for Park Day with the homeschool group. What fun! It was warmer this week, so the girls were happy to play in the water.

Day 100

Just about anywhere you go in the town where I live, you'll see these giant hanging flower baskets. Anywhere commercial, that is. They aren't in the residential areas. But all up and down the main streets, on the lampposts crossing the bridge, etc. I've seen the little city truck going around early in the morning watering them. They're really pretty!

Day 99

The Rogue Valley School of Ballet offered a free Ballet Fair today. They had a Little Princess Tea Party, a ballet performance, and a craft. The girls were so thrilled about the dances - they clapped wildly at the end of each one and were practically vibrating with excitement.

Day 97

Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous day! The camp host offered to give rides around the lower end of the lake on his new pontoon boat. It was so beautiful out, how could we say no? We saw this brightly colored catamaran sailing around as we were taking our tour.

Day 96

It was really cold up at the lake when we arrived Friday afternoon, but that's what campfires, coats and warm sleeping bags are for!

However, we were certainly glad when Saturday dawned clear and bright. It warmed up nicely without getting too hot. Here's a view from the south-east end of the lake. Charlie and I went on a bike ride down the trail and took this photo while out and about.