This picture was taken of Vic & Peggy in their kitchen last Thanksgiving. You probably know that she is undergoing treatment to clear up an infection so she can have a bone marrow transplant; it's scheduled for May 4 and our prayer is that her next test on the 23rd will show that she's on schedule to have the transplant. The wait-and-see game is not always easy and we hope it goes quickly. I know she's having a hard time just relaxing and reading, but that's what the doctor has told her to do. Keep her in your thoughts during this time.

Sometime after WWII Pop & Grandma moved back over to Montana and built a cabin on Thompson River not quite as

 far out as the Ranch. Joe, Audrey & I went over & spent some time each summer they were there. Elsie was also there part of the time. When we were over there a couple of years ago, we met the grandson, wife and daughter of the people who purchased the cabin from them when they returned to Washington. Wish I had a better time-line, but I don't remember exactly when it was. Had to have been in 1951 or 1952; they came back here for Pop to have better treatment for his diabetes. While over there he worked as a sawyer in a sawmill.

One morning when we were staying with them, Grandma woke us up to see a moose out by the outhouse--it was the first time we'd ever seen one. A few mornings later Audrey woke the household up to see another moose--this time, however, it was somebody's milk cow! That's a picture of Pop, Audrey & me sitting on a pile of logs close to the cabin. The other picture is of Pop & Joe taken at the Ranch. Obviously it was taken sometime later than the one of Pop, Audrey & me.

Somewhere I have a picture, but can't lay my mouse on it right now, of Joe, Audrey & me sitting on a log in the river. that's where we taught ourselves to swim and I never learned to do more than dog paddle. It's amazing how much freedom we had over there--we could go to the river and swim or fish by ourselves--needed to be sure there were at least 2 of us at a time. We also walked for hours--well, it seemed like hours--up in the hills.

Grandma & her brother, Victor, were both great story tellers. Grandma's were usually about a bear 

named RaggyLugs--that's my RaggyLugs that I'm reading to in the picture. Grandma's stories usually had a moral to them; I think she must have been a fan of Aesop. She told me once about Raggy getting in trouble when he ran ahead of the adults at the park. I guess I didn't pay too much attention because I ran ahead of Anna May & her friend,Grace, one time and didn't hear (or at least didn't heed) when Anna May called to me. She was trying to keep me from going down the slide that the sun had been shining on for hours. I should have listened!! Instead I "scorched my buns" and had to lie on my stomach for several days--it took a long time for those blisters to heal!

I think some of the stories Victor told were just so he could hear himself chuckle, and the Stobie men all had a wonderful chuckle--wish I could laugh like that or even make the sound occasionally.

One time Audrey & I were going to walk through the "badlands." He warned us to be careful and not to walk into any skeletons hanging from trees--left from the long ago Indian wars. We were careful where we went & paid close attention to where we were. Well, the reason we had to be careful & watch our way was that that area is called the "badlands" because it all looks alike and it's very easy to get lost.

He also convinced his nieces, nephews, and probably his own children and grandchildren to watch for an animal called the side-hill gouger. It's easy to spot because the legs on one side of the body are shorter than on the other side--of course it can only go one way around the mountain!

that's it for this time