Trip to Oregon

Well, I traveled back to Oregon to visit family and check on our house. The trip itself was as usual, frustrating. Picked up my checked bags in Houston, go thru immigration, rechecked bags, did the tap dance thru security, rushed to next gate. I have to fly economy, which is pretty minimalistic, but even the folks in first looked stressed. When I got to Portland I found that my checked bag had had extremely rough treatment, but most things were there. Since it was midnight, I grabbed and ran. Stayed overnight in Portland and flew to Redmond the next day. It was worrying to fly over the Cascades and see so little snow. Only the mountains (Hood, Jefferson, Three Sisters, Washington, Broken Top and Bachelor) had snow. Hope this doesn't foretell forest fires this summer.

Of course, it was wonderful to see our daughter and family. It's strange to go from hot to winter overnight. It did snow several times during my two week stay, but each time it melted within a day or two. It was overwhelming to walk into our house. Most of our furniture is still there and Kris had made sure it was clean for my stay. It's such a pretty house and built with love and hope. I cried! This turned out to be such an ill-fated trip in many ways. The good thing is that I had lovely visits with my brother and family, son, Tim and family and of course, Kris, Dan and boys.

I traveled with a list of chores and there lies the rub. My computer was first on the list. I took it to Best Buy and the Geek Squad because it was still under warranty. They thought they'd have to send it away for service that takes 3 weeks, but after a couple of days I got a call that they'd fixed it. Yippee! I used it while there, but when I got back to Belize, IT DIED AGAIN! Wish I'd bought a notebook while there, but didn't think I could justify the expense. Dummy!

My Stihl chainsaw needed a new coil. We've been using it a lot to clear bush. Surprisingly, no one had one in stock as "they never go bad." I finally found one in Pasco, WA, near where our son lives. Paid too much, but "a bird in the hand, etc." Got back to Belize and it's the wrong coil! ! !

I had lots of things that I wanted to bring back, but ended up leaving in Oregon in order to keep my bag under 50#s. It's hard when you travel alone.

Most of our neighbors had traveled south for the winter so missed out on visits and great potlucks. We sure miss you folks.

So, I'm back to square one, without a computer. I wouldn't recommend the Geek Squad. They sure let me down. My computer's now at the end of it's warranty and is only good as a boat anchor.

It's good to be back home in Belize with Art and Bailey. The weather here has been great. A little warm sometimes, but we get a wonderful breeze here on our hill. We continue to chop and weedeat and look ahead. Art has painted all our footings on the houses with lime wash to stop the bugs. It sure maakes the houses look tidy. I'm finally trying to finish our "Dreamer Farm" sign for our entrance. Don't know why I keep putting it off.

Anyway, dear friends, we can get frustrated with the slowness of things here in Belize, but, here in Cayo you can always find someone who will try to help you. This trip back to the States was filled with similar frustrations. Trying to find things that we needed, such as solar items, with limited luck and heared a lot of "that's not our job." "We don't do that here, you have to go somewhere else."
It's good to be home.