Canning Tuna

My brother Chris gave me a tuna to can, so I decided to show the process I went through.

Anyone who knows me knows that my knives are always DULL, so the first thing I had to do was sharpen one!


This is the tuna (obviously :-), and I wasn't completely sure how to fillet it...so I went to youTube! Yay for YouTube cuz I found what I was looking for (Tuna Carking 102 with Nate Oliver).
By the way, I had lots of company for some reason...




















This is what things looked like after I removed one fillet. Not too pretty, huh?











The fillets cleaned up nicely, though. There was also a little "stomach" meat.
I got my jars stuffed, cleaned off the tops, and











after one and a half hours in a pressure cooker I had beautiful jars of tuna!

The Great Fisherwoman!

I finally went on a fishing trip with my brother Chris. You can see from this first picture that it was still dark when we launched into the bay. We get a VERY early start! It was a beautiful sight with all the boats and their lights.








Daylight arrived...
Guess who caught the first fish?!!! This was my first salmon. Would you believe I was wearing 6 layers in this picture, and boy was I glad! The fish was a buck and it wasn't too big, but did I care?!













Well, guess what? I hooked the second fish too, but I had to turn my pole over to a fellow fisherman (there were 4 of us in the boat) since the limit is one fish per person. These were the only two fish we caught that day! Chris said it was "beginners luck." :-)
The wind that came up was brisk, and the bay got pretty choppy, so Chris took us closer to shore.


















Oops...I got my line in the propeller! At least Chris was good- natured about it. You can still see a smile on his face :-).
What a mess!

















Baiting up again...
At one time a nasty little gull plucked the bait off my hook before I could get it to sink!
Cleaning off the scales...

What a trip! I told Chris he could take me along anytime! Can't wait till the "springers" come in!!!!!

Terry's Big Idaho Bull

I just had a nice visit in Bay City with my mom and my two brothers. While I was there I had the opportunity to see the rack of horns from the bull Terry shot in Idaho! What was even more fun was listening to him tell stories about his trip!








Terry and Diane came for dinner that evening and we enjoyed a game of crib. As you can see from this picture, Mom's cat gets away with quite a few things!

White-Crowned Sparrow

It wasn't difficult to locate this sparrow with its happy little song! (Click on the picture to enjoy a larger view :-)

Spending Time Together!

Bill and I enjoyed a rare afternoon together at the coast. We started at Road's End in Lincoln City and ate "chip sandwiches." If you don't know what those are you need to make a trip to England! We had gulls standing on our windshield wipers staring at our bread through the window!

Next we drove to the base of Cascade Head and hiked a short trail next to the Salmon River that empties into the ocean here. We would like to kayak this area, but the trick is to catch the water when it's not too choppy! There are also some strong currents here.

We took a side road to the top of Cascade Head, and this is the view of the coast that greeted us. You can see the Salmon River where we just came from.










Our next stop was Neskowin...one of the best kept secrets on the Oregon Coast! This is the Hawk Cafe which provides a pretty tasty menu.


We enjoyed our walk down to the beach.
















This is the base of "Proposal Rock." Hmmmm...I wonder why it is called that?
The waves weren't very spectacular, but I couldn't help taking a picture anyway.











I guess Bill decided he needed to take a picture of me taking a picture :-).
Gull tracks in the sand...











There is a great stump on the beach where we want to get a family picture one day!

An Afternoon at the Portland Temple

Bill and I planned an evening at the Portland temple recently, but I arrived early and enjoyed taking several pictures.

It is a beautiful building with a beautiful purpose. The work we do in the temple allows families to be together forever.

Everything about the building points toward God's plan of salvation for his children. It is a place of hope and peace.

Charlotte and Jesse

Grandkids are so much fun!

Charlotte Pearl

Megan was more than ready to get the show on the road! Her little 8 lb. Charlotte was delivered safe and sound. Now everyone is falling in love with her beautiful new baby girl!











Taken RIGHT after she was born




Her proud Papa...













and Auntie Kristin...
Uncle Paul...

















Grandma...
Auntie Anne...












and Uncle Matt.
Charlotte's big brother Jesse is checking her out.











He thinks she's pretty cute too!
This is what I call very relaxed...




















Precious!















A miracle...



Falling in love...














Bright little star...
Cute as a bug...














She also smiles while she is looking at you, and she's not even a week old!



Adorable...














Lots of fun...


Cuddly...















Sweet as sugar...


loved by all...















Her daddy gave her the first bath and she didn't even fuss!
Have you ever seen anything so perfect?

(No prejudice here...hey, the doctor's gave her a "10")