The Long, Cold Winter

Since some of you have mentioned that we haven't posted anything new for several weeks I thought try to bring you up to date.  Sharon normally takes care of this but I thought I'd give you winter in the central Oregon high desert from a male perspective. I know, some of you women are already saying "oh, this ought to be good, but here goes anyway.  Most of you already know that we opted to stay home this winter, the price of fuel, the stock market, the election, etc. had me convinced that I didn't want to be 1500 miles from home if this house of cards crashes.  We are now thinking about how nice it would be to be in AZ. or someplace warm, we have had beautiful weather for several days but that is coming to a screeching halt.  We will be seeing night time lows in the teens and twenties for the next several days, it may even get down to single digits some nights.  Tomorrow they are predicting freezing fog that could last a couple days - aren't you glad you're anywhere but here. 

So, what do we do to try to maintain our sanity?  Sharon is still spending 3 - 4 days at the ranch working with and riding horses, she comes home every night dead tired but can't wait for the next day to do it again, she loves it.  Most of you know that I spent the summer as a Golf starter at Pronghorn, probably the most fun (work) activity I've ever had.  Since Pronghorn lets all the seasonal help go at the end of October that left me with a lot of free time, but not for long.  At the same time I was winding down my activity at Pronghorn I got a call from a friend who is the head of Security at another Golf Resort, Brasada Ranch.  He asked me to come to work for him two days a week through the winter months so that helps fill the void.  Like Pronghorn, Brasada Ranch also has a championship golf course and like Pronghorn I get to play free - It's a tough assignment but someone has to do it.  The rest of my free time is spent taking care of the property here and working in my shop.

I am trying to get my 48 International pickup back together and drivable again.  It had a 435 H.P corvette engine that would only run on aviation fuel, way to expensive to drive and way to much power for that old truck and this old fart. 

I sold the vette engine and transmission and am putting together a small block Dodge engine and transmission, this should produce between 275 and 300 H.P. and I think I can handle that. When not working with horses (Sharon) or on the property/shop, we sit in our living room with the fireplace going and enjoy the view from our front window, though we've been here several years we never get tired of seeing the cascades. 

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful, we took the motorhome to Vancouver, WA. and had Thanksgiving with our Son, Daughter in law, Daughter, Son in law and all four grandchildren.  Emma, our oldest granddaughter, went with us in the motorhome and spent one night with us, this was her first overnight stay in the motorhome and she had a ball, as did grandma and grandpa.  Thanksgiving day was really a neat experience, Sharon and I basically sat around visiting family and let the kids do all the work - and they did a fantastic job, great meal, great family, great fellowship.  Thanksgiving evening we all went into Portland and had a dessert with my soon to be 90 year old mother, my two sisters and family, it too was a special time, much to be thankful for.

Well, I'm about done and all of you are wishing I was done so I'll sign off for now.  Before I go I want all of you to let us know where you are thinking of spending next winter, I do not want to stay here again next year and listen to all of you tell us how warm it is and how you can't decide whether to go golfing or to the pool.  We will definitely plan on joining up with some of you next year.