The TALE of the RACCOON and the GARBAGE BAG

It was a dark and stormy night......

Isn't that a cliche story beginning? But guess what.....it really was a dark and stormy night when the tale of the raccoon and the garbage bag took place so sit back, get comfy and listen, er, well....read.

Date: Monday, June 27th, 2011 ~ Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 (barely)

Setting: A private campground at Eagle Creek, Oregon right near Bonneville Dam

Why: A family reunion for my mom's side of the family

The campfire was through, the stories were told, teeth were brushed and we had settled into bed for the night. Though Jay, Katie and Tyler had to stay home in Salem and work, Anna, Rachel and I had headed for the Columbia Gorge for the night to see family. Because we were only going for one night, my parents had graciously offered us some room in their tent. After the appropriate amount of talking in the tent, we all fell asleep. At 12:06, (now you understand the above mentioned barely) Rachel woke me up, saying she needed to use the bathroom. Anna decided she needed to come as well, so I fumbled for the flashlight, found it and then had trouble with the zipper because there is an inner and outer flap. This fumbling caused my parents to awaken and help us escape the confines of the tent. The girls and I made it to and from the bathrooms. As I was coming back into the tent, my mom was just getting up to make her own trip to the bathroom. As I don't like walking by myself in dark, unknown places, I got the girls settled and went back with my mom. On the walk back from the bathroom, I mentioned that, though we were in a private, gated campground, a random hobo could walk up the hill from the train tracks and we'd be left unprotected. Let me just say that I hate when I think things like this. My body goes into panic mode because of my overactive imagination. Despite the nervouseness I now felt, we got settled back into our sleeping bags. Everything was fine for about 5 minutes........

when I heard a stick crack outside the tent, and then another and then a rustling sound. Cursing my ominous statement of strangers in our camp, I sat straight up, wondering how I was going to protect my girls, my parents and myself. I grabbed for the flashlight and tried to shine it out of the tent. I felt as though I was in a horror movie.....the kind when the dumb girl always shines a light and sees her attacker seconds before her demise. My love for all things scary, not gory, but scary and suspenseful had come back to haunt me. At first I saw nothing. My mom suggested I hold the flashlight closer to the tent wall for a better view. I moved the flashlight closer and then saw a GIANT raccoon. Okay....so it wasn't a crazed hobo, but raccoons can be rabid and this one was staring straight back at me, eyes glowing in the light of the flashlight. And it was only about 6 feet away. Yikes!

We shouted at it, hoping to scare it away from the confines of the tent, but this was a complacent raccoon and he/she kept happily ripping the garbage bag, ignoring us completely. Great.

My dad then stood up and announced that he was going out. As he rose and started exiting the tent, I realized that he was dressed only in his, well for lack of a better description, underclothes. He left the tent thusly dressed armed only with a flashlight. Earlier in the evening, we had all laughed at a story of my grandfather's car horn going off in the middle of the night, and he, dressed similarly, had run outside armed with only a slipper and beaten the hood of the car with the slipper until the horn went off. As I watched my dad exit the tent, I suggested since he was dressed in a similar outfit to my grandpa, he also use a slipper to beat the raccoon. He didn't take me up on my suggestion, though he did laugh. So.......scantily clad, but not armed with a slipper, he chased the raccoon back into the thicket and then lit the lantern so he could see the damage. Garbage was everywhere.....banana peels, cantaloupe rinds, the girls' leftover hamburger buns, etc. My dad, the quintessential scout, had forgotten to put the garbage into the can. The raccoon had been busy, as there were at least 14 different chew holes into the bag. Other relatives had raccoon paw prints on their coolers we later learned, but we had been the jackpot. My dad searched the other picnic table where he had his utensils and other items, including a Hallmark shopping bag filled with small pieces of wood my dad had chopped for starting a fire. This bag had been dumped, possibly after the raccoon realized it was only full of wood and not goodies. At this point, my dad was running around our campsite, still dressed just in his underclothes and sandals with socks, with a lantern in one hand and a Hallmark shopping bag in the other. The humor hit my mom and I at the same time. We laughed and laughed at the look of my dad running around as we gathered garbage from off the ground.

I wish I had gotten out my phone and gotten a video. I thought about it, but decided against it due to my dad's outfit. But had he been dressed otherwise, it wouldn't have been as funny. A good ol' catch 22.

The next morning, we regaled the rest of our family with the tale of the raccoon and the garbage bag. Our visit to Bonneville Dam, where my grandfather had worked when my mom was a teenager wasn't complete without a trip to each and every gift shop where a different family member joked about buying a raccoon stuffed animal for my father.

So that's the tale of the raccoon and the garbage bag. I've been laughing about it for a couple days. I thought you just might enjoy it too.........

I love handing over my camera

to my kids.....I find it fascinating to see the world through their unique eyes. These are a few from Katie's viewpoint taken over the weekend during our camping trip to Suttle Lake.

I love different perspectives! If we all saw things from the same angle, how boring life would be!

They grow up so quickly!

I can hardly believe it, but last Friday, Anna was promoted from the 5th grade and she is so excited to be going to Judson Middle School next year as a 6th grader! The entire Lee 5th grade ~ 2010-2011
I'm so lucky to be Anna's mom!
Anna and friends strike a silly pose!
Such cute girls!
Since they grow up so quickly, seemingly in the blink of an eye, or in just a minute, we parents put together a party themed on the show "Minute to Win it." Here they are playing "Junk in the Trunk" where they have to shake ping pong balls out of a tissue box.
We had scooter board races.....
And a fun game called Chandelier.....McKenzie attempts to stack 5 layers of cans with a paper plate between each layer. The trick is that you have to save 5 cans for the top layer.
More scooterboard relays.....
This game was a blast....M&M Smiley Face Race. The kids had to suction one M&M at a time and drop them onto a plate in little circles drawn to look like a smiley face.
Ping Pong Table Toss was a hit too! They had to bouce a ball off of one table and try to land it in a cup on another table.
Anna and Madeline play Junk in the Trunk
We also played Cookie Face Race....here's Anna modeling her "prize," a cookie of course!
Scott reacts to the cookie falling off his forehead.
Cookie Face Race was a big hit too.....the kids had to put the cookie on their forehead and get it down to their mouth only using their facial muscles.
Aidan reacts to his falling "chandelier"
We also played Ping Pong Wall Toss ~ the kids got to wear these cups on their heads, toss the ball on the wall and try to catch it in their cup.
After all the games, the kids got class pictures mounted on a cardstock and were able to get signatures from all their friends. Yes.....these are suitable for framing :)
Anna and one of her besties Madeline model their signed pics.
I can't believe Anna's elementary years are coming to a close. Anna and Rachel have been my "little girls" for so long that I am in almost complete disbelief that their elementary years are almost over. Anna is ready to move on though to exciting "more grown up" things. She's been in "Operation Cell Phone Countdown" for almost 2 years now.....

Don't touch Rachel's cookie!

Or you'll pay a steep price...You can tell this little girl has a sneaky brother (and possibly a couple of sisters) who have gotten into her stuff before. My favorite part? The nice little heart in her name and then the DIE!!!!! What a good contrast! So far, everyone has heeded her warning. Wouldn't you?

The girls were

so excited when, while in line to meet one princess, two more princesses came in right before their turn in line for pictures and autographs....Talk about making some little girls' dreams come true!!

Our BOWLS are done!

Leave it to Anna to make crazy eyes ~ haha!Rachel enjoyed testing out her bowl at breakfast. She gave it a two thumbs up! Anna was in a hurry Wednesday morning since she has band before school and has to leave home at 730, so she has yet to try out her bowl. We are excited for our next visit to Create a Memory!

You're never too old to be

pushed on a swing by your grandma!

Create a Memory

is the name of the place, but more importantly, of what we did. We created memories of spending time together, laughing and having fun, selecting just the right paint and deciding on a personally significant design that would stand the test of time, reminding us for many years down the road of what was important to us on this particular day.
We had a fun day exploring downtown Salem with our friends, the Chancellors! All the girls were excitedly asking when we get to go back. I think a return trip is in order this summer! Click here for information on Create A Memory. Pictures of the finished products to follow.
Bonus points if you can find the Hidden Mickey in this blog!

A long time ago in a galaxy far away......

or at least 31 years ago in Washington state.....

Mt. St. Helens erupted. As a child of parents who loved camping in the Northwest, I was lucky enough to visit Mt. St. Helens, and do some camping and hiking. Spirit Lake was a beautiful, yet eerie lake. I still recall canoeing around the lake and feeling uneasy about seeing through the clear water all the way to the bottom of the lake in some places. I am glad that I got to experience the beauty of this place before the big eruption and subsequent obliteration of this scenic area.

I'll never forget heading out to Fairchild AFB near Spokane to see the highly anticipated airshow, only to be turned away at the gate by an officer who was standing there with a megaphone, telling people to return home due to the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. What we had all assumed was a thunderstorm rolling in in the distance, was really an ash cloud. At 3 pm, the sky turned pitch black and ash fell and fell. It was the weirdest thing! We didn't have school for 2 weeks and when we returned, we had to wear surgical masks to play outside. We all had fun decorating the masks with mouths of various animals. Wish I had a picture of that!

The mountain before the eruption ~ it's pretty amazing to compare to what it looks like now.....(see below)
My friend Beth and I....we became penpals for several years afterward.
It's too bad that such a beautiful place no longer exists.......
Here's an after picture I googled....quite the difference!!
My mom still has a jar of ash she collected from our driveway in Spokane. Where were you on May, 18, 1980? That's definitely one date that will always be infamous to me.

Two weekends of RUNNING

The Salem Country Relays (formerly Jaycee Relays) took place on May 14th. Anna was on the co-ed team and had a fun time, especially in the parade as you can see.



The weekend before, on May 7th, was the Awesome 3000, a great fundraiser for the Salem/Keizer Education Foundation....

Anna finishes her race.....with her best time ever!

Rachel is slower and steady, but endures to the end without stopping....and finishes in excellent time!


The "tired" faces....a Despain traditional photo after the race


My kids have been participating in these races since 1999....we are almost at the end of an Awesome 3000 era at our house. I'll miss the races, but not the parking!

I don't often get to use the word

FLUKE, but this weekend I experienced the epitome of one.

It all started Saturday morning. I was getting ready to go to Willamette to watch the girls run in our local kids fun run, the Awesome 3000. I had a few red spots on my right shin that itched a little so I put some Benadryl cream on it and forgot about it. I felt a little achy and tired, but I had been up late the two nights previous and so I attributed those things to lack of sleep. After the girls had both run, we were walking back to the car and almost instantly, I felt really ill. My joints and muscles ached and I knew I had a fever. Both girls had volleyball games that I was looking forward to watching, but all I felt like doing was going home and laying down. I took my temperature when I got home and it was 102. I never get fevers over 100, so this was weird too. I called the on call doctor at my clinic and they sent me to Urgent Care. The doctor I saw had no idea and sent me home with the advice to come back if my rash changed. That night, red streaks started coming out of the rash and I was getting alarmed. Back to Urgent Care on Mother's Day. This doctor looked at it and immediately knew what it was....Cellulitis. I'd never heard of this so she explained that it's a staph and/or strep infection that gets into your body through a small cut. I have been walking and two weeks ago, got a blister. I've been very anal about taking care of this blister, but broke it open again last Thursday night and somehow, bacteria got in....blech!! Of all the cuts I've had over my lifetime that have never developed into anything, I thought this was very odd! I was scared because when I googled information on Cellulitis, it said that it could potentially be fatal. As the worry wart I am, I do not need to add anything else to my list of worries!! We had been invited to go camping and ended up not being able to because we'd signed up and paid for the girls to run in the Awesome 3000. I am very thankful that I was not in the middle of nowhere when this infection came on. We were very sad not to have been able to go camping, but now I see that I was blessed and watched over to have not been camping. So.....if you ever have a small cut and then have something like this appear on your body....go to the doctor right away!! Thank goodness for priesthood blessings and heavy duty antibiotics!!


FYI....the outline was from Urgent Care. If the rash exceeded the line, I was to go to the Emergency Room immediately. Yikes!! This has been a public service announcement.....sorry if any of you are grossed out now!

The pictures are from top to bottom.....Saturday morning when it was just starting, Saturday afternoon, Sunday morning, and this morning. I thankfully never exceeded the line. This was definitely one line I didn't want to cross!

Jay asked me if I could be treated by Dr. House, would I want to. Come on....I think anyone who likes Hugh Laurie would want to! Especially if he spoke in his British accent and was nicer than his character is on House!