Saturday, December 27, 2008

The Thomas Family
Pioneers.

For those of you who know us, our family heritage, apparently, goes back to the early days of the 1880's, where Mule Skinners, Buffalo Hunters and Farmers were common folk. Life was not easy in the 1800's! We rose and slept with the Sun; educated our younguns at home; raised our own food and put away enough to get us by during the winter snows. Our womenfolk had long days making do with what they had. What with washing clothes in a hot pot on a wood fire and scrubbing them on a common rub board; the rinse cycle did not involve a machine, but a fresh batch of water and a lot of elbow grease. Preserving and canning food was endless; fixing meals on a wood stove and in the iron pot inside the fireplace lasted all day, with cleaning up way lasting after dark.

The menfolk were busy tending the livestock and farm animals that supplied us with eggs, milk and meat. The Pig was slaughtered in the Fall and prepared as Ham, Bacon, Sausage and other ways, hung up and smoked in the Smoke House to cure, or as Salt Pork for the breakfast table. Most of our meat came from the woods. There was no such thing as Deer Season in the 1880's as we killed to eat, not for sport! The Good Lord provided for us in season. Nothing was wasted as we kept our dogs and cats fed, too. From Blackbird Pie to fried Venison to Catfish, we took what we needed.

The Buffalo were becoming more scarce and trapping was hard. It was hard work but the sale of hides was needed to earn the money to buy flour and sugar and salt and such. Seed potatoes was not cheap but we had to have 'em. My family's favorite was in the Fall we made Sorghum Molasses. The neighbors from miles around would gather at the old Likens place and worked 'til it was done. Everbody took some home; we sold the rest 'ceptin what we kept for ourslelves. Mom would bake up a big pan of biscuits and when they was was done and hot out of the oven........why, there was nothing tastier than opening up one of those big hot biscuits, laying on a generous chunk of homemade butter and drowning it with that golden Sorghum! The kids loved that stuff! It satisfied the sweet tooth, thats for sure!

We didn't have much trouble with Indians in the 1880's. They kept pretty much to themselves and worked hard to make a living like everbody else. Why, most of us had quite a bit of Indian blood in us anyway. My woman still carries a card that gives her rights to Indian help. My side never signed up on the Indian Rolls because of the "shame" of it in the early days, but my granma's mom walked the Trail of Tears. That was a bad time for our Nation. We were overpowered and out-numbered by Europeans who wanted our land. We were hunted down and killed or herded up like cattle and sent off to unwanted lands to try to live. Our old and our children died in great numbers. It was a bad time for us. Our kinfolk was taken in marriage by kind and unkind alike. Our children were sold or taken by those stronger than us. WE were the ones called barbarians, can you believe it?

Not all stories have unhappy endings. We worked hard at trying to be like the other white men so we would fit in. My Aunt's family used to tell tolks they was Black Dutch, just so they wouldn't be treated like Indians, even though they was. All we want to do is just to be left alone. With so much white blood in us now, we don't look much like Indians. Sometimes we ain't too sure what we are! But one thing is for sure.....my kids are growing up and need to eat. I taught 'em what they need to know to live. They can blow the brains out of a wild Turkey at 200 feet! That comes in mighty handy for dinner!

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Thursday, December 25, 2008

Happy New Year
Even though this has been a roller-coaster year for our family, we want to share with you some of its highlights. It seems like we always end our year with a longing to have spent more time with so many of you than we did. Each year flies by so quickly! Where does the time go??
Eric has been enjoying the year working for Kodak. He is a photographer, in Branson, Missouri at Silver Dollar City. Go and have your picture taken with some saloon girls! He also works part time as a waiter in a local Mexican restaurant. Stop in sometime and give him a nice, fat TIP!
Matt lives in Oklahoma City and works for a promotions company called Red House, http://www.thisisred.com, and also for a company that matches employers with potential employees, http://www.talentmax.net, as a “head hunter”. He just returned from taking a trip to Japan.
Teresa & Kevin still live here in Portland, not far from us. They are doing okay…could be better… but okay. Kevin works for the school district and Teresa does part time work cleaning houses. Emily, 16, is, and has been a run-a-way for quite some time. She dropped off her baby girl for mom and dad to take care of (more about that sweet girl in a minute). Thank you for your prayers for Aaron. He is now in his 3rd year of Chemo treatments. Although they are hard on him, he is doing quite well. He’s making mostly “A’s” in school and stays in shape by riding his new bike and bench-pressing his Tuba!
Evan is Evan. He is a busy boy! He loves video games and cutting up. He’s a bit hyper but he’s a good boy!
Melody Rose came into this world March 12th. She is a wonderful baby! We totally adore her! She is just now starting to crawl….well, mostly “scoot”. It won’t be long before she’s walking. I am her Great-Papa but Debby is still just “Grammy”, as she is in “D-Nile” about the “Great” part.
Debby is still the greatest teacher at Columbia Christian School. She really is! Her class is full….it usually is. Parents love to have their kids there for Deb to teach.
I just took on a new job as HVAC Service Manager with another company. I have been very pleased with it so far. My job is to build up the service department with work and manpower. I’m excited about it.
We didn’t take any stupendous vacations this year, but doing vacation planning for next year, perhaps to China. Debby & Ami took an educational trip to class Denver this summer. Debby also went to a class in Houston, Texas. I flew down to meet her and we spent some wonderful time with our friends, Bill & Debbie. I also took a group of 12, mostly Teens, from our church, into the Wallowa Mountains in August for a big backpacking adventure.
Our Grandson-of-the-heart, Dawson, is growing so fast! He’s 4 already! We just went with him and his family on a POLAR EXPRESS train trip in Hood River, Oregon. It was fun!
Natasha, our Daughter-of-the-heart, is in her last year of school at Cascade College. She “walks” in May. We are excited for her! She has been a great addition to our home these past 3-1/2 years.
Many more things have happened but that’s a taste of who we are.
May the joys of the Christmas holidays be yours to enjoy this year. We realize many families are fragmented and some are going through some hard financial times. The really important things, however, are free whether you are rich or poor, sick or healthy. THOSE are the things we wish for you!
Perhaps our paths will cross this next year. We can HOPE!
Happy New Year!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving
is my favorite HOLIDAY!
I can remember back a very long way!
The holiday that stands out in my memories the most,
is Christmas (of course!!).
As I have matured beyond Christmas stuff, as when I was a kid,
I have come to understand that THANKSGIVING is my favorit-est one of all.
Since I can remember, the whole house was filled with amazing smells of cooking.
The Turkey was always HUGE! The table was spread with the most delicious things imaginable! Home-made golden brown, extra puffy, hot rolls just waiting for a generous pat of home-made butter and jam; perfect dressing made from day old corn bread, green beans, sweet corn off the cob, red jello filled with fruit and nuts (always a crowd pleaser);
Cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy; and home made pies……lots of pies!

There was always much more food….too much to list and too much to eat! Nevertheless, we ate and gorged ourselves like there was no tomorrow! Not much has changed in that department. Sure, I can’t eat ALL that I would like, but I get plenty! The smell of THANKSGIVING will be forever etched in my memories. Every year those smells come alive on Thanksgiving Day!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. The house will be filled with those memory-making smells again! We have a HUGE Turkey that I will be preparing in the morning. We have my daughter’s family coming over, bringing my sweet Great Grandbaby Girl so her Great-Papa can hold her. All in all, we are feeding about 20 tomorrow afternoon! It will be fun! We are excited! You know, the next best thing to eating all those delicious foods is anticipating the SMELL!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, especially you whom I love!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Hill's Health Care Plan
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Monday, November 10, 2008

THE OLD FARM HOUSE

…..is a lot like people.

We spend our lifetime growing old from birth to death. We change so much that our childhood friends don’t even recognize us anymore. Why, we could actually rub shoulders on the street somewhere and never know “who the stranger was”. We spend our life failing to take care of ourselves, letting our body “go”, thinking we are invincible, or something. We fail to do much maintenance like eating healthy foods or exercising. We grow thin on the top and thick in the middle.
The old farm house is much the same. We “let it go” and do the minimum. We don’t know the meaning of the word “maintenance”. Like our body, we fix it if it needs fixin’ and “don’t fix it if it ain’t broke”! It begins to show major signs of wear and tear. Like us, it begins to sag in places where we rather it wouldn’t. Like us, any old barn looks better with a new coat of paint. But we don’t ever get around to doing much more than that.
As we give up and desert the old place, the deterioration really sets in, then! Next thing we know, it falls apart and just can’t be fixed anymore! Then we are either buried or cremated. In this life, that’s all that’s left!
The old farm house where we grew up isn’t standing anymore. As kids, we spent a lot of time there running in and out of that old screen door, climbing the trees and playing “Annie Over”. It’s quiet around there now. The kids have grown up and gone away; the house fell in and apart from lack of use and upkeep. Only the memories remain.
Mom nearly worked herself to death keeping things alive. There was always wood to chop to be used for cooking and heating the house. Later, when we "modernized", Propane brought a whole new way of cooking!


We had a fireplace on each end of the old house, with a roaring fire to try to keep warm by. We had 360 acres of trees that we could cut, split and stack cords of firewood. There was always water to boil for 6 kids to take baths in and to wash the laundry. That old ringer washer still sets outside in this picture.

There are many good memories in that old farm. Life was much simpler then. As we moved on and sold the old homestead, we still go back into our memories and pull out the good times we remember, growing up in Northwest Arkansas.

The really only good thing about “the good ‘ol days” is that they are good and gone!


Tuesday, October 21, 2008


So how many colors are there in a small waterfall?
I snapped this picture on a recent trip along the Timberline Trail on Mt Hood. The reflections of the surrounding vegetation, the sky and light, and the old tree root giving images of unusual color. This reminds me of a water color painting.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

McNeil Point....

was a vista, for sure.

It also offered a couple of unusual sights to photograph.

This towering chunk of Lava makes one stop and think about the tremendous power required to lift molten earth more than 10 miles straight up!



Equally powerful is how some of it cooled around what appears to have been a misplaced Arkansas Razorback!


I'm only guessing,
but judge for yourself!



Now, looking through an age old hole in the tree..... one can see through to the other side!

I suspect this might have been a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Life is hard in the high mountains!






On the way to McNeil Point, we came across this unusual fungus,.... or bear puke,....or elk slobber, ....or whatever it is enveloping this bear grass! I've never seen anything like it!

Heading back down you can see McNeil Shelter.

I find that in hiking the mountains there is always something to see!

It's no Bed & Breakfast
but you can have it for a song!

It's no Hilton
but the price is right!

It's not much,
but in a WHITE-OUT
it would be a good friend!

HAPPY TRAILS!

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Mt Hood
at
McNeil
Point

A new discovery this summer was McNeil Point on Mt Hood.

Here is a 360 view.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

CODGER WANNABEES



You gotta love ‘em!

Sneakers we call


Codger Wannabees,












Scruitinizin'

Takin' notes





Mimicking,

Waiting for their chance


Their time



When they, too

Become

The Revered Codger!

Friday, August 29, 2008

C A U T I O N


CODGERS
on the Trail


Wikipedia defines Codgers as "the plural of Codger".
I WISH I HAD THOUGHT OF THAT!!



But Wiki also defines the Codge as "An amusingly eccentric or grumpy and usually elderly man".
Then it delves deeper into the word itself and concludes that it's, "Possible abbreviation of coffin dodger, though likely to be a folk etymology."


I neither consider myself as eccentric or elderly. I do sometimes fall into the "grumpy" catagory when I don't get my way or someone steps on my selfish side! But "coffin dodger"??? I don't think I'm there yet! Sometimes I FEEL like one, but I don't make it a habit to dodge coffins just to avoid the inevitable!











I do believe that some of us are beginning to step into the role of "codger". We're the old guys huffing and puffing up the trail with our tongues hanging out like an old dog tired of running! I try to keep mine in my mouth as I have been known to step on it while "sailing" up some of the high mountain switchbacks!


Some of us codgers love the mountains. We try to impress ourselves by taking backpacking trips and getting our heart rate up into dangerous levels. The younger bucks on the trail aren't sure what to think about us.
When they see us gasping for air (not because we're TIRED, mind you, but because the air is much thinner in higher elevations), they appear confused and uncertain (not because we're showing them how REAL MEN hike, but because they're wondering where they can get phone service to dial 911).




So when you see us on the trail,
MOVE OVER AND LET US PASS!
Don't hold us up!
We don't have that much time left!!









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Wednesday, August 27, 2008


The Call of the Wild

The soft forest trail, carpeted with years of falling needles and leaves was behind us, giving way to fewer trees and open vistas. The dusty, rock strewn trail wound its way higher and higher. Patches of late summer snow hugged the bare mountain slopes in nooks and gullies as if trying to hide from the hot August sun.












As the trail zigzagged up the mountainside, drawing us ever closer to the top, each switchback offered increasingly awesome vistas of higher peaks and endless mountain ranges. Words like breathtaking, awesome, beautiful, amazing and spectacular never seemed to really capture the essence of such an experience! Photographs paled beside the movie held captive in my mind, captured by the brain and human eye.




The lure of the mountains is a strong force. It is energy, relentlessly drawing my very soul to bask in the solitude found only in the high country. Every mountain offers a unique portrait of its Creator. Geologically, only in my imagination, in my mind’s eye, can I get a picture of the tremendous forces that gave birth to the mountains. What unimaginable power it must have taken to begin in the bowels of the earth and push once layered rock to create peaks of great heights. Such is the trail upon which I walk in the high country.



Spectacular vistas are nothing, however, without color and light. From the quiet of an early morning sunrise watching the illumination of high peaks and valley fog to the evening sunset dancing ever changing color upon evening clouds, each day never repeating itself.








What satisfaction there must be in the Creator Who made all things and said, “It was very good”. Indeed it was!
I was not always enthusiastic about strapping on a heavy backpack and hiking into the mountains. It was not until the Fall of my life did I really begin to appreciate the high vistas.




Now, as I struggle to find the physical stamina needed for high country adventures, I am filled with an insatiable desire for more. Is there no end?

Monday, August 25, 2008

Gnarly Old Men of the Mountains















Ancient Sages of the Forest







Guardians of the High Country
Sentinels of time























Pose with Gnarly
Old Men of the city.


Stalwart; Tenacious; Vigilant; A testimony of determination.
Glacier fed streams, Liquid Crystal
create clear lakes
with names like

MIRROR















.........Moccasin,

and Glacier,

coexisting with flower-filled meadows.






















A time


to rest a


weary frame.





Good friends to share Nature’s abundance and God’s glory.





Beside warm fires and high mountains













Filling mind and soul in meditation;


Giving honor and homage to God,
our creator.
Only in the Mountains can one find peace like no other.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

MIRROR LAKE

EAGLE CAP WILDERNESS

OREGON
August 2008

An early morning hush falls over this small lake below the 9,527 foot Eagle Cap, allowing the first rays of sunshine to reflect a sight to behold.

It isn't always easy to come here.

Time constraints...

A long drive....

A long hike....

A heavy load.....

But well worth the effort!
















This is only a small piece of the beauty to be found in the solitude of the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

There are only two ways to come to this place......on horseback.....or walk.

Whichever you chose, it's well worth the effort!!

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