July 30th, August 6th, August 25th, and so on.
posted by Patty James @ 7:17pm, Tuesday 27 July 2010.
Well, there is a little time left for the matching grant. Victoria challenged us to a $1,000 matching grant if we could raise $1,000 by July 30th and we only have $200.00 to go! Help us reach our goal please. You can use the PayPal link if you like.
August 6th is the day I will be home in Sebastopol. I feel a little weird about this. My sister Margaret told me tonight that she couldn't have done what I just did. It's not that she couldn't have done the trip, she simply would not have taken the financial risk. I understand. All will be well, I'm sure.
I have a place to park the RV while I save money for a house and start the grant writing process. Thanks Dan and Jan of the Vine Hill House and O'Connell Vineyards.
Dr. Susan Herring from Sonoma State, and I chatted via email today and she told me that the data analysis will be complete by the end of September. Please (!!!!!) help with more written surveys before the end of September.
So much more, but I have a beautiful fresh veggie casserole in the oven here at my sister's house in Southern Oregon visiting with her and my Mom. My Mom had a heart CT scan today. Results tomorrow. It's all tough. Constantly involved with my kids lives (and I'm thankful for that) and an aging parent. It's never ending.
Soon I will have my last kid's interviews. I hope I don't cry through them...:)
A warning to parents!!!
posted by Patty James @ 4:02pm, Friday 23 July 2010.
I know this has nothing to do with Shine The Light, but I must tell you what happened today.
As you all know my son Russell is a Navy Corpsman in Afghanistan. He's been on patrol (with the marines-he looks after all their medical needs) for 36 days and it generally doesn't go longer than 30 days. This morning at 5:05 I received an email from Russell saying he was on leave in London and he was just mugged. They got everything but his passport and he was lucky to be alive. He needed money to get back to base.
I am at my sister Margaret's house in Oregon and I rushed in from the RV to her house with the news. I will spare you a lot more details, but suffice it to say that I sent $4,500 Western Union to Russell. They were 2 different wires because I forgot about the exchange rate. I received a third email from Russell saying he missed his flight and needed more money. This doesn't feel right....
We'll skip ahead a couple a couple hours....
My sister and I look at each other and wonder if we've been scammed. No, not possible...the email was from Russell's email address. Now I hear from Joe, Russell's Dad and he just checked email and received the same email from Russell. I had been up since a little after 5:00, so I was first to take care of the money for Russell. Joe also says this isn't feeling right. If I was scammed and yet they have Russell's email and ID to pick up funds, where's Russell? I am in a full panic now, yet still able to think enough to get to the Navy. Automatic answering machine. I call a recruiter and very quickly tell him the whole story. He can't help me find out where my son is. In London beaten up or worse or Afghanistan. He tells me to to call the Military Red Cross. I do and the woman who answers the phone, (I guess I shouldn't say her name) knew the money wasn't my concern- where is Russell? She vows to find him and call me back, but it could take several hours to go up the chain of command in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile Joe contacts the London Police and tells them the story. They are not sure what to do until we find Russell. I have to call them back and give them the whole story. They tell me I have to file a police report in the US before they can proceed, so I call the local sheriff and he comes out and takes my story, talks to the Navy Police and to the Red Cross and other military people who were involved.
I can not tell you how Joe and Doris (his wife) and my daughter's are absolutely beside ourselves as are my Mom and sister Margaret.
The Red Cross woman called back.....they found my son, safe and sound in Afghanistan, although they can't tell me where exactly. More hoots and hollers across several states at this point. I never thought I would be happy to hear my son was in Afghanistan but all this time we feared the worse. He was on leave, he was mugged and the muggers were holding him for money or worse.
So all reports are done and the sad part is that someone could have hacked into the military's computers to get Russell's email account and parents names. The Navy is on this big time. These sicko people know that parents will do anything for their sons and daughters if they think they are in trouble. I was scammed. Bottom line is my son is o.k.
DO NOT SEND MONEY TO YOUR MILITARY SON OR DAUGHTER UNTIL YOU HEAR THEIR VOICE!!!!!!!
Nancy, Pizza and Bread
posted by Patty James @ 10:38pm, Thursday 22 July 2010.
You've met John, now here's Nancy...isn't she cute?
Yes, I came upon another heart rock at John and Nancy's.
Today I taught Nancy and John how to make home made whole-wheat pizza dough. We had such fun making our own pizzas....
When the pizza dough was rising, Nancy and I made bread. Isn't it beautiful?
Here is their pond...
So now I am at my sister Margaret's house in Talent, Oregon, just 5 miles from Ashland. I spent the afternoon visiting with my Mom, and this evening I had one on one time with my sister...mostly talking about my Mom. I will be helping Margaret for the next couple weeks. I will pick up my Mom in the morning and bring her over to Margaret's farm. We have lots of jam to make, preserves to put up, garlic to clean, floors to scrub, etc. More on the farm soon....
