It's been a busy month since my last post! I can't be sure I can even remember everything but here is a run down!

For my birthday Jack and I went to Reno for the weekend and stayed at the Grand Seirra Resort in Sparks. The main draw was the Sierra Nevada Roundup but the Annual Rib Cookoff was in full swing too! That is one of my favorite foods! We sampled four or five different styles and had to quit. There were dozen's! I came home with a new flute and a pair of great shoes! I'd made the mistate of taking non-walking shoes so had to get a pair while I was there. The Grand Seirra very plush! I quized Jack on how much he'd spent for the room when we first went in... it was very elegant and I feared he'd "treated" me to a $500 room! Turns out they had "upgraded" us to one of the condo units they are marketing... sly aren't they? No bite from us though. I had a nice time but casino's and all that jazz just don't really do much for me. I'd rather be on a river or in the mountians camping!

We came home on Sunday to miss the Labor Day returning home traffic. While Jack and Steve worked on the shed I gathered up all our remaining nursery wedding gift certificates and went shopping. Man did I score! Horizon Nursery was having a "garage sale" and I got rhody's, a magnolia, honeysuckle, moonlight hydrangia, iris, roses, rosemary.... with the gift certificate from Gary and Susie for Horizon. Not in the garage sale but still on sale was a butterfly bush and a Rose of Sharon that came home with me too! Then off to Liskey's with the gift certificate for them. They were having a 50% off Labor Day sale. Hosta's, sedeum, asters, lavendar, mallow, statice, and several ground covers came home with me from there!

The driveway on the side of the house looked like I was starting my own nursery! So for about a week I planted every night after work. Getting hundreds of dollars of plants for next to nothing is wonderful but I should have worked in some kind of labor arrangement!

After a week of working in the yard until dark, after work, everything was in the ground and getting settled in before serious fall begins. And the nights are getting colder! Frost is threatening to happen any day now.

Jack went to a Men's Retreat on the coast the following weekend. He got to visit with Joel, who he hasn't seen since June and came home full of energy and ideas. He put the raised bed timbers in place and mowed all the lawns!

Scuba classes for me started September 8th and have taken each weekend since. I have passed my written scuba test and leave this weekend to make the 5 dives required to get certified. We're doing them in the Smith River outside of Hiouche, California. I've all the gear in my garage and wil head out immediately after work tomorrow to get there by 10 pm. It's about a five hour drive and we start out pretty early Saturday.

Jack's dad had surgury today and that went well. He is in the hospital tonight but it's looking like he will be released in the morning. The doctor was very pleased by the outcome of the surgury. We're all hoping Dad will be able to get back to normal soon. He hasn't been well enough in the last four months to even come to dinner at our new house!

I've got pictures but haven't loaded them on the computer and won't until next week. I'll try to post the shed progress pictures and my newly created flowerbeds along the south side of the property and house. I'm pleased with the shady grove garden I created!

This book is long enough! I'll post again and tell you about diving in the Smith River!