There goes the house!

Korte Wamsley and I have lived with it for two years now. What? The damage done to our house by the illegal excavation of the hill above us. They brought in 20 to 60 feet of fill, built rock walls to contain it, and cut deeply in between for their roads. The end result? Diverted the underground water so it comes directly into the foundation of the house. 18 months ago it was a tiny shift, but enough to splinter one of our four large picture windows and put cracks in the brick veneer. This spring the back sank 3 more inches, but the front about 6. Water line broke. Gas line broke. Glu lam starting to twist and rip the wall apart. Stone walls pulling apart. Stone literally splitting. The house made it the first 32 years without a single crack, but these yahoos (David Tolman, Richard Lloyd, Whisper Ridge Development) have taken so little time to destroy it. The engineer came today...drilling shows exactly what we thought. Now the hill's underground streams flow directly into the home at a depth of only six feet!

Poor old house. It has been a beautiful retreat. Now it's time to walk away and build anew.

Hiking the back country

We set off mid afternoon. Hot sun (yay!), cool dogs. Up the trail that follows Strawberry creek at the back of our property. 150 acres of easement, all ours! Moose hoof prints first, then the Gopher Snake! Zorro discovered it, approached it. All we saw was a shaking tail, curled body. With the constant visit of rattlesnakes, we yelled for him to get back. He did. Approached through the lense of the camera and discerned it was a Gopher. Korte Wamsley was okay with that. All I could think of was, "They eat rattlers, so where is his food source?" Time to take a different trail!
More moose prints. Raging water. Strawberry is huge and swollen this time of year, especially with the rain we've had. Cougar scat, and the smell of something dead. Didn't venture off the trail to find out what, then heard Korte Wamsley call out, "Honey!" I was dawdling, checking out the amazing wild flower display. As I came around the corner, there bounded a tiny fawn. It had lain on the side of the trail, curled up, hoping to be invisible. Korte says Zorro walked by twice without ever seeing it! Now I shall worry all night about it's mother. Where was she? Is she the "dead smell"? I shall get up early tomorrow and search again. Jehovah willing, Mom is okay. Bob Cat scat. Busy animal kingdom up here!

Moose Walk

It was a beautiful morning, and we set out through the back yard to the trail that begins behind our home. Went just a short distance when Zorro, our Border Collie, went into a frenzy! He has only done that once before, when he and I encountered a trespasser with an enormous back pack - alien looking!
Korte Wamsley moved ahead of me to find out why the frenzy. My husband eagerly waved me forward, where I arrived around the bend just in time to see the tail end of a young moose dive into the shrubbery. We stood there, delighted, when Korte said, "Oh, here it comes again." Only "it" was coming from directly ahead. Not the little guy, but big Mama, and very irate! She was magnificent as she surged towards us in her righteous indignation. She was also pretty darn fast! Quick as a bunny, I turned and raced out of harms way, finding out that I can run faster than my husband if I need to!

LOYALTY

Can anyone defeat a marriage cemented by loyalty? Loyalty to each other. Loyalty to God. All combined into a threefold cord (Eccl. 4:12). Loyalty defined by devotion!

It is a cruel world out there. Vicious, carnivorous, devouring. Cling to those whom you love. Cling to those who love you. Loyalty builds a fence around marriage, defining it, protecting it. Do not attack, for we are one. Do not malign, for we will prove your lies. Do not attempt to mislead, for we will prove you wrong. Seek instead to find the sunshine in our love. To bask in sharing it with us. We will let you...if you too understand and give your loyalty.

Korte and Sue Wamsley

We found him!

Heartbreaking to find that our beautiful border collie disappeared from the back yard. His love of people probably send him bounding with those 25 mile per hour strides to say hello to someone. Crying all night. Worried. Hoping he was not "taken", and praying that his license and rabies tag would bring him home.

Guess where this pup was? At PetSmart! Hanging out! Talk about finding people who would give him attention! He was picked up, taken to the home of an older gentleman, who fed him lots, and let him sleep in bed with him. Thank you Ben!

The phone call in the morning was a blessing. He's home, happy, comfortable, and sticks pretty close again.