The first weekend in January we had a power failure due to heavy snow in the mountains. We packed up and headed north. An all electric house doesn't stay very homey without power.

We took this trip as an opportunity to see another one of the Oregon lighthouses - the one at Cape Meares. This one isn't in use anymore. Now they use a very small but powerful beacon - not very romantic but it does the job.

We've seen all the Oregon lighthouses now except for Tillamook Rock and that is offshore about a mile so we probably never will see that. We understand you can have your ashes entombed there, but at this point, that is not something we care to do.

February started out quietly, but near the end of the month we found ourselves involved in a dog rescue. We've devoted a whole page to the story of Lucy and her adventures. You can learn more about her there.

March rolled around and so did June's birthday. The celebration stretched out over a week and now we are in the countdown to the big 55 and retirement.

Janet's birthday in April saw her become a member of the Medicare system. Time will tell about how that all works or doesn't.

In May Janet took a trip to Salt Lake City and discovered much new information about her family tree. She found out alot about her Swedish ancestors and also learned alot that will help her continue her research from Coos Bay. She is also determined to find out more about June's family which has spurred June on to update her family page with more pictures. Also in May, June was saddened to lose one of her guardians, Paul, at the age of 96.

With the month of June, June reached the end of her full time teaching career at Southwestern Oregon Community College. She plans on continuing part time next year, at least until her NY pension kicks in next April. She and Janet attended a lovely department luncheon celebrating her retirement and that of another faculty member.

July brought a visit from Jim and Lynda plus a dog sitting stint for us with Lucy. Janet met up with Jim and Lynda when they went to Portland to visit Tom, their stepbrother, and his wife Leeann. Janet hadn't seen Tom in 20 years so that was a happy reunion. Then Jim and Lynda came here for the holiday weekend. We went riding on the Dunes on Saturday and to Bandon and the animal park on Sunday. We ran out of energy before any of the local fireworks, but did manage to set some of our own off and see the Charleston display from our drive.

In Mid August we left for a 10 day trip to New York. Unlike our trip to NYC, this one was to visit friends with only one sight seeing day to Niagara Falls. Unlike our trip in 2000, we flew this time. We spent a few days in western NY, the Adirondacks and the Finger Lakes seeing friends and family. The only "glitch" was our luggage didn't arrive with us, but it was brought to our door the next day so that was only a minor setback.

We had the opportunity to see Ericka, my goddaughter, and meet her fiancee, Terry. They will be getting married next May in Penn Yan and the reception will be at Esperenza. That is an old Greek revival mansion that was renovated into a beautiful restaurant with a large reception room. It is at the head of the west branch of Keuka Lake and has a magnificent view as seen here. When we went to Penn Yan to visit my guardian, Mid, we went to lunch there.

We dropped in an out and in again on my good friend, Ann. Our first night was spent overindulging in "real" Buffalo style chicken wings and NY pizza. Our last day was spent at Niagara Falls - getting wet on the Maid of the Mist and delighting in all the wonderful butterflies at the Butterfly Conservatory in Canada.

We also visited friends in Albion, Brockport, Geneva and White Lake. It was a great trip and I was very happy to see my friends again. We got to meet Macks - the new addition to Boulder Lodge and also to see the new digs of my friends, the Kaysers, in Geneva. Valerie is promising to visit us in Oregon at some point in the future. We look forward to that.

Labor Day weekend rolled around and we had company from California. Friends of ours from our Castle days, John and Rick, came for the weekend. We took them around to our favorite places for visitors from the area and managed to eat our way around the county. Did I tell you we also ate our way around NY? Oh, our diets!!!!

We take everyone to the animal park because it is so much fun. It is so incredible to be able to pet these exotic and endangered creatures. I don't imagine they think it is so much fun, but they are very good about it.

We also went to the Discovery Center in Reedsport. They have wonderful exhibits there with terrific murals by a local artist. They are going to do a major renovation over the winter and have a new exhibit next summer so anyone who visits us - be prepared!

We managed to get in one more small trip (if you call 1200 miles small) to Lake Tahoe to see Jerry. He transferred there in July. Jeanne has been staying in Kansas, but will be joining Jerry in October. It is beautiful there so we're sure she will like it once she gets used to the weather (as in snow and cold for the winter). We took a dinner cruise on the lake and also went for a gondola ride to see the beautiful scenery. Visiting a casino was also a must, but we have nothing to brag about on that one.

Fall has passed and we have completed our teaching duties until January 3, 2005. Janet taught Conversational Spanish one night a week and enjoyed this class as much as any class she has ever taught. They finished their term with a dinner at a local Mexican restaurant where they practiced what they have learned this fall.

June taught several computer classes this term and has greatly enjoyed only working part time

(3 hours a day, 4 days a week). She will be submitting her New York state retirement paperwork in a few days and looks forward to receiving her first retirement check in April.

We spent a pleasant Thanksgiving with friends here - going out to dinner and then to their house for games. We plan on staying home for Christmas as well. Our tree is up now (12/12) but we don't have our presents under it yet. That will come in a day or two.

Christmas was fairly quiet. We stayed home for the first time in two years. That was very nice. We did have a last minute guest - our doggie rescue, Lucy, came to spend Christmas while her people were out of town. Buddy got a bit depressed over the attention she was getting so we will have to be careful to fuss over him if she visits in the future.