2005 started with a wee bit of disappointment. We went to the local Catholic Church to play Bingo. They had a nice evening planned with a free dinner, Bingo, refreshments at the halfway mark and a toast of sparkingling apple juice to toast the New Year. The disappointment came when June discovered she had a Bingo too late to call it! She missed covering one of the numbers and by the time she saw it, the next number had been called and it was too late. The worst part was it would have been $150 jackpot. Oh well, better luck next year!

The end of January we had some visitors, our friend Terry, and her dad. Terry is a guide at Hearst Castle and has been Janet's friend for many years. June met her when she first visited California and started working at the Castle. This is the first time Terry has made it here to visit us and the first time we have had the pleasure of meeting her dad. We took them around to some of our favorite attractions including Shore Acres and the Discovery Center in Reedsport. When we went to Shore Acres there were some pretty big waves crashing ashore due to a storm a few days prior. You need to be careful when you go over by the rocks or you might get wet! (No, they didn't really get wet though they would have if they had really been standing there. I cropped their images from a different photo we took a few minutes earlier and put them in here. Actually that's where Janet and I were standing about 2 minutes before this wave came crashing over the rocks!)

In February June took on the position of newsletter editor and Board Member for the Bay Area Seniors' Computer Club. Her first edition came out in February and she also retyped the January newsletter so it can be posted on the club's website. Visit the BASCC site to view the results. You'll need to have Adobe Reader on your computer to open the various months that are available.

We hosted our first major party on Superbowl Sunday. It was a combination Superbowl - White Elephant Party. Everyone brought a wrapped white elephant gift and during half time we had the gift exchange. There were some lovely gifts as well as some real "dogs". We had such a good time we plan on making this an annual event and we think we already know what some of next year's white elephants will be.

The second Saturday in February is the Charleston Crab Feed. This is the 20th year it has been held. Charleston has a very active community and the crab feed is a way to raise money for the visitor center. They usually serve something in the neighborhood of 400 dinners between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. We got there around 11:30 and were pleased to find the line relatively short though there was already a large crowd seated. This is the 4th time we have gone, but the first time that we actually took along a camera to record the fun. People come from all over the state for the crab dinner. A whole Dungeness crab was $12.00 and it came with garlic bread, baked beans, cole slaw and lots of newspapers and papertowels so you can make as much of a mess as you want!

June celebrated her 55th birthday in March which makes her eligible to start collecting her NYS teacher's pension. Her first check arrived in her account like magic on March 31st. Friends Judy and Carey stopped by for a few days the week of June's birthday and helped celebrate. We had several beautiful, summerlike days and got in some golf, eating out and trying our hand at the casino as part of the celebration. Judy was the only one who walked away from the casino as a winner, but we sure had fun trying.

June's computer class also had a little birthday party for her and the following week we had a little pizza party to celebrate the end of the term. Janet's Spanish class also completed another successful term with dinner out at one of the local Mexican restaurants. We're both going to be teaching college classes next term as Janet tackles another term of Conversational Spanish and June teaches a section of CS101 - Computers in Society in addition to her regular class.

This has been a strange year weather-wise. We have been way behind our usual rainfall. Actually, we have been behind the "normal average rainfall" for several years. It does make one wonder what is normal? According to some websites where I have looked for information on this, the average for the winter months (Jan - March) is about 10 inches a month. We never even came close to that. April is 6 inches and as of the 22nd we were at 5.5. We've actually had more rain in April than any other month since the rainy season began.

So in between some of these soggy days, we have tried to have some fun. We went out to Camp Myrtlewood with Buddy to visit our friends Margaret, John, Tina and Kevin. Oh, and I must not forget Buddy's friend, Buckley. We went out there to see the spring flowers in the woods - trillium and wild iris. Every time we go out there, Buddy is more relaxed and able to act like a real dog.

Right after the spring term ended, Janet went to Kansas to visit her niece, Laura and her husband, Joe. She also went to do some more genealogy research and Laura went with her to Topeka where they visited some family members. Laura had never met her cousins before, even though they all live in Kansas so it was a good opportunity for all concerned.

Spring passed and turned into summer though you wouldn't have known it was summer by the temperature some days. While most of the country suffered through record heat, we had several days where we thought we were in the middle of winter. The annual SOCC golf scramble had to be postponed from June until July because of rain. Then when the July date rolled around - it looked like it might have to be cancelled again. For the first time since we have lived here, it rained in July - several different days! We were able to play the scramble and as usual had a fun time. We won passes to two golf courses plus a night's lodging and dinner at the Mill Casino & Hotel - we did really well with the prizes though they had nothing to do with how we played golf - thank goodness!

We played golf a few other times including one where we could actually see our breath. If it had been February, we never would have gone out there, but since the calendar said it was August - there we were freezing our a--es off.

In July Jerry, Janet's brother-in-law, retired from his position in California and he and Jeanne have moved to Kansas. They are living in part of the house with Laura and Joe and as of this update, everyone is getting along which is great. It will probably be a year or more until we see them all again.

In mid August June finally finished teaching for the summer and we took a trip up to Portland to meet up with Janet's brothers - Jim and Tom as well as Tom's wife, Leeann. We had hoped her brother Tim might also join us, but he had to work. We spent the early part of the day at the Oregon Zoo with Jim and then met the rest of the folks at the restaurant. Buddy, ever the trooper, spent the day waiting for us at the motel.

Before we knew it, it was time to leave and take Jim back to the airport for his flight home to California. He had been in Portland for the week on business which gave us the chance to drive up and see him as well as get together with Tom and Leeann.

The next day we continued north to Seattle. Janet had been there years before and talked about her trip to Tillicum Village with great fondness. Tillicum Village is on Blake Island in Puget Sound. It consists of a native American longhouse with a few other buildings. The island is a state park and people can camp there. When you go to Tillicum Village you have the opportunity to have a salmon bake the way the Indians did it - cooking the salmon over an open fire. We also had fresh clams in a nectar broth as an appetizer and the salmon was served with a salad and potatoes or rice pilaf. After diiner there was entertainment consisting of native American dancing.

Janet also got the camping bug in April. Since June has never been much of a camper, Janet and Buddy headed off on their own for a great adventure. They went north to an area near Winchester Bay and tried out two different campsites. One was a place called Eel Creek and the other was called Umpqua. They were not very far from each other and offered differing views of the area. Buddy found it rather exhausting - having to stay alert and guard the campsite as well as explore new uncharted areas in the great outdoors.

Labor Day weekend came and went without too much happening in our lives. June did trade in her van on Sept 1st for a Honda Civic Hybrid. It's a swell car and promises to help lower gas consumption in this household. Of course everyone is following the aftermath of Katrina and all of the problems of the poor folks in Louisiana and Mississippi. We, like many others, have contributed to the disaster relief fund - for food for the people and help for the pets (to Louisiana State University). It will be many, many months until any sense of normalcy returns to that part of the country. It makes us more aware of how fortunate we are to have our lovely home here in Oregon.

The day after Labor Day we decided to go on a picnic up at Eel Lake. Janet was feeling itchy to get in the great outdoors and it promised to be a great day. She hauled out our rubber raft from several years ago and inflated it. It seems to have some small leaks in all the chambers, but we took it along, blew it up again and went paddling around on the lake for an hour or so. Then the wind began to kick up a little so we headed back to shore for our picnic lunch. Buddy was glad to have us return to shore. We tried to get him to come along, but he was quite skeptical over being in the raft on land so we figured it was better to leave him in the car while we went a paddling.

The week after Labor Day our vacations started. First we headed back to Portland to see Lion King again. As it turns out, you can't "go home" again and we thought the version we saw on Broadway better than this version. Of course the theater on Broadway was specifically renovated for the show and Broadway has its own aura. We think we'll just save our money and take a trip to NY again in the future rather than driving so far for a show. On the way home we detoured to Silver Falls State Park. That is near Salem and is quite famous among the Orgon State Parks. We hiked down into the gorge to see a couple of the falls. There are 10 or 11 in the park and we decided to cut our visit after a 2 mile hike to see three of them. Well, one was more like a run off trickle, but it does have a name.

Here we have the South Falls. You can walk behind it by following the path. Then we have June as a "tree hugger". Of course usually the trees are full grown, live, old growth not ole stumps. But how about the size of this one? When we got down to the bottom of the gorge there was a nice bridge across the stream so we each posed on it. Here is Janet. And then we have a photo of the stream and trees. It would be hard to figure out which way is north from these trees - all sides are covered in moss.

We got home from this adventure Sunday night, dumped our suitcases and immediately started packing again for our trip to Disneyland and Universal City. We left the next day and spent three days between the two parks. The flights home left much to be desired, but since we only want to focus on the fun stuff here, we won't go into details. Suffice it to say it is important to reconfirm reservations as well as dealing with the airlines directly.

We were in a great location in Anaheim - right across the street from the main entrance to Disneyland. We spent one day in the new California Adventure, one at Universal Studios and one in Disneyland. We had "head of the line" passes at Universal and though they cost more, they were well worth it - we went into a different line and had no waiting to get onto rides, etc. We got to watch the fireworks on Tuesday from a 2nd floor balcony area at our motel. If you ever go there - check out the Park Vue motel. It was very reasonable and a great place to stay.

In the Disney parks we rented an electric scooter for Janet and that made getting around much easier. The new park seems better set up to accomodate them, but we failed to ask about which rides she could have driven into in Disneyland. I think there were some instances where she could drive right up to the loading area, but we didn't ask. In any case, not having to walk so far and stand while in line really made it more enjoyable. And all the staff were very gracious.

Fall slipped on by and before we knew it, it was Halloween. Jancy loves Halloween so we decorated the house and this year, we both carved pumpkins. Of course you have to wait until the last minute when you are going to do these fancy pumpkins. We had fun though and will probably each do one again next year. Buddy was a good sport about the picture taking, but you can tell he isn't happy about being labeled a devil - even though he is one some of the time, well most of the time.

Thanksgiving found us once again making the trek up to Portland - well this time to Hillsboro which is a suburb of Portland. It was another great adventure - punctuated by a traffic jam on I-5 which led us to look for an alternate route. The trouble in Oregon is that some of the roads are not marked very well so we had a difficult time finding the routes we needed and then staying on them. After a few wrong turns we eventually made it to our hotel and let our family know we were in town and would see them the next day. On Thanksgiving we followed Janet's brother, Jim, and his son, Trevor, over to brother Tom's house. Jim and Trevor were staying in a room just down the hall from ours so it was easy to hook up with them.

At Tom's house we were reunited with Tom's mother, Tam, and his brother (also Janet and Jim's half-brother) Tim. It had been many years since they had seen one another and it was a wonderful reunion for all concerned. Janet and Jim were amazed at how much Tim resembles their father. The guest list was rounded out by LeAnn, Tom's wife; Charlie, Tam's husband; June, and last but not least, Buddy. Everyone fussed over Buddy which was a bit much for him to deal with, but he was a good sport about it.

We had way too much food and way too much wine and beer, but what a nice day. Later in the evening, Janet took on her brothers and nephew in a game of Texas Hold'em Poker. She proved once again that she is a poker player to be reckoned with.

The next day we met friends for breakfast in Portland and then went on to OMSI which is a museum, planetarium and IMAX theater. We saw a planetarium show as well as The Polar Express in the two theaters and then took a brief look at some of the exhibits. Too many kids running around for our taste led us to depart shortly thereafter and start for home. Heavy rains led us to stop in Salem for the night, but the next day was nice. We stopped for a little shopping in Eugene on the way home and ended our Thanksgiving adventure with our safe arrival at Lighthouse Landing on Saturday afternoon. As it turned out, they had well over an inch and a half of rain in Coos Bay on Friday so we were probably wise to stop in Salem. We hope we may be able to host a Thanksgiving at our house next year - time will tell.

The last four years or so we have gotten the names of some senior citizens in nursing homes from a tree in the mall. The names of people who would otherwise not have a Christmas present are posted there. There are many children, a few adults and some senior citizens. Because we believe many groups take care of children, we opt for the seniors. This year we got four tags and had a ball buying inexpensive gifts and one nicer item for each of our seniors. We wrapped the gifts individually and then put them in a big Christmas bag. We never know who ultimately gets these bags, but we sure do have a lot of fun doing this.

We have an old theater in town called the Egyptian. It was built in 1925 and has a huge Wurlitzer theater organ in it. Every year about this time there is a brass group and local organist who give a free Christmas concert at this theater. This year may be the last because the theater chain that owns the building has built an 11 theater complex at the mall and shut this one down. There are local people, mostly a theater group, who are trying to buy the theater. We certainly hope they are successful. This is the only organ like it left in the state of Oregon and I would guess there are very few like it left in the country. Here are a few shots of the theater and this year's concert.