O....S.....U....

Oregon State, fight, fight fight....
If I hear that chant anytime soon, it will be too soon.

We left Friday afternoon to head up to Corvallis to watch the game with UCLA. Snow was forecast over the pass and it didn't disappoint. There was some, but not much. It even snowed here in Klamath before we left.
The 'Dam Board' the official Jumbotron

Lucas thought that since the game was being broadcast on FSN, the official station of the Mariners, we might try to get some rally fries. During the game Pat thought that our sign should have read "Hey Mark! How 'bout some Reser Fries"
The game was cold, but we were under-cover in the newer part of the stadium and the rain held off until half-time. The Beavs were leading 14-0 at the half and we decided to start heading home. It was already 5pm with a 4 to 4 1/2 hour drive ahead of us. It started raining then.
Lucas and his Beaver Foam Head which is always a hit!


In the end the Beavs lost and it was a very long drive home.

Peppers

Big ones, small ones....


Red ones, green ones....


Hot ones, sweet ones.....

Pat had a patient bring him in some yummy homemade salsa and pepper relish. They got to talking and Pat said he would love to have a few habanero peppers to dry and use for cooking. Well, what Pat ended up with was about 30 pounds of peppers, some that we cannot even identify.

There are some habaneros, about 10 pounds of jalapenos, pablano's, thai hot peppers and I don't know what else. It took us 5 hours to string just these up and he didn't even touch the jalapenos and another bag of something. He finally took them back up to the office to give away to patients.

We have these hanging in the garage. My eyes water and my throat gets tingly whenever I go into it. Last night the boys were eating them. Some were sweet, some were hot. There are some that look like green bean and have a similar texture but have a bit of a bite. Morgan especially like the jalapeno's. They tried another that was round and looked much like a tomato. They said that it was sweet, but had a big kick at the end.

Pat just got word that another delivery is scheduled over the weekend!!! I told him to "Just Say NO!" What is a person to do with so many peppers?

New Backyard

We finally finished up with most of the back patio/deck. Well, I am finished with my part. Pat on the other hand, kept 'thinking' and decided to add another 300 square feet. He has about 150 left to finish. The doors from the kitchen and master bedroom are wonderful. They allow so much more light to come into the house and the deck is fantastic. We have used it more in the past 2 weeks than we ever have. There is virtually no dirt, which is what the back yard was anyway. We bought a fire pit and light it up a couple of times a week and the boys roast marshmallows.

My landscaper showed up today and they should be starting on the front next week. We are going to put in a retaining wall and a sprinkler system. So the place is going to be a mess for a while longer. The kitchen is still on the back burner. But that is alright, we still don't have a firm plan on flooring, cabinets or counter-tops and I am kind of running out of money!

Black & White

For 2 years we have never had any problems in the school system with Morgan and diabetes. For 2 years he has been able to take care of himself and do what he needs in order to survive. That has been put to the test the past 3 weeks. Unfortunately, one of his teachers only sees things in Black & White, there is no gray area in her line of sight. With diabetes, everything is gray. Especially for a boy in the throws of puberty where control of blood sugars can be a crap shoot.

We decided this year that we were going to have a 504 Plan put in place for Morgan. A 504 is a plan that the school and teachers have to legally follow. It allows special accommodations to kids with disabilities. Like being able to test your glucose whenever and where ever you need to, going to the bathroom, getting a drink, going to the office, ALL without penalty. We had a 504 meeting on Tuesday and everyone was on board and agreed with all of the accommodations that I wanted for Morgan. Or so I thought. The next day incident number 2 occurred. Just one teacher, 3 incidents in 3 weeks. Who he has for 2 periods every day.

It is very frustrating for all of us. Morgan has been very responsible regarding his care and has never abused the privileges he needs in school, so this is frustrating for him and brought him to tears yesterday.

On one hand, I want her to understand and make her see that diabetes is never black & white but on the other hand this is my son's life. We have already made the decision to move him out of her classes at the semester, but I think we need to do it sooner than that.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Bye, Bye Summer Vacation

It is amazing how fast summer has zipped by. School started yesterday for Lucas and today for Morgan. I am trying to get meetings in with the nurse & teachers regarding Morgan's diabetes, hair cuts, clothes shopping, laundry...the list is always endless and in the meantime we are tearing out our deck and putting a larger one with patio doors out of the master bedroom and our family room. Crazy...I know... but Pat thinks we can have it finished before the first snow...hopefully that will be later in the season.Our mess 'during' construction.

Here is proof that Pat actually CAN work in the yard!

Morgan is also playing football this year. He is shocked at how exhausted he is in the evenings and how hard it is go get up in the morning. On a side note...I wrote this post last week and then promptly forgot about it. Well, on the 4th day of practice Morgan, ever the injury prone kid, dislocated his shoulder. He is fine and his shoulder should be fine, but for now, his football career is over!

I am also trying to get my scrapbook of China finished and a power point presentation done before September 9th, that is when I get to give a presentation to one of our Sunday school classes at church, 1.5 hours. I feel truly honored, some other people in our group only get 5 minutes. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by. United Evangelical Free Church-9am on September 9.

I am also seriously looking into becoming a Family Resource Mentor for the American Diabetes Assoc. A mentor is someone who will come along side newly diagnosed families or even families in the area who have lived with diabetes for a while.

A few pictures of Morgan at Cascade Sports Camp. He had a great time and I even think he may have learned a thing or 2!

Crater Lake

If you remember a previous post about marathons, you know that Pat was supposed to run the Crater Lake Marathon August 11. A client of Pat's had reservations at the Crater Lake Lodge that he was not going to be able to use, so he offered it to us. We had a beautiful room over looking the lake with no television or telephone. It was so peaceful. We had a wonderful dinner in the dining room and walked around the crater. All during this time Pat is waffling back and forth as to whether or not he was going to run the 1/2 marathon, try to do the full, or maybe just do a quick 6 miler. I don't think he even knew when we went to bed!

Well the room was beautiful, but there is no AC in the Lodge and we were on the top floor, it was steaming hot in our room that night, even with both windows open. The bed was much soggier than what we are used to and so neither of us slept very well. So when the alarm went off at 4:30 for him to catch his 5am bus to the race start.... He turned it off and went back to sleep.

The race didn't happen for Pat, but we had a wonderful time. A relaxing, delicious breakfast with a great hike up Mt Garfield. It was a wonderful weekend.


Looking toward Klamath from Mt Garfield.