St. Paul, Minnesota

Our next stop on the homeschool convention circuit was the MACHE (Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators). You gotta love all the acronyms. Here are a few:
OCEAN (Oregon Christian Educators Association Network)
WHO (Washington Homeschool Organization)
HEAV (Homeschool Educators Association of Virginia)
The list goes on and on . . .

But back to the MACHE. This is what 2 booths looks like after it is given a make-over. It usually takes 2+ hours.I had a picture with me standing by the books, but it's disappeared. So that's all there is for this convention.

The MACHE was a great convention too. We had a lot of return customers, who wanted the next books in the Andi saga: Thick as Thieves and Tales.

We left St. Paul, headed for Branson, Missouri, to kill a few days before going on to Kansas City for the MPE (can you guess what that stands for? It is Midwest Parents Association). If you guessed it, congratulations. You win . . . nothing.

Next up . . . Branson!

Ohio Stop

The GHC (Great Homeschool Convention) of Cincinnati was a record-breaker! The vendor hall was  huge: two "halves," with our booth being underneath the skyway from where the pictures were taken.

Donna and Me in Cincy

We had a couple of days to spare, so I visited with a friend in Cincinnati, Donna Patton, and the next day went up to Dublin, near Columbus, to hang out with Stef Reed, a fellow Kregel author. We explored a trail along the Indian Run Creek, which dumps into the Scioto River (the one from Follow the River, an Indian captive book). That was fun.

At Indian Run Creek

Stef and me on our hike. Love your "shades," Stef!

This is blood root, Stef says

These umbrella-like plants have a name, but I forgot it.

Next time: St. Paul, Minnesota . . .

The Blood Moon

About 4:45 am, PT. Nearly total

 It was dark. It was cold. But it was the night. The night of the blood moon, and I was hoping for clear skies. The weather map showed a finger of clear weather for central Washington State.

Armed with a warm jacket, a fleecy blanket, and a pair of binoculars, I made my way out onto the deck. Roger had already gotten up and snapped this first picture, but it was hard for the camera to focus on it.

I peeked at the moon, but it was the stars that overwhelmed me. It's dark up at 3,000 feet with no city lights! Since I'm never up at this time of the night, I didn't even recognize the constellations. Orion had set hours ago.

I didn't last long for the first peek. "Not total yet," I said and crawled back under the warm fleece sheets and blankets of my bed.

5:00 am. Total lunar eclipse. April 4, 2015

I watched the clock for 4:53, supposedly the first of the whole 4 minutes the moon would be totally eclipsed and "blood red." Well, it wasn't blood red, but a beautiful dark orange. It looked amazing through the binoculars too!

I sat in a porch chair this time, wrapped up in my fleece blanket, but I didn't last long. I didn't have to. Four minutes is a very short time for a total lunar eclipse. I saw it. Roger took pictures. We went back to bed.

I went back to sleep.

I believe there is another "blood moon" scheduled for September. It is amazing to me how mathematicians can calculate an upcoming (years, even) lunar or solar eclipse to the very minute it will begin and end, and yet they can't make the obvious conclusion that an ordered universe--precise to the second--demands an orderly Creator. It boggles the mind to hear their convoluted explanations.

Thanks. I'll pass and stick with Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

I'm Back!

After a two-year break, I finally figured out how to combine all of my blogs under one user name. It took some doing, but now that I don't have to "sign in" and "sign out" every time I want to post something about the homestead or our road trips, I might even post more often. Pay no attention to the "posted by Andi Carter" signature. I consolidated my blogs under the Andi Carter blog, since that is my major blog--pretending I'm the character in my books.

Summer Fun!

Summer pictures with the grandkids (Chad and Joanna's and then later on Kristel and Sean's).

Ah! What a view!

How fun it is to take a 15 minute hike up to our neighbor "Fred's" place. You can see for miles! He's never there . . . and there's nobody else around either. What a view! 

Enjoy the pictures!

Later, it's time to fish and for grandma to relax. But no fish!

It took Daddy's skill to help Levi catch his first fish!

Meanwhile, Grandpa would rather rest in the hammock.

The other cousins figured a bigger lake is better!

Julie would rather just catch butterflies.

The four-wheeler is a hit!

Grandma and Kristel's girls.

The Messy Bunch enjoying Grandpa's birthday cake.

New Cabinets

 Finally, at long last, the kitchen is beginning to shape up. Here are pictures of the first set of cabinets, the ones across from the sink/counter. The first picture shows the little range/stove  top and the microwave, and formica counter top for baking. The second picture shows the extra storage in the under-counter cabinets from the living room side. When you live in a 625 sq ft place, "small spaces" takes on a new meaning. The cabinets are lovely!

A Rainy June

We've been gone most of June . . . traveling in the very warm Midwest and Texas. I knew the rain was pouring on the coast (i.e. Seattle), but apparently our usually dry, north-central WA homestead saw its share of rain.

This is a mushroom . . . one of the biggest and most beautiful mushrooms I've ever seen. Nestled next to an old log and some lupine, this little fellow is sure proof that we've had more than our fair share of rain this month. After driving through the smoke in Montana and up I-25 through fire-scorched Colorado, I will never complain about the rain again!

We're Off the Mountain for a While

It's a far cry from a mountain in the middle of nowhere of Washington State to Chicago. We are going around the Midwest, visiting homeschool conventions and selling my books to eager homeschooling families.

Question about toll roads: what do they do with the money? I'm convinced they do not use it to improve the toll road for which they're collecting it. There was no improvement in the quality, and in some cases the roads were worse.

Missing the homestead right about now . . .

Hungry Little Orphan Bear Cub

We had to go over to the coast (Enumclaw) this week, as Roger's father passed away and there are many arrangements that need to be made. While we're there, I've been spending my time between Chad's house and Kristel's house, a few blocks away. While walking "home" (Kristel's family rents our old place) from town today, I stopped by the game warden's house. For years, he was always bringing home "strays" from the woods; our kids went down to see fawns and . . . most often  . . . bears.

Today Bruce stopped me and asked if I wanted to see the bear cub he had collected. I rushed down to collect the grandkids and Kristel, and we gathered around to see the little guy and hear his story. Sadly, the warden had collected the cub from someone's porch (not in our area). Apparently, his mother died before hibernation and the cub had been wandering around ever since--cold and hungry (and sleepy, I imagine). Our kids, so Bruce claims, will be the last humans to ever see the orphan. He is headed to a bear haven for the winter, then he will be released into the wilderness next spring. We wish him all a happy, healthy new life!

Baking Bread on a Snowy Day

Now that we've moved over here, the wood stove is the BEST bread-raising spot . . . as long as I set the bread up high enough. Instead of four loaves at a time, our smaller oven really can only hold two, but that's plenty. The snow around here is awesome! Light and fluffy and lots of it! It's hit a couple of degrees below zero at night, and single digits during the day. I still go walking. Sort of takes your breath away! But one thing is certain: Snow and cold is better by far than RAIN, RAIN, RAIN!