This and That Friday: Guatemala, Carrots, Tin Pot Valley and The Early Oregon Series

Guatemala Bound!

It is that time of year again:  My Mom (Grandma Jody), my daughter Kristin, and my nephew Ethan are heading down to Guatemala to help those living in extreme poverty.  This will be Grandma Jody's tenth year in a row.  It will be Ethan's third trip and Kristin's second.

 Kristin, Ethan and Mom on their 2009 Guatemala Trip

On Kristin's first trip, she worked in the dental clinic:

She makes friends easily, and here she is with some new ones:

Grandma Jody works in the medical clinic.  She is one of the people that keeps everybody organized.  She goes down a day early to help get everything set up.  I know that she is invaluable, with all of her experience and common sense.  The photo below is of folks waiting patiently to be seen for treatment and surgeries:

This year, Kristin will join Ethan and the construction team.  They will be installing stoves, and pouring concrete floors in homes in the outlying areas.  Here is a photo of the safe stoves that they install:

Onil Stove Link

I am so proud of all three of them, as well as all of the other people that they go with.  Please keep them in your prayers, especially for their safe travel, and their safety and health while they are over there.  Thank you!


These photos are from Kristin and Mom, except for the one with Richard by the stove (it is off of the Onil Stove website).  For more information, you can check out these links:

Outreach Blog by Kathy Matthews

Cascade Medical Teams Link

Carrot Harvest: 

Remember the other day when I was working on the dehydrating those 60 carrots?  They filled up these 8 trays:

Well, they shrunk down to 1 1/3 Ziplock quart freezer bags!  It took 2 days in the dehydrator to get them to this point, but they will save space and will last for a long time.  I am going to store them in a food canister on top of the cupboard, and they'll be there when I need them.  

I think that I will repeat this project with the remainder of the carrots.  I'll save a few out to make a veggi soup though.

So, what have I been up to this week?  Lots and lots.  I have been working hard on my Early Oregon Series.  What is that, you may ask?  It is my new project that is going to take me a long time and is tons of work, but that I am very enthused and excited about.  

I am not laying out all of the details yet, but I am reading a copy of my Grandma T.'s book of Tin Pot Valley that was written by Wilfred Brown, and is about the area where his grandparents lived.  Wilfred's grandmother is my great-great-aunt Aurilla Hedrick Putnam, and they all lived in an area also known as Hardscrabble and Putnam Valley, outside of Drain, Oregon.  The book is so well written, and is a joy to read.  Even if you have no connection with the folks who are in it, I know that you would enjoy it.  It is full of valuable information about the settling of Douglas County.  My great-great grandparents are in Chapter 13, "From The Tennessee Hills".

All of this Early Oregon Series stuff came out of my need to organize the info that I am researching for my book.  As I mentioned the other day, I have set up 13 new blogs this week and figure that I'll end up with a total of 20.  When they are set up and ready to go, then I'll share them with you guys.  I am so excited, though am pretty tired at the end of the day, and my eyes hurt!  Oh well, no pain, no gain.


When I tear myself away from the computer, I finished reading "The Little House on the Prairie" and am almost done with "On The Banks of Plum Creek", by Laura Ingalls Wildler.  It is amazing how the research that I am doing on my own relatives parallels some of the experiences (and even locations) as the Ingalls family.  

I want to give a shout out to Grandma Jody and to my Nanny and Aunt Mardy for handing down the info that I am now working on.  Mom has given us books and pictures on the family calendar.  I  am so happy to finally have the time and the drive to work on this stuff so that I can share it with others.


I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend.  God bless!

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