We are headed up to Park City for the forth.  We will arrive late Wednesday evening and be leaving Early Monday morning.  If any are inclined to make the drive we would welcome seeing you at the Anderson Cabin.  We will not be making the trek elsewhere on this occasion as this is an Anderson reunion.  Julie is coming by, and if anyone else wants to give me a call and we will tell you how to get there or arrange to meet you at the bottom of the mountain.  For those that feel slighted, we minus Brian will be in Utah for the rest of you at the end of July. 

Here are the rest of ‘em.

Someone has a temper….

Her name is Serra~V~ and she throws fits.  It cracks me up and I start laughing which only makes her madder which escalates the fit.  Last week was when the episodes started.  One evening as I was taking her back into the bedroom because everyone was already in bed and I didn’t want her keeping others up, she grabbed the tablecloth on the dining room table and yanked.  The flower vase tipped over and spilled water, so I walked her quickly to her father and deposited her with him so I could attend to the mess.  She knew I was displeased with her which upset her and she started fitting.  By the time I got back to her she was throwing herself about the room screaming.  Brian just looked at me and threw his hand up.  She wouldn’t let me touch her and if I did she would violently throw herself on the floor face down.  Then the destruction started.  She knows there are places she isn’t supposed to go, one of them being under the computer desk.  So she crawled under there, all the while glaring at me and crying, and proceeded to empty the shelf.  She eventually hiccupped herself to sleep.  Goodness!

Then yesterday, she was playing with the ice cream scoop, flinging it about, and it caught her just under her eye, leaving a welt.  She looked accusingly at grandma, started crying, opened the nearest drawer, threw the scoop inside and then started flinging things out of the drawer.  When that didn’t stop the welt from smarting, she crawled under the kitchen bench and bawled. 

Funny story:  Last Sunday Serra~V~ was eating ice chips, one of her favorite things.  She kept begging for them and everyone kept on giving and she was swallowing them just as fast as she could.  After a few minutes of this she grabbed her head with both hand and ran off screaming.  Have you ever seen a one year old get brain freeze? 

OK, one more from yesterday:  Mom and I were reading Serra~A’s Xanga site about Doug flashing the badge of the security fellow.  Serra~V~ was upset because the door to the room was shut.  As she turned around and came back into the room I was doing an imitation of Doug, and was making a loud vocalization just as she turned the corner.  Her hands went up in fright, she screamed, and ran behind the chair for cover.  She is so funny, she gets startled so easily and gets down right scared.  It cracked Mom up because she actually tried to hide. 

Most of the time she is absolutely delightful though.  Just tired or not feeling good or injuries seem to bring out the Mr. Hyde.  Oh Yeah… one more thing…she hears “no no no” a lot from everyone and she has started saying it.  It sounds more like “na na na”.  But it is the same. 

I am beginning to think we may not be announcing every time we make an offer on something.  The market is such that places in our price range last about 24 hours on the market.  We were the first ones in but not the most, what they consider “stable offer”.  Someone else came in 4K higher with 20% down.  We countered back with  4K higher but we simply do not have 40K to put down.  Man!  This may take awhile.   When Corine ran our price range through the MLS a few weeks ago, for the whole of Ventura and some of LA county, only 11 places came up.  11.  That is pitiful.  There is such a demand and simply not enough for sale to fill that demand.  I naively figured that when we were ready, we would find a place, make an offer and, badda bing.  It happened for us like that in Vegas.  So let the games begin.  It’s going to take nothing short of a miracle to find a decent place and have the owners “choose” our offer out of a stack of similar offers. 

I feel this may be a bit premature but it seems if I let it go, you will all say later, when did this all happen.  Yesterday, we went and took a look at another condo.  This one is bigger and brighter and had almost everything we needed so we made an offer.  We should have the counter today and will know a little more what is going on.  So, more later….keep your fingers crossed. 

YESTERDAY WAS FATHERS DAY AND IT WAS NICE FOR ME ANYWAY.  UNFORTUNATELY, BRIAN HAD TO SPEND THE MAJORITY OF THE AFTERNOON PREPARING FOR A MIDTERM THAT WAS THIS EVENING.  HE FELT GOOD ABOUT IT SO HOPEFULLY THE TIME SPENT WAS WORTH IT.  SERRA GAVE HIM AN ENGRAVED PEN THAT READS B.BURTON ANDERSON, FATHER EXTRAORDINAIRE, A SUMMER OUTFIT, AND A CONTAINER TO HOLD SOME CHURCH TREATS OF HIS OWN SO HE STOPS EATING ALL OF HERS EVERY WEEK. 

DAD AND I SANG PARTS IN THE FATHERS DAY PROGRAM AND LUCKILY FOR ME IT WAS AN ALTO PART.  I HAVE FOUND THE LOWER RANGE MUCH MORE TO MY LIKING LATELY. 

IT WAS FUN TO HAVE THE CAMARILLO ADDITION UP FOR THE AFTERNOON.  JACOB DECIDED HE WANTED TO GO DOWNSTAIRS AND ALMOST IMMEDIATELY CAME BACK UP SAYING THE CAT WAS THERE.  JACOB HAS NOT BEEN FOND OF THE CAT BECAUSE IT HAS SCRATCHED AND BITTEN HIM ON OCCASION.  LIESL ASKED HIM IF THE KITTY WAS SLEEPING OR WALKING.  HE REPLIED THAT IT WAS SLEEPING RIGHT THERE, AND HE POINTED UNDER THE DECK.  KATRINA CAME OVER AND NONCHALANTLY SAID “OH YEAH, THE CAT IS DEAD, RIGHT THERE.”  SHE HAD SEEN IT BEFORE BUT FIGURED WE ALL KNEW ABOUT IT SINCE WE HAD BEEN TALKING ABOUT THE CAT GOING MISSING AND DECIDED THAT IT HAD REACHED IT’S DEMISE.  IT’S A GOOD THING THEY ARE SHORT AND COULD SEE THE CAT AS THE DAYS HAVE STARTED TO HEAT UP.  DAVID AND DALLAS TOOK CARE OF MOO AND HER FINAL RESTING PLACE IS NEAR BELA.  IT IS SAD THOUGH THAT HE HAD TO SUFFER A PAINFUL DEATH.  I GUESS MOO, KITTY, BELA, AND CUBBY ARE RUNNING TOGETHER THROUGH THE FIELDS IN THE GREAT BEYOND WITHOUT THE WORRY OF GETTING EATEN BY COYOTES.  MOM SURPRISINGLY SAID WHEN THE GARAGE IS EMPTY AGAIN SHE WOULDN’T MIND GETTING ANOTHER KITTEN SO THERE IS A MOUSER AROUND. 

TODAY I WAS IN A PARKING LOT ACCIDENT.  A LADY PARKED BEHIND ME ENOUGH THAT I COULDN’T SEE HER WHEN I GLANCED OVER MY RIGHT SHOULDER AND DIDN’T PICK UP ON HER BEING SO CLOSE WHEN LOOKING IN MY MIRROR.  SHE WAS NOT PARKED LEGALLY, BUT I HIT HER.  I WAITED FOR HER TO COME OUT AND SHE FREAKED OUT ABOUT THOSE “DARN SUV’S”.  I SNAPPED AT HER I’M AFRAID, LETTING HER KNOW THAT IF YOU PARK BEHIND SOMEONE IT DOESN’T MATTER IF IT IS AN SUV OR NOT, IF IT HITS YOU YOUR CAR IS GOING TO GET DENTED.  MY CAR DOESN’T EVEN HAVE A SCRATCH ON IT.  MY INSURANCE COMPANY SAID THAT BECAUSE SHE WAS NOT IN THE CAR IT FALLS UNDER PROPERTY DAMAGE AND WE HAVE NO DEDUCT ABLE FOR THAT.  I DON’T KNOW IF SHE WILL FILE A CLAIM OR NOT.  SHE CALLED ME LATER AND WANTED ME TO JUST PAY FOR IT WITHOUT GETTING THE INSURANCE INVOLVED BUT I DON’T THINK MY INSURANCE IS GOING TO BEND OVER AND PAY WITH HER BEING AT LEAST AS MUCH OR MORE AT FAULT THAN I.  I THINK I WILL JUST LET THE INSURANCE DEAL WITH IT.

ANYWAY IT MADE FOR A ROTTEN AFTERNOON. 

HAPPIER TIMES BELOW.  THIS WAS AT SHANNON FALLS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA, AND I THINK ONE OF THE LAST PICTURES OF MOOCAT, GETTIN’ SOME LOVIN’ BY THE VEEE.

OOMPA LOOMPA DOOMPITY    DOO…I HAVE ANOTHER PUZZLE FOR YOU.

And here is our Oompa Loompa…

Sometimes we are blessed in ways we never imagined would be a blessing when it happens.  For instance, a few weeks back while Brian was studying at the office late one evening, he heard someone trying to park a rented U-haul outside.  Then he heard a crunch.  By the time he looked outside there was no sign of the truck.  What he noticed when he got in the car to come home was that the crunch had been the Saturn.  The mirror had been knocked off and the front side swiped.  The damage is not severe but annoying to fix.  Dad confronted the guy that we knew had done it (since it was the only U-haul out) and he admitted it was probably true because he was tired and was having trouble parking it.  Long story short he said he would pay us cash for the damage.  A few weeks pass and now we really want to go to Utah for the forth of July as all of Brian’s family will be there and it will be a long time before we are all together again.  The tickets prices have been rising by the day as we try to hammer out when we can go.  By the time we sat down to buy the tickets they were up around $500 for all of us to go.  Ouch.  We finally found some with United that will run $342.  Well, that is better, but we are saving every penny so we can close on a condo hopefully by the end of the summer and $342 is a lot when it comes down to that.  The guy came through yesterday with $375.  We will fix the mirror so minus $45 for that and we have nearly the whole amount to pay for the plane tickets.  The reason we are not going to fix the rest of the damage is because it probably wouldn’t decrease the price of the car that much if we decided to sell it.  So there you have it.  We are set to go to Park City on July 2nd through the 7th and it isn’t going to be a big ouch.  It is turning into a huge reunion. Not only are all of the Andersons and spouses, kids and dogs coming, but grandparents, and many of the cousins and aunts and uncles.  It should be quite a fest. 

Remember this baby.  Look at those cheeks.  She doesn’t look like this anymore.

This entry is dedicated to the persimmons that we won’t ever have to eat.  If you read Dad’s site you are aware that the persimmon tree met it’s end last night.  I think it had an early demise just so Dad could try out his new toy.  They made short work of that sucker in less than a few hours and all that remains is a pile of green wood chips.  Then Dad started into the grapevines.  I am sure they would have been left alone if there wasn’t such a fun way to watch things get composted.  Here are the shots and also one of Mom picking berries.  Talk about a gorgeous yard.  The other shots are of Brian and Serra at the concert in the park last week, eating popcorn, and Serra~V~’s favorite pastime of emptying shelves.