All,
Ok, it only took me 5 months to post something. We really do have an interesting life. I am just not a great blogger.
I am sure many of you (or perhaps most) know that Mary and I sold out our share of Three Rivers Winery this past February. Actually, we really had no choice. So, I have had a six month vacation (?) to do many things that needed to be done around our place, including pulling out 6 (of 7.5 total) acres of our vineyard. Pulling it out is actually simplifying a very labor intensive project. It took me 6 weeks of 8 hour days to completely take out the vines, irrigation system, and trellis system (including posts and support wires). Anyway, we decided to reduce the size of the vineyard for several reasons, but primarily because of the annual work involved of maintaining it for very little return.
Mary and I, along with our daughters, Christie and Mollie, are now fully recovered from our winery ownership days. We are all either back to college or employed in other jobs now. Mary has been working as the Director of Marketing for a senior living center in Walla Walla. Mollie is back to the Univ. of Idaho for her sophomore year. Christie has decided to take a year off (staying in Moscow, Idaho) to work and get focused on a culinary/business degree and career. And, I have taken a new job as the Executive Director of the Southeast Washington Economic Development Assoc. (SEWEDA), which is a four-county region adjoining the Walla Walla Valley to the east and northeast of where we live now. I just started this past week and have been commuting two hours (one way) to Clarkston, Washington, so I have been putting a lot of road time. Eventually, I will be working out of Dayton, Washington, which is about 30 minutes from where we live now. One of the requirements of the position is that we live within the region, so over the next few months (?) we will be selling our home and Biscuit Ridge Vineyards, and moving to the Dayton area.
Although my new position is with a non-profit organization, we do receive state and federal funding. So, the position is quasi-political and I do receive a fair amount of media coverage. I thought I'd pass along a news story that appeared on a television station out of the Lewiston, Idaho/Clarkston, Washington area this past week. Notice how profound (and old) I appear. You should be able to link directly into it by clicking on the following. http://www.klewtv.com/news/61583387.html
Hope all is going well for everyone! God bless.
Duane

San Francisco

Had the sports weekend of a lifetime last weekend, Sept. 25-27. Flew down Friday morning to San Francisco, CA and spent the day exploring the city by foot. Actually rode the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf and walked back to the downtown hotel. Returned via North Beach, through Chinatown on down to Market St. - the main thoroughfare.

Friday night went to the S F Giants vs. Chicago Cubs baseball game at AT & T park. Saturday attended the Univ. of Washington Huskies vs. Stanford Cardinal football game. Unfortunately, the Huskies did not play well and got creamed. Then Sunday to top it all off, went to the Oakland Raider vs. Denver Bronco football game. What an experience that was. Hotter than blazes and crowd is from another planet. I saw at least 5 people led out in handcuffs and another 6 or so escorted out by police. Not a place to take your grandmother.

Fun in Paradise

Donna and I just returned from Kona, Hawaii on Sunday the 6th. We visted her brother and his wife. They are my FAVORITE relatives in the whole wide world. We put over 800 miles on the rental car so you know we saw a lot of the island. Highlights included a helicopter ride over Hilo and the nearby waterfalls and volcano. We flew over areas where we could see paved roads leading to nowhere as lava had buried whole housing divisions. Small areas of vegetation would be left with the roads still there but, the houses had either been moved or burned to the ground. We flew over the area where lave was flowing into the sea. Huge steam clouds were evident but, it was difficult to see flowing lava as it was obscured by the steam or flowing underwater.

We did some snorkeling, drove all over the island exploring and ate some great meals. In fact, the last evening we went to a buffet at the Four Seasons Hotel/Resort and sat two tables away from Bill Gates and his family. One of the highlights was our day trip up to the Waipio lookout. Only 4 wheel drive vehicles can descend into the valley but, our view from the lookout was amazing.

Greg and Donna

LIVING VICARIOUSLY ......

The hole in my heart is still causing pain but the knot in my stomach has eased. No, I haven't succumbed to what seems to be a genetic deficiency in some Wall Mouth hearts but only what a mother feels when her kids are far from the nest.

Kristin, Brian, their three kids and the family dog arrived safely in El Salvador having left here Thursday, July 23rd. Things just aren't the same around here and won't be until they return from this great adventure. In the meantime, we will live vicariously through them for now with hopes of visiting them this winter.

I thought you might like to keep up with their adventure by visiting their blog which they've already updated: http://melendinews.blogspot.com Their news is definitely more interesting than anything we've done lately!

Thanks to the rest of you who have let the rest of us in on your happenings.

Happy trails to you all, Lori

Weekend in San Diego

First off, get well soon to cousin Wayne Wollmuth. Keep battling.

I was in Los Angeles for a company meeting last week. Decided to drive to San Diego Friday evening after the meetings ended. Being a big baseball fan I wanted to see the new stadium of the San Diego Padres. Watched 2 great games against the Cincinnati Reds. Padres won them both. I didn't dress warm enough thinking the weather in San Diego has got to be warm in the evening - right? Wrong, it really cooled off. A t-shirt wasn't enough.

When I visit a city I like to try to do something there I've never done before. Having been to San Diego several times I wondered what would be something new to see. Settled on a tour of the USS Midway which is now docked in San Diego as a naval museum. Really interesting. But, it's a good thing I didn't serve in the Navy on a carrier. I must have bumped my head 3 times on the low clearance ceilings. In a small park next to the carrier is a large (and I mean large) statue of the famous photo from New York at the end of WWII. It's the one with the Navy sailor kissing the nurse in the white uniform. Check out the size in the photo. Note the people at the bottom of the picture.

I got so tired walking and exploring the city that I took in the new Star Trek movie at a downtown theatre. Great flick for those into the sci-fi, action type of movie. I would highly recommend it. If any of you ever get to San Diego be sure to explore a part of the city called the "Gaslamp District". The area has many early 20th century buildings with great restaurants and shops galore.

Take care everyone,
Greg Wollmuth
Seattle

Tucker's Washington D.C. Trip

Tom, Rhonda (Wollmuth) and Sean Tucker just got back from spending a week in Washington D.C. Tom's sister is married to the Chief of staff of the US Senator from Idaho, Jim Risch. He has an apartment in Washington D.C. near the capital so we took advantage of the opportunity to have a place to stay.

Was very educational and great to see everything a person grows up seeing in a text book or on T.V. My nineteen year old son even enjoyed it, can you believe it!!! Probably the only down fall of the trip was it was spring break for some kids and there were alot of them. Cherry trees were in bloom so it was really pretty around the area. This was one of my favorite places to visit in the U.S. Would love to go back again some day.

OTD (older than dirt) posts her first blog

No fancy schmancy photos will accompany this but I'll surprise all of you one day.

Today we were visiting Kristin for lunch and her 5-year old, Elise, said, "Hey, Grandma. I can show you a picture of someone who's older than you!!" She'd recently gotten her pre-school class photo which also included photos of her teacher and the school principal. Lo and behold there was a photo of a little gray-haired lady, the principal, who really did look older than me. Kristin properly scolded the little twirp but I got even with Elise later when we played a game and I beat her twice, not giving her an edge as I normally would do.

I'm savoring every minute I spend with this Melendez family. For those of you who don't already know, Kristin, Brian, and the three children will be leaving at the end of July for El Salvador where Kristin and Brian will be teaching at the American School in San Salvador for two school years. Brian's school, Concordia Academy - Bloomington, will be closing at the end of this school year for financial reasons, which left him without a job. They were familiar with the American School system, having taught for four years in Singapore where Eric was born. B & K attended a job fair in January and found someone they'd known in Singapore who was now a principal in San Salvadore. One thing led to another and they accepted positions there -- Brian teaching HS physics and Kristin in the elementary school. And, of course, the parents want to take the grandkids along ................. bummer. They've PROMISED to come back after two years.
I'm praying for a continued stable government there.

Hope to hear from more of you as time goes on. This is a great way to stay in touch.

Blessings, Lori (Loretta)