Thank You

I want to thank all of you dear readers and friends for the kind and thoughtful comments you left on my last post where I shared with you the loss of my dear sister Roberta.  Your love and care brought me great solace.  

Below is a painting that Roberta asked me to paint for her from a photo she took of 5 of our Sunfish at Waldo Lake.

Dear Dayle gave me this beautiful bouquet of roses this week to cheer me up, very sweet.

We attended my nephew Joel's funeral on Friday in Selah, WA.  3 and a half hours drive away.  It was a beautiful service.  I drove there and back, Dayle, my sister Denise and her husband Steve rode with me.  I have written my sister's obituary and The Oregonian published in the Sunday newspaper.  I also designed the funeral notice and the funeral program.  I'm speaking too, along with my brother, Robert - Roberta's twin.  The service is on Saturday.  Thank you again for your kindness and support.  ((hugs)), Teresa 

Farewell to a Beloved Sister

We lost my older sister this morning.  It was unexpected and a shock.  She had a severe heart attack on Sunday night and was in the ICU getting care.  But half her heart was too damaged and she passed away at 3 am this morning.  She was such a positive and happy person and we did so much together.  She will be missed.

She and I shared the love of adventure and water and each had our own Sunfish sailboats.  Our family all got on board and we had 6 in our little fleet.  This is Roberta with her only granddaughter, Ava.

There were 4 of us, twins Robert and Roberta, then me, and Denise the youngest.

If you want to hear all about her, I'm including the obituary I spent the day writing and researching the dates and details.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

Roberta Lea Shaklee Mills passed away on July 24, 2019 surrounded by her beloved husband Teddy and sons Cliff and Derrick.  She was 76 years old.  She had a severe heart attack late on Sunday night and was in the care of the ICU at Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital.

Roberta was born in Watonga Hospital in Oklahoma on September 27, 1942 to Betty Lea Woldridge Shaklee and Wallace Winston Shaklee.  Her beloved twin brother Robert Shaklee was born first and she was born second.  They were the first 2 of 4 children.

Roberta and her mom, dad and 6 week old baby Teresa were in their 2 room house in Oklahoma when it was hit by a tornado when she was 6 years old.  The house was blown over and demolished while they were inside and they were rescued by the bravery of their father, Wally.  

Roberta and her family lived in Watonga, Oklahoma until she was 12 years old when the family moved to Oregon in 1953 to start a new life.  

Roberta was very proud of being tapped by the National Honor Society in HS.  She was on the cheerleading squad, the song team and was elected Homecoming Queen in her senior year at McMinnville High School.  Her positive attitude and perky personality made her fun to be around.

She met Teddy Mills when she was 18, they fell in love and got married in the family home in McMinnville on November 17, 1961.  Roberta enjoyed raising her two sons and served as their Cub Scout leader.

Roberta began working at The Oregonian in the Classified Ad department, Teddy worked in the mail room.  Her father was The Oregonian distributer in McMinnville when his children were young, her brother Robert worked at “The O” while attending college at PSU, her sister Teresa worked in Ad Service and both of her sons worked in the mail room.

When Roberta retired, she began many years of service, volunteering in many organizations, serving as president, treasurer and board member and volunteer of many groups.  Her first was with the Milwaukie Historical Society.  Then she joined the Milwaukie Garden Club which she was with for decades.

Roberta volunteered for the Friends of Vista House while her sister Teresa was the Executive Director there in the 1980s. She was a charter member of the Friends of Multnomah Falls and volunteered in the Visitors Center.  

Roberta found out from her Uncle Bill Shaklee that she was eligible to join the Daughters of the American Revolution and joined Portland Chapter NSDAR in 1999. When she was filling out her papers to join she encouraged her sister Teresa to join with her, which she did.  They were dedicated DAR members for 2 decades, serving in many offices - Roberta was Regent (president) of Portland Chapter followed by her sister serving in the position.  They attended the DAR Continental Congress in Washington DC on 2 occasions.  While in DC they visited Shaklee family in Annapolis and went on to visit Nantucket where they found they descend from the founding owners of the Island, via Tristram Coffin, and stayed in their ancestor Jared Coffin House while there.  The offices she held in DAR are as follows.  Chapter Treasurer May 2015-May 2017, District 1 Director  Jul 2010-Jun 2012, Chapter Honorary Regent Jan 2007, Chapter Regent Jun 2005-Jul 2007, Chapter Vice Regent May 2003-Jun 2005

Roberta and Teddy have attended annual Oregonian Retirees group luncheons since their retirement.  Roberta also joined the Red Hat Society and attended luncheons and outings with them. Roberta also organized many McMinnville High Graduation Class of 1960 luncheons and meetings over the years.

Roberta and  Teddy enjoyed going to car shows and cruise-ins, winning awards and trophies with his beloved yellow and black racing striped 1969 Mach 1 Mustang.  They also joined a Mall Walkers group and made many new friends there.

Roberta’s sister Teresa joined the Portland Women’s Forum association who saved the famous viewpoint from being privately developed. Roberta and sister Denise also joined and the three sisters enjoyed attending meetings together for several years.

Roberta was always an amazing, beautiful and fashionable lady who made friends wherever she went.  She was active until the end, canoeing, camping, sailing and traveling.

30 years ago, Roberta found Waldo Lake, a place for her siblings and their children to camp.  Each year all four of the siblings, spouses, children and grandchildren and friends would travel to the lake and have a family reunion while camping for a few weeks, canoeing, sailing her beloved Sunfish sailboat with her siblings, a fleet of 6 sailboats between them. She loved swimming in “Amy’s Blue Lagoon”.   

Roberta bought a lot at Fishhawk Lake and had a beautiful house built where she would invite her friends and family to come and stay.  She decorated it in rustic lake style and Teddy and she would go there to enjoy several days many times during the year.  

Roberta is survived by her husband Teddy, twin brother Robert Shaklee, sisters Teresa Shaklee Kasner, Denise Shaklee Hawke, sons Derrick and his wife Tish and Cliff Mills and his wife Tami, grandchildren Ava Mills and Kyle Blair, his wife Christy and great-grandson Richard Blair.
She was preceded in death by both parents.

Enjoying Summer on the Deck

Are you up for some flower photos?  Due to lack of comments on my fishing and sailing posts I get the feeling my readers aren't that interested in those things.  Which brings me to the question - what draws you to my blog?  Feel free to share in the comment section.

This is a twig table made by a craftsman friend of mine years ago.  I had it in our guest room with a log bed.  Someday I am going to re-do that room and put this table back in there.  My nephew found it up in the barn loft and brought it down for me.

Have a wonderful weekend.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

My Sailing Memories

Hello dear readers!  A few of you asked to hear more about my adventures on the high seas.. :-)  This was Stargazer, our 26 foot Ranger 26 sailboat.  This photo was taken by me while swimming while we were at anchor in Government Cove, just east of Cascade Locks.  I had an underwater camera which I used to get this shot.

We bought Stargazer in Seattle in 1993.  It’s name was “Sandbagger”.  I did not like the name and began working on a new name.. due to the star on the rudder, I thought of “Star” names and came up with “Stargazer”.

Our first marina was at Cascade Locks, OR, where we learned all about our new boat.  We had it there a 2nd year, too – 1994 and 1995.  The 3rd year was at Hood River in 1996.

1997 we had Stargazer moored at the Embarcadero Marina in Newport, OR.

In 1998 Dayle hauled Stargazer on her trailer on a ferry up to the Friday Harbor and I lived on her near the ferry dock for 4 months and did my first solo sailing there, also many people crewed/sailed with me while I lived there.  I sailed to Orcas Island to Rosario Resort with one visitor as crew and spent the night in the boat and sailed back to Friday Harbor the next day.  Below is a story I wrote of my first solo sail in San Juan Channel off Friday Harbor.

MY SOLO SAIL

By Teresa Kasner – August 1998

On Wednesday, I had finally made up my mind, I would not spend another perfect day off wishing I could find someone to crew with me. So I decided I would go out alone. 

I worked until noon, hosting for a chat community online, then stowed all my gear, unplugged the shore-power, and the phone, started up my trusty Yamaha 9.9... then I hanked on the staysail and raised it at the dock, so I'd have only to leave the helm while raising the main. I then untied the bowlines, and then rushed back to untie the sternline, the wind caught the staysail and Stargazer started to move away from the dock, so I pushed her out of the slip a bit, hopped on and quickly put her in reverse, we were free of the dock and heading out.. ALONE!!

I headed past the anchored boats, and pointed into the wind, and went up and raised the mainsail. I pulled it almost all the way up, then used the winch to tighten it up. I was all set!!

I had decided I could do fine by myself just using the staysail, and not using the roller furling genoa. I could sail safely without worrying about the genoa getting hung up, or the roller fouling. It was a good decision, sailing with the staysail and main is a SNAP!! Tacking is a breeze. I got the staysail adjusted so I could tack back and forth without adjusting it at all.

I sailed out of the harbor, and headed west, up the San Juan Passage towards the top of the island. I was treated to very favorable winds, and got up to 4.8 knots, heeling at 15°. Stargazer and I were grooooovin'!! I let go of the tiller to see what would happen and lo and behold... she sailed herself!! I experimented, to see how long she'd keep it up, and it was amazing!!

At one point I wanted to free up my little twirling windsock, so I hopped up on the back bench in the cockpit, held on to the backstay & freed it up. Then I looked around and enjoyed my new viewpoint, while Stargazer stayed on course perfectly. The sun was sparkling on the water, and I SMILED really big, and realized, "This is one of the happiest moments of my life!"

At 5 pm I reluctantly turned back, and sailed with the main out wing on wing. I was doing 2-3 knots that way, but the wind died down so I dropped the mainsail, threw a couple bungees on it, dropped the staysail onto the deck, folded it up and powered up the motor and headed "home".

I stopped in the side of the mouth of the harbor to drop my fenders over, so I would be ready to bring her in to her slip - the ferry blew it's horn to warn everyone that it was ready to head out, and I was sure I was out of it's way... but it headed towards me!! Then I heard 2 short blasts of it's horn, and the door of the pilothouse opened, and a man leaned out and waved at me!! I was thinking OOPS!! maybe I wasn't clear of their course!! But everyone on the ferry was waving at me, so I stood tall and waved back and SMILED big!

Then I steeled myself for my entry into my slip. I carefully headed in, put the motor in neutral and let her ever so slowly inch towards her berth, when I was close, I clambered up on the portside cockpit bench and grabbed the teak rail and VOILA~ -- stepped right onto the dock, quickly tied up the sternline, ran forward and grabbed the bowline and tied her up!

Then I stepped back into the cockpit, collapsed and drew a HUGE breath of relief!! I DID IT!! Why did I wait so long? It was GREAT! I loved it!! I cannot WAIT until my next time out alone!

A side note: The next day my boat-neighbor, Terry the Ferry Guy greeted me on the deck, as we passed, and asked me if I saw him wave at me yesterday. Huh? What? OH!!!!!!! You were the guy waving at me from the ferry?? YES!! :-) He told the captain to pass near me and honk, so he could wave at his neighbor! I wasn't in the way after all! Cracked me up!!

In parting, I have a quote to share.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream."

Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens]

1835-1910)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 1999 I bought a houseboat near Portland Yacht Club and had Stargazer moored outside the front door for almost 5 years.  While there I took women that wanted to learn to sail out many times to teach sailing.  I joined PYC and took Stargazer on several “Ladies Cruises” to different locations each year.  I took Stargazer on an Opening Day Parade with PYC that was very memorable.

While with PYC I chaired many committees and was Chair of the Memorial Day Cruise to the PYC outstation on Sauvie Island.  I also chaired the Roster Committee for several years.  We were members until 2014 when we sold Stargazer.

Click on the link below to see photos from my years on the boat.

My story of the Stargazer and her sale.

Well.. time to pack my bag for swimming.. have a wonderful day!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

🎣 Salmon Fishing in the Pacific Ocean

🎣  Dayle and our youngest son Travis spent a few days getting our fishing boat ready to head out into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday.  Cleaning it, changing spark plugs, put in a new water pump and made sure all the necessary gear was in its place.

Fishing poles, life jackets, ice chest.. all set.

We charged up the VHS radio and I went over the emergency stations with the crew and the procedure for calling for help.  I learned those things when I was single-handing on my sailboat.  I had to call to the railroad bridge tender to open the bridge for me and my tall masted boat to go through.  And when I lived aboard my sailboat in the San Juan Islands, I had to learn to use the radio.  My learning how to use it came in handy when I was sailing alone on the Columbia and had an electrical fire.  :-O

The crew was up early and headed out at 3 am!  They made it to mouth of the Columbia River as the sun rose in the east.

Hayden had a rough start and "fed the fishes" at the beginning but rallied and enjoyed a good day of fishing.  He exclaimed that it was a perfect day.

All the guys took their turn at the helm.  Dayle and his beloved C-Dory, "Sea Wolf".

Travis' best friend from work, Ernie, is his fishing buddy too.  He is extremely knowledgable and is a valuable member of the crew.. he and Hayden posing for a photo.

Dayle and his first catch, a Coho Salmon.

Just enjoying the open sea.  The ocean was flat which was helpful.. :-)

My wonderful son and grandson.. another catch!

Dayle knew I'd enjoy some photos so he snapped this buoy and the sea lions enjoying a rest in the sunshine.. Ork ork.. they called.  The CR buoy is the outer marker of the entrance to the Columbia River, a few miles out to sea.

Another shot of the beautiful ocean on a perfect day.

  
The crew got home around 7:30 pm, then they got the fish cleaning station out that Dayle had bought last year and proceeded to clean and fillet the catch of the day.  We put each half in it's own bag and straight into the fridge.  Today our son will come to clean the boat and freeze the fish.

Ernie took two Coho and we got the rest and 2 Sea Bass.

Travis teaching Hayden the fine art of filleting fish - I sent this photo to Kristi and she texted back.. "Is that Hayden with a filet knife?"  I said yes and she goes.. "OH MY!"  LOL!

Two hands make for faster processing.  

I see a salmon dinner on our plates soon!  :-)

The deep salmon red of this fish means it's ocean fresh.  

I hope you enjoyed seeing the guys and their successful fishing trip!  I know I did!!

((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

Volunteering Rocks

I spent the afternoon volunteering at Multnomah Falls with my best friend from 7th grade - Shirley.  We greeted people visiting from around the country and the globe.  They all wanted advice on what to see, which way to go, and.. where the restroom was.  :-) Thataway.. ← This is the lodge and if you look on the bottom left you see an open door, that is the Visitors Center.

As you can see, the falls are skimpy this time of year.  But one very cool thing is it is fed by a spring so it never dries up.  In the winter and spring it roars with rain and snow-melt waters.

I can't tell you how many people came into the VC and asked us how to find the falls.  Umm.  It's right out there, just walk up that way, pointing right.  Don't people look up when they get there?  It's hard to miss.  :-)

Look what visited us the other day?  This is a photo I found on the internet, not mine, it's a Western Tanager.  Kristi saw it and told us about it, she says she sees them every year.

A fun meme I saw on Facebook.  :-)  I think my skills at buying yarn definitely exceed my talent at using it.  

The sunny skies are back.  I foresee some time on the deck watching the koi swim in the pond this weekend.  Our son Travis and wife Kristi are coming over this evening and she is bringing the things to make lasagna.  Our son is going to be tidying up the boat for a fishing trip on Sunday.  Dayle is going too. They are going off-shore into the Pacific Ocean in hopes of catching Coho Salmon.  More on that on my Monday post.

Have a super weekend!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)