In Karen's later years, her "pack Rat" tendencies, so prevalent in the rest of her maternal family, began to show its self. I have been cleaning, giving and in some cases trashing some of the things that she had gathered over the years. A good friend of ours came down yesterday to help me sort through her stuff. We spent most of yesterday and last night sorting and cleaning our closet in the master bedroom. I used 55 gallon plastic bags to put it in so that Pat could take it to the Thrift store in Burns. One bag only was delegated to shoes, the rest to her clothes.
We had to give up because she ran out of space in her truck. She has promised to come down next month to help with the other bedroom. Karen was fond of the "Shrink Storage Bags", The theory of course was Summer and winter clothes to be alternated. I don't think it ended up that way. I had been down to about 3 different "town shirts", I couldn't find the others that I knew we had, until yesterday that is. I not only ended up with closet space, I even have things to put in it. I sit here typing this and laughing at the things that we do without realizing it. Much of it was a walk down memory lane. I had often threatened her by telling her that some day when she went some where, I was going to bring in a truck and empty the place out.
The national organization for falconry is the Peregrine Fund, located near Boise Idaho. They have a "Wall of Remembrance" for falconers that have passed on. Most if not all had some part in the furtherance of the sport of falconry, either on the National or State level.
The Oregon falconers Association took only two weeks to raise the $1000. to install Karen's plaque on April 7th. The blog entry in front of this one is the letter that I wrote to go into the Book of remembrance, while the plaque will go on the wall. Below is a short video one of those ceremonies.
https://vimeo.com/121603327 password owyheeflyer
Sometimes it takes some scrambling to raise that much money, but it took no time at all to find the money for her. I offered to make up the difference if they had trouble, but was told to not worry about it. I am so proud of her.
We will have a little get together this year at the fly-in here at the house, and at the completion I will scatter her ashes here at the house. We have hosted one here for the last 12 years. I will also invite falconers as well as pilots. This will take place on Sept 8th, 2018. There is plenty of camping space, so mark it on your calendar. :-)
