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June 16, 2006

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Well, it isn't actually Friday - I am writing my journal a couple of days ahead of Friday this week because the Webmaster won't be available to post on Friday morning.

We left on Wednesday for Portland because we are going to dinner with Dave's Aunt Harriet and then there is a special awards breakfast on Thursday, which is media day for the Champ Car races this weekend. Dave and the rest of the announcing crew are getting an award that is given annually to people who have done a lot to support the racing community at Portland International Raceway. Dave will be announcing those races all weekend, and I am going in and staying with Lara and Greg while he does his thing out at the race track. Actually, Greg will be joining him on Sunday to help out. After the races are over on Sunday, the next day we are leaving for the Kah-nee-tah Indian Resort over in Warm Springs for a couple of days and then we will be back home on June 21st.

Let's back up a bit and fill you in on my adventures last weekend. I'm still in pain. Our good friends, Des and Donna invited me to go with them on a 5 to 8 mile hike at Oceanside State Park. This park offers some of the best agate hunting around. I thought I could handle a mild hike, being it was mostly on flat terrain. There used to be a small town out on the sandspit where we hiked, until the surf and tide washed it away about 1960. A foolish man should not build his house upon the sand, as the saying goes. We arrived at our destination around 11:30 and our plans were to hike a couple of miles on the spit - which separates Tillamook Bay from the ocean - and look for agates along the shore. The agates were hidden among larger stones and so it was rough walking. After finding my very first one, I got agate fever and there was no stopping me. I came home with quite a few agates. After agate hunting, we ate lunch and headed for the ocean side of the spit where we proceeded to look for sand dollars. I found the first and only one of those, although Des found several tiny ones, but they didn't count. By this time, it was late afternoon and we walked back along the beach side watching the sea gulls and pelicans look for fish. We finally found the trail back over a sand dune and had to hike another mile in high bushes of scotch broom turning and twisting on this narrow path. It might as well have been 100 miles, as my feet and hips were getting very tired. We couldn't tell which way we were headed and the narrow trail wasn't marked at all. Des went ahead of us and found our way out of the maze. I am so glad he thought to bring along the walkie-talkies because they sure came in handy. Des made it back to the car early and set up a tailgate party with wine, chips and salsa. I was soooo glad to be back to civilization again.

After that, we drove down to Oceanside for dinner at Roseanna's. They have the best food and I had a delicious halibut dinner while watching the sunset over the ocean. I didn't get back home until 11:00 that night, but what a glorious day we had.

Unfortunately, I came home with blisters on the bottom of my feet and I could hardly move, I was afraid to sit down for any length of time as I was sure that rigor mortis was going to set in and I would never be able to move. I was sore for several days and I think the next time I get invited to go for a hike, I may think twice!!

We had a pleasant surprise this week. Our little chipmunk appeared on our deck and was busily eating away at the birdseed that I had put out. He was really scarfing it up too and my presence didn't seem to bother him one bit. We hadn't seen him since last fall and were hoping that he had made it through our stormy winter. Dave's mom called her first chipmunk "Julio", and so every resident chipmunk has had that name. There have probably been a dozen of them since that first one, but they're all Julio. Also, the mystery is solved as to why all my birdseed was disappearing during the night. I think it was this little guy making a "pig" of himself. Dave watched him packing the seed away and renamed him "Julio Hog".

All in all, it's been a fairly active week, and we haven't had time to do anything with the steamboat since we brought it home. It was sitting in a repair shop since last fall and it needs a good cleaning. Dave also has to get the smokestack and canopy re-installed. So this week, I tackled a "rainy-day" project and got the brass polished. I did that before we put the boat away last time, so it wasn't too terrible a job, but still, it's time consuming. Anyway, that's done, so the first time we have the boat out in "full-dress", she'll look good!

I have to brag a little about my oldest granddaughter, Ashtin. Ashtin is in the first grade this year and loves reading. I got a call from her mother who told me that they did an assessment on her and she is reading at third-grade level. We are so very proud of her and I am sure that because we started reading to her when she was first born that that made all the difference in the world. She is very smart for her age too. Now that I have bored everyone with my "grandma" talk, I will call it a day.