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June 1, 2007

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Here it is Friday and the week went by pretty fast, again!

We just stayed home over the Memorial Day weekend. There's nowhere we really needed to go, and the traffic is usually so bad that we hate to be out in it anyway. It didn't seem like there were as many cars going by the house this year, though. Oh, there were plenty, but I'm guessing the gas prices kept a lot of people home or at least a little closer to home. Still, it was nice to stick around the homestead and not have to venture out.

We were going to get our vinyl flooring on Tuesday, but the folks called up and changed it to Thursday. Since our schedule was changed and Dave had a bunch of doctor appointments on Tuesday, I rode along with him, as he had to drive the motorhome into Portland for the Rose Cup races this weekend. The broadcast crew uses our motorhome as a base during the two-day event, as well as for the races the following weekend. So into town we drove, towing the little Subaru behind us.

Since the first doctor's appointment was in Hillsboro, we parked the motorhome at the Costco parking lot and unhitched the Subaru and off we went. His first appointment was with the ear doctor to see if he needed hearing aids. It sure doesn't take a test to figure that one out!! Anyway, the test confirmed that he could use another set of ears, so in a couple of weeks we go back in and get him fitted for hearing aids. The next stop was the orthopedic doctor to check his ailing shoulder. The doctor gave him a cortisone shot and if that doesn't do the trick then he may have to have surgery. We should know about that in a couple of weeks. Next, we headed back to the motorhome, hooked up the Subaru again and off we went to the racetrack in Portland to drop off the motorhome. After that, we stopped by Builder's City and talked with our friend Dan McLean for a while. He owns the place and since it's just around the corner from the track, we stopped for a few minutes.

Tuesday was my Mom's birthday so we made it over to her place to wish her a happy day and visited with her for a while. Our next stop was clear back in Hillsboro for two more doctor's appointments. On the way back through Portland (we really shouldn't have to be driving back and forth through this city this often!) we stopped at the Rose Garden to pick up some equipment that Dave needed for the broadcast this weekend. Dave had a foot doctor's appointment and an eye doctor appointment. I sure hope the warranty doesn't wear out on this guy!!

We spent the night in West Linn, as I had a couple of appointments the next day. I got my hair cut and made my yearly visit the gynecologist and then we headed for home. We were glad to get out of the valley as the temperature for the past couple of days was in the high 80's. There was about a 25-degree difference between the coast and the valley and it sure felt good to be in a cooler climate.

I do have to report that we found our "Rocky" raccoon succumbed on the highway this week. We hadn't seen him at the feeder for a couple of days and while Dave was cutting the grass in front of our place he found him. It used to be that the State Police or the Highway Division would dispose of road kill, but apparently not any more. So Dave had to give him a toss over the side of the road. Poor Rocky, he should have looked both ways before trying to cross the road! Anyway, the next night the other raccoons must have had a "wake" for him because some of my birdfeeders were torn from the tree branches and the suet feeder was missing. The whole bird feeding area was generally trashed! Those party animals must have had a really good time!

Finally, the people came on Thursday to install the vinyl. For a while, we thought it wasn't going to happen then either. When they didn't show up on time Thursday morning, Dave called to see what happened. It seems the material didn't get delivered to their shop, and we didn't know if we were going to have to wait another week. It had to be "special" delivered that morning and they had it installed by the end of the day. It really looks great. We were without hot water all day because we had to take the old water heater out of the room and wait until the floor was down before we could put the new one in. You really take it for granted having hot water available to you and really miss it when you don't have it.

We had another work party up at the Waterfront Park on Thursday. Most of the plantings and the lawn are now in and there is just some little stuff left to do like installing rain gutters on the train station, installing the new picnic tables, benches and BBQ when they get here and putting in a dog bag dispenser (hoping the people will bet the hint and use it for their dogs). We want to have it all completed by the time the Crab Festival takes place in a couple of weeks.

Since we have had a couple of nice days, my garden and flowers are starting to grow. If I can just keep that chipmunk from digging holes out of my vegetable garden, maybe my carrots and beets will come up in a row instead of spread all over the place!