This month's calendar Archives
May 20, 2011
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
Dave and I started the weekend by helping out with Wheeler's annual city clean-up day on Saturday. The weather was cooperative and we didn't get rained on the whole time. We worked until 2:30 sorting and hauling people's junk. I worked at the collection lot at City Hall and Dave drove around town with two other guys picking up stuff from people who couldn't bring it in themselves. It just amazes me at what people throw away. We had a darling table and chairs that were being hauled away and we salvaged it and took it down to the local antique store for consignment. It has been said that what is one man's junk is another man's treasure! We collected two large trash containers by the end of the day plus another one filled with metal. The metal weighed in at 8500 lbs! We also collected about 40 tires.
After completing the trash task, we came home, packed our bags and headed into West Linn to spend Saturday evening and Sunday celebrating birthdays. I had promised Jaysa that I would take her shopping and out to Red Robin to celebrate her 6th birthday. As soon as we arrived in West Linn, she and I took off for our shopping trip. She's very hard to shop for as she's very particular about what she will wear, so it works a lot better to take her along and let her find what she likes. She a found a couple of tops and a skirt, so we packed them up and headed for Red Robin. They're great about making kids feel special on their birthday. It was a lot of fun and she really enjoyed our little date.
Sunday we had our birthday party for Jaysa, Leslie and Jason. But Jason was missing because there was a homicide in Woodburn and since he is a policeman, he was up all night investigating that crime. So we celebrated without him this year. After that, Lara and Greg had to take Jadyn to her dance recital and Leslie offered to watch her other two. We headed for home after a quick stop at Al's nursery to pick up some geraniums and Costco to get gas and a few supplies.
Our weather finally feels like spring and so I have been busy working out in the yard most of the week. I got my geraniums planted and some of my flowers potted. I still am holding off planting my vegetable garden until the end of May.
My cousins (Diane and Bonnie) dropped by on Wednesday for lunch. Diane and her husband live in San Antonio, Texas and they were up to see her niece graduate from college. Her sister lives in Vancouver. I haven't seen the two sister cousins for a long time and since they were coming down to the beach after the graduation, they came by to see us. We had a really nice visit and it was nice to see everyone again. I spent a lot of my childhood with these two cousins because my Mom and their Mom were pretty close. It was because Dave was friends with Diane and Bonnie's brothers that he and I first met.
Dave has been busy trying to figure out why the steamboat hasn't been getting any fuel. It's a problem that dates back to last year when the only time we had it out was on the trailer in the July 4th parade. He and his buddy, Ray spent a couple of days tearing things apart and cleaning out the lines to see if they could remedy the situation. They finally got the fuel flow problem solved, but they don't know how they did it! Something about taking everything apart, cleaning it and then putting it back together! There was a lot of "head-scratching" involved too, and we have our fingers crossed that the problem doesn't come back. Dave has now been on his hands and knees cleaning the bilge. That is a nasty, thankless job because all the oily water ends up down there. It doesn't get any better after that little task either. After he's done with that, I get to help him clean the soot out of the boiler. Yuck! Such is the life of a steamboater! I am hoping we will be able to get the boat in the water this year as it has been drydocked for the last couple of years.
Jaysa got another good medical check-up on Thursday. She has to go to the hospital for an MRI every once in a while - just to check to make sure the tumor doesn't come back. She's getting to be a real pro at that medical imaging stuff. She went in the machine on her own this time and was even comfortable enough to make faces at her mother while she was in there! On her way home, she called us to give us the report. It's hard to believe that it's been two years since that scare!
As I said, the weather has finally decided it's spring! We've been sunny and 60 for the past several days. I've taken advantage of it by working out in the yard - doing a lot of weeding. I also spent a few hours weeding the flowerbed at City Hall. It was getting overgrown and needed a good cleaning. In addition to the time Dave has spent on the steamer, he's had City Council meetings a couple of times this week, so we've managed to keep real busy!
