This month's calendar Archives Our Calendar
September 23, 2016
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
The last days of summer are gone and now it is fall which is my favorite time of year. I love the fall because of so many colors with the leaves turning and the sunsets have been beautiful. We are still getting warm days but there is a nip in the air and the nights are cooler. In fact, we had to turn on our furnace this week.
It was another busy weekend as we had a truck load of gravel delivered last Friday and so Dave and I spent most of the day spreading that on the lower driveway. Luckily, he had his little Kubota tractor to do most of the heavy work and then he rigged up a spreader to level it out. The truck driver spread the gravel where he could as he dumped it, but there are so many other little areas that get graveled as well - the driveway to where I park my car, the pathway to get to the upper lot and another pathway that does the same thing on the other side of the house. So, I had to spend a lot of time with a rake, hand-spreading in the tight spots. It was a long day, we were tired and we didn't quite get finished before the rains came on Saturday.
We needed a break and as it turned out, we were expecting my nephew Mark and his wife Brenda and their dog Hazel who came and spent Saturday night with us. We had a lovely visit with them and enjoyed their dog - a rescue dog from Hawaii. She is part cattle herding dog and lab with a little pit bull thrown in, but such a gentle dog. An interesting story about Hazel: She was originally named after some kind of Hawaiian nut, but no one could pronounce it. Since she is kind of hazel colored, she became Hazel, as in Hazel Nut. Works for me!
While they were here, Mark and I went over my stamp collection. I had loaned him a box of stamps that were given to me for him to check out. He is an avid stamp collector too and really knows a lot more about it than I do. He gave me the latest stamp book so I can look stamps up to check their value.
Sunday, after our company left, we finished up with our gravel project. We still need to get a load for the upper driveway, but the gravel company was all out of the "gray" rock that we use for up there. At least we get a break and will have all the sore muscles healed by the time it arrives. We hope we see that load before the snow flies!
We had a nice surprise this week with the return of our resident elk herd. We have only seen a glimpse of them this year, and then only on the far side of the bay a mile away from us. This time, a small group has been making themselves at home on the island in front of our place. It's unusual for them to stay on the island for any length of time and they've been here two days now. It's nice to be able to look out the window and see them.
Monday, we made a trip to Astoria. I needed to get the Jeep serviced, oil changed and new windshield wipers. Dave also wanted to get a new generator for the times when our power is out. Sometimes in the winter, that can happen and we just never know how long we will be without any electricity. So we bit the bullet and bought a new generator. It is smaller than the one Dave had in mind, but it has an electric start and fits nicely in the garage by the Jeep when it's not being used. Then it was a stop at Freddies and Costco before we got home that afternoon.
We had to run into Tillamook on Tuesday as Dave had an appointment with his orthopedist for him to look at his wrist. The wrist is healing but it is taken longer than Dave anticipated - although it hasn't stopped him from tinkering out in his workshop. He is in between projects so he started working on repainting the Kubota so it doesn't look so rusty. He got a used hood several months ago and wants to put that on it too. Even though it runs well, the tractor is really old and rusty looking. He is going to have it looking like new again before he gets done with it. He also built a step to help him get in and out of the tractor. Ever since his chemo, he's been weak and has had trouble getting up and down out of things like the tractor. The step really helped.
Oh, and as if he hasn't enough to do, he added a cartoon touch to the green trailer he has been working on for the past month. It bothered him that the taillights had red lenses - even though the lights aren't operational. So, he crafted a Mickey Mouse "Steamboat Willie" graphic to go where the red lens used to be. It's attracting attention already! Now, he really does have to get the the rest of the trailer painted!
Our schedule for next week looks pretty quiet. There is a meeting in Portland with the radio crew at Blazers Broadcasting; we're beginning our 45th season with them. But otherwise, we're home and our door is always open and we just never know who is going to drop in.
