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March 15, 2019

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

So here's what's going on in our neck of the woods.

It looks like spring decided to make an appearance and I am delighted! Not that it has been a hard winter - a little cold at times and some snow - but it feels great to get outside and get things done. I planted some snow peas and put some squash, pumpkin and herb seeds in the incubator to sprout so I can get some plants ready for the garden. Speaking of gardening, I rented a plot at the Community Garden here in Wheeler so I can have more room to plant things like squash, pumpkins and cucumbers as they tend to take up more space. I will still plant beans, carrots, beets, tomatoes and lettuce in my plot at home.

Dave and I took the train to Seattle last weekend to attend the Northwest Steam Society annual meeting. We drove into Portland on Friday, spent the night with Lara and she drove us to the train station the next morning to catch our train. We arrived in Seattle at noon and caught a cab over to our meeting at 1:00. After the meeting, we had a couple of hours to spend before our trip back to Portland where we spent the night and came home on Sunday. We have decided that the train is the way to go!

Then Sunday after we got back, I had to get ready for our Second Sunday get together that we were hosting. In addition to the six of us, we invited another couple, so we had a nice group. I fixed a nice ham and everyone had a great time.

Dave was looking for a space heater in the greenhouse the other day as the one he uses in the office wouldn't turn off. He turned my greenhouse upside down looking for another heater and finally found one. Meanwhile, the greenhouse looked like a couple of squirrels had had a fight in there! Things were all over the place! (Editor's note: The floor looked like it was the victim of fighting squirrels PRIOR to Dave going in there and looking for anything. In fact, it was his idea to help clean the place out!) It needed cleaning out anyway, so I guess this was a good enough time as any. So I took everything out of the greenhouse and vacuumed up all the dirt on the floors and counters and got most of the spider webs. It took me about five hours to do. Dave built some more shelves to put things on so I have more floor space. I had a bunch of empty pots from plants that I had bought so I cleaned them real good in water and bleach and gave them to the Alder Creek Farm who will use them in the plant sale this spring. I can't believe how much stuff I got rid of and now I can get inside and have room to work in there.

The play, "Four Weddings and an Elvis" starts this weekend. Dave has been practicing for weeks and weeks to memorize his lines. He thinks he has it down and is ready for the show to go on. This is the first play that he has been in that required him to memorize his lines. In the past he has been reading his part in the Reader's Theater group. Considering his short-term memory, I am really proud of him and am anxious to see him perform his part. I'm not going to say too much more about it because there are some definite surprises in the performance and I don't want to accidentally give something away. They had their final dress rehearsal Wednesday night and he had to wear makeup!

We got a text with pictures from our son-in-law Jason on Thursday. He was fishing on a charter boat out in the ocean just west of us. Iin less than three hours, he came up with a couple of huge Ling Cod and a bunch of Rockfish. Looks like fish is on the menu at the Alexander house for the next several weeks!

While I was writing this journal, I heard a train steam whistle coming down the tracks. I looked out the window so I could see it go by in front of our house and - to my surprise - not just one steam locomotive went by, but three of them! I love that sound of the steam whistles! I don't know where they were headed, but it was fun to see them.

I wound up my week with my monthly Park and Recreations Department meeting at City Hall. We got a few things accomplished but had to postpone some others because our City Manager wasn't able to attend. Dave is the city council representative to our group and he was there, but we really needed the City Manager there to move ahead with some of our projects. It's frustrating, but she says she will be at the next meeting, so we'll hit her with everything then!

Speaking of Dave, he took everything off the fishing boat and got it turned over on its back in preparation for painting. First he had to remove all the barnacles from the hull, and between turning it over and getting it cleaned, it took him most of his spare time this week. He bought some expensive bottom paint that is supposed to keep the barnacles from attaching themselves to the hull and if that stuff works, it will be worth all the trouble he had to go to in preparation for painting. He's in kind of a hurry to get that done because it needs to be warm out to paint and the forecast is for near 70 by the weekend.

Well, that's the news my way, hope all is well with you.