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July 23, 2004

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

I'm writing the first part of this while we're in the motor home in Southern Washington. Easier this way than trying to remember everything a week at a time!

First of all, our webcam is back up again. It's on the TV in the living room right now, so all you may see is me sitting and looking like I'm looking right back at the camera. Nope, just vegging in front of the tube!

Last Friday, after returning to West Linn, Dave and I decided that we would go look for furniture for the living room. We need to replace the end tables that belonged to Lillian and that Leanna wanted, plus we are looking for a couch table to go behind the couch for extra space to place lights on. It has to be the right size, right style and the right wood. It'll be my contribution to making the living room look a little more like our house since most of the furniture in the room belonged to Dave's mother. Anyway, we literally shopped 'til we dropped. The first store we went into looked like a Mafia front. We were met at the door by this rather large guy with no neck who looked like he came straight out of "The Sopranos". He actually MUMBLED! We thought we had stumbled onto a mob "front" or something. We were really surprised with the quality of his furniture and prices, but...nothing there, and nothing anywhere else either. We must have hit about 10 furniture stores taking measurements and we still haven't made up our minds. We will continue to look.
A quick comment here on how much I'm enjoying having the time to shop with no deadline. After working all my life, I have to retrain myself to take my time and actually enjoy shopping. I may have to practice a lot more before I really get this leisurely shopping thing down to a science!

Saturday we got ready to attend the two weddings that were planned for the day. Since Lara was a bridesmaid in the first wedding at 3:00, she had to leave early to be there. So she drove our car to Hillsboro and we rode to the wedding later with Greg and the baby. We had the timing of making both of these weddings planned down to the minute. Our plan was to leave right after the first ceremony and drive two hours for the next wedding at 6:00. The problem was - the first wedding didn't start on time, more like 3:30 and we knew that we were in trouble! We also anticipated all kinds of traffic problems because we had to drive clear through Portland. So, after the "I do's" we sneaked out and made our getaway. We couldn't believe that we sailed straight through Portland going 75 mph and no traffic jams! Then we also had the wind to our backs in the Gorge. Bell's Law states that you will always be traveling the opposite way the wind is blowing in the Gorge, so we were lucky again! Needless to say, we got to our next destination in plenty of time. Wouldn't you just know it! Things like this NEVER happen.

The second wedding was one of the shortest weddings I have ever been to. It was "I do" and "I do" and it was all over. The bride was a third cousin of Dave's and the wedding was held outdoors with the beautiful Columbia Gorge and Mt. Hood as a backdrop. Most of the people at this wedding were "cowboy" types; in fact the father of the bride didn't wear a tux, just clean jeans, a cowboy hat and boots. I loved it!!

Remember, last month we left the motor home at the site of the family reunion just so we could use it again after the wedding? We did. It was great to not have to drive 200 miles home after the wedding. Sunday, we had breakfast with Aunt Louise and Uncle George just across the wheat field from the motor home, and then we took a 100-mile loop around the Mt. Adams area. I have included some of the pictures that we saw along the way.
Mt. Adams, of course, an overlook straight down to the Klickitat River that we stopped to see, some deer along the Klickitat River, some kayaks and finally the wind surfers along the Columbia River. Dave had to take his life in his hands while taking climbing out on ledges to take some of the pictures, as well as keeping an eye peeled for rattlesnakes!

Sunday night was another night in the motor home as Monday we wanted to take it into the tire dealer and have the new tire that we had bought when we had the blowout coming up a month earlier, mounted on the rig. We were awakened that night by the sound of thunder and lightning. This big flash of light from outside our window seemed inches away and I was thinking about being in this tin box under a tree no less. I just got back to sleep when a coyote started to howl, he probably got hit by the lightning that missed us!! The next morning' it was off to the tire dealer and then Dave and I went our separate ways; he driving the motor home and me in the Jeep to run some errands before heading back to the coast.

I arrived home to a bunch of thirsty plants so I spent some time reviving them. The weather has been really hot for the coast (75 - 80 degrees) with a light wind. Those poor people inland our suffering with 90 - 100 degrees heat. So sorry! As a matter of fact, Dave has to go back into to Portland this weekend to announce some races and he isn't looking forward to all that heat. I decided to stay down at the coast. My mama didn't raise no dummy!!

I attended my first Wheeler City Council meeting the other night. I had my taste of small town politics as some of the people are up at arms about an incident that happened to one of the city employees and who was put on administrative leave. Since he was also the volunteer fire chief for Wheeler, all the volunteer firemen resigned in protest, so the town is without any fire protection. I realize that they have something to complain about, but two wrongs don't make a right and leaving this town without fire protection is insane!

GIVE ME A BREAK!!

I have been watching the Tour de France on TV, and this reminded me of one of my gripes. The state of Oregon went to great lengths to put a beautiful bicycle lane along the scenic route 101, which runs the length of the Oregon coast. Most of the bicyclists use this but there are a few suicidals who insist on using Highway 53 as a shortcut to Hwy. 26. This is a very narrow, curvy road frequently used by log trucks. What gets me is: while I'm careful when approaching bicyclists on the road, a lot of them seem to think that the rules don't apply to them. I have witnessed them running stop signs, turning without signaling, riding two-by-two in traffic lanes and not wearing any sort of headgear! When one does get killed or injured they act as if it is the driver of the car that is to blame. They insist they have the same rights as cars on the road, but feel they don't have to obey the same rules of the road. WRONG!!!
There, I feel better and hope I didn't offend anyone - too much. And if I did, then get your bike off Highway 53!