This month's calendar Archives
August 20, 2004
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
I didn't post anything last Friday so I have some catching up to do. Between having guests and hosting the steam meet, I have been busy, busy, busy!.
The week of 7th through the 13th, let's see. Saturday and Sunday, August 7th and 8th, we at the Wheeler Salmon Festival. It's a fund-raiser for the community. That was a lot of fun, but exhausting. We had beautiful weather and lots of people came out for the event. Dave and I came home smelling like fish though, and we were very tired from standing for 4 hours. I think next year we will only volunteer for one day instead of two.
On Monday, our friends, Stan and Laura and their son Michael from Washington, D.C. were our overnight guests. They only spent one night, so we sat up most of the night visiting and the next morning steamed up the boat and took them for a ride. It was great to see them and they are already planning their next trip out here.
Right after Stan and Laura left, my sister and brother-in-law arrived from Phoenix to spend a couple of days with us. It was great seeing them and we had a wonderful visit. Once again, we steamed up the boat and made a run upriver to Nehalem for lunch. We did some antique shopping, took a walk on the beach and just relaxed. They left on Thursday.
Friday our houseguests, Don and Audrey Thompson from Victoria, British Columbia arrived for the steam meet. We've known Don & Audrey almost since the day we got the boat, and they have become good friends.
The weekend was great! We had an invasion of over 80 people come to town with 24 boats for the steam meet. The town loved it and the reception was overwhelming. We started out on Friday night with a clam chowder feed down at the waterfront park, hosted by the Wheeler Business Association. They served the chowder in coffee mugs that read "Northwest Steam Society - Lloyd and Lillian Bell Memorial Meet, Wheeler, Oregon, 2004". People got to keep the cups as a souvenir. After the feed, the Nehalem Garden Club dedicated a beautiful bench that they placed in the park in honor of Dave's parents. His mother was an avid gardener and both were members of the Northwest Steam Society. We felt it appropriate to have this dedication at this time since the meet was in their memory. After the dedication, one of the steamers blew his steam whistle three times as a fitting conclusion to the ceremony. It was a beautiful gesture and there wasn't a dry eye in the whole park.
Saturday it was more steaming and socializing and then a dinner meeting was held at the restaurant. Since we were hosting this meet, there were a million things to do. Dave was on the go, putting out fires all weekend and I was busy with the registration so we didn't get to participate in the meet as much as we wanted to. We were so busy; we didn't even take any pictures to post on here! Our families came down for the dedication and so we took the grandkids out for a boat ride on Saturday afternoon. They were so excited about that, especially when Granddad let them steer the boat.
Sunday we helped those that were leaving get their boats out of the water and that evening we wrapped everything up with a BBQ down on the Kahrs' wharf. We are so grateful to Des and Donna. Not only did they open their home to some steamboaters, but they put up a couple of others in another building on the property, and let Lara, Greg & Jadyn stay in their 5th wheel travel trailer. That's in addition to allowing a couple dozen RV's to camp on their riverfront space, turn their dock over to 7 or 8 steamboats and then host the Sunday night barbecue. We are very lucky to have such generous friends.
By Monday, the last of our guests were gone and our little town was quiet once again.
We have spent the rest of this week trying to get back to normal. Monday we vegged out all day. We were a couple of tired puppies and we hardly moved before noon. We did make a trip to Tillamook so Dave could get his driver's license renewed. He had to get an eye examination and a new picture. While we were in town we shopped at Freddies and on the way home, I made Dave stop at the Tillamook Cheese factory so I could have a delicious ice cream, yum, yum!!
We also spent a day cleaning out the front room down stairs so that the contractor can get started on the work for Dave's office. Dave and Ray spent most of one afternoon going over the plans. It will be a combination office/guest room with a wall bed for extra guests when they come. I am excited about the whole thing because Dave has been using the laundry room as an office, which has been a little cramped for space.
Wednesday, we had to re-arrange some of our stuff stored in the boat barn so we could get the motor home back from the weekend celebration. I managed to go through some more boxes, which has become a long and tedious job. At least we can get the motor home back in the barn.
We are heading back to Portland today. We have some errands to do and will be attending the Marine Transportation Picnic on Sunday. I plan on bringing my mother back down next week as she enjoyed herself so much last month when she was here.
GIVE ME A BREAK!!
I have been writing in this journal for a couple of months now, mainly to keep my family and friends up-to-date on my happenings. I try to be positive in my writings and I realize this is probably boring to some people, but I am not here to entertain anyone. I have been reading other people's blogs and find that most of the time their lives are just about as exciting as mine. The point is, this is a place that I can express my views, just as their blogs are a place for them to express theirs.
