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September 10, 2004

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Labor Day weekend. Dave had to work on Friday and Saturday nights so we didn't make plans to do anything. I went into Portland on Friday but hurried back the same day. I was expecting my friend Bernadette on Saturday afternoon and she spent the night. We went up to the antique stores, bummed around the area and enjoyed getting caught up on the latest gossip.

One of the exciting things that happened last weekend was the spotting of the herd of elk over on the island. We see the herd every once in a while, but they only make it out on the island a couple times a year, so this was special. We got the camera out and took a few pictures through the telescope again. I counted about 16-20 head with 3 bulls and the rest cows and calves. It is amazing that they ventured out with all of the holiday traffic on the river and highway. It was pretty crowded with all the fishermen, kayakers and pleasure boaters. It intrigues me how they know when to leave the island before high tide so that they won't get stranded out there.

Our project downstairs got into full swing this week, literally. Let the hammer noise begin!! Ray is our carpenter, and his hand finally healed enough for him to try it out. He hurt the hand about two weeks ago on another job and finally gave in and went to the chiropractor on Tuesday. The doctor put something back into place and it made it feel much better. Too bad he waited so long to go get help (typical man thing).

Anyway, Ray and Dave put up the framing over the ceiling so that Dave could install the recessed lighting. Next up, framing and windows.

We ran into Portland on Thursday to pick up the closet door and the new windows. We stopped to see my mother while we were there. It's going to be a couple of weeks before I'll get in to see her again, so we stopped for a quick visit. We also stopped by to see Lara and her family. They made it back from Canada just fine and we had to hear all about the trip. We also did a little more shopping. We picked up some tables to replace the end tables we traded in last week. And we ordered another table to match one we traded for. Now we have tables everywhere! Oh yeah...the replacement couch table is supposed to be delivered today too!

This Saturday is the free hazardous waste disposal drop-off and so Dave and I decided to gather up all the toxic junk around here. First, we started in the garage collecting old paint cans and then headed for the much-dreaded storage area in the church. Horrors!! You can't imagine all the hazardous stuff we found!! Anything from old pesticides, fertilizers, batteries and even some left over World War II DDT containers...full of DDT!! The crew at the drop-off is going to LOVE seeing us!!

That building is another project. This was a church that sits on one corner of the property and was built around 1950. Dave's parents used it as a storage building. Part of the building is about ready to collapse and is going to take a lot of hard work to restore. The roof leaks, the floor is caved in on one side, plus the feral cats have been using it as a refuge in the wintertime (and a bathroom year-round!). It has so much junk in it that has to be hauled away but eventually it is going to be Dave's workshop and I was hoping that we could make an apartment out of the second floor, and rent it out. Where is "This Old House" when you need them? I want to submit the project to them for a television renovation, but Dave thinks that it would be a waste of my time. So, I guess this will be a long-range project that we will spend our "leisure" hours doing. Ha! Ha!

Saturday we are heading for a week's vacation. Since our 39th wedding anniversary is on the 11th, we are spending the night at our favorite beach retreat in Lincoln City. Sunday and Monday nights we will be at the Heceta Head Lighthouse B&B and then on to Ashland on Tuesday for the Shakespeare Festival. We are going to hook up with some friends there and see about six plays, some of them Shakespeare and some of them contemporary. After that we are going to travel down the coast of Northern California to Eureka, to visit my cousin and her husband. The weather doesn't look all that great, but I'm sure we'll enjoy ourselves anyway! We hope to take lots of pictures to post on my next entry.

GIVE ME A BREAK!!

Nothing was bugging me this week, so I'm turning the space over to Dave:

We kind of like our view. It's not perfect, but it's close. So it really drives me nuts when the railroad does this. Just because there's a siding in front of our house doesn't mean they should use it as a parking lot. A siding should be just that, a place for one train to pass another. But not our railroad. Uh-uh. 25 miles of track between Tillamook and here, and they pick our view to park their tourist train!
End of rant. Back to Jan.

That's it for this week. We'll still be on the road next Friday, so it will probably be a couple of weeks before my next entry. See you then!