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August 4, 2006

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

I am actually home this week and it really is Friday so I didn't have to post early for a change.

I had kind of a ho-hum weekend. Dave had gone to town to announce the drag races and so I spent the whole weekend by myself. I did have some excitement and - wouldn't you know it - it involved birds! I saw the brown pelicans fly in formation over the bay and land down by Kahrs' dock. That's a special treat because they only come in once or twice a year. They are such a magnificant bird to watch; sort of prehistoric, but so graceful with their huge bodies and wingspans. They usually are closer to the ocean, but come into the bay when there are fish to be caught.

Speaking of our wildlife, we just about lost our little "pet" chipmunk, Julio. We get such a kick out of watching him scurry across the deck and help himself at the bird feeding area. He's gotten so tame that we can nearly walk up to him while he's eating and he won't run. I guess he got kind of careless, because Monday he finished his meal and ran back across the deck when a stray cat jumped him at the corner of the house. I don't know if the cat got him or not. He was able to run away, but we haven't seen him since. That could be because he now associates the feeder with the cat and has decided to look for safer places to eat. I hope he's OK and that he'll be back - he's such a cute little guy to watch! Dave's mom started the "Julio" thing by naming the first one. That was years ago, so I'm pretty sure this is something like Julio the 10th, but every time we have a chipmunk at the feeder, it's Julio!

Tuesday I had to run into town as I had promised I would babysit for Lara and Greg. Greg was scheduled for his shoulder surgery first thing on Wednesday and they didn't want to drag the girls out at some ungodly hour of the morning - so I came in and watched them. After Lara & Greg left for the hospital, Jadyn crawled into bed with me and we slept until 7:00 AM. We got dressed and got breakfast out of the way and then around 9:30, Lara and Greg returned. That was a surprise! He was supposed to have had his shoulder surgery at 7:30, and I didn't expect them back until around noon. Apparently, the surgery was called off due to some financial misunderstandings, so they turned around and came back home. Since they didn't need me any more, I jumped in the car and headed back home. They will reschedule the operation for later.

We had a pleasant surprise this week, my nephew Mark came down to spend a couple of day's vacation. He had never been to our place, so he enjoyed being around just to relax. He got here just in time to help us launch the Captain Bell. We decided to put it in the water to see if the feedwater pump worked. It didn't. But Mark got a steamboat ride anyway, at least between the boat launch and Kahrs' dock. We still can't get that pump to work right, so it is back to the drawing board for Dave. We left the boat in the water, tied to Kahrs' dock so Dave can tinker with it while it is in the water. We had our usual celebration that we do when we first get the boat launched, Des and Donna bring out the wine and cheese and we toast to another year of steaming. This year was a little late in the season and it has been a little disappointing because of that darn feedwater pump. Each year we try for May, but it always seems it is August before we get launched.

We are getting ready to go to the annual steam meet next weekend, pump or no pump. It will be held in St. Helens, Oregon along the Columbia River. Dave will tow the boat over there with the Suburban and I will follow in the motorhome. Wednesday, I spent a good part of a day getting the motorhome all cleaned out and organized. Dave has been using it to live in when he's out at the racetrack and it needed a good cleaning. I vacuumed it out real good and cleaned the rugs and towels. I have to stock it with a week's worth of food and then it will be ready to go. The steamboat is next. I have to polish up the brass (again) and clean the deck plates. It will probably need a good washing once we get it out of the water, so I will do all of that before we leave on Thursday.