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January 25, 2008
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
We will have to pretend that it's Friday because I have to write my journal a day ahead of time as the webmaster won't be available to post when he usually does. Real work calls...and I come in second to actual moneymaking jobs, so I will see what I can write about for this short week.
It has been a gorgeous week as far as the weather goes. A bit on the cold side (mid-20's at night and maybe up to 40 during the day) but I am not going to complain because a lot of people around the country are really freezing. But I like these cold crisp days because it is so clear outside and the sun is shining. With all the rain that we have had, this is really great. It feels good when you are indoors but very deceiving once you step outside as you can feel the wind cutting right through you and gets very cold to be outside for too long. A couple of days the wind was blowing at 20 miles per hour and the temperature was 30. That's a wind chill in the single digits and that's just too cold! With the crystal clear skies, we've been treated to a great shot of the full moon setting over the western horizon each morning.
I have been busy feeding the various birds that have been stopping by the birdfeeders. I don't know why it is, but the colder it gets, the more birds we get at the feeders. I guess all the other food is frozen! We have mostly ground feeders such as Towhees, Varied Thrush, Juncos, Swallows, Red Winged Blackbirds and the resident Blue Jays. A couple of Woodpeckers come in and work over the suet feeder. There have also been the chipmunk (Junior, as we have named him) and squirrel (Julio) that poke their heads out and come for a snack. I was out earlier today breaking the solid sheet of ice off the birdbath so that they could all get a drink of water.
Lara and Greg and girls came down for the three-day weekend and Greg got a lot of the to-dos done on my list. He brought his chainsaw and finished sawing up the two birch trees that had blown down from the December wind storm, cleared the dead blackberry bushes away from the boat barn and hauled the pile of broken branches down to Kahrs' burn pile. Dave and I had dismantled what was left of the blown-down fence and were digging postholes, but it was too cold to work outside for very long. Dave and Greg started to dig a hole to put a couple of support posts in the ground for the smoke tree that had blown over, but they hit the water main so they spent most of the rest of the day repairing the leak. They couldn't believe their luck. What are the odds of hitting a 1" waterline with a 1" metal fencepost when you have the entire yard to choose from? Anyway, they got the water main repaired just about dark and were more than happy to come inside for the rest of the evening!
Lara has another week left before the baby arrives (Feb. 1st) and she was able to get a good rest while she was here. She's been working full time and will do so right up through the 31st, so she's been very tired. I'm glad she was able to take a breather down here. I fixed a big turkey dinner on Sunday and boy did that taste good, I plan on making some turkey soup out of the leftovers. Lara and Greg took the girls down to Cannon Beach for one afternoon and they couldn't believe how warm it was on the beach. People were running around like it was summer with shirtsleeves and shorts on. There is a little known secret around here that January is the best time to be at the beach. The granddaughters enjoyed collecting shells and playing in the sand. The weekend went by all too fast, but it was fun seeing everyone again.
We will be heading into Portland on Thursday (today) as Dave has a lacrosse broadcast to engineer. The Blazers are back from their long road trip and so there will be a couple of basketball games too. We'll be home for a couple of days next week, then the baby will be here and we will stay in town for a week or so to help out in any way we can. In a way, it seems like it's still early in the season...and in another way, it seems like it has gone on forever! Actually, the season is more than half over, so I guess we're on the downhill side! One thing we have to keep in mind though is that the team hasn't made the playoffs for the past several years. It's beginning to look like they could qualify for post-season play this year. That's good news and bad news. The bad news is that we can't plan anything for April and May, because we won't know until then what our schedule will be. The good news is that we get paid by the game and if they make the playoffs, that's extra income. I guess we'll just sit back and see what happens.
