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Photos are missing. Hopefully I'll find them someday and include them in this post.

May 30, 2008

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

After I got back from West Linn from my babysitting with the granddaughters, Dave and I decided to make a trip to Astoria for some entertainment. We started off by going to the Columbia River Maritime Museum to see the steamboat exhibit and look around the museum that we hadn't seen for a few years. Dave had talked to the curator about doing an article for the Steam Gage and wanted to see the exhibit. As it turned out, we got in the door free but we had to leave during the last part of the talk so we wouldn't miss our movie that started at 3:00. We saw our "annual" movie, which was the latest Indiana Jones flick. I liked it and thought it was quite entertaining but Dave thought it was a waste of time and that they should have stopped while they were ahead. I guess you either liked it or you didn't. With the money we saved from the museum on tickets we ended up buying a large bag of popcorn and a couple of Cokes to wash it down with. We were planning on going out for dinner after the movie, but we were so full from the popcorn that we ended up just having a delicious bowl of clam chowder at Mo's before we headed home.

It was chilly and overcast for most of the Memorial Day weekend and we worked outside between rain showers. I got another portion of the weeds pulled on the property and Dave has been working on replacing the ramp to the old church. It was pretty quiet around the area and not as much traffic as usual for the holiday. I think between the weather and the cost of gas a lot of people just decided to stay home.

Between the birds, squirrels and raccoons that seem to entertain us, there is not much more happening. Since we have been filling the feeders for the birds, we have had this huge flock of pigeons that seem to come from nowhere and swoop down and eat as much and as fast as they can before one of us discover their presence and opens the door and flaps our arms up and down to scare then away until they return once more. We now have counted two different squirrels that visit our feeders daily. The bigger of the squirrels, which we have named Julio (actually, Dave's mother's name for him) has been around the longest and is quite protective of his turf and sure lets the other squirrel whose boss. The other day we took this picture of one of them stretching as far as he could trying to eat seed out of the seed bags that I have for the Goldfinches. Then one day, while we were eating lunch, a raccoon came scouting around. This is very unusual to see one during the daylight as they have left their evidence when they come out at night. Anyway, this one was very shy and I had Dave take a picture of him before he sauntered off. He was kind of shy and kept peeking around the fence to see if we were watching him.

I arranged to change my babysitting schedule this week as our garden club was planning a garden tour on Tuesday and I wanted to go. Everyone was carpooling to Lincoln City where the tour was except me as I was planning on heading into West Linn afterwards. I have GPS in our new car so I wasn't worried about how to get there but once I got to Lincoln City I was on my own. The GPS "trunk monkey" informed me that there was no street-by-street directions once I got in town (which is when I needed to know where I was going) so luckily I had brought along some typewritten directions and found my way. So much to having faith with a GPS system! The gardens were pretty nice, but the two little old ladies that volunteered to guide us around the gardens didn't seem to know the names of any of the plants. If you have ever seen those car bumpers that say, "I stop for garage sales", well it is just as true for gardeners when they see a nursery. It is very hard to keep from driving past any nursery when you are a gardener!

On my way into West Linn I made a side trip to Silverton to see Leslie and her girls. I had a nice visit with Leslie while her girls were at the track practice. I don't know if track is their forte' as both girls ended up hobbling away after the practice. Ashtin fell down during their 100-yard dash and Paige tripped on one of the hurdles she was trying to jump. Considering how much their mother was into track, I find it hard for them not to have some of that in their genes. In fact, Leslie drove five hours over to Eastern Oregon Friday night so she could participate in a half-marathon race!

My sister, Jeanne flew up from Phoenix to be with our Mom on her birthday this week. My Mom turned 87 on Thursday but is in hospice and is not doing very well. Her health is failing fast and we just don't know how much longer she will be with us. My sister is staying with me in West Linn at Lara's and will be here for the week. This weekend, I plan on driving her and my other sister back down to the coast for a couple of days for a get away. Dave will be busy with the Rose Cup races in Portland and will be gone all weekend so it was a good opportunity to have a get together.