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August 29, 2008

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

So goes another week. I don't feel like I did much except attend a lot of meetings this week.

The first meeting we attended was a city meeting last Friday. We had our state senator there and everyone who was important came to discuss the concerns over the lumber company spraying their logging operation on the hill behind the city. They have logged off all the trees above Wheeler because of the big storm we had last December. They wanted to spray herbicides via helicopter to keep the invasive plants from taking over until they can replant the area with more trees. A lot of people were concerned that the lumber company had a hidden agenda and everyone was going to get poisoned by the spray. Good grief! Some people were concerned about their lettuce and if they could eat it afterwards. The truth is that if they sprayed your lettuce, it would die and you wouldn't be eating it anyway! They even had the residents of the care center freaking out about this. A bunch of tree huggers marched around the city in protest on the day of the spraying which seemed a little ridiculous. All in all, the spraying went on and we managed to live through it.

The next meeting was our Emergency Planning meeting. I am on that committee in town and it was held on Monday afternoon. I had scheduled a representative of the American Red Cross to speak to us about first aid training and CPR. After that meeting, we all headed over to Manzanita to listen to a regional Tsunami Emergency Planning meeting. The city of Manzanita is really prepared for a disaster, in which they should be as they are a lot more vulnerable being right on the ocean front. They have their block captains and co-captains all picked and are well versed on what to do in case of an emergency. There is going to be a tsunami drill all along the Oregon northern coast the middle of September and everyone is getting ready for that.

In addition to all that, Dave had an extra City Council meeting on Tuesday, so we were pretty tired of meetings before we even got to midweek!

Besides all of the meetings going on, it rained most of the week so I was stuck indoors most of the time. That was okay, as I have had a back problem all week and really didn't feel like doing much except stay on the heating pad. It is much better today. Maybe that's because I tried to call the local chiropractor to see if he could fit me in. He's on vacation. I don't know if it is all in my head or not, but my back was sure biting at me every time I turned wrong.

We have had lots of fishing activity going on in our river view. We counted about twelve boats out in front of the house and the rainy weather sure doesn't stop the fishermen. One of our friends caught a 30-pound Chinook right in front of our house the other day and his wife caught another 30 pounder the next day, so the fish are finally making their way up stream. If that isn't entertaining, we can always watch the herd of elk grazing about on the island. The elk have only come around two or three times this year so far, but they've been out on the island most of the week. It's fun just to know that I can look out there any time and see them. It is so relaxing to just look out the window at the view sometimes, but at the same token, it is so hard to pull yourself out of that easy chair and get anything done around the house too.

Last Sunday evening, we were sitting in the living room when we heard the unmistakable sound of a steam whistle. Since we have the only other steam whistle in the area - and it wasn't us - we knew the train was coming. It's a steam train that usually runs between Garibaldi and Rockaway Beach, but once or twice a year, it gets as far north as our place when they add a dining car and make a longer run. I think they're going to do it again this Sunday, and we were going to fire up the steamboat and whistle at them, but we'll be out of town. Maybe next time.

Today is our oldest granddaughter's birthday. I can't believe that Ashtin is nine years old. She is growing up way too fast! We are going to attend a birthday party for her on Saturday. We will also be attending a luncheon birthday party for Dave's Aunt Harriet; she will be 90 on Monday. So lots of partying going on.

Next week, we will be heading to Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and our marathon of plays. We will be attending 6 plays in 3 days so my next entry will be "on-the-road" so to speak. As usual, some of the plays we will be seeing will be a mish-mash of theater: "Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner" about a girl who struggles with food and consequences of eating it. Shakespeare's breakneck farce, "The Comedy of Errors" done in the Wild West setting; "A View from the Bridge" an Arthur Miller play; "Othello" another Shakespeare play; "The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler" (something with deep meaning, I am sure) and finally Widler's "Our Town". I will give my critiques to let you know which play I like the best.

We decided last year that we would take a couple of days and unwind at Crater Lake. So we have made reservations at Crater Lake Lodge and will go there after the plays. Since we have lived in Oregon all our lives, we are ashamed to admit that we have only been to Crater Lake once. That was last year when we drove through the park for an hour on our way back from Ashland. We decided to make it a destination point this year. After a couple of days there, we will head to Redmond and visit with friends and then head back and spend the night with our good friends Ed and Diane in Dexter.