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September 19, 2008

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Not much happening this week.

We had a quiet weekend with me trying to get caught up on the laundry from our vacation and trying to revive some of my flowers that had been ignored while I was gone.

My daughter Lara and her family were down for the weekend while we were away and had given the plants a good soak, but some of them where really dried out. I am hoping that they will make it for a couple more weeks because we are getting ready for our German exchange daughter and family to visit with us. Tina lived with us in the late 80's for a year as an exchange student. She and her husband Stephen and son Quintin will be arriving on October 2nd and will be staying with us for a week. We haven't seen Tina since she had her son (he is four years old) and we are really looking forward to their visit.

On Monday, I attended a Wheeler Emergency Committee meeting to go over the Tsunami drill scheduled for next Tuesday. We will be directing people to the evacuation sites and Dave will be using his ham radio for emergency communications. The whole North County will be involved and hopefully it will prepare us for the real thing (if that ever happens). I also had to hand out information to my designated area, which meant going from door-to-door explaining to people about the drill. There is one house on my route that was very scary. It is an old run-down old house with brambles and blackberries all over. There are also a lot of rusted out cars in the yard with a big "NO TRESPASSING" sign posted on the door. It was really creepy and I am glad no one was there because I was imagining all kinds of things about who would be answering that door!

We have been enjoying watching the fishermen catching salmon in the bay in front of the house. A lot of the fish they have been catching have had to be thrown back because they are native Coho salmon, and it's not legal to keep them. I can image how frustrating that would be to hook a fish, work so hard to get it up to the boat and then have to release it! Still, we've seen a lot of people catching the big Chinook salmon, and they get to keep those! Those things are running 30 or 35 pounds now and they can really put up a fight! Our friend Mike Glowa, who is an avid fisherman and is out fishing every day, came by and gave us a couple of real nice salmon steaks from a fish that he caught yesterday. Yum, yum!!

The weather has been cool and quite cold at night this week. I have even had to turn up the heat in the mornings when I get up. It's been months since I've had to do that. I also called the propane company and had them come by to fill up the tank for the little fireplace. I guess it is time to get ready for colder weather. We've also had a lot of fog which makes it feel even cooler in the mornings, but it usually lifts by noon. This almost always happens when it is warm inland, and it has been in the 90's in Portland. Other than that, we have had a beautiful Indian Summer and I feel that fall is just around the corner. I was really disappointed in my vegetable garden this year as it was slow to get started and never quite caught up. No green beans or cucumbers at all and just a few carrots and beets but a good lettuce crop.

The only picture I have this week is of my newest granddaughter Jordyn, who is now seven months old. She is starting to crawl and is so proud of herself. She will be crawling along on all fours and then stop and just giggle at herself. Before you know it, she will be walking. She is eating solid foods now and it is fun to watch the expression on her face when Mom gives her something new to try. She usually likes it too. As you can see in the picture, she doesn't miss too many meals.

One other thing I have been meaning to mention is that we love to communicate using the computer with friends and family using Skype. We've been able hold video conversations with Tina in Germany, my nephew in Ukraine and my sister in Phoenix. Lara and the girls will get on camera in West Linn once in a while too. It's a great computer tool and if you have it, feel free to put our name on your list. Our Skype user name is dave.bell93. Hope to see you there!