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September 25, 2009

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

It has been one of those weeks where folks are coming and going here at the Bell house. I love it!!

We had some old friends, Ed and Diane Avila from Dexter, Oregon stay with us for a couple of days. I say "old" in a kind way, as we have known them since we were first married and lived in Oakland, California while Dave was in the Navy. It was nice to see them and we had a nice visit. Since the weather was beautiful we took them to some local sights: Short Sands Beach, Hug Point and Nehalem Bay State Park. We also gave them a steamboat ride on the Captain Bell. We used to play a lot of board games when we were younger, so on our last night together, I dragged out the old Yahtzee game and even though Diane rolled two yahtzees in one game, she still managed to come in last. Dave was the winner for the evening. I mention all that because I know Diane is a regular reader of this journal and will love it that I pointed out her lack of luck in this game!!

On Saturday, I spent the whole day in a Red Cross class learning how to run a shelter in the case of a disaster. We had a good attendance for the class, about 15 people showed up. It was an interesting class but the seats where hard and the room was small. Some of the people opted to spend the night to get a feel for what it would be like in a real situation, but I decided I liked my own bed better than sleeping on a cot in a hallway.

A few weeks ago, Dave did some electrical work for our neighbors and brought home some fresh crab as a reward. Last week, they called from their boat and asked if we were ready for more! Of course, the answer to that is never "no", so they came by with another six beautiful Oregon Dungeness Crab. So I got to spend a couple of hours on Sunday cracking and shelling crab. A couple of months ago when Lara and Greg went crabbing, the crabs were too soft and didn't have much meat in them. I think I went through about 4 crabs for pound of meat. They have matured since then and I got a pound out of each of these. I made crab cakes out of some of them. We had fresh crab cakes Sunday night and we had so much left over that I gave some friends. Dave joked that during the season, crab is like zucchini down here - always making it's way from kitchen to kitchen! Another neighbor showed me a clever way to freeze the crabs in the shell, so the rest of them are in the freezer and we're well fixed for crab for quite a while.

Monday night I started a class on "Smart Choices" which is a sensible eating program. This is an 8-week course and I have to drive 50 miles round trip to Seaside once a week to attend. I wanted to take the class so I can get back on track and try to lose a few pounds. As usual, we have to write down everything we put into our mouths and record any exercise activities that we do. Even though I feel I eat healthy (lots or fruits and veggies), it is always good to learn something new. Our instructor is a dietitian and is real motivated. Writing down everything I eat has always helped me think twice about what I am doing. Not only am I skipping things I don't want to put on the list, but also I've gotten the Wii Fit out and am exercising for a second time after I get home from water aerobics. This is either going to kill me or cure me!

We got a call from Des Kahrs the other day. He wanted us to see the seal that had crawled up on the dock next to the steamboat and appeared to be taking a nap. After we went down to look at it, we determined it was a young sea lion and were debating whether it was dying because it didn't move much. We all thought it was dying because it looked kind of skinny and lethargic, but it was gone the next day. Maybe it was just a teenager who partied too much the night before and needed a mid-day nap!!

We had another guest show up on Wednesday evening. Bobbie Recio used to live here but has moved farther south on Highway101 in Willits, California. Bobbie has a sister and brother-in-law from Washington who have been fishing here, so she drove up from California to visit with them. We offered her a place to stay and so she comes and goes on her own, visiting with friends in the area. It is really great to have her with us. She used to own the local restaurant in Wheeler and is taking us all out to dinner tonight to see if the place is as good as when she owned it.