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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

This has been a quiet week. Dave was gone from last Thursday through most of the weekend. He got home Sunday morning around 12:30 after the Blazer game. I opted to stay at home instead of going with him this time. But let me tell you, three days alone is a very long time! Anyway, he was home on Sunday and then turned around and left again on Tuesday for another game. He spent the night in West Linn, as he had to tear down the equipment because the team will be gone until after the All Star break this weekend. So now, he will be home the rest of the week.

I had a garden work party on Tuesday. We planted about 25 pots of sedums for the sale in May. We plant them now to give them a head start so they will look pretty good by the time of our sale. It was one of those days where the sun Gods actually shined down on us and we were able to get a lot done without getting wet. There were only about six of us that showed up and I came late. The work party started at 9:00 a.m. and I don't get out of my water aerobics class until then and by the time got home and ate some breakfast it was almost 10:00 before I arrived. The rest of the gals were glad to see me just the same.

I watched our new neighbors across the street move in over the weekend. They are in their mid-forties, she is a teacher in Tillamook and he does construction. They seem like a real nice couple. I baked them some brownies and Dave and I went over and welcomed them to the neighborhood. They are locals and have lived in Manzanita for years but got tired of the short-term rentals and vacationers over there so they crossed the river and joined us. They wanted some permanent neighbors for a change. Moving here will do that because everyone on our street lives here year around except for one house at the end of the street. Everyone knows each other pretty well, which is unusual now days.

Even though it's pouring rain right now, we got a couple of nice days in this week and some of my flowers are beginning to bud. Of course, when we tried to get a shot of the flowers Thursday afternoon, the wind was blowing and it was pouring rain, so it isn't the best picture. Still, they're trying and when the rain stops, it sure feels like spring. I really can't complain about our weather when I think about those poor folks back East in so much snow. We are really lucky to live where we do.

While we were eating lunch the other day, I spotted a Bald Eagle over on the island in the Nehalem River. I am sorry I didn't get the camera out in time to take a picture. The eagle had been soaring above the bay looking for his lunch and decided to take a break and was perched on a small branch. I was able to get a great look at him through the telescope. What a sight!

We ran into Tillamook to the DMV on Thursday. Dave finally got the registration for the '03 Suburban from the state and wanted to see if he could exchange license plates with the old Chevy. The old Chevy's license plate is "STEAM" and he wanted to put it on his new car. That was easier than we thought; the DMV just traded license plates with the new car. That was just common sense, but you just never know when it comes to bureaucracy how they will handle simple things.

I am looking forward to Lara and family coming this weekend. It is a three-day weekend because of President's Day and she doesn't have to work and the girls are out of school. Greg is going to do some spring pruning for me and I sure hope we have some sunshine, but it is not predicted. Oh well. We are also taking in the local Reader's Theater on Valentine's Day. Dave isn't performing in this play but we still like to go and show our support.

We have to start getting ready for a couple of trips. A week from now we'll be getting ready to head for Arizona for our annual stay with my sister. A little sun sounds pretty good right now. We'll be down there for 8 days, but with Blazer broadcasts on both ends of the trip, we'll be away from home for nearly two weeks. Soon after we get back, we have the annual meeting of the Northwest Steam Society to attend in Seattle. This is in addition to the quarterly trips we make up there for board meetings. Since this is a luncheon, we may be able to make it up there and back in one day, but we're still going to check out hotels anyway.

Happy Valentine's Day.