April 9, 2010

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Easter Dinner We spent Easter Sunday with friends that I had invited over for dinner. Des and Donna Kahrs and Ray and Charlene Hakala joined us for the evening. None of us had any plans with our families, so we gathered together for our own feast. A feast it was too, with ham, macaroni salad, roasted asparagus, deviled eggs, fruit salad and homemade cheesecake for dessert. We were all stuffed by the time that the dinner was over. It was a fun evening with a lot of interesting conversation and camaraderie. Donna took the picture, so she's not there.

Church The weather was pretty stormy on Monday so the guys waited until Tuesday to continue with the church project. Even though they're working inside, the roof leaks so bad they say it's almost like being out in the rain! Once they did get started on Tuesday, they managed to strengthen most of the ceiling joists and rafters on the south side of the building and then raised the roof a couple more inches. The new wood up in the roof is what they had to add to make the roof strong enough to lift. Those big beams under the ceiling level are the temporary beams they're using to raise the building. It is a slow process and every time they turn around they are finding more surprises. It is either rotten wood or a very smelly rats nest tucked up in the rafters. Yuck!!! Last week, they found a box of old hymnbooks that had been stored up in the rafters. Unfortunately they had gotten wet and had turned to mush from being up under the leaky roof and I was only able to save one book - and it's pretty bad. Since both Dave and Ray have other things to do for the next few days, they are taking a weeklong break from the project and will start again next Thursday.

Hymnal I have been attending the work parties for the Garden Club as the date for the sale is coming up fast. We planted Fuchsia baskets, Black-eyed Susan and Autumn Joy this week. We still have a lot to do before May 8th and the work parties have increased to twice a week.

Even though it doesn't feel like spring, I bought all of my Fuchsia starts and planted them in my own baskets this week. Freddy's always has a sale on plants and with my senior discount I managed to save a little money on this project. I have them hanging in the greenhouse for right now as it has we have been having very winery weather for the last week. My sugar snap peas that I planted a month ago are up and are looking for something to climb on so I have to get my nets up. I also planted to sweet peas and covered them with a glass frame to help with the growing process. New birds have come in to the feeders, I counted a few Gold and Purple Finches so I know they think spring has arrived.

Ship We had a visit from the sailing ship "Hawaiian Chieftain" that ventured across the Tillamook Bar to Garibaldi the other day. The topsail ketch is a full-size replica of a typical European merchant trader of the last 18th century. The Chieftain sailed in to help the Port of Garibaldi celebrate its centennial.

I also attended a Red Cross Class all day on Thursday. I had to get my CPR re-certified and also we had a class on effective communication in a diverse environment. The differences and similarities that make us diverse can be internal, external or situational. It was a very interesting class and made us all more aware of all the people that make up this world.

Today is my second granddaughter, Paige's birthday. She is eight years old (going on 21) and I wish her a wonderful day. Since my third granddaughter, Jadyn's birthday was last week, we are all getting together on Sunday to celebrate both occasions. Dave is in Portland today for a Blazer broadcast and then he has to drive to Seattle for a board meeting on Saturday. He'll come home Saturday night and then we'll both go back into town for the birthday celebration on Sunday. We'll stay in town that night, because there's another game on Monday and then drive home Monday night after the game.

And I hate to sound like a broken record, but my webmaster is standing over me telling me to remind my readers again that the switch to the new server is still underway. It has begun, (the index page is on the new server) but as you can see in the address line for this page, it's still on the old one. That could change any minute now. So it's important to use "captainbell.com" as the address you use to get here. There! I've said it!