This month's calendar Archives
January 7, 2011
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
I hope you had a nice holiday. We attended a small gathering of folks down at Kahrs' to bring in the New Year. As I said last week, Des and Donna are in Hawaii and their daughter Dawn wanted to do something in the way of a celebration. It was fun getting together with old friends and making up "intentions" which are meant to improve our lives. We wrote those down and placed them on 2x6 "barges" and set them off to sea. We put them in paper bags that were stapled to the piece of wood and launched them from the dock. There was also a small candle in each bag so the vessel would "glow" as it floated downriver. It was fairly cold and windy that evening, and it was a bit of a task getting the candles lit and keeping them lit until we were ready to launch! Then when we did launch, the things just got hung up in the pilings down river, so I don't know where our "intentions" ended up! It was a good idea anyway. It was really cold outside, so I opted to watch from the warmth of the kitchen. We also wrote messages about things in our lives that we intended to remove and we placed those in a burning fire. All in all - a very "symbolic" evening. All of the other couples left before midnight, but Dave and I stuck it out till after the stroke of midnight. We got to bed around 1:00 a.m. and almost overslept for our usual breakfast with the bunch over at the Bunkhouse Restaurant at 8 o'clock the next morning.
It was a beautiful New Year's Day and so I did some cleaning in the yard from the previous storms and pruned back some shrubs. A little later that day we took a break and drove up to the lookout on Neah-kah-nie Mountain to see if we could spot some Grey Whales that are migrating from Alaska to Mexico for the winter. We actually saw a few breaching the waves and spouting. It was really exciting! They were quite a ways out, so we couldn't get any decent pictures. Instead, we borrowed this one from the Oregon Coast Visitor's Association. This is just what we were seeing; it's just a better view than we had!
We also got word that our 5-year-old Jaysa finally lost her first tooth. It took forever for her to part with that thing but when she finally did she was so proud! It had been loose for so long that we thought that Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy would be visiting her at the same time! Dave always has fun with the grandgirls when they have a loose tooth - he gets out his Leatherman and offers to pull it with the pliers. That always sends the kids running for cover - all except Jaysa. She was so ready to lose that tooth that she came over to him and told him to go ahead! She's the first one to call his bluff and it was actually him that ran for cover! Anyway, it was so ready to come out on New Year's Day that her daddy just reached in and popped it out.
We had to drive back into Portland on Sunday for a Blazer broadcast. I came along so I could do some shopping in town. I shopped mainly for Dave this time. I got him a new coat and another pair of jeans. Unfortunately, the coat is too big and I have to return it next time I am in town. Dave doesn't like to go shopping so I usually pick up things for him. Usually I have pretty good luck. Since it was an early game, I picked him up afterwards at the Rose Garden and we drove home. We were there before midnight.
I was back to the water aerobics class first thing on Monday. We've been off for Christmas break and I can feel it. I need to lose some of the extra poundage I added during the holidays. Those cookies, candy and other goodies will be well remembered. There were a few "newbies" in our class but there always are at the beginning of the year. It is the rest of us that are dedicated that are there all year 'round. It is funny too, because we "regulars" have our special spots where we like to do our exercises and when a newcomer comes in, they get the evil eye if they try to move in on someone else's territory. I am the same way myself, it just feels funny to stand somewhere else in the pool. Yesterday, a newbie tried to take my spot and when she looked around and saw me standing there, she replied "Will it bother you if I stand here?" and my reply was, "Will it bother you?" She was a little too close for comfort for me and I ended up moving over so I could have more room.
The rain and winds were back on Wednesday and we were reduced to sitting inside watching it storm. Dave doesn't think we can afford to have bad weather. When it's nice out, I go outside and work in the yard. But when the weather has me cooped up inside, I want to get in the car and go shopping! At least, that's what I did on Wednesday. The nursery in Seaside was having a huge sale (40% off) on fountains, which I have been wanting for a long time. So in the car I went to check them out. Since we had decided we were going to put one in the backyard (part of Phase I of my garden plans), I had to go look. Well, there were two fountains that I liked so after sending pictures and prices back to Dave, he gave me the go ahead. Naturally, the one we picked was the most expensive, but hey - it was ON SALE! Besides, Dave was the one who showed me the ad and suggested I go look in the first place! The people at the store helped me load the fountain into the car and it was a major job for Dave and I to get it unloaded. The thing is concrete and must weight 100 pounds! I am slowly but surely getting things lined up to start the next phase to my project, which will hopefully be progressing this spring and summer.
With all the lousy weather, Dave has been working on getting the steamboat website back online. Those of you who read this journal regularly might remember the problems we had switching hosts last spring. We got the journal up with little interruption, but the Captain Bell website didn't get done. It took him a few days, but everything is back up and working better than ever. It's at www.captainbell.com just above the link to this site.
This story is related to the website story: We seem to play this game a lot - Dave thinks he remembers seeing something some time back and comes to me and asks if I know where it is. It may be something he hasn't seen in years - he still comes to me. I guess that's because I have some kind of sense that tells me where it is, and I can usually locate it. Well, he did that again. He had the idea that he wanted to create a background for the boat pages that included drawings of boat plans. Now, you have to understand that we haven't seen any boat plans around here in years - but he came to me and asked if I had any idea were they were, anyway. I told him where to look (a place he'd have NEVER looked) and he not only found the drawings, but they turned out to be the plans for our steamboat from 50 years ago! SuperJan strikes again! If you go to the boat website, you can now see them in the background on all the pages.
Since she is in the house by herself, we had Dawn and her son, Taylor over for dinner this week. She is living with her folks and plans on moving into one of their rental units in February. She moved up from California in May and took her Oregon chiropractor test and is slowing building up her practice in the area. When she left California she didn't bring a lot of her stuff with her and so she is starting from scratch with household furnishings. We hauled a small chest of drawers down to her so she would have something to put clothes in. She has picked up a few things here and there but it is tough when you are just starting out. She is a good person and I know that with a little support from friends and family that she will make it.
It has been great being home all week and watching the antics of the abundance of wildlife that have been coming to the bird feeders. We counted over 15 species of birds in just a few minutes on Wednesday. I guess the word is out as to where to find the best food around here! These are mostly the winter varieties that we don't see during the summer months. Oh, there are a few residentials, such as the Stellar and Scrub Jays, Sparrows, Finches, Hummingbirds and Crows, but most of the others like the Junco, Nuthatch, Chickadee, Varied Thrush, Towhee, Flicker, Hairy Woodpecker, Kinglet, Warbler, Pine Siskin and Ladderback Woodpecker are only around in the winter.
We will be have more friends dropping by tonight and then Dave has to get up bright and early to leave for Seattle for the day on Saturday. He is picking up a fellow steamer in Astoria who will be attending the Northwest Steam Society board meeting with him. It's a ten-hour round trip for a two-hour meeting, and he keeps asking himself why he does it. I guess it's because they keep asking him to and he can't say "no".
