This month's calendar Archives
July 8, 2011
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
Happy Fourth of July! After cleaning, polishing and shining brass all week, the steamboat was finally ready for the big parade in Manzanita. We drove it to the parade staging area and then waited a couple of hours for our turn to get into line. We ended up with 15 people on the boat. A friend of Jaysa's and her mother joined us, as did Dawn and Taylor Kahrs. That was in addition to the two of us, Dave's sister Leanna, Jason, Leslie and their girls, and Lara, Greg and their girls. As usual, Dave had the boiler fired up so he could blow the whistle. That's always a big deal, and we get a lot of requests to "blow the horn". We all rode on the boat except for Greg who had to drive the car. We had one close call when some little kid ran out in front of the car to get some candy. Greg had to nail the brakes and we were afraid that the four girls sitting on the bow of the boat were going to slide right into the back of the tow vehicle. He got stopped in time and the girls managed to hang on to their seats, so it all worked out OK.
Lara and Greg arrived with their three girls on Friday night for the long weekend. The weather was perfect and the girls were at the beach every day they were here. We started the holiday weekend off by celebrating birthdays for both Greg and me. Our birthdays are on July 2nd, so we got to celebrate together on Saturday. Lara and Greg offered to treat us all to pizza, so off we went to Nehalem to the Pizza Garden for some of the best pizza anywhere. After pizza, we came back home and opened gifts and ate birthday cake and ice cream.
Sunday was supposed to be the worst day of the weekend - weather-wise. But it turned out better than we expected, so Lara and Greg decided they'd take the kids out in the outboard and go for a ride down to the beach. They hardly got away from the dock though, when the motor quit. They had to grab the oars and fight the tide and current to try to get back to the dock. So much for their trip. Dave did manage to get the motor going again, but it was running real rough and didn't sound good at all, so they put it back on the trailer. Later in the week, Dave took it to the shop where they discovered that the water pump was shot and it had a blown head gasket. It's a wonder it ran at all! Anyway, we have it back now - so the next time they want to go for a ride it will be ready.
Leslie and Jason and their two girls came on the fourth of July and arrived in their new ride, a bright yellow Jeep Wrangler. They got to town in time to join us on the steamboat for the parade. After the parade, we came back to the house for a BBQ of hamburgers and hotdogs and later that evening watched the fireworks on the beach at Manzanita from our deck. Leslie and Jason spent only one night because of all the animals they have (pigs, chickens, dogs and cats). Everyone left on Tuesday and the house is now quiet once again. I spent most of the day washing bedding, towels and vacuuming the house so we are ready for more company.
Before everyone left on Tuesday, the guys pitched in and helped dig up the two ferns that needed to be removed from my fountain project. Actually Greg did all the work, we stood around and watched. A friend of mind wanted the two ferns so I carefully placed them in a garbage bag and sat them in the shade so she could pick them up. Greg also planted the Japanese Laceleaf Maple that I had purchased last year when it was on sale. I'm sure it was glad to get out of the container it had been in for so long and can now have room to grow. The placement of the fountain will be next and the trench has to be dug for the electrical wiring.
On Wednesday I helped the Master Gardeners with the 4-H project with the kids in Tillamook. There were about twenty - 5th to 8th grade kids involved. The class was for four days from 1:00-5:00 but I only helped out on one of the days. It was enjoyable and the kids had a lot of fun. They learned about root vegetables and actually ate some - at least some of them did. They also built a window box, painted some garden art and learned about different soils for growing plants. More Master Gardener "pay-back" hours for me.
We started the "deck" project on Wednesday. Dave & I had noticed that the deck rails in front of the house were looking kind of shabby, so he called our friend Ray to come over and see what it would take to replace them. By the time they were done with the inspection, we found that we have to replace nearly all of the framework UNDER the deck before we can even think about the railing. So they spent the day Wednesday getting a temporary support in place while they tore out one of the rotten beams. Ray was gone on Thursday and as I said, we'll be gone for the weekend, so one side of the deck is kind of "temporaried" until Monday.
It is fair time again and we are leaving for Salem to watch Ashtin show her pig at the Marion County fair. She has been busy "teaching" her pig the moves to impress the judge. On Thursday, Ashtin was 1st in her group and her pig came in a surprising 5th overall. Higher rating for the pig means more money at auction. After the fair, the pig will be auctioned off and Ashtin will finally reap some benefits. She is saving her money to go to Washington, D.C. next summer with her 7th grade class.
On Saturday we will head up to White Salmon, Washington for the Nichols family reunion. That's Dave's mother's side of the family. It has been five years since we have seen all the aunts, uncles and cousins so it will be fun to visit with everyone again. Lara and Greg are planning on going and so is Dave's sister, Leanna. Leslie and Jason have to stay in town with Ashtin at the fair. I hope a lot of family shows up.
