Jan's Journal

August 12, 2011

IT'S FRIDAY MY FAVORITE DAY!!

We have been getting the steamboat ready for the steam meet in Cathlamet this weekend.

On Monday, Dave got all ready to pull the boat out of the water from Kahrs' dock and we had it all planned for him to drive the Chevy and boat trailer up to Waterfront Park where he would pull the boat out of the water. We had it all timed out where he would be able to meet his voluntary obligation at the visitor's center at 11:00 a.m. Not to be. By the time he steamed up the boat and then waited for his friend to get away from his project so he could help us (it takes three people to do this), it was past 11:00 a.m. and the tide was starting to turn. He called me to see if his sister could fill in at the Chamber which she was reluctant to do because she just had her teeth pulled and she didn't have her new teeth yet. Anyway, I convinced her to sit in at the visitor's center and I would relieve her as soon as I could. Well, the steamboat made it to the Waterfront Park okay and then Dave had a problem with the winch he was going to use to pull the boat out of the water and onto the trailer. Meanwhile, I went over to the chamber office and relieved his sister so she could go home. She had a replacement for her shift that afternoon but that person got confused and didn't show up. I ended up sitting at the Chamber until 3:00 p.m. and then Dave relieved me after he got the winch fixed and found someone else to help him with the boat. What an ordeal and a waste of a day because by the time I got home I didn't have time to get started on any of the projects I wanted to get done.

Tuesday, I spent 6 hours cleaning the steamboat and getting an oil ring off her. Just sitting in the water for a month caused a lot of oil to accumulate from all the motor oil from the fishing boats in the river. I also had quite a collection of barnacles to remove. When I got her cleaned from stem to stern, I polished all the brass again because the salt air had really messed that up. My arms were about to fall off by the end of the day.

Ray and Dave worked some more on the deck this week. They got the railings replaced but Ray ran a sliver about 3/4" long into his hand and it got infected so he ended up going to the doctor yesterday. I hope he is going to be okay and will be able to start back to work on the deck next week after we get back from the steam meet.

I spent Thursday afternoon at the Tillamook County Fair greeting people at the Master Gardener's Learning Garden. We had quite a crowd in the three hours that I was there and it was fun showing the garden and helping them with questions they had about gardening. The theme this year for the fair was "something to crow about" and so we had a children's garden set up with a scare crow in it. There was also an egg hunt and if all the eggs were found, the kids got a prize. Anyway, it is more payback hours for my master gardener course, but I could have used the time to get ready for our weekend.

We had a deer join us for lunch the other day. Right in the middle of the day the deer decides to venture in and check out my bird feeders and flowers. I gave her an unwelcome and hopefully she will get the hint and stay away. Fortunately, she hasn't discovered my vegetable garden.

We don't have any photos to share this week. Too busy to think about taking any pictures I guess.