Jan's Journal

August 26, 2011

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Who said retirement was relaxing? Trying to get all the projects done around here before the summer is over has really kept me busy, besides trying to do the everyday things and attending meetings and such.

We didn't get a lot done last weekend. Dave had performances all three days. I went to watch Saturday's play and then helped with refreshments on Sunday.

On Monday I did my obligation to the Master Gardener's and spent the afternoon working at the OSU Extension office. We were so busy with all the requests that we had gotten from the Farmer's Market on Saturday plus several drop-in problems. There is one old lady who is a Master Gardener and I believe she graduated from the first class that they had. Anyway she dropped by with apparently had nothing better to do and we were all expected to drop everything and cater to her. I threw out several hints that we need to take each problem as they came in and that we were really busy, but it didn't seem to faze her. She "wasted" about an hour of our time wanting us to figure out what was happening with her wild blackberries! Good grief! After she left, we managed to tackle a bunch more problems so the whole afternoon wasn't completely wasted.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have been painting like a crazy person. Ray dropped off a bunch of framing material that needed to be painted before he could install the glass on the railing of the deck. I ended up painting about 20 boards twice, once with primer and then with the stain. It took me most of the weekend and I finished up on Tuesday morning. I still had to finish painting the stair railings and some of the deck. By Thursday, I was finished except for some touch-up here and there.

All this is happening between a doctor appointment in Hillsboro on Tuesday and the work party on Wednesday morning. I had to go to the GYN to get my prescription renewed and then I ran around Hillsboro checking off my list of things to get done. I went to the Credit Union first to withdraw some extra cash and was given the run around by the teller who tried to tell me I didn't have access to my own account! We went around and around until I gave up and told him to take it out of whatever account he wanted and that I'd reconcile it later online. As it turned out, he took it out of the account he said I had no access to! Go figure. Then I ran over to Trader Joe's to stock up on some items that I like from there and another stop at Freddies before I was on my way back to the coast. It was 86 degrees in town when I left Hillsboro and a cool 73 degrees when I returned home. I can take the 73 degrees anytime.

On Thursday, Dave & Ray finished up the deck. It took a month and a half from start to finish and we went over budget getting it done, but then when you consider that we found so much more that was wrong after we started, I guess it wasn't so bad after all. It sure feels good to get it completed. Thursday afternoon we even managed to pick up all the tools and left over pieces of wood lying around. I should rephrase that and say that most of the deck is completed except for the paint on the very front which I am having done by someone else. That person showed up last Saturday and started the job but gave up after a couple of hours complaining that his arm hurt. I don't know when he will return but if it isn't soon, it looks like Dave and I will tackle it on our own. It sure is hard to find good help around here! We also have to pressure wash it but that shouldn't be too hard.

Since the weather has been pretty nice lately, my garden is growing like crazy. I picked a couple of cucumbers the other day and we have been eating fresh green beans. I have also got a couple of tomatos from my giant plants in the greenhouse. It is sure satisfying to go out in the garden and pick something fresh for our dinner.

We still don't have the boat back in the water. I re-polished all the brass after our trip to Cathlamet and Dave removed the feedwater pump and cleaned it out again. It's ready to be re-installed. He's working on a filter system to help keep it from clogging up, but we'll probably put it in the water the first of the week whether it has a filter or not. Believe it or not, some of the grandkids have never been on the boat when it isn't on dry land in the parade on July 4th. We'd kind of like to make sure they understand that it's supposed to be in the water!

A busy weekend is planned ahead. We will be attending a memorial service on Saturday in Keizer with some friends of ours whose father passed away. He was almost 97 year old and still lived by himself and was as sharp as a tack. After that, we have to turn around and get back home as Dave has his final performance of the play that he is in that night. Then on Sunday we will turn around again and head to Silverton for our oldest granddaughter's birthday party. Ashtin will be twelve years old and that is hard to believe!

Well, no pictures again! I guess we've been so busy working that we don't stop to take any photos. That should change next week with Ashtin's birthday party and then when Lara and Greg and the girls are here all next week. It's hard not to take any pictures of the grandgirls!