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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Hey, let's hear it for the first day of summer! I can't complain about the weather because it has been rather nice most of the week. We had a few clouds and sprinkles but for the most part it was rather pleasant.

Of course, if the weather is nice you can find me outside in the yard. I managed to get the side done that runs along Gamble Street. This side has the wild and wandering roses on it and so I managed to get the weeds pulled and them pruned back, but my arms looked like I had been in a cat fight with scratches up and down them. It is now to the front of the house I go. Too bad we live on a corner lot because I have a lot of ground to cover. Dave got the blow torch out and I got busy burning the dead grass and weeds that had accumulated in the drive way. That sure is a big help burning them instead of pulling them!

I was looking out my kitchen window the other day and one of my feral cats was tossing a snake up in the air and having a great time batting it around. We thought the cat had killed it and I sent Dave out to investigate (I hate snakes) and he discovered that it was still alive. A little chewed up but the snake managed to wiggle away. Meanwhile, I started pruning back the laurel hedge where the snake was and lo and behold, I was almost done pruning when that snake appeared. I let Dave finish pruning the hedge as I was afraid that snake was out for revenge!

Most of the week has been ordinary. Dave got back late on Sunday evening - exhausted from his race broadcast all weekend. He watched the odometer turn an unusual number, 123456 on his Suburban. He joked about stopping by the casino on the way home. After he got home, he went right to bed and I let him sleep in the next morning. By Tuesday, he was back to his old self again - vowing never to do that again. We will see...

The carpet cleaner came bright and early on Tuesday and shampooed my very dirty carpets. It had been awhile and they needed it badly. Now that we have Stanley and we are outside more, the carpets seem to get dirty faster. I also gave Stanley a bath - which isn't his favorite thing to do. He also had an appointment to get his toe nails clipped (they were like daggers) as he was having a hard time getting a grip when he walked. Now he smells nice and clean and I am sure he is glad that it is all over. I try not to give him a bath too often because his skin will dry out but because he has so much loose skin he stinks after a couple of weeks.

We had a nice turnout for the work party on Wednesday. About six people showed up and boy did I give them jobs to do. I have to take advantage of all the help I can get as some times it is just me, myself and I out there on work days. We have a great group in the Park committee and on the rare occasions when we can all get together, we get a lot done. We got the weeds pulled in the Waterfront Park, around the Post Office and in front of City Hall. With so much help it only took us a couple of hours. We had our monthly meeting on Thursday and I was pleased that it too was well-attended.

Now that the Leslie's two daughters are out of school for the summer, she decided to take Paige into the office with her for awhile. As you can see in the picture, Paige had fun amusing herself. What a goofball.

Today, we have been invited to take a steam train trip to Salmonberry which is the location of the confluence of the Nehalem and Salmonberry Rivers. The train used to go all the way across the Coast Range to Banks but the trestle across the Salmonberry River was destroyed in the 2007 storm, so we will only get to go part way before we have to turn back. The train will leave at 10:00 a.m. and it will be a 4-5 hour trip. There will be a box lunch provided and there will be several dignitaries aboard. Our good friend, Harv Lillegard spent the night last night and will be joining us too. He and his wife, Kim are the ones that invited us to the Seattle Opening Day Boat Parade last month and we got to ride in their steamboat. The weather looks good and we're all looking forward to the trip behind that vintage steam locomotive!