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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

We started our weekend last Friday by meeting at 10:00 a.m. at the Wheeler train station with about 100 people to take a steam train ride up into the Coast Range to where the Salmonberry and Nehalem Rivers join. Several government officials were invited on this special trip so that the Rails and Trails Coalition could show what they have been doing to promote this activity. It was a gorgeous sunny day and some of the rail cars were open so we could take advantage of the fresh air. We also had to watch for tree branches along the way so we didn't get swatted in the face as we went by, as the foliage had grown back since a month ago when it was last pruned. Anyway, it was a four hour ride up and back and we were even given box lunches. We had invited our steam friend, Harv Lillegard along as he had spent the previous night with us.

On Friday night, we had Lara and our three granddaughters come for a weekend visit. The girls are out of school and Mama decided that they needed a road trip. Lara drove down by way of Highway 30, where they stopped in Astoria to climb the Astoria Column. Then it was on to Lewis and Clark's Fort Clatsop and finally to Fort Stevens to see the remains of the shipwreck, Peter Iredale. I had dinner ready for them by the time they arrived at our house. Saturday was another beautiful day so it was off to the beach with the girls. They came back sunburned but they had a great time.

We had a great visit with them before they left on Sunday. I made Chicken and Dumplings and 10-year-old Jadyn made a cake. She is learning how to cook and enjoys her creations. Since it had begun to rain, they decided to beat the traffic and head back home.

It rained all day Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and finally on Thursday it let up a little bit in the afternoon. All my plans for working outdoors went "down the drain", so to speak. We have been torching the dried grass and weeds that have been growing in the driveway and managed to get the top driveway and pathways burned before the old torch that we had been using finally broke. The only place around here that had any torches had just sold their last one a few minutes before, so we had to make a trip into Tillamook (the big city) and buy a new one. While we were there, Dave dropped me off at Freddy's to get some grocery shopping done while he ran some errands. He wanted to check on the progress on the repairs on the Kubota that has been in the shop for a couple of weeks. It still isn't ready. That's frustrating, because I have landscaping plans that involve that tractor!

An update on Stanley the Basset Hound. He is such a goofy dog and is always making us laugh at the way he looks for attention. The other day, he was lying on my foot just to make sure that if he fell asleep I wouldn't go very far without him knowing it. The other picture is of him with his "I just got my belly rubbed and I'm happy about it" look. The other day, we discovered that we had left the back door open and he wandered outside. I just about panicked but after calling his name, he appeared around the corner of the fence. I am always afraid that he is going to follow his nose out onto Highway 101 where we have a lot of traffic this time of year. We once had a Cocker Spaniel that did just that - took off on his own to follow the route we took for a walk every day. The only problem was that - on his way back - he turned one block too soon and it was two days before we found him. I really don't want Stanley to do that. Needless to say, he was in the "dog house" for taking off. Stanley loves to go on his daily walk and everybody in town knows him, so if he did take off, chances are pretty good that someone would recognize him. He is such a friendly guy and gets his ears rubbed from everyone he meets.

It is less than a week before the Fourth of July Parade and I still haven't gotten the steamboat painted. The rain hasn't helped the matter and hopefully I will get that job started... I still have a lot of brass to polish and Dave has to make sure that the boat will run, at least get enough steam up to toot the whistle. We are expecting both of our girls down with their families so there should be quite a bunch of us over the holiday.