IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
Summer is almost over and Fall is in the air. I love this time of year. The sunsets have been so outstanding and then we had the biggest moon the other night. Watching the wildlife out our front window has been wonderful too. The other day we spotted a whole flock of Egrets who were fishing on the shore across from our place. I got my first harvest of green beans from my garden and the cherry tomatoes have been so good. We also have been eating fresh caught wild salmon thanks to friends who do a lot of fishing and their freezers are already full.
Speaking of friends, we had a surprise visit from George and Margie from Redmond on Saturday. They called from Tillamook and said that they would be by with lunch. They arrived with their newly acquired travel trailer loaded with kayaks and bicycles. We threw a bunch of leftovers together, a Greek salad, fresh green beans and tomatoes, some crab and salmon with a little glass of wine to top it off. It was great!
After our friends left, our daughter Leslie and her two girls, Ashtin and Paige came by to spend the night. It is a rare occasion to not have at least one of the girls involved in some sort of athletic event over the weekend and so they took advantage and came and visited with us. Leslie helped me prune back my rose bushes and then took the girls down to the ocean to play around on the beach. The weather was perfect and they enjoyed getting away. After dinner on Sunday, they headed back to Silverton. Jason is still in Nashville at Commander School and will be away until the end of September. It has been quite an adjustment for Leslie to not have him around to help. She is planning on flying back to Nashville on their wedding anniversary the weekend of September 13th.
Our other daughter, Lara and her girls made in home after their two-week road trip down south. It took them four days to get to LA and two days to get back to Oregon, stopping in Monterey and camping in the Redwoods. They had a great trip but were glad to be back home again. In about a week, everyone will be back in school, including my youngest granddaughter, Jordyn who will start kindergarten this fall. The girls have had a great summer with their mother home as she was able to take them places.
Dave and I started on our walkway project this week. We first went to Home Depot and decided on some pavers that we wanted to use to replace the gravel and stepping stones. I have wanted to have a walkway for a long time. Anyway, we ordered the pavers, the sand and filler and had them delivered on Wednesday. Meanwhile, while we were waiting for our delivery we started to prep the walkway. We first dug a trench to put in the forms, carefully leveling and measuring everything. Then we dug out piles of dirt and gravel which Dave had to use a pick axe to loosen up. He tried using the tractor but it didn't work like he wanted. I wasn't sure what I was getting into and was asking myself the saying "be careful what you ask for" as it was really turning into a major job. Anyway after taking the dirt out and then leveling the walkway and putting the dirt back in so that it was even we were finally to get to the stage of putting the pavers in. The pavers have a certain pattern and so Dave went back to Home Depot and took a picture of the pattern because with our short memories we couldn't chance trying to replicate it. We did get the base sand in place last night, then had to re do it and cover it with a tarp when we discovered that one of my feral cats had used it for - what else? - a sand box! Hopefully this project will be behind us soon.
While we were in Warrenton at Home Depot, Dave stopped by the Verizon store to see if they could fix his phone. He has been having trouble with it not holding a charge and he would have to reboot the darn thing every time he wanted to use it. So while he was "waiting" for his turn to talk to a rep, I ran next door to Costco and did some shopping. By the time I got back he was being waited on and was told that his old phone was toast. He had about a week before his renewal agreement ran out so he kept his phone for another week and ended up getting a new one with a larger battery capacity. So today, he is on a learning curve trying to figure out his new "smart phone".
It looks like a busy weekend is planned. We are going to head into town on Saturday to watch Paige play soccer in Hillsboro. After the game I am taking Ashtin shopping and out to dinner for her birthday. She will be fourteen on August 29th. It is so hard to believe. Anyway while I am doing that, Dave has been invited to a single-malt whiskey tasting party, so I will drop him off at that and then later we will drive back home afterwards. I will probably be the designated driver in this case.