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IT'S FRIDAY (whoopee) MY FAVORITE DAY!!

I worked like a dog this week, a lot to do and little time to do it!

The weather finally was nice enough for me to get outside and get started on my long list of projects that I wanted to get accomplished. I started out by finishing up with the torching of the weeds in the gravel driveway and paths. We bought a propane torch last year after the old one that belonged to Dave's dad finally rusted in half. We almost got a ticket last year when we were using the new one out in full view of Highway 101 during the summer burn ban and the Fire Chief caught us. That thing puts out a pretty serious flame and he thought it might be a bit much around all that dry grass! We talked our way out of that one but I wanted to get started earlier this year while it's cooler. It is tedious work but the torch works great - although I accidentally managed to singe a few shrubs while I was working. I was being so careful but I guess the wind was blowing the wrong way! Oh well, that's happened before and they always manage to come back better than ever. I hope that's the case this time.

We dropped off the Jeep in Tillamook at the auto body shop on Sunday night so that they could get started replacing the back bumper that I had "re-arranged" while backing into another car a few weeks ago. So I was without my car for a couple of days. They called on Tuesday to tell me that it was ready but we were on our way into the Portland airport to drop Dave's sister, Leanna off. She was going back to Michigan to visit her kids and grandkids for a couple of weeks. While we were in town, we ran a couple of errands and then headed home via Tillamook so that I could get my Jeep before the shop closed.

Dave got me a load of gravel so that I could redo the paths that were getting down to bare dirt. Boy what a job that is. I had to shovel the gravel into my little dump cart and then haul it up an incline where I dumped it. It wasn't just hauling up the slope, it was pulling it across all of the steps we have in the path. By the time I got one set of wheels over the step and then the other set, I was tired! And then there was the next step! I was only able to get one half of one side done as moving gravel that way is heavy work. That gives me something to do next week! We did move the trailer to the upper driveway so it will be downhill for the rest of that project.

Between shoveling gravel, Wednesday was work day in the park. Our fantastic Park Committee cleaned up the city's little pocket park this time. It was so overgrown that some of the shrubs were covered up with ivy. So after digging up the weeds and pruning a few things back, we managed to carve out our little park space again. I discovered a wasp's nest while clearing away ivy and told the city about it so that they can get it removed. There is a guy in Tillamook that does it for free because he wants the venom from the wasps. So it is a win-win situation.

I also managed to get my vegetable garden planted. I put in the beans, carrots, cucumbers and beets. Now let's hope they grow.

Thursday, while the weather was still nice, I decided to get some of the deck repainted. We had some new deck boards replaced last fall and I needed to get them painted to match the rest of the deck. There were also some places that needed to be redone as the paint had peeled off. Dave sanded those areas and I painted them as well.

I think you can tell from these posts that Dave is doing better. He still has a ways to go to regain his strength - he is still pretty weak - but he's doing more and more each day. He's getting around the house and yard without his cane, although he still uses it when we leave here. We bought him some bigger dumbbells for his arm exercises this week because he had outgrown the smaller ones. It's a slow process, but we're grateful that he is making progress.

Since this is a three-day weekend because of Memorial Day, my oldest daughter, Lara and her family are coming down. The weather should be pretty good and I know the granddaughters are looking forward to going to the beach. We have a couple of little jobs for them to help us do too. Dave has wanted to get the curtains off the boat and he can have them help him do that. Also, he is one of the volunteers who put the American flags for Memorial Day out along the street on Saturday and the girls like helping with that job too.

Our other daughter Leslie and her family are tied close to home this holiday, so they can't get down here. I mentioned that our youngest granddaughter, Paige is on the Oregon Olympic development team and so she has soccer games every day this weekend. I'd love to be able to see her play, but we just can't be everywhere at once.

Since I worked so hard this week, I may even take it easy this weekend - but I am not promising anything!