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IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

The birthday and 4th of July celebrations are all over for another year. We had a great time with all 11 members of the family present. Lara and Greg came down on Tuesday to join their girls who were already down here staying with us and Leslie, Jason, Ashtin and Paige arrived on the 3rd of July. Those are rare times when we can get everybody together. It was a house full but we enjoyed the time together.

While Leslie was here, I put her to work cleaning my gutters and washing the two skylight windows in the kitchen. The skylights were really dirty and now it is so bright in the kitchen it is hard to see. Since I am banned from climbing up the ladder, I talked her into doing this for me. I still have to find someone who is willing to climb up the front of the house and paint the outside of the deck frame where the paint is starting to peel. Both of the girls would tackle that project for me, but it would take too long and they have way too many irons in the fire to do that.

It was perfect weather for the Fourth of July. We washed the steamboat and Dave got the steam up so we were ready for the parade. Everyone along the parade route wants us to toot the whistle - so even if nothing else works, we HAVE to have steam in the boiler for the whistle! We love the reaction we get from people - this photo was taken by our friend Stew Martin who kindly shared it with us. We had fourteen people on board the boat this year and afterward we had a big BBQ on the deck with hot dogs, hamburgers and apple pie. We also watched the fireworks from our deck and Jordyn and Jaysa fired up the last two sparklers.

By Sunday night, all was quiet around here. Everyone had left to go home. It is a lot of work having everyone here, but they all chip in and help so it isn't too bad. It is wonderful having them here but it is nice and peaceful after they leave.

Monday afternoon, we headed up to Bainbridge Island to attend a funeral. Some steamboat friends of ours lost their son while he was on a white water rafting trip. We made it as far as Belfair where we spent the night at this place on Hood Canal thanks to another steam friend who heard we were coming and left us the key to the house. The next morning after breakfast, we drove an hour to Bainbridge to attend the funeral. There were over 500 people attending the service. Their son was a fireman in Seattle and so I think every off-duty fireman was there representing Seattle and the surrounding areas. It was a nice service but so sad as he was only 50 years old and left two teenage sons and wife as well as his parents and sister. After the service, we headed home. It was a five hour drive, but we still got here before dark.

By Wednesday, we were back to normal around here, me doing my work party at the city park and working in my own yard. Since the weather has been staying pretty warm, I am having to water frequently. I am not complaining because I don't want it to rain either. My garden is coming along nicely. I have "almost-ripe" tomatoes, little cucumbers coming on, green beans working their way up the poles and lots of fresh lettuce to eat. I love growing my own fresh veggies.

Tom and Jerry, our two feral cats are still working on the rodent population around here. They had something cornered under my planter the other day and then Jerry finally caught something as I saw him pack it off in his mouth. They do earn their keep around here.

Today, we are getting up early and making our way to Salem to the Marion County Fair where we will watch Ashtin and Paige show their pigs that they raised this year in 4-H. This will be their last year for pigs, so we want to see them one more time. Then we are planning on spending the night in West Linn as Jaysa has a soccer game on Saturday that we will go to. She is becoming our second all-star after Paige in the sport of soccer. It must run in the family as Leslie played when she was young too.