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March 20, 2015

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Suddenly, once again spring has arrived, so happy first day of spring! Although it has felt like spring for most of the winter, it is now official.

We drove up north to Seattle over the weekend to attend the Northwest Steam Society's annual meeting. We had pretty good weather and enjoyed the company of many of our steamer friends. They had a lunch and meeting at Ivar's Salmon House which is located on Lake Union. From there we could watch the activity on the lake as well as enjoy the nice fish and chips we had ordered for lunch. We spent two nights at the LaQuinta Inn before we came back home on Sunday.

There was a Gale Warning posted for the coast on Sunday, so we decided to stay inland for as long as we could. We took I-5 south and headed west at Longview so we wouldn't have to cross the Astoria Bridge with the wind blowing at 50 miles per hour. It can be a very long four miles crossing the Columbia River when the weather is coming in straight off the Pacific Ocean! Once we crossed the bridge, we stopped at Freddy's in Warrenton where I bought groceries before we got home. The wind was blowing so strong by then that I had to chase one of my empty shopping bags around the parking lot for several minutes. By the time we made it up to Neahkahnie Mountain, we could feel the wind knocking the car around (and that's a BIG car) and it felt like we were getting blown off the mountain - a little scary to say the least! But we made it home safe and sound and by that evening the wind had settled down.

Happy belated St. Patrick's Day! Even though I don't think I have a drop of Irish blood in my body, I always fix traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick's Day. I don't know why that is, maybe because my mom fixed it when I was young. This time, I managed to fix enough that we can celebrate the "wearin' o' the green' more than once this week. We enjoy that meal and this time we had enough left over for another meal as well as a couple of sandwiches for lunch. I crave corned beef but once a year is plenty (kind of like turkey at Thanksgiving. After the second or third helping - that's enough!).

We had our work party at Waterfront Park this week. Last week it was raining and we had to cancel. Anyway, the weather cooperated on Wednesday and we got more weeding done and pruned some of the hedges. This time of year we have to work around the weather and it's frustrating because there is so much to be done in the spring.

Speaking of the Parks Committee, I got talked into attending the City Council meeting this week to bring them up to date on what we're doing. To back up a little, one of the councilors who was the liaison to our committee usually took care of the communication. She has since resigned from the Council, and Dave noticed that there was no one to give that report. Since I'm the head of that committee (and probably because I'm married to one of the City Councilors), I got drafted. I don't think that's anything I want to do on a regular basis. I was promised that as soon as they have a full council later this spring, the liaison duties will be reassigned and one of the councilors will get the job again. That's fine with me, I have other things to do on Tuesday evenings rather than sit in a meeting!

I was able to spend some time outside in the yard. I cleaned out the bird bath and filled it with fresh water. I had read somewhere that if you add pennies to the water - pennies minted prior to 1982 - they will keep the algae from growing. I guess the newer ones don't have as much copper in them. So, I went through our penny jar and threw a few pennies in the water to see what happens. If it works, I'm only out about twenty cents and if it doesn't, I get to put a bunch of clean pennies back in the jar! I am sure the birds won't mind sharing their bath.

We are keeping a lookout for the herd of cow elk that are still grazing in the area while awaiting the arrival of their little ones. We really enjoy that sight. They have found an area where they like to graze, but it's clear on the other side of the bay from us. Dave took a picture through the telescope but they are too far away to see them clearly.

Next week are expecting a couple of granddaughters for a few days. Ashtin and Paige are on Spring Break and will be staying with us. They will only be here Monday thru Wednesday and we hope that we can keep them entertained. The weather doesn't look terrible but it isn't going to be really sunny either, so that will affect what we can do. They are teenagers and we are sure that they will have their electronic devices with them. It will be fun having them here though and we are looking forward to this visit.