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December 23, 2016

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Burr! Winter has made its presence felt as we have had some really cold days and nights. But with the change, we have a new flock of birds to the feeders, the Chickadees, Varied Thrush, Woodpeckers, Junco and of course our resident Blue Jays; all know where they can get a meal and so they have been entertaining us this time of year.

Finished up with my Christmas preparations, got the presents wrapped, gifts delivered to neighbors and I am enjoying all the holiday cards and letters we have received. It is always nice to get caught up with friends and family that we don't see very often.

We made a trip into Portland on Wednesday. It was a little foggy going over the coast range but otherwise the weather was great. We had several stops to make and by the time we got everything done and checked off our list, the car was overflowing with stuff. I promised I wouldn't say what kind of stuff filled the car, but then, the more I think about it - it's too good a story to keep to myself. Among the things Dave had on his shopping list was some insulation for the boat barn. It's been too cold to work in there this winter and a little insulation might be a good thing. At least it's a good start. But, it's going to take a LOT to get that whole building covered, so he decided that he would just buy a little at a time. Somehow, "a little" got to be 10 full sheets of Styrofoam insulation. Those are full four-by-eight sheets! It wasn't until we were in the check-out line at the store that I heard the words, "I hope all this will fit into the car." No. It really didn't. But my husband was also heard to exclaim that "By golly - it was all going to fit even if he had to cut it in pieces and cram it in". So, that's what we did. By the time we loaded, unloaded and re-loaded the Expedition, there wasn't a molecule of oxygen left in the back of the rig. And I still had to make a stop at Trader Joe's to pick up a few things. My groceries had to ride between us in the front seat, but the insulation made it home! We now know to get just five sheets at a time instead of ten next time! We got back home about dark that night.

Dave has been working on several projects and one of them is to re-build his flatbed trailer as the deck was getting rotten and the frame was getting a little rusty. So he bought some tongue and groove boards to use for the deck (similar to what we used for the church flooring last month) and I got busy and put on a coat of water repellent on them (again, similar to the church project) before they get installed. The weather has been a little cold to paint so I had to wait for a day when the temps got around 50 degrees before I could get started. He has to wait to paint the frame too. Painting is not a wintertime project, but he wants to get the trailer back together as he has promised friends they could use it. Besides, if he has the trailer, he'd be able to load more than five sheets of insulation at a time. So, it's a win-win situation!

Been staying pretty close to home these days but we will be venturing into town again this weekend. Christmas Eve will be spent in West Linn with our daughter Lara's family and then Christmas day we will all go down to Salem to spend the day with Leslie's bunch. We will probably spend the night in both places as the weather is so unpredictable.

I know this is short, but it such a busy time of year with the holidays. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year!