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April 7, 2017
IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!
It's one of those weeks where I am posting this a day early because of our schedule. You'll see what I mean as you read along.
We were very busy last weekend around here. Leslie and her family came down on Thursday night. The girls were on Spring Break all last week so they decided to come down to see us. I wanted the girls to get my gutters cleaned and we did have a nice day to do that. Afterwards, their mother took them up to Seaside for some fun. With all their busy schedules, they just don't have the time to just hang out with each other very often. I'm glad they were able to get away.
During the church renovation, we had to remove one of the flooring support beams because it was in pretty bad shape. Just as we were getting ready to toss it on the burn pile, Leslie spotted it and told us she wanted to make a fireplace mantle out of it. It's been sitting there ever since and so during the weekend, Jason and our nephew Dean helped Dave cut up that beat-up old piece of cedar and the Alexander's headed home with it. It didn't take them long - they sent this picture the very next day! Of course, it isn't done, but we're pretty impressed with that first step!
While the Alexander's were here, Dave had our granddaughter Ashtin help set up our new computer. It is different that our old one and presents quite a learning curve for us. She whipped around that computer and had some of the problems solved in no time. We told her that we needed to bring her down here about once a week to handle computer issues for the old folks! We were also without any e-mails for days but that was the telephone company's fault. Dave spent several hours over two days on the phone with Tech Support, trying to get it work out. I think we have everything working on the computers, phones and tablets except for the very old computer which is about one step away from death's door anyway. We keep that one around for the games. It also has a vintage photo processing package that Dave likes to use to get pictures on this journal.
We also had Leanna's family, Dean and Brenda Pruitt and their fourteen year old son Riley come down. Dean and Dave were involved in getting Leanna's garage wired after twelve years. There had been an extension cord running from the house to the garage so she could use her garage door opener. It turned out to be a much larger task that it was supposed to be. There was conduit buried in the ground to put the wiring through but when they tried to run a fish tape through it, they hit a dead-end. So they ended up digging up part of the conduit to find where the stoppage was. After that problem was solved, they got the rest of the wiring done in no time.
Wednesday, I went to Tillamook and helped with the Master Gardener's plant sale preparation by transplanting 400 tomatoes. I scheduled all day to help them because they never know how many people will show up. As it turned out, we had quite a few people helping out, so it didn't take more than an hour to complete that job. It is no job at all planting 400 tomato plants when you have a lot of help. We are fortunate that we have a great group in our Master Gardener's group. We often have a lot more volunteers than jobs when the call goes out for help. And there will be more chances - there will be several other work parties in the next few weeks in preparation for the sale which takes place the first weekend in May.
So, the inevitable happened - I caught Dave's cold this week. As a result, I have been a little under the weather. He still has the remains of his cold, so between the two of us, we have been sneezing and coughing back and forth at each other. Fortunately, the weather hasn't been all that great, so if there's a time when I have to sit out, rainy days make it easier! We did have one day of sunny weather and so I went outside and pruned the fronds back on the ferns. It is a lot easier to do before the little fiddlers start appearing. I decided to dig one of the ferns up as it was getting too big for the spot it was in. It took me over an hour of digging and pulling before it gave way but not before I broke the handle on one of my pitch forks. Boy, those ferns are stubborn!
This week was Jadyn's birthday. It's hard to believe that this super-talented young woman is celebrating her14th birthday. We will take her out to dinner sometime this week, hopefully before we take in a Blazer game on Thursday to watch her and her dance team perform during the game's half-time. We plan to spend the night and return home on Friday.
One more thing that happened this weekend - Jerry, our feral cat, was at the door for his usual dinner. But imagine his surprise when Leslie's dog Chip jumped out after him and chased him around the deck. The poor cat was so frightened that we didn't see him back until a full day after everyone had left. I think he has finally recovered. We had found that when the weather is nice, he likes to jump up on the fence and sleep. He did it again a couple of nights ago. This picture was taken at midnight. He probably feels safe up there.
