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September 11, 2020

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Smoke, smoke everywhere, and not a breath of fresh air! My heart goes out to those who have lost their homes to the fires and are displaced. At least they still have each other. It is so tragic to hear of hundreds of homes burned to the ground in a single community. I can't imagine the feeling. We still have a lot of smoke in the air, enough that we're not venturing outside if we can help it. About the only thing nice about the smoke is that it has created some beautiful sunsets.

In spite of it all, we managed to help Leslie and Jason move last week. Jason had left his boat in Garibaldi at the marina to have his engine repaired, so we towed the boat back to Salem with us. Their new home was only a couple of miles from their old house so that made it easier. Luis and his crew helped load a U-Haul and took many boxes to their new place. After many trips, they got everything moved and now we just have to find things in the boxes! I helped Leslie clean up the old house and thank goodness the new place had been professionally cleaned so we didn't have to clean it. It is a beautiful home with lots of space that sits up on a hill so they have a great view of the surrounding mountains. Dave and I spent two nights in a hotel in Salem as we didn't want to drive back home after the move and figured that Leslie and Jason had enough to do without us being under foot.

We had a birthday dinner at the new house on Friday to celebrate two birthdays; Dave's and our oldest granddaughter, Ashtin's. Jason fixed delicious halibut enchiladas and we had lemon pie (for Dave) and chocolate cake for Ashtin. The first meal in the "new" house.

We got back home from Salem on Saturday afternoon, just before Lara and two of her girls, Jaysa and Jordan arrived for the Labor Day weekend. They decided that they would go crabbing so off they went the next day. Jordan and I decided to stay at home and not join them. As it turns out, it was a good call. I got a phone call later that afternoon that the crabbers were stranded at Kelly's Marina with a dead engine. They had been towed back into the marina by a kind fisherman. I had to take the battery booster down to them so they could get re-started at the dock, but then that didn't work, so Dave thought maybe it needed fresh gas. Another trip home for that. That sort of worked - they were able to get the little "kicker" motor going, but not the big one. So, they putt-ed back out on the bay with the little "toy" outboard to go get the crab pots. They looked high and low for all the crab pots but unfortunately, two were lost. Boat traffic was crazy that day and someone probably cut them with their propeller. $200 dollars worth of crab pots down the drain - so to speak. But the troubles weren't done yet. I had to drive Dave back (trip three or four, I can't remember) to get his car and the boat trailer so they could put the boat up on it. Then, as they were loading the boat, the winch came off the trailer! Dave couldn't get out of the boat, so there was Lara - trying to hold on to the winch while she cranked the boat up on the trailer. But - trooper that she is - she managed to do it! They strapped the boat down and headed for home. They were one tired bunch, but they did manage to get a couple of crabs. It was so crowded at the marina and the weather was hot and dry. What a day!

No sooner did Lara and the girls leave than the wind started to blow. The weather folks had predicted that we were going to have to "batten down the hatches" because of this windy spell, and they were right! We lost several branches off of our trees and we also lost power for almost a full day. I decided that taco salad sounded good, so I called the Mexican restaurant in town only to find they were closed! Since I had my heart set on taco salad, I decided to make my own. Dave says he loved mine, so that recipe may get added to the loop.

Today is a "special" day for Dave and I. It's our 55th wedding anniversary! We are planning to go out to dinner tonight. I feel so lucky to have married such a great guy!