Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #84 – Brewfest & More Visitors

Saturday, Sep 7^th, 2019…… Today was beer day!  This is the fifth annual Lebanon BrewFest. This will be our third. But first up was breakfast. We met Penny and Janice at Kevin’s and ate a nice meal and made our plans. When we left to come home, we drove down Main St.  They were cleaning and getting ready to close it off to traffic for the afternoon/evening festivities.  We know where to park and when to go. The weather is kind of cloudy and cool. Rain is forecast around 5:00pm. We will go get sis about 12:45 and go park. The activity goes from 1:00pm-8:00pm but we go early to avoid the crowds and the weather.

We picked her up and got around to the entrance and parked and went in. They charge $20. per person and you get 3 beer tokens. We had each always gotten 5 more on top of that . This year we got 3 more to start. We headed in and walked around, first to check out who was there and what kind of beer they have to offer. My sister likes the more robust stouts and I like the wussy light pale ales and lagers. But you can always find enough to sample so it’s a fun day.  Lydia had a few tastes and found some variations that she liked, like raspberry beer. Yuuck! But she was our designated driver so she took it easy and only had 1-2 tastes. We found the turkeys from the Quirky Turkey Contest. They were available to silent auction winners - no we don't want a turkey! 

We split up the tasting tour by heading over to the food trucks. This year they had five carts but we always choose Stick a Pork in It and/or our friend Brian’s Chau’s Little Vietnam truck. We bought from both trucks and shared. It was all good. We found a table and relaxed for a while before finishing up our tasting. 

Lydia drove Penny home and we came home and rested from a fun afternoon! It was still early but we knew we wouldn’t want dinner so we snacked a bit and watched tv and called it a night.

Sunday, Sep 8^th, 2019…… Sundays are usually kick back days and today was no exception. Besides, it was raining a bit. After taking Rylee out for her morning walk, I just hung around my tv and watched Mecum Auctions and Nascar and F1 races while Lydia watched some of her taped programs. We had leftovers for dinner and that was our day.

Monday, Sep 9^th, 2019…...  Rain is here now for a few days. This may put a damper on my boat/trailer exchange project for tomorrow. We’ll see…

By the time I got up and going, my sister came by with Q and while they were here, she got a text that her friends, Bill and Debbie, who were up here from Calif. visiting family, were just coming into Lebanon and were on their way to her house. So, she fed Quincy and left her here to go meet them. Lydia and I took the dirty white doggie with us into the shower and she got cleaned and all of the pool/grass smells off of her. She’s clean, white and fluffy but that will last a day at best!  While she was in the house staying clean and drying out, I went out and worked on cleaning up the shop. I was also looking for an extra sewer support that I knew I had in my motorhome stuff in the shop racks. I found it and set it up under the exhaust line I had finished installing for the coach. This takes it up off the ground and makes a straighter shot out the vent. 

Also, here is a photo of the outside vent  before and after paint.

I also took some measurements for another project - I am thinking about buying a metal roofed carport for the boat for the summer heat and the winter rains and possible snow. I can buy a 12’ x 15’ x 7’ one in kit form for around $800.  

But I’ll probably choose a slightly longer one to get everything under cover.  As an alternative to that plan, I measured the overhang area next to the shop and my boat will fit in there. Problem is I like all of the under-cover space that I have used up under there now and would have to move it elsewhere. I have the room for the carport so I’ll go that route. A bit later, Penny brought Bill and Debbie over and we gave them another tour since they had been here close to 2 years ago. After a nice visit, they took Q and left to go back to Penny's to get their dinner in the crockpot.  We hung around and relaxed. Lydia finished up her laundry (after we did some maintenance on the washer filter) and got that chore finished. We each fixed sandwiches and relaxed for the afternoon. She did get out some shrimp to thaw for some kind of noodle casserole for dinner, so I’m looking forward to that!

Yep, dinner was yummy!  After dinner and I took Rylee out - but not in the pool yet. It’s cooler outside now. Still trying to rain off and on. The weather looks the same for the next three days. We watched two more Guys Grocery Games (still more to go!) and then the debut of A Very Brady Renovation on HGTV.  Don't worry if you missed the first show - they have it repeated many times.  We also watched the latest Master Chef to get that one caught up and then went to bed.        

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #83 – Recycling, and Exhaust Vent & Ordering New Bath Lighting

 

Wednesday, Sep 4^th, 2019……  I slept in a few minutes later than usual this morning. Rylee has finally quit bugging us to be fed super early. With Quincy here for a lot of the mornings, I guess she is getting used to eating after they play and run around. That’s ok with me! I got dressed and walked her and then went out and got coffee/tea/breakfast. Once we ate, we added some more plastic bottles to the bags I already had loaded into the truck, and we took off to the recycle center in Albany. Each of us ran two bags through the machines, and we ended up with a total of $57.00. Not bad, but it is really our money that we originally spent when we bought the water/soda/beer bottles. But it goes back to our pocketbooks in cash and that’s cool! We came back home and rested for an hour or so, then Lydia went off to the senior center to play bingo. I worked on my blog and also did my monthly input on the bill spreadsheet. Once that was done, I rested for a bit then went out to the motorhome garage and started working on the exhaust plumbing that will exit out a vent pipe in the garage wall. It took a few minutes to get everything marked out but after that, it was pretty easy. Lydia was back from bingo and came out and helped align and push the vent pipe through the outside and inside walls. I was done in less than an hour and cleaned up and came back in to the house.

   

Lydia and I made tacos and we watched last night’s America’s Got Talent show and then the results show after that.  Lydia went to bed but I stayed up while longer and watched a couple of my taped shows before getting tired enough to go to bed. 

Thursday, Sep 5^th, 2019…… Another beautiful day? It was supposed to be clear and sunny but we woke up to a light rain and cooler temps. But, after I got out of the shower and got dressed and went out with the monkey butt, the weather turned. It was sunny and getting warmer. By 10:00am it was really comfortable! We had nothing planned today so I watched some of the Thursday Mecum Auctions (they are in Dallas this week). Lydia was in her office catching up on some of her taped shows. But later, we got bored and took off to go run a few errands. First stop was Rife’s, where we got our dining room table. They haven’t contacted us yet about replacing the leaf that had some damage so we took our paperwork to them to complain. They will process it asap and hopefully by next week we will get a replacement. Next stop was J&J Lighting in Albany where we ordered two light fixtures for the master bath. These were a bit more than Costco but we decided that we both liked them better, given the décor we have now. Costco’s were a bit too modern for the room.  We headed back home and relaxed for the day. Oops, I relaxed. Lydia did several loads of laundry. She got a casserole put together and in the oven as well. Later, we ate and watched tv until bedtime. 

   

Friday, Sep 6^th, 2019…...  I have been keeping up on the news up here with tv and the paper. The other day I spotted an article in the paper about a woman who drowned while rafting on the Willamette River near the Buena Vista Ferry crossing. It turns out that it was the same day that we took Raymond and Frances across the river on that ferry. We saw several groups of rafters going down the river in groups, like the woman did. They hit a tree snag in the river and she went under and was trapped in the snag and drowned. Makes you wonder if they were the ones coming by when we were there….

Nothing on the agenda today. Lydia worked some more on her laundry and I played with butthead. I had noticed that the exhaust vent I recently installed was glaring in the sun so I set out to fix that. I have extra house/garage paint so I put a couple of coats on it. Much better. Lydia made a trip to Walmart and got stuff for steak burritos for dinner. My favorite! After that, we watched our own programs until bedtime.

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #82 – Saying Goodbye & Getting Chores Done

 

Sunday, Sep 1^st, 2019……  Last full day with family. We slept in this morning. Sis came by and was here when I took Rylee out for her walk. She fed Quincy and stayed a while but needed to go home and eat and shower. We were leaving when she got back here. Raymond (with a little help from Oma) made us grilled cheese and ham sandwiches for breakfast. They were very good! Frances set up our crockpot and put a roast in to get going for the day. Once we had everything cleaned up and sis got back, we headed off to Foster Lake. We had heard that the fish hatchery there was a good place for kids so off we went. We were not disappointed! They had every tank filled to capacity with chinook salmon. These little guys were probably only 4-5 inches long. We were lucky to be there right on time for the daily feeding. The guy let Raymond throw feed into the tanks. The fish boiled on the surface trying to get some food!

He told us they would all be released in the Santiam River in November. As they head downriver, they will smolt, which is a stage in their life cycle where they begin to adapt for life in salt water. Eventually, they will return up the same river to this very hatchery. There are two fish gates/ladders that they swim up to. Some are captured and used to breed new hatches of eggs as the cycle continues. The fish gate on the other side is open, but the one on our side of the river is closed - they have a big iron grate blocking it off. But that didn’t stop the salmon from trying to get in.

We also got to feed the trout, which twenty or so are held in a couple of smaller tanks. I think these are just for viewing. There are more contained in a large glass fish tank out in front of the office. All of these guys were huge!

We took a few more pics... 

and then we left there and headed back to town for lunch (Taco Bell). We were all going next to the Albany Carousel. But the girls had also talked about going wine tasting while Frances was here. I came up with an idea – Frances has been to the carousel so Lydia and I would take Raymond there and Penny could take Frances to the wineries. We came home and split up. Our trip to Albany was fun. Raymond picked out two of his favorite animals (Zulu the cheetah, and Cheyenne the horse) and rode both of those. Aunt Lydia picked a short one that she could get up on!

Next, we visited the souvenir shop and he also got to smash a penny in the machine. He liked that so much that we bought him an album book to collect any future pennies he gets. We came back and later, the girls got back. We rested a bit and then they finished up the crockpot dinner. It was tasty! They both went in to pack their suitcases and prep for tomorrow. Their flight out of Eugene is at 6:00am. They need to check in and go through TSA and then board at 5:25am, so we needed to have them there closer to 5:00am. It’s close to an hour’s drive so we needed to leave around 4:00am!  So, we all made an early night of it.

Monday, Sep 2^nd, 2019……  I don’t know about Frances and Raymond, but Lydia and I couldn’t sleep for hours. I think I remember looking at the clock at 1:30am! But we got up and going and made the drive down to the airport and had them there at 5:05am. We said our goodbyes and then headed home to rest for the day! Raymond kept saying that he didn’t want to go home. I think he had a good time. Frances texted later saying that they got home a little after 10:00am. She sent me one more pic she took of us with the tractor.

Like I said, we kicked back the whole day and did nothing else. Both of us had leftovers for lunch so neither of us wanted dinner.

One other thing to note – we FINALLY got our Directv blacked out CBS channel back! Nexstar and Direct signed a multi-year agreement. It was just one or two days short of 8 weeks! Thank goodness it was rerun season. We are now ready for all of the fall shows to start. 

   

Tuesday, Sep 3^rd, 2019…...  This morning I got up and going early. I stopped and got my breakfast and then went to pick up my sister. We both needed to go to Home Depot. I needed to get some self-closing hinges as replacements for the broken ones on the door going out to the garage; and she needed to get the 12 x 12 pavers that Kirk and Caleb will be installing in the near future. We got back to her place and unloaded those and I came home and installed the hinges and was back in business in no time. I also went out with a cutoff saw and knocked down that big spike I used in the garden last week to tie the tree to. Kirk and Caleb showed up later and this time worked for a few hours on the weeds in the flowerbeds and along the French drain. I set up a date for next week with them. Instead of working on my yard, he will come over with his truck, hook up to my new old trailer and follow me and my boat up to Foster Lake. That way, I don’t have to make two trips plus I have two extra guys to help unload the boat and try it out on the new old trailer. We will test fit it and then move it all back and bring both back home. If the new old trailer works out, I can then move it into the shop and tear it down and clean it up and repaint it. Once that’s done, I can then go back to the lake and make the changeover permanent. Kirk and Caleb get paid for their normal time with me, but don’t have to pull weeds. They just have to change into shorts and water shoes!

Sis came over later and brought more clothes for when she stays here. Her surgery is now set for Sept. 13^th.  She anticipates she will need to be here for 4-7 days.

Later, Lydia made baked chicken and we settled in and watched all of the Master Chef episodes so we’re now caught up. I wasn’t sleepy so I stayed up and watched a few of my taped shows before calling it a night.       

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #81 – Family Time!

Thursday, Aug 29^th, 2019……  It rained on us last night. The weather forecast was for rain in the Portland area and not much anywhere else. Well, that wasn’t true! It started in the early morning hours and only lasted through the morning. And then the sun came out and it warmed up. But, it’s all good – we need whatever rain we can get! Of course, I had just turned the sprinklers back on after picking up the grass clippings yesterday!

We needed a few more things for Frances and Raymond so I hung around the house and waited for the lighting guy, while Lydia headed off to Walmart to get everything. Clint showed up and for the most part, we talked about the house and the neighborhood. I showed him around and then he went in and took a look at our present bath lights. He knew we had to leave to go to Eugene but he left us with a huge catalog to look through. I was surprised that he didn’t have any sales pitch or pressure us at all. He left and we took off a bit later. We drove to the airport in Eugene to meet their 1:20pm flight but first we stopped off at the Eugene Costco on the way. The Albany store had their bathroom fixtures in stock but none on display and we thought we’d see what the Eugene store had. Turns out they had one fully lit. I was ok with it – just not sure if it’s our style or not. The big boss will tell me that, I’m sure. We made it to the airport and cruised around a couple of times and they walked out to the street just as we were driving by. Good timing!  We headed home and listened to Raymond’s stories about the day. I think he’s happy to be here finally. We played with Rylee outside in the water and he got to sit on the tractors. We will drive them later.  They didn’t have lunch and we skipped ours so Lydia got dinner started early. We had tri tip, baked potatoes with cheese sauce, corn on the cob, and salad. It was our first meal at our new dining room table! Yaaay! I cleaned up the dishes while they headed off to Big 5 and/or Kohls looking for shoes for Raymond.  Once they returned, everyone settled in and Raymond got his teeth brushed and headed off to his bedroom. I think he was sound asleep after only a few minutes. It was a long day! We made plans for tomorrow and settled in and watched tv and talked until bedtime.

Friday, Aug 30^th, 2019…… The plan today is to go to The Enchanted Forest. It’s on the kind of scale of Santa’s Village, if anyone remembers that. But we thought we’d go check it out and see if Raymond would like it. Sis dropped Quincy off here and then we loaded up and stopped at Shirley May’s on the way for breakfast. Raymond had one pancake!

After the nice meal, we headed up the 25 miles or so to the park. The weather this morning was super nice and all of the schools up here started this week, so we thought it would be a good day to go.  We parked in real close and went in. 

They have a regular admission price (adult, senior, children) and then you can either buy ride tickets for $1.00 each or you can buy a bracelet for unlimited rides. I paid the admission and then got only Raymond the bracelet. We went in. First, you go through the storybook path, which takes you to nursery rhymed dioramas. This park has been here since 1971 and is a nice place for kids but it shows its age just a little. It’s cute the way they have interactive displays that you can walk through or view from a window. The path takes you through a western street then on to the amusement area. Raymond rode the bumper cars a few times and the carousel but wouldn’t go through the haunted house! I was coaxed into buying a ride ticket for the log ride. It was similar to Knott’s Berry Farm but on a smaller scale. Then I bought another and this time Frances went with him on the bobsled. After that, he got back in line and rode it two more times by himself!  He also rode one other ride with another little boy and his family and they then all went back up to the log ride to go together!  I think he had a great time and so did we!

We headed back home with the idea that we would let Rylee and Quincy out and then go to the carousel in Albany and then to dinner. I changed the plan and it worked better. We went to Pizza Schmizza in town and saved the drive for another day. We got back home and fed monkey butt and Penny took Q home. We settled in for a while and rested, and then went out to take the tractors out. Raymond is a little too short to hold the brake to start the tractor but once I started it, he was off to the races. Frances got on the other one and they did a few laps! I think we ran out a few gallons of gas today!    

   

Saturday, Aug 31^st, 2019…...  I got up and got going early and walked monkeybutt. Today we were headed to Silver Falls. We thought Raymond would like hiking the trails and walking under the falls. Our plans were to go Kevin’s for breakfast first but sis called and said when she got there, they were closed for the holiday weekend. So, we went to Appletree and had a nice meal. Penny left to go get Quincy to bring to the house, and I left Lydia and Frances at the restaurant, and Raymond and I went home to get drinks and pick up Rylee and sis. We went back and got the girls and headed off. It’s about 40 miles or so and it’s a nice drive through the country and then into the forest above Salem/Silverton.  Rylee usually whines in the car but with Raymond back there she did ok. Everyone walked to the top viewing area of South Falls and then Lydia took Rylee back to the visitor’s center (dogs aren’t allowed on the canyon trail) and the rest of us headed down.

Even though there wasn’t too much water in the creek, the falls were still pretty impressive. We did the downhill just fine and took all of the pics we could. We even took the loop trail this time on the way out. I’m glad to know I wasn’t the only one who got winded on the uphill! We made it out and found Lydia and the mutt and headed back. But we weren’t done! I detoured to the next adventure. I had told Frances about how much the grandkids enjoyed their ride on the Buena Vista Ferry on the Willamette River and she had said Raymond would love that! He was surprised when we pulled in line facing a river! The ride only lasts a few minutes but we decided to just turn around and ride it back. This time we all got out of the car and checked out everything. 

There were several float tube groups heading downriver and they looked like they were enjoying their day. We got back home and rested for a while before starting dinner. We had salmon with mac and cheese and a salad. After dinner, we all sat out on the front porch and had ice cream cones for dessert. 

My sister left and we came in and settled in and watched a bit of tv before calling it a night. Long day!

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #80 – Yard Work and Light Shopping

Monday, Aug 26^th, 2019……  I slept in a few minutes after 7:00 and got up and showered and prepped for the day. The weather is warming up! It got up to 90º today but tomorrow that is supposed to go up even more! I got Rylee out and we did our walk. I went and got breakfast and then went out to work on the boat. Short of removing and replacing the seats and carpeting the boat, I am done with the inside. That stuff can be done when the boat is put away in the shop garage for the winter.  Lydia had her nail appointment this morning so she took off for that. While she was gone, I called FMCA and got our reservation made for the 2020 Rally in Indio in January. So that’s done. I will still need to get tires for the motorhome. All that takes is $$$! I also went out and drove a fence t-post into the ground and roped off the bent tree we are saving. I had Lydia come out and help push while I pulled and we got it almost straight. Caleb and Kirk can help tomorrow. I showered again and we headed off later to go pick up my sister and then head off to Block 15 Brewery and Taproom. Tomorrow is Kirk’s birthday and we wanted to take him to dinner. Plus, we had never been to their newer second place. This place has the brewery and really only serves burgers and appetizers (besides all of the beer choices). But we found tasty faire and it good fresh beer so was nice and we had a great time.  

Tuesday, Aug 27^th, 2019…… Today was mowing day. I got the dog walked early and went out to check the grass. Even though the day has been a scorcher, the nights cool off as soon as the sun goes down, so it was still wet with morning dew. I would have to wait. I came in and rested and watched tv. About 9:45 or so. Lydia headed off to her mahjong game and I went out and did the mowing. Pretty easy this time. Most of the grass is going dormant but there is a hardy batch that Walt put in right off the back porch that grows like crazy and that needed attention. Also, I didn’t need to do any weed whacking so that saved some effort. I got the mowing done in about 45 minutes. I will pick up the grass tomorrow so I was done for the day. I came in and showered and cooled off. Plenty of liquids and sitting in the air-conditioned house, I was good to go! Kirk dropped Caleb off and then went over and did Penny’s lawn. While he was here, I went out and we re-tied the rope and managed to straighten out that tree. Now let’s see how long the rope will last before it snaps! Bets anyone? Lydia took off to go to Safeway and get something for dinner for tonight and tomorrow. Tonight was spaghetti which we ate while we tried to knock out three more Guys Grocery Games episodes. Then we moved over to the living room to watch America’s Got Talent before calling it a night.

   

Wednesday, Aug 28^th, 2019…... This morning, after breakfast and dog walking, we took off for Eugene. The plan was to go Home Depot to stock up on bags of rock salt, then to Clemson’s Marina to check on getting the boat trailers swapped out, and then to go to a lighting store Lydia had spotted. We are still looking for light fixtures to change out in our master bath. We met with Clint, who lives here in Lebanon. He is coming over tomorrow morning to take a look at our ‘unique’ mounting plates behind the lights we have. But I really think he wants to seal the deal as well. No way. We’re still looking. Once we were done there, we headed back towards home and stopped at Costco. We even found light fixtures there which were certainly way cheaper! Still looking though. We had lunch there on the way out and then headed home. My sister had come by earlier this morning to walk Quincy and left her for the day. She was there when we got home and we visited for a while. I eventually went out and hooked up the grass catcher and managed to pick up a whole bag of grass this time! So, pickup was easy and Lydia and Penny took care of that quickly. Then sis wrested Quincy away from her kingdom and they headed home. I was done for the day. Lydia rested and cooled off and then later, made scallops plus baked potato and asparagus for dinner. It was delicious!  We knocked out some more GGG and then later watched the AGT results show. They are now down to 21 semi-finalists. Afterward, we split up and watched our own shows until bedtime. Tomorrow we head back down again to Eugene, but this time we will be picking up Frances and Raymond!      

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #79 – Baseball Finale & Plans for Another Family Visit

 

Friday, Aug 23^rd, 2019……  Not much planned for today. We got called over to help unload a bench that my sister and her neighbor found at a yard sale. Once we got back, I took a fencepost out and drove it in the ground so I could rope off a tree to help straighten it. Over a year ago, we had seen this little thing growing next to one of our bushes and I wanted to pull it out. It was a wild seed from one of our trees up toward the front of the yard. Problem was, I forgot to do it and never asked Kirk to do it either. Like I said, that was at least last year. It has grown and nobody did anything about it. It’s turned out to be a nice tree and it can grow where it is and will shoot up above the bush that’s beneath it. I had Lydia come out and help me and I tied the tree to the post and pulled it as straight as we could. I think I can do better with Kirk’s help next week. I also dug out two of the three trees that Kirk had transplanted over a year ago from my sister’s house to a nice spot along our driveway. Too bad only one made it. Lydia stayed out and helped with that too. We cleaned up and then came in and rested and later had a nice dinner. We finished up the evening watching tv. There are no LL games today so I got some of my other programs watched.

Saturday, Aug 24^th, 2019…… Today, the kids are back to baseball again. The two top international teams met and also the two remaining US teams played. The winners of each (Curacao and Louisiana) go to the championship game tomorrow afternoon. The losers (Japan and Hawaii) will play the consolidation game tomorrow morning.

Today was also the day we had on our calendar for the Christman’s bbq/pool party. For those of you who have been here before, they are the first house on the left when you turn on our street. So, at 2:00pm we walked down and joined the party. We had a nice meal and met and talked a bit with most of them. Some of the kids and grandkids went in their pool. After a few hours, the party wound down and we came back home and had the rest of the evening to rest and relax and watch tv. Of course, I had to get monster puppy out for a while to give her some exercise and let her run a bit after being in the house most of the afternoon. I finished up the night catching up on the Saturday races and went to bed late after a long day.

   

Sunday, Aug 25^th, 2019…... Nothing on the agenda today. The Little League games started early and so did I. Hawaii was outplayed by the better team from Japan. Japan gets third place. Later, the championship game started. I remember seeing the final game when we were in Williamsport in 2012. It was exciting to say the least! And this game did not disappoint either! The kids from New Orleans took charge from the first inning and easily dominated the Curacao team. Final score was 8-0. I had watched the Louisiana kids from the regionals and they were my pick to win it all. I was also hoping to see someone other than Japan or Korea representing the international side so when Curacao beat both of them, that made it work for me. Maybe one day we will get back there for another round. It is certainly something I would recommend that everyone go see at least one time.

The rest of the day was spent watching more races but I finally got all of them caught up. We had leftovers for dinner and watched some more Guys Grocery Games. We also talked about plans for next week. We are excited because Frances is coming up again to visit and this time, she is bringing Raymond with her! It will be fun. They will only be here for three full days so we are trying to decide what to do while they are here. We know we’ll take them to the Enchanted Forest and the Carousel. Maybe we will go up to Silver Falls and let Raymond run up there. Maybe the fish hatchery too. We’ll see…    

Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #78 – More Little League, Chasing Deer, and a Little Rain

 

Tuesday, Aug 20^th, 2019……  Weather is still hot here. But I slept well last night and was up early. Rooster (aka the Rylee dog!) woke us up but I was ready anyway. I showered and walked Rylee and then fed her and then fixed my breakfast and settled in to watch some tv. We are into the crunch time for the LL world series and had three elimination games today. In between, I watched and finished all of my taped Mecum Monterey auction. Lydia got herself ready and then headed off to her 10:00am mahjong meeting at the senior center. While we were watching tv, Rylee saw a small buck walking through the back yard.

We have had the same four deer (all small bucks) come through for the past month or so. So often that Rylee now knows when to start looking out the window to see them.

Kirk was coming today and we have plans to weed the front ditch area and then spray the entire back yard. He has a spray to take care of all of the clover and it won’t hurt the rest of the grass. But I will have to keep monster puppy out of the back yard for the rest of the day. I set a chair up in front of the slider so we won’t forget.  When Lydia got back, she had lunch and rested for the afternoon. She had got out cube steak and made that in a gravy to go over mashed potatoes. One of my favorites! We finished up the night, between outings with monkey butt, watching tv. Tonight was America’s Got Talent.

Wednesday, Aug 21^st, 2019……  This morning we got up before 7:00am and got going. We were headed over to Corvallis. Sis came by and dropped off Quincy for a little R&R and we took off. First stop, after the ready-teller at BofA, was Wise Cracks Café for breakfast. They have recently changed names and remodeled and now have celebrity comedian’s pictures on their walls with a quote from them. It was our first time there so we never saw the old décor. The food was ok. I ordered the mother lode which had two bacon, two sausage, two eggs, and hashbrowns, with two biscuits and gravy. It was a lot of food and was ok. We’ll go back. It was just a few blocks away from the farmer’s market. Today, Aimee’s hula group was performing so we timed it so we were there for their first show. We hung around for that and visited for a bit after, then we walked around and bought a few things. The tomatoes are now in and they have peaches and corn now too.  It wasn’t too crowded today so we got through in a few minutes and then headed home. Once we got back, Lydia watched GMA and saw who was on the next Dancing with the Stars, coming up. We were disappointed but will still watch this season. I don’t think the cast and celebs they have this year will help them get their ratings back after last season’s screw up. We were both sad not to see Sharna come back. She was part of the winning team but is not on this season. Too bad.  Lydia took off again after watching the show. She went to the senior center for bingo. My sister met her there. I hung around the house and watched LL baseball. The rains have found us. This front is nice and cools everything off and helps keep the dust down as they work the grass fields. Once the seed is harvested and the hay is cut and baled, they turn the field and work in amendments and get ready to plant for the next season. This happens all around us here in Linn county, and the Willamette valley starts to look like the smog has moved in! So, the rain will help that for now. Plus, I can turn the sprinklers off for a day!

   

Thursday, Aug 22^nd, 2019…... Well, the rain lasted just one day! It did give us a break from the heat but that will start up again soon. I walked Rylee and then went out and worked on the boat. I found I needed to make a run to get some stainless steel bolts for the stern light. I drilled out the old pop rivets on the old light and found out what color the boat used to be. It was kind of a baby poop color. I’m sure glad the guy painted it! I got the holes drilled and mounted the new light. This one folds down so now I can put the cover on easier. I also worked on some of the wiring. It’s ready to go now. But I still want to get the trailer situation worked out. Will make a trip to Eugene next week to check on a boat shop to see if they have a boat lift and if so, how much to swap out the trailers.