Life in the slow lane...

 Flowers and ferns I planted are doing well. 

It has rained off and on for the last couple of days, and was cloudy and cool today.  The plants liked their extra water.

There is a going out of business sale at the little ACE hardware near me. So, I decided to paint the fence that surrounds the front patio. Of course I started on a hot day, and then it rained for two days... 

Before with just the gate done:

after that side was done.

 I have one side and half the front done and will try to finish in the next few days, weather permitting.

My petunias have been hard hit by the dreaded bud worms. Doesn't take them long to make the blooms disappear.  Spraying with BT in between rains and picking off the ones I see.

Decided to make bracelets for the girls and I.  LOL, some have been remade several times, as the vision does not always translate well in fact...

Willie is doing well, and in fact earned his keep today by dispatching a big rat.  He was quite proud to be of service.  "Got a bacon biscuit for an ol scrapper, ma'am?" 

    

This and that...

Flowers are blooming in my planters.  

I have been trying to get a few fixits done around the hovel.

Placed rocks and spread new bark around my planter in front.  

The front deck was dark and nasty, I don't think it had ever been cleaned.  I was going to borrow my Sean's power washer, but was afraid that would chew up the deck.  The local Ace hardware was having a sale so I picked up a jug of deck cleaner.  Mixed half and half with water, broomed it on, waited three minutes and hosed it off.  It looks a little better now.

Finally... got my kitchen table and chairs painted.

Before:

 

After:

It's a very "rustic" paint job... lol   Still have the table top to refinish, but that's a project for another day.

I'm collecting crosses to make a wall collage for some (as yet undecided) area of the hovel.

Went to the blood suckers this past week. Everything was going along nicely til the phlebotomist started and the needle was out of position.  Blood sprayed all over me.  She got the needle repositioned and went on with the draw.  She was very apololgetic, I laughed, learned a long time ago to wear old clothes to the blood bank.  

Up river fish'n...

I will try to keep this short as Jacey and I are sewing sun dresses...

Got a text Thursday evening from SIL and BIL that they were at the river house and wanted me to come up and go fishing. Don't have to ask me twice. 

Put Jacey in charge of Willie and the hovel. (she had a prior babysitting arrangement or I would have for sure taken her with me).

Friday morning I packed up my gear, beef jerky, cheese, apples, beer & wine and a KAVU Chillba fish'n hat I had gotten for my SIL.

Fish'n is serious business, but she loved the KAVU Chillba.

We fished Friday afternoon, running wiggle warts down river and spinners up river. I caught one nice size native steelhead (which we can't keep), and one large bass.

 

Got up early Saturday for the morning bite, we lost a couple and then nothing biting, headed in for lunch (and our naps), then back out.

Everything was perfect: water temp, little breeze, current running good, sunny, hot pink poles... but we weren't catching anything. 

my BIL the Captain in his element

 I really didn't mind, as I love just being on the water in those conditions!  Then, when we were about ready to call it a day I hooked into a sturgeon, fought him for the better part of an hour. Finally my BIL said he was between 10-12 ft and too big for us to boat, so we cut'em loose. 

 OMG, that was more fun than I can say. 

sunset on the Columbia River

Just Beachy...

Sunset at Long Beach WA

Marymine flew up to PDX on Wednesday from SMF. Due to delayed flights it took seven hours. Flying is not what it used to be...  After a night at the hovel we packed up Nate (the Tahoe) and headed over to Long Beach, WA.  It's an easy 2 hour drive.

On our way we stopped for a visit to the Maritime museum in Astoria, Oregon. 

 So much to see, we spent a couple hours there, and didn't get to see it all.  The stories of the Bar Pilots that navigate the ships through the treacherous  Columbia River Bar were fascinating. I am going back to the museum to learn more the next time I'm over there.

We checked into our little bungalow in Long Beach,

stowed our stuff and headed to the 'world's longest beach', only a short walk away.

The weather was great, and there was hardly anyone else there.

My Sean has moved to Astoria, OR, so he came over Thursday evening. We went to a pub for some local brews, and then on to dinner at the Depot in Seaview, WA.  The Depot was everything it was touted to be! Amazing food, and great friendly service. 

Friday we packed up our gear and walked down to the beach for a day of sun, sand, and ocean. We got down there and saw a few great kites flying. Back to town we hiked, got kites, and hiked back to the beach.

 

Marymine's kite

Settled in, and I decided that my kite was just too small for such a beach. I trekked back to the kite shop and got a little bigger one... (Marymine says I'm overly competitive...lol)

my Monster kite

Later in the day we went up town to look for a sweatshirt for Marymine.  While we were there I ended up meeting my 'Match' not on line, but in Long Beach, WA. of all places. He isn't much of a conversationalist, but he has a way about him...

  

Cherry Blowing... western style

 A dear friend was raised in a small town, surrounded by agriculture.  She is a great gardener, possibly because of that I often assume (I know, I know never assume) that she knows things about agriculture that she hasn't a clue about.

Soooo,  I am posting this article on Cherry Blowing - Western Style for edification...

https://blog.aopa.org/aopa/tag/cherry-drying/?fbclid=IwAR3MRfZGXw2RFwRr7D-d6LhrE_0BPsMr1KdzH5cIiwX8P6EZi56-kod74ck

Happy 4th of July...

 

God Bless America...

Miss B... UPDATE #2

July 2, 2019
Early this morning, my granddaughter Miss B is at Shriner's Childrens for major surgery on her legs.  They have the operating room reserved for seven hours... 

If you have a moment to send a prayer for a successful surgery and a smooth healing process in the long weeks ahead, I would be most grateful. 

UPDATE:  Miss B is out of surgery after nearly 7 hrs! I won't go into details of what the surgeries entailed, but they were all major. She is still a bit loopy (I think that runs in the family though, so I should say loopier than normal). 

Thank you all for the prayers! She is doing well!



 
UPDATE#2  July 3, 2019 Got to take Miss B on a couple spins around the unit, with Jacey handling the meds tree.  

 Transfers were a little tough, but she hung in there. Gently stroking her forehead seems to calm her. (I've used that technique on the kids & grands for years. Hasn't failed me yet.)  
She has a prime view for the Fourth of July Fireworks on the Willamette River from her room.

Dog Day...

Wednesday started out warm and sunny with a few white clouds drifting by on a gentle breeze.

Willie got a nail trim at the dog spa just down the street. Usually I trim his nails but it was time to have it done by someone that does a better job than I do. 

There are eleven dogs in this photo...

 They are a busy place, but they do take walk-ins for nail trims. Willie was excited, the crew in doggie day care not so much.  They've seen it all.

After we got done there, we went next door to the dog store and got Willie a new seat belt. Now he won't be all over the place while I'm driving.

We loaded up and headed out to Brush Prairie to the dog park. 

part of the small dog off leash area

They have a nice off leash dog park there.  Willie got to meet a couple of other dogs, and run and run and run while I jogged the trails. 

Just down the street from the dog park is a working dairy

yes, I am still playing with the photo app

 and across the street from the dairy is the
NatureScaping Wildlife Botanical Gardens, 11000 NE 149th Street in Brush Prairie, WA.

 Time out in the country was what we both badly needed.

After we got done with that, on the advice of Old NFO, we decided to try out Chick-fil-A.  Neither one of us had been there before and this seemed to be a day of firsts. Service was great and the food was pretty darn good, for chicken!

Though the day ended with thunder and lightening and lots of rain...

all in all it was a dog gone good day...

Picture this...

A friend sent me the link to a photo manipulation app.  I'm trying it on some of my photos. 

Old barn with red truck in La Center, WA.

 My BIL on the Columbia River.

 A tulip in my garden...

Really elderly...

Keeping a positive attitude is important to one's well being. That said, it gets a little more challenging as time goes by. 

me & my cousin, Cheri at Jacey's grad party

Apparently my mind is stuck somewhere around thirty five while my body is moving along to seventy three in two months. Most of the time I'm okay with that (not really) but it is what it is, and being able to laugh is important for attitude adjustment.

Take the other day and a conversation with a neighbor gal.  She had driven into the hovel complex with a new little car. It would be a nice type of ride for Jacey so I went over to ask her about it. We talked about gas mileage, dependability, price, and other fine points for a bit and then she said...

"I'm concerned about my mother driving it, she is "really elderly", but she still drives occasionally  and can sorta handle a small car." She went on to impress on me how  really elderly her mother was at seventy three!

I barely made it back to my hovel before busting out laughing. Looks like I'll be "really elderly" in a couple months...

Sparkin Chics...

If you are old enough, you might be thinking this post is about kiss'n, or chickens, or babes or some such.

If you are old enough, you might know something about what this took or not.

I'm old enough to know this is much more than my simple words can explain...

 
Congrats Doug and ARC Sparkin Chics...!

https://vimeo.com/342403848

Changes...

We had one day of 100 temp and they were stripp'n down and drop'n like flies around here. Jacey told me it wasn't going to be pretty when it gets over 60 here because the locals melt down. So different from RB, where there are months of high temps.

This morning it's back to normal for the PNW. Yay!

Granddaughter Jacey graduated on Wednesday, we are so proud of her. She hung in there and gotter done.  

After work yesterday she went up to her mom's to get ready for the grad shindig this Saturday.  Things sure are quieter when the fire cracker isn't here. 

Hope your weekend is a good one.

Moments...

Be in the moment, the time goes by so fast. It sure seems like only yesterday that granddaughters, Jacey and Miss B were heading out for school.

This coming week Jacey graduates from high school!

start of senior year of high school

She has been super busy with school finals, working at the community center, going to soccer practice, and trying to keep her piece of work jeep running. 

She has gone to several proms this year with her best friend, Lacey. They have plans for a big graduation party next weekend.

Lacey & Jacey waiting for the guys to take them to prom last fall

Jacey and I went graduation dress shopping yesterday. I was tickled that she asked me to go with her.   We found The dress in the second shop, put it on hold, and checked out all the other shops, before going back to get it.  Jacey is a frugal shopper, she wanted something that she could wear to graduation and beyond. It ended up being a lot of fun, what with telling funny stories, soft pretzels, chai tea, and dozens of changing rooms. 

We've been through thick and thin together this past year and we have both survived just fine. 

The time goes by so fast...