New territory...

It's official, I'm now a PNW'er. Got my WA plates on the SUV and my WA drivers license.  Feels a bit strange after 70 years as a Californian. 

I am loving it up here, while RB was running a temp of 103-105 it was 87 here. A cool marine breeze comes up in the evenings, making for great sleeping weather.

My bed is almost finished, will put it together tomorrow. A night stand to paint & assemble after that.

While I'm on this painting bender, I've asked Sean if I could repaint my bedroom, which is currently a particularly ugly green.  He said, "go for it, mom!" LOL, I've packed a custom made gallon of paint with me for a few years now. (A friend had painted her dinning room at her new Ft Klamath house with it, and I loved the color.)  So in the near future my bedroom will be "gray horse". Rather fitting for the occupant I'm thinking.

Sean is home for a while, and his oldest daughter, Jacey, has moved in with us for the summer. She is our family soccer player, on a semi-pro team.  J has found a summer job here, and has two more possibles, within walking distance. It's good to have grandkids around. 
Willie is adjusting, and is well loved by everyone. He made a few walkabout trips at first, but has settled in now.

I've been adopted by Sean's friends as Mom. Which means more family. I'm up for that. 

  

Watching paint dry...

I'm slowly getting settled in at my Sean's. He is gone for most of the week, a two edged sword, there is just myself to cook for or not, but there is just me to move furniture and heavy lift. When he's home he is most likely out riding or in the garage wrenching on HD's, out on the boat, or occasionally in the office. 

Went to IKEA to get myself a bed and took my cousin from Portlandia with me.  We got a cart full and headed out to the loading docks. They were full, so we decided to just wheel the cart to my pickup and load it up there. As we were starting to wheel the cart down the ramp, we saw that the ramp with the "red no parking paint" was totally blocked by a SUV. A young couple had decided the rules of the road didn't apply to them and were loading there. They were taking their sweet time about it too, and totally ignoring the two ol gals with a heavily loaded cart.  Finally they got their stuff loaded in their SUV and after dicking around inside the SUV they left.  I looked at their license plates as they slowly pulled away, and said (in a very loud voice), "Wouldn't you know it Damn California drivers."  My cousin started laughing, and whispered, "Don't you still have your Calif plates?"  "Shhh, we aren't near my truck"...

I'm painting my bed in a stipple dry brushed Navajo white.  Not sure I'm going to like it... 

Needs to be top coated with varathane of some sort. Will figure that out as I go.  

Lots of projects to keep me busy and things to see, and sorta out of trouble...  

For now I'm off to dinner at my SIL & BIL's in Salmon Creek. They are just back from two months in France and Italy. Though this is far from their first time there, boyhowdy do they have stories to tell.
You will be pleased to know that I wrote the final checks to close out the estate and sent them on to the attorney for disbursement. As soon as they are cashed, the estate will be zeroed out, and done.

The journey continues...

Wednesday Uber got me to PDX in plenty of time to catch my flight to SMF.  After I was seated a fellow got on with a huge box of Voodoo Doughnuts as his only carry on. I took it as a good sign.

 Flew into SMF and was picked up by a girlfriend, and was delivered to my granddaughter Ali's in Grimes. Got Hank (my pickup) going and ran some errands. The next day after getting Hank serviced, I drove up to RB  to spend a few hours with friends, have last eye exams, and check in with the estate attorney. The judge hadn't signed & had the estate papers filed, yet. I will have to finish the rest via mail from up here. This will end someday.

Lauren's graduation went off without a hitch, and her speech as ASB pres was very well done.  Marymine's kids are a very tight group, and always looking out for each other.  Love my grandkids.

Friday, Sean drove his pickup down from Vancouver in time to attend Lauren's HS graduation in Arbuckle. Saturday morning he had a meeting with a good friend of his in Woodland. I was sent on a mission to get the flowers for a party for Lauren. After Sean & I got back to Ali's house that afternoon, we decided to hitch up and head North a day early, as Sean had the long drive to the Arlington project Monday.  Sean pulled his trailer, and I followed driving Hank. 

headed North with Mt Shasta in the distance

When we stopped in Redding for gas it was 103 degrees of hot. After two more fuel stops and a lot of miles we pulled into the driveway in Vancouver at 1:30 AM Sunday. 

The things you see on the road never fail to amaze... as we were passing Mt Shasta we came upon this Cadillac Escalade (with Oregon plates) ripping down the road. Not only did it have this very large precarious load, but was packed full of very large people... I was laughing so hard I couldn't take a pic... but Sean got one...

Day by day wandering..

On Sunday My Sean took a couple friends, their little girl, and his mom(me) up the Columbia to the Willamette River in his boat. (Let me tell you... the glare off all those white PNW sunbathers on shore was nearly blinding for someone who just had eye surgery.) We put in at Caterpillar Island boat ramp on the Columbia River and sped up to the Willamette and Portland. Good day on the water for sure. 

Mt Hood

The Bridge

OMSI one of my favorite places

Portland

Houseboats on the Willamette

Mt St Helens

Not as many sail boats out as I thought there would be

Flying to Sac tomorrow... Haven't flown commercial in quite a while! My suit case is too big, off to Costco I went to get a carry-on.  I'm putting Harley and Sig Sauer stickers all over it, so no one messes with it or me. I don't really think anyone wants to, but I live in hope.

Tried to sign up for Uber today, ended up ordering a driver for this morning, got that cancelled but now my phone is stuck on that cancel. I might get it figured out before tomorrow. Yay, got it unstuck and rescheduled the Uber to the airport for tomorrow.

Willie is going to the pet boarding spa (jail) while we are gone. Will take his food, and blanket (which smells like home, dog, & chicken poop?) when I drop him off in the AM. Not sure he is going to like this, but we all have to suck it up at times.

Granddaughter Jacey drove down here yesterday in her jeep, and after Sean and J went to breakfast (father-daughter time) she and I went ​shopping for a dress for Nanny to wear to  granddaughter Lauren's graduation. We decided everything was too frumpy, flowerdy, and ended up each getting a pair of Van's. It will be fine, I have clothes in the trailer, somewhere...

Jacey setting on Sean's Black Betty with the boat in the background.

Trail to Vancouver...

Was at my BIL & SIL in RB two days after second eye surgery, wondering if I should find another place to stay as they were having their hardwood floors redone, and my Sean called. He asked if I could come up to his place in Vancouver, WA and house sit for him while he is managing a big build project in Arlington.

Willie and I packed up and headed North bright and early Sunday before last. It was a fast, easy eight hour drive even with the stops for Willie, and gas. 

We have settled in, though Willie has gone walkabout twice.  Thank goodness for the GPS tracker and kind neighbors. 

I've been having more fun! Sean told me to do what ever I wanted with the yard and house!  He may be rethinking that this week when he gets home, as several shrubs have disappeared into the yard waste bin, and even more have been pruned within an inch of their lives. Flower pots have been planted, weeds pulled, lawn mowed, bark replenished. 

In the house it's just been some minor fixits. Sean is such a neat nic you could eat off his garage floor, so there isn't a lot to do.  Cleaning windows, slider tracks and lubing them. Need to re screen a couple of windows and a screen door.   I have been to all the good hardware stores looking for window screen retainer clips. None of the guys even knew what I was asking for. I take out my phone and show them a photo on Amazon and get: "Well I'll be damned, never heard of them before!" And I'm the Blonde, LOL, I will be ordering them from Amazon. 

Next week I fly back down to Cali for the final on the estate, the last eye checkup, and the HS graduation of Marymine's youngest. Sean will drive his pickup down to see the family, and get his trailer with my stuff. We will caravan, his pickup & trailer and my pickup backup here on Sunday after next. I have a buyer for my pickup "Hank" when I get him up here.

Lov'n the weather, cool at night, nice breeze, sunny and warm in the afternoons.