Sandy and Erik came and went Memorial Day weekend. While much cooler than their area, they still enjoyed the visit as did we. The local quad ride for company is apparently a hit. Everyone seems to like the exploration of our area on the quads. With Sean and Brandy it was still snow. For Sandy and Erik it was downed trees from winter and the mosquitoes at every stop we made. Sandy and Erik both had limited experience and got to help move several toppled trees and go over a few we couldn't. Sandy learned the hard way about NEVER putting your foot down a'la motorcycle with a quad. She'd hit a downed tree at a slight angle and so the Honda jumped over the tree. She thought she'd loose control so put her right foot down. Just a slight ding on her ankle. But it hurt her a bit.
We went to Canada and because of a delay at the border with all of Sandy's Arab country passport stamps from her travels due to her job, at least we think that was the problem, we missed the Nelson Ferry we were trying to make by about 5 minutes. So we went back to the nearest town had lunch and walked about the area shops that are there. Real grass brooms, glass blower, metal work, a fresh bread shop, all kinds of places to check out. They seemed to have a good day trip. They went home on Monday and Tuesday she was on a plane to Las Vegas for a project there.
For me it's the last week of school and I have only one drive left this school year. I wound up being pretty sick for over two weeks and couldn't work either job for most of that time. Still have the cough but feel much better now. Tomorrow (Monday) evening Stacy and I go to CDA and overnight for an all day class on Tuesday for the County job. Drive on Thursday afternoon then just the County job during the summer.
Weather wise in our area of the northwest, it's spring. We've had several pretty warm days, up to almost 80, but still more days like today, cloudy and rainy most of the day and in the 60's. Since I was feeling better we got to it this weekend and worked outside almost all day yesterday and until the rains came this morning. We'd had quite a lot of wood we didn't get to split and stack before the snows hit last winter so we caught up on most of that. Still have a lot left to cut to size and we've gone around through our forest and found several trees that we're taken down during the winter that we'll cut up in the next few months for next winter. Got the spray attachment on one of the quads and went around spraying the property to get all the weeds in the driveway and such sprayed before they get too out of control. Mowed and weedeated some, still have some to do but that was the first of an ongoing summer chore.
We've heard from brother Mike that he'll be moving later this month to a town much closer to Seattle for a new job he got with Boeing. He'd talked about commuting at first but gas is way more expensive in the Seattle area than here so that would be a really expensive proposition now a days. Way back when, in the early 1990's Stacy and I had a 40 mile one way commute. Now that in itself isn't too bad and we wound up with that commute almost all the way until we moved here in 2006, but back then we had one 'family' car, a 1985 Chevy Suburban 9 seater with the big 454 engine. Towed anything! But it only got 8 miles per gallon. Towing or only one person in it it was 8 MPG! Had a 40 gallon tank. We were spending over $200 per month commuting only 4 days a week then. At todays prices a fill up would be almost $200! And if we had that commute now we'd be spending over $700 a month. Luckily for us our commute is 5 miles to Stacy's job and 4 miles to the Bus Barn for me when I'm driving. Anyway we hope he'll like his life in the big city after being spoiled living and working in Oak Harbor for so long.
We were contacted from an old animal control acquaintance that her and her husband are making a three week western states trip in a few weeks and might get through our area.
I was told that my uncle had gotten married in October. If he reads this he still hasn't mentioned it himself! But we just hope he's happy. Aunt Sister has been telling me about some addition work being done to their house in Lucerne Valley back in Calif. It will be pretty nice when its all done. They've had quite a few really hot days down that way already, and not to forget about the now seemingly year round forest fires they have in Southern California.
Laura and family moved to a much better apartment complex in Iowa. A lot closer to her job and a complex with real playgrounds and such for her family. She's doing great at her job and moving along great with it. She'd called last week to say she'd spent her first afternoon in her basement due to Tornado warnings.
Sean and Brandy are doing well. They don't like the heat or crowds in their area. Sean is considering going to Iraq as a civilian contractor with his company. His choice, but he's thinking about it for the big bucks he'd get.
That's pretty much it for now. It's after 10 Pm and Stacy wants me off the computer and sleeping!
We went to Canada and because of a delay at the border with all of Sandy's Arab country passport stamps from her travels due to her job, at least we think that was the problem, we missed the Nelson Ferry we were trying to make by about 5 minutes. So we went back to the nearest town had lunch and walked about the area shops that are there. Real grass brooms, glass blower, metal work, a fresh bread shop, all kinds of places to check out. They seemed to have a good day trip. They went home on Monday and Tuesday she was on a plane to Las Vegas for a project there.
For me it's the last week of school and I have only one drive left this school year. I wound up being pretty sick for over two weeks and couldn't work either job for most of that time. Still have the cough but feel much better now. Tomorrow (Monday) evening Stacy and I go to CDA and overnight for an all day class on Tuesday for the County job. Drive on Thursday afternoon then just the County job during the summer.
Weather wise in our area of the northwest, it's spring. We've had several pretty warm days, up to almost 80, but still more days like today, cloudy and rainy most of the day and in the 60's. Since I was feeling better we got to it this weekend and worked outside almost all day yesterday and until the rains came this morning. We'd had quite a lot of wood we didn't get to split and stack before the snows hit last winter so we caught up on most of that. Still have a lot left to cut to size and we've gone around through our forest and found several trees that we're taken down during the winter that we'll cut up in the next few months for next winter. Got the spray attachment on one of the quads and went around spraying the property to get all the weeds in the driveway and such sprayed before they get too out of control. Mowed and weedeated some, still have some to do but that was the first of an ongoing summer chore.
We've heard from brother Mike that he'll be moving later this month to a town much closer to Seattle for a new job he got with Boeing. He'd talked about commuting at first but gas is way more expensive in the Seattle area than here so that would be a really expensive proposition now a days. Way back when, in the early 1990's Stacy and I had a 40 mile one way commute. Now that in itself isn't too bad and we wound up with that commute almost all the way until we moved here in 2006, but back then we had one 'family' car, a 1985 Chevy Suburban 9 seater with the big 454 engine. Towed anything! But it only got 8 miles per gallon. Towing or only one person in it it was 8 MPG! Had a 40 gallon tank. We were spending over $200 per month commuting only 4 days a week then. At todays prices a fill up would be almost $200! And if we had that commute now we'd be spending over $700 a month. Luckily for us our commute is 5 miles to Stacy's job and 4 miles to the Bus Barn for me when I'm driving. Anyway we hope he'll like his life in the big city after being spoiled living and working in Oak Harbor for so long.
We were contacted from an old animal control acquaintance that her and her husband are making a three week western states trip in a few weeks and might get through our area.
I was told that my uncle had gotten married in October. If he reads this he still hasn't mentioned it himself! But we just hope he's happy. Aunt Sister has been telling me about some addition work being done to their house in Lucerne Valley back in Calif. It will be pretty nice when its all done. They've had quite a few really hot days down that way already, and not to forget about the now seemingly year round forest fires they have in Southern California.
Laura and family moved to a much better apartment complex in Iowa. A lot closer to her job and a complex with real playgrounds and such for her family. She's doing great at her job and moving along great with it. She'd called last week to say she'd spent her first afternoon in her basement due to Tornado warnings.
Sean and Brandy are doing well. They don't like the heat or crowds in their area. Sean is considering going to Iraq as a civilian contractor with his company. His choice, but he's thinking about it for the big bucks he'd get.
That's pretty much it for now. It's after 10 Pm and Stacy wants me off the computer and sleeping!
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