Vera's Birthday

 Vera and I started the day with breakfast at the Oasis, it was very good and I ended up bringing half of mine home.

James came up about an hour before the planned dinner at the El Compadre and visited with us.

At six we went down to the El Compadre for Vera's birthday dinner.

Everyone had a good time visiting.

Mik had a great time playing with the boys, at one time he had them pushed clear over into the next booth.

James and I always have a good time together.

Josh had to work so he was a little late getting there but I think Debbie had ordered for him.

The cashier took this group photo for us.  We had a very nice time!

Barry

 
We got a surprise last night just as we finished dinner, there was a knock on the door and Vera opened it to find Barry there.  He was on a road trip in his new pickup.  I took this picture of Vera's Mother's Day hanging basket as I was heading over to David and Laury's this evening.  The colors a so vivid on all the flowers.

Laury hosted a get together tonight so everyone could see Barry.

Dianne got the girls attention and told them I wanted their picture.

After hot dogs, potato salad and treats everyone had brought we lined up for a sibling picture.  I gave my phone to I believe Ava (or it could have been Harper) and she took this great picture of us.  It was great fun getting to see everyone.

Sanding

 6-19-2024

I have spent several days wet sanding the roof of the Smart Car.  I finally got to the point where I was ready to apply the vinyl wrap and ended up with a couple of wrinkles.  The pulling on it to take them out was really hurting my hands so I gave up on that idea, peeled it off, wadded it up and threw it away.

6-20-2024

When I went out to the shop today this deer was laying in the shade of the rhodendron.  I have spent the last couple of days spraying primer on the Smart Car roof and wet sanding it.  I had waited 48 hours since the last coat of primer but I still ended up with some wrinkling of the paint.  That ended my painting and sanding for a few days while I let it cure some more.  I did a little work on the glider I got at an estate sale that is just like one that James learned to fly with.  It was warm today, we had a high of 84 degrees.

Apache

 

I was out by the Smart Car when I saw an Apache Gunship fly by heading North.  I heard it turn and pretty soon it went by going South.  It made several passes over our place while I was getting the lawn mower out.  I finished taking the garbage can down to the road, and then got my camera out of the shop to see if I could get a picture of it.  A few minutes later it came back from the North and I got this picture.

I heard it make a turn and got this picture of it North bound behind Gabe and Dez's place.

I stayed out on the shop porch hoping it would come back again, but it didn't.  I took this picture of the hanging basket while I was waiting.  I  sure am curious as to why they were flying that race track pattern as they moved North.  I checked Facebook and the news but couldn't find any mention of it.

Father's Day

 

We started out our day at Burger King again today so we wouldn't mess up the kitchen making breakfast.  I tried the Fully Loaded Croissan'wich today.  It had bacon, ham, beef and egg with cheese between every layer.  It tasted great and I was sure full when I finished it!  We had planned on Mik, Michelle, James, Josh, Debbie, Jordon and Jacob for pizza this evening.  Jacob got sick so just Debbie stopped by for a little while.  Papa Pete's was great as always, Michelle had made brownies with a pecan topping and Vera made a rhubarb dump cake so we had plenty of good desert.  It was a nice relaxed Father's Day with lots of stories and laughter.  I even got in a flight with my little Stearman when I locked up the shop.

Kaiser, Lowes and Safeway

 

Vera had an appointment this morning at Kaiser.  We had our favorite breakfast from Burger King on the way down of Sausage Egg and Cheese Croissan'wich.  The appointment was a really short one as I took this picture out the windshield and had just started reading when Vera came back.  Then it was off to Lowe's for some supplies I needed for the Smart Car.  After that we went next door to Safeway and got the things we needed for Father's Day.  Then it was a leisurely ride home, we didn't take Pleasant Hill Rd. because a school bus turned up it just ahead of us so we went on the frontage road.

Visiting the Dolans

 

This morning when I went out to get the Smart Car so I could use the new vacuum radiator filling system I saw this little bunny.  It was a lot smaller than the one I saw in the lawn last night.  I walked about 6 feet away and it just kept eating.  

Laury texted me when Hattie woke up from her morning nap and I headed over.  I got to see her walk from the coffee table to David.  I had a nice visit with them and got them up to date on the motor home.

Josie wanted to ride her bike so we went out on the porch to watch.  She would come by and give a thumbs up on every lap.

Laury said Hattie got up a little too early from her nap so she was a little fussy.  She did do patty cake and blowing raspberries with me.

I pulled a vacuum on the Smart Car radiator several times and it seemed like all the air was out of the system.  Vera and I took it for a ride later and the temperature stayed right a 190 degrees the whole trip.  I was sure happy about that.

Happy Tuesday

 6-8-2024

I started watering the clover I planted when we had a couple of warm days.  As I was going out to move the sprinkler tonight I noticed there were lots of Foxgloves in bloom so I took a couple of pictures.

6-11-2024

This is the Happy Tuesday picture Laury sent me today.  That led me to texting her I should come up and see her before school is out.  We ended up making arrangements for me to come up tomorrow while Vera is at bible study.

I was out moving the sprinkler tonight and saw a couple of bunnies running around.  I went in and got my camera but they were gone.  I looked around and found this little one eating in the North end of the lawn.  I took a bunch of pictures but I like this one because the white patch on its forehead shows.  It seems like we have two families here, one with the spot and one without.

Smart Car

 

After James helped me with the radiator support and bumper yesterday I made pretty good headway today putting the Smart Car back together.  There are still a couple of rocker panels to install but I can see an end to this part of the job.

Jacob's Preschool Graduation

 

James stopped by when he got done observing at the Castle Rock Elementary.  He helped me get the radiator support and bumper put back on the Smart Car.  After we finished that and Vera got home from bible study we had cookies and a nice visit before he had to go home and do homework.  After he left Vera and I noticed this butterfly, the first one we have seen this year.

That evening we went up to Jacob's preschool graduation at Toutle.  The kids are singing the pledge of allegiance in this picture. 

This is during another song, they also had a very nice video presentation of their activities during the year.

In this picture Jacob is getting his diploma from the teachers.  They also asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up, Jacob said he wanted to be an artist.  Fireman was probably the most common occupation I heard.

Here is Jacob in his cap and gown holding his diploma.

Jacob had a good support group tonight.

They had prepared a binder filled with their work and pictures from activities they did during the year.

Jacob's awesome school picture this year.

Michelle's Birthday Lunch

 

We went to the Country Folks Deli for Michelle's birthday celebration today.  Debbie, Jordon and Jacob were the next ones there followed shortly afterwards by Michelle.

Jordon came right over and spent the majority of the time we were there on Vera's lap.  Vera asked him what a word was and he read the whole line to her.

We asked the waitress to take pictures for us and she hopped up on a chair to get a great picture.

She did great, taking four pictures each with Michelle's and my phone.  We had a great time visiting with everyone and telling some stories about when Michelle was born.