Not much

Lets see… What’s been going on around here lately...

Carol’s been really busy on the ambulance, one day she had 4 calls, I think she’s averaging over one a day for the month even though she takes a couple of days a week off.

I tried barbecuing a “Beer Can Chicken” and it came out excellent. You stick a half-full can of beer in the chicken’s rear end and stand it up in the Barbie to cook. With a few Hickory chips on the coals and the steam from the beer it really has a great flavor.

Yesterday was Waldport’s “Beachcomber Days” celebration; J.C. and I went to the car show to look at all of the old restored cars.

They sure bring back a lot of memories. You always overhear the old-timers like us saying, “ I had one just like that when I was a kid!” or, “My dad drove one of those!”

Carol cooked two huge pots of beans and bacon to feed all of the firemen, medics, Coast Guard and Sheriffs who hang out at the firehouse during and after the parade.

Last night Taz woke us up barking at something outside. We turned on the outside lights and everything looked OK, but this morning I saw that the Raccoons had raided the fish pond again and made off with another Koi. They’ve got two of them so far this month, so I guess I’ll have to get a live trap and try to catch them. It seems like if it’s not moles, ants, fleas, weeds, dry rot, moss, deer and raccoons, it’s trees getting ready to fall on something they’re not supposed to.

This morning I drug the kayak to the lake and lost two big Trout. One broke my line when he jumped, and just as I was getting ready to land the other one, the hook pulled out. I did get a couple of smaller ones for tomorrow's breakfast though.

Fish story

I caught this three pound Rainbow at Eckman Lake this morning. It's so nice to be able to put the removable wheels on my boat and drag it down the highway to the lake. (About five minutes.)
It's almost always calm in the mornings and one of my favorite things is sliding out into the mist on the water and quietly paddling up on Deer, Otters, Beavers and all of the other wildlife that's long gone later in the day.

Dead Whale

A dead Gray whale washed up on the beach just north of Seal Rock Saturday.
J.C. and Mike went to see it yesterday, and it was already smelling pretty bad. Marine biologists from the Hatfield Marine Science Center had taken blubber and baleen samples to find the cause of death and are going to bury it soon.
Having already seen and smelled a couple these I decided to stay home.

Vroom Vroom

Yaaaay!
Carol's doctor OKed her to go back to driving the ambulance again. She's been going crazy for the last three months, pacing the floor every time a siren goes by. I guess housework and working in the yard just aren't exciting enough.

Roshelle

Our grand daughter Roshelle spent the night, we picked her up after school, played video games, played with Taz and watched TV. She sure is growing up! (See the Easter entry below.)
She has no trouble getting me out of the places I've been stuck for weeks in the video games I try to play.
Carol has to keep the cast on her hand for another 3 weeks, and if it hasn't healed by then she'll probably have to have surgery on it. In the meantime she's going crazy wanting to go back to work.

Sunday Barby

J.C. and his grandson Mike came over for our weekly Sunday barbecue and Carol made beans, ham and cornbread. Later in the evening Carol, Chewy, Taz and I sat outside and enjoyed a fire in the Chiminea we found at a yard sale. It's cast iron and we thought it was a bargain for $35.00.
Carol's still wearing a cast on her broken hand... Maybe it'll come off on the 27th.

Happy Easter

I couldn't decide what kind of picture to include with this post. A religious picture of Jesus rising into the clouds? A decorated egg? A cute bunny? I decided on a picture of our grand daughter Roshelle from quite a few years ago. She was a cute bunny.
It was JC's turn to barbecue today and he served up some great steaks. The weather held off so we could eat out on his deck and we were all finished when the wind came up and moved us inside.
JC bought a pontoon boat so he can go with us in our kayaks. It has to be put together, and right now it's a tangle of metal pipes and plastic so we'll see how the assembly goes. It'll be fun to finally get him out on the water.

I didn't do it!

This morning I took Taz out at 4 am for his morning walk and he dutifully did his business. Since he did such a good job I let him run around the living room playing while I sat down at the computer in the den to check our email.

My coffee got cold so I started to the kitchen for a warm up, but I stopped when I got to the living room. It was a disaster! The entry rugs were pulled into the room, wadded up into a tangled pile with dog toys, slippers, socks and anything else Taz could find. He sat there looking up at me as if to say, “Look at what I made!”

I shook my head, half-heartedly scolded him and straightened things back up. At least he didn’t poop on the floor, I said to myself. I got my coffee and decided to put my shoes on. They were sitting between the two easy chairs where Carol and I watch evening TV. I sat down, put my left shoe on, tied it and shoved my foot into my right shoe… right onto a lump that squished under my foot!

“TAZ! You little rat! You crapped in my shoe!” I yelled as I hopped around trying to get my shoe off without falling down and breaking the coffee table or a hip or something. I made it to the kitchen, got my shoe off and dumped it out into the trash. A smashed purple grape fell out. Carol had dropped one of her late night snacks.

I finally found the puppy hiding in the den where I picked him up, petted him and apologized. He licked my face so I guess in puppy talk that means “apology accepted.”

Tony

Friday morning my kayaking buddy, Tony Moony called and asked if I wanted to go kayak fishing on Olalla Lake. I jumped at the chance, even though it was kind of cloudy, and a bit chilly out. (40 degrees) He arrived about 8:am; we loaded my boat and hit the road.

We stopped and picked up some new line for Tony’s reel on the way and when we arrived at the lake I unloaded my kayak while he replaced his old line. “Go ahead and start!” he said, so I drug my boat down to the ramp and got ready. The lake was really low for some reason, (certainly not from lack of rainfall,) and the ramp was steep and muddy. The kayak kept trying to launch itself because of the slippery mud and the incline, so I decided to get in and slide into the water. I got one foot in and the boat took off with me half in and half out, the paddle in my right hand.

What a disaster! The kayak hit the water on its side and no matter how frantically I pushed on the water with my left hand, the boat rolled on over and I went for a swim. The first thing I thought of was the camera in my sweatshirt pocket, and I grabbed it and held it above water as I waded back to the shore. I laid it on a rock and looked back at the disaster; the kayak was upside down and full of water, my little tackle box, my creel and dry bag were floating, but my fishing pole and sunglasses were on the bottom in about 6 feet of water. I waded back in and started retrieving my gear. I was chest deep in the lake trying to drag my favorite fishing rod toward me with my paddle when Tony backed his truck down the ramp to unload his heavier kayak. He took one look at me and said “Uh Oh!” (At least he didn’t say ‘Whatchya doin, Bob?”)
After we retrieved everything, I said, “Let’s go ahead and try this again, I’ll dry out eventually.”

Tony, being a Paramedic and a lot smarter than me, said, ”I don’t think so!” I took off my sweatshirt, which had soaked up enough water that the lake had dropped several inches, and started to wring it out, still thinking about toughing it out and going fishing. It was then that the cold hit me and I started shivering and shaking. I realized that Tony was right.

“Get out of those wet clothes,” he said, “ I’ve got a sweat suit on under my outer clothes and you can wear that.” So after promising each other not to look, we undressed and I put on his triple x size sweat suit. I can’t describe how good it felt to put on that warm clothing.

I sat in the truck with the heater going on high while Tony loaded everything up, and as we headed home I realized how lucky I am to have a friend who is willing to literally give me the clothes off his back.

Taz

The puppy is getting pretty good about letting me know when he needs to go out and do his thing. He wakes me up by coming up close to my face in bed, breathing puppy breath on me, and issuing a low growl Sometimes it causes the weirdest dreams, and when I wake up he's looking into my eyes as if he's trying to send me a hypnotic message; I need to pee!
I get up and let him outside, keeping an eye on him from the door in case a coyote or an owl wants a midnight snack, and when he's done I let him in, put him back on the bed and try to go back to sleep. Last night I read the message wrong, it was I'm thirsty!
One of these days he'll get me... I mean I'll get him trained.