Once again I have let other things take my time but at 6 PM I’m finally getting around to writing. This morning I put the new “1408 Gent” sign up by the mailbox. It started as the top of a round coffee table and is definitely real wood. We had to replace the former sign because it was particle board with a veneer cover. It was very convincing. I truly through it was solid. However it had reached a sad state of deterioration. The proof is in how well it endures. There must be some moral to this story – like “you can’t always believe your eyes”. It certainly seems that genuine wood furnishings are part of a former generation.
Once the sign was up, I started mowing. We felt a quick sprinkle of rain here Wednesday, but since no rain fell at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the official reporting station, Seattle matched the 29-day record for consecutive rainless spring days. That stretch of really warm weather ended with plenty of good earth soaking rain. We were delighted because Daddy B.J. threw out grass seed a couple of weeks ago. We have been watering morning and night to give it a chance to grow. A sheen of green is now visible over most of the area and it looks wonderful. Yesterday I took the van to Mike’s auto to see if there was a brake fluid leak. They didn’t find any problems. While I was driving it, the radio was tuned in to golden oldies. A weather forecast said clear weather for today with a return to rain for tomorrow. So I had to mow today.
We are getting excited to pick up Joseph & Kathryn’s family and Ruth and her children Day after tomorrow. At the end of 2008 David and Fatima bought the house next to theirs when it came up for sale. They have volunteered the use of it for all our guests to sleep. Fatima went through her own home and furnished “the blue house” remarkably well. She said the amazing thing is that her own home doesn’t look at all diminished.
Ruth said it will be nice to have plenty of space to sleep but she still plans to spend most of her waking time here. Daddy B.J. and I will be driving both my Chevy and the van to Bellingham to meet their flight. Mike has arranged to borrow a moving van sized truck from a friend and he and Daddy B.J. and Joe will load it with Brooks manufacturing free firewood. Daddy B.J. will drive the truck down and Michael will take it back after Adryann and Brynneé’s baptism Saturday. Saturday also happens to be another Bremerton ward activity, for which I have been getting everything ready.
We are all equally excited about Adryann and Brynneé’s baptism. They turned eight last Thursday. Daddy B.J. and I were there when they came down the first thing that morning. I got some good pictures.
They were getting ready for the birthday party. Adryann and Brynneé invited the children from their school class and a few from church too. Daddy B.J. and I had a ward high priest’s group social that we needed to attend that evening at the Brownsville Marina. While we were away to that David brought nine girls here to enjoy playing in the water.
Daddy B.J. had a wonderful Father’s Day Sunday with a card from Benjamin and phone calls from everyone else. The four missionaries joined us fro dinner and so did Sis and Cliff, who just arrived home from Salt Lake City the night before. David and Fatima and the girls ate a sort of second session of dinner. They arrived just as Sis and Cliff were leaving. Then Daddy B.J. celebrated by taking the rest of the night off and simply going to sleep.
Ken and Gail Timmons have been helping Daddy B.J. in a variety of ways working at Will and Mindie’s house on Vena, cutting up firewood here, doing some landscape cleaning at the office, etc. Gail’s father has been here for a couple of weeks visiting and last weekend they made a trip to Oregon to pick up their seven-year-old son Atiji. Daddy B.J. told them he wanted them to put a roof on the tool shed that he built on at the back of the garage. They were here this morning to talk to him about that. But, Daddy B.J. is a hard man to catch in the morning. He was long gone when they arrived. While they were here Gail said, “Look!” and pointed up the driveway. A momma deer and her fawn were standing by the split rail fence. They watched us watching them. We haven’t had visits in daylight from deer in our own yard. Even more surprising about three hours later, while I was mowing the back yard I looked up to see three deer tripping lightly over Daddy B.J. new grass toward the Monkey Puzzle tree. I was more dedicated to mowing than watching and when I started up the hill with the mower they skidaddled.
Adam is coming to visit too. He doesn’t have the same itinerary but we are eager to see him. Nathan called Friday with a most unusual experience to relate. Since he had been volunteering in the prosecuting attorney’s office, he was allowed to ride along with policemen when they went to serve papers on people. Nathan said that at one place there were several officers and they broke the screen door to get in and then by the time Nathan reached that door, they were breaking down a bedroom door. A dog that Nathan thought was a pitbull came charging toward him or perhaps the office that was next to Nathan. Nathan said it all happened so fast and was so scary that he wasn’t really sure exacting what happened. Anyway Nathan was afraid that the dog might have wanted a chunk of his arm. The office shot him in the head. The dog went flying backward but was not killed. Then because a shot was fired, a report had to be made. Nathan was questioned and was surprised at how little he could say for certain. He said it gave him a different perspective of witness testimony. He was sure that it got his adrenalin pumping.
Debbie and her kids went to visit in Pahrump and the whole bunch of family had a wonderful time together. Jay called Sunday to wish Daddy B.J. a happy Father’s Day. He said this family was on their way home to spend the rest of the day with him and that they were bringing not one but two new Chihauhau puppies with them.
Last Wednesday the Manette Ward missionaries picked up Patrick and he has been with them ever since. They were a companionship of three and having him with them made it possible for them to split up and get a lot more done. I actually bumped into them yesterday at a thrift store and he looked as much like an elder as they did. He is supposed to be home tonight because he is leaving early tomorrow for Helaman’s camp, a missionary training event that the stake puts on every year. Actually I will be driving him and the other two young men from our ward out to Zion’s Camp (our church recreational property not Ruth’s daughter’s place) because Daddy B.J. finally has an appointment with Dr. Redd to have a mold made to make his top denture. Hurrah!
Ruth’s big excitement last week was getting a big yard toy. It was in Las Vegas and had originally sold for $4000, but she paid $250. Her brothers helped her take it apart and the whole family got together in her back yard to re-assemble it. Will even arranged it and their trampoline so that the back yard looked larger than before. Both cousins and neighborhood kids have joined Ruth and Tim’s kids in playing on it.
One other item of note - I have been picking strawberries from our little patch about every other morning. There is only a cup of two or three, but it is plenty when eaten over cottage cheese or yogurt . They are delicious and well worth all the weeding I did to give them a chance to grow.
No comments:
Post a Comment