Day 612, It FRIDAY

I think everyone was looking forward to the weekend.  It hadn't been a difficult week, but for some reason it seemed like a long one.  We were feeling the drain of eating way too much sugar from all the Easter candy, but that part was fun.  The Easter toys were a success and I think it made the week more fun.

Tonight at home I had no plans other than putting my feet up.  I put fresh clean sheets on the bed and I was already looking forward to just laying in bed tomorrow morning.

Day 611, Thursday Uneventful

The  best part about Thursday is the anticipation for Friday and the coming weekend. I only had one meeting on the schedule and that was at noon in Bend.  To make the office a little more fun today I had bought windup Easter bunnies that poop jelly beans for everyone and flying bunny airplanes that launch with a rubber band, it should make for an interesting day.

The Chickens laid one brown egg and I let them out to run around the yard for about an hour before it got dark.  I haven't seen the hawk for a few days, so maybe he's moved on for the season.

Day 610, Snow

A cold April morning

I woke up at 6 am, and looked out the window to discover snow!  It was a typical spring snow, but I am rapidly getting tired of winter.  I am so ready for summer or at least spring like weather.

I had three back to back meetings, starting at 7:15 am at the Hospital, an 8:30 am meeting at the Fire Department and then a 10 am meeting at Crooked River Ranch.  The meetings made the morning fly by and before I knew the day was over and I was heading to my workout.  I was not feeling like I had a bunch of energy to workout, but I managed to get through the hour.

54 Anderson

On my way home I stopped off at Flyte Camp to see what they were working on.  They are making great progress on the 54 Anderson and it will be awesome when they are finished with it.

Day 609, Tuesday

Aluminum tumblers

It was an uneventful day.  I got home after work and had a package at my front door.  This should be the last thing I ordered on eBay for the trailer, a set of vintage multicolored aluminum drinking tumblers.  I remember drinking from tumblers like this when I was kid and I thought they would be perfect for the trailer.  They were described on eBay, as mid-century Bascal aluminum tumblers, but I think they are probably newer.  Still they look great and they will be fun to have in the Traveleze.

I would really like to find a vintage canvas tent to pitch next to the trailer when I take it out to camp.  I have seen a few on eBay but they want around $300 and it seems like I should be able to find one for less money.

The chickens laid 2 eggs today.

Day 608, Monday

Half clean whitewall

It was nice to wake up to sunshine and no wind.  The work day was pretty typical and with the warmer temperatures we decided to take down the the Christmas lights from the trees around the office.  We had left them up to help promote the ice skating rink next to us, but now that the ice rink has closed for the season it was time for them to come down. It took two of us an hour to get the lights down and put away, far less than the amount of time it took to put them up.

Office covered with candy

After work I went home and with the sunshine I really wanted to pull the Packard out.  The big whitewalls had gotten dirty driving to Prineville and this was a perfect time to scrub them up.  I also needed gas and I figured I should fill up before it spikes even higher. It was a good excuse anyway to get the car out.  I also wanted to buy Easter decorations and candy for the office.  Every year I cover the office and all the desks with candy.  Its a nice way to celebrate with office and have a little fun at work.

Day 607, Drive home

I had a great time in Portland, albeit short, but now it was time to head home.  I left Portland at 10 am, to head to Salem.  I had offered to pick up a friends daughter in Salem, who had been visiting her Aunt and Uncle over spring break.  I was going to be going through Salem on my way home and this would save them the trip and a ton of gas.  I arrived exactly at 11 am, the time arrange and after a quick fill up on gas at Costco and we were off.

The weather was raining hard and the drive was fairly uneventful.  When we got to the pass it was snowing and the line of traffic heading in the other directions was staggering.  It was several miles of bumper to bumper traffic, but there was nothing in our lane head back to Central Oregon.  I was so thankful not to have to be dealing with that mess.

I dropped off my friends daughter and headed to Costco for a little shopping.  I was so impressed with the green lawns in Portland I picked up 2 bags of lawn fertilizer in an effort to maybe speed up my lawn turning green.

Back home I got unpacked and I went out to wash my truck.  Even though it was snowing lightly, I wanted my trucked cleaned.  My truck was covered in red cinder dirt from the trip and I wanted the abrasive grime off before it damaged the finish.  I nearly froze to death, well at least my hands did, but I got the truck cleaned up and put away. 

I was glad to be home.

Day 606, snow a wedding and birthday party

Snow on March 31, 2012

Today I get to drive to Portland for a wedding of a good friend and for my nieces 9th birthday party.  The first thing I needed to do was get the oil changed in my truck before I drive the 400 mile round trip.  I got up and headed into Bend and for the oil change.  I expected the oil change to take only a few minutes, but they discovered that my battery had a bad cell.  $152 later I was out of there with a new battery and my oil changed.

As I headed home it started to really snow.  It had been spitting flakes all day, but I was getting a littler nervous about driving over the mountain if it was going to be this bad here.  Had several more errands to run in town and I was ready to hit the road by 11 am.

Trees flowering in front of the church

Luckily the snow let up and by the time I hit the mountain passes it was mostly rain.  I made it to Portland at 2:30 pm and had plenty of time to check out the neighborhood around the church in the Sellwood district of Portland.  Everything was in bloom.  The lawns were green, the flowers were all blooming and the flowering trees were spectacular. The wedding was very nice and it was fun to see my friend so happy. 

Following the wedding it was off to Red Robbin for my nieces 9th birthday.  There is nothing like going to a kids restaurant with 5 kids under the age of 5.  I think my ears rang for several hours.  The volume in the restaurant was amazing and I asked the waitress  how she handled the noise, she replied "what?!"  She said it's nothing compared to when a Justin Bieber concert is in town, then it's really loud.  Yikes, remind me never to have that experience.  The main point was my niece had a great time.