Chapter 223

It was a cold and rainy night as we set out for the cabin Friday evening. We needed to check on the cabin as well as pick up some tax-free building materials in Astoria, Oregon.

The rain was blowing sideways as we wound our way through the dark uninhabited woods to the coast. As we drive through all this darkness, we come to mobile stop light in the middle of nowhere. As we come to a stop in the middle of this nowhere and waited for absolutely no traffic from the opposite direction to come through, Nitro has to get up to see why his nap is being interrupted then growl at the offending portable stop light.

We arrived at the cabin and put the groceries away and I noticed something was different with Bob's precious Nalley's Chili. The can felt smaller. Sure enough, Bob's chili had been the victim of "product shrink" by stealing 1 full ounce of his chili from him and putting it in a slighty smaller can.

While I was putting things away, Bob switched on the water to find that the washing machine pipe had frozen and split during the last freeze. Although Bob has attached a solenoid switch to our water system to easily drain it each time we go, we forgot to turn on the washer and drain the pipe leading to the washer. As Bob repaired one problem, another one appeared and we finally ran out of materials to get the job done that night.

Bob Magyvered the pipe, using the wine cork from Chris' parent's visit several years ago and a spring curtain rod, into cooperating long enough to get water for flushing the toilet and brushing teeth. Nitro got bottled water as soon as we got to the cabin since he was thirsty from growling at motorcycles and pop-up stop lights. At least this time the problem was contained by shutting the water off and we didn't find 2" water throughout the cabin as we had done a few years ago.

We went to Astoria to score on tax-free flooring for our spare bedroom at home and get plumbing parts as the storm wind and rain storm threatened to blow us from the road. Wind gusts were pushing water up over the seawall onto the highway as we drove on the Washington side of the Columbia River. I never captured a good shot of water over the seawall, but you get the idea.

After we left Home Depot, we made a couple of other stops, one of which was JoAnn Fabrics. It is located in the old Costco building and had a metal roof. While we were in the store, the roof groaned squeaked and rattled. You don't hear these things when it's a noisy Costco, but in a quiet fabric store, it's scary sounding with women "oohing" and jumping at each twist of the metal. At another stop we found this sippy cup for Carissa. She's going to need it to get the baby through those first few months of life.

On our way back from Astoria about 10:30 the storm darkened the sky so much it felt like twilight and night was only a few moments away. The Columbia River still lapped at the highway as we went back to town.

 We drove down to Long Beach to see what was going on with the ocean and by the time we got there, the sky had patches of blue. There were huge white caps waaay out into the surf. What a day.

Sunday morning we were heading home and we find ourselves, once again, stopped dead in the middle of nowhere politely respecting the red signal light. Once again, Nitro is unhappy with our lack of progress and pops up to make his opinion known to all. 

I'm bored, Bored, BORED, BORED, BORED! Me too, Nitro. Me too.

Have a good week Everyone!