Chapter 268

Monday afternoon I was greeted by a box on the porch. I was very surprised to find a handmade basket inside. I had forgotten that last fall I sent Mary Cook, Ryan's Mom, some dune grass we harvested on dunes at Long Beach. I cut the grass into nice pieces and dried it then sent it to Mary to use for her basket making hobby. It's a very popular hobby in the desert southwest and Mary belongs to a basket-making group at her retirement village. Mary lines up each bunch of grass and stitches each bundle together with contrasting faux grass creating the color. The grass I sent dried very light and not very interesting. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found a basket made out of my own beach grass. Mary added shells to give it a "southwest beachy" feel.

The outside of the basket is almost more intricate than the inside.  I'm going to take this to the cabin and find a place for it. 

Mary also made a basket that I loved when we went to visit last year so she included it in the box as well. I'm not clear sure what I'm going to do with it, but I sure love it!

So. This week the fill was hauled in and compacted. Simultaneously, our plumbing started backing up. Fred and I thought there might be some sort of connection between these two events. The school district did not and valuable time passed. Then, after the slab was poured, our plumbing problem was diagnosed as a crushed line and now this has to happen.

Yes, they are cutting through the freshly poured concrete. Apparently the crushed line is 7 feet below where this nice man is cutting the new concrete.

While I was out in our yard, I found this awesome beetle. It was about the size of a ladybug but metallic gold. After it flew off I realized maybe I'd discovered a new species of bug and I could have it named after me. Doesn't "goldenus letsmakus tanyaricher" have a nice ring to it? Buuut after I did some research I found it was a common (although I've never seen one before) "golden tortoise beetle". It was so pretty I didn't want to let it go but what would I do with a beetle with a pin stuck in it anyway?

On Halloween, Reagan went to daycare dressed as a skeleton. Nothin' but skin and bones, that kid!

That evening, Reagan put on her evening Halloween costume and went to the Silverdale Mall for Trick-or-Treating dressed as "Rosie the Riveter". She was quite a treat to look at, I'm sure.

As you can see, Reagan looks exactly like the "Rosie the Riveter" poster. 

Us old folks on the other hand, hid from Trick-or-Treaters in the garage while Bob worked on the Jag. Kitty's got his back up to look extra scary for the night.

Saturday we went over the Kingston to watch Reagan while her parents cleaned house for an event they were hosting the next day. Although we were there for Reagan Duty, they took regular breaks to check on us and see how Reagan was doing. To increase their productivity, we packed Reagan up and took her to a car swap meet at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds. I was going to push the stroller so Bob could shop, but I rarely had a chance to get close to it.

The one time I got Reagan, we tried out this little pedal car. She looks good in it. Her parents are always a little scared about what Grampa is going to bring home for her. They. Should. Be. Very. Scared.

When we got home with Reagan we all went out to Downpour Brewing a new local brewery in Kingston. Like most contemporary breweries, children are allowed and you can bring in your own food or take-out while you have a couple of beers. 

Reagan is teething and she spend the day whining and demanding all of Carissa's time. In order to get things done, Carissa put her in the sling and linked her favorite silicone chewy potholder to the sling and went on with her day and Reagan eventually fell asleep putting everyone out of her misery. 

Reagan's two bottom teeth have broken the surface of her gums and she's back to being her smiley self again. That's what Reagan does best. Smile. A lot. 

Reagan and Carissa taking a walk in downtown Poulsbo. They are lucky to have such pretty places to exercise in. 

After our trip to the auto swap meet, we stopped at Subway for a sandwich and to kill time before we took Reagan back and destroyed any productivity that might be occurring. Reagan watched us eat our food and gnawed on her chewy pot holder and wished she could have some food too.

But really she really wanted a bite of Subway pizza. 

The Walker family trick-or-treating at the mall. 

Proud daddy with Rosie.