Chapter 343

Happy First Day of Spring! Except if you live in Washington.

And Happy 10th time to be summoned for jury duty for Bob. Go get those bad guys!

I know spring is arriving when my kale is bolting and my yard has lots of little Christmas trees sprouting all over the yard. They look cute for about 2 days then they are just rangy, pesky looking weeds.

Reagan has shown an interest in Carissa's piano when she comes over to visit and I feel like I should teach her "a little something" while she thinks the piano is still fun. She can play high, middle, or low notes on command so it was time to move to the next step in her training. Except I don't know what that next step is. The logical thing to do? Look on Amazon. I found these little piano key clings so I ordered them directly from the UK. I thought they'd be a fun addition to the keyboard as well as help with note identification and the alphabet. Except for one problem. They did not come with instructions and I don't know which keys to put these things on! My friend Mary Lou thought she was being helpful in explaining where they go. Right. We looked it up on the internet but I'm afraid I'm going to put them on the wrong keys and musically scar Reagan for life.  I'm going to have to have Mary Lou come over and install them for me. 

I took the Subaru back to it's home for it's first oil change. It came back from the ordeal with *gasp* fingerprints on the hood. Just like a mother scenting something on it's new baby, Bob immediately noticed fingerprints on both the door and the hood. As you can see, Bob has shined this car up to reflect the junk in our garage like a mirror therefore I had instructed Subaru not to cut their careless high school lot boy wash loose car with his dirty brush to wash it. I know this happens because we usually have at least one lot boy for one of the local dealers in my class and I hear stories about how they do the job. Coincidentally, I hear they are installing a nice new hands-free drive through wash house right now to accommodate Bob's wishes.

Friday afternoon we hopped in the car and went to the cabin. Nitro chose to ride in his basket and pout rather than sit on my lap where he normally does.

The sunset as we drove down 512 was really pretty.

As was Mt. Rainier.

Normally we have a project in mind that requires a trip to Astoria for parts, lunch, the project and a nap. This time there was nothing on our agenda so we decided we needed to change the window stops from stained wood pieces

to tidier plastic pipe pieces. This qualified us to take the required a trip to Astoria for materials, lunch, home to do the project and all followed by a nap. Tough weekend.

Since we didn't see Reagan this weekend, and I have been getting complaints that Nitro hasn't been featured enough since Reagan came along, I'll put in a few pictures of Nitro's trip home from the beach. I was bored. Let's hope you are too. Here he posts up so he can see out the window and make sure we are going the right way.

Every half hour or so Nitro makes his rounds through the car and looks out of each side window and the rear window before returning to his kitty pouch on my lap for another half an hour. Right window? Check. Left window? Check.

Rounds completed? Check. Back in the sack? Check.

Am I happy about being in the sack? No.

The cranberries are starting to get some color in preparation for their trip to holiday tables everywhere. Long Beach peninsula has a lot of cranberry farms on it. So many in fact that Ocean Spray has a large facility of some sort in Long Beach.

After viewing the cranberry crop, Nitro continues to guide us on the correct road home.

One of the rare moments that Nitro takes his eyes off the road. He likes to watch the road most of the time.

He takes occasional breaks to take restless breaks in the backseat or his basket before he's back in his kitty sack on my lap.

The jockey box in this Subaru puts Nitro high enough that he can see out when he sits on it so that's one of his new perches too.

This perch works well both directions.

As we pass through Raymond and South Bend, we see a new marijuana farm sprout up practically each time we pass through. They are easy to spot, usually some sort of quick-up building surrounded by chain link fences, razor wire, dogs, and have very prominent ventilation systems. This is the first big grower in the area. This is one of the most dense pot growing areas in the state. They have a lot of people that are happy to have jobs since logging left and turned the lights out on these little bergs. 

Not only are there large-scale pot operations being built there but there are stores popping up everywhere around there like Mr. Doobees

and the Grower's Outlet decked out in tantalizing Seahawk colors waits by the highway for the siren song of the word "outlet" to do it's job of bringing in customers.

Nitro is asking why we are passing a store that says "outlet" on it and we didn't stop.

How much room can one little cat take up in a car? I think Nitro is trying to find out.

We had a good trip home and it all went well with very little traffic. We arrived home to find the garage door open. Apparently we forgot to close it when we left Friday night. The luck of St. Patrick was with us and as we took tours through the house and garage and didn't find anything out of place. When Nitro came in the house, he usually growls if someone has been here and he didn't notice anything at all. With that final seal of approval, I can say we were darn luck the criminals in our neighborhood were too lazy to hit our house!

Chris and Carissa take Reagan out and about a lot to expose her to different situations. This day's activity was a children's play center or museum. She has her grampa's tongue, that's for sure. Reagan likes having a cart just her size.

Learning about hand tools during story time...

playing at a park,

reading about heavy equipment with her friends and her daddy,

going to a St. Patrick's Day parade...

cleaning up the beach after a storm... 

showing her independence by choosing to sit at her own table at a restaurant.

and creatively adapting her play with pizza pans. Most likely making tractor sounds while doing so.

Reagan is becoming a true toddler and enjoys picking out her own outfits and, in typical toddler form, the "clashier" the better. Today's choice was a tutu skirt, Crocs with little toes molded into them, and all of this wonderfulness topped off by moose earmuffs. As you can see in the background, Bear is horrified by her choices.

Why is it we are so proud when our kids lose their teeth? It's not like we've done anything special to make it happen, but it's a fact. Here Payton has lost her first tooth and although I had absolutely no part in it, I am a proud aunt. Congratulations Payton!

Have a good week everyone!