Chapter 354 Happy Birthday, Reagan!

               

It seems like just yesterday a very special little person came into our lives but it's already been 2 years! How amazing she is.

Speaking of time flying and amazing little people, while I was looking for a newborn picture of Reagan, I came across a lot of pictures of Payton I have poached from JoAnn's blog and texts over the years. I love this picture of Payton in her little Bumbo seat.

Green River College (no longer Green River Community College because they now offer four-year degrees in some subjects) teachers were on strike for three days. everywhere we went in our area were shouting teachers and students waving strike signs.

I'm doing a bit of sewing and had a scrap of a bandanna left over. Since Nitro seems to think he has to be right by the sewing machine when I sew, he quickly became a target for the leftover bandanna strip I had. He doesn't seem to mind and walked around looking ridiculous all night. He puts up with my games without a squawk. I think he's lost all of his little kitty pride living with my antics.

We have two girls in our morning class that were really not happy to be "stuck" in auto, although commuting from Riverside on the other side of town implies some sort of commitment. In a class awash with Adolescent Male Disease (AMD) these two have managed to really pull off a win. They are very involved in a project and have learned a lot despite their every effort to do otherwise. Eventually they were caught up in the action and are assembling an engine in the picture below. Good job!

We went to the cabin this long weekend and had a nice relaxing time. We no longer try to tackle four-day projects in a two-days and (like Chris and Carissa are in the midst of doing with their backyard) so we are able to get out and about more. This weekend was the peninsula garage sale weekend and there were cars full of old ladies blocking traffic as they loaded even more crap into their decrepate cars and SUVs. We followed a truck with a huge band saw score in the back for the length of the peninsula. At one garage sale we parked next to a cranberry bog (is it called a bog if it isn't full of water yet?) The plants just look like a field of common yard heather but the plants are covered with little flowers busily making our favorite Thanksgiving condiment.

We didn't do too much damage to our own crap-count this weekend. Bob bought a little Honda generator and I bought a Fisher-Price doll house and a pair of Saltwater sandals for Reagan.

    

We saw lots of junk, but one of the best things I saw was a Victory garden in a can. It came with seeds that were specially prepared to last a long time (probably irradiated on purpose and have more radiation in the can that there would be outside after a bomb!)

We went to the Astoria Sunday Market and saw the same stuff that's there every time we go, but it was great to be out in the fresh air and sunshine. It's always fun to people and ship watch.

Nitro was out of cat food at the cabin and at home so we went to Costco to get him a bag of food. I love going to regional ("territorial") Costco's to see what's hot in town. At the Astoria Costco you can buy crab traps,

and sand bikes, two items you'd never see at our own Costcos.

After our trip to Astoria we walked around Fort Columbia. We have explored Fort Stevens, on the Oregon side of the Columbia River over the past couple of years but not Fort Columbia which we drive under each time we go to Astoria.These two forts were built at the mouth of the Columbia River to take down any invaders that tried to enter the U.S. interior through the river. We were standing at Fort Columbia and could see Fort Stevens right across the channel. Ironically, the only foreign ship to get this close to the mouth of the Columbia was a Japanese submarine and it fired on Fort Stevens!

The view from the top of Fort Columbia. There was a gun on this site once.

One of several 6" barrel guns on the fort.

This is the gun in the housing shown above.

The ranger lives in one of these houses. These were once barracks, officer's quarters, hospital, store, etc. since a small city had to be setup here.

When we got home, we made our daily beach walk.It is always fun to see what's going on in town.  The free horse trolley was in full-swing today as well as some kites out on the beach.

As you all know, I'm obsessed with seeing the International Space Station as it goes overhead. On clear mornings I am out in the yard in my hot rollers watching the sky wondering what those folks are doing up there crammed into their tin can. Eating, sleeping, combing their hair? Since it was a clear night at the beach, I looked up when the ISS would be touring through Long Beach. At 10 p.m. we were on the beach looking for it. It was so dark out there, I could clearly see Mars, Venus, Saturn, and the Space Station. No, there was no monster slashing the night sky, I just had the graphic and have been wanting to use it for quite some time. It sure would have made things interesting for all those folks enjoying their campfires if there had been a sky-slashing monster!

If you would like to check out the International Space Station for yourself, check out this link:  https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

Chris and Carissa are hard at work transforming their backyard into their own little oasis of tranquility. Let no one misunderstand: This is hard work. Twice as much with a toddler underfoot. I very clearly remember doing these four-day projects in two days while minding children. 

This job would never get done without Superintendent Bear on the job watching that everything is done properly.

Although Reagan has her own shovel, 

she prefers to hold up the job due to cuteness and use Dad's shovel.

Time out while Reagan colors on Dad's shovel with sidewalk chalk.

Most people don't feed their kids in a wheelbarrow full of rocks. I think Carissa is remembering how projects got done around here.

Leveling out the new patio area.

More supervision.

Reagan got to drive for a while to help her parents out.

All that work makes a girl tired. What better place to build a nest than Mom's laundry basket...while she putting laundry away?

With a lot of work, the yard has been leveled, stumps ground and patio area prepared.

Whew! Now they can rest a while! Nope. A truck with 7 pallets of landscape bricks just arrived for the raised flower beds. Let the work begin...again!