Chapter 452

As the old saying goes: "If you don't like the weather in Washington, wait 10 minutes." It was raining reeally hard and 

true to the saying, it was sunny and nice outside 10 minutes later so we ran out and did some quick outside work...for 10 minutes until it started to rain again.

  

Every year we have a class Show 'n Shine so the new students, and the instructor, can show their wheels off. It might be a motorcycle, scooter, Mom's minivan, a project that you and Dad have been working on for many years, or Grama's hand-me-down Buick Electra with that fine-looking fake convertible top. We had some cool stuff and one El Camino (ElCo in modern vernacular) that had to be pushed in by a couple of other students because it died in the parking lot. It did that a lot last year and I think we are on target to have it happen again this year. Then there is the guy just standing around in his open-shouldered toga....

While Nitro and I were out walking in the backyard, he discovered this stump that he had, heretofore, been undiscovered by him. This time he took interest in it and 4 x 4rd his way to the top to survey his kingdom. Getting him to come down involved a lot of hissing and growling on his part but he eventually moved along knowing he gets canned food when he returns to the house. Exploring and climbing 4 foot tall stumps can really bring out the hunger in a wild animal you know.

We have had more hard rain than I ever remember having in a winter all totalled. Usually we only get two or three of these hard rains each season but this year we've had that many already.  Anyway, the results of all this rain is that our 30-year old drainage system no longer drainaged and the garage was in danger of having sharks swimming in it. It was my diagnosis that all of the hard-packed soil in the bricks and drain tube contributed to the total lack of drainage.

Then off to the store to buy more drainage pipe to run through the bricks.

And while I made a trip to Costco with Erik and Darla, the driveway magically transformed itself into a completed project. Bob's work was tested within the hour. Since there were no sharks swimming in the garage, I'd call it a success!

On the way back from Home Depot, a guy was just putting this FREE Jeep on the side of the road with a "Free" sign on it. It needs a battery. Amazingly it's the same batteries that we use to run the teardrop. Sorry teardrop, you are going powerless now.

Although it's not all shiny and new, the price was considerably less than the Amazon's. Besides, Reagan doesn't really enjoy riding toys all that much so it's a win-win for all of us.

Speaking of deals, instead of $200 for a teardrop cover, I got a Target clearance patio table cover for $15. Another win. How many folks do you know whose trailer would fit under a patio table cover?

We are going to have our Jag Club Slalom race next weekend and we have some awards and other projects that we need to get ready. I got out my Silhouette and cut out the club logo for the little cones we give out. It's not the competition or the need for speed that brings people to our slalom, but the awesome awards. 

I also made the vinyl letters for Bob's scoreboard. We have the coolest slalom scoreboard ever! 

Over on the peninsula where the kids are, there are a lot of fun activities. One of the popular activities at their civic events is playing tic-tac-toe with a scuba diver. I've played tic-tac-toe with Reagan for quite a while and when she plays, she means to win.

Then she got to try on a diver's helmet afterward. Mom and Dad expose her to a lot of diverse activities and she loves every one of them.

Cuddle puddle!

 You can't take Auntie Kyanne anywhere!

Reagan entered a local fishing derby and caught the winning (to her) fish. It's not her first fish since Grampie Walker fished with her at their camp while she was in Maine visiting them.

A throwback picture from 2010 when Bear went to the cabin with us. 

 Once we got to the cabin, Bear would sit on the front porch, literally, and watch the world go by.

Speaking of granddogs, Kyanne always posts the best greyhound photos on Instagram. I think God got confused when he assembled greyhounds. This is Linden. Linden looks funny from this angle. 

Linden loves to sleep on the furniture but doesn't really fit on it. Greyhounds don't fold up very well, as a fact, they don't fold up at all.

Have a great week, everyone!