01-14MAY09 - Monroe, WA

The weekend, 03MAY, after Dan’s return his brother Shawn, and Shawn’s significant other, Cindy, came by the RV for a BBQ dinner. Turns out Cindy’s uncle used to own the Evergreen Speedway, which is right next door to our RV site on the Monroe Evergreen State Fairgrounds. If you read our BLOG last summer, you will remember that we were treated to the sounds of numerous “events” that occur at the track on Friday nights, Saturday nights, and sometimes Sunday afternoons. Unfortunately, Cindy no longer has inside connections to get us free tickets. Anyway, it was good food and good reminiscing, and we all agreed to try to get together throughout the summer.

A week later it was Mother’s Day, so Dan took Corrie for breakfast at the Sultan Bakery, believe it or not located in the town of Sultan, WA. The bakery is a NW institution noted for their fresh baked goods in the morning (most popular are the huge cinnamon rolls, drowning in melted butter). On ski trips to Stevens Pass on US Highway 2 it was not unusual for Dan and friends to stop at the Sultan Bakery for baked pastries on the way up; and burgers and beer at other establishments on the way down. Even though the line was already out the door, we lucked out and got a table quickly and had an excellent breakfast (including sharing one cinnamon roll).

Earlier that morning Dan's cousin, Rick Lee, had called with an invite to come over to his and Sharon’s house in West Seattle for a Mother’s Day BBQ for his mother, Mary Ann Lee. Mary Ann is a sister of Dan Sr and therefore Dan’s Aunt. In the past when the two families would get together Dan would hang out with Rick and his older brother Steve Ruttner. Often Dan would be invited to spend the weekend at Grandma Jean’s (Dan Sr’s mother) house on Capitol Hill in Seattle along with Steve and Rick. Back in those days they would wander all over Capitol Hill, never thinking about kidnappings or other nasty things happening. Also, cousin Rick was a roommate with Dan for a short while, in Dan’s first ever house also located in West Seattle (see our BLOG for 05JUL08 for details on the house).

Anyway, turns out Rick had also invited older brother Steve, and little sister Kelly (along with her husband Les Baker and children). So it was like a little impromptu mini family reunion. Rick BBQ’d burgers, Steve brought some pork wrapped in bacon, and Sharon prepared many excellent side dishes. All too soon it was time for everyone to head back to their homes (or RVs). Hopefully, we will stay connected throughout our summer stay in the Seattle area.

Also during this two week period we continue to work on our property, but the intermittent rain makes it difficult at best. If the weather permits we like to spend two to four hours a day trying to prepare it to build on it. Unfortunately, there have been some days where the rain prevented us from doing anything. Our latest project was to rent a stump grinder to remove a few stumps from where our drive way has to go.