Saturday morning we finally got to say hello to Raymond back from work. That afternoon was a quick visit to son Joe’s & Tasha’s to drop off some of Dan’s tools we had brought him from Sultan. This was in preparation for a shed he plans to build in his back yard. This will be three sheds in less than two years for Dan. First there was Rebecca & Raymond’s shed (10ft x 12ft); Corrie’s garden shed (8ft x 12 ft); & now Joe’s (12ft x 16ft!). We also delivered Joe’s childhood Legos we had held onto for over 15 years. Then Joe & Tasha came over to Rebecca & Raymond’s with a spaghetti dinner (apparently one of Jaxson's favorite meals?) they had made. The excitement of the evening was when Tasha found an abandoned squirrel in yard. Most of the guys recommended leaving it to fend for its self, but softer hearts decided to “rescue” it.
Tuesday, 27AUG, Dan tried to put up satellite dish for the RV TV & somehow damaged the TV speakers. So Wednesday Dan & Raymond spent a couple of hours trouble shooting the TV. It appears the very cheap speakers are the problem, not one of the computer cards:) but even though the TV is less than four years old, Dan could not locate new speakers on the internet, so he was forced to order used speakers. That night Joe treated everyone to all you can eat crab dinners at a local restaurant. The Pacific Northwest is very proud of their boiled Dungeness crabs, but they are much better when boiled in Cajun spices! Note – we sadly learned the rescued squirrel did not make it:(!
Thursday late morning Dan headed over to Joe’s to help him with the concrete form for his future shed. Not only is the shed pretty large (12ft x 16 ft) but Joe wants a six inch slab of concrete! Dan suggested that four inches was used for garages that are bigger & carry more weight, but Joe wasn’t convinced. Since the ground was not level, a couple of loads of limestone rock were needed to level out the site for the concrete pad. Since neither pick-up truck was full size, a couple of trips were needed to local rock yard. Even then Joe’s truck was definitely overloaded! The rest of the afternoon was spent lining up a contractor for tomorrow (Mr Warrence Bennett); four cubic yards of concrete; & a “georgia buggy” to move the concrete from the delivery truck to the job site.
Friday morning, 30AUG, at 0700 Mr Bennett showed up wanting to start the concrete job in the morning, even though everything was set-up for 12 noon. Dan scrambled to get the georgia buggy, but the concrete company refused to change their delivery time (not uncommon for small residential jobs). So Mr Bennett & crew had to disappear & come back when the cement delivery was made at 1:15PM. Lesson learned for Joe – hire the contractor upfront & have them level the site, build the form & then pour the concrete! Dinner that evening for everyone was at Rebecca & Raymond’s & was take-out pizza.
In closing, the main reason we try not be back in south Louisiana (or anywhere near the Gulf of Mexico) until at least OCT (if not NOV) is to miss hurricane “season”. But something we forgot about this time of year is the HIGH heat & humidity!!! It’s been close to six years where we have endured day after day of high 80s, low 90s, with humidity; & we are having a hard time tolerating it:(! In fact, the poor AC on the RV runs almost all day, & only gets some breaks late at night & early morning.
