Wednesday, 08AUG, head to the ferry in Edmonds to pick up
grandson Mason. Thursday first thing, we
took the RV into Freightliner for routine service. After that Dan saw an orthopedic doctor
concerning “twinges” he felt in his right knee while skiing last season. Back in 2007 Dan was diagnosed with a small
tear in his medial meniscus, & patella tendonitis. Decision was then made that nothing need be
done, & recreational skiing was not an issue. Latest MRI shows the same minor issues, but now
there is a small indication of arthritis.
Again, nothing “needs” to be done; but if it becomes an issue while
skiing this year, several options can be considered. Hopefully, nothing further needed, since Dan
already has season pass for this season!
Grandson Jaxson spent Thursday at work w/Raymond as part of
father/child work day (that is why we didn’t pick him up w/Mason
yesterday). When Dan picked Jaxson later
that day at the Kingston ferry terminal, Jaxson had a bag full of items mainly
centered on Lockheed aeronautics (Raymond’s employer). One of the items was a kit that required
assembly into a prototype space station that maybe used in the future. Naturally, Jaxson wanted to assemble it on
the ferry ride.
Friday, 10AUG, we took the grandkids to the CG Day picnic like
last year (see below BLOG link). Once
again a very well organized affair, & the grandkids really enjoyed
themselves. While there Dan gets call
from Freightliner NW about generator “short circuit” that has caused an unknown
amount of damage in the RVLLL
Although we are very concerned about the RV, Dan had already
planned on meeting w/two of his CG Academy classmates in Astoria, OR, for some
fishing tomorrow. So from the picnic Dan
started the 3.5 hour drive to Astoria, OR, while Corrie took the grandkids back
to our house. Thanks to weekend traffic
& I-5 construction, the drive took six hours. Dan eventually meets up w/his friends (Dick
Lang & Jim Garrett) at Dick’s warehouse/boat storage in Hammond, OR. One reason that Dan decided to meet them even
though the RV issue is important; is that Jim Garrett has just completed riding
his bicycle from Kansas to Astoria (about 2000 miles & two months)!!! And on Sunday he gets back on his bike to ride
home to San Francisco, CA.
Saturday we had a great fishing even, w/no luck. Luckily Dick had set two crab pots the day
before & we harvested a dozen Dungeness.
That evening was an excellent crab & salmon dinner w/Dick’s wife
& friends at their house in the Lewis & Clark forest area. Sunday Dan was up early (5AM), on the road, &
back in Sultan at 0915. Rebecca showed
up early that afternoon to pick up grandkids (after enjoying some fresh crab).
Wednesday, 15AUG, another hazy day from the many forest fires in
Oregon & BC. Dan took Corrie to
ferry to visit kids/grandkids in Bremerton; then drives to the Seattle CG base for
lunch w/John Dwyer. John is a friend of
Dan’s who works at the Coast Guard’s marine safety office in Seattle. In fact John has been there for over two
decades. It was great to reconnect &
tell sea stories. Thursday Dan picked up
Corrie & grandkids at Edmonds ferry terminal.
Friday, 24AUG return of more smoke/haze. After taking the grandkids to Kingston for
pickup, we have an early dinner at Rorys of Edmonds. Dinner was okay, but not any different than any
average pub/sports bar.
Sunday, 26AUG, was our friend’s the Formisano’s annual Riverwalk. This the third year we have attended (see
below BLOG link about last year).
Although it was pretty cool, the rain held off, & we enjoyed another
good time at the event.
Thursday, 30AUG, more good weather; we pick up grandkids at
ferry. When asked what they wanted for dinner? They immediately requested "breakfast for dinner" (something we had introduced them to some time back:). On his last visit here in July,
our son Joe left his kayak here. Rather
than leave it laying in the yard, Dan installed a kayak hoist. Note – recommendation on instructions.
Friday (last day of August) we took the grandkids to the Evergreen
State Fair; like Rebecca & Dan did last year. This year Dan introduced the grandkids to the
Fair’s famous Purple Cow drink. The
Purple Cow booth is run by a non-profit association of women who are dairy
farmers (or connected to the dairy industry in Snohomish County). Their drink is basically 7-up, blackberry ice
cream, & blackberries. Mason liked
it but one was enough; Jaxson loved it & wanted another.
After six hours of non-stop walking, eating & rides, we
headed to Edmonds ferry to return them to Rebecca & Raymond. On the drive there the window on the driver
side rear door blew out, covering Jaxson in glass shardsL!!! Thankfully no injuries. After an emergency stop to get a plastic
garbage bag & gorilla tape; we made a temporary repair; & finally made it
to the Edmonds ferry terminal to transfer kids & head home at 9PM.
Lastly, during the month of August the Seattle area was plagued
with numerous poor air quality days due to forest fires in Oregon, eastern
Washington, & BC, Canada. In a
“normal” year they maybe four or five danger warnings due to air quality, this
month there were more than a dozen. Not
only a risk to our health, but they also negatively affected our solar output. But it did not seem to effect Corrie’s
vegetable/flower garden. You may
remember from previous BLOGs that her 2017 xmas gift was for Dan to build her
more raised beds, which he did. Then this
spring we added a drip irrigation system.
As you can see all the improvement resulted in some bumper cropsJ!
