September 8, 2002
Rain, showers, drizzle, mostly cloudy. Must still be in the Pacific Northwest. But when the sun shines (which it does an average of 121 days a year), it's absolutely beautiful up here. Or down here, depending on where you happen to be when you read this.
Big Truck vs. Little Truck. Actually, that's Lanny, the maintenance foreman and jack-of-all-trades, retired pastor and me discussing the possibilities of why his truck is running (more-or-less) on only three cylinders. New sparkplugs made a difference. And that did it. Now I'm the camp mechanic. Which is fine with me, anything we can do to help. My body likes mechanic work better than tearing up rotting decking and replacing it anyway. And then on the right you can see the other 3 rigs that have joined in the fun. Three 5th wheels and one motorhome. Guess who gets the razzing now! And in spite of the fact we left a good site between the lake and ourselves, nobody wanted it. As we discovered, we're the only ones here for the first time. One of the couples has been here many times, another a few times, and the last one has been here at least once before. They've all worked together before and at first Barb and I thought we'd be sort of left out, but that's not been the case at all. When one couple parked next to the lake, the geese drove them nuts, another couple had been there and the noisy transformer from the lodge on the other side of the trees drove them nuts, and the third couple didn't like all the kids trooping through "their" yard going between the main buildings and the Okerson Lodge. So far, none of the above has bothered us, and I love to sit here at the computer looking at the rain on the lake.
Ah, the women in my life. On the left is Dr. Susan Scanlan. A podiatrist. Seems the painful lump on my heel is because of the way I'm built! And yes, ultrasound and physical therapy can help, but throwing away the tennis shoes that hurt it, not going barefooted (groan!), icing it twice a day, and something else I can't remember at the moment will help. And with a cheerful Doc like this, who can say no? And then there's Barb "working" at the garage sale. Friends Steve and Karen live in a small development of nice homes, and twice a year the community gets together and has garage sales. We asked if we could unload some junque (that's French for unneeded special items or treasures); they consented. And they fed us besides! What good friends we're blessed with. I saw more than one homeowner buying needed things from a neighbor. Maybe that's why they have to have two sales a year! Anyway, all I bought was a clam gun, and all Barb bought was some 3M "post-its" and a washcloth. And because Steve and Karen were kind enough to include us, we managed to turn lots of good stuff into cash.
We had a good flow of customers all day, and this particular group is all family. Alyssa, the 16 yr old daughter of Karen (who's next), Steve's mom (and that's Steve hiding behind her), and Aunt Alice, and then Bryan, the 18 yr old son. That's Bryan trying out one of the mini-bikes we wanted (sort of) to sell.
Daughter Alyssa (whose boyfriends would all know I was a crack marksman if she was my daughter) trying out the yellow mini-bike. And there's the pair of bikes, one folded up and the other ready to tear up the pavement--if 30 mph is tearing up the pavement. Now, who with a RV wouldn't want these handy little bikes, eh? At least we sold most the other things we hauled over.