Full Production

Our Pegs and Jokers production has ramped up a few notches. We got a great deal on 200 feet of 1 x 12 clear pine while we were on a quick trip to Eugene. So we're all busily working to try and get 30 sets done before we all head out for Winchester Bay in two weeks. Ken and I are hard at work in the wood shop turning the pine boards into usable shapes while Janice and Cecile do all of the painting. They are also our quality control department and they are tough!

After a long day working, you'd think we would be sick of Pegs and Jokers but we do enjoy the game.

Lobster Dinner

On Tuesday afternoon, soon after Cecile arrived home with the lobsters in tow, we started the preparations for our lobster dinner. Ken & Janice had gone into town earlier in the day to get fresh corn and red potatoes to go with our lobster. The dinner was wonderful but we also had the treat of sharing champagne with Ken & Janice in celebration of their 44th anniversary.

Ain't Life Grand!

Cecile Visits Maine

Cecile spent five days in Maine visiting her good friend Joni. They had a lot of fun together going to the local beauty college for facials and massages, shopping at some of their favorite places and going out on Casco Bay for a cruise with their favorite captain, Guy. She had a wonderful time and has promised to take her husband (who couldn't go) next time. The four pictures are 1) Cecile and Joni at the Desert of Maine where they worked during the summer of 1999. 2) Cecile at the Freeport LL Bean Outlet store. 3) Cecile getting her facial & massage 4) Cecile on her way home with the lobster

Fishing Adventure

Ken and I decided to go fishing early yesterday morning. Our goal was to catch enough Kokanee salmon to be able to smoke. It was a beautiful day and we were the first ones to the boat ramp, just before first light. One of the best things about the morning was watching the osprey go up and down the lake fishing. Unfortunately the osprey caught a bigger fish than us and the dozen or so osprey we saw most likely caught a lot more than we did. Ken caught our only fish (a rather small one) soon after we dropped our lines and set our downriggers...and that was it. Ken and I each had one that got away but I'm sure that they were not real big ones. From talking to and observing the other fishermen on the lake, nobody had a very productive day. Oh well, like I said, it was a beautiful day!

Meteors and a Waterfall Hike

We stayed up a little later than usual last night (well, later than I usually stay up) to try and catch a glimpse of the Perseid meteor shower. The meteor activity was supposed to be at its peak from 11am until dawn. We gave up pretty quick after we only saw about a dozen meteors between the four of us. I think that our problem was that, since we have so many trees around us here, we only had a relatively small opening overhead to be able to see meteors. We saw a lot of satellites and planes though.

Today Ken was working on the depth finder for his boat (important since we are going fishing tomorrow) and the ladies were working on their painted creations, so I decided to go hiking in Cascadia State Park (only a quick half mile walk up the road). I was tempted by the waterfall hike since the sign said it was only 0.8 mile up to the waterfall. What they didn't say was that the elevation changed by about 500 feet which made it a little more of a climb that I had anticipated. I had to stop a couple of places after the really steep parts to catch my breath but I survived it. The falls drop between 50 and 75 feet which made the hike worth while. I am including a picture of the falls and a picture of the Santiam River where the water from the falls eventually empties into.

Ain't life grand!

Artistic Improvement

As I said in the last post, Cecile was quickly improving. Above is an example of that improvement. She's having a good time.

Ain't life grand!

Arrival at Camp Cascadia

We arrived at Camp Cascadia last Sunday. This is the summer home of our very good friends, Ken & Janice. It was quite a job getting our big fifth wheel into the L-shaped site that they had cleared for us, missing some of the trees by less than a foot. Fortunately we had a great parking crew that got us in with nary a problem. You can see by the pictures how tight the fit is. Now that we are in we are enjoying the nice quiet setting and getting started to work on our pegs & jokers production.

Ken & Gary are working in the wood shop while Janice is giving Cecile some lessons on decorative painting. As you can see from the pictures Cecile is improving quickly...but still has a way to go.