New Toy

Since Pat got the boat he has been on a search for a truck that will pull it.  He said his old Dodge would but he wouldn't trust it going down to the coast.  He had a whole criteria of what he was looking for.  Big enough, diesel, preferably manual transmission, old enough but not too old so it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  He has been watching and looking for several weeks. 
So after we got back from camping he asked if I felt like driving to Longview.  There was a Chevy there that almost met all his criteria....he wanted a Dodge.  But he ended up with a Chevy.  It's a pretty nice truck and now he is happy.  It will take its maiden boat voyage next weekend as Sturgeon fishing is open on Saturday. 

Saturday

Today was filled with Pat playing on the river with his wave runner, fishing with worms since Salmon fishing is closed this weekend, dogs, and motorcycles.  Monte set up the "swing" for the kid from the crane.
It was a somewhat different mix of people this time.  Actually I think it usually is a different mix.  We didn't camp in "our spot", but moved into Cliff's spot since he wasn't camping this weekend.  Nothing wrong with his spot, but we decided we liked ours better.
We suggested to Cassie that they come out next year on David's two week break from work for maintenance and camp with us.  She thought it sounded fun.

Camping

Pat wasn't highly motivated so I went and had my lunch date with Belinda and Brenda.  So good to catch up.  We haven't seen each other since Covid. 
Once I got back we finally loaded up the truck and headed out.  I stopped at the store and got some food.  By the time we got there it was already getting dark.  We set up our tents and it was dark.  So we ate from the big tent. 
Feels really strange to be there without the littles. 

Gather and Feast Urban Farm

An opportunity arrived to go volunteer at an urban farm.  And I thought it sounded kind of fun.  Well it was fun and some work also.  I was part of a group of about ten plus the farm manager and the owner.  We pulled a lot of bolted lettuce and weeds.  We harvested beans and the cherry tomatoes.  I have never seen black cherry tomatoes before.  You knew they were ripe when the bottom was red and they were tasty.  We fed the lettuce to the cows and the pigs.  I never made it over by the pigs but I took two loads over to the Scottish highland cows on the farm.  The farm manager was so happy when the calf started eating the lettuce as thus far she did not eat the produce.  The hardest job was rolling the cart over the field to get to where the cows were.
The owner also owns Crave Catering.  He explained that prior to this year, the farm supplied the catering business and that was pretty much it.  They had 28 employees last year between the two businesses.  This year being 2020 he has four employees.  He said there have only been five events catered since mid March.  So they have a farm stand and doing some farmer's market.  Farming goes on and so the produce needed to be harvested.
It was a good experience and the ten of us all got bags of produce to take home, plus we got to supplement it with what we harvested today.  The best tomatoes are the ones picked yourself. 

Shopping

I've officially started my Christmas shopping.  The way life worked out, most of my shopping is for the household in Indiana with my grandchildren. So I buy online and have it shipped directly.  Or in some cases Cassie has to pick it up for me.  Kohl's does a free ship to store and then she picks up. 
It is just over three months.  If I spread it out, it doesn't hurt the budget too much. ;p

Looks Pretty and New

Stephen from NW Softwash came out himself to see the areas we weren't happy about.  He agreed that one spot was just missed and explained how it could have happened.  He agreed the other area didn't get the job that it should have.  In half an hour he had everything fixed.  He was very personable and didn't make excuses, just fixed it.  You have got to love a company like that.
So it is like I told him.  I would never just trash a company on facebook, like a lot of people do.  I always give them the chance the make it right. He did that in a more timely fashion that I would have expected.  I would definitely recommend his company to anyone wanting a soft wash done on their siding or roof. 
Now I am so happy that the house looks pretty and almost new again. 

Soft Wash

NW Softwash came out this morning and washed the siding.  First I have got to say it looks a lot better.  But there are some issues. There were a couple of areas that looked like they got missed or just gone over so quick that it still looked bad.  So I sent pictures and an email explaining.  Now we will see how long it takes to get a response.
I have been looking forward to this part the most, of all the work done at the rental.  And I never expect perfection.  But it was a bit of a let down.