Busy, Busy, Busy! and Grandpa's Here!

A couple of weeks ago we had our Spring Break.

I was kinda bummed it didn't coincide with Easter, but we did manage to get a ton of stuff accomplished in preparation for a stress-free Holiday celebration.

Jeff and Jericho worked on our garden beds.





I appreciate so much having a husband who doesn't mind the heavy labor involved with working the soil, adding in compost and then weeding the area surrounding the beds so that everything is nice and tidy.

You da man, Jeff!

While they were busy with that, I was busy with an another project that I've wanted to get done for ages.

This





is a removable work-table topper which I custom-made to fit atop this MELDAL IKEA bed in our guest room.



This creates a work surface that is the perfect height for me to stand and cut fabric and patterns for sewing or quilting. It can also be used outdoors on top of a couple of sawhorses as a huge table when entertaining. Best of all, it holds my big rotary cutting mat on top.

When not in use, it can be leaned against the wall behind the bed where it will be out of the way.

It was constructed using a thin sheet of plywood cut to the right dimensions, 2x2's, and a ton of wood screws. Oh, and some white duct tape on the edges to guard against splinters.

It involved much sawing and drilling.

It was incredibly satisfying to see the finished project turn out just as I'd envisioned, and now in use in the craft/guest room.



Even if I am way behind schedule on the projects I needed the topper for and will now have to do things in hyper-speed, lol.

If only we'd remembered to go pick up the mattress set for that bed frame in time for my dad's visit, the craft/guest room would have officially been in business (finally, after well over a year)!

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Another project in the works are these little nightstands.



I picked them up at the Salvation Army for $25 each. Deal!

They are solidly built and I think will look fab when painted to match our master bedroom decor. I hope to post the completed project in a few days.

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My dad rolled into town for a quick visit before meeting up with an old buddy of his for a motorcycle ride through Lake Havasu.

He no sooner sat down on our sofa, exhausted from the long drive down from Washington with only a 3 hour nap midway through...than we experienced a 6.9 earthquake. (It was recorded to be 7.2 near the epicenter!)

The whole house suddenly felt like we were rocking in a boat on the ocean, our chandeliers swaying wildly from side to side, but thankfully no damage. (So thankful it wasn't one of the 'jolt' type quakes!)

Anyway, while my dad was in town we managed to take him to a couple of tourist attractions.

Here we are at Mel's Drive-In (from American Graffiti fame). Judah thought it was really something to be allowed to sit at the counter several feet from our table.




He asked if he could put a quarter in the jukebox.

Grandpa sprang for it, and Judah picked out, "You Are My Sunshine" at random. Amazingly, this is a song he knows because I occasionally sing that one to him.



For dessert, we went to that wonderful bastion of deep fried confections and sugary sweetness...Krispy Kreme. **Homer Simpson drool sounds**



Judah was already licking his chops just watching the whole process. Mmmmmm.



Here, Judah takes charge of walking our purchases to the car.



What can I say? The boy is all business when it comes to his doughnuts.

He's not unlike his Grandpa that way, lol.

However, you don't want to see the boy after he's had one too many and is completely hopped up on sugar.

It's not pretty, trust me.

Frump Style Vacation (Part Deux)

A couple of days into our stay in Washington, we again met up with my dad...this time for a fishing trip.

Our destination was this great fishing spot out on Fox Island, WA where you used to be able to catch dogfish.

Dogfish are small sharks, and it's been a longtime dream of Jericho's to catch one of these.

Bragging rights like those don't happen every day, after all.

We got there and set up 'camp' on the end of the pier.

Here my dad poses with Jericho in what has come to be known in our family as the 'Hawaiians' pose.



My dad's favorite Gospel singing duo of the 1970's were known as The Hawaiians.

In fact, they used to visit our church when I was a very young child. We also had all of their LP's.

Very often while singing, Mr. Hawaiian would rest his hand on his wife's shoulder in this exact same way...which my dad would repeat in numerous family pictures for years to come (though it was usually reserved for photos taken while singing Christmas Carols around the old family piano).

Or, maybe he was trying to hold Jericho down in the chair, I'm not entirely sure.

That beef jerky was a hot commodity.

Here is part of our little rag-tag band of fishermen.





My dad still has the same aluminum tackle box I remember him taking along on countless fishing trips when I was a kid.



I think Judah remembered it and it's many curious treasures from the last time he went fishing with grandpa.

Of course it could have been that he was enthralled by the bullhead that was breathing it's last beneath the bench, too.



A neighboring fisherman gave it to us to use for bait.

Yes, I'm ashamed to say that after sojourning in the desert for all these years, for our Western Washington fishing trip we'd forgotten to pack something as basic as bait, and frankly the beef jerky just wasn't cutting it.

Here, grandpa takes care of baiting Judah's hook with a hunk of cut up bullhead.

Which was good, because I couldn't bring myself to do the poor thing in, let alone hack it into pieces for bait. Plus they're kind of spiny and will sting you if you touch them. My dad did all of this with pliers and a cookie in his mouth. He's quite the experienced fisherman.



Judah continued to climb the railings, in spite of our warnings about sharks living in the waters beneath the pier, hence the ever-present life jacket.



We figured that even if he did fall in, a life jacket (doing what they were intended to do) would keep him afloat long enough for us to get to him, and he'd likely never repeat that stunt again.

Not that I didn't still lunge towards him with that same feet-stuck-in-buckets-of-cement feeling from nightmares whenever he got too close to the top of the railings, mind you, but for one accustomed to such sensations the feeling was somewhat lessened.

I could actually turn my back for a few minutes and fish.



In spite of the fact that fish just weren't taking OUR bait biting, the day proved to be an adventure in many other ways.

Jeff took the boys down to the nearby beach to teach them to skip rocks.



There was also the beautiful scenery...things we don't see very often way out in the desert.



And the wildlife.

We Frumps are particularly partial to pinnipeds.



And just like the infamous fishing trip of '82 when great uncle Carol pulled up one of these to the delight of all the children present, a neighboring crabber pulled up his 'pots' and found this sunflower starfish inside.



Judah wasn't the least bit afraid to touch it.



Even the underside which had a gross, jelly-like substance in the center where it's mouth is.



Not being what they were really after, the crabbers scared all the fish in the vicinity away tossed it back in the water, and threw their pots in to try again.



Later, they did finally pulled up crabs.

The chicken legs they had cable-tied to the inside of their crab pot as bait drew in all kinds of bottom-feeders.



Judah enjoyed holding the crabs. Or maybe it was just turning towards me with them to hear me shriek.



Finally, after a long afternoon in the hot sun (though carefully covered in sunscreen), my dad was the first to get a bite.



And it was a whopper!

The stuff of legends.

We will be talking about his catch for years to come.



The teensy-tiny little bullhead that ate it's own kind! Ewwww.

Lastly, we drove through my old hometown on our way home.

This is a new structure built since my last visit. It caught my eye when, as the sun was just beginning to go down, I caught majestic Mt. Rainier illuminated in the background just behind the marina.



A beautiful way to end a memorable day.