Where are you???

No, I didn't drop off the face of the earth!  After the episode with the alarm system and the hot water tank we took the trailer and left town.  We were away for a couple of days when Japan was hit with the earthquake and there were tsumani warnings for the coast here.  We were on our way to Seaside, Oregon so I ended up phoning the park to see if they were still operational...they were, so we went and met our friends R&F there.  For a week we got to do all sorts of touristy things.  There was no damage there from the tsumaini.  We had a great time.  From there we went to La Conner and met up with our daughter, son-in-law and 4 grandkids...the kids were on Spring break.  Came home on the Monday and our youngest granddaughter's Spring break was for 2 weeks so we ended up daycaring her Tues, Wed & Thurs.  That was so much fun!  Her and I played card games and read stories and looked up things in the dictionary, encyclopedia and on the globe.  Today our son was coming over and we were going to work on income tax but my aunt and uncle are in town so I decided to make lunch for all of us and Mom.  Had a lovely visit then tackled the income tax...almost got it finished!

Quiet, relaxing weekend???

Yesterday when I was cooking supper the smoke detector went off...and I wasn't even burning anything!!!  We opened doors and windows and were busy fanning it, but it still wouldn't stop.  So... it's squawking away, the microwave is beeping and the alarm system (our smoke detectors are monitored) goes off, so I punch the code in for that.  Finally got everything quiet when the phone rings...it's the monitoring station letting us know they'd called the fire department.  I got them to cancel that, which they did in a matter of 30 seconds.  Next thing we know the fire truck is in front of the house so we go out to talk to them...apparently they have to respond once they get the call...even if they get a call cancelling...I think they were bored...then the fireman very smuggly asked me if supper was ruined!!!  On my "to do" list for Monday is phone tech support and see why that fire detector is so sensitive.

This morning B had his shower, then I had mine.  I sat down for a bit and heard a funny whooshing sound.  Is that water running?...no sounds funny...looked around and discovered it was our hot water tank...it had sprung a leak.  Quickly called B and we shut of the water and pilot light.  Thankfully the last time our water tank went we had a 5" deep pan built for under the tank and it drains outside.  It wouldn't hold all the water in the tank, but it caught enough that we didn't have a mop up job to do!  Thank you for that!!!!  "Call a plumber" is now added to Monday's "to do" list.

After we got home from church, we drained the hot water tank then decided to see if we could do something with the smoke detectors...how do you get those covers off???  B also looked at the one downstairs and couldn't figure it out.  Ringggg...it's the phone....the montering company phoned to tell me that they're noticing some "irregularities" with our smoke detectors.  She couldn't give me much info so I asked if Tech Support was working today.  She transferred me, so now someone is coming down on Wednesday to check out the smoke detectors.

Ken Follett's Fall of Giants

I've read "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End" and really enjoyed them so when #1 daughter gave her Dad "Fall of Giants" for Chritmas, I was looking forward to reading it. I started it when we were down at Mt. Vernon (I do most of my reading when we're away and not too much when I'm at home). I finished it tonight. It was good. I'm not a very "political" type of person but Ken Follett has a way of intertwining historical and political events with fiction to make the book more readable. Now I can't wait till his next one comes out. I have a hard time putting a good book down so I must say I'm glad to have finished reading it...now maybe I can get some work done!!!

The King's Speech

I really like Fiber 1 cereal so when it came on sale last month I bought 3 boxes. Inside the box was printed a free admission colupon to the Cineplex Theater. Last night, armed with two of our coupons we went to the Cineplex and said we wanted to see "The King's Speech". No problem, they took our coupons and gave us 2 tickets!! A free show...WOW!!!

I found the film rather interesting. The whole time I was watching I kept reminding myself who was who and how they are related to the present Royal family. I had never heard before that King George VI had a stuttering problem so when I came home I looked it up in the encyclopedia (I know, I'm old fashioned, but that's how I was taught!). I was specifically looking for reference to the stuttering and to how he died...I do remember he died quite young and that Princess Elizabeth became Queen, but there wasn't much info in the encyclopedia...so now I'm going to look it up on the internet and see what I find.

AWANA

Yesterday we went to watch two of our grandsons compete in the AWANA Bible Quiz. Our granddaughter hadn't wanted to compete but when one of the coaches told her that one girl couldn't make it and they needed one more girl her age to compete, she reluctantly agreed to compete. She ended up having such a great time that she already told them she's going to compete next year!

The competition is made up of several age groups. Each age group has two sections to compete in. One is a multiple choice and the other is a speed quiz...much like Jeopardy, complete with buzzers. I was so proud of the grand kids, I'm not sure I'd be willing to go up in front of a church full of people like they did! When the points were tallied our granddaughter's team won 3rd place in their division and the older grandson's team won 1st place. The other grandson's team didn't place, but I was still very proud of how he handled himself. Way to go kids!!!!

A Different Get Away For Us

Last week we were fortunate to be able to go to one of our parks and get a free cabin rental. It sure is different packing to stay in the cabin rather than taking our trailer, which is always 80% packed. I always manage to forget something, but we "make do" and have a good time.

On the weekend our friends (whom we met camping) came to visit us. D & M are such faithful friends and whenever we're anywhere even close to them they come to visit us. We always have such a good time laughing and visiting with them!

One of D's hobbies is making jewellery and I am quite often the reciepient of some of her creations...she spoils me!!! This time she gave me a pendant and a pair of earings which I've gotten many compliments on.

Here's a couple pictures.

Too Busy to Blog

It's bad when you don't have time to blog...but that's been my life the past couple of weeks. We've done the RV show, got Mom more carrots and other supplements, went to three "free breakfasts" at the local casino (two were "typical Chinese breakfasts" to celebrate the lunar New Year) my friend and I set up the tables, made centerpeices, and stuff for the Secret Pal draw for this month's Women's Ministry meeting, made cakes for the meeting and my Wednesday ladies' bible study group, started a new couple's bible study, went to a funeral and in between all that I made a bunch of cards and packed to get away for a week. No wonder I'm enjoying the peace and quiet now! But we're still busy going to the casinos down here to get our "free" money and checking out where the best exchange rates are. Tonight we came down to the clubhouse so I could check e-mails...haven't been on the computer for about 5 days. Whoever said that retired life would be dull and boring, sure didn't know us!!!!