April 2 (2015)

4-14-15

Gayle, Doris’s daughter, and her sixteen year old son Kenny arrived Friday afternoon. They live near Portland, Oregon.

Kenny was in Eureka for attending Autocross.  

Autocross is a form of motorsport that emphasizes safe competition and active participation. An autocross is a timed competition in which drivers navigate one at a time through a defined course on either sealed or unsealed surface.

Racing is done against the clock rather than other cars. The course is marked by traffic cones.

Friday evening the cars were checked out and Saturday the participants attended classes.

Sunday was racing day. There were all kind of cars. Kenny asks one of the drivers whether his mother could be a passenger in his Tesla. The driver took Gayle along on the race.

Kenny drives a regular car. He was the youngest driver.

He was very careful and did not knock down any cones.

Drivers had to compete three times.

Drivers had to do the course three times. I stayed for one race and then went to the jetty.

Across the bay are many meadows where milk cows enjoy the green grass. This is dairy country.

I took a short walk in the dunes. It was a pleasant, sunny day.

In the evening we went to a Chinese restaurant and had a very delicious meal.

4-19-15

This was a busy week. We are attending classes with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The institute is part of the Humboldt State University.

Doris is taking a class called: Arthritis in Our Community. It is an interactive discussion on arthritis presented by health care professionals. It includes an aqua arthritis exercise class in the warm water pool. Doris loves it.

We both attend , What is a Healthy Diet These Days class. We also took a class last week about last nights concert of the Eureka Symphony.

Because of the university there is a lot of art in Eureka. There are many galleries in town and the Eureka Symphony has very good musicians.

Last week we also went to the theater and saw Death by Design, a funny murder mystery.

Doris sold her fifth wheel trailer and truck last week and we had to clean out both. Doris was depressed and emotional. She wanted to sell both but had a hard time doing it.

I took Nicolette and Jacob out for lunch to a Mongolian restaurant in Arcata, and then we went to a Yogurt place where you serve yourself.  Besides yogurt there are all kind of candies and fruits to add to the bowl.

At the Arcata Square the kids of course climbed the tree.

The weather is better than I had expected. I have to wait for summer. I was told it is foggy a lot of days.

This morning we went to Gill’s by the Bay for breakfast.

After breakfast we drove to Arcata where they have Godwill Days. It is the Spring Migration Bird Festival.

They had birds of prey on display.

Vendors sold equipment needed for bird watching and organizations made the public aware of the danger the migrating birds encounter. Woodcarving was done at the event and there were also workshops for woodcarving and field trips to the marshes and other areas.

A small hawk was having lunch.

In the evening I walked down to the boardwalk and watched the tall ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain come in the harbor. They are here for a few days and today they took people out for a battle between the two ships.

I would have liked to see them come back under full sail.

4-26-15

This was a strange week. I worked very hard for two days and accomplished nothing. I tried again to move the motorhome on the concrete slab beside the garage. I removed one side of the gate and cut down the four by four post. Now I did not have to enter on a ninety degree angle. I still did not have enough room. So I removed a four food section of the fence and cut down another post. I was so sure that I could make it, but the motorhome is too long and the alley very narrow. In the past there was no fence on the other side of the alley and Doris could drive on the neighbor’s land and back in her trailer.

I also removed the potting shed, which is in front of the motorhome, to gain another two feet. It got me in a little more. While getting deeper on the slab the wires for the telephone and the cable for the TV were hitting the roof air conditioner. I raised them ten inches. Nothing helped.

I had to bring back the motorhome to the storage place, and have now to find a way to fix the wide opening in the fence and install the one side of the gate. The posts I cut off where in the concrete slab. I cannot install another post. Both sides of the gate are seven feet wide and I have a seventeen feet gap.

I probably have to add to both sections of the gate.

Nicolette informed me that she saw me dancing on television. A person came a few Monday’s ago to the Moose Lodge and took what I thought were pictures. He had taken videos though and the video was shown on the news at the local television station. On the same clip is some advertisement for the casino. My dance partner and I appear only for a few seconds at the end.

To see the video click on: http://kiem-tv.com/video/celebrating-seniors-club-called-friendship

Yesterday morning Eureka had their Annual Rhododendron Parade. It rained Friday evening but we were lucky it did not rain on the parade.

I took Nicolette and her friend to see the parade. Jacob went with Scott and the two dogs four wheeling in the mountains.

It was a long parade but because of the mild winter all the rhododendrons were gone and only a few other flowers were on the cars and floats.

Shafer’s Hardware had a beautiful float.

Renner Oil was good too.

The Shriners are always fun to watch.

The High School Band had many fans.

Doris was walking with the AAUW, the American Association of University Women.

Army Reserve and Veterans were also represented.

There were plenty of old cars and bands.

After the parade we picked up Doris and the four of us went to Rita's Mexican Restaurant for lunch.
In the evening we went to the Grange in Bayside for dinner and dancing. Members of the Friendship Circle Dance Club outnumbered the locals.