First River House flower–about TWO inches tall

ANOTHER month bites the dust.  My, where does the time go? 

I slept in until SEVEN and logged nine hours.  I promised I wouldn’t overdue it until I got back in shape but that is just NOT happening.  There is sooooo much to do; everywhere I look something needs doing.

It was nippy this morning with the temperature just above freezing.  The house is nice and warm thanks to the geothermal system.  Not to mention the fireplace has been going almost 24/7 since we got home.  There is nothing like a nice fire.  NOT very green, or so “they” want you to believe, BUT very nice.

I logged on to PokerStars and had an interesting and fun $5.50 SNG.  I did manage to make the money and then lost all but TEN chips.  I tripled up to a whopping thirty bucks, and doubled up and doubled up and doubled up until I finally won and took down $22.50.  Fun!

Job one for me this morning was back at the burn pile.  Stoking felt good on this chilly morning.  I shook up the ashes and put on new wood and within minutes I had another roaring fire.  I’ve changed the dimensions from 100 X 30 to 80 X 40.  It is such a nice sunny spot; I think it will make the perfect garden plot.  Next was getting the trailer unloaded and stored at the lake.  When I park it next to the house it blocks the path to the garden.  Judith and I worked a couple of hours and finally got it emptied out and moved around three. 

Under normal circumstances the first flowers to appear here are dandelions.  When then come, they come by the millions.  Once they arrive other flowers start popping up with new ones appearing every day.   Today I was walking past Judith’s Studio, towards the trailer, when I looked down and saw the cutest little blooming flower.  I think it is a Jump up Johnnie.  Judith thinks it is a pansy.  It must have come from one of our hanging baskets.

My last project of the day was loading up the ATV for a trip to the doctor tomorrow.  It broke down a couple days before we left as and I have been using Judith’s since we got home.

Judith is amazing; she has been working like a dog to get everything put away before the neighbor girl arrives tomorrow to help clean. 

The burnings is all done except for the stumps I’ll dig out tomorrow.  Once I get back from town I’ll pull all the implements out of the shed and hook up the backhoe.  I really enjoy this ‘toy”.  By the time Sunday afternoon rolls around I should have all the stumps out and be ready to start digging the footings for the cement posts. 

Well, ANOTHER disaster near New Orleans.  Once again “our” government was asleep at the switch.  Policies were ignored by this administration as they left the heavy lifting to BP to solve the problem.  Not a word from Dah-bama for over a week and the lame street media continues to look the other way and give this guy a pass.  Can you imagine the outrage if this happened under Bush?  Ubetcha!

Snow on the Telkwa Mountains

The first e-mail I received upon our return to River House was from my brother, Ron.  Four little words; Welcome back to Paradise!  Ubetcha!

What a trip we had: six months and five days.  We drove TWENTY TWO THOUSAND miles, traveled in two countries, one Providence and SEVENTEEN states.  We went as far south as Flordia, and as far east as South Carolina, not far from the Atlantic.  We saw all our kids, grandkids and even our first great grandchild.  We had the pleasure of seeing most of our family and friends, experienced a few “firsts” and crossed many items off our bucket list.  AND the most exciting part is that we still have the wonder lust and will be ordering a new trailer to be picked up when we return to the Pendleton Fall Poker Roundup in November.

I was bushed last night and fought my way through the blog posting and was in bed shortly after ten.  The problem with that is I get into a crazy cycle of getting up really early and then go to bed early too.  I was up at five thirty and got the coffee going.  Judith insists I brew ten cups which works out OK as I drink iced coffee in the afternoon.  I did log on to PokerStars and failed to cash in a $5 SNG. 

My work day started early; I was out stoking the garden fire at seven.  I continued through the day and the burning part should be over TOMORROW. 

Judith was up at eight.  I cooked bacon and eggs.  The good news is I can eat anything I want at River House and lose weight in the process.  I returned a few pounds lighter than last year and I hope to be down to two hundred and fifteen pounds by June first.  Doable!

I opened the garage door shortly after I got up and put the battery charger back on the F-350.  I was beginning to think it was time to buy TWO expensive batteries when on about the fifth try it hummed to life.  I backed it out of the garage and let it run for a good hour; charging the batteries and warming up the transmission and engine fluids. 

Next on my agenda was calling my cousin, Dick Martineau.  I got an e-mail from his brother, Bob, a couple days ago letting me know Dick was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer.  Dick is near eighty and has been a role model to me and probably the one that influenced my interest in business the most.  He has done the research and is refusing treatment.  He is NOT experiencing any pain and has lots of family and friends to help him to the other side.  He will be missed; life marches on……………………..

A big part of returning and “opening” River House is making the trip into Smithers to get everything licensed.  While the people are wonderful at our insurance agency they can only deal with one auto insurance company; ICBC.  This is British Columbia’s Government owned auto insurance company.  Being non Canadian with cars registered in Canada and NO BC drivers license makes thing challenging, at BEST!  Judith having an accident in the US with our Canadian truck didn’t help matters.  Our insurance on the F-450, including the trailer, is less in the USA for twelve months that it costs to insure my truck, three years older, for ONLY six months here in CANADA. 

interesting cloud over the Bulkley River

After two hours at the insurance agency we headed for the liquor store to pick up two cases of beer.  I got one each of Sleeman’s and Canadian.  That cost a cool EIGHTY SIX bucks.  What made matters worse was I only got 97% on the exchange rate today. 

We saw LOTS of friends today and were greeted with enthusiasm everywhere we went.  The weather was really mild here this winter and everyone was in a good mood. 

I was going back into Smithers in the morning but changed that to Saturday morning.  Even though I plan to dash in and back out it always takes about four hours. 

Our first humming bird showed up this evening followed a few minutes later by our FIRST mosquito.  That prompted Judith to make sugar water and I put getting the mosquito machines working higher on my list.

Many more bites of the elephant will be eaten tomorrow.

Today’s job #1—burning!

My mind was screaming to get up at five and my body was saying…..five more minutes.  That five minutes turned into an hour and a half and I got up at six thirty.  Buddy hates this place and would LOVE to be back in the cozy trailer.  She came out for breakfast but disappeared minutes later and hid under Judith’s bed until mid morning. 

Judith was up at eight thirty and we had a bowl of cereal and discussed the day.  Job one for me was getting the burn piles going.  The batteries on the ATV, flat deck and Thunderbird were dead and I got the chargers going.  It only takes minutes to charge the ATV battery; however, it takes most of the day to get the F-350 charged enough to turn over the engine.  I took the F450 up to the shed and the tractor started on the first try. 

I was hoping that I could use the forks on the bucket to move the brush piles to the center of the garden for burning.  WRONG!  Try as I might the forks were just about worthless.  I ended up hand loading the brush onto the forks which slowed down the process.  Once the fire was burning nicely I returned every hour to put on a couple more loads.  If I keep at it the next two days that part of the new garden project should be toast.  Speaking of toast……………

I drove over to the garden mid morning and saw a pretty sorry looking green house.  The new green house just couldn’t hold the weight of the snow and collapsed three of the four sides.  That adds about three days of work to my already busy schedule.  Next I went down to the lower hayfield and found the “animal observation center” lying on the ground.  When I poured the concrete columns I didn’t use rebar and THAT was the problem.  I will be moving it up to the old garden before the hay starts growing.  It will make a much needed tool shed.

It is amazing how much stuff can be crammed into a truck and thirty one foot trailer.  Judith starting cleaning out the trailer and putting things in boxes by the door.  I packed them off to the house, garage, shed and to the River Cabin basement.  While she worked on that I started unloading the truck and trailer storage areas.  The table Judith bought at Pier 1 Imports was just too heavy for us to unload.  I called our neighbor Ed Weston and he came down within a couple of minutes.  It looks VERY nice behind my couch and the steelhead Doug caught and had mounted looks nice perched on top.  While Ed was down we talked, had a couple of beers and played pool.

Our new table with Doug’s steelhead displayed

Judith cooked one of her perfect soups for lunch and fixed cod for dinner.  We don’t go out to eat a lot while at River House and that is FINE with me.  I did the dishes and Judith went up to the new garden area and tidied up the fire.  It will burn all night and be still going in the morning.

We played our crib game after dinner and I won, making the month pretty much a LOCK for me.  Tomorrow will be more of the same; we do have to go to Smithers to get the cars and boats licensed. 

The sand hill cranes were moving north all day.  I heard ruff grouse drumming this morning and I’ve never see as many ducks on the lake.  The REAL treat of the day was I saw a pair of pileated  woodpeckers.  They were between the RV and back door.  I got a good look at them and there was NO doubt in my mind.  Judith was in the house but didn’t see them. 

My mind was screaming to get up at five and my body was saying…..five more minutes.  That five minutes turned into an hour and a half and I got up at six thirty.  Buddy hates this place and would LOVE to be back in the cozy trailer.  She came out for breakfast but disappeared minutes later and hid under Judith’s bed until mid morning. 

Judith was up at eight thirty and we had a bowl of cereal and discussed the day.  Job one for me was getting the burn piles going.  The batteries on the ATV, flat deck and Thunderbird were dead and I got the chargers going.  It only takes minutes to charge the ATV battery; however, it takes most of the day to get the F-350 charged enough to turn over the engine.  I took the F450 up to the shed and the tractor started on the first try. 

I was hoping that I could use the forks on the bucket to move the brush piles to the center of the garden for burning.  WRONG!  Try as I might the forks were just about worthless.  I ended up hand loading the brush onto the forks which slowed down the process.  Once the fire was burning nicely I returned every hour to put on a couple more loads.  If I keep at it the next two days that part of the new garden project should be toast.  Speaking of toast……………

I drove over to the garden mid morning and saw a pretty sorry looking green house.  The new green house just couldn’t hold the weight of the snow and collapsed three of the four sides.  That adds about three days of work to my already busy schedule.  Next I went down to the lower hayfield and found the “animal observation center” lying on the ground.  When I poured the concrete columns I didn’t use rebar and THAT was the problem.  I will be moving it up to the old garden before the hay starts growing.  It will make a much needed tool shed.

It is amazing how much stuff can be crammed into a truck and thirty one foot trailer.  Judith starting cleaning out the trailer and putting things in boxes by the door.  I packed them off to the house, garage, shed and to the River Cabin basement.  While she worked on that I started unloading the truck and trailer storage areas.  The table Judith bought at Pier 1 Imports was just too heavy for us to unload.  I called our neighbor Ed Weston and he came down within a couple of minutes.  It looks VERY nice behind my couch and the steelhead Doug caught and had mounted looks nice perched on top.  While Ed was down we talked, had a couple of beers and played pool.

Judith cooked one of her perfect soups for lunch and fixed cod for dinner.  We don’t go out to eat a lot while at River House and that is FINE with me.  I did the dishes and Judith went up to the new garden area and tidied up the fire.  It will burn all night and be still going in the morning.

We played our crib game after dinner and I won, making the month pretty much a LOCK for me.  Tomorrow will be more of the same; we do have to go to Smithers to get the cars and boats licensed. 

The sand hill cranes were moving north all day.  I heard ruff grouse drumming this morning and I’ve never see as many ducks on the lake.  The REAL treat of the day was I saw a pair of pileated  woodpeckers.  They were between the RV and back door.  I got a good look at them and there was NO doubt in my mind.  Judith was in the house but didn’t see them. 

Buddy started his routine at FOUR, I couldn’t stay in bed longer and Judith was up at SIX TWENTY.  I guess we were all REALLY anxious to get HOME! 

We were on the road by seven and no sooner than we got underway it started to RAIN.  We made the one hundred and fifty mile trek to Prince George in a little under three hours.  I was walking in the door at Princess Auto at Ten.  The parking lot was full with lots of folks buying things inside.  What I really wanted was a belt sander but they had none in stock.  I also struck out on a rebar bender but did get duct tape, cement finishing tools and a nice rubber mallet. 

Next on the agenda was Costco.  It took us almost two hours to pile THREE carts full with needed supplies for the upcoming “season”.  We had three boxes full of meat which we iced down before leaving Prince George.

We had a disappointing and expensive lunch before leaving PR at a Chinese place that has treated us pretty well in the pass. 

The closer we got to River House the harder it rained and that is something that we need here in this part of the Great White North.  It is just what the doctor ordered for me because I need to burn some slash piles and this rain dramatically reduces the fire danger.

We pulled into the River House driveway at a few minutes before five.  The first thing I noticed was that the willows had been literally ripped to shreds by the moose.  This is a good thing, especially if it keeps them away from the trees we planted several years ago.

We checked in with Louise, picked up our mail and said hi to Babe and Skookie.   I can’t believe Babe made it through another winter.  She is a tough old bird. 

We found River House in great shape with NO visible damage from a VERY mild winter.  The moose did take a nip or two here and there but NO real damage.  I’ll get out in the next couple of days and ride the trails to access any damage.

It is very easy to sit in the RV and make up things to do lists; it is something else to get everything DONE.  We have six weeks before our first guest arrives and I’ll need every waking moment to get everything in shape.  ANOTHER garden project is going to put me behind the eight ball.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time……..starting tomorrow!!!

Typical Wheat Ranches homestead

I woke up a little before six cold and with my head banging; not enough heat and too MUCH wine.  Job one was stumbling outside to change over the propane tanks.  Why is it that they NEVER run out during the day? 

Judith was up shortly after seven and we started to get ready for blastoff.  Mike left a few minutes after seven and I got to say goodbye.  Joann came out in her robe to say goodbye and apologize for forgetting dessert last night.  It was WAY too late and we were all stuffed.

Diesel in these parts is sure high; we filled up at $3.23 per gallon.  We had a small misfire when we turned the wrong direction on I-90 but made the correction and got back on track losing only five minutes.  Our GPS lady sure didn’t like our route selection.  If I had a dollar for every time she said “make a legal u-turn”, I’d be RICH.  The distance to Williams Lake was a mind numbing FIVE HUNDRED AND FORTY miles across back roads and through a border crossing.  The good news was we saw only a hand full of cars and the scenery was WONDERFUL.

The Columbia River not far from the border

We stopped in Colfax for lunch and I had a killer BLT.  We stopped there last year and had a good meal then too.  Colfax is only five miles from the border and we get to take a deep breath and talk about the crossing. 

In sales it is all about the last ten steps and the first ten words when you meet a prospect and this rule applies to many things in life including crossing the border.  There were only a few cars in front of us and they processed them with lighting speed; a good thing.  I pulled up to the window, shut off the engine and took off my sun glasses.  They LIKE both of these moves and it lets the agent know this isn’t your first rodeo.  Agents are trained to look at the eyes for any “tells” (signals that you are not being truthful) and many people try to hide those tells by wearing sunglasses….just like poker players.  This agent has checked us through before although I doubt if he remembered.  He asked the standard questions: booze, guns and anything to declare.  I handed him our declare list and he told us to park and go inside to pay the duty.  He was VERY pleasant and it took less than five minutes.  We parked and went inside and waited only a minute or two to get an agent.  This guy started off gruff and I thought he was going to make things difficult.  We had about fifteen hundred dollars of declarable items and that SHOULD have cost us $225.  While he was doing the paper work I pulled out my Canadian debit card waiting for the total.  To our surprise he said thank you and handed me an invoice that reflected ZERO tariff.  Go figure!!  We thanked him and made a hasty retreat to the door. 

It always feels great to be back in Canada.  I always feel the same way when we cross back into the USA in the fall.  I believe the word might be BLESSED.

It was a few minutes after noon when I calculated it would take ANOTHER seven hours to get to Williams Lake.  Yuck!  I asked Judith how she was doing and sucked down a FIVE hour Energy drink and settled back in my seat.  Three things were immediate apparent: NO one was on the road today, spring was already in progress AND this part of Canada is HURTING for RAIN.  There was VERY little snow on the mountains and many of the little lakes and ponds were only half full. 

We pulled into Merritt at three and fueled.  Diesel is 99.9 cents per liter, making it about $3.70 a gallon, US.  Welcome to Canada!  We hit Hyw 1 at Spence’s Bridge and the windy road part of our trip was behind us.  I know this road like the back of my hand and the forces REALLY started to pull me towards River House.

We pulled into Williams Lake at seven on the dot only to find out the Fairground RV Park was being refurbished and NO spaces were available.  We called another park and they were open and had space.  Thank you, LORD!

Once we were hooked up Judith warmed up fifteen bean soup and I poured a BIG martini!!  After dinner I won the gin game by two points.  Judith though little of my victory dance and I’ll be heading to the son-in-law closet for my last night on the road.

Costco, in Prince George, doesn’t open until ten in the morning and we should be there FIRST customers.  I’m planning on pulling into River House around three. 

Wheat fields–summer and winter—run from Pendleton to Spokane

I woke up with a start at 5AM from one of those crazy dreams that you hope and pray isn’t true.  It wasn’t and then the getting home juices started to flow and I gave up trying to get back to sleep. I jumped out of bed to greet the day; put on the coffee and turned on the Sunday Fox program just in time to catch the medical portion.  Dark chocolate is a GOOD thing and everyone should eat at least one bar a week.  What is it good for?  Who cares?

We had agreed to leave by nine and I threw a monkey wrench in the works when I decided to take a shower and we had to wait for the water tank to recover so Judith could take hers.  Staying at the Casino’s RV Park is dirt cheap unless you figure in your gambling loses.  With the poker comp the six day stay cost us only EIGHTY FIVE BUCKS. 

Not exactly a FREEWAY but beautiful!

Judith and I love to take back roads and today presented a GREAT opportunity.  The quickest way was is to take Hyw 84 to 82 to 395 into Spokane.  We opted to travel remote back roads through the Oregon and Washington wheat country and were rewarded with one beautiful trip.  The sun was shining, the sky was bright blue with lots of puffy clouds and the fields were a patchwork of greens and browns.  Throw in a few snow covered mountains and you can get a small idea of what we saw today.  It was worth every turn and bump.  I traveled this road forty five years ago when I made an annual chucker hunting trip to Asotin on the Snake River.  Many  of these little farm communities have changed VERY little in the last fifty years.  Memories!

We got to Mike and Joann Brandon’s house around two and parked in a nice area Mike set aside for RV parking when he built the house several years ago.  While Judith set up the inside and took a little nap Mike and I caught up on old times over a couple of beers.  Joann was working at the hospital where she is a nurse.  While we talked Mike prepared a prime rib roast for cooking then popped it in the oven at TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DEGREES.  He thought it would take two hours and miscalculated by about TWO hours.  It didn’t matter as we talked constantly until Joann got home and then we did a lot more of the same.  Brandon, their grandson who lives with them, joined us for dinner.  Brandon is a good kid and lucky to have such great grandparents that care so much.  They have and will make a HUGE difference in his life. 

Mike and Joann in their BEAUTIFUL kitchen

It was almost eight by the time dinner was ready and the wine was taking its toll on everyone but Joann.  Fresh asparagus, roasted potatoes and a nice salad filled the bill.  Everyone was too full for dessert.

Mike has a sales meeting first thing in the morning and we will be close behind and heading for the border.  It takes three hours to get to the crossing point and I hope to be there and cleared through by noon.  One never knows. 

Judith says when the trip gets close to ending I’m like an old horse heading for the barn.  Ubetcha!! 

I was up at day break and thoughts of all the things awaiting me at River House were dancing in my head.  All these months I felt pretty smug that I’d have a full month to get the new garden ready before the traditional planting day of May 1^st arrived.  Well spring has sprung in our part of the Great White North and things are WELL ahead of schedule.  There has been only one or two days with frost in the last three weeks and the grass is green and the trees are budding.  The Smither’s Golf Course has been open for three weeks setting a new record and the club has been around almost as long as Smithers. 

I turned on Fox and listened to the business shows.  The bottom line is NO ONE really knows in these crazy times what is happening or what to do.  Today one of the regulars thinks COAL offers the best investment opportunity.  Why?  According to him 70% of the NEW electric cars will get their power through the burning of coal.  Talk about green!!

I logged onto PokerStars and did manage to cash in a $5.50 SNG making a whopping profit of $3.50 for my hour of play. 

The plan was to meet Judy and Darrell at the Red Lion for breakfast at nine forty five.  We were there just about the time the buffet was ending.  The breakfast DIDN’T ring my bell, however, I did get to see a pretty interesting automatic pancake maker.  It looked like a copy machine.  You pressed a button and a minute or two later two pancakes came rolling out.  I’ve seen automatic waffle makers before but this was a first.  I can only imagine in is a nightmare to clean and doubt if we will see them as a common home appliance anytime in the near future.

With breakfast done the ladies headed for the Pendleton Underground tour and Darrell and I visited Hamley’s Western Store.  It has more interesting stuff than most museums and Western ware and items that will cost you an arm and leg and that would be just the down payment. 

After the Underground Tour the ladies were inexplicably pulled toward the Pendleton Woolen Mills store and ended up getting back to the park an hour later than promised.  We said our goodbyes and headed on our separate ways; them to Portland and we headed to Kennewick.  We decided to leave the trailer here in Pendleton rather than pulling it to Pasco.  The distance to Spokane is about the same from here and Kennewick so we decided to make the slower trip through the Washington wheat country.

I made a quick stop and at a pool and pond store in Kennewick; I picked up a UV light for my filter system and checked the Polaris store next door for a cool rack to carry weed whackers.  I saw one on an ATV here at the golf course and I’VE GOT TO HAVE ONE.  The girl in the shop knew what they were but didn’t have one in stock.  Bummer!

Next Judith and I split up: Judith and her brother Bob went to see an elderly relative and I went to see Alsie, Judith’s Dad’s widow.  Alsie and I had a nice conversation and got caught up on the last year.  She is Seventy Six, looks well and seems to be navigating through life.

Judith’s brother, Birthday Bob Parks

Next on the agenda was dinner to celebrate Bob’s SIXTY FIFTH birthdays.  Bob picked the Red Lobster a restaurant I’ve never been to.  His son Bobby and granddaughter, Jaclyn joined Nancy, Judith and me.  I grew up on the east coast and I have met a few good lobsters in my time.  There were live lobsters swimming around in a tank near the waiting area; a good sign.  The salad was very good but unfortunately the lobster pasta dish I ordered fell only slightly north of the edible mark.  I won’t be rushing back to Red Lobster any time soon!

We went back to Bob’s for a little Birthday Pie before heading home to Pendleton.  Judith took over the driving duties about half way home and got us back safely by ten thirty. 

We head off to Spokane in the morning then will cross the border mid morning on Monday.

Yellow headed black bird

Judith went off to bed a good hour before I did.  I stuffed the Puresleep “device” in my mouth and joined her.  Most nights I never move a muscle for at least six hours which is about all the sleep I need, minus a daily nap or TWO!  Two hours later I work up to the taste of PLASTIC and the worse case of DRY mouth imaginable.  The instructions say to get use to it gradually.  So be it!  I got a quick sip of water and headed for the son-in-law closet.  It seemed like only minutes later Buddy was doing her “get Ed out of bed act” and new day was off to a shaky start.

I turned on Fox and got the coffee going.  IF you don’t think “our” government is totally out of control, and has been for a LONG time, today’s revelations about the goings on at the SEC while Rome was burning SHOULD change your mind.  It seems while the Madoff Ponzi scheme was being ignored and our 401Ks were taking at least TWENTY top SEC officials were busy watching and downloading PORN off the internet.  I’m NOT talking mail clerks and low level employees here.  Twenty of the “dedicated” public servants were knocking down OVER 220K per year.  One attorney was watching and downloading for more than EIGHT hours a day.  An accountant made 1400 attempts to access porn sights in ONE MONTH.  To date no one was fired!!!  Maybe they don’t know how?  Let’s show them in NOVEMBER.  Vote out ALL incumbents and let’s get some folks in there that will hold government employees accountable.  I sure can’t wait till these clowns get their hands on Health Care. 

My poker world is getting uglier every minute.  I failed to cash in two $5.50 SNGs first thing this morning then went down in flames in two $95 10 man SNGs.  The first one lasted three hands and the last I busted out on the bubble.  I’ve decided that I’m not playing in any more tournament events; I’ve got birthday celebrations for the next two nights and If I was LUCKY enough to get to the money I’d have to miss the festivities and that is NOT going to happen.  I will play in a couple more SNGs to night and in the morning and maybe even a cash game or two.  Fools and their money soon part…………………

I talked to Darrell at nine thirty and they were already on the road to Pendleton.  He won’t make it here for today’s tournament but we will get to celebrate his birthday this evening.

How about that Army Lieutenant Coronel who refused to go to Afghanistan, for the second time, because he believes Duh-bama isn’t qualified to be President because he won’t produce his birth certificate to prove he is a US citizen?  I AGREE on the unqualified part and it has NOTHING to do with a birth certificate or skin color.  He doesn’t have a clue and IT SHOWS.  The good news is that the sheeppeople have awoken, and save for a few knuckle draggers, realize it is time to clean house, jack up the government and REPLACE the foundation.  AMEN!

Darrell and Judy drove in around two.  They said they were on the road for five hours; probably the GPS in his new I Phone caused the TWO additional hours on the drive up the Columbia Gorge.  After a quick lunch at the Mexican restaurant the first order of business was taking a nice walk up to the golf course and then the museum route.  There are a flock of yellow headed black birds hanging around the RV Park and golf course and they are spectacular.  When we got back Judith and Jude sat outside enjoying the sunshine while Darrell worked on Judith’s computer and I assisted from the recliner.

Darrell and his new toy–I Phone

Darrell insisted taking us out for his birthday and we met at Hemley’s in downtown Pendleton at seven.  The restaurant is spectacular and the food was excellent.  I won’t make another trip to Pendleton without eating in this fine establishment.  They have a very COOL wine cellar dining room!

Wine cellar dining room at Hemley’s

We were home by nine and Judith won the evening crib game cutting my lead to three.  I now lead 10-7. 

Several months ago I bought a product from PureSleep, a company that sells a device that is suppose to eliminate snoring.  Procrastination is normally not my thing but for some reason I didn’t boil and fit the mouth piece until yesterday.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, however, last night I got a pleasant surprise.  It wasn’t all that uncomfortable and the INCREASED air flow was amazing.  Did I snore?  I haven’t got a clue but tonight I plan to give it the “Judith Test” and if I wake up alone or in the son-in-law closet…….it didn’t work! 

I logged on to PokerStars and turned on Fox.  Duh-bama was down on Wall Street “laying down the law”.  How tough will he be on Goldman Sachs?  Let’s see…………they gave him a MILLION for his campaign and one of his White House ex-staffers just took a job as one of their mouth pieces.  More broken campaign promises.  Watch the other hand!

The poker Gods smiled on me this morning with a first in a $5.50 internet SNG.  With that win under my belt I got dressed and headed over to the poker room.  I signed up for a $65 SNG and won one of the $200 tickets.  The tournament started at noon and I paid the $215 and took my seat.  I played small ball poker for the first three levels and picked up two thousand chips over my 5,000 starting stack.  During the fifth level two back to back hands failed to pan out and I was out about mid way in the field of three hundred plus.  I’m getting trapped by trips (three of a kind) and I need to plug this LEAK if I want to make the cash in these tournaments. 

Judith was back from shopping around three and we headed out for our walk.  We made a loop through the golf club area to check out the driving range.  It is a beautiful course.  They have a mid week TWENTY dollar special.  It was a beautiful day in Pendleton; little wind with temperatures in the mid seventies. 

I finished The Fairtax Solution today and found it VERY interesting.  It is a quick read and I think EVERYONE that pays taxes should take the time to learn more about an alternative to the corrupt and expensive tax codes currently in force.  50% of all lobbyists spend their time and MONEY trying to influence taxes or lack thereof.  Two good websites to checkout are www.fairtaxnation.com and www.fairtax.org.  This can happen IF “we the people” get involved and make it happen.  Start with learning more about it and vote out ALL incumbents in November.  Trust people that are seeking the truth and beware of those who believe they have found it!!

Judith came up short again in the crib department and now I lead the month by FOUR.  Tacos were the ticket for dinner.  Good tortillas are IMPOSIBLE to find in the GREAT WHITE NORTH and we won’t be eating decent Mexican food for the next six months.

I took two seconds this evening in $5.50 internet SNG and added twenty bucks to my internet poker bankroll.  More live poker tomorrow.  If I don’t cash tomorrow I won’t play in the main event on Saturday.