July - August 2016: More Beach House and Family Reunions
I returned to Joel's from the Rogue River white water trip. On Saturday he and I drove over to Mulino to visit cousin Ron and Annette Engle. We left and stopped at Tammy D's Cafe for lunch. Aunt Lucia was our next stop. We had a good visit with her and remembering times gone by.
On Sunday I picked up Terry at the Portland Airport. He had flown in from Palm Springs. We drove back to Smyrna just in time to taste-test the poutine offerings that will be sold at the Smyrna booth at Mt. Angel's Oktoberfest in September.
The next day we drove to the beach house for a couple of days. Our project list consisted of building new planter boxes to replace the ones that are finally rotting away and refinish a wood coffee table for the living room.
Planter Boxes
For the new planter boxes, we went to Ace Harward and priced cedar 1x6 boards. The extimated cost for 2 new planter boxes was $175. We had to rethink that price.
As we were walking out of the store Terry saw 6-foot cedar fencing boards for a fraction of the price and that is what we ended up getting. We put them together with stainless steel decking screws which had star shaped heads. A special drill attachment was included in the box. This is a security feature so thieves can't unscrew the boards and steal them.
The cedar will turn a pleasing shade and not require painting.
Terry, standing between new and old planter boxes.
Elaine cleaning up the mess from building the second box.
Tom measuring twice and cutting once
Joel and Tom next to old planter box
The plants have a great view of the ocean!
Refinish wooden coffee table
We had an old wooden coffee table that was in need of sanding and refinishing. Joel got a new vibrating sander which Elaine and Terry used to remove the old finish.
Elaine removing dust after sanding
Elaine applied many coats of poly-urathane on the newly stained (fruitwood) surfaces.
New appliances
A new Keurig coffee maker was donated to the beach house. It really came in handy when we wanted a cup of coffee at the end of the day. It was also used to make a cup of coffee while impatiently waiting for the coffee maker to finish brewing a pot in the morning.
An anonymous donor replaced the old white refrigerator with an new black one. The top refrigerator compartment is easier for older people to access,
Dining room chairs
Richard loaned the beach house a set of six dining room chairs that he inherited from Grandma Nellie. We bought cushions that will allow us to sit longer while eating meals. The wicker dining room chairs that they replaced were brought back to the valley.
We are keeping the rawhide pioneer chairs for more seating. Some of the "webbing" needs to be tightened up. Or nip and tucks on the bottoms that sit on them!
Mark's visit:
Our friend Mark Cooper (from West Linn, Palm Springs and San Francisco)
came to visit on Wednesday.
Joel and Elaine's wedding anniversary was celebrated with lunch at the Black Fish Cafe in Lincoln City.
Kitchen upgrade
Plans and ideas and drawings for a new kitchen layout were worked on. The goal is a more functional design with more storage and counter space. A stacked washer/dryer would go in the chapel bedroom along with the hot water heater. These plans will be shared (and enhanced?) at the beach house annual owners meeting this Fall.
Family Reunions
The Daniels and Yoder family reunions are taking place this long weekend. The Daniels started out with their camping experience at Beyer Lake, Thursday through Sunday.
On Saturday, the Yoder cousins (Roberta's and her siblings children) met at the Molalla Area Historical Society's museum buildings in Molalla.
l-r: Marvin, Anne, Annette, Barbara, Nancy, Marie, Clinton, Elaine.
The Dibble House was the first part of the tour. It was built by pioneers about the year that Oregon became a state.
(l-r: docent Iris, Barbara, Terry, Marvin, Nancy and Anne)
After the museum, the cousins drove up to Beyer Lake for lunch. l-r: Kristin, Jon, Anne, Nancy, Tom, Marvin, Barbara, Marie, Terry, Diane, Annette.
Later on up at the lake, we sat around eating that evening's meal: burrito and taco bar.
My twin brothers Jim and Richard.
Jamie (married to Kate) and their son Alex
Great aunt Elaine with the newest Daniels: Violet Jane Humphreys.
Catching big crawdads with nets.
After several dozen were caught, they threw them back into the lake.
Kristin's son Skyler swimming with his cousin Beth
Skyler, Bryce, Kristin, Beth, Celia, Kate, Jamie and Alex
On the second day's drive up the the lake, we stopped at Wilhoit Springs Park to get some Wilhoit Water. There are 2 mineral springs here: Sulfur and Soda. We filled up a jug of sulfer.
The kids made stained glass lamps using colored tissue paper on glass jars. They further decorated them with jewels, glitter and beads.
"Dishing up" the "Low Country Boil"
Dinner is served! Jim and family with Barbara and Linda's help boiled crab, shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn on the cob.
This was spread out on the long tables on newspaper.
That night we watched the movie The Princess Bride around a campfire. (It soon was dark). It also got quite cool (low 50's).
Yoder Reunion
On Sunday, the Yoder clan met at Smyrna Church for lunch and visiting. Joel presented a slide show of the Yoders through Smyrna (they built the church in 1891). These are my first, second and third cousins.
We posed for a picture of the Daniels siblings: Joel, Richard, Barbara, Tom, Jim and Terry.