Empty Nesting?

Polly and I took a sneek peek at empty nesting. We dumped the kids on Grandma and Grandpa Smith and went to the beach for the weekend. We stayed at Fort Stevens near Astoria.

The wreck of the Peter Iredale is still visible after more than one hundred years.

 We didn't have reservations at the campground, but lucked into a 60 foot pull through spot that had just had a cancellation. Our 14 foot Westy looked a bit out of place.

Fort Stevens was a coastal defense battery which was used from the 1860's up until after World War II. We spend most of a whole day visiting the museum and exploring the batteries.

We visited the Columbia Maritime Museum at Astoria. It included a tour of the Lightship Columbia, which was moored next to an active duty Coast Guard ship.

The Peter Iredale wasn't the only wreck we discovered. This one was fairly recent.

Getting away for a bit was nice, but it was good to get home. Our nest won't be truly empty for a long time.

Some baffling anniversary facts . . .

• I've been married three times, but divorced only once.
• I married my current wife 25 years ago, but we have only been married 19 years.
• The mother of my child from the first marriage is the the same as the mother of my other children.
• Of three possible anniversary days to chose from, August 20th is the one my wife has to remind me of.
• The odds of having four girl babies in a row is 1 in 16, or just over 6%.
• Prior to the birth of Ann Marie, the odds of us having four girls in a row was 1 in 2, or 50%.
• Three little ones now call us Grandpa and Grandma . . .

Ken vs. the Vanagon

As a rule of thumb, when doing mechanical repairs, I figure it cost half that of taking it to a shop, but also takes twice as long. The van was suffering from a head gasket leak following a very cold trip to Bend last Winter.

Before.

Of course, I always find more to work on than just the original problem. I ended up replacing the clutch, piston rings, rod bearings, and fuel lines.

On the stand, paint job by Ann Marie.

Putting it back in.

Of course, it wouldn't come back from the shop looking like this.

 

Doctor who?

Just goofing around. Took me about thirty minutes to make. Maybe something for the cousins to try . . .