Mundanities.

This afternoon, we made some stilts. Cut up some scrap 2x4s, sanded, and teamwork-drilled a couple holes through the sides. Stuck some rope through, tied it off, and voila! She had a great time stomping around. Now I need a pair.

The boy, a little less adventurous, hung out in the playpen and caught up on some reading. Later, while his sister napped, I read aloud to him The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay/. We sat on the front deck in our white rocking chair in the breeze. He expressed his satisfaction several times by throwing up in my lap. Apparently he is a Michael Chabon fan also.

I was much too busy to play this evening, so I unbusied myself and we headed down to the sunny piers on the Columbia River. Grabbed some cold drinks and strolled along, watching old gentlemen, and a young couple loll in their lawn chairs with dangling fish rods. In spite of being firmly vegetarian, I am drawn to the romantic allure of fishing. What a great escape from honking horns and trying to beat yellow lights.

Although I happen to enjoy those sounds as well.

Washougal construction.

If you are near Portland or Vancouver, and looking for some nice spots to relax on the river, there are some great spots off the 15th and 32nd St. exits from Highway 14 East. The City of Washougal recently finished a pedestrian underpass that goes directly from downtown to paved walkways on the dike beside the river.

People complain about daytime construction, but we just never want to be inconvenienced by things getting fixed while we wait. We want them fixed while somebody else has to wait. And then finally, construction is over and it's great and everyone loves it. And the crew packs it up and moves on to the next project where people will hate them for interrupting their commutes. Incidentally, it was in this construction zone (between 15th and 32nd) that a very unfortunate incident occurred with Jeremy last year, involving a siren and flashing lights and exceeding construction zone speeds, which I will not go into or make any inferences.

My Dad.

I wish there was an easy way to video-track who was reading this blog. My dad called today and wanted help in finding it on the Internet. He was having difficulty, because the browser kept fouling things up when he was trying to correctly enter the address for this blog.

He is very good at a lot of things, like dentistry and construction and baking cookies. He is learning the Internet now. Good night Chief, hope you successfully make it here again someday.