New Puppy, Steamboating, Summer, Etc.

Once again it's been months since I've written a new post. I'd like to say time just gets away from me, but it's more likely that I'm just not very disciplined when it comes to blogging.

The beauty of skipping several months is that this will be fairly short, and I'll just hit the highlights - because that's all that I remember.

Ok, the highlights -
First we have a new puppy! Maddie is a sweet chocolate lab who joined our family the first week of June when she was eight weeks old. We love her to pieces, but have had to make a few adjustmenst in our household. Maybe I should say the other pets have had to make the biggest adjustments. Baby gates now keep Maddie safe and sound within the confines of the kitchen. Hmmmmm, that seems like that might be something Abbey, Captain, and Tucker are not so crazy about. Used to having free reign of the house, they are now stopped by gates they don't quite understand. Not only that, behind those gates resides a very rambunctious, small chocolate brown puppy. Abbey is very patient when confronted with a small puppy that jumps continually and tries to engage her in play. Captain avoides her at all costs, and Tucker has moved from sheer terror to now stealthily sliding under the gates and into the kitchen at every oportunity. He so very much wants to be friends with her, but puppies being puppies - Maddie is a little wild. Tucker tries his best to be calm and make friends, and Maddie tries her best to engage him in play by chasing him around the kitchen. It's never dull that's for sure!!

Maddie's best friend is her litter mate JJ - adopted by Tim and Lou. JJ is a beautiful, sweet, black lab. The two girls love playing together - and run themselves to complete exhaustion. Good for the pups - and good for the parents. Tired dogs make for happy parents :).

Since Maddie requires a lot of time, and isn't able to go anywhere until she is four months old and has had enough of her shots to keep her safe, we are concentrating on what we are able to do here at home and in Portland this summer. That translates into lots and lots of steamboat rides on the Tortoise. Dave has scheduled two groups of people each Wednesday evening, and three groups on Saturday for the entire summer. Hopefully this will mean we are able to accomodate just about everyone that would like a ride - or we would like to have come with us. We started with a list of about 100 people, but are finding more and more people that would like a ride. As long as the weather holds out, and all is well with the boat, we will take anyone that would like a ride.

This past Saturday was especially nice for us - we were able to have two of our oldest and dearest friends and their spouses on board. Sparky and her husband Glen, and Reineer and his wife Jackie were our guests. Sparky and Reineer had not seen each other since Floyds funeral 23 years ago, so it was a very nice reunion for the two of them. We talked about Floyd, and how much he would have loved the steamboat. We laughed as we remembered his strong opinions and ideas - and he was always right. A good friend who is very much misssed. I'm sure he was there in spirit! Sparky's new husband Glen is a wonderful man - we couldn't be happier for her, or like him any more than we do.

This coming Wednesday we have a group of Katie and her friends on board. Katie and Matt, along with Mary and her husband Charlie, and Mary's parents will be riding. Dave and Myles will be on board to take charge of the engine room, steering, and any of the other mechanics that need looking after.

Saturday's boat ride will be with Greg and Charisse who will be coming from Seattle, along with Charisse's boss Deb and her husband Keith. They will be riding with Charisse's Mom Johanna, Stepdad Sam, brother Dylan, and her Dad Bruce. Sean will be along to crew - can't do it without him! After the ride is over we'll be doing a BBQ at our house. We'll be grilling salmon for our entree, and will probably have a nice salad, good bread, a vegetable of some type, and dessert. Of course wine and beer are usually the beverages of choice to accompany the meal. For those not drinking we'll have sparkling water, lemonade, and some type of pop.

We've been really lucky this summer as far as weather goes. We have had weeks and weeks without rain - and plenty of sun. Yesterday it clouded over and finally sprinkled during the night. Today was overcast most of the day, but is clearing up tonight. The 10 day outlook starting tomorrow is for sunshine and high temps - 80's - all the way. Woo hooo!!! We're all loving that!

I said this was going to be short - and it's longer than I thought it would be so I better close here. I'll try to be better about writing - but I make no promises. Since no one reads this - it really doesn't matter anyway. :)