Work on the Deck

In late August we were enjoying some very nice weather in the Hansville area. Brett, Kasey and Cecilia decided to take advantage of the great weather to come up for a weekend to sand and finish the deck before the winter weather arrived.

Kasey doing some of the finish sanding

Of course they also hoped to have some time to relax on the beach but you know how home improvement projects always seem to involve more time than planned. The deck preparation, sanding, and painting managed to take up most of the weekend.

Brett operating the heavy duty Sander

While Brett and Kasey labored to resurface the deck Nancy and I had time to enjoy Cecilia. Of course we took time to go to the beach which she really enjoys.

Brett works on the roof with observers

During the week that followed we were sitting in the dining room having breakfast when Ray saw a large bird fly from the back yard to the tree. Upon closer investigation we discovered it was a large barred owl that sat in the tree for a long time and even allowed us to go outside for a closer look and to take his picture. We often get to enjoy wildlife in the yard like deer, raccoons, squirrels and chipmunks but this was the first owl we had seen in the yard.

Barred Owl keeping an eye on us

Realizing that we sometimes needed a bigger vehicle than our Honda Civic we had been keeping our eyes peeled for a van. Anticipating travels with visitors spurred us to purchase a Toyota van while visiting Eugene. It did feel a bit strange withdrawing the cash from a drive through window at our credit union, signing over the title in the parking lot and within the hour heading to Portland to pick up our guests.

Our new to us Toyota van