Catching up...

I am so far behind.... but I have lots of excuses. The point of the blog is as an open letter to family and friends. Since we always seem to be running hither and yon, I started it as a way of keeping up with everyone and to share our crazy existence. The last few weeks have started a new phase of the ongoing debacle, we have so many projects going right now I hardly know where to start. It's Friday afternoon, it is 83oF in beautiful downtown Camas, Don's out squaw fishing, so I'm sitting on the deck, drinking my new favorite cheap wine, thinking life is pretty good. Since I don't tolerate heat above 70oF, this is about all I CAN do. Even though the list of things to do around here grows longer by the minute: the roses need cutting, the porch is a mess, I probably need to weed the herb garden (I'm afraid to look) and don't even get me started on the chicken coop! And those are all the outside projects! I started a separate blog for the chicken coop with the intent of updating progress daily. I'm a wee bit behind, but not as behind as the carpenter! There's a structure in place, it has walls (sort of) and roof tresses, but that's about it. And the chickens are still in the pantry. Good thing we found that U-Haul box!

But some things have gotten done around here. The herb garden is planted and thriving. The birds have made off with the cucumber sprouts (okay, that's a vegetable, not an herb, I know that) so we are over that idea, and the raspberries are still in pots so there is still more. Luckily, vegetable deliveries resume tomorrow from Storytree Farm. Anne and Nelson Lawrence are great people, who grow great produce, let us tromp around their backyard and pet their goats, and save us from having to get our own hands dirty! I'm working on them to loan us a goat to mow the neighbor's backyard. Stay tuned! Plus, Don planted a lovely flower garden up front from plants salvaged from Craigslist and the girls planted flow seeds so the place looks nice. We have a fine collection of hanging flower pots this year. My lovely aunt Nancy set some supper cool ones from England that are like hanging strawberry pots and Don found some others on clearance at the local hardware store, but they all need dirt and plants. (Oops, this was the paragraph on how many things are getting done here!)

As for the rest, I have come to accept that we are family of short attention spans. Although our TV viewing is limited to movies (much to Don's displeasure, I won't allow cable--waste of time, money and quiet), but we each are a product of the TV culture and have the attention spans to prove it. Sprinters we are. Sprinters who think every crazy scheme we can think of must be pursued. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Oops, new torpedo, different path, full speed ahead.

So for the month of June, we are pressing on with many campaigns. First, of course, the chicken coop. Damn if I'm going to spend the summer with chickens in the pantry. (knock on wood) Don has been working diligently enough on the enterprise. I'll try to get the chickencoopdebacle updated this weekend. Then, there's the transition to full time satellite office. That's probably the biggest news I haven't published here yet. After three years of trying to meld corporate cultures, the Starfish and the Spiders are going their separate ways to find corporate bliss effective July 1. Joe and I will be continuing our alliance as Mentor Law Group, PLLC, and the others will be continuing as something else. I'll be working primarily out of Camas. This will save the travel and related weekly upheaval (but not to worry, I'm sure some other upheaval will fall in to take its place--I have already discovered that to fly anywhere in Washington from Portland requires first flying to Seattle, hello frequent flyer miles!). It'll be a relief really, but I will miss the city and will probably still be in Seattle more than Don would like.

The other news is that the girls will be on the Gold Star Gymnastics level 4 team next year. They are both ecstatic! For the grownups, that means lots of time driving to and from the gym (3 days a week! luckily, there's a yoga studio nearby!), fundraising (cookie dough anyone?) and gym moms (this I can tell already is going to be THE most challenging part of the experience, to be the topic of many future blogs I'm sure)!

In the meantime, I got it in my head to train for the Escape the Gorge triathlon this summer (sprint distance only, I'm not TOTALLY insane) so I'm swimming or running or biking everyday as part of my 12 week couch-to-sprint program. No wonder nothing is getting done around here!

And for those of you who only watch the blog as members of the Cult of Mighty Puma, she's doing well. She was spayed a few weeks ago and now rules the neighborhood nightly. With the summer temperatures, we keep the bedroom window open through which she comes and goes at will. Her favorite place to hang out is on the roof, sometimes the very top roof (much to the delight of neighborhood kids). During the day, she sleeps in the office with me. At least until her brother George stops by for a visit to pick her up for their evening adventures. She's a mighty hunter, at least of flies and spiders. So far, she hasn't brought home any presents. And she's learned to leave the chickens and the honey bees alone, probably the hard way.

So I think that is all the news here this week. I'm sure there's more. I'll try to dribble it out more slowly in the future (and of course, with more pictures).