Welcome 2008!

I did actually stay up and ring in the New Year in 2008! William was up and rung in the year with our neighbor's girls. They enjoyed the noise that the new year brings. There were quite a few ships in the river this year and so there were several vessel horns going off at midnight. It is fun to listen to.

I took the day off for the holiday (although I really should have gone in and tried to catch up!). The thoughts of going in was the start of our impromptu venture yesterday . . .

Bill loaded us up in the van for a Long View run. William took his bike along so we could stop in Clatskanie at the skate/bike park. He has wanted to try his bike in the park for quite awhile now and yesterday was his opportunity. He had a great time and Hy loved the park. Everything is well watered by our bug boy (as if it wasn't already from the recent storms that have drenched the area).

It was quite impressive to see the slide area. The homes (or what is left of them) are not salvagable in any way and there were piles of sludge, cars and debri against the roadside. It was very lucky that everyone had been evacuated, the power of mother nature is awesome. We are very lucky that we haven't had the slide damage in our town. Most people have dug out from the trees and the repairs have begun. I visited a friend last night and they have their new roof on, but it will be months before the interior is replaced. They lost about a quarter of their roof down one side and the rain came through and soaked 2 bedrooms upstairs and then drained through to their dining and living room continuing through to the basement. They have torn out all the lathe and plaster to the studs and are waiting for the insurance settlement before they can go further. We were indeed lucky in the 2007 storm!

The van made it through the trip and we feel we can put that chapter to rest.