C'est la vie

Cat naps are not just for cats anymore.

There is a saying I'm terribly fond of ... "Make plans but don't plan the outcome."

The last couple of days have not been what I would have planned but the outcome has been great.

We got up Friday morning and decided to take a motorcycle ride. We headed north and  rode through Yakima, heading towards Rimrock. I absolutely hate the road just this side of Yakima as it has little dips in the road that you can't see with your eyes but my tires pick up it up and I feel like my bike is wobbling. It's a dreadful feeling for me so once we got past Yakima we decided to take a different route home. We drove up towards Chinook Pass, which my husband tells me is at something like 4,000 feet.  I nearly froze to death before we decided to turn around and come home. On the trip home, we drove through Moxee, which has a 4-mile stretch of road under construction and far too many signs that say "MOTORCYCLISTS: USE EXTREME CAUTION" due to the chip sealing they are doing. There was a bit of gravel on the road which can be just like walking on marbles when you're on a motorcycle. I only took one photo while on that 235 mile bike trip. Although it was beautiful at our destination, my fingers were too frozen to hit the camera shudder.

Gene ... catching grasshoppers!

When got off our bikes to stretch, we discovered hundreds of grasshoppers in the dry patches along the highway. Gene caught one for me but I couldn't photograph it fast enough.  

So ... here comes the unplanned part. We had talked about going for another ride on Saturday morning but while Gene was down in the basement, he heard water spraying behind our downstairs shower stall. Long story short, the problem was with the kitchen faucet and it totally changed our plans in an instant. Gene spent all day putting in a new faucet and when he went to turn it on, it wasn't letting much water out. Seems with old pipes, some of the sediment breaks loose and gets caught in the new plumbing going into the faucet.  Blah, blah, blah. He ended up taking the faucet completely out this morning, we ran it back to Home Depot for a refund and he got a different kind of faucet (less beautiful but more functional) and all is well now.  (Note: Home Depot rocks. They did not give us a moment's grief for returning the faucet.)

While he was cussing and twisting the wrenches, I did a little badly needed weeding in the herb garden, mowed the lawn, read a little of my book, took a nap in the sun, called my dad, and took Missy for a walk. When he was done with the plumbing job, I made him a big breakfast and hugged him severely for the awesome job he did in my kitchen.

We're leaving sometime early next week for an annual camping trip with great friends in Oregon. Last year at this same time, we were all set to go camping and a week before the trip, Gene ended up in the hospital in an emergency situation and after much testing received a stent in his main right artery.  He was bummed we didn't get to make the camping trip ... I was grateful he was still alive!  No matter if something breaks or plans get waylaid, things can always be worse.

Life is good. I think we needed an unplanned slow-down. 

love, susan

P.S. Isn't my cat just the funniest looking creature you've ever seen? He always sleeps with his arm over his head like that. Just cracks me up!