Week 34 -  Oregon City - August 22 to August 29, 2022

This was not the best of weeks............on the Saturday before week 34 began, Warren tested positive for Covid.  Fortunately, we all (except for Holland and Copeland) have been vaccinated twice and boosted twice) so we knew that if we contracted the virus, we wouldn't suffer severe death...maybe easy death but not a severe death.

Copeland tested positive next.  Then on Tuesday, Dad tested positive.   On Wednesday Holland tested positive.  But....surprisingly Whitney and I tested negative.  Dad spent most of his time in bed sleeping.  I worked outside and applied numerous applications of herbicide to blackberry plants in the Woods and on the Slopes.  Didn't go anywhere ...oh, I went to Woodburn to buy more Crossbow herbicide as there was NONE in Oregon City or nearby towns.  No kids came over.  No dinners at Warren's.  Jessica was gone to Utah taking Camile to BYU.  Bev was involved in prepping to move and for Hood to Coast.  

V e r r y   s l o w.

On Friday, as I did my walk in the woods, it seems - or so I felt - that I was a bit weak......hmmmmm....did I have covid.  So I used one of the free test kits provided by the US government - thank you taxpayers) and....upon seeing my negative test, I immediately began to feel better.  

By Friday afternoon Dad had recovered and was busily mowing Jessica's grass so she wouldn't be freaked out when she returned from Utah.  And we ate dinner with WWHC

On Saturday we had Abby, Clara, Jude, Ruby, and Jane because their moms were gone and their dads were at Ape Caves on a Ward Youth Activity.  We had fun with the kids.

The Deck Resort opened featuring Clabby's Restaurant

The manager of the resort had to reiterate swimming protocol

Jude was a contented patron

After lunch everyone got an ATV ride over the entire circuit through the woods....which means going on the circular trail that goes over Malcolm's Bridge.  

One activity was a Treasure Hunt featuring sandwich size bags of bulk candy from Winco.  There were five bags, one for each child.  I carefully hid the bags in the woods.

1- in a stump

2- under a bridge

3 - in a hole of a tree trunk near the ground

4 - next to an old log lying on the ground

5 - in a cedar tree with six trunks.

Now, granted, I tried to make it easy enough that the kids would be successful, BUT THEY FOUND ALL OF THE BAGS IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!  Clearly, the hunt was too easy.  Next time, however, there will be more difficulty involved.

Before:  Clara is holding a paper with written clues.  Jane is counting on her giraffe to help her.

 

After:

In the afternoon, Jude went looking for the Grossnickles.  The girls all went to Louthan Acres and played on scooters.

About 3:00 I went to the Slopes and started cleaning out the creek between West Slope and Far West Slope.  I took out two trailers full of dried branches.  There are two tree trunks remaining.,  I'm going to have to have some help cutting them into 24-inch pieces that I can rope and pull out.  Interestingly, underneath all of the dirt and trunks, there is water flowing.  In one spot the dirt has broken up, and I can see the flowing water.  Will be interesting to see how the area "cleans up".  Jude helped me load one of the trailer loads.

Next week school starts for Tyler, Logan, Abby, Clara.  They are all at ACA.