Summer Vacation in Bellevue
 

The main goal of the vacation time was to make progress on Annie's attic bedroom (now that she's going off to college!)  The room got painted a very, very light purple.  The floor was prepared for vinyl, and we not only got the floor finished but we used two ropes and four pulleys to "sway up" all her furniture.  I insisted on tying the knots. Nancy was at a loss to know how we would get the heavy rolls of vinyl up to that room.  I said we should just send it through the large unfinished interior window in the "gym" and across to the attic landing.

Who do you know that has a 14 foot diameter trampoline on their second floor?  Ours was vertical in the picture below so Nancy could use the floor to carefully cut the vinyl.  After the success of Annie's room, Nancy and Annie decided to begin working on the floor in Jeannie's room while she was away at camp Firwood.  At the close of August they are still working on the plywood sub floor and Jeannie has picked out the shade of light green she wants to paint her own room, and the dark green accent color.

Also during these vacation weeks, Nancy turned 51.  And what did her husband of 25 years get her?  An early warning infrared  motion detector.  One night in August, about 4:30AM, someone tried to open our family room door!  Nancy got up in time to see a car turn around in the cul-de-sac.  So now we leave more yard lights on, wire closed the "people gate" at night, and Nancy and I installed her present.  If a person walks into out yard (day or night) an audible alarm goes off in our master bedroom.  I am quite prepared to use deadly force to defend my family.  

I admit that I considered Nancy's looks at 25 and imagined what she'd look like in later years.  She looks great.  Susan baked the cake and wrote "51" in blueberries.

The other big part of my vacation was taking care of Sadie, the Smith's Golden Retriever.  For two weeks I read with her in our yard, took her for walks, and fed her.  She'd be wildly frisky for a while but then she'd calm down.  I got more kisses from Sadie in two weeks than I've gotten from Nancy in . . .! 

The Sleight cabin on Lake Cavanaugh is due north of the big island at the west end of the lake.  I rowed east around the point of the cove to shoot the mountains beyond the east end of the lake.

A Day at Lake Cavanaugh   Saturday the 26th, Don and Judy invited us all to their cabin on the shores of Lake Cavanaugh, northeast of Arlington.  It was something of a family reunion with my sister Laurie and her husband Tom Kleespies visiting from Maryland. My mom and dad and Randy were there, as were Debbie and Lance Ellis with "Timothy Albert" (due in September).  Ginger and Susan Rutherford even stopped by.  Some sailed, rowed, canoed, swam, or wind surfed, and all ate.  Their cabin was inherited from Judy's parents. It has been a summer gathering place for different combinations of Sleight's and others for many years. [LEFT]  Sister Laurie wind surfs in light air.  I gave up this sport after my second try years ago. Balance is a gift. Nathanael paddled the Hobie Cat sailboat back [RIGHT] with Susan at the tiller when the wind failed.  It is much waterlogged since Nancy and I sailed it before we had kids.

Sable (Don's elderly dog) and Grandma Jean sat across from each other in complementary poses.       Mom moves very slowly now (when she moves at all.)  Yet she remains cheerful and loved seeing all four of her kids together.
Randy the golfer.	Laurie and Nancy, High School friends
Annie took over as photographer when I took to the water.  Another 90 degrees and I'd have done a full forward summersault. I made a good splash though and it sure made me dizzy!         Laurie knew Ginger Rutherford long before I did.
	I can't do much about the thinning hair but I continue to have hope that the big belly will shrink one of these months.  Note the right eye squint -- a permanent trait for me in bright light.
Debbie is the center of attention with Timothy due in a few weeks.  Lance and Debbie married last summer and at their age wanted to waste no time in starting a bigger family.
My crew are very photogenic.  I though it would take them an hour to paddle out and around the island.  They got to it in five minutes. We have a canoe and two kayaks ourselves but hardly ever get the canoe out and have yet to get the former SPU owned kayaks into the water.  They remain affixed to the rafters of our huge garage.

At SPU, Computers Dominate the Month
 
Early in the month I prepared the three-year-old computers for sale to faculty and staff.  At the end of the month I receive and set up eight new systems for the lab.  On the 30th I took my annual trip to Fry's in Renton and to the Boeing Surplus Store in Kent. Among the usual odds and ends, I got an oak computer desk that's now in my SBE office.  

I continued to study for the MCDST exams and to update my BUS 1700 Spreadsheets course (which Annie will be taking at 10:30AM on Tuesdays this coming quarter.)

Quote from July:  My quote last month was prompted by the July 12th to August 14th war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah -- fought to a draw I think.