Come on Dad, catch up.
So what have we been up to during the past month?
We started the month with Kathy hurting her knee getting in to the truck. The Doctor here in Bandon says that it is a “soft tissue” injury and she needs to be seen by an Orthopedic Specialist. As you can imagine there aren’t a whole lot of doctors here on the Oregon Coast. There is at least one very busy Orthopedic Specialist and we still have about 10 days to wait for her to get in to seem by him.
The weather this May has been much better than the past 2 Mays. Each of the past couple of Mays have been more rain than not. This May we have only had a couple of days with rain and then not all that much. Today has been our first all day non-stop serious rain day.
With Kathy unable to walk very far, Molly and I have been continuing my walks and her runs on the beach. We generally go every other day. We usually have Kathy drop us off at South Jetty and pick us up at Face Rock. The distance is about 2.5 miles for me and at least 3 times as far for Molly as she runs back and forth all over the beach.
I have really enjoyed my time the past two summers as a Lighthouse Host at Cape Blanco Lighthouse. The lighthouse uses volunteers from Oregon State Parks (OSP) 5 days a week and from the local Cape Blanco Historic Society (CBHS) 1 day a week for Lighthouse Host coverage. OSP coordinates 4 sets of volunteer couples to cover the 5 days. Knowing that they use couples, with Kathy not being able to stand that long, I contacted Greg the Oregon State Park Interpretive Volunteer coordinator for Cape Blanco Lighthouse to have him put me in touch with the CBHS. Greg past on my contact information to CBHS. However, as it turned out he also need some volunteer help. Due to health and RV issues Greg was short 2 sets of volunteer couples during part of the month. I gladly volunteered to help out Greg as a Oregon State Park volunteer and then also agreed to do some volunteer time with the CBHS. As I said really enjoyed my time as a Lighthouse Host. However what I hadn’t taken in to consideration was the commute. When we were on-site volunteers at Cape Blanco, our commute to the Lighthouse was a 3 mile round trip. From where we are staying in Bandon it is a 60 mile round trip! So, my 11 days of volunteering this month have put 660 miles on the truck and used about $180 of diesel fuel!! I need to rethink the number of days that I will volunteer for in June.
The only local birding group and volunteer opportunities actually here in Bandon is Shoreline Education for Awareness or SEA. Our friends John & Sue (currently volunteering in Homer, Alaska) were volunteers for SEA the past 2 summers. I went to their web page filled in my contact information and said I would like to be a volunteer. Apparently, they have all of the volunteers they need as I never heard back from them. As busy as I have been at Cape Blanco this month it may be just as well.
Molly Update: Because, apparently Molly doesn’t get enough Internet exposure she now has her own blog. Molly, the Golden RV Dog. I have enough trouble keep this blog up-to-date do she is on her own.
Nothing new to report on our search for a summer home here in Bandon. Very few properties have come on the market this past month.
