Cove, Oregon

Tuesday and it's back to work, well kind of. I was up early and we were in the office at around 08.30, a bit of a wake up call for me. Luckily Lynn included me in his office morning ritual and I arrived at the office with my book and coffee with hot chocolate mix in it,in a travel mug. So I spent my morning reading (Judy had lent me a few books to read, I was doing this to avoid reading the book I had brought with me, "A Tale of two cities"). Judy and I went out for Mexican at lunchtime, Lynn was busy and isn't a big fan of Mexican food. I can't get enough and the food would be enough reason to go back to San Diego.After lunch we went to a local hot springs resort, not quite the same as the onsens of Japan but I got to fill my lungs with the wonderful sulphur smell of rotten eggs. Joy! Hot Springs Lake also includes a foundry, artist's studio,spa and eventually a bed and breakfast. It's on my list of places to stay in the future.

Then we had a quiet evening at home, I wasn't feeling terribly energetic and had gotten into the habit of going to bed early and getting up early. Well, early for me.

The next was a red letter day, little did I know it. The morning was quiet and then I went out to lunch with Dean. When he heard my request the previous day to go to a gun shop, he decided that he would be the best person to take me. Since he has a personal relationship with the gun shop owner, no one argued with him. We went to the gun shop first, Dean wandered behind the counter and started handing me rifles. They were a lot heavier than I had expected and there was one that I really liked the feel of. It's maybe something that I could get used to!! We then moved onto flintlock rifles, which some people still use to hunt with. In fact in the shop was one of Dean's friends who do so. Interesting guy. Then Dean started handing me pistols, all unloaded of course. One of the last guns I got to handle was a small 38 pistol with laser sight. You point and shoot, sounds very easy.

We went to lunch at a local bar called "Bud Jacksons", one of the places to go in La Grande, quiet on a weekday lunchtime. Dean is an interesting guy, definitely a product of his environment. It's really easy to think that the way you live is the only way or the "right" way to live. It isn't necessarily so. We are all the products of where we were born and how we were brought up. The challenge is to explore other ways to live, not necessarily to change how we live, but to have the option to change, to be open to change. I am not sure if I am open to change, but I do think that I am exploring my options. That's a start. On the way back to the office,we wandered over to Dean's house, which was on the way. I got to see his trophy room,aka the sitting room, complete with a huge stuffed, mounted elks head and his "shop" in the back garden. Dean ran his own metal work shop and still keeps his hand in in his back garden shed. I say shed, it's double the size of the average Tokyo apartment. I also got to meet his two dogs, a Corgi and a German Bird dog, so cute. I miss not having my own pet.

We got back to the office and the day just kept getting better. Jamie had set up a target out the back of the office so I could practice with his 22 rifle. He loaded the gun and handed it to me. I hadn't expected to be so nervous, I was shaking and my heart was thumping so hard that it proved hard to hold the gun steady. It took me several minutes to sight the gun before I was ready to shoot. My first shot ever hit the target, not only did it hit the target but Jamie said that in a competition situation I would get points for the shot. I shot ten bullets, hit the bulls eye three times and all shots hit the target. I was really pleased, if a little slow in taking my shots. Jamie then decided to step it up a notch with a higher caliber gun, a small 38 pistol. This was a lot heavier than the rifle and didn't have a scope on the top, so I would have to sight just using the notch on top of the barrel. He shot a round first, of course he hit the target. I didn't. I think the pistol was too much for me and I completely missed the target. it didn't matter, I still had a huge grin on my face. As nerve wracking as it was, it was a lot of fun. I don't think I can ever see myself going hunting, but shooting a gun at a rifle range really does appeal. I'd start with a small rifle then work my way up to a bigger calibre gun, but no semi or full automatics. Just one bullet at a time!

After my day I didn't think that the day could get any better, I was wrong. Lynn and Judy started a fire in the fire pit in their back garden when we got back, we were going to cook dinner over it. Then I got to cut the lawn on the ride on mower. These things are great!! It has a clutch, brakes and gears. There are so many levers and handles to pull, as well as the steering wheel of course. I was really slow as I didn't want to damage the mower, but Lynn said I did a good job. And again the smile continued to be huge. Judy prepared some chicken and vegetables and the pot was put over the fire. While we were waiting for dinner to cook we sat on the deck drinking Chai tea lattes with a shot Pendletons whisky in. Pendleton is another small town near La Grande. The lattes went down very smoothly. We retrieved the pot from the fire and had dinner, which was delicious, in the house. Judy and I returned to the fire and made smoors,composed of gram crackers,roasted marshmallows and Hershey's chocolate. It was a warm night and the fire made it even better. As it was still early Judy and I jumped into the hot tub and relaxed our cares away. However do not feel sorry for Lynn, he was inside watching the baseball game. I think the Mariner's were losing again.

My last day in Cove arrived bright and early as all the others, we had been having beautiful weather. We started in the office and then Judy and I went into the surrounding hills to Morgan Lake. We sat in the sunshine and chatted, there are worse ways to spend a morning. We picked Lynn up and went into town for lunch with the Kiwanis club. The Kiwanis club is a local organisation that helps under privileged children and is a group that Lynn and Judy have supported for years. Lunch was a lot of fun, to start all the members say the pledge of allegiance and sing the national anthem. Then everyone has to fill in the others on what they've been up to since they last met. This included me.Then they get down to business. Very cool.

After lunch we rushed back to the office to do a few last minute things and then it was back to the house to change cars. There was still one car that I hadn't ridden in yet and Lynn was going to correct that on my last night. We went to the garage and Lynn and Judy pulled the covers off the Dodge Challenger, a 2008 limited edition challenger. This is a sexy American muscle car, when I look at it I just want to jump in and stamp my right foot down and go. This feeling was so strong that I knew that it would not be a good idea for me to drive this car. I would probably kill myself in it. Judy graciously gave up the front seat and off we went. Lynn started off slow and told that he couldn't drive the car too fast due to the presence of the local police, then he proceeded to stamp down his right foot. The car leapt forward and I was thrown back in my seat, with another massive grin on my face. I hope you're sensing a theme here!! We got into town in one piece and went to Mt. Emily's ale house for dinner, we were joined by Jamie. I didn't know what beer I wanted to drink so I started of with samples of five, then decided to have a pint of what everyone else was drinking, the I.P.A.. I was a little surprised that beer was served in pints here, drinks are normally served in ounces or quarts. I don't know how that relates to pints size wise, I still working on converting Fahrenheit to Celsius.

We wandered around the La Grande block party, two of Lynn and Judy's neighbours children (they have eight ) were playing, so we watched them. We also bumped into a few people from the Kiwanis club and Dean and his wife Cathy. There were free hot dogs on offer, I declined and settled for an ice cream as desert.Lynn and Judy decided to head home but it was a little too early for me and Jamie offered to buy me a margarita, so I stayed in town. Jamie and I both decided that Tequila on top of beer was probably not a good idea and we went to another local watering hole,"Benchwarmers" for another, well for me anyway. Jamie was driving and had had his one beer of the night.It was a laid back beer, the beer was great and the bar staff funny. After two more beers I was done and I didn't want to arrive back at the Kidd's too late, Jamie gave me a ride home. He is a really good guy.
Lynn and Judy went into the office the next morning and left me at home to pick peaches and pears to take to Andrea's house. I also got my things packed up and when I was done sat on the deck and read a little. As soon as Lynn and Judy got back it was all go, the car was loaded up and we headed off to Idaho. The drive took us out past Baker City and east to the Oregon state line. I didn't know it but Idaho is in a different time zone and is an hour ahead of Oregon.