Vacation Part II

After the picnic we left Olalla and headed down to Vancouver to visit Oli's Aunt Jane (dad's sister). Generally I would say that pack-rat and super organized are mutually exclusive but she is the exception. Jane keeps all her newspapers and goes through them to cut out all the articles that people she knows might be interested in. She also keeps anything else that could be useful to herself or others in the future. Though she doesn't keep things like bolts and screws, she really does keep only stuff that really is pretty useful. She is what all packrats aspire to be and aren't.
So we picked up some smaller items, yard tools, sprinkler, light fixture, Oli's birthday present and a few other things I don't remember. Later Oli will probably take the truck over to pick up a bookcase, coffee table, matching card table and a few other larger items. She has some of the most beautiful furniture. A lot of it was made by Oli's grandfather, who was a very good woodcarver. She also has his woodcarving tools and Oli will get them someday, he is hoping that at least a smidgen of that talent is genetic. She got Layden a stuffed duck, which he likes, but he liked the plastic bag it was wrapped in even better.
Oli, Jane, Bob and I went to a Italian restaurant for lunch. Layden decided it was a good time to test out his vocal cords and did a good bit of yelling. Maybe he will be a politician, he seems to enjoy the sound of his own voice.
Then we finished the drive over to Husum to see Oli's parents. We had a nice visit with them. Oli and I built a little rock path across the creek to replace one he had built that was washed away in the flood. Oli caught quite a few crawdads and I caught one after I screwed up enough courage. Layden thought it was quite interesting and really wanted to touch it. Layden also really liked Tess but Tess quickly learned that the only way to avoid a mauling was to get up and move whenever he got close. They both got a lot of exercise.
Oli, Frank and I shot some clay pigeons but I did not do as well as the first time, beginners luck I guess. Layden now has a beautiful lambskin that Joy tanned for him to take naps on. It is wonderfully soft and he seems to like it. She also had a new Possum puppet made that he seemed to enjoy. She is making a whole line of roadkill puppets. There will most likely be some pictures of Layden in the book on fur tanning she is collaborating on. I told her to put a picture of Layden on the cover, definitely boost the sales.