Saturday, March 4
A few months ago, Ben mentioned that the fire station was going to do the annual crab feed again after a 2-year absence because of Covid. This was pretty much the last event we did in public before the world shut down back in March 2020.
At Ben's training meetings every Thursday, they would set aside some time to talk about and plan the event, you know...who was doing what, who was organizing this, etc. We put it on our calendar when we found out when they were officially going to do it. They actually considered not doing it anymore because it is a lot of work, and they barely make money off of it for their charities.
Mom got Yelm Dental to donate a basket this year. She works with the reps and often gets free items to try and take home. She gave me a couple electric toothbrushes and some whitening strips. I added some toothpaste, flossers and a couple manual toothbrushes to it to make it worth bidding on. It ended up going for $150.00.
The last crab feed they hosted in 2020, I was a paying ticket customer and sat with Mom, Dad, Trish, Amy and Ed while Ben worked the (alcohol) beverage table. Ben did the same job this year with Jed. Ben volunteered me and I had to be there around 3. On the way there, I took Rich Road to Ol' 99 and had to stop for the train. Lame.
I got into Tenino and parked on the street a block from the fire station. I wasn't sure what to wear but Ben ended up giving me one of his extra South Thurston half zip pullovers. I looked somewhat official like I belonged there, so I took the sweatshirt I wore back out to the Escape. I didn't want any extra belongings with me to lose inside the bay with all of those people.
This year I worked the (soda and water) beverage table with some of the chaplains, they were older, so I did most of the work, which I was fine with. I had a pretty good system going.
I had a giant cooler filled with ice with many different types of soda and water shoved inside. I had to constantly put soda inside, so it was at least cold when people asked for a soda. I took their ticket and handed them a can or bottle. We ran out of a few different kinds of soda and had to restock the cooler with ice.
There were six rows of tables, and each table were full of crab feed ticket holders. Mom and Dad arrived before Trish, Amy and Ed did, so they saved them a spot at their table. They came up a few times to chat with me and to see how it was going. It was sad I didn't get to visit with them as much as I wanted to.
A lot of people came and quickly filled all the tables and chairs. People brough their own butter melting kits, silverware and drinks. They walked in and out of the bay to go bid on the silent auction items. Ben had donated a pair of Costco Mariner tickets and they ended up going for $160.
As people finished up eating, Mike got on the mic and started the live auction. By that time the soda/water line soon diminished, and people had their full attention on the live auction items. Once the event was coming to a close, Mom, Dad, Trish, Amy and Ed, all thanked us, had a couple minutes of small chat and went home. I counted my donations people stuffed in the boot, when they ran out of soda/water tickets, and took the money to the girl who was doing the silent auction payments. I had to wait in line for a few minutes, but she got the money and quickly put it away. I cleaned up my area and asked Ben what the next thing was.
The fire crew started cleaning up, putting tables and chairs away, cleaning out crab buckets and consolidating food. As volunteers, we got free food and drinks. We were able to have as much spaghetti, salad and bread as we wanted, a bag of crab (if you liked crab) and a steak off the grill. I ate a lot of food that night, but it was so good! We all sat at the tables we left up and ate food with some random small talk. The kid across from me ate so much food that I couldn't believe we didn't have to roll him away from the table when he was done.
We finished up cleaning up and I told Ben I had to go so I could get started on cleaning up the rest of the house for Grandma's birthday party the next day. He thanked me for helping and appreciated everything I was able to do. I told him he was welcome and that I would see him when he got home.
The fire station ended up making more than they spent and the money they did earn goes towards the members and families of the fire station and to the local community. We will see if they continue the crab feed in the future.
I got home and started finishing the cleaning, got in a shower, Ben and I hung out for a bit and then we went to bed.
Sunday, March 5
I asked Grandma a few weeks back what kind of food and decorations she wanted for her birthday party. I also added that we couldn't have it on the day of because we had to go to the crab feed and she was fine with that. I asked her if she wanted to go to the crab feed and she said that crab really wasn't her thing and would pass on the invite.
I asked her if St. Patrick's Day decorations were fine, and she said yeah. Then she said she wanted various Chinese food for the dinner. I asked her specifically what ones while I was at the store one day and she listed off a few. I made a note of it and came back to the store when the day got closer. We really didn't have a lot of storage in the freezer to keep it all.
I decorated as soon as March hit with the few things I did have that were St. Patrick's Day themed and decided on a menu the Friday before the weekend. I decided I would make fried rice for everyone and get the food Grandma had asked for. I just had to make sure I had enough food for eight people and tried not to have that many leftovers.
That Friday, I picked up a bag of Honey Chicken, Mongolian Beef, Beef and Broccoli, Teriyaki Chicken and Orange Chicken. I tried to get a variety but had to make sure to get Grandma's Mongolian Beef. Man, were those bags and boxes of food were expensive! I also bought some stuff to make an angel food cake topped with strawberries, whipped cream and vanilla ice cream because that is also what she had asked for.
That morning, Ben and I got up, ate a small breakfast, finished getting everything done, brought the chairs in, started the fried rice, cooked all the bagged food and tried keeping everything warm for when people got here to eat food.
We dished up and I got lucky guessing the amount of food we would need because we did not have any leftovers except for the fried rice. We chatted while we ate, laughed and had a good time. Afterwards, we picked up our plates and got ready for presents, cake and ice cream. We sang and then dished up dessert for everyone. Grandma liked her presents.
Then it was time for everyone to head home to get ready for the upcoming work week. Grandma thanked everyone for food, presents and a nice time. Everyone went home and Ben and Doug helped me put tables and chairs away. I spent some time cleaning up the dishes we did use, a quick vacuum and we finished some chores we were doing earlier that day. We all got cleaned up and prepared for a long week ahead of us.
Happy 82nd Birthday Grandma!
Next Adventure: Nevada/Arizona Vacation: Traveling from Seattle to Las Vegas, 7 Colored Stones, Geocaching, Las Vegas Blvd, Fremont, Neon Lights Tour
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