Today is Sunday, my day off. Surprisingly, Jeff caused injury to himself that required a trip to the hospital. He did this yesterday afternoon, but thought it would be okay if he waited until this morning. For me, that was a good choice because i didn’t have to spend Saturday night in the emergency room. Instead, I’m spending Sunday afternoon in the emergency room.

In case you’re wondering, he jumped off his couch yesterday evening, after pulling the drapes for the night, and decided to jump to the floor and landing on his knees and elbows. Apparently, his right knee didn’t hold up like the other three and swelled up magnificently.

I took him to to the Good Sam emergency room after an entertaining discussion about which hospital we should visit first. There are many choices. Since I was driving, I had the deciding vote and chose Good Sam.

They took him back for an X-ray where he learned that his right knee bones don’t have any cushion between the separate pieces. Surprisingly, that’s not normal. They’ve probably been that way for years but didn’t make themselves noticeable because he’s never fallen on them previously like he did yesterday. Now we know.

After his X-ray they returned him to the waiting room and let him think about this problem for about 5 minutes before they took him out again for an unknown reason. I suspect it’s to see a bone doctor who wants to tell him he needs surgery to put it all back together again. I’m guessing he’ll have an immobile right knee for 8 weeks before he can drive his car again. That means I’m going to have to find a way to get his vehicle to the emergency room parking area so he’ll have a place to stay during this time. Either that, or I’ll have to take him to all his appointments which will number in the dozens. The obvious solution is for me to transport him as needed.

After a few hours, and 3 MRI’s they determined that he had a bad sprain, put a new super brace on his leg, and sent him home. Now it’s up to his doctor in Scappoose to make the arrangements for him to get the surgery he needs to fix the bones on bone defect.

We were both hungry but decided to go home and eat there. We had a lively conversation on the way home. We reminisced about things we shared while he was growing up. We both found it interesting to discover we remembered old events the same.

After dropping Jeff off at his dwelling, I went home down the hill where a little dog was waiting for a trip around the block. He’s such a good little guy. He was home with Lydia and she walked in around the yard, but he needed that trip around the block. I let him lead and allowed him to sniff everything that got his attention for as long as he wished. It took a while for this trip, but he was happy and that’s what pleased me. He earned it.

After the walk I went shopping. I got too much for the small box I chose for my goods and dropped pieces of it all the way to the car. I nice young man followed me and picked them up as we went and helped me get it all in the car. It’s good to know there are still good people in the world.

Now it’s time to go to bed. I’ve been spending the last hour watching a Chinese serial TV show. It has subtitles so while watching the action you have to read what everyone is saying. It’s very difficult for me to do that so I just watch and make up my own dialogue and play it in my head. Kinda weird, I know. With that admission, I must quit before I start revealing all my secrets.

Good night.

To start, yes, Jasper celebrated his 6th birthday yesterday. His mother, Jennifer, adopted the chosen Big Foot theme for the celebration which made Jasper very happy.

I was told that the Bigfoot in this photo was an attendee’s husband but it kinda makes small children wonder, don’t you think.

It was a small party of children, but Jennifer told me there were about 40 people in attendance so it was successful to the extreme. Point of interest, the little girl to Jasper’s left, whose name I cannot divulge, because I don’t know it, is purportedly his girl friend. I believe it’s a mutual attraction.

Walking Max around the block reveals many treasures every day and this is one of my favorite. Max and I have monitored the advancement of daffodils that litter the edges of this yard and proudly announce that Spring is coming. I don’t know if the owners of this yard read this blog, and that’s OK. If they do, then they can rejoice in the joy they give to an old man, and a little dog, as they visit them every day.

I’m happy to see the days getting longer. It’s been dark too long. Cold, too. It was 37 this morning when I got up so Max and I will bundle up before making our rounds.

Rain is a good thing unless you’re out walking in it without your raincoat. Then it gets messy. I’m just talking here, not from experience anyway. I always have my raincoat on if there’s just a remote chance it will rain. Max couldn’t care less. He’ll go outside no matter what the weatherman tells him.

Lydia has a vegetable garden growing on the dining room table. It’s only on the table when the sun isn’t shining.

When the sun comes out she makes me take it to the yard. That’s a lie, of course. She doesn’t make me do stuff I don’t want to do. Taking the farm outside is exercise, and as everyone knows I love to exercise.

That’s another lie. The day isn’t starting out very good here. Maybe I should back up a minute and compose myself before I wind up in deep kimchee.

Here’s the farm inside. Once everything is planted outside, there will be a jigsaw puzzle there.

Here’s the farm outside.

It’d evident that she’s got things growing nicely. Now all she needs it a spot to put them when they crawl out of those little trays. It’s amazing how quickly they grow. Not everything is poking out of the soil, yet, but it won’t be long. Today is her last day off so I expect there will be a flurry of activity to get them in the ground.

One of Jeff’s friends has a mess of railroad ties so he’s bringing some over a few at a time so the wild acre by the shed can be beamed and excavated. That’s the perfect area for the flower garden Lydia wants and which Grandma Diane will love. Diane wanted to put a deck of some sort out there but we never got to it. Lydia has plans to make a sitting area surrounded by flowers where one can sit and listen to Milton Creek sailing by on its way to the Columbia River. That will be nice and Diane will love it.

Only two days left this month then we can turn green as we find our way to the ides of March, then St. Patrick’s day. I’m a tiny bit Irish but I can’t say I celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I looked him up and leaned that he was quite a guy in his time in the 4th Century. I’m going to wear green every day in March just for him. That, and to keep helpless from pinching me just because they can.

I thought our weather was going to change her a little, toward the cold stuff, but it only seems to manifest itself for us in the evening. Once in a while I’ll see a vehicle in town that obviously came down from the mountains surrounding us because of the snow decorating their roofs. We’ve had none, so far. But, Winter isn’t over. Yet.

That’s Max in his red rain coat. He doesn’t like this one much because it has a hood. He’s not a fan of hoods, it seems. So, I button it back so it leaves his head free. I took this on one of our walks down by the river. He likes it down there because I take his leash off and let him run free as often as I can. He’s interesting in that when he;s on his leash he gets very aggressive with mig dogs, but running free he’s everyone’s friend.

This is where he likes to hang out when Lydia is home. He’s her book rest. When she’s eating, he sits on the leg rest and stares at her the entire time she eats. He never gets any of it, but he’s watching, just in case.

Lydia’s garden is growing like crazy. She planted so many things that I suspect we’ll have to buy another lot so she has some placed to plant all of them. There’s 72 little cups in each of the containers and every one of hem has something popping out of the dirt. That’s 360 cups of stuff. She’s ecstatic about being a farmer and can’t wait to get them all in the ground.

You can see that the creek is way up and running hard, sweeping over what is normally dry rock on our side.

Here’s another look at it.

Sorry. I got carried away and gave you two of the same view and I can’t delete either of them. If you click on the photo it should blow up to full screen and give you more detail. If you want, that is.

Now I will stop and get on with my day. There’s a plan in my head that insists that I clean the house. There’s may also be a note on my calendar that indicates I should do that. Diane filled our calendar with stuff like that before she left. Now I must abide.

Have a good day.

The snow hit the high spots, but not our back yard. That’s not a complaint. Just an observation. There were lots of vehicles in the valley with many inches of snow on their roofs that came off the surrounding hills. They do that just to gloat, I’m sure.

The plan for Max was for Jennie and the Littles to accompany us down to the river for our walk. It’s a new Saturday ‘thing’ we started last Saturday. It’s good for all of us, especially me. I think some of the people I meet when I go around alone with Max think I whacko because I talk to him. Sometimes he answers me.

He doesn’t actually use his voice, but he is very expressive with his eyes. Once in a while as we progress I’ll feel a little tug on his leash. When I look to see what’s going on he stands there staring at me with his pitiful look which tells me he doesn’t want to go up the street, he wants to go across the street. Most of the time I bow to his wishes, release the tension on the leash and let him lead. It’s very comical.

Also, when I’m sitting in my chair watching TV, and eating popcorn, he’ll get in my lap and stare at me with his stern eyes that mean he wants a kernel, too. If I ignore him for a little bit, he will lift his left front leg and tap me on the knee to see if I’m paying attention. The first tap is once and if I still ignore I’m, he’ll double tap. Then, of course, he gets his popcorn. It never fails. I’m such a pushover.

Tight now I’m thinking about taking him out for a wet walk. I’ve mentioned before that he loves being wet because that means he’ll get buffed off with a towel. He loves that. I’ll just keep him close to the house for this first one and take him downtown for the finale. I just might stop at the Columbia Theater for some popcorn for later. He loves theater popcorn almost as much as I do. It’ best when fresh, but it’ still good a few days down the road.

Lydia has been busy growing a garden. Well, she’s got all the starts going. Each of those containers has 72 cups that she planted with every flower under the sun, almost, and a plethora of vegetables. Eventually they will be moved to real dirt somewhere around the house. The. The idea was to plant them in the far right corner of the yard that is currently occupied with a very invasive bunch of foliage that Diane would love to see go away. She used the containers to plant them first because she thought she’d have time to get them in the ground down the road. But, they are growing like crazy and she will need to be planted very soon. We’ll see how that goes.

Max had his walk in the rain now I’m going down to meet Jennie and the Littles for another walk. Kids will be playing in mud puddles along with Max. Should be fun.

Depending on which weather forecast you watch, we may get snow sometime tonight. Gresham already got some, and Lydia said it snowed on her when she drove to Portland today. Seems late.

I haven’t got much to share although it’s been 4 days since my last post. You’d think something happened during that time. It could have, for sure, but I could just as easily forgot what it was. It’s times like these that make me wonder why I bother writing a post that has nothing to say. Makes me feel obligated to give you honored readers something to read. To you, I apologize.

The days are cold. I took Max to the river and it rained on us the entire time we tromped around down there. He was happy, though, because I let him run free. He likes that and tends to try close to me all the time.We terminated the trip earlier than planned and he didn’t complain. He didn’t even care if his window was down.

Last night Lydia and I watched the final episode of the Marvel avenger movies. We had to stay up until midnight to do it, but we got it done. I paid for it though. I didn’t sleep worth a hoot. Know that’s true because my Apple Watch told me so. It jingled on my arm and gave me a message telling me what a terrible sleep score I had. I think it was in the 50’s. It also told me that getting to be at. Reasonable time would help. So, today I’m being reasonable. It’s 2200, and that’s reasonable.

If it snows at your house tonight, you have permission to remain home from whatever tasks you had planned. Me? I stay home every day. I do that even when I don’t have a reason.

Good night.

Oh, here’s picture of Max sleeping off his wet morning walk.

I’ve been out of touch lately, but had to come back and recognize that it’s time to spread some love around. So, take what little you can from this, and pass it around.

Terry, Carolann, Cliff, and Susie rolled into town yesterday to visit Bethany Lutheran Church’s Annual Quilt Show (BLCAQS).

It’s quite a busy affair and there are dozens of beautiful quilts on display.

Some of the quilts are old heirlooms but most of them are new creations by very talented ladies. Diane has quilts that she always took to share, but I totally missed the need for me to get them there.

There’s always food, too. Chicken Noodle Soup, Clam Chowder, Egg Salad and Chicken Salad Sandwiches, and a vast variety of pies and cakes. I made fudge for the dessert sale. I guess it was good. I made another batch for the 2nd day (today) in case they run out of My Fudge.

I’m sorry I failed to get photos of people eating but I was too busy eating. I did, however, get this photo of Valerie working hard at the raffle table.

After visiting the display, me and our Winnebago Friends returned to our abodes where some of us took their nap while others walked a busy little dog. I missed my nap, but Max was happy to drag me around the neighborhood for a while. He’s such a good little critter.

We found an area above the moor age where he can run willy nilly off leash. I find it funny that most of the photos I take of him are from behind, as he walks away, but rarely of him coming back. But, he always comes back.

Last Thursday I gave Max a bath in the deep sink and he was really happy about that. It’s been a while and he was in dire need of a cleaning. Now he’s nice and shiney again. He tolerates the bath, but his favorite part is getting dried off. There’s something about a towel that really gets him excited and he lines right up for his rub down. Funny guy.

Yesterday, after the quilt show, the Winnebago Folks wanted to visit The Farm On The Roof for supper. This venue is located on top of a building in downtown St. Helens. They started out in a food cart at The Lodge in Scappoose and Diane and I went often for their Smash Burgers. The food cart name is Pig, Cow, Spud which gives you a narrative of what they serve. It’s all good and I highly recommend them either at The Farm, or one of their food carts in Scappoose or St. Helens. They also have a presence at the Wildwood Golf Course. They are popular people.

I’m sorry I didn’t get a shot of Carolann in action, but hers didn’t show up right away. Top to bottom is Susie with her small cup of Chili, Cliff with his Brisket Spud, and Terry with his Plain Old Spud with butter and cheese. I got a bowl of chili that I couldn’t eat and Carolann got a turkey bacon sandwich. It was all good.

Now, as I sit here, Max is making it known that he hasn’t been outside yet and it’s time to get busy,, Therefore, I must go and get busy.

See you later.

Yes, the Seahawks beat up the Patriots quite nicely today in Super Bowl 60. That’s all I have to say about that.

I spent the afternoon at Jennie’s & Daniel’s because that’s where the food was. It’s also where all of her family was. So it’s understandable that we may have missed a few plays due to the noise happy families make. The age range for those in attendance was 4 to 28 for the kids. The two little were very quiet for most of the game before they drained the batteries on their tablets. Then they commenced to race around the house like little maniacs. They are very happy little guys and they made a joyful noise.

At one point in the game, the two oldest participants got into a heated discussion about something I know nothing about because I wasn’t listening to them. But they got quite loud and they were right next to me. They weren’t mad at each other. They were just having fun with their disagreement.

Jennie made a bunch of bread for the event, as well as more than one choice of chip dip for those who abide. I don’t know why but all I had was a couple cups of soda and a piece of pizza. I love her bread, but her bread doesn’t like me so I take it easy on that favorite food of mine.

I take that pack. I had one of these macaroons. It was the brown one which was maple & bacon. I limited my treat to one of those but could have easily gobbled up all of them. I’m sure the colorful one were equally delicious. I believe she said one of her friends makes them.

I went home happy after all that.

I’ve been absent for some reason. I’m sure I could figure out why, but that would be cheating. Therefore, I will proceed like normal and just start writing and see see what happens. Sometimes I manage to come up with things that really happened.

So, today is Saturday. I just returned from walking Max down town. It’s raining so Max got to wear his rain coat. I would have taken a photo but forgot my phone at home. Doing that is forbidden, I know. I’m supposed to haft my phone with me whenever i leave the house so those who track me can find me should I fall down somewhere.

I got myself a new Apple Watch. My Fitbit no longer charges so it became an anchor on my left arm. So, I decided to go big. I got the Ultra model at Costco a couple weeks ago. Perhaps I’ll figure out what all the buttons are for in a couple of months. It’s quite amazing. Yesterday I found a feature that allows me to share my location with anyone that has a phone so I chose Jeff, Jennie, and Lydia. Right after a I did that, I took Max out walking. Shortly thereafter Jeff showed up beside me. I was surprised. He said he was notified that He could track me but he wasn’t sure which Jerrie it meant. You see, he has a daughter names Jerrie, oddly enough after me. She’s also named after Diane. Her full name is Jerrie Anne Diane. It’s confusing at times when we’re in the same room and someone calls Jerrie’s name because we both respond.

Anyway, when Jeff got the notice to track Jerrie he had to find out which one so he went looking. We were both happy to learn that it works nicely.

I think I have.my phone programmed to call 911 if I fall down anywhere. Apparently there’s a feature that can track the impact. We haven’t tried that one, yet

Yesterday I drove myself to Hillsboro to attend my scheduled VA Doctor visit. She sees me once a year, whether or not I need to be seen. Her name is Lisa and she’s been my primary for years. Since most of my doctor visits are because of an injury that requires emergency room access, I don’t need to see her often. We just revisit things that happened over the year. Since it’s all in the records, I don’t have to remember all of it. Before Diane left, she would always make me a list of things to talk about with Lisa. Now that I’m on my own, there’s some concern about what I should tell her. For those of you interested in my health, my A1C is 6.6 which the doc said is “really good.” What she left off that statement is, “for someone your age,” The only thing wrong that I told her needed treatment is my increasing urinal time. Yes, I spend a lot of time at urinals, whenever I see one. I think there’s something going on with my domammy whatsit gland. Can’t remember the name right now, but it will appear eventually. I’m petty sure the name starts with an ‘s’. Nope, not an s. It’s the prostate gland. Yeah, that’s it.

Hi Everyone. I’ve given up on sending Letters to Diane because she hasn’t responded. I honestly didn’t think she would so it wasn’t really disappointing, it was confirmation. I’m sure she’s busy up there. So, I’m just going to send these posts to everyone like I used to do.

I missed out on an opportunity to get a post out yesterday like I had planned. A few days ago I was looking forward to it because it was 2/2/26. I know. That’s kind of lame, right?

Nothing of significance happened over the weekend except for dwindling nature of my brief encounter with an internet interlude.

It all started with a apparent miscommunication on her part, like a wrong number. I’ve been known to talk with wrong number callers for extended periods of time so I figured this misplaced text might be another opportunity.

It was all very innocent until she got to the part where she broke the news that she’s making tons of money with online trading. She thought she could help me do the same thing. It actually sounded interesting, but I didn’t really think it was legit. I was skeptical.

She called herself Charlotte and she lives in Los Angeles. Since the area code for her phone number was Vancouver, BC, I questioned her about that. She mentioned that she’d told me early on in our texting that she spent some time in Canada, which she may have, so I let it go.

The first thing she had me do after connecting us, was to sign up with “Signal”, a texting app kinda like TikTok she said. So I did, and I kinda liked it because it wasn’t cluttered with anyone but us.

Then it segued into her making money by trading and wondered if I’d like to do it too. She said she was more than willing to help me learn how she does it. I said, “sure.” I mean, what could go wrong?

Then I had to download the SoFi app on my phone so she could help me set up an account. There was just a little talk about money, like I should have a minimum of $5,000 in my trading account. Since I have no savings, that wasn’t going to happen, so I stalled her out while looking for a way to fund it.

She finally got tired of waiting so I did as she asked and got in to my SoFi account and sent her screen shots as she directed me. I was ok with it until she wanted a shot of the screen where money could be sent to my account. This concerned me because that screen showed all the account numbers, and info about the bank.

There was a long pause after I sent her my concern, wondering why it was important that she get that information. After a long silent pause, she explained that those numbers meant nothing to her. My response was to ask why she needed them if they meant nothing.

Another long pause.

She tried her best to explain then told me I could set that part up myself if I was OK doing it then we could get to the investment part where she would need another screenshot.

I ho-hummed a bit and she suggested that my lack of funds might mean I’m not cut out for this kind of training. I agreed and suggest that since I’m old, new tricks are difficult, so let’s just be friends.

That was 2 hours ago and she hasn’t responded so I guess I’ll have to go looking for another girl friend.

Jennie will be happy to hear about this because she was truly concerned that I was going to get myself in trouble. Now she can rest easy because I actually did OK, and I’m back on the market. I think yesterday she asked me if she could set me up on a dating site. I agreed, giving her permission to left/right swipe as she deems proper. I’m really curious about what she winds up with for me. Time will tell.