November | 2012 | Temporary Sanity ...

Diane was released from jail this morning at 0800. I was very thankful because she’s been locked up at the court house all week and the house is getting pretty dirty. I’ve managed to feed myself and it’s not as bad as it could have been because Diane pulled my travelling bib out of the car before she left. The laundry’s piling up, too.

But, shes home, and I’m thankful for that. I actually would have vacuumed but the rule about “using things that plugs in” was invoked prior to her departure, so that was ruled out as a viable activity in her absence. So, I had to make things up.

Since there was a 20% chance of rain yesterday afternoon, I bought some new tarps at ACE so I could adequately cover the motor homes parked out front. I got to see Jack, too, because he was working at the St. Helens store yesterday. It’s always good to see Jack. I was his designated driver after he got off work at 1700 because Wynette had the truck and she was in jail with Diane. Go figure. That was OK because we got to visit for a while and I got some free plants from ACE for Diane. They have a rack out front with a bunch of them on it that they are trying to give away.

This morning, before she was released, Diane called from jail telling me that I would need to get Jack to work by 0800 because she and Wynette were still incarcerated with no release date/time in sight. Since the call came at O-dark-thirty, I had plenty of time to get myself together before making that gruelling, eight mile trip to Scappoose, and back. Getting there isn’t a tough as getting back. That’s because Jack & Wynette live on a road to the west of Highway 30. That means it’s a right turn when heading south. To get home one must make a left turn onto Highway 30, crossing the path of all those insane people who drive from St. Helens to Portland, and from Scappoose to St. Helensa everyday for work. It’s a solid line of vehicles – I was going to say ‘cars’, but most of them are pickup trucks – with very few openings. Since I used to be part of that traffic pattern, heading to Portland, I know that most of them would do pretty much anything to avoid an accident that would cause them to be later for work. This bit of knowledge bolsters me after I’ve waited for a large enough opening, without success, for more than 10 minutes, and causes me to just close my eyes and jump out there. Most of the time I don’t even hear squeeling tires, or horns, because people expect this and, once they are past me, they are more concerned with getting into the left hand lane so they can spend the next 4 miles getting past the two people in front of them who won’t get out of the left lane and, for some dumb reason, are driving the actual speed limit. The nerve…

I got him to work right on time and he gave me another plant from the free rack. Since I was out and about, I went back to Safeway and got some coffee creamer, which I cannot survive without, and four apple fritters. When I got home at 0815 Diane was already there, but she didn’t want a fritter. She wanted bed because while in jail she wasn’t allowed to sleep for approximately 23 hours. The reason she wasn’t allowed to sleep is because here in Columbia County, those in jail during an election are required to count ballots. They do a good job, too, because if they don’t, they lose bathroom priveledges and will be forced to return to count for the next election.

Now she’s home, I’m home, the dogs are fed, the cat is out hunting birds, and I must do really quiet things until she wakes up. That’s why I’m doing this … my keyboard hardly makes any noise at all. The only danger is if I have to lean over to get a pen, or my coffee cup, I may fart. No, there’s no ‘may’ about it, I will fart, and the decibel level is low enough to carry through many doors eliciting the ever joyful, “I heard that”, from the east wing.

We don’t really have an East Wing. We don’t have any wings. We just have normal house rooms. I just like to say we have wings. Our ‘lower 40’ is the back yard, too.

I feel a bit of rowdiness descending on me so I better stop and take a nap so I can remain quiet like a fuzzy little mouse.

It’s been about five days since the last time I spent time here so you’ll have to forgive me for any errors, and untruths you may notice. There will probably be other stuff, too, but I have no idea what they may be. Only you can tell me, if you want to. And thank you to the 2 people who faithfully check this blog every single day. Bless you.

During that brief time the East Coast was inundated with extreme weather that buried some towns in sand, and swept others away. It was quick. It didn’t seem appropriate, during all this, for me to spout the nonsense that I do. So, I really do have some sense of decency that leaks to the surface once in a while. Probably not as often or as long or as I should.

The good news is that Ruth didn’t lose power throughout the storm. That was quite an astounding thing for a small town in Connecticut. Last I heard her home became a sanctuary for the family in the area that lost their power. I suspect that, had they all lost power, the sanctuary would still be at Ruth’s. That’s just the way it is over there.

Over here, on the left coast, things were incredibly mild as we watched the unfolding drama on the right coast. We feel blessed, and we feel sad at the same time. Very conflicted emotions. It will, however, pass. It always does. Everything gets better, then it gets worse again. It’s all about cycles. We cope.

Thankfully, the up cycles always seem to overshadow the down cycles which is why we are able to continue with our lives. That’s an opinion. Some people don’t cope as well as others because they dwell on the down side. I try not to do that. I try to stay on the plus side of the horizontal axis. Left or right of vertical doesn’t matter as long as it’s positive.

Tomorrow the CenturyLink guy is going to show up and reconnect our old phone number to the house. Yes, we’re returning to a land line. The deciding factor was being able to get the old phone number we had from 1989 thru 2007. Amazing it was available, and that they were willing to give it back, don’t you think? So, after tomorrow, you can enter that number into your address books. I know, I haven’t told you what that number is. Most of you probably don’t really care. And that’s OK. I will communicate the number to those of you who care in another manner.

This afternoon some Winnebago friends, from the Classic Winnebago Club, to which we belong, to see our new acquisition, the 1973 Indian Winnebago D22. This is going to be a project, but a surprisingly short one, because it’s in very good condition. Terry has already offered to paint it, which it needs because the paint on the top portion of the aluminum siding has turned to powder. I suppose I could just polish the aluminum, but that would make it too shiney. Plus, we’re going to change the blue trim to the classic lime green. Like this …