Good News, Bad News

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

The good news is that Tom is getting better and the doctor who put him on life support, as a last resort, thinks Tom is going to win. Thank you all for your kind thoughts regarding Tom. I won’t dwell on the details. Just know that it appears the DNR Linda authorized won’t be needed quite yet.

Now, the bad news.

It isn’t really catastrophic, as some bad news events I’ve experienced, but it’s still one of those unmanly events I seem to get caught up in once in a while. The garage sale, it was. I mentioned this last night, shortly before midnight, at which Diane called a halt, ending my endless trips up and down the basement stairs, adding boxes of “things” to the Buick’s interior. It was amazing how she cleared out big areas down there. We discovered the pool table that Jack and Wynette sent over. It hasn’t been put together, yet, but it’s still there. I’d forgotten about it.

It disappeared because it’s a large horizontal surface which everyone knows is extremely handy for collecting a large amount of ‘stuff’. Ultimately, it simply disappears under a mound of quilts, blankets, computers, games, boxes of bolts, screws, and nails. Stuff like that. I think there were some underwear in there someplace, too. Don’t know whose they were but they weren’t mine because there weren’t any spots on them and they didn’t fit. I checked.

Diane and I arrived at her Mom’s house shortly after 8 am. Did you get that? 0800! It was brutal having to leave my nice comfy recliner to go empty out the Buick. But, I had my coffee, so I dealt with it as best I could. Getting there early gave me an opportunity to visit the neighbor to see what kind of bargains he had. The best one was a chain saw for $16. An old guy beat me to it, however. The owner, the neighbor’s Dad, picked it up, yanked the cord once, and it fired right up. What a great deal that was.

They also had all manner of things that plug-in, but I have lots of those already. Oddly, as I recall them, all I can ‘see’ is two long rows of various kinds of drills with the cords neatly wound up and rubber banded to the handles. Very clean and proper, it was. I was impressed.

After spending a couple of hours ‘in the area’, I gained my freedom around 10 am and went home where I wandered around aimlessly in the basement in a failed attempt to be as productive as Diane in ridding my shop of things I don’t really need. It was painful. I honestly cannot remember doing anything useful until I texted Diane and asked if she was hungry. That was shortly after noon.

So, I drove the Buick, which I’m allowed to drive when I’m by myself, back to Grams’ where I received $20 and a request for one of those chicken teriyaki Subway sandwiches. I had my heart set on tacos, and was determined to get some, but that didn’t work out because I hit the light just right to make the left turn to Subway, so I took it. Taco Bell is to the right. Then, when I attempted to park, I couldn’t because some old person in front of me took the very last spot. Therefore, I had to back out of the lot and go park about a mile away and walk back. By the time I returned spaces were available, of course, but it’s luck of the draw getting one when you drive in.

I ordered the dead chicken sandwich and also my favorite – a foot long real deal egg (not just whites) with double bacon on non-nutritional white bread. I always order ‘non-nutritional white bread’ to which the sandwich makers almost always validate with, “Italian?” This gets my approval because I know it’s the right one.

Like normal, I asked them to not cut mine in half because I was just going to devour it so it was a wasted effort. Turns out that this time I should have let them do it because it was really limp in the middle and kind of flopped over. Definitely not a one-handed sandwich. For a drink, Diane’s Mom, Jean, got me one of her sodas. It was a tiny little 7.5 oz can. Just about the cutest, most adorable little can of soda I believe I’ve ever had the pleasure of holding. It made me feel like an NBA basketball player with a normal soda, the way it fit in my hand. I think it was Sprite.

At this time, 8:21 pm, Diane is once again in the basement boxing ‘things’ up for me to cart up the stairs. I guess it’s good exercise for me but I’m not a fan of exercise. Neither is Diane. I admit, we ‘talk’ about walking, and actually did, one time, walk down to her Mom’s house with the dogs but we never did it again. It’s downhill the first half which wasn’t too bad, but had it not been for the dogs pulling us back up the hill, we would have called it quits. Maybe if we did it more regularly it would get easier. Ya think?

I don’t think I mentioned one of the benefits we gained by me cutting down the hedge out front. The sprinklers can actually reach all the way to the bed, now, when the window is open. Thankfully, it was Diane’s side that took the brunt of the soaking, so I didn’t really mind. Diane likes to water the brown lawn this time of year, for some reason, and didn’t think about the window being open because it’s never been a problem before. Now it is.

Now I must quit. I’ve been typing for 9 minutes now and my fingers are getting tired. I need a drink of water with which I will raise in a toast to Tom’s continued success.

G’nite.

Our Friend Tom

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Just so you know, prayer works.

I just spoke with Linda, who authorized me to share remnants of my legendary faulty memory with you about our conversation.

Tom is very, very sick, but he’s fighting it, like we knew he would. Linda said she signed all the DNR papers last night, knowing this is what Tom would want. But he was still with us this morning. Linda was sure the doctor she saw this morning was very surprised that Tom was still with us. More surprising was that he had improved, according to him, “about half a %”. Linda said she’d take it, but it looked more like 1% to her.

This afternoon she was able to speak with him briefly so he’s alert when not totally knocked out on meds. They did an endoscopy to check for cancer and found none. Good news. His esophagus is damaged from the constant hiccupping, about 2 a second, non-stop. He did have a 2 hour reprieve this morning then they gave him a CAT scan and they started again. They think it was the vibrations of the machine that caused the spasms to start again.

Still, he’s improving.

Since Tome is a nurse, the doctors and nurses haven’t kept him in the dark about what’s going on. Being a Christian, Tom is pretty much OK with whatever happens, but we’re sure he’d like to stay with us a while.

So, please don’t stop sending Tom positive thoughts. He’s improving, but still needs them.

Thank you all for sticking with us.

Now I’ll go down another road, like the one we took today.

I may have mentioned, or not, that Grams’ neighbor was having a garage sale tomorrow so Diane and she decided to piggyback on their advertising. Not a bad idea, but it was the cause of a lot of work I hadn’t planned on. Now that it’s over, however, I’m glad we did it because we actually punched a hole in the basement clutter by taking “things” to Grams house to sell. What doesn’t sell will be transported to the Bethany Parking Lot Sale on the 16th. What doesn’t sell will be donated to the Senior Center thrift store. Or, perhaps, become of a bonfire. It’s not coming back home. I. WILL. NOT. ALLOW. IT.

I was proud of Diane for giving up the many things she did. There’s a lot remaining that will be transported tomorrow morning. I’m really looking forward to that because I’m sure most of it is heavy stuff. “That’s sarcasm,” as Sheldon might say.

Hope all is well with all of you.

Cheers

I Need Your Help …

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Last night I couldn’t sleep, even though I took all the necessary pills to make that happen, so I got up at 0100 and went to my recliner. I had been laying there for 3 hours before giving up.

Once in my recliner, I opened my iPad, thinking I’d read a while, hoping it would make me sleepy like it usually does. Before that happened, however, an email from Linda popped up with some disturbing news about her husband, Tom. Linda is a frequent commenter on this blog and we love her and Tom dearly.

The news is that Tom went on life support about midnight last night. Among other things, he has double pneumonia and sepsis throughout his body.

I mention Tom now and then so some of you may recall that while he was recovering from a stroke, that required him to learn how to walk again, he got the hiccups. They lasted 12 days at the rate of about one every few seconds. You can imagine that he didn’t get much sleep during that time. But, he beat it. He also beat most of the debilitating effects caused by the stroke and was walking pretty darn good. At the last Portland Auto Show he, Kyle, and I, thanks to Mike, looked at pretty much every car in the joint and had a great time. Admittedly, he rode in a wheel chair because he could only walk short distances, but he disappeared on us more than once because the wheel chair didn’t have one of those flag poles on it. Jerry T was showing his custom Camaro and was with us so we were always able to recover Tom by surrounding him. We had a great time.

Tom’s hiccups came back last Friday, worse than before, and he’s been in a bad situation since which eventually put him in his current tenuous situation. He’s a fighter, and I know he can beat this. I know he wants to beat this. But, a little help wouldn’t hurt.

So, regardless of your religious beliefs, or whether you even have any, I’m asking that you please keep Tom in your thoughts. He’s a good guy and deserves this.

Thanks

Seaside, Oregon – Day 3

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

OK – right off the bat, the title is misleading. Sure, we woke up in Seaside, but didn’t stay long before heading north toward home. That’s probably misleading, too, but you can look at a map and figure out that St. Helens is kinda NE from Seaside. Going up Highway 101 one must go north to Astoria, East to Rainier, then south to St. Helens. It’s complicated. If we were crows it would be a much shorter trip but we aren’t so it wasn’t.

After packing everything into the Buick, we took one more walk up to the board walk to see how things were progressing. Ruth, our hostess, told us that she was the “T-Shirt Lady” for the upcoming volley ball event, that there were 126 nets installed, and the number of teams registered to play was up to 1162. She figured it would be closer to 2000 since registration didn’t close until Friday. So, I grossly over estimated how many nets there were. But, it looked like hundreds to me. Either way, Seaside is going to be jumping this weekend. Seriously.

Ruth also changed their reader board to commemorate Grams’ 86th. Here’s proof …

Oops … I was there, too …

… and, this is Ruth with the girls …

As I recall, from our previous visit to the Hillcrest Inn, Ruth and her husband, Don, met in the Marine Corps. She completed either 6 or 9 years (I can’t remember) and Don made it a career. We had some fun conversations during our first visit, but didn’t get to talk this trip. Jay, whose image I failed to capture, helped us at check-in, as did Missy. They just make the experience better. Nice crew. A great place to stay.

OK – no more plugs – that’s it …

Here’s a picture of the Seaside turnaround, the end of the Lewis & Clark Trail.

The bronze statues are rumored to be of Lewis & Clark staring off into the ocean discussing what they were going to have for dinner that night. Being terminally tired of eating fish and venison, the opted for Norma’s, only 1.5 blocks away, where they reportedly shared a Turkey of The Sea sandwich and bowl of clam chowder. That’s how old Norma’s is.

From Seaside we drove north about 6 miles to the nearest Goodwill store which Diane had her sites on. It’s in a new area of Warrenton that has been stripped of whatever used to grow there and developed into a growing mall area on both sides of Highway 101. Goodwill is on the east side of the road, just past Costco. We wandered around in Goodwill for an hour or so, and I was the only one who purchased anything. I got a bag of Nike golf balls for $5, and 18 pencils for $1.99. Seemed like a really good deal, to me.

Then it was lunchtime which brings me to what was vetoed as the potential title for today’s entry. Since we had already planned to visit Costco for their outrageously big and cheap hotdogs, and soda, the first thing that popped into my mind was Grandma Gets a Weiner. It was, although she laughed, deemed inappropriate so I didn’t use it. I suspect, however, I’ll earned a considerable amount of grief for even mentioning it. I did not, as you notice, take a picture of any of us eating lunch. They are really good, by the way. I normally get the Polish Dog, but went for the All Beef today. And a Pepsi. I was going to get vanilla yogurt and refill my cup with root beer so I could make a root beer float, but by the time I got to the counter, the yogurt machine was reportedly defunct. So, I went without.

Then we crossed the Youngs Bay Bridge, on which we had to stop because it was raised to allow a tall masted fishing boat go by. It didn’t take long. Here’s the view while we waited.

Now, first glance may cause you to think the bridge you see in the distance is the one we’re on, but that isn’t the case. The distant one is the Astoria-Megler Bridge which links Oregon and Washington. If you follow that link you’ll discover that bridge is 4.1 miles long near the mouth of the Columbia River which is 1243 miles long and originates in British Columbia, Canada. One of the memorable things about the river is Buoy 10 which is at the mouth of the Columbia. If you want excitement, that’s the place to go. If you have a tendency to get sea-sick, stay away. I spent over 1/4 of a century in the US Navy and had the opportunity to ride some pretty rough seas, but Buoy 10 is the only place I ever got sea-sick. I was miserable, but I caught a nice Silver.

Once we gained access to the other side of Youngs Bay we took a right turn before heading in to Astoria proper. Instead, we weaved our way around the back side of the hill, on which Astoria resides, and made our way up to the Astoria Column, a significant landmark in Oregon. It has a continuous ribbon of artwork wrapped around it depicting the history of the area starting in 1792. It’s literally a work of art that you can climb. Inside, of course.

Here’s what it looked like, today …

We have all visited it many, many times in the past, and have climbed the 164 steps to the tower but not today. I threatened to do it, leaving instructions to call 911 if I wasn’t back in 30 minutes. Then I just went around taking pictures of the view.

This is the Astoria-Megler Bridge going to Washington …

This is the Youngs Bay Bridge looking toward Warrenton …

After leaving the Astoria Column, we headed down the hilly streets of Astoria toward Highway 30 and home. The streets of the city rival those of San Francisco. Honest.

The trip home was uneventful and I didn’t watch any of it preferring, instead, to read my current book on my iPad. I’m reading The Witness which started out boring, but is turning into an interesting mystery.

Now it’s supper time and I must quit in order to ingest some of Diane’s very tasty beef stew in order to replace all the energy I’ve used here whacking away on my keyboard.

Cheers

Seaside, Oregon – Day 2

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

0512 – although the dogs aren’t with us, my body apparently forgot and forced me to get up and go to the bathroom. After wiping off the seat, I went right back to bed and slept until Diane got up for her ‘morning call’. She didn’t wake me up by getting out of bed, but by closing the bathroom door. It’s very creaky and squeaky. That wasn’t a problem for me because the door was already open and I saw no reason to close it at 0512 in the morning. Flushing the toilet was more of a concern for me than the door, so I didn’t flush. Diane didn’t mention it so she didn’t notice, or chose to just not comment. I have no idea what time she got up because I was feigning sleep in case the toilet proved to be an issue. After a short time, Mom got up and then the noise started – the TV came on, the coffee was started, and they began talking non-stop.

Not all of that is true, of course, but I’m not going to tell you what parts. Just let your mind run wild with that.

The morning noises weren’t a problem – they were actually comforting. I couldn’t understand what was being said, just the underlying buzz of vocal chords vibrating in the air, but I knew they were talking about me. They always are. Even when we’re home alone Diane talks about me under her breath. She doesn’t know I can hear her, but I do. Most people would call that paranoia, which is true. It is. It keeps me on my toes.

I finally drug myself out of bed at 0815. I felt refreshed and ready for another day. I’ve been planting seeds in Mom’s head that we’re going to ride the bumper cars today. Either that or the ’tilt-a-whirl’. Her choice. So far she hasn’t committed. The girls were watching Good Morning America so I sat and watched, too, while eating my banana and Tillamook yogurt, which everyone knows comes directly from specially bred Tillamook yogurt cows without processing. It’s amazing. The farmers just feed these cows the proper fruits to make whatever flavor they want. Today I had the raspberry kind so my cow ate raspberries. I love that kind. Diane likes key lime which make her cows pucker while processing.

It’s now 0945 and everyone has been cleaned up except me. I’ve been stalling because I don’t want to take a shower. But I will. Everyone else is smelling good, so ‘spect I should, too.

There is no plan for today so, like normal, we’ll just let whimsy take control of our sense of direction. I do know of at least two places we will visit that are required for trips to this area. One is Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach.

If you’ve ever seen the movie “Goonies”, you’ve seen Haystack Rock. It was depicted as the location of the pirate ship in the movie. It isn’t, however, hollow. It’s a 237 foot tall monolith that we used to climb on as small children but has since been designated as a bird sanctuary, mainly seagulls, I think, like this …

Now, people can walk up to it, touch it, and check out the really neat tide pools that surround it, but feet aren’t allowed. This can only be done at low tide because the water gets pretty deep around it when the tide comes in. That’s another reason they closed it to foot traffic because of the incredible number of ignorant people who climbed it at low tide and waited too late before trying to leave.

Diane and I walked down on the beach, at Tolovana, so we could touch the water, a tradition with us – gotta touch the water – and met Mike, a former stranger, on the way. He asked that I take a picture of him with Haystack Rock in the background, so I did. We talked a while and learned that he’s from Aloha (pronounced Aloah), worked for Tektronix, and Intel, and has been married for 30 years as of yesterday. Diane said she looked around for a likely bride but didn’t see one. It didn’t occur to me to question why he was on the beach alone if this was his anniversary trip. He may have had her hog tied in their room awaiting further attention for all we know.

Here’s Diane with Haystack Rock, and she’s advertising Cannon Beach …

While on the beach a couple of fishermen drove their boat up on the beach, hooked it up to their pickup, which was parked nearby, drug the boat further away from the surf line, ratcheted it onto their trailer and drove away. Interesting. Never saw anyone do that before.

Once the boat was gone, we kinda lost interest in the beach. We’ve seen Haystack so many times over the years, loving it every time, but the missing boat was a detractor. I went back to the car to make sure Grams was OK, and took some more pictures of the area as we waited for Diane to return from the restroom. It took her a while to return but she clarified the delay by telling us she had to weave her way through a “turdload” of people who were congregated in the middle of the sidewalk at the top of the stairs to the beach. We are unclear as to what a “turdload” constitutes, but all agreed it was best to be elsewhere. So, we left, transiting through the Cannon Beach tourist district on the way.

It was very festive down there with cars parked everywhere, and everyone jay walking willy nilly across the street, giving us stark reminders why we like Cannon Beach better in the winter.

On the way back to Highway 101, Diane took a left turn toward Ecola State Park which is NOT to be associated with E coli bacteria although we always think of that when we visit that park. It’s a really nice park and we were allowed to skip the $5 day use fee because I showed the cute young ranger my VA card. At least I think we got in free because of my VA card, but it could easily have been that she was overcome by my shining personality and astonishing good looks, and swooned a little, giving Diane a chance to sneak through the gate before she recovered. No one chased us so it was all good.

Ecola State Park gives people an excellent view of Cannon Beach, the town, and Cannon Beach, the beach, as well as Haystack Rock and other smaller affiliated rocks that stick up out of the ocean. Very picturesque.

Oddly, Ecola Point Lighthouse is just off … well … just off Ecola point.

Then it was back to Norma’s, as promised, for late lunch. It wasn’t really all that late, but it was after noon. Before dumping Grams and me in front of Norma’s, we did another drive to the turnaround to see how the volley ball poles were looking. Amazingly, all of them had nets – hundreds of volley ball nets where once I played as a tender young boy. Next thing you know they’ll be laying asphalt out there so people won’t get sand on their feet while walking to the beach. That actually makes sense, since I was able to gather enough sand in my shoes at Cannon Beach to leave my mark in the car that Diane so laboriously vacuumed before we left on this trip. Thankfully, she did the same thing on the driver’s carpet, so I didn’t get in trouble. Oh, and our hostess told Diane that there are 900 – nine hundred – teams signed up for next weekend’s volleyball tournament. Amazing.

As I said, Diane dumped Grams and me in front of the restaurant, claiming it looked like there might be a waiting line, then she went to park the Buick. Grams and I risked our lives crossing the street so we could gain entrance to this historically acclaimed facility. There was no line and we were promptly seated in a booth with a good view of all the patrons entering and leaving.

Finally, Diane arrived and we were allowed to order our food. We’ve been talking about how great the sea food is at Norma’s, and how much Grams will like it, so what did she order? One half of a turkey sandwich. I could only surmise that she presumed it was ‘Turkey of the Sea’ brand turkey which made it a fitting lunch for a well-known sea food restaurant.

It was good she only got 1/2 a sandwich because it had enough turkey in it for a whole meal deal. She could barely wrap her lips around it, but she did, and she ate the entire thing.

Diane got a broiled piece of dead halibut with fries …

… and I had fetuccini alfredo with some dead tiger prawns scattered through out as well as a cup of Norma’s celebrated clam chowder.

Though good, Valerie’s clam chowder is every bit as good, if not better. I enjoyed my meal anyway.

Since our assigned quarters are only about a block away from Norma’s, and Diane had parked there, we walked up to the boardwalk, enjoying the afternoon sun, and slowly walked back to our cabin. Very relaxing.

The maids were making up our room when we got back, and I almost had to perform CPR on one of them. She turned the water on at the kitchen sink and the little sprayer thing blew off and water sprayed up to the ceiling. She recovered nicely, however, and got things cleaned up. Turns out the sprayer just wasn’t screwed on all the way. I claimed innocence though I’m not sure everyone in the room believed me.

While they were finishing up the room, we retired to the little yard outside our cabin door.

Last night in this little yard, two young ladies were BBQing bacon and chicken. That sounds so awesome that I can’t wait to get home and try it. I might just leave the chicken out and do the bacon.

Now it’s almost 6 pm, and the day is winding down to a successful conclusion. It was a good one. Tomorrow we must depart for warmer climes – it’s 90+ at home – and get back into the routine of “doing things”. That’s OK. I can do that.

Until then, however, I seek everyone’s advice as to what constitutes a “turdload” of people to you. Is it the number of people, or is it the quality of people? Perhaps it’s just an overall impression. I’m not sure and Diane doesn’t really know what it means, either. It was just one of those spontaneous things Diane blurts out once in a while, making me laugh.

Maybe it’s a situation and hasn’t got anything to do with people.

I have this inappropriate image in my head about what it might mean, but I’m sure it’s wrong, so I need help.

I’d appreciate it.

Thanks.

Seaside, Oregon – Day 1

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Here we are, safely tucked into our nifty little cabin near the beach. The Hillcrest Inn has three cabins and a bunch of rooms. We’ve stayed in the rooms before, but never one of the cabins. It was necessary this trip because we brought Diane’s Mom, Jean, with us. As I mentioned, I think, her birthday is this coming Thursday. She will be 86. Though her knees pain her, and her back gives her fits, but she still lives alone and gets around just great. We plan to spend a lot of time walking back and forth from our cabin and various restaurants in the area. Might even walk up and down the boardwalk and little.

It’s not actually a boardwalk. It’s really a cement walk that’s a mile or so long. The west side of it has a railing (cement columns) with occasional openings to the beach, should one wish to get sand in their shoes. Some don’t. The ‘Walk’ is wide enough to accommodate walkers, bicyclers, skate boarders, runners, and roller skaters in both directions. Sometimes you have to dodge a little, but generally it isn’t a problem. Walking along the ocean is always nice.

When we left St. Helens the sky was clear and it was about 88 degrees. We heard on the radio that it was expected to reach about 97 in Canby, wherever that is. I think it’s out toward the Columbia River Gorge someplace. Judy and Anselmo live there so they can confirm if it really got that hot today.

Leaving Rainier revealed clouds in the direction we were headed which meant cooler temperatures at the coast. No surprise because that’s always the way it is. By the time we got to our cabin, after a quick unplanned tour of Seaside because of a wrong turn by the driver, who wasn’t me, the sky was totally obliterated with cloud cover. The sun was no longer shining at all and it was noticeably cooler. Too cool for the cute little shorts I was wearing. I’m still wearing them because we haven’t left the cabin since arriving. Lunch was the first priority then I made a valiant attempt to convince the other inhabitants that a nap would be good, but they disagreed.

Now it’s almost 4 pm and I think we’re going for a walk so I better seriously consider inserting myself into a pair of jeans and some real shoes. I wore my water shoes for the trip but brought my comfy sneakers for long walks. The trouble is with those, is, that I only brought those little fake socks that girls wear. I suppose if I wear my jeans low enough no will notice. Maybe I’ll find a place to buy a real pair of socks.

<><><><> 5:45 pm

Took a walk down the cement walk to the turn around …

… then down Broadway looking at all the stuff in the windows placed there to lure in the unsuspecting tourist. On the Walk, we encountered this gentleman seeking donations for his efforts at sand sculpting …

Pretty amazing. It’s just sand and water, he said, and he does a sculpture every day.

After surviving the gentle chilly breeze on the board walk, we headed down Broadway to search for something to cover Grams’ ears. She tried on a few, but chose to not get any of them. This one is my favorite …

The breeze lessened as we got on Broadway so we thought it would be OK to get ice-cream. We passed dozens of people eating cones so it kinda sparked an interest. Funny how that happens. I had almond praline, Diane had raspberry sorbet, and Grams had mocha almond fudge. I could have eaten a double scoop but chose to be sensible.

The beach in front of the turnaround, at the foot of Broadway, and about 1/4 mile wide, is filled with poles, and two rigs with augers putting up more poles, for volley ball nets. Hundreds of them. Apparently this coming weekend is the largest non-professional volley ball tournament in the world. Pretty awesome. We spoke to one of the clerks, all of whom are cute young ladies at the store we actually entered, and learned about this majestic event. She told us that for the championship games on Sunday, bulldozers hit the beach and scoop up mountains of sand around the play off courts so people will have a good view of the players. Sounds pretty cool, but influx of people to participate in, and watch the festivities will make parking and driving in Seaside absolutely impossible. Like Diane said, people would have to park in Astoria and walk to Seaside. Not true, of course, but parking will be awful.

We’ll be home before the influx and will check it all out on the internet. Here’s a link to Seaside Volleyball in case you’re interested. Turns out they’ve been doing this for 32 years. Who knew?

Diane and Mom abandoned me at the cabin and went to Rite Aid to get Grams something to cover her ears when we walk. It’s chilly in the evening, and it’s chilly during the day, too, when the sun doesn’t shine. Hopefully one of the days we’re here will be sunny. Doesn’t really matter, but it would be nice. I mention my abandonment because they just returned. I got new long socks, to lessen my pain, Grams got a fancy $1.39 scarf, and Diane go some cranberry gel caps and honey nut peanut butter.

Diane gets peanut butter sandwiches, but I don’t because we didn’t bring any crunchy peanut butter and she didn’t buy any. I I am not allowed to eat PB&J sandwiches with creamy peanut butter. It’s just wrong. It should be illegal. But I’ll probably try one and like it.

Time to stop for today. Tomorrow we eat at Norma’s, our favorite place to eat in Seaside.

Class of ’62

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

The day is over, we’re home safe, and we had a great day. We got to spend an afternoon with 15 of my high school classmates. As I mentioned yesterday, as many as possible of us get together at least once a year. Today we were hosted by Jim And Sue in Lake Oswego. It was a great location, excellent host and hostess, and they have a nifty rescue dog, Romeo. He looks like the flying fuzzy dragon in “The Never Ending Story”. Cute dog.

The gathering included a pot luck dinner, which is the only way to eat. I love pot lucks.

Not much else to share today except this picture of a bunch of old people having a really good time.

Standing L-R: David, Jimbo, Josette, John, Judy, Howard, John, Sam, Darell, Vern

Sitting L-R: Karen, Eva, Vonnie, Phyllis, Me

David, Sam’s twin, was there, but he and his bride left before the group photo.

Our host and hostess …

0-Dark-Thirty and Later

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

That’s what time it is. Seems like there’s a book out there somewhere with that name on it, perhaps written by a Navy Seal that validates this as a proper time of day. Of course now, at this moment, it’s actually 0-dark-42. I’ve been fiddling around.

The cat stayed out again last night doing only God knows what. When she spends her nights outside she’s always there to run with the dogs when I let them out. She doesn’t let them out of her sight to ensure she’s there to gain access when I open the door for them, but she doesn’t stay long. I’ve been trained, by her claws screeching on the patio door glass, to make sure that door is opened a bit so she can keep an eye on the outside cat food bowl. Doing this makes it far easier for me to enjoy my morning nap because there is no screeching claws. The dogs like it too, because when it get light enough to see outside, they can go out and bark at random things.

This morning, the cat came in acknowledged my presence, gobbled half a cup of her dry food, and the three little treats I always put out for her before I go to bed, then promptly gave it all back, reaffirming my belief that a Puking Cat alarm clock would really work. It’s an unmistakable sound that gets everyone’s attention. I always find it interesting that virtually nothing a cat barfs up has a tooth mark in it. They swallow everything whole which makes all those commercials about how tasty the various kinds of cat food are a bunch of hooey. They don’t care how it tastes. I mean, c’mon, they lick their butts. So, perhaps they would enjoy a nice can of gourmet, butt-flavored cat food once in a while. Then we could toss in a spoon of dog-butt flavored food to change it up for them. That would probably make them puke, however. No, maybe not, because cats just puke on a whim, maybe just for the fun of it, or the noise it makes and how we react to it. Who knows?

I’m sorry I went down that trail. Obviously it’s something that has consumed my attention this morning and I had to rid my brain of it before my morning nap, which I’m going to take right now.

I’ll be back later with more Bathroom success stories … hmm … that brings up an entirely different train of thought than I had in mind. Good title for a blog – “Bathroom Success Stories”. Naw. If I did that I’d just have to hire a lawyer and get a divorce because it would make Diane cranky that I did something like that. So, I’ll stick to the mundane bathroom stories, for now.

<><><><> It’s later, now. Like 10:13 pm. In dog hours, that’s 2213. <><><><>

The bathroom effort resulted in the installation of the sheet rock, to cover up the suspect PEX routing, and the installation of the 2nd sink. Next, for the walls, will be the wainscoting. The sinks will have to come down again for that evolution, but at least they are perfectly useable until that happens.

We also installed two sheets of cement board on the back wall of the tub, so that’s moving along, too. We should be installed the tile just any month now.

While I was slaving away with Daniel on The Bathroom, Diane took Jennie, Cedric, and Lydia to Fred Meyer to buy shoes. It’s a tradition that we buy new shoes for all the kids for the new school year. Jeran doesn’t like shopping and threw up so he wouldn’t have to go. So, they had to guess at what size he wears. All of the kids finally wear shoes bigger than all the adults they know so borrowing is no longer an option. They have to have their own shoes.

When we started this tradition, shoes were reasonably priced. Now they aren’t. I think we’re broke again until the Social Security check shows up.

After terminating The Bathroom project I came home and visited with the dogs for a bit before taking a short nap. I actually didn’t nap, I just closed my eyes and enjoyed just sitting here doing nothing. It was awesome.

Diane finally got home around 6:30 pm, with a Papa Murphy’s pizza. I already had the over warmed up to the requisite 425 degrees so I stuffed it in as soon as she got home. It was done in 8 minutes. Then we ate while the church newsletter printed. I assemble and print it every month. I don’t know how I got conned into doing that, but I’ve done it for a long time now. I think I may have volunteered to do it. Instead of printing 80 copies a month, as I used to, I now just print 15 and the rest are delivered via email. Saves ink, and paper.

That’s it for now. Tomorrow we are going to one of my high school classmate’s home in Lake Oswego for our annual picnic. Yes, we have a semi-class reunion every year. We’ve been doing it for years. Usually, we get about 20 class mates, and their spouses. Twenty out of the original 100 isn’t too bad for a class that graduated in 1962. Wow! That’s 51 years ago. I had no idea that I was that old. Go figure.

I’ll let you know how it goes, and will probably include a picture, or three.

Pianos, Organs, and Chimneys

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

I have to tell you, I’m learning all kinds of new things this week. Sadly, I don’t remember what those tasks were, but I’ve documented it here so I can review, if necessary. The thing is, you see, that once I drain my brain into my computer, via the keyboard, my memory of those events are dulled, or simply gone. It’s convenient because it leaves more room for new things. I can’t tell you how many times in the past, when I didn’t have this way of unloading data, my brain got full to overflowing and it was distressing. I had information running out of my ears, eyes, nose, and mainly my mouth. It was absolutely dreadful to experience and, I’m told, not fun to look at. I was a mess. Now I’m not. Now I’m adorable. Ask Diane.

Today I removed pretty much everything from our two car garage, half of which is reserved for Diane’s Buick, in order to vacuum up the accumulated debris that has collected over the past 3-4 years. My ultimate goal, which I attained, was to make more room on the passenger side of the vehicle so I could get in and out, inside the garage, without hitting the piano. Or the organ. Those things are always in the way, it seems. I just needed to move them west a little bit to make room, but that entailed moving everything on the other side of them first. So I did that.

About the time I got everything out, Diane reminded me that we were supposed to visit her Mom so I could ensure the chimney was properly secured to the roof, and sealed around the flashing because she found bits of what looked like caulking on the ground after the guys were done washing her roof to remove the moss.

So, I started moving everything back into the garage, although it would have been perfectly fine to leave it outside because no one bothers us up here in the sticks. Being on a dead-end street doesn’t hurt, either. But, I moved it all back in, anyway. At least most of it. Before moving it back, however, I moved the piano and organ over to the new spots I had selected. Then I just started hauling things back in and stacked them all around the west side of the garage. Now there’s plenty room for me to get in and out of the Buick.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why is there a piano and an organ in the garage? That’s a very good question which I will attempt to answer in a manner that makes sense.

The piano was given to us by the renter we had in our old house. That’s the house we sold in 2008. We waited until then to ensure we would get the absolute least amount of money possible for our investment. When the renters left, we chose to not be landlords any longer and sold it. In the basement of that house sat this player piano that was to be a restoration project. Long story short, it didn’t work out and the renters didn’t want to move it so gave it to us. And we moved it to our garage as a project for me because I thought it would be a challenge to make it work. All the parts are there and I’m sure I can restore it. It shouldn’t take more than 15 years or so at the rate I’m going. So far all I’ve been able to accomplish is to not scratch it. I’m sure sitting in the garage all this time hasn’t been good for it, but won’t know until I get it into a place where I can dismantle it and shine up the innards. One of these days …

The organ was a gift from a family who received it as a gift and found it necessary to give it away. The deal is, if we get rid of it, it will be as a gift to someone else. It’s final destination was supposed to be our basement, with the other piano, but it weighs about a ton and isn’t something Diane and I can move. I’m absolutely positive it would tip over and break if we tried to move it. So, it sits in the garage, back to back with the piano. Unplayed. That’s in part because the dismantled pool table, which is another story, is taking up most of the free basement space. That, and a whole bunch of computer parts. And dead printers. I don’t know why I keep those things.

Also in the garage are three rather large tools that I bequeathed to Jeff, but he doesn’t have room for them. So, I’m thinking about asking Dan & Jennie if I can move them to their garage. They don’t know that yet. Probably will after Jennie reads this, but I’ll ask tomorrow, anyway. I’ll be there working on The Bathroom some more. Should be able to get the 2nd sink installed so Lydia and put a plastic bag over the first one and officially claim it as her very own. That will make her happy. It will also make the boys happy because it will save them about one step, each direction, when they are forced to go wash their hands before a meal. That, and brushing their teeth. Stuff like that.

So, back to our garage …

After putting almost everything back, we went to Mom’s and I climbed on the roof to inspect the chimney flashing. It looked OK, but the bricks looked like someone had passed a pressure washer across the front, but didn’t finish. So, with a bucket of suds, and a sturdy brush, I set about scrubbing it clean. Diane and Mom sat in the yard, in lawn chairs, watching me work very hard and getting the bricks clean while at the same time make a concerted effort to remain on the roof. There were a couple of “touch and go” moments, but I didn’t fall. Didn’t even get dizzy like a sometimes do when I realize I’m in danger.

The end result was a clean chimney and a happy Diane and happy Mom. Because of that, I was also happy.

Then we came home and Diane made me spaghetti for dinner. I love that stuff. Especially with most of my baguette remaining from yesterday. As you probably know, if you don’t eat those things within a day of purchase, you can take them to your shop and use them to hammer nails. They really get hard.

Speaking of the baguette … I mentioned yesterday that I was going to make a 3 foot long ham and cheese sandwich. I couldn’t do that because the loaf was only 25 inches long. So, I chopped off about 8 inches for my sandwich and we ate the rest this evening. It was still soft.

Now I must quit and think about going to bed. Diane is watching ‘All My Children’ on OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) and will be busy for a while so I may be able to get to sleep before her for a change. That rarely happens because she is able to be completely asleep within seconds of deciding that’s what she wants to do.

August?

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

It’s August already and I was just getting used to July.

To commemorate the day, Diane went to the dentist for her annual cleaning, and I stayed home to haul more refuse to the burn pile. Because I’m making so many trips, the burn pile is way bigger than legal for burning, when burning is once again OK. Like when it rains.

Speaking of rain … it kinda did that today. Not enough to measure, but enough so that a normal person could tell it was falling from the sky, not ricocheting off the sidewalk from a power washer, which I was using at the time. That was late in the day, of course, long after the burn pile runs.

Part of my clean up effort was on the west side of the garage where hardly anyone ever goes except the stray cats who come to visit. I think they live out there in the brush. Well, I removed a considerable amount of that today, along with some more, yes more, blackberry vines. Those things are just everywhere. The ones down by the burn pile come in handy, however, because they have tons of berries which I pick and eat as I drive by on the mower. I used to do that with the one raspberry vine until I accidentally mowed it down. I could usually count on that one vine giving me at least 10-20 berries each year. Same for the loganberry vines. The latter seems to be dwindling away, however. I think the 10 foot tall filbert tree growing in the row may have something to do with that. It was planted a few years ago by an angry squirrel. Our neighbor has an adult filbert tree from whence come the nuts the angry squirrel plants. Our other neighbor has a huge walnut tree but the squirrel has yet to bless us with a fledgling walnut tree.

He does, however, find plenty of time to plant oak trees everywhere.

Another way I celebrated August 1st was to get a head start on Christmas decorations by decorating the remnants of the rhododendrons out front. What prompted this was the discovery of a very long string of plastic bead-like garland that has been sitting on a lawn chair beside the garage for the past 3-4 years. It was placed there because it had, for some odd reason, been left on the kitchen porch making it fair game for every cat in the neighborhood to claim it as their own. It smelled pretty bad. Bad enough that I was originally told to dispose of them, which I kinda did by getting them off the porch. So, they’ve been sitting out there through countless rain storms and seem to have been washed clean. So, I strung it up. Kind of festive, don’t you think?

When Diane discovers that I’ve done this she will probably make me take it down for the same reason she won’t let me leave our Christmas lights up year round. “It’s just not time,” she’ll say, but I think the remaining branches look at least a little bit dressed, now, instead of sitting out there all naked. It just seemed like the right thing to do. You can also see that I repurposed one of the branches as a hose hanger. Here’s a better picture for you, in case you want to see how it’s done…

The first person to notice my decorative efforts was our neighbor with the walnut tree, to our east. She’s pretty old, and pretty stooped over, but she gets around just great. She came up because she was having trouble with the new phone they got for use on their Comcast phone line. Apparently various people claim to have left messages which Muriel said they just haven’t received. I thought I knew what the problem was so went back to her house to confirm my suspicions. Since having their Comcast Triple Play they’ve never set up their voice messaging. So I did that for her. Sadly, I’ve been over there before helping get her email set up, but never thought about the phone. Once it was set up we discovered that she had 31 messages waiting. We listened to the first one and she was amazed, as was I, to learn it was from last December. I ran her through the drill of getting the voice messages to a point where she could listen to them, then left her with instructions to go through them all and make them go away.

Another thing I did today was replace one of the sprinklers in the flower beds. Apparently someone, or thing, bumped it hard enough to break the PVC below the ground. So, I got out all my spare PVC parts and found everything I needed, except for one. I regret not taking a picture while digging through the parts because I had them stacked all over the sidewalk, that I would later power wash, while looking for the pieces I needed. Not having all the necessary parts served as an opportunity to visit ACE and, perhaps, see brother Jack, which I did. He even helped me find the part I needed. I even got a bunch of them that may come in handy at some point in the future.

It’s always good to see Jack. Too bad brother Jim doesn’t live closer so I could visit with him once in a while. He should move, but he won’t because the really important members of his family all live in Nampa. I totally understand but still wish he was closer. I miss watching him sleep while he’s watching TV.

Now it’s time for me to eat supper so I must end this. Diane went shopping and got me a baguette, one of my favorite things, so I’m going to go make a 3′ long ham and cheese sandwich.