Birthday Surprise

Posted on December 10, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today I woke up perky, ready to be productive and it was a good thing because the cat was sitting on my iPad which kept me from lounging on my recliner until just before noon. Like I did yesterday. Diane woke me up with just enough time to eat something and shower up for my 12 o’clock dental appointment. It was a restive morning.

On the way home I made a couple of stops. One was at the local Chevy dealership where I spoke briefly to Skip, one of the salesmen, to share the good news that our friend Barb was extremely pleased with her buying experience the previous day. It’s not something I needed to do, but I wanted to check with him to find out if he, or Jeff, the Manager, was the person who would authorize my 25% deduction on my next purchase for the referral. Without skipping a beat he said to talk with Jeff. He was busy, so I went on about my business. I’m guessing a 25% savings on a new vehicle is a pipe dream … another delusion. I’m going to ask anyway.

Another stop was at a high level relative’s home where I inquired about the mantel clock that used to belong to Diane’s Grandparents. I figured since Diane now has a fireplace mantel, she should have a mantel clock, something she’s wanted for many years. I was pleased that the clock was placed into my hands for transport to my lovely bride. It’s for her birthday. Actually, the mantel was her birthday request, the clock was icing on the cake. I’m taking it to a master clock person to have it cleaned and tweaked, but wanted to share it with her first. It was a special moment. One of those moments where tears of joy flowed freely, bringing many fond memories to light. Doing things like this isn’t in my nature because I typically don’t think about doing them until the last-minute, or not at all because I was distracted. To have figured this out all by myself, and to follow through, pleased me immensely. There’s still hope for this old codger.

Sadly, the mantel is about 1/2 inch too narrow to safely hold the ‘new’ mantel clock which means I will have to redo it, or build a classy shelf just for the clock. There is a solution out there somewhere.

For the record, Diane cried when I showed it to her. She’s a happy camper. Here’s what the mantel looks like at the moment. It may change. We’ll see.

Now I must don my work clothes and get to work at something strenuous because my BS Meter tells me I’m running at 216 which is too high. Must have been the coffee.

Christmas Decorations & Football

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today we put up our Christmas tree and got busy hanging all the ornaments we’ve collected over the years. Actually, the tree was placed a few days ago, but we just got to the point where it needed to be decorated with something besides those tiny little lights. Since we use a fake tree, and Diane doesn’t like putting the lights on every year, I just left them on last year so it was ready to go once I got all the saran wrap removed. That was a task, let me tell you. That saran wrap is tough stuff.

Diane’s the straw boss when it comes to decorating the tree and with most things around here I tend to not volunteer to help. I’ll do anything she wants, and she knows that, so we have an agreement that when she wants my help, she’ll let me know. Today, however, knowing she wasn’t feeling totally perky, I offered my services and she accepted. That caught me off guard because I broke the rule, ya know? But, I dived right in and started hanging ornaments to the best of my ability and it wasn’t long before she was following me around the tree, relocating ornaments I had so meticulously placed. Finally she told me I was fired and that I should leave the tree alone which reinforced the original rule about me know volunteering to help with stuff. Still, I was stunned because I’ve never been fired before. All I was doing was try to help but apparently I’m not destined to be a professional tree decorator.

So, I sequestered myself in the Man Room to watch the Alabama and Missouri football game. As you know, I’m a Oregon Duck fan so watching Alabama only served one purpose for me. I wanted to see them lose to Missouri because Alabama is ranked #1 and Oregon is #2 but that didn’t work out. Alabama won.

Last night Oregon played Arizona for the Pac-12 title and it was a really good game. Arizona, as you Pac-12 fans know, is the only team that beat Oregon this year. Last night Oregon squeezed by Arizona for a 51-13 win and managed to redeem themselves for the early season loss to the Wildcats. It was touch and go all the way through the first quarter which ended with Oregon ahead 6-0. Then it got ugly for Arizona. At the end of quarter 3 the Ducks were up 44-7 and Marcus Mariotta’s day was done. The second and third string players entered the game and scored one of their own and allowed Arizona to score on the last play of the game. Fun to watch.

Speaking of football … what’s the deal with Ohio’s big play stickers on their helmets? Looks like marijuana leaves to me. Odd. They’re playing Wisconsin, in case you were wondering.

Today is Kaia’s birthday, in case you were wondering when it was. She got lots of Frozen and Hello Kitty stuff. She also got a nifty tent that her dad couldn’t erect. Fun to watch. He’ll figure it out, I’m sure.

Commercials

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Considering my advanced age, and my desire to improve my health, I’ve been paying more attention to all the advertisements I’ve previously ignored. Oh, I hear bits and pieces but mostly they flit through my brain mostly as white noise. You know, you hear it but not to the point where you actually paid attention. Lately, however, the white noise is fading and identifiable words are filtering through to the part of my brain that understands them. I’m not sure where that part is but suspect it’s somewhere a little above, and between my ears somewhere. Just makes sense. But, then, the eyeballs are connected to the back of the brain instead of the part right behind the eyes themselves. Perhaps that’s because the hearing part was already using that space so the eyeballs had to be rerouted to the back. Kinda like a detour.

Anyway, the words I’m starting to string together into coherent memories from the commercials are a bit disconcerting for me. Perhaps you have the same feeling. Take this one, for example … it’s for a seemingly benign salve for foot fungus that’s supposed to clean up your toenails. the commercial itself is fairly short, but the speed-speaking person listing the list of possible side effects is quite entertaining. It goes something like this …

The list of possible side effects includes, but is not limited to, the possibility of liver and kidney failure unless the salve is applied between 4-5 am on a Sunday morning, severe brain damage if ingested by licking the finger applying the salve within 30 seconds of application, a Viagra induced erection lasting less than 15 minutes, whether or not it was used, heart failure if do, blurred vision, impaired hearing, and possible death if you don’t get a haircut right away.

Pretty much every commercial, about anything, ends with a similar list of ill effects but in a different order. Makes me want to run out and buy stuff like that right away.

And you?

Friends & Family

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

OK … this is a couple of days old so ignore any references to yesterday and tomorrow. They are relevant. Actually, I wrote this on Monday.

The title explains everything about yesterday. A throng of people showed up throughout the day, culminating in a joyous reunion between an Aunt and a Niece. At one point in time the following people were milling about our home talking, running, playing, and sitting quietly when possible:

Jean, Jack, Wynette, Me, Gary, Kathie, Jeff, Heather, Kristie, Daniel, Jennifer, Scott, Whitney, Cole, Cedric, Lydia, Jeran, Emilie, Gilligan, Kaia, Baylee, Jerrie, & Brooklyn. That’s about 23 folks ranging in age from 87 to 3. I think they are in chronological order as listed, oldest to youngest, but there’s a distinct possibility I’m wrong because I don’t know the ages of Gary, Kathie, Kristie, Scott, or Whitney. I just guessed where they may fit on the list.

At this point I must confess that I had a lengthy dissertation about this topic completed and it was fine until I decided to add some photos. That’s when WordPress failed me completely. The photo upload failed and all those pretty words simply disappeared. There was no draft to recover, either. Consequently, I have to recreate this from scratch and it’s not as much fun as it was the first time. You may find it boring, full of useless information like most of my other posts.

The day began with church, like normal, then things got complicated as we prepared for our guests. The occasion was to welcome Kathie and Gary who were spending the night with us on their way back to the Sacramento area from Tacoma. Gary is from Tacoma so knows his way around in those woods through which, we were told, he forced Kathie to hike so she could enjoy the beauty of the area. Sadly, it was about 20 degrees so Kathie was more concerned about freezing than enjoying the stellar views. We were happy that our temperature was all the way up to 29 when they arrived at 5 pm.

Before the honored guests arrived, the house filled with everyone but them beginning with Daniel, Jennifer, Cedric, Lydia, & Jeran. They were followed shortly by Kristie, Cole, & Emilie. Using iPhone’s auto correct Emilie was initially called Emilio and it was quickly correct. Not before I was rendered confused, however. Kristie quickly corrected that so I was able to call her by name upon their arrival.

Then Jack & Wynette arrived, followed by Jeff, Heather, Gilligan, Baylee, & Jerrie. Jerrie, the little one, was escorted from the premises within the first 15 minutes due to the fact that she had fooled her parents into believing she was potty trained so they didn’t bring diapers. She revealed her deception while standing in the middle of the kitchen. She’s not bashful.

Last to arrive were Scott, Whitney, Kaia, & Brooklyn who had the least distance to cover since they live right next door. Since they were late, they were relegated to the basement with all the kids. They were OK with that.

Slowly, our guests drifted away using excuses like, “we have an hour drive ahead of us,” or “I have homework to finish,” and “my hip hurts.” They were all valid excuses, I must admit.

At one point I brought up the carved shark cribbage board that was given to me by Kathie’s Dad, Gene, while we lived on Guam. At the time, Kathie was attending high school on the neighboring island of Saipan, 120 miles away. She didn’t know about the shark which was given to me so I could give it to my Dad, Jim Sr. and was returned to me when he passed away in 1992, or 2001 when my Mom, Ruth, passed away. I’m a little hazy on that. Jim Sr., and Ruth are Jack’s Mom and Dad, too. Not everyone knows that.

The shark was used by Jack and Gary to determine the West Coast Champion. Jack has been the Oregon champion for many years having whipped the Washington champion without breaking a sweat in 1967. I’m just guessing at the year so it may be wrong. Jack won the game and was declared the West Coast Champ because though Gary is originally from Washington he currently resides in California near Sacramento and Kathie.

The evening ended with all the higher level cousins visiting when Jack declared his hip was beckoning him home but it was gold so Wynette insisted he warm up the car first since the temp had dropped to the low 20’s. He did so, and even moved the car into the driveway from across the street. We visited for another hour or so before Jack remembered the car was running out front so he and Wynette rushed out to ensure it was indeed warm. It was.

This morning we had to completely disrupt our daily routine by getting up at 0600 in order to make it to Scappoose by 0700 so we could eat breakfast and Gary and Kathie could be on their way south by 0800. We went to Ichabods because we know the cook, jeri, and she makes a mean meal. Right after ordering our meals Kathie discovered that she’d left her phone in one of our chargers at the house and insisted that Diane retrieve it for her so her meal wouldn’t get cold. Diane, being the consulate host, complied and scurried back to St. Helens for the phone. She was only gone about 30 minutes and was able to complete her meal with we other three. Then we bid adieu to our guests and headed home.

Diane made me work the remainder of the day so now I’m tired. Before I go, however, I’m going to try adding photos again. Then I’ll quit.