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.

Today I went to the Hillsboro VA clinic and donated 4 vials of blood and a small jar of fresh urine. All of that will be throughly analyzed in time for my VA doctor visit next Friday, February 6th. I’m curious to see if I’m going to a new doctor or Dr, Gilbert, your favorite doctor in the world. Yes, I’m being facetious. I’ve not received any notice from VA about a doctor change that they agreed to. I’ll let you know, of course.

After that visit, I returned home and sat in my chair watching movies and napping until Jennie picked me up for our Bunco Date at the Shriner’s headquarters. I got to see Jeannie, Brianna, Noydena, and 6 other people I’ve never met. That means we had 3 tables, 2 of which had ghost players. I find it hard to believe that after watching you play bunco for many, many years, I never played the game until this time. It was fun and, as I told more than one other person there, now I understand why you girls always drank wine while playing. It’s pretty chaotic. Jennie and I tied for last place with the most games lost. It was pretty pathetic.

But, we had fun.

I was returned home at a decent hour so I got busy watching more movies while I used up time waiting for Lydia to get home from work. I waited and waited but she never showed up. I finally checked to see where she was and discovered she was still hanging out at the Aloha Campus. I figured she was visiting with Jared a little bit, too. In the end, she said she got home around midnight.

I missed greeting her because I finally went to bed around 2230. She did not disturb my sleep even a tiny little bit when she got here. Max must not have made a sound, either. I was happy about that.

There were a couple of times that I took Max for a walk. No matter what I do during the day I always find room for Max. He’s very happy about that.

Oh, look. Max has found something new to chew on.