August 22, 2026

Posted on August 22, 2026 by Jerrie Cate

I mentioned previously that I spend a lot of lately watching movies. Doing that is a major aspect of my rehabilitation therapy for my fractured ankle. Watching movies keeps me off my feet and it seems to be working because the swelling has gone down and my pain level is minimal.

Here are some of the movies that have helped me recover: “”Hail Mary”, “Novocain”, “Mercy”, “Naked Gun”, “The Devil Wears Prada 2”, “Downsizing”, “Danica”, “Toy Story 4”, “Moana”, “Stuart Fails To Save The Universe”, “Redux Redux”, “Equilizer 1, 2, 3, & 4”, “Hoppers”, “Mickey 17”, “‘Good Luck Have Fun Don’t Die”, “Furiousa”, “Afterburn”, “Alex Cross”, “She Rides Shotgun”, “Cleaner”, “A Working Man”, “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning”, “Weekend in Taipei”.

There are more but I haven’t remembered all of them, yet. Also, there have been a few binge events for some series that I have yet to finish.

I have to report that I had a partial fall the other day. It’s a partial because I didn’t fall all the way down, just to my knees in, in the Safeway parking lot. My knees got dirty but it was really nothing. Probably not worth reporting, but I made a vow that I would be honest about my stability.

Speaking of stability, Jeff has made great strides in following my example. He’s scheduled for a new knee installation soon. It’s for his right knee. That knee has been a bother for him for at least 25 years so it’s about time he got a new one. So, while he’s waiting for the surgery, he wrecked his left knee just to keep things going. I think he’s just setting the stage to have that knee replaced, too.

I’m babysitting Siah this afternoon. This is how I do it.

We had lunch together then we watched a little Disney and now he’s playing games on his tablet. It’s a tough job.

Hope all is well with all of you.

August 15, 2026

Posted on August 18, 2026 by Jerrie Cate

Hi. I’m back and I’m in much better shape now. Apparently I’m healing OK. That’s because I’m spending most of my time reclining and watching movies. There are hundreds of them that I somehow failed to see when they were new. Watching old movies is fun. I know I actually saw many of them when they first appeared, but that didn’t matter because since I wasn’t sure, I pretended this was my first time.

My ankle is still swollen. Actually, my left foot is swollen. Not so bad that I can’t walk, but it’s gained a few pounds and doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon. I’m still walking Max which may not be a good idea, but Max told me he wasn’t going on a walk with anyone else but me. So, I waited until the house was empty and took him out on the town. We generally get a couple of miles on these romps.

The Walters clan is camping at Big Eddy this weekend and are dealing with showers that have no hot water. So, Lydia brought her Mom home to get cleaned up so they can attend a wedding that’s on their list. Max was extremely excited about Lydia showing up unannounced. He’s really funny about that because he gets so excited about her arrival, then totally ignores her unless summoned for a neck scratch.

It appears that I got sidetracked right about here because today is the 18th. Therefor, I must have misplaced 3 days somewhere along the line. According to my calendar you didn’t miss anything. During those 3 missing days, I walked about 6 miles with Max. Maybe more. A routine day gets us about 2.5 miles so I just took a guess.

The weather is great during the day and cool at night. Most of my days are spent watching movies that I probably watched previously but forgot. Most of those have been very entertaining. Well, the ones I watched all the way through. Many of them caused me to take a nap off and on. I do that alot.

Lydia has been watching all the “911” series’ and I think she’s seen most of them now. Changing things up, a little, tonight she’s watching S1-E1 of “Law and Order, Special Vicitims Unit” which was made available for public viewing in 1999, the year Lydia was also presented for public viewing. I’d tell you how old she is but you’ll have to do the math.

A little research revealed that there are 26 series and the average season has 20 episodes. That means we will be a slave to our TV for at least 520 hours. During that time they are continuing to film new episodes. Factor in our need to sleep once in a while, and some of us have to work now and then, I predict we will catch up to the current episode sometime in mid 2035. If we want to watch other shows during this time, which we will, it will be necessary to extend viewing time for LAOSVU through 2042 because we enjoy dozens of other shows. I think we can catch up sooner if we spend all our waking hours in our recliners and order in all our food for the rest of our lives.

With all that fluttering around in my head which is a bit cramped with mostly useless information I believe I’ll reconsider my need to do all of that catching up and concentrate on Disney movies.

Here’s a photo to end this before it gets any worse.

August 6, 2026

Posted on August 6, 2026 by Jerrie Cate

Please forgive me for digging up something from the past yesterday instead of doing something original. I think I have something for you today. That’s a lot of “somethings”.

To begin, we’ll start with my walk with Max two days ago. It was the evening walk when the disaster happened. The morning walk along the river was very peaceful, but the smoke from all the trees burning north of us was blowing our direction making visibility less than perfect. Everything was getting encompassed by the smoke restricting visibility to just a couple of miles.

I’m sure some people have difficulty breathing the smoke laden air but I seem to be OK with it. I could barely tell that the smoke was from wood burning. There was just a hint of bonfire fragrance about it but it’s difficult to enjoy the smell knowing that it’s caused by a disaster somewhere to the north. Since I don’t watch much news, I keep track of things by what people tell me. What I know, from that source, is that Spokane has lost many homes and more are expected to be destroyed. I understand that there’s another huge fire burning near Mt. Hood. I haven’t looked to see if that’s true because I believe everything people tell me and absolutely everything I see on TV so why bother?

On to a different topic, let me tell you about the disaster, my most recent encounter with Mother Earth. It the happened two days ago while walking Max . . . . .

Since we went down to the river in the morning we decided to keep the evening trip local and stayed on Shore Drive clear over to the Meadow Park care center, a trip we’ve taken at lease a 100 times. This time, however, Max drug me to the edge as he tried to get me to make a left turn to go into the housing area up there. I know, this sounds like I’m blaming the disaster on Max. That’s OK. He can take it.

I normally accommodate his desires and took a fatal step toward him but he failed to warn me about the pothole that appeared under my left foot.

I never saw it coming but you can let your imagination go crazy and you’ll probably get close to the truth. When I lowered my left foot in a normal walking motion, it entered the pothole to a depth of about 3 inches below my right foot alerted me to the unmistakable truth that I was probably going to fall, in an asphalt parking lot.

Knowing that something was amiss, I did my best to stop the downward motion of my left foot which immediately ended my control of equilibrium. Sensing this drastic mistake, I re-engaged control of my left and tried to pull it out of the hole which shifted all my weight to my right leg which resulted in my right leg giving up at about the same time my left foot hit bottom.

Upon contact with the bottom of the hole, my left foot rolled outward and I knew that wouldn’t end well but never gave it much thought as the rest of my body started hitting the asphalt in a random manner. First down was my right knee which I wasn’t too worried about because I always wear levi’s. My left knee made contact right after the right one, then I caught all my weight with my outstretched hands. They weren’t stretched out enough to make it a good catch, but they slowed me down a little. Considering past face plants on asphalt, I raised my head a wee bit and made the final contact with the parking lot with my chin.

I didn’t try to get up right away. Instead, I just laid there waiting for all the injured parts to check in so I could assess the damage. My Apple Watch was buzzing frantically on my arm wanting to know if I was OK, or should it call 911. I was sure I didn’t need an ambulance, so I declined that offer. It was, however, nice to offer that choice.

Since I didn’t detect anything catastrophic, I thought maybe I should try to get up before a crowd gathered for this Kodak Moment.

There was no way that I could get up without placing my palms down and pushing up. I thought it would hurt, but it didn’t so I worked my way to a vertical stance and stood there for a moment to see how things were going to go. Since nothing gave way, I took a few steps to check my left ankle and that seemed OK, too, but I had to admit it hurt a little.

I considered continuing on my way around Victorico’s but only got about 7 feet before I had a better idea. We turned around and headed back home. It was the only proper choice. The house was about 1/2 a mile away, but I was pretty sure we could make it. Later, when I told Jennifer about all this, she said I should have called her so she could come get me. I have to admit that didn’t occur to me. Maybe I can train my watch to make her or Jeff a call option the next time I fall.

We made it home without any additional mishaps and I took my place in my recliner before looking at my left ankle or my chin. I checked the ankle first because I knew my chin, though very sensitive, was rather minor because I dabbed at it with a napkin all the way home. I didn’t want blood to get on my T-shirt and all the dabbing I did didn’t reveal much blood.

Then I checked my ankle. It looked like someone had put a golf ball on the left side and stretched my skin over it. It was quite stunning. Since it didn’t hurt to touch it I knew it wasn’t a sprain. Instead, I was sure something was broken.

The kids rallied around me and gave me a lot of advice and let me know who I should have called. Jeff loaned me an ice pack which I laid on my ankle while trying to go to sleep at bedtime. It seemed to work.

Then, yesterday morning Jennifer took me to urgent care so they could take some X-rays of my damaged parts. I was #4 checking in so didn’t have to wait long before my PA, Jennifer C, helped me out. I had X-rays of my left shoulder, both knees, and my left ankle. As the tech walked me back for the photo shoot he told me that walking was OK until one of his pictures revealed a fracture.

After he studied the photos for a minute he brought me a wheelchair then took me in to show me what an avulsion fracture looks like but he could have skipped that part. I’ve had one of those before on my right foot. Now, apparently, I had matching ankles.

Back in the exam room the PA adorned my body with a walking cast bootie, something I’vc never had before. They are quite nice. I wore it all day until it chafed my injured ankle long enough.

After almost a painless day yesterday, many parts of my body are getting the message that something’s wrong that needs attention. My arms hurt from catching the fall, and my ankle pain has included most of my left leg. So, I will be taking one of my pain killers tonight so I can sleep.

Hope all is well with you.

August 4, 2026

Posted on August 4, 2026 by Jerrie Cate

Surprise! It’s only been a few days since my last post so I suspect some of you might be wondering why I’m back so soon. I used to do this every day until my life changed forever when Diane left me. When that happened pretty much all my joy went with her.

Oh, I still have many positive things in my life to keep me engaged, but without her the parameters are different. I’m surrounded by my children most of the time, and I have friends who share events with me. and that’s really awesome, but I miss sharing those events with her.

Sounds like a broken record, right? I’m sure everyone who has to go through this part of life’s journey says the same thing. Unfortunately for you, as I’ve said previously, when those feelings or thoughts get stuck in my head the only way I know how to relieve myself is to type it all out.

Doing that gets my head flying all over the place, ending at places I hadn’t considered. Eventually, I wind up in a happier place thinking about all the fun we had, the places we got to visit, and the family we made . . . .

I got stuck on that last paragraph. Picture me sitting here with my fingers poised over the keyboard, waiting for that next word that seeks relief from my clogged brain, and nothing happens. I’m sure that I’m not the only person that has this problem but it’s disconcerting when it happens. When my fingers are poised over a keyboard, I expect them to be productive. All the sudden they weren’t.

Considering that predicament, I deem it’s time for me to just make stuff up. You know I loved her beyond measure, and I miss her, but I need to move on down the road. So, here I go.

Let’s go back in time to 11/27/2011. Thanksgiving is over, and my head was overflowing with unused words.

Thanksgiving is over and it’s time to get back to work. For me, it’s a trip to the VA for some poking and prodding. I love that part. It’s a simple way for me to get people to touch me for free. Well, there’s a little co-pay, but it’s not much. Worth every penny.

I’ve been scouting around for a new platform to use for my blog and thought I’d give this one a try. Susan recommended it, so it must be a good one. I think I made a couple of entries on Blogger, but can’t remember. There’s an image of a turkey carcass floating around in my head that I associated with that site, but that doesn’t mean anything. The carcass may have an entirely different meaning for me tomorrow. Or in a couple of hours.

I’d tell you what I did last Friday, but I can’t remember.

Yesterday it was sunny and we had a mini-USS Cleveland reunion at our house. In attendance was Gary, Cindy, Brian, Susan, Diane, Ziva, Panzee, Ozzie, and me. Gary & Brian remember each other from their time aboard Cleveland, but I don’t remember either of them. Probably because they were snipes, working below the main deck, and I was a deck rating working above the main deck. Everyone in the Navy understands the unspoken division between the two. We were never allowed to talk with one another, and we were all fed a different times to ensure there was no contamination from one group to the other. Apparently it works really, really well. It’s nice to learn that this division doesn’t translate to relationships in civilian life.

Gary & Cindy live in Washington. Brian & Susan don’t. Neither do I or Diane. But, all four of us who don’t can see Washington from the towns we live in. What a treat that is.

After everyone left I gave Diane a hearing test and we learned that she really is deaf in her left ear. I’ve known that for a long time but she refuses to get her hearing checked. Instead, she’d rather punish me for not answering her questions when she has her deaf ear turned toward me. It probably doesn’t help that I usually don’t talk very loudly. I do that for a reason, of course. Since her ear is already damaged, for some reason, I don’t want to take the chance of making it worse by making loud noises. So, I talk softly. Sometimes I just move my lips when she’s looking at me but that seems to make her angry. Thankfully, I can still outrun her and after 30-40 feet I forget why I’m running and she forgets why she’s chasing me. The dogs love conversations like that.

We hope everyone had a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving weekend, and that the turkey was all consumed, or sent home with visitors, so you can eat something “new” tomorrow. Send good thoughts to an old family friend, Jeff K, who is in a coma at OHSU. It’s complicated.

Today we went to church, like normal, but that doesn’t seem to help keep me from getting into trouble. We even took Diane’s Mom, Jean, like normal. We were the last people out of the church, ensuring the doors were locked and the garbage removed, and everything. It was a little ominous, weather wise, when we left the house. Apparently all of the weathermen got together on Saturday and decided it was going to rain at 10:30am sharp and, by golly, it did. There were minor breaks in the downpour so we had to time it right, ensuring it was at it’s heaviest, before heading to the car. We made it home safe and dry, then Diane made me and Jean exit the vehicle before she drove it into the garage. Thankfully, it wasn’t raining very hard at the time, so it wasn’t bad.

We heated up a mess of leftovers that included turkey, chili, baked potatoes, dressing, and salad. I had everything but potatoes and salad. I also had cheese and crackers, and a glass of expired milk. After feeding the milk to me, Diane reported that the date on the bottle indicated it should have been consumed by November 18th. Not too bad, but it suddenly tasted awful and gave me a stomach ache.

Jack & Wynette stopped by for a while on their way home from a funeral in Longview. We had a nice visit and it was good to see them, as always. Wynette’s letting her hair grow long. Looks great. Jack reported that he and Wynette have spent a lot of time, lately, looking for bras. It wasn’t immediately clear who they were for so I found it very informative. I’ve been thinking about looking for bras, myself. Diane doesn’t approve, telling me I don’t need one. In self defense, I never said I was going to buy one. I just wanted to look for one.

I learned that Jack’s hands are a C cup. I also learned that mermaids wear sea-shells because b-shells are too small, and d-shells are too big. I never knew that. I’m always learning new stuff from Jack. I always look forward to seeing those two.

Now it’s dark and nearing time for me to go to bed. We need to leave in before 7am in the morning to make sure I’m at the VA by 8am. It’s a long drive but, since I’m not allowed to sit behind the steering wheel, I can sleep all the way over. And all the way home. Which I probably will.

I hope all is well with all of you. I feel better now that I’ve moved beyond that roadblock in my head.

August 1, 2026

Posted on August 1, 2026 by Jerrie Cate

It’s been about 10 days since my last post so I’m really falling behind on sharing the new. If I was smart, I’d keep my wheel book handy and jot down things of interest you might enjoy but I’ve never been accused of being smart. That means you’ll just have to put up with whatever I can remember. There’s nothing on my calendar during those days which means either I didn’t do anything, or I just forgot to add them to the calendar. Odds are it’s the latter.

Yesterday Carolann and Terry paid me a visit yesterday. It was a very nice way to end July. They were beckoned to the Columbia Funeral Home so Carolann could deliver a eulogy for a friend. It was very thoughtful of them to think of me during this trying time. That’s just the kind of people they are. We sat in the back yard and talked a while until they had to leave. Max was on his own with us and stayed right with us the entire time. I took him to McCormick Park and let him loose in the “No Leashes” area before the visit.

At the park he ran off a lot of energy and spent only a little time in the creek which surprised me. He loves the water but he seemed to be just happy running circles around the big dogs in the park.

I’m thinking I need to eat something with lots of protein for lunch. I’m cooking 4 ears of corn while I ponder about that and think I’ve settled upon some fried chicken from the Safeway deli. Maybe I’ll buy Max a beef bone to gnaw on. He seemed to like the ones I bought him a few weeks ago.

Later … I went to the store and got some things I that weren’t on a list, anywhere, and forgot to get Max a bone. Now I’ll have to go back. Maybe I’ll take him with me on the next trip.

Today is Saturday. Jennifer has been invited to attend a surprise birthday party for our good friend Noydena. She and Jennie have been friends forever and Noydena is essentially a family member. The party is at Big Eddy County Park near Vernonia. I’m sure Noydena has no idea what’s coming so it should be a lot of fun. Max gets to go with us which I know will please him to pieces.

This morning when I took Max for his first walk, it was raining. I haven’t been paying any attention to the weather, or news, so that was a surprise. Max didn’t care, nor did I. I just put our raincoats on and went to the river. It was really nice because the rain deterred most folks from walking our way.

When we got home, Max focused his puppy-dog eyes on me and gave me a friendly growl letting me know he wanted a treat for being such a good dog. So, I got one of his current favorites and headed for the back door so he could go outside and bury it for later. I stood in the doorway watching him and he just stood there watching me. He was in th e middle of the yard during this standoff and wouldn’t move until I turned my back so I couldn’t see where he dug the hole. He must like the taste of dirt with his treats. I’ve talked with him about this, but he won’t tell me what the appeal is of eating a treat that’s been buried for a week.

I may have mentioned that our friend Gretchen blessed me with her presence last week, but couldn’t find a photo to share. I just now found this one from our trip to the Happy Garden Chinese eatery here in town. We had plenty left over for the trip home. I pulled the trailer out into the driveway so she could have a private place to spend her nights and she stuck around for a few days. Gretchen was one of my co-workers at PGE for many years and we became good friends with me and Diane. So, having her visit was very nice. We spent a lot of time just sitting in the living room talking about everything.

Since I didn’t get permission to use this photo I may be in trouble but that’s OK. Maybe she might determine that another trip to St. Helens is necessary so she can read me the riot act. Or, maybe she’s OK with this and will visit again just for fun. If she does, I’ll get a better photo to share.

Here’s the better photo. I know this is true because Gretchen called me about the one above. I’m thinking she might have to take over as editor so I can have someone with common sense give me guidance.