Author Archives: Jerrie Cate

Day Seven – Lots of Dead Shrimp !

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OK, so I didn’t take a picture of the shrimp I ate, but I did get this one after that when we drove around on the Naval Base …

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That’s the USS Peleliu (LHA-5). It was in the same amphibious group as the USS Cleveland and we deployed with her numerous times to the Western Pacific in the 1980s. I believe that she is now the oldest active amphibious ship in service since the USS Cleveland was decommissioned last September. I took pictures of some destroyers, too, but don’t know if you are all cleared to see them.

Now, let’s back up a little … we got up at a reasonable hour this morning and headed back down to San Diego with the intent of getting a smog check so we could get a base sticker for the car. Complicating this was the fact that we had an appointment with Chuck, and his bride Vonnie, at the old Chief’s club at 32nd Street. You may recall that this is where we had prime rib last Wednesday. Today it was dead fish and dead shrimp, and shrimp & chicken pancit. Pancit is noodles. Very good stuff. There was peel and eat shrimp, too. I ate way more than I should have and will probably pay the price when my right big toe breaks out in a terminal case of gout. It won’t really matter since everything from my hip down on the right side hurts. So, a sore big toe is really no big deal. I already limp on that side. I’m not complaining, mind you. I’m just stating facts.

We were able to get the smog check done ($40) but it almost made us late for our rendezvous with Chuck & Vonnie. They had already been through the line and were just sitting down when we sauntered into the joint. We had a great visit and Chuck is going to give us a hand with the September reunion. I’ll have to introduce him to Brian, who also is helping.

After a great visit and lunch, we went to the 32nd Street pass and ID office for our base sticker. I got in line and stood there for about half an hour before someone came out and said their computer system had just crashed and they couldn’t issue decals, just passes. So, I took the pass I already had, went back to the car and “ordered” Diane to take us to the Naval Air Station to see if we could get a decal there. It was a nice ride over the Coronado Bridge, and Diane took the order quite nicely. We quickly got the decal and a nice young lady in uniform, a Seabee from Tennessee, stuck it to our windshield. We won’t need to get another one until 2016.

It turned out that President Carter was at the Hotel Del Coronado today riding a Trikke. Perhaps you saw it on the news. Probably not because it was a local “thing”. I guess he used to live on Coronado a long time ago. That’s just really nice to know, isn’t it?

After we left Coronado we went back to the Naval Base so Diane could shop. No amount of whining and crying on my part would redirect her efforts. So, of course, I went along. The fact that she was driving had nothing to do with the fact that I had to go with her. I could have gotten out any time I wanted to. Really. I could have. She may have even stopped to pick me up and take me to a hospital. Maybe not.

Once done shopping, and confident that the rush hour was at it’s peak, we headed back north to Carlsbad on I-5. Most of the traffic during that time is going South, so it’s really not too bad. We arrived in time for another ho-hum sunset.

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Day Six – Carlsbad & Nothing Else

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No picture for today because we didn’t do much. Just lounged around in our jammies until afternoon. Ate breakfast around 1000 and the maids visited us to clean at that time so we visited with them while we ate. It was a joyous event. I ate four eggs and about nine pieces of bacon and a pound or two of potatoes. It made me extremely full. I wouldn’t have voluntarily eaten that much but Diane’s back in the mode where I have to eat whatever she doesn’t want, even after she’s taken it all by herself. Being an extremely good husband I, of course, do what she tells me even if it means I will probably never, ever, be able to wear my 36″ waist pants again. Ever. So, while we were out we dropped by a local Goodwill and got me another pair of 38″ jeans. Now I won’t have to run around in my underwear any more.

Most of our time outside today was spent along the Carlsbad and Oceanside seaside. While traipsing around one of the yacht basins we stopped at a little coffee shop to pay way to much for some of the worst coffee we’ve probably ever had in our entire lives. In the lingo of the land, it was pretty gnarly. I drank mine out of spite, but Diane couldn’t finish hers. Thankfully, that’s the one thing, today, that she didn’t make me finish. Thank goodness. I’d’ve never made it through two of them.

Tomorrow we’re going back to San Diego for another lunch buffet. Seafood this time, and we’re meeting with another DD-808 shipmate to do it.

Tonight is going to be a challenge because our new next door neighbors are young, very noisy, and spend a lot of time on their balcony, going in and out of a very noisy sliding patio door. If they don’t drop the noise level in the next 20 minutes (2200) I’ll have to take my life in my hands and go bang on their door to ask for a little peace and quiet. Either that, or take my sleepy meds.

Day Five – 32nd Street Naval Base San Diego

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This is me and Brian. He and I were shipmates on the USS Dennis J. Buckley (DD-808) in 1965. This ship was in the first squadron that was deployed to the Western Pacific specifically for the Viet Nam War. It was the first US ship to conduct NFGS (naval gun fire support) missions during this War. Our first NGFS mission required us to sail up the Saigon River, something we could only o at high tide. This means once in, we had to stay there until the next high tide. The entire time we were in this situation, the gunners shot their 5″ 38 caliber guns at targets provided by an army spotter plane. The Veterans Administration cannot confirm that we ever sailed up the river, making us part of the “Brown Water Navy”, and subject to Agent Orange exposure, because they report they cannot locate the deck logs for that ship during that time. Kinda odd, huh? This is significant because it means they will not allow any claims for agent orange exposure for anyone in that crew for the entire time we were there.

Okay … enough sad sacking.

Diane and I spent a wonderful day with Brian. We ate lunch at the old Naval Base CPO Club. The CPO stands for Chief Petty Officer, which Brian and both were. Now the CPO Club is a catering facility, but is open for a buffet lunch every week day. All you can eat for $11.95 a person. Sure beats the casinos. Today we had prime rib and it was really good. That’s what they have every Wednesday. We’re going back for Friday’s crab & shrimp buffet and I’ll take pictures.

The old Club is an elaborate venue which will serve us well for DD-808’s reunion this coming September. That’s one of the reasons Diane and are in the area, to set up lodging and food for the masses we expect to attend that gala affair. Now all we have to do is figure out a tour for them. I suggested to Diane that we should buy all these old guys trolly passes, get them on the train, and see how many of them can get back to the reunion. She said I probably wouldn’t make it back, and she wouldn’t go with me if I was leading. Now do you wonder why I have absolutely no confidence in my abilities to do pretty much anything? No respect at all … well earned, I might add,.

We stayed on the base, fiddling around in the exchange (that’s a big store) until we were sure everyone else in San Diego was on the freeway. We timed it just right and managed to make the 35 mile, 45 minute trip see like 35 mile, 55 minute trip. And Diane refused to use the car pool lane, staying in the 3rd fastest out there. That amazed me. She usually goes about a zillion miles an hour, or as close to it as she can. She’ll deny that, of course, and I don’t blame her. I would too.

We made it “home” without mishap and immediately put on our jammies, turned on all the TVs, and had a snack. I ate dead shrimp and Diane ate dead chicken pieces. Then we had Haagen Das ice cream bars (little ones), now we’re going to have apple fritter things from Costco. Then I’m going to take a bath. Diane said I smell funny. Plus, she thinks it will help my right leg which I think is atrophying … it’s getting harder to use it all the time. And it hurts. I know. I’m whining again, aren’t I?

I didn’t mention that we got home just in time for sunset. It was pretty ho hum, don’t you think?

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Winter in Carlsbad

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I just finished about three hours of typing today’s entry when, ZAP!, it all just disappeared. It was a really good one, too. But, I’m not going to try to redo it because I’m a little bummed.

It included everything that happened today, in vivid detail, and I was trying to end it with a photo of dinner when things went bad.

In a nutshell, today was cold compared to yesterday. Hence the title. Had to wear a jacket all day and it was overcast. I think I mentioned that the local weathermen decided there was a one-day cold front in the area, but the rest of our stay will be nice and sunny.

We went to San Diego which is a 35 mile, 45 minute trip.

I got a new military ID card and a base pass for the car. While I was doing that Diane got the oil changed in the car, gassed it up, did some shopping and returned to park in the furthest space away from where I was. It was planned, I’m sure.

We returned to the condo and cooked dinner and just rested. I rested so much I fell asleep.

Now it’s time for bed. We hope for sun tomorrow.

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Day Three – Carlsbad, CA

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Day Three
March 5, 2012
Our brief stay in Fresno ended at 0915 this morning. It was then we raced to our vehicle and headed on down the freeway. I won the race so got to drive first. I drove for almost 3 hours. During that time I only scared Diane twice, and she only got mad at me once. That’s a modern day record for three hours.

Bad coffee at Hampton Inn & Suites continued to be the norm so we started a search for Starbucks a little north of Bakersfield. We didn’t find one until we reached Lebec. That’s where Highway 99 and I-5 become one. There was a McDonalds located conveniently next to the Starbucks so we decided to eat a meal to get us through Los Angeles. This meal reminded us why we typically do not eat at McDonalds because the quality of their food, compared with pretty much any other fast food joint, sucks. Bad as it was, we deemed ourselves fortunate to have discovered sustenance, though we didn’t really need it. As we were finishing, the place filled up with customers, then a bus load of girls in really short shorts stopped and they all came in adding to the growing noise level. As a result, Diane made me ditch the last three french fries and the last two bites of my terrible 1/4 Pounder so we could leave. I didn’t deem the loss to be a big sacrifice. Once in the car, she made me throw away my drink cup as there wouldn’t be room for both it and my Starbucks drink. Meekly I complied, though I had a large number of sips remaining.

After we obtained our marriage-saving caffeinated beverages, Diane assumed the drivers position and we leaped into the southbound traffic toward Los angeles. Diane suggested that we should have filled the tank, but I reminded her that we made a decision that we weren’t going to spend any less on gas than we have to. It’s bound to be much more expensive on the other side of the Grape Vine.

Speaking of the Grape Vine … there was still a trace of snow up there and the temperature was 72. Admittedly, the snow was a few hundred feet higher than we were, so it was surely colder where it was.

By 1230 the caffeine kicked in for Diane and she was a very pleasant person to be near the rest of the day. It helped that she knew she wasn’t going to have to drive but a couple of hours because of the sacrifice I made with the donation of my three hours behind the wheel, dodging trucks.

We arrived at our destination at 1500, pretty much on the dot. For you non military folks, that’s 3pm. We needed food and, as luck would have it, there’s a COSTCO about a mile away. So, that was our first visit after getting our “stuff” to the condo.

We are on the top floor and this is the sight that greeted us upon our return from shopping. Not lot to say after this …

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Day Two – Fresno

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04 March, 2012

Day Two.
The weather is brutal and I don’t know if we can take it much longer. The sun is beating down relentlessly causing blindness at times, making us fear for our lives as we dodge the continuous stream of trucks. The blindness was on Diane’s side of the vehicle because she forgot to bring her sunglasses. They were left in the PT because that’s the last vehicle she drove when the sun was shining at home. Now we’ll have to visit COSTCO to get another pair because we know they have the kind that fit her glasses perfectly. I don’t need sun glasses because when the sun shines in my eyes I just squint real hard.

I drove the first 2 hours and got us almost to Shasta Lake before our urinary tracts began to influence our decisions. That was partly caused by the need to stop in Weed. We hit a “Black Butte Coffee” drive through and got our favorite beverages. Very tasty.
The rest area we stopped at was a new on on our list. We were sure we’d stopped at every rest area on I-5, both directions, over the years we’ve been driving this highway, but never the south bound unit at Shasta Lake. We’ve seen some significant improvements at all the others we’ve visited in the past. I’ve often thought that we should write a guide book with details about all the rest stops on the highways we’ve driven. For the ones we haven’t been to, I could just make stuff up and get pictures off the internet to substantiate my false claims.

I’ve discovered that my hip doesn’t hurt nearly as bad when I don’t wear pants in the car. That’s a guess, of course, because Diane makes me wear pants in the car whether I want to or not. What I did was undo my belt. That relieved the pain so much that I can only assume taking my pants off would only be better. I was thinking that I may never know, but the temperature is 66, at 11:30 am, so I might just yank on a pair of shorts for the ride tomorrow. Actually, I’ll yank on the only pair of shorts I have. Maybe I’ll wear my swimming suit, then I can eliminate underwear, too. Diane refused to take a picture so I could show everyone how comfortable I am so you’ll just have to let your minds wander around a little. Maybe we’ll run into each other in there.

At 1:30 pm the speedometer was fixing to rotate to 50700 miles and decided to each a mini lunch to commemorate this historic milestone. That meant we were 600 miles from home and only about 10 miles from Sacramento. I’d call Sacramento Kathie but it’s Sunday and she’s probably home now. But, we’ll have and holler when we drive through town, just the same.

Lunch consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had the bread but the peanut butter and jelly were snitched from our last motel by Diane. I was afraid they were going to call the police, but she smooth-talked them out of it claiming she has a rare disease that makes it imperative that she has fresh peanut butter handy at all times. In a pinch she can spread it on the back of her hands, like lotion, and the important nutrients will soak into her skin. What she didn’t tell them is that later in the day she lets me like it off. There’s more to that, but it’s not what you think. Perhaps I’ll forget I’m not supposed to tell you and reveal that secret.

Agnus successfully tiptoed us through Sacramento from I-5 to Highway 99 at 2:10pm. At that time, Diane said she could only drive another 62 miles on the remaining gas, but Agnus reported that we still have 155 miles to go to Fresno. It’s very possible that we’ll be stranded on the Highway for hours waiting for AAA to show up with some gas to get us to the next gas station. We’ll no doubt burn to a crisp because the temperature is 77 degrees. We feared we were doomed! Then, right out of the blue, a gas station showed up. It was at COSTCO!! How lucky was that? We spent $77.95 for 19.017 gallons of gas. That’s $4.099 a gallon. We also bought Diane a new pair of clip on sun glasses. Now she’s happy and not quit so cranky and a lot less likely to be blinded by the intense sun.

We made it to our hotel in Fresno around 5:25 pm. We would have been there sooner, perhaps by 5:15, had Diane listened to Agnus, but nooooo, she listened to me. You’ think she would learn, wouldn’t you?

After we checked in we drove across the street to Chili’s and had a very filling dinner served by a so-so waiter named Matt. Then it was back to our room and sleep.

See you tomorrow.

California Bound …

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Well, here we go again.

We finally achieved escape velocity to leave our orbit around St. Helens and are now on our way to Medford, Oregon. The plan was to leave home at noon and we made it out that door around 1:45, right on time. In case you don’t have a map handy, Medford is pretty close to California’s northern border with the much prettier state of Oregon. It normally takes five hours to get there, but it took Diane 5 hours and 3 minutes. She lost the three minutes when she stopped for gas at the Seven Feathers Casino. That’s about 50-80 miles short of our destination, but it was a good choice

Diane’s real proud of me, she said so, because I didn’t rush her this morning, or get upset because it was taking so long to get gone. I admit, it was a severe struggle, but I did it. First time in 40 some years. I regret it’s taken me so long to have achieved such a calm point in my life. Sure makes things easier when Diane isn’t mad at me at the beginning of a long trip.

Another exciting thing, besides Diane not being mad at me, is that she only packed one (1, uno, ichi) suitcase. That meant less trips to the car for loading, and less trips at each stop to unload. That can only mean that packing extra suitcases all these years is directly related to her being mad at me for encouraging her to move along a little faster. I will never encourage her to do that again. Besides the benefit of hauling around less luggage, it’s a lot less stressful.

In preparation for this trip Diane made me vacuum her car yesterday. So, I got two Avon boxes and totally emptied it. One box was for all the “stuff” in bins and on the floor. I filled it. The other box was for the glove box. It was only half full. Diane’s job was to decide what went back in the car. She did a good job and I told her so. It’s not often that I get to assign her tasks.

It was sunny and clear most of the way. Got up to 62 degrees for a long time. An absolutely beautiful Oregon day.

We got into our room by 7 pm. Unfortunately, the hotel doesn’t do evening food on weekends so we had to fend for ourselves with apples and cheese.

Diane has to get a good nights sleep tonight because she has 400 miles to drive tomorrow. That will be Fresno. She has to drive all the way because I pulled a leg muscle with all that sitting today. Actually, that’s a lie. My hip and leg hurt a lot most of the time but I don’t know why because my doctor hasn’t told me. Diane said I have to make an appointment so she can do that. That’s probably not a bad idea. For now, I’ll be taking lots of ibuprofen. Lots of it.

I gotta tell you about last night … as soon as I remember what happened … oh ya, it’s about the dogs. I always take them out before we go to bed with the hope none of them will find it necessary to get creative with their need for facilities. I may have mentioned that we’ve seen coyotes in the field, but they’ve always been on the other side of the fence. Last night there was one in our side yard no doubt looking for an Ozzie snack. He was apparently hanging out by the grapes. The big dogs didn’t see it at first, and neither did I. When they did, however, both the big dogs just launched after it without making a sound. Very eerie. The coyote ran by within 30 feet of me, but doubt he saw me because our two big dogs were hot on his tail. I figured they wouldn’t be back for hours, but they returned within 10 minutes. That really surprised me. Hopefully it surprised the coyote enough that it will tell its friends that they shouldn’t mess with the big dogs at our house.

We have a cat, now, too. It lives outside in a kennel I put out for her because it was cold. She would really like to move inside, but Ziva would as soon eat her as not. They’ve visited a number of times and Ziva really wants to play, but the cat isn’t familiar with how that works so slaps and hisses at her. Makes close encounters pretty exciting.

Now I’m going to watch the rest of the Blazer game.

This last week …

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Greetings. I just happened to look at my calendar, not something I do much any more, and realized that it’s been eight (8) (ocho) (hachi) (kahdeksan) (vo-syem) (acht) (huit) (otto) days since my last entry. Realizing this, I vowed to immediately get busy to reground those of you who may be feeling a sense of loss because of my absence. I doubt there are many of you, but saving just one makes the effort worthwhile.

Last Thursday Diane and I loaded up our Winnebago, affectionately named “Wheeezie”, and headed for Cannon Beach. That’s just a few miles south of Seaside on Highway 101 for those of you not familiar with some of the more picturesque locations along the Oregon Coast. Cannon Beach was so named because of the old ship’s cannon found somewhere around there, but it’s much more famous for Haystack Rock, a monolith that appears on the same list as the Rock of Gibraltar. For those of you who don’t know what a monolith is, I’ll tell you, because I just found out … it’s a single massive rock or stone. Another reason Haystack Rock is famous is because it was featured in the movie “Goonies”. Who could forget that? What an epic! I loved it! Still do.

Getting there was just half the fun because this was the first trip for Wheeezie and we were sure how she would react after being dormant for so many years. It’s a known fact that dormant RVs are notoriously cranky and hard to deal with unless, we’ve discovered, they’re Winnebagos. These things are like the Phoenix and rise from the ashes just when you think all is lost. It’s a humbling experience.

To ensure we had a backup plan, should she break down, or run off a cliff, Diane made me drive it alone while she followed along behind, in a car with a heater, with her finger poised over the last digit of 911. Actually, I wasn’t alone. Ozzie rode with me in the passenger seat but it was simply a ceremonial position because he can’t navigate at all. He just laid there napping the entire trip.

The journey turned out to be uneventful and we made the 2 hour trip in 3 hours 45 minutes, give or take and hour. I kept my speedo on 52 mph for most of the trip, even up the hills, which turned out to be 55+ because the speedometer isn’t calibrated very well. I guess that’s OK, but makes me wonder why it took so long to get there. Perhaps RVs travel in a different universal timezone where journeys appear to take more time when, in reality, they don’t. Could be, too, I was a little anxious about it because I’ve never driven anything that big before. Ii pleased with Diane to drive it but she said her big rig driving days ended when she got rid of her last Kenworth in 1967.

So, I found a bullet to bite, and did the deed. Turns out it wasn’t so tough after all. The only glitch was when I plugged in the big electric extension cord, that comes with all RVs, the TV didn’t pop right up with 80-90 channels. That continued to be a problem until the last day of our stay when I finally figured out that the cable wasn’t properly connected inside various parts of the RV innards.

The purpose of this trip was to meet up with some classic Winnebago owners for a weekend of fellowship in the coast rain.

An added bonus for Diane and me was Lydia’s basketball tournament in Seaside. It’s always fun to watch the kids play. They didn’t do well in the tournament, but they had a fun weekend at the beach.

The trip home was as uneventful as the trip over. Though I was hoping for a more exciting time driving, it was actually pretty dull. The rig drives very nicely. Once home, and in the driveway, we promptly emptied the food, returning most of it to it’s proper place in the cupboards and various refrigerators and freezers, then Diane spiffed up the insides while I worked on some of the outside issues. We left it in the driveway until Tuesday morning when we took it back to the rental storage unit where it will live for the month of March. We’ll  be gone most of that time, so it’s OK. “Where,” you might ask, “will you be gone to?” and I’d say, “Calidego, Sanifornia.” Actually, we’ll be in Carlsbad for a week, Las Vegas for a week, then Idaho for a few days. That reminds me … I better call Jim to see if it’s OK for us to visit Idaho.

After stowing Wheeezie, we checked out the newspaper drop boxes that our Lions club monitors. In one of them I discovered a marijuana pipe and a pile of burned ashes where someone obviously started a fire. Pretty stupid since there’s no where for the smoke to go. I took the pipe to the police station and reported the incident. Guess that makes me a narc, and I’m OK with that.

For lunch we drove about 45 miles to the Ya Hala restaurant where we visited with friends. Ya Hala serves Lebanese food. I have to admit that I went there with a bit of apprehension about whether or not I’d like any of it. But, to please Jerry 1, I had a plate of Jajal, or something like that. It had dead chicken in it so figured it couldn’t be all bad, and it wasn’t. But, it was kind of bland. It was served with a side of homemade yogurt which, Diane reported, is extremely good for me. It tasted a bit like sour cream and wasn’t bad. As I watched others eat, it because apparent that the yogurt was meant to be mixed with the dead chicken & rice mixture which combined to make a unique flavor treat. The bread was my favorite … it was served hot and looked like the top half of a hamburger bun, but much softer. I discovered after a brief trial and error, that if only it would stay warm, it would serve well as a substitute breast for those of us who don’t naturally have them. It was so warm and nice, then Tom squeezed it and it deflated, as did I.

After the meal we all trekked outside to check out Jerry 1’s new addition to his custom Camaro. Pretty slick.

Then it was on to Oregon City so Diane could deliver some Avon to Kathie, who is not to be confused with Sacramento Kathie to whom we’re related. Also, it’s pure coincidence that both Kathie’s are married to Mike’s. Small world.

Around 5:30pm we determined that the Portland rush hour was at it’s peak and that we should join the throngs on the road and get back home. As it turned out, most of the traffic was escaping Portland as we entered, so it was bad at all. Plus, we choose to stay off the freeways, taking surface streets on all our journeys.

When we got home we joined Ziva who was already in a vegetative frame of mind,

and watched a couple of recorded shows on TV until Diane fell asleep, a sure sign that it was time for bed.

Tools !

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Yesterday and today I was allowed to use power tools even though I was alone most of both days. I guess Diane is either starting to trust me, or she just doesn’t care if I wind up with a serious injury. I really think she cares but has decided to let me fly alone and let the injuries happen, if they must. Fortunately, for me, I didn’t injure myself as I am prone to do. I thought everything went quite well until I found my shoe glued to the floor this morning.

What happened is I knocked my wood glue over. It didn’t have a cap because I destroyed it when I tried to open it with a pair of pliers. It just snapped right off. Makes you wonder how good the glue really is since the lid was full of it. Anyway, I set it on the floor, where I was working, and eventually knocked it over. It was bound to happen. About half of it had drained onto the floor before I noticed it and made a festive yellow puddle.

I picked up the glue container and pondered a little while about how to salvage what was left. As I did this my eye landed on a pretty red top from some leather mender stuff I had thrown away because it was about 20 years old and had solidified in the container. I had taken the top off in an attempt to get some to fix a little rip on Diane’s new couch, but couldn’t find anything useful. So, I threw it away, but the lid remained on my work bench. It fit the glue bottle perfectly. Going back a little, you may wonder what it’s like when your eye “lands” on something. If it’s happened to you, you know what I mean. It’s like a physical sensation that makes you kind of dizzy when you spy the exact thing you need, and everything else becomes invisible as you zoom in on it. It’s almost like what you see in a cartoon.

With the glue safely secured, I discovered that I had stepped in the puddle of glue while engaged in that activity. Not wanting to make glue spots all over the place I just slipped my slip-on shoes off, and cleaned up the puddle just like Diane would have wanted me to do before I stepped in it. When I told her about this she said, “what if the dogs had stepped in it,” to which I had no response because that didn’t even enter my mind. I mean, I wasn’t supposed to step in it, so why would they? I suppose I should have considered Ozzie because if he stepped in it he’d only get about three steps before his little feet would be glued to the floor. That wouldn’t have been good at all. But he didn’t.

In case you were wondering, this is what I’ve been working on. It’s for our church.

You’re probably wondering why it would take a normal person two whole days to make something that looks pretty simple. First, everyone tells me I’m not normal, so that’s a big issue, and second, I used good joinery, and way too much lumber. I had no plan, similar to the way I write stuff, so it was engineered on the fly. The basic premise was to provide Pastor with a cross for the church to which folks can pin their prayers, concerns, and troubles, and won’t tip over. He wanted an old ragged fence board which I got from Jennie. The I used some cork, from Goodwill, and trimmed it with some decorative wood. The wood for the frame was stuff I’ve had laying around in my shop for 6-7 years. It was time to use it.

I’m sure all of this detail is thrilling you to pieces so I’ll quit. Besides, Diane just got home from her WELCA meeting, where she was reelected as President, and now I have to wait on her.

A Night Out

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Last night Diane and I went to see “Beauty & The Beast” at the Keller Auditorium. This was “Thanks” to our friend, Gary K who, sadly (for him), had a scheduling conflict and was unable to attend. He was very generous and now we like him more than ever. Really.

Prior to the play we had dinner at the Keller Cafe. It was very interesting. I’m not saying the food was bad, because it really wasn’t. It was buffet style, so we helped ourselves.

To start, we had Italian Wedding soup. Never had that before. It’s some kind of tiny round pasta, about the size of salmon eggs, but white, in a broth with small pieces of sausages, and a random leaf of spinach. It tasted pretty good, but Diane didn’t like it. When we got the soup, we also got salad and what looked like fried vegetables. Maybe they were roasted. Either way, they weren’t fully cooked. Diane didn’t like them, either, but did OK with the salad, which was fairly normal.

For the entree, I got the Dried Fried Szechuan Green Beans with bell pepper confetti, a hard roll (my favorite), Orzo Pilaf,  Pork Roast, really tiny little pieces of cake, and coffee. Diane didn’t try the beans because they really didn’t look “right,” kinda black and all, but I did and found them to be a delightful compliment to the incredibly dry piece of pork roast that I voluntarily accepted. I have to admit that I was able, with a little effort, to cut the meat with only my butter knife, but that didn’t add any juice to it. I was strongly considering a visit to carver to ask for some ketchup but Diane vetoed that in favor of me just eating it and “dealing with it,” over creating a culinary scene that would, she was sure, embarrass her. I had no doubt she was entirely correct in her assessment of the situation so bit my tongue, figuratively speaking. I ate two rolls, and an extra helping of the beans before we both indulged in multiple pieces of tiny cake and coffee. Diane like those, as did I. After it was done, I was full and satisfied, so didn’t really have anything to complain about at that point.

Though there may have been an issue with some of the food, what made it totally OK was that the Cafe is situated right next to the entrance for the 1st balcony where Gary and Cindy normally sit.

About 10 minutes before curtain time, we found our way to the assigned seats. They were in row A with an excellent view of the stage. Having neither seen the movie, nor read the book, the only thing I knew about Beauty & The Beast were a few of the songs. So, I was delighted with the entire event. The cast was exceptional, especially the beer mug clacking scene. That was awesome! The entire affair was awesome! Thank you Gary!

We did have a little trouble with the crowd and some of the audible aspects of the play which disturbed Diane. The first was with the very large lady sitting next to her who coughed, uncovered, throughout the performance, and the latter was due to Diane’s newly realized need to have her hearing checked. She’s actually known this for some time, but keeps putting off doing it because she fears the cost of hearing aids will set us back 2 or 3 house payments. I told her she could wear mine any time she wants because I always forget to put it in. I’d never know the difference. But she won’t because the only one I have isn’t hers.

Today, after church, we took Diane’s Mom, Jean, to Ichabod’s in Scappoose for lunch. We all had breakfast. I always have breakfast at Ichabod’s. That was hours ago so now it’s time for supper so I’m having a toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This is something new I’ve learned to like. The first time I made one the peanut butter and jelly kinda sizzled away in the skillet. Now I just toast the bread first and put the fixings on after. Much cleaner. What I really like about them is that I don’t have to worry about jelly squishing out the sides when I take a bite. with the bread toasted, it stays firm and flat, allowing me to eat each half of the sandwich separately without getting jelly anywhere on my body. There’s no need for me to wear color-coded shirts with a meal like this.

Now I’m done.