Author Archives: Jerrie Cate

About My Bride of 50 Years

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When I was 16 my friend, Richard, took me to an archery club he had joined so we could improve our skills and have some fun doing it. The instructor, Mel DeLonais, was a no-nonsense kind of guy who everyone instinctively knew to obey for two reasons: 1) He was either carrying his bow or it was within his reach; 2) He was a dead-on shot; and, 3) He was always right. So, at 16, he was someone we listened to and obeyed. OK, that’s three reasons. There are probably more but those are the ones that rise to the top when I think about him.

Also in attendance at these lessons was his daughter, Diane. She was 13 at the time and I pretty much knew right away that she was going to be my life-long partner. She didn’t know that, of course, because that’s not something you tell a 13-year-old girl. I waited until she was 15 or 16 to that, and fully eligible in many countries to be married. At this stage of life the math is fuzzy but my intentions weren’t. She was a Freshman during my Senior year of High School and we were a couple most of that year and stayed in touch via letters and visits home after joining the Navy her Sophomore year.

Wise beyond her years, she turned me down the first time I proposed citing a very valid reason that she should probably finish High School first. That made perfect sense to me so I let her go to experience those tender years on her own. We stayed in contact over the intervening years as she grew up, went to college, and went to work.

When she was 21 I was home on leave after riding the newly commissioned USS Cleveland from Norfolk, VA to San Diego, CA where it was staged for a trip to Viet Nam. It would be my 2nd deployment to that area of the world. This leave period allowed me to attend my 5th Class reunion and I was poised to make the party on my own as I had no one to take with me. During those years all my High School friends had stayed connected, went to college, and some married each other as everyone knew they would. I was a loner because it’s difficult to find dates while living aboard a ship and being transferred all over the place on a regular basis. The loner part was me spending my time waiting for Diane to finally see the potential in me.

That moment came when I visited mutual friends, Junior (my golf partner today) and his wife Nancy. While I was there Diane showed up. I hadn’t seen her in three years. Once again I was stunned by her appearance into my life but managed myself quite nicely, I thought, visiting for a while then excusing myself to go home.

As I was backing out of the driveway Diane came running out of the house. I stopped to see what she wanted and we chatted a bit as she leaned on the passenger window. This was a Friday. She asked me if I was going to my class reunion and I said “yes, would you like to go?” She responded with an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

The rest, my friends, is history.

I don’t remember how much time we had left before the ship for deployed to Viet Nam, but we spent every possible moment together. The catalyst for our future was when she came running to my car like she did. It was THE moment in my life when everything came back together, making the world right again. Had that not happened, had I been allowed to drive away without that conversation with her, I’m confident there would have been another moment in time like that in the future. I’m forever glad she finally chose me that day so I no longer had to wait.

When I picked her up for our trip to the reunion, she slid next to me on the bench seat, like she’d always done on our dates years ago, but this was different. It was as if we silently, mutually agreed, that the final decision had been made. We were a couple again. It was a terrific day, and we made the remaining few we had just as great.

Then I was off to San Diego. There was no one on the pier for me as the ship pulled away but I knew Diane would be there in the future. Life was good.

The following April I transferred from that ship off the coast of Viet Nam and flew home to marry my one true love and embark on an incredible adventure that took us from one side of the world to the other more than once – Okinawa to Italy to Florida to Guam to California to Hawaii and more. Now we’ve been home in Oregon since 1989 and don’t plan to make any long trips. We will, however, be making trips around the Northwest to see what we missed during all those years away.

Now, here we are after 50 years. I’m still stunned every time I look at her because what I see is my High School Sweetheart when she was 14.

I always will.

Happy Anniversary, My Love.

 

Bayview State Park Washington, and Crabs

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Yesterday we embarked on a journey to Bayview State Park in Washington. That’s about 60 miles north of Seattle in case you’re wondering. The plan was to leave about 9 am so we’d arrive early afternoon. Doing that would have been a modern-day record because we rarely leave on time. Yesterday was no exception. Even with Jeff’s help to load ‘stuff’ into the RV we didn’t actually get all the way to Highway 30 West until 11:00 am. That’s actually not bad from a historical perspective.

We made it through Longview and made it all the way to exit 49 on Interstate 5 when a brief discussion with my lovely bride revealed that I didn’t have my pills. Since there’s no way I could go an entire week without partaking of the finer ‘fruits’ of the pharmaceutical world, I turned around and headed back, automatically making our trip 2 hours longer than it should have been.

Once we got home I got my pills, first thing, then Diane got the Brita filter from the garage refrigerator because I didn’t get it before leaving the first time as she thought I had. We also gained some deli ham that somehow hadn’t made it’s way to the RV. And some raisins.

Then we headed north, once again, record intact for not leaving before noon on any given trip. This time we pulled out around 1:00 pm and it wasn’t nearly as exciting as getting away the first time at 11:00 am. Actually, it was a little depressing as we traversed the same ground 3 times to get to a place just once. When we finally got past Exit 49 the 2nd time, things looked brighter and the GPS reported we would arrive around 7:30 pm. Not quite what we had planned, but at least it gave us confidence we’d arrive. Sometime. With the Seattle traffic arrival time turned out to be 8:00 pm. Incredibly, it was still light enough to see what I was doing to get the car off the dolly, get the RV parked, and everything hooked up. Everything except the TV, the most critical appliance. Thankfully, I was allowed to defer the TV issue to today and can report that, after numerous attempts, I succeeded. Diane has HGTV for the duration.

We read for a while last night, then went to sleep at our normal time – that’s when we’re tired enough to sleep. I only had to get up one in the middle of the night and it was pretty chilly. No, not chilly, but just plain cold. After getting back to sleep I stayed there until almost 10:00 am.

I woke up to the smell of bacon frying. That’s a motivator to get vertical. So I did, and we had BLTs for breakfast. Well, breakfast for me, but lunch for Diane because she was up at 7:30. I asked her why she got up so early and she said, “because I woke up.” Couldn’t argue with that.

Once fed, and awake, I did the dishes, and we jumped in the car and drove around the immediate area and discovered the Padilla Bay National Refuge Area Learning Center, or something like that. Inside we met and talked with Dale and Annie. Both were women, in case you were wondering. Her mom and dad must have liked Roy Rogers and Dale Evans growing up. We had a great conversation and learned about the places we should see and places we should eat. Annie, the younger woman, said that pretty much any place in Edison was good. So, we headed north to Edison.

It’s a neat little town and pretty much every place to eat turned out to be a biker bar. Now, don’t get me wrong, taverns and bars typically have good food. The ones with motorcycles parked out front validate the high quality of the food. We will probably partake of one of those places before we leave here. The one we’ll probably go to has a sign out front – “Adult Day Care”. Looks like a great place. I have a photo of it, but my phone is dead and it must be living in order to get the photo. Maybe later I’ll give it a shot. Maybe tomorrow.

Since tomorrow is our 50th Wedding Anniversary, thank you, we thought finding a good place to eat a good steak would be good. The Biker Bar Day Care was a possibility, but we had other places to look. Like Anacortes. There’s a casino there and I thought maybe they would have tasty food worthy of a reservation. We went, we saw, and we inhaled lots of second-hand smoke walking from the front door of the casino to the 2nd floor restaurant. The restaurant was very nice looking, and looked to be hermetically sealed off from the casino proper, but getting all that tobacco odor on the way kinda takes the edge of our appetites. We checked it off our list of possibilities. We’d fiddled around looking for a decent place to eat to the detriment of our now empty stomachs and needed to make a call about whether we go in to Mount Vernon to check out more possibilities or return to the RV and eat the Dungeness crab Diane brought. Hmmm. Tough call.

We went back to eat the crab. I had the biggest crab louie I’ve ever had. Really. She had a 1 pound container of crab meat ($26) of which she put about 3 ounces. That means I got the rest of it. If I escape a raging bout of gout in spite of ingesting that much crab, it will be amazing. If I don’t escape, I’ll happily walk around with a severe limp until it goes away. Yes, I’ll do that for my bride.

While Diane was preparing parts of our afternoon dinner, boiled eggs to be specific, I returned my attention to obtaining a picture on our TV that might be fun to watch, as directed. Doing that required me to ascertain the reason I couldn’t get a satellite signal even though I knew the antenna was in the proper place. After many attempts of moving the antenna, and restarting the receiver via various methods, I finally hit the proper combination by putting the antenna on the RV roof and unplugging the receiver for the specified 30 seconds. That did the trick. We have TV service and no longer have to leave the confines of our motor home. Unless, of course, the holding tanks over flow because I failed to go empty them. I might have to do that because this Washington State Park, that charges $31 a night, doesn’t have sewer connections. Go figure. Don’t worry, I won’t allow them to overflow. I’ll tape down the toilet lid before that happens. It’s a short walk to the out-door toilet and showers.

Now it’s dark, Diane’s all snuggled down on the sofa watching ‘Station 19’, and I need to go potty, so I’m terminating.

Before doing that, however, I must report on some new arrivals who showed up while we were eating our crab. They showed up with a very long trailer and it took the husband more than a dozen attempts, back and forth, to get it inserted into his assigned space. Diane counted them so we know that’s true. I think watching him made her a little proud of me because I’ve never taken more than 3-7 attempts to get our trailers properly parked. Most of the time I just zipped it right in with minor jockeying to get the hoses and cords line up. Now we have an RV and parking is even easier because it’s got cameras.

Ok. Now the potty stop.

Jeran’s All Growed Up & Diane’s New Phone

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I’m a couple of days behind reporting that Jeran has finally attained his 18th birthday and has ushered in the time when all of my Daughter’s children are grown up. His birthday was on the 11th in case you want to send him money, or something.

He evolved from this …… to this …… in the blink of an eye.

He will graduate from High School in June and somehow wrangled an acceptance letter from Corban University in Salem, Oregon. Since he’s currently still living at home the reality of that aspect of his life has yet to be realized so it’s business as usual for now. Too soon, however, he will embark on that journey and we’re all excited to find out where it takes him. His initial goal is to be ordained and work as a Youth Pastor. Somewhere.

In addition to Jeran’s remarkable feet of turning 18, so soon after Lydia turned 19, we’ve had some excitement here at home.

Most of it revolves around Diane’s washing machine. After 25 years it finally bit the dust. It entered a state of nirvana where it simultaneously pumped water from the tub and filled it with fresh water. We might not have noticed except the pumping was a bit slower than the filling resulting in a situation where the water level went halfway up the door. It’s a front-loader so that’s not a good thing. The pressure was too much for the water and the load of jeans it was washing. When I got to it to investigate the “little bit of water” Diane noticed coming from under the washer, the bottom of the door, which doesn’t lock, by the way, was sprung out and water was doing a Niagara thing onto the floor. Water was everywhere. I was able to push the door in and stem the tide, but figured that wasn’t a viable solution for the long-term. Eventually it occurred to me that I should turn the water off, which I did. This allowed the pump to empty the tub and spin the jeans to the point where the dryer would accept them for the finish.

We went to our local Sears store and purchased a new set which will be delivered tomorrow.

In preparation for the delivery, we’ve been carving a path from the lower patio door to the laundry room to make the delivery easier. I’m going to take the old W&D out, leaving the laundry room empty, so I can cover the bare studs that Diane’s been looking at for the past 11 years. She deemed it was time to “make them pretty.” So, I will do my best. Toward that end, I took a trip to the local lumber yard and purchased some bead board. I will also build a drop down folding table. Since there isn’t one there now (never has been) I need to work out the dynamics of how she’ll be able to use the toilet when the folding table is down. It’s going to be tricky because the table will cover it completely. I suppose it I had the table high enough, and she used it while folded in half, it would work, but doubt that she’d be happy about that. I’ll think of something and take a picture for your approval.

Just a little while ago a couple of young ladies from a company called “Enjoy“, a pretty nifty delivery service, visited to deliver Diane’s new iPhone 8 Plus. It’s a red one. I ordered it just before 2 pm this afternoon and it was delivered by 3:30 or so. Amazing.

Anyway, the ladies sat Diane down, had her unwrap her new phone, and proceeded to help her through the process of making her new phone look a lot like her old iPhone 5S. We all had a nice visit and it was really nice to have an expert on hand to take care of things correctly.

Now it’s time to stop and eat something.

Little Goats

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Our neighbor, Jen, has started farming, her reason for moving to the country. It was handy that the neighbors before her and her family had chickens and left a nice chicken coop. For us it’s an unanticipated benefit because we get eggs once in a while. Nice fresh ones.

The other day she came home with baby goats and they’re adorable. Who can resist the allure of a baby goat? Really? It’s like they beg you to pick them up and cuddle. Everyone but me, that is. I can resist baby goats. They’re fun to watch, though.

Today Diane and Lydia got to meet them for the first time and fulfilled their dreams of holding a baby goat. These guys are brothers and just 10 days old. One of them looks suspiciously like our cat. See if you can figure out which one.

Lydia’s only comment during this cuddling exercise was, “I want a baby goat.”

I asked Diane if she wanted a baby goat and she declined. We’ll play with the kids next door.

Their names are Ren (right) and Stimpy (left). Remember that cartoon?

Now, which goat looks like the cat?

Off The Road, and Lydia

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We’re off the road because we safely made it home from the rainy beach. No mishaps and nothing broke. It was a successful trip. Another reason for leaving the beach was due to the crowds …

Now, about Lydia. Today she turned 19.  We celebrated that event yesterday by driving to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm near Woodburn, OR to tramp around in the muddy fields of tulips. They aren’t all in bloom, yet, but those that were are pretty nice. Won’t be long before the fields will be blazing with color. Honest.

On the way home we stopped at one of the two Cracker Barrel Restaurants in the Portland area. The only other time any of us went was to a CBR was in Virginia and we loved it. We weren’t disappointed this time, either. The food was great and we had a secluded table where we could celebrate Lydia’s 19th without bothering anyone else. 

A glass dolphin from Jeran that I’m pretty sure she likes a lot.

I memory frame for Kylo, Lydia’s Rottweiler puppy (he’s one year old). Sadly, he’s got major mobility issues and will have to leave us before he grows up. He’s a great, friendly dog.

 

I think she’s unwrapping earrings.


Jeran and Jennifer (Mom) watching the celebration in their own ways.

Diane doing the same, and Jeran is, as you can see, still fully engaged.

Not long ago Lydia exerted her adulthood by having a hole punched in her nostril. I asked her how she picked her nose without destroying all the Kleenex and she showed me. Turns how it involves some hard-core nose picking.

Actually it wasn’t that bad, and I didn’t ask her how she cleaned that nostril. It was a lie.

Daniel (Dad) and Jeran hung out in front of the Cracker Barrel making good use of all the stuff they have for sale out there. Daniel waxed Jeran at checkers.

Daniel, Diane, and I went home after this and Jeran stayed with the girls while they went shopping at Cabela’s which was just across the parking lot. Diane got us safely home and all the dogs were extremely happy that we didn’t make the day last any longer.

It was a good day, too. The sun shined pretty much all the time even though there was rain in the forecast.

That’s it.

On The Road Again

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We’re on the road, figuratively speaking. We were on the road for a while to get where we are, but right now we’re in space A31 at South Beach State Park. That’s anywhere from ¼ to ¾ of an inch south of Newport depending on which map you’re looking at. We spent the last three nights at Bullard’s Beach State Park which is just a tiny bit north of Bandon. We were scheduled to leave there Saturday but turns out we were able to see everything they had to show us in just a few days so we left. That, and it was really cold when we got up this morning and we weren’t really into being cold. Neither was Ziva. We took her for a walk on the beach this morning and she indicated that she wasn’t having much fun. So, I guess we could blame the early departure on Ziva.

Some interesting things happened yesterday worthy of mention. First, Diane demonstrated her ability to tuck and roll with the best of those who do that. She was stepping off a tall rock down to the soft sand with me holding her hand. Once she was committed to hit the beach she lost he balance and instinctively put her body in “noodle mode” to ensure nothing snapped. The result was that she let go of my hand, taking me out of the equation, fell on her left arm and rolled to within a 1/16th of an inch of a large piece of scraggly drift wood. I was pleased to note that she didn’t emit the noise with which I associate severe injury and she reported that she was OK. What a relief. I was fearing another trip to the hospital for her. She was able to get herself up and we went on a nice little walk. That was a close one, for sure.

Later on, back at the RV, I got a little cocky trying to turn on the porch light without looking at the switches. When I went to take Ziva for a walk I discovered in a dramatic manner that I had instead retracted the steps. I was in free fall for only a very short time so I didn’t actually fall down. I just hyperextended everything in my left leg and had my right rotator cuff not already have been completely torn, it would have been when I instinctively grabbed the door jamb and succeeded in yanking my entire body to a screeching halt right after my left foot hit the ground. It hurt a bit, but I didn’t fall down. I count that as a successful exit.

Considering the potential damage to both of our bodies, we figured there would be issues with mobility this morning, but neither of us seemed to be any the worse for wear. It was quite a relief, I must say. To celebrate, we leashed up Ziva and took her to the beach for a very cold walk, the one I mentioned earlier.

While on Bullard’s Beach, we left foot prints for others to discover.

To round off the stay at Bullard’s Beach in style, we took selfies …

We also visited the area near the Coquille Light House on both sides of the Coquille River.
South side …

North side …

Finally, at the North Jetty of the Coquille River, Diane showed Ziva some really big sticks. She wasn’t impressed.

Now I must nap.

EOU Softball

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I may have mentioned previously that I have a relative, Maryssa, who plays softball for Eastern Oregon University. Diane and I like to go watch her when she’s playing close to us, but that doesn’t happen very often. Still, we keep track of her shenanigans.

Last weekend they played somewhere near Pendleton, OR and won all four games. I know that’s true because Diane told me and I believe everything she says, even when she’s wrong. In this case, however, I’m pretty sure she’s correct. She told me that Maryssa hit at least one home run during those wins and because she’s related, I’m sure she played a major role in all four wins, even if she didn’t hit. She’s the 2nd baseman.

This weekend, ending today, they played in Montana and only got the Saturday games in because the Sunday games were cancelled due t0 snow. That’s a first for me. Cancelled because of snow. I guess that happens in Montana. Anyway, EOU won the two games on Saturday running their current streak to 6 in a row.

Just wanted to let those girls know they have fans in places they’ve probably never been, and we’re proud of them.

Keep it up!

This is Maryssa holding Kylo, Lydia’s puppy.

Money, Peeps, My Lawn Mower, and some Photos

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Two things of concern

  1. Why so much money is spent on political campaigns
  2. Why movies are ranked by how much they earn instead of how many people watched.
  3. Peeps

OK, Three things. I was wrong, or I just can’t count. You choose.

First, lets discuss Political Campaign Money – it is my asserted opinion that spending billions of dollars on political campaigns is an astounding waste of money that could be used in a far better manner. Like, feeding hungry people in the world. That, and I think we can all agree that those who collect the most money aren’t necessarily the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

Movie Money – just because a movie earns a ton of money doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most popular. I’ve actually spent good money, more than once, to see movies that I didn’t like at all. When I shared that information with friends, they went to see it, too, and didn’t like it either. Still, the fact that they went added to the monetary total for the period of time covered. I think those who attend movies should fill out a brief survey about how they liked the movie. And how good the popcorn was. Each theater would then upload their data to a central collection point where popularity of the movies would be accurately captured based on LIKE or NOT LIKE, not on the price of a ticket.

Peeps – In case you aren’t familiar with Peeps, they are a marshmallow confection that has miracle healing qualities that aren’t well documented in medical journals. I know this is true because Diane told me so and I’ve been complicit in helping her carry out unauthorized use of Peeps to help her. So far she’s convinced me that Peeps cure hiccups, something she discovered a long time ago. I’ve seen it work, numerous times, for Diane and multiple Grandchildren. Our Grandchildren. Another Peep solution is they’re great for removing popcorn hulls that are stuck in your throat. So far, those are the only two significant cures about which I know. Since both hiccups and stuck popcorn hulls are unpredictable, Peeps must be administered as those events occur. By taking them, however, we don’t know if taking them for those events also serves as a preventative solution for other maladies that aren’t allowed to manifest. We’ll probably never know. If anything changes with this medial miracle, I’ll let you know.

Oh, wait! There’s four! My Mower. The weather here is probably the important news because it’s been so nice everyone around here has been able to mow their lawn using the grass catcher. That’s significant because normally this time of year the grass is too wet for any mower to actually propel the clippings through the plastic tube into a bag. The clippings just jam up the tube making a nasty mess that needs to be cleaned up. When I mowed it I didn’t take a chance on the tube getting plugged up by just leaving the grass catcher laying there on the ground. I’ll make another tour around the yard tomorrow to pick it all up, after I play golf. It’s going to be 70 degrees, I’m told.

This is Jeran, Jennifer and Daniel’s youngest, waiting for a concert to start.

These guys were the concert: New Legacy Project from Nashville.

Our back yard after I mowed it a couple of days ago. Really. A couple of days ago.

Our cat, Breezie, sleeping on her head.

I dog I encountered some place. I’m getting a sign like this, and another one that says, “I’m not working now, you can pet me”

Lydia visiting with a lizard on her shoulder.

My mower before I mowed it.

Desiderata

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No doubt most of you have read, or at least heard of this poem. It was  written by Max Ehrmann’s in 1927. I don’t read it often but every time I do a sense of peace settles over my soul, making everything right with my world. There are many experts out there who have analyzed Max’s poem in an attempt explain what Max is ‘saying’, but the true analysis, in my opinion, is what it means to each reader.

I share with you simple words of peace …

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann – 1927

Carpentry and Blood

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Over the last few weeks I’ve been working on sliding shelves for the small pantry area in the motor home. Until today everything was going along nicely because I was wound-free. Now, I’m talking about weeks, folks, not just days or hours, of managing to remain relatively waterproof (no blood loss) and no detectable bruises. I attribute this to the fact that all I needed to do was slow down and pay attention to what I was doing – just like Diane has told me to do numerous times subsequent to pretty much every previous injury that required her assistance to mend.

The project was to build 5 sliding shelves that are 6 11/16” wide and 20” inches long. Not very big and something an expert could probably hammer out in a few hours. I, however, must spend numerous hours considering how I should proceed. I do that a lot for everything I do that involves a task that requires a finished product. Generally, I do that for so long sometimes that Diane doesn’t think I’m doing anything at all. I suspect she thinks I’m napping but what I’m really doing is staring at my stash of lumber, draw guides, and tools attempting to visualize what the shelves will look like when done. I’ve already researched possibilities on Pinterest and found about a gazillion choices to use, but most of them don’t supply the detail I need get going. You know, of course, that analyzing a gazillion references takes a considerable amount of time and that happens before I stand in my shop and start the visualizing process.

At some point during my analytical process there emerges an actual vision of what I need to do. It’s then that I’m released to actually pick up boards and glides, holding them together in various ways to see how I can attach them together. This involves considerations like, should I just use glue, should I use my nail gun, should I use screws, should I use a combination of all those …

Glue Only – this method is obviously totally impractical, even though the glue I have requires a considerable effort to break apart pieces that have been allowed to cure for the proper amount of time. You see, I like to take things apart, to, and gluing kind of rules that out for things that are constructed with wood that’s been measured once and cut twice. It always needs to be fixed at some point. So, no glue.

Nail Gun – this method is very appealing because I hardly ever get to use my nail gun because they are illusive critters. I had three of them at one point in time then I had none and I had no idea where they went. One of them was finally located when I asked Jeff if he borrowed them and he said he did. Then one day our old neighbor, who moved last year, came by with a box containing one of the other guns that I’d loaned him and forgot about. He said he was going through boxes in his garage and found it and decided he should return it. The third one is just gone. I can only hope it found a good home. Prior to the neighbor returning the one I loaned him I went to ACE and bought a new one so now I have two again and have access to a third one that Jeff has, should I need it. I won’t need it, however, because it’s for nailing large boards together and I’m working with little stuff. Another issue with nail guns is they need compressed air to work and my compressor is big and resides in the garage. It’s noisy, too. Whenever I fire that puppy up Panzee, a dog who is essentially deaf, runs away. I do, however, have a portable air tank that will hold 100 lbs of air. It’s located right next to my table saw, which has been the source of some colorful injuries I’ve documented in previous posts. So, the nail gun became a viable candidate for part of the construction as long as the air holds out. I know from experience that getting the empty tank to the compressor is a cinch but lugging it back to the basement filled with 100 lbs of air is really hard.

Screws – these were essential for mounting the drawer glides to the inside of the cabinet and to the shelves. I knew this was true immediately when I got the glides because the screws came with them. Thankfully, I have a portable electric screw driver. Actually, it’s a portable drill but I can drive screws with it, too. The problem with it, however, is that it’s a wee bit too long to actually drive screws in a space that’s not much over 6” wide and 20” deep. So, I pulled out one of my really old rechargeable electric screw drivers the kids bought me about 10-15 years ago. I figured the battery was probably toast but was pleasantly surprised that it charged right up and served me well during construction.

I cut pieces of wood to which I screwed the drawer side of the drawer glides. In the cabinet I installed spaces to attached the cabinet side of the glides. The spacers were needed so the shelf would clear the opening.

Then I cut six shelves out of random pieces of paneling and peg board material and attached two guides to each of them with my nail gun. Viola! I had shelves. But, the tops were just flat with no sides to contain items. Then I had an epiphany, which is always fun. Epiphanys that I have never just jump out of the blue to me. They come to me after lots and lots of time consuming thought about how to solve something. It’s a gradual thing for me which, I know, is kinda contradictory of me calling them epiphanys. But they are, and I always enjoy them.

In this case, my problem solving thought process finally took me to dowels and my drill press. Yes, I have one of those. It’s not large, but it serves my purpose. Combining those two items in my head produced a vision of Tinker Toys. Remember those? My epiphany involved a solution for drilling the right kind, and size, of holes so I could cobble the dowels together, and attach them to each shelf, in the form of small little fences, for tiny little cows and horses. No, really, the fences are to corral cans of food and anything else Diane might want to put on them.

Drilling holes in dowels, without drilling all the way through, in a manner that will accommodate the flat end of a dowel requires the use of a forstner bit, of which I have a few. It also required me to build a little jig that would hold the round dowel steady when I drilled it.

Just as I was finishing up the drilling process I had a very minor lapse of judgement which resulted in the injury I received. With the drill in the O.F.F position, I apparently got cocky when positioning my third to last dowel for the drilling and brushed my hand against the drill bit. It was off, for criminy sakes, and it didn’t even hurt, but here’s what it did …

It punctured me in four places! Really!? I guess I really am thinned skinned.

Since I only had a couple more holes to drill, I finished the process then took this picture and showed it to Diane who was busy at her computer. Since she was busy doing something important there I didn’t want to interrupt her by talking so I just held the photo in front of her.

She immediately got up and escorted me to the first aid room – we have one of those, now – and fixed me fight up with just one band-aid because two of the small punctures quit bleeding when I scrubbed up so we just left them alone.

That’s all I have for today.