Category Archives: Church

Best Pork Chops and Gravy Ever

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For those of you who use computers but don’t particularly care what day it is, like most retired people I know, today is the last day of July for this year. That would be 7/31/2016; 07312016; July 31st, 2016; or 31 July, 2016, depending on your preference for denoting dates and time.

Me? Although today is July 31st, it’s also Sunday which is really all I need to know. So, if anyone asks me what the date is, I just say, “It’s Sunday”. My brother, Jack, would say “It’s July”. He told me that, so I know it’s true.

Diane made a terrific meal after church today. She pan-fried pork chops, made mashed potatoes, cooked fresh beets (which I washed), stirred up some outstanding gravy, and added a salad with a stunning variety of salad dressings. We all oohed and aahed about the savory aroma and taste of everything. It was all going great until I exclaimed, without thinking, that everything tasted way better than the last TV dinner I had that had pork chops in it. Although it was true, it was obviously the worst possible thing I could have said.

So, since I know Diane reads this stuff, I must make amends and relate that the meal she prepared was absolutely one of the best she’s cooked us in the last 38 or 40 years. That’s the truth even though I really don’t have a clue about what I ate that far back, but the number of years chosen far exceeds the extent of my memory of what food I ingested at any given time. Maybe I should have just said that … “I have no memory of eating a better meal than that one.” It’s a true statement.

Except for any time she makes sloppy joes. Everyone loves that stuff. But that’s a one-dimensional meal whereas today’s had many more colors. That’s important, I’m told.

Diane’s Mom, Jean, joined us for that luscious lunch. After dinner we ate popcorn, a little popcorn, some watermelon, and something else I can’t remember. That was all done while watching “Rango” from start to stop. I thought I’d seen it previously but apparently that was not true. I have no memory of watching it so really enjoyed the surprise. Jewel saw it previously but was not a spoiler by telling us what happened next.

It’s 9 pm and getting dark so it must almost be time for bed. I need to get up early tomorrow for another rousing round of golf with the Peal boys. Doug and I are determined to kick Junior’s ass. Oops. Sorry. I forgot that I can’t say “ass” here so please ignore that. He’s convinced us that he’s always on his last leg as we progress around the course, then always manages to beat us somehow. Well, we’ll just have to do something about it, won’t we.

See you tomorrow.

Happy Mother’s Day & NAS Lemoore to Carlsbad, CA

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I have every confidence in the world that each and every one of you woke up this morning with your Mother on your mind. If you didn’t, shame on you. Please stop and, if possible, call her right now. I’ll wait.

***long pause***

Thank you.

My mother left us in 2001 but I still think of her every day. She is missed, and I’m sure she knows it.

We spent the morning at church, then joined four of the Walters clan for lunch at El Tapatio. I ordered the El Tapatio Burrito forgetting how huge that thing is. I did a pretty good job on it but had to take some home for tomorrow. Perhaps it will be photogenic when I dump it on a plate before putting it in the micro.

Here’s part of the church service …

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That’s our friend, Nancy. She was kind of laid back during the sermon.

After lunch we all came back to the house to visit until 2:30 pm. That was the time chosen to depart for the movie that Cedric was treating everyone to. What a guy. It was for his Mom, but I was invited, so I went. It was Captain America – Civil War. Diane and her Mom aren’t so much into those kind of action movies, but I really enjoyed it. Lots of fun.

Now we must leave Lemoore, in our minds. So, close your eyes and have someone read this to you.

I think we left Lemoore around 9:30 am which seems to be our new departure time. The GPS Lady reported that the drive to Carlsbad would take about 5 hours but I don’t think she took into account that we’d be moving through Los Angeles in mid afternoon. Perhaps she did consider that and considered it a push because, as everyone in the universe knows, traffic in Los Angeles is in rush hour mode all the time. It’s quite amazing, really. Normally accidents on I-5 through LA are non-injury because no one is going fast enough to do more that dent things up and make tempers flare more than usual. Fortunately, we didn’t witness any mishaps and made it to our destination unscathed. I believe our success on freeways is due to the fact that we just get in the right lane and stay our of the line of fire. It works well and we get where we’re going in plenty of time with little stress.

On a personal note, I’m the one who drove the LA segment of the trip and I did great! I’m taking credit for that “unscathed” part mentioned previously. Diane put her book down frequently, but remained calm which helped me maintain my composure. Every once in a while, when I was behind someone going the speed limit, she would say, “take him,” so I would. But I did it gently so I wouldn’t mess up the gas mileage too badly.

The Seapointe Resort is a nice place but the photos on their website depicting the facility are a bit misleading. If you check it out the one of the pool looking toward the ocean makes one think it’s right there. What you don’t see is the four lanes of Carlsbad Blvd you have to cross. After doing that, you must clamber down a cliff (I’m sure there are stairs along there somewhere) to the beach. An easier way would be to drive and park on a low spot in the Blvd that has immediate beach access.

We didn’t do that. Instead, we drove north to Oceanside to walk their board walk. It was very restful and allowed us to get our beach fix when needed.

One day we went looking for thrift stores and/or flea markets and found one on the main road just down the street. Upon entering we were convinced that it was run mainly by children of old hippies. They were having a fashion show that was pretty entertaining. The only thing I can remember us getting was a hat for me. It’s called a pub hat and I’ve never had one. What’s interesting is that it’s 55% hemp and 45% organic cotton. I’m not sure, but I think the “organic” part means the cotton was grown in dirt. The brand name is “Hempy’s” and it’s made in the USA. I figured it would be a good golf hat. It’s very comfortable.
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Mostly what we did was relax and read with no distractions. It was very nice, but a week was plenty long enough for us, then we headed back home. I won’t bore you with that part of our trip because it was pretty uneventful. Just lots of driving, something we also enjoy. We think the trip is sometimes better than the stay. It’s in our blood.

Once home my first priority was to get the lawn mowed as quickly as possible before it rained. While I was doing that out back, Diane worked on the wild parts out front. The below photo is a triangular spot, about 15 feet on a side. That’s Ziva peeking out of the jungle. She’s decided it’s kind of nice to just lay down in a bunch of foliage. Funny dog.
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Now it’s time to stop. Diane said. So, of course, I will.

Bye.

First, however, I just have to say that I think Dwayne Wade, of the Miami Heat, is a totally disrespectful idiot. That’s an opinion, but it’s supported by video evidence of him taking practice shots while a young girl sang  a beautiful rendition of the Canadian National Anthem. What a shmuck. Thankfully, the Toronto Raptors won the game and is up 3-1 in the series.

March Madness has me in it’s grip!

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Is anyone tired of college basketball yet?

Not me … as long as Oregon, my first favorite team, keeps winning.

My second favorite team is whoever beats Notre Dame.

My third favorite is Gonzaga.

After watching the boys play for a while I did some channel checking and found a Women’s NCAA playoff. I watch their games quite often and each time each time it kind of saddens me because they don’t get the attention the boys get. They play every bit as hard and make exciting plays, just like the boys, but it’s like the news doesn’t have a lot of time to talk about them.

So, no matter what you see and read, NCAA women are also part of March Madness and worth your time. I was pleased to see that my March 21st, 2016 issue of Sports Illustrated devoted six whole pages to the ladies. I’ve had the magazine for about a week, I think, and found it interesting that today is only the 19th. How clairvoyant they must be.

Today was a beautiful one in our part of Oregon. I should have been golfing but chose, instead, to help my friend Randy install a stair lift in our church so those who can’t do stairs can make it down to the basement for coffee after church. If never had the opportunity to try picking one of those things up, just trust me … they are really heavy. Thankfully, Randy is young and strong so he took the end with the motor.

Getting it installed, and making it work, was a magical feat since neither of us had ever done something like that before. Making it more interesting is ensuring all the little safety switches work. There are a bunch of them and we didn’t have any instructions. I suppose that we probably wouldn’t have looked at them if we did, but it would have been nice to have a book handy, just in case. A couple of minutes before reaching the point where we were going to take the safeties out of the equation, we figured them out.

Now it’s time for bed. There are more BB games tomorrow and I need to be rested so I can artfully change channels just in time to catch the good plays.

Church Meetings vs. Football

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Today ended a phase in my life that I never thought would arrive. That would be the end of my extended stay on our Church Council. It’s a 3-year term and I’ve been on it for 6. I’m not the only one. My friend, Bill, also saw his 6-year stint end today and I know he’s pretty happy about that.

Now, I suppose you’re thinking that because I looked forward to getting off council that I don’t see the need for people to stick their arm in the air to volunteer, or to at least accept the challenge when nominated during the annual meeting. That’s what we had today. Our annual meeting. Due to a hazardous conflict many years ago, the council decided to NOT have our annual meeting on Super Bowl Sunday.

That wasn’t a good meeting and we learned a valuable lesson … if you want a quorum at any kind of church meeting, do it when there’s not a foot ball game on TV. Any football game, but especially the Super Bowl.

Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do with all my time since I won’t have to attend those monthly meetings.

Maybe I’ll just take a nap, or something.

 

NW Weather & Other Interesting Stuff

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I just noticed that it’s been 10 days since my last post which is really uncharacteristic of the old me. I am, however, learning to deal with what is a new normal for me. One of the big ones is losing weight to help combat my diabetes type II affliction. That’s going well. In the past 3 weeks (I think) I’ve lost 12 pounds (I’m sure). This is an odd thing for me because growing up I was painfully skinny all through my school years (the mandatory ones) and my objective then was to gain weight. I may have shared previously my distress regarding my first trip to the Navy recruiter where I actually flunked the physical because I didn’t weigh enough. True story. They told me to return in two weeks to see if I’d gained anything. I could have just ignored them, I suppose, but the draft was in full swing in 1962 and I’m sure the Army would have found by services useful in Viet Nam back then. So, I went on a binge eating spree. Two weeks later I was in the Navy having passed that test. Actually, I don’t know if I passed or not because the corpsman who weighed me in had me get on the scales then he yanked me off as the needle hit 135 on its downward swing and called it good. I guess that meant I passed, huh?

Anyway, so here I am working my way back down to 175 after many years of running closer to 200 than not. My main strategy is to eat less bread and not snack on sweet stuff. To eat less bread I simply eat only one piece where I used to eat two, and snacks are mainly peanuts and water. So far it’s been pretty easy because I believe I’m blessed with the “Cold Turkey” gene that allows me to stop any bad habit easily. I did that with smoking – cold turkey. Now I’m doing it with food. Not so cold turkey, I guess, because I’m not really quitting food, just regulating it better.

Diane and I went to a stage play last Tuesday to see “Three Days of Rain“. It wasn’t the play that drew our attention, but the actors involved. Two of them, Sash Roiz and Silas Weir Mitchell, are from our favorite TV show “Grimm” which is filmed in Portland. They were joined by the talented Lisa Datz who rounded out the three person cast. We don’t normally attend plays but found this one very good.

Let’s see … what else happened … our oldest Son attained the lofty age of 43 on the 22nd, I sustained a severe bungee cord injury that has temporarily disabled the opposing function of my left thumb, The Lady Ducks lost to UCLA in the softball super regionals, St. Helens Lady Lions lost to Rex Putnam in their state softball title bid, neighbor Scott H. turned 29 on the 29th, and we’ve learned from Clyde Lewis (host of Ground Zero) that the world we know will officially end on October 7th this year. That latter bit is only hearsay for me because I heard it from Diane who heard it from her Mother, Jean.

The weather has made a serious turn to summer with temperatures in the 80’s. That means that the need for mowing the lawn will diminish until fall when the rains perk up all that grass that’s been dormant, and brown, since June. Looking forward to that, for sure.

Diane and I have spent many hours working at our church’s parsonage to prepare it for our new renter. Lots of painting going on. Diane thinks I’m pretty good at cutting in around the ceiling, windows, and doorways so that’s my assigned task. Doors and Windows are fairly easy, the working over my head around the ceiling is a challenge because it always seems to ruin both of my arms for a period of time. So, I suspect my cutting in days are numbered.

For those of you who might find themselves in the St. Helens area on any given Thursday, from June 4th through August 27, you might want to check out the city’s “13 Nights on the River“. It’s a free concert every Thursday at the gazebo in the park by the river. If you pick the right Thursday, you may get to meet my niece Sarah who will be visiting the greater Portland area from Connecticut during the summer.

Now I must remove my wet clothes and clean up. Diane went to visit her Mom, Jean, so I pressure washed the old truck in the back yard. Probably not the right place, in hindsight, because I had to drive it off a fairly large berm to get it back to the front yard. But, I did it. Should have taken a photo, I suppose. Now I’m going to start buying parts for it. Diane said I could.

Hope all is well with all of you.

Happy Birthday to Me !

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Yes, today is my birthday. I turned a flatulent 71. Only the number is new, because I was a flatulent 70 just  yesterday. The day passed with no fanfare other than the many friends and family members who wished me well. It’s simple times like this that remind me that I have many more friends than I would have thought possible. I’m blessed. There was no cake, which is fine because I’m diabetic and wouldn’t have eaten any. I went about my day as I did pretty much every other day this past year even down to the detail of acquiring an injury. I’ll talk about that later, if I remember.

The dogs didn’t think it was a special day because they got me up promptly at 0530 as they do every other morning. What was different this morning, however, is that they didn’t find a reason to bark at random things in the back yard, something that always rouses me from my morning slumber in my recliner. That was a good thing.

Before reclining for that nap I made a really good pot of coffee. That was confirmed by Diane who awoke about 0830 and sang to me like she does every May 20th. She also asked me what she could fix me for breakfast. I opted for Honey Bunches of Oats with a splash of brown sugar and milk, and one piece of toast. Only one piece of toast because I’m on a quest to lose weight and have cut my bread consumption in half by omitting that second piece I used to have. Regarding the weight, I’ve lost 12 lbs in the three weeks we’ve been working on this. Not bad for a plan that is supposed to yield a 1 lb loss each week.

After breakfast I sat around waiting for Lucan, the guy who would install our new gutter system. While waiting, Jack and Wynette called to wish me Happy Birthday and they were joined in a communal effort of the song by two other folks I haven’t heard from in a long time. That would be Gene & Shirley who live in Mesa most of the time. It was a very nice surprise.

Lucan showed up around 1000 and promptly got to work, finishing the job in about 3 hours with the help of his sidekick, Jose. Lucan, whether or not you’re interested, belongs to Jody & Rick and we’ve known him for a long time. It’s always good to see him because he has a smile that totally lights up the area around him. During the installation I observed and visited a bit with the two of them, as they went about their business doing some pretty incredible things with tin snips. We are thoroughly pleased with the results.

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After Lucan and Jose left, I fired up the old truck and went back to our parsonage which some of us are working on to make it ready for a new renter. I selected power washing the exterior as my project. Yesterday I did the front steps, the sidewalks, and a portion of the back where the dirt is more evident. This afternoon I went back to finish up the back of the house and the upper porch. The weather cooperated to the tune of about 75 degrees, so it was OK to get soaking wet, as I knew I would. Unlike yesterday, when I did the sidewalks and got mole hill mud all over me, today I pretty much covered myself with little bitty paint chips from the porch roof support.

Here’s a little of what I’m dealing with …

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I did the power washing until almost 1800, logging about 9 hours total for both days, when I deemed it time to go home and eat something. I’d been running the power washer for so long today I missed a call from Diane and one from my much older brother, Jim. He always calls me on my birthday, but normally when I can hear the phone ring. He didn’t time this one very well. He also sent me greetings via Facebook messenger and it appeared right below the last Facebook messenger message he sent me on my birthday last year. He doesn’t use messenger very often.

When I got the truck home, I remembered that I still needed to tidy up the Lions Club newspaper collection box so Diane drove me back to the High School, where the container resides, to get it done. While doing a lot of bending and lifting I managed to clean up the huge pile of papers while Diane did some shopping at Safeway.

Then it was time to determine what to eat for my birthday supper. I had many choices, one of which included having Diane cook me something, but I opted for a Burgerville Tillamook Cheese Burger Basket with a large chocolate shake. We do this about once a week as a rule and find that it doesn’t interfere with our weight loss program. Because it was my birthday dinner, however, I opted for a large shake instead of my normal medium one. I figured all the work I did would offset the extra calories.

Regarding the old truck … it runs like a dream and starts first time every time. Getting it to that point was tricky because there were multiple problems that I rectified with a new battery, and new starter, and a new set of jumper cables. I didn’t need the cables but got them just in case. I did this all day before yesterday and, as soon as I got it running, I took it to the dump and emptied $21 worth of junk that has been accumulating for the past 1.5 years. I was so pleased with how well the truck works that I am seriously motivated to start renovating it. Diane said I could. I may have already mentioned that. The first thing I’ll fix is the turn signals because I’m getting tired sticking my arm out the window to signal my turns. Luckily, so far, everyone behind me actually still knows what those hand signals mean and haven’t run into me. Still, I’m all for automation and need that fixed. That’s especially true since the last project I did on the truck was to replace the turn signal switch. Apparently one of the many wires hanging from the bottom of the dash have something to do with that problem.

Another significant event was Lydia going to her prom. She went with her two bestie and, I can only presume, had a terrific time since none of them had to deal with any kind of drama involving boys. I’m sure, however, the boys noticed …

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They all play soccer on the same team and wanted to incorporate that aspect of their lives in their photos. So, that’s what we did. The field was full of little boys at soccer practice and these three just marched through the middle of them to a goal in the middle of the field. Left to right it’s Georgie, Lydia, and Ceiarra, the Three Amigas.

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Now the evening is winding down and I’m pretty close to going to bed. So, I will end by thanking all of you who sent me birthday greetings on this day. You all made it special and I appreciate that you took time out of your day to honor me.

Oh, ya! My new injury was sustain when I was strapping down my ladders on the truck when a bungee cord broke causing my left thumb to hit the ladder in such a manner that it’s normally opposing nature was temporarily disabled. It was a very painful process and the opposing aspect has only partially returned. Considering my advanced age, it may never return to normal.

Peace to you all.

The Subaru, American Legion, Class of ’62, & Hump’s

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Thursday 2/26

The peanut brittle sugar rush is finally over and I’m thinking semi-clearly now. Diane will disagree, but I am. Really. I am.

Today I ordered a replacement debit card from the Navy Federal Credit Union because the one I had quit working. Totally. I’ve been hanging on to it for a year or so, babying it along because it still kinda worked, but yesterday I finally put an end to it by ripping in half. Actually, it was already torn a bit, right down the magnetic strip on the back, so I just helped it along a little making it necessary to make today’s call. Amy told me it would be in our mail box shortly.

Yesterday I listed our 1996 Subaru on the local Columbia County Buy Sell Trade Facebook site and couldn’t believe how many folks are interested in it. One guy even paid me a visit so it could look at it in the dark. He used his smart phone screen s a flashlight and looked it over then took it for a drive. I didn’t go with him because I was in my PJs’ already and didn’t want to get dressed. I just stood outside in my jammie bottoms and a T-shirt waiting for him to return. I wasn’t worried because he left his car, with the engine running, and with his wife sitting in the passenger seat playing with her iPad. He didn’t introduce us before he drove off so I didn’t talk with her. He was gone about 10 minutes before he returned and drove off after declining to assume responsibility for the rig. That’s OK because there is still someone out there who will. It’s a good little vehicle, and cheap at $1800. Just don’t need it.

I just saw an entry on Facebook reporting that smelling Rosemary will increase one’s memory by 75%. After considering that astounding bit of news for a while I figured it must be good information because it caused me to remember the time I did that in the third grade and got slugged by Rosemary’s older brother. Lesson learned. Don’t smell Rosemary.

I made a quick fly by at the Kozy Korner Kafe to see if any of my fellow MELCA members were there for our weekly Koffee Klash. I was informed by Kerri, our favorite waitress, that I was the only one who showed up so far. Armed with this bit of knowledge, I vacated the premises so I could return home and embark on one of my many abandoned projects. Not finding anything interesting enough to hold my attention for more than a couple of minutes, I decided to take advantage of another beautiful day and mow our yard. I didn’t do it all because I didn’t want to. I did just enough to make it pretty from the street which pleased Diane. So now our house looks kinda like Hong Kong when viewed from the harbor – it’s really nice and attractive, but once you get past the glitter of the front you enter a maze of clutter that’s astounding. In Hong Kong that happens about two blocks into the city, but at home it’s just a quick trip around back.

In the evening I attended our weekly Post 42 American Legion meeting. It’s been pointed out to me on a number of occasions that I really should attend these meetings since I’m the Sgt. At Arms. Along the way I picked up Mac, a WWII sailor, who doesn’t drive at night. Mac is 88 now and doing quite well. The meeting was pretty normal with the majority of us voting to raffle off another weapon this year. Last year we raffled off an AR-15. Lots of folks oppose those kinds of raffles thinking it promotes idiots to wander into a school and start shooting kids, but the reality is those folks probably have easier access to weapons than the one we raffle. Plus, they are deranged and not to be trusted. We were also mesmerized by Doug, our Financial guy and the Post Secretary, reading the past minutes as well as the current state of our finances. His voice has a hypnotic effect on me as he recites the numbers on the page before him, sharing all aspects of our efforts down to the penny. Makes it hard to remain alert for possible trouble like I’m supposed to but I did it.

Bought a new Sony sound system for our main TV so Diane could hear people talk. It was cheaper than hearing aids.

Friday 2/27

I attended one of our many informal gatherings for the Scappoose Class of 1962 for lunch at Fultano’s in Scappoose while Diane took her Mom shopping and to lunch. Diane was invited, as all spouses are, but she wanted “Mom Time” which was a good idea. One can never get enough of that.

Here’s the group who showed up. I used the pano setting on my iPhone to take the photo so the sizes are a little skewed.IMG_0147

Left to right: Eva, Sam, Mary Ann, Delores, David, Jim, Virgil, Darrell, Evelyn, Judy, and Harold. The gal on the end is Jim’s wife. She’s much younger than all of us. We’re all 70, you know, and she’s probably only 63-64. Just a spring chicken.

I ate way more than my share of everything and was pretty much stuffed the remainder of the day which caused me to not remember anything that happened after the meal. I don’t even remember driving home which would, no doubt, concern Diane had she known about it at the time. Learning now is too late and I’m sure she won’t be upset at all.

Saturday 2/28

The last day of February. Wow! I realize it’s our shortest month, but it still went by faster than normal. We spent a few hours of it, sun and all, driving back to Best Buy with the new, broken sound system to trade it in on one that would, hopefully, work for longer than a day. For some reason the original one got stuck in Protect mode and wouldn’t reset. So, Best Buy swapped it out for a new one. Just took two hours for the round trip plus 30 minutes or so to convince the Geek Squad that they weren’t going to fix it.

Mowed the church lawn and power washed Floyd’s mower in the afternoon. Mowed for 2 hours and power washed for 1. Brutal. But it’s really clean now.

Sunday 3/1

Diane jumped up exclaiming it was quarter to 10! and she was still in her jammies. So was I, but I knew I could change quicker than she can so I lingered here at the computer then got in trouble when she zoomed past me to the Buick all dressed up for church.

After the service we took a nice long drive Clatskanie where we had lunch at Humps Restaurant. We all had great meals that were almost too much for some of us. Diane’s Mom got a plain turkey sandwich …IMG_0143

Diane had a hot turkey sandwich …IMG_0144

And I had a chicken fried steak, two eggs over easy, hash browns, and toast …IMG_0145

As you can see, mine came on two (2) normal sized plates which had all the key points associated with a culinary challenge for normal people. I, however, have instituted portion control in my diet which means I can eat pretty much any size portion of anything that strikes my fancy, which this did. So, I ate everything on both plates and actually felt I had room for a piece of pie for dessert but Diane wouldn’t let me order one. She made us leave in the midst of congratulatory exclamations from all the waitresses in the restaurant. Apparently finishing one of those things is a rare thing, worthy of note. Eating a piece of pie on top of it would have been excellent.

Once done with lunch we went down Highway 30 towards Astoria for about 3 blocks then made a left on Highway 47 toward Vernonia. Out goal was to visit the Elk Preserve that’s out near Mist, Jewel, or Berkenfeld. None of us could remember exactly where it was, but that’s were we headed. The preserve, by the way, is where all the free elk in the greater NW go during elk season. They know when the shooting starts that this is the place to be and they show up by the hundreds. It’s quite impressive. Sadly, we never found the preserve, but we did pass a couple of small elk herds along the highway so it wasn’t a total waste of time. We saw a bunch of elk. Also saw a bunch of big and little cows, horses, goats, and donkeys. It was a regular circus out there on Highway 47.

After wandering around in the woods for about 3 hours, we arrived home right at 5 pm, the time I had an appointment with Misty who was interested in the Subaru. Sadly, Misty didn’t show up, but John was there, with Jeff, our son, and he said he’d take it. So, the Subaru is no longer for sale. John’s going to come get it tomorrow and drive it home whether or not he has a valid driver’s license. Then I’m going to go visit the water department and see if I can find out why our newly installed water meter reports that our water usage has tripled over the last bill. It’s not leaking on our side, so I can only believe that the new meter, which I was told is more sensitive than the old one, measures water in different units that the old one. The bill went from $132 to $370. Something’s terribly wrong in River City here and I’m going to find out what it is.

Sunrise & Quilts

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Here’s what I was greeted with this morning …

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Today the Bethany Ladies opened their 35th Annual Quilt Show and they had a great turnout. It’s always a festive time for me because they always have sandwiches and I really love sandwiches – egg salad and chicken salad. They also have Chicken Noodle soup and Clam Chowder, the best in the West.

The quilt show is mainly a venue for quilters to display their art and there is plenty of that around. There are also vendors in the basement who sell specialty items not related to quilts. But, you can buy quilts, too, of course, just not the ones upstairs decorating the pews.

That’s Jean, Diane’s Mom waaaay in the back.

DSC_2849You could also spend a buck or two on raffle tickets to win one of these beauties …

DSC_2843My favorite is this Crazy Quilt whose owner said she’s been working on it for 10 years.

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In the basement Barb, part of the crew, shows off her special apron.DSC_2841

Here’s Nancy giving me almost her best smile. I didn’t get the best one because she saves that for Floyd.DSC_2837Here’s Jennifer checking out a catalog of quilts created by the Featured Quilter, Terry Maloney. Sadly, I don’t have a photo of Terry to share. Apparently she heard I was coming and left.DSC_2853

Diane taking a break warming her feet on the heater grate. DSC_2850She’s going to have to do some more of this when she gets home this afternoon because they don’t close the doors until 1800 hours and she was there at 0830. Tomorrow will be a shorter day because the close at 1400 hours.

So, if you find some idle time on Valentine’s day, and want to spend some of it wandering around some beautiful quilts created by some very talented artists, pay a visit to Bethany Lutheran Church between 10-3. Kitchen closes at 2 pm. You won’t regret it.

 

 

 

 

IRS Threats, Injuries, & Church Council

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Just learned that the IRS is filing charges against me for some reason. They left a message telling me to call 360-363-5925 and I did but all I get is a busy signal. If any of you are interested in keeping me out of jail, please call this number until you get an answer and let them know that I’m sitting here shaking in my boots waiting for them to show up at my door.

Fell down again this evening in an apparent attempt by nature, or karma, to even things out, giving me injuries on both sides of my body. But, reflexes intervened and ensured that new injuries were added to the already damaged left side. This time I twisted my left knee, sprained my left ankle, and added to the complexity of pain of my left arm. That’s two. Thankfully I’ll only have to endure this one more time to fulfill the rule of threes. With luck I’ll continue without actually breaking anything.

What fun.

That’s as far as I got yesterday because I had to drive Lydia to soccer practice in Hillsboro and didn’t get home until 9:30 pm. Bedtime, normally, but we stayed up until almost midnight anyway. Gotta wonder why we do that when we know we feel and sleep better when we go to bed earlier. Old age, I guess.

Now Tuesday is almost a memory and I bet everyone is just itching at the bit to find out what kind of injury I sustained with the last of my three events. Well, even though I spent a considerable amount of time on a ladder, with my sore knee, hip, ankle, wrist, and shoulders, installing the new garage door opener, I failed to fall even one time. I didn’t even slip. Probably because I was being super careful to avoid a possible broken bone. Then, shortly, before finishing my task, which was successful, by the way, because it works, Diane came into the garage and told me I could relax about the third event because she just had it for me. She tripped over the big dog on the porch and slammed herself into the door jamb. So, she’s going to have marks tomorrow and sore shoulders for sure. I don’t think there are many husbands out there whose current spouse would be willing to take one like that for them. I’m particularly blessed for sure.

Now I must assemble my paperwork for tonight’s meeting and have something to eat. Maybe that half of a baguette I bought yesterday. It should still be good. And some cheese.

Hope all is well with all of you.

Leaky Winnie, Nurse Sarah, & # 700 !

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Today is the day I must fill in the hole to cover the new water supply line that was rammed through the foundation. The ditch in the yard is already filled and the sod was placed willy nilly because it kept falling apart while I was moving it. After pounding it into the soft soil with the nifty dirt tamper thingy it looks pretty good.

A couple of days ago, after two days of sunshine, I smeared a bunch of sealant around on top of the old Winnebago to stop a persistent leak that was giving me fits. When it rained the next time I was gratified to see I hit all the holes so there was no more leak. The next step is to fire it up and get it down to the Fred Meyer gas station so I can cash in on the $.45 a gallon credit we’ve built up buying bagels and whatnot this month. That will bring the price down to around $1.50 a gallon. Should be able to fill both tanks because I think they have a 75 gallon limit. We’ll see. Tomorrow. Maybe.

I discovered that Nurse Sarah was having a good time in Las Vegas recently, all the way from Connecticut, and I’m happy for her and the stranger she’s been hanging out with. One of these days, perhaps, we’ll get to be in the same vicinity so we can provide validation of her choices, and maybe even learn what his name is. I know she’s already got that from the right side of the country but it won’t be official until the left side has their say. Ya know?

Last Sunday we had what I thought would be my last Annual Meeting at our church as the iron fisted ruler. However, the meeting went so well, that I opted for another year. I don’t think anyone will try to unseat me from my throne of authority but if they do they’ll be in for the slap-fight of their life. Well, not really. I’ll happily step down for anyone willing to step up if they can knock me off my mountain. No, actually, I’ll gladly step aside and serve out my remaining time as a loyal minion.

For an added note of interest, this is my 700th post on this senseless blog.