DAV Thrift Store & Del Mar Hot Rod Show

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today, in the extremely bright sunshine, we walked to the DAV Thrift Store that resides on the Pacific Coast Highway, somewhere in Oceanside. I don’t know specifically ‘where’ in Oceanside, just that it’s south of us.

We embarked on this journey after breakfast so we were nourished, unlikely to faint away from the physical aspect of the endeavor. Had I known, at the time, that the one-way distance to our destination was 1.7 miles away, I may have given it a second thought.

To those of you who walk on a regular basis, that’s no big deal, right? Well, to me, a person who ‘talks’ about walking more than ‘doing’ it, 1.7 miles is a pretty good hike. Making it even worse, there was the trip home making it a whopping 3.4 miles! That’s a long ways. I know that one of the Nancy’s I know walks that far between snacks, and probably thinks I’m overreacting to the distance. Now I’ll admit that I wasn’t aware of the distance involved at the onset of this trek. Diane kept that a secret until we made it back to our abode.

Making it even more profound, was that I added at least another mile to that by leaving Diane to browse while I backtracked to an O’Reilly automotive store we passed on the way. I did that because I needed some R-134 refrigerant for the Buick. The A/C quit working right about the time we hit warmer weather on our way. This happened the last time we took a trip south, when the Buick was still under warranty, and nothing was found to be wrong. They just recharged the system and it worked fine. Until now. Now, considering that we don’t use the A/C during the winter, maybe it failed right away and we just didn’t know it.

So, thinking I knew the solution to the current problem, I went to O’Reilly’s to get the recharge kit. It cost over $53 which includes a $10 core charge for the can. After getting it, I walked back to the DVA place and entered the store just as Diane was checking out. She stuffed everything in the handle bag she thoughtfully brought to make it easier for me to carry. She just knew I would because I’m that kind of guy. I carry stuff for her. Open doors, too.

Then we started the journey back to the condo. About half way Diane’s knee started acting up so I had to carry her. It was necessary to stop frequently so she could rest because holding the bag made her arm tired. And, though the front of me is soft a cushy, my back is still bony and uncomfortable for her to ride on. She’s never been one to take piggy back ride so I’ve never really felt a need to concentrate on developing a fat back. After today, I find it necessary to rethink that.

Once back in our room, Diane started working on lunch. I was allowed to help by making the salad. I regret not taking a photo, but eating it was more importing than documenting it at the time. She broiled an enormous steak, cooked some asparagus, and baked a couple of potatoes. It was totally awesome! I, of course, was forced to eat everything that Diane couldn’t consume. That’s a large factor in my development of a cushy front side. I’ve had to do that our entire married life. I’ve been very well fed because I had to do that for the kids, too.

Now it’s late, the laundry is done, folded and put away, and we’re just sitting around eating candy and drinking wine

Life is pretty good.

Tomorrow the plan is to seek out the Del Mar Fairgrounds to wander amongst a reported 2500 custom vehicles built before 1972. I guess it’s a big deal so we’re going to find out. We actually got a little sample of what will be there during out walk from downtown. Just as we neared our destination, we heard the unmistakable rumbling of some modified engines and turned to see a line of about 30 customs coming up the street. We watched, they all waved at us, and we waved back. They drove past our facility, took a left at the stop sign, then turned left on “S The Strand”. Apparently this is a fun thing to do and we got to see them twice because there are no buildings next to our condo complex, allowing us to watch us them cruise down The Strand. Very colorful and pleasing.

Now I must rest. I’ve got a nearly 5 mile walk to get over. Next time I’ll ask how far it is before agreeing to go.

I’ll leave you with photos of this cafe we found today. It’s named after our daughter, Jennie.

This was painted on the side of the building. It faces a paved, vacant lot right on the Pacific Coast Highway, that had a price tag of $499,999.00. That’s vacant, as in without a building on it, as if it’s bargain.

Winnebagos, Pickups, and DVRs

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

OK … so here we are in Oceanside, California. The sun is shining and we’re overpowered by the desire to jump in our pickup, hook up our trailer, and head for the beach. Any beach. The problem is, however, that we do not have a pickup or a trailer. And, we’re already at the beach.

So, we’ve decided to check out the local dealers in the area and see what kind of deals we can make for the truck and trailer we want. They’ve already been picked out, of course. Like weeks ago. At that time we decided we were going to use common sense for those purchases instead of doing the impulse buys we’ve done our whole lives.

Then, we thought, “why change now?” So, we’re just going out there and get a 2014 1/2 Chevy Silverado High Country and a Winnebago One 26RK trailer. Then, when we get home, we’re going to sell the house, give everything away, and take off. To somewhere. Like the Zumwalts did. It’s like a dream come true.

Just as I finished that I saw a commercial for Cox Television advertising their new DVR that can record six … SIX … shows at one time! Totally awesome! Seeing that made me change our minds about the trailer and truck … for now … and go home to campaign Comcast to get one of those for us. If they can, all plans are off for getting the trailer today. Unless they can make it mobile, of course.

Oh yeah, “Happy April Fools Day” !!

Kua Bay, Whales, Jewel, John, & Thai Food

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today was a good one. The sun was shining when we got up, really early at 0730, and it shined all day long. Diane woke up mostly normal, so we felt OK with a road trip to Kua Bay.

First, however, here’s what it looked like outside our back door before we left …

It’s only about 13.8 miles down the road from us toward Kona/Kailua, so it was a quick trip. Since Diane is feeling pretty good, she drove, of course, and I did my normal magnificent job of navigating. We arrived around 1000-ish and got one of the last 3 valid parking places.

Diane stayed at one of the two picnic tables located at the end of the path from the parking lot, before there’s a need to stumble over a bunch of lava rock to the beach. This is her walking that direction … the one in the very bright green hat …

It’s not a large beach, but it’s pretty pristine …

There weren’t very many people there, either. I had to weave through a few of the sun lovers to the north end of the beach to get this picture looking back toward where we arrived. There were some hardy folks farther out, but most of the adventurous ones were fairly close in, working the waves. This guy was just taking a run at the waves these tossing his little piece of wood on the sand, jump on it and slide into the wave. I think the object was to jump the wave, but I didn’t ever see him do that. Still, it was fun.

Then we settled into some serious whale watching and we weren’t disappointed. We saw a bunch of them playing around a few hundred yards off the bay. Spouts were popping up all over the place …

… then they began to play, swimming along just under the surface …

… showing a tail, here and there …

… they popping up to look around …

If we do nothing else on this trip, today made it all worthwhile. It was just awesome. Then these guys showed up and stood right in the way of everything I wanted to take pictures of, so we left in a huff. How rude, don’t you think?

We left Kua Bay with a sense of awe from seeing these huge animals showing off. The next destination was Safeway in Kailua so we could get some vittles for a meal or two. Or three. On the way I texted Jewel to see if she was anywhere close on the island. From the photos Jewel posts she gets around. Thankfully, she was home and responded right away. Turns out she tried to call us, but had a really old phone number. We cleared that up first thing after meeting in the Safeway parking lot.

It was lunchtime so we headed down to the waterfront to one of their favorite eateries, a Thai restaurant right on the water. We weren’t disappointed with the food, and we had a wonderful visit with Jewel and John. Since this is the first time we’ve met John we had to go through a process to determine whether or not John was the “right guy” for Jewel. It doesn’t matter that they’ve known each other for a really long time, it’s just something that has to be done. Ya know? Well, he passed muster with flying colors. One of the good guys.
The waitress took two photos but in both of them John was hiding out behind Jewel. I think it was his way of putting Jewel first. What a guy.

Back at the Safeway parking lot we went our separate ways after making a date with Jewel to meet at Kua Bay at 0900 tomorrow. Sadly, John has to work so can’t join us.

We found all kinds of things in Safeway that we didn’t know we needed. We should be good for the rest of our stay.

Once back at the room we donned our swimming suits and lounged by the pool, the one with the waterfall, for an hour or so. Nice way to end the day.

News at eleven …

Sunrises and Reporters

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

The sunrise this morning was just like the photo at the top of my blog entries, but without the clouds. It was absolutely pristine. I didn’t take a new picture because I just didn’t feel like looking for my camera. Besides, I have that view stored away in my long-term memory. Locked in that steel trap of a mind. Where it will remain until the end of time, or until my brain turns to dust.

I’ve been thinking about a blog called “Dumb Things Reporters Ask People,” and actually Googled it to see if it’s already been done. Then I reconsidered, thinking it wouldn’t be a good idea to glorify the stupidity many of them demonstrate. I’ve mentioned this before. I think the networks have just one question reporters are required to ask that is dictated by the situation. They try to make it sound like a therapy session by starting each question with “When the _________ happened/ began/started, how did it make you feel?” You can fill the blank with “shooting”, “snow”, “earthquake”, “avalanche”, “accident”, etc. From there, the interview typically goes south quickly.

I can ask stupid questions.

Maybe I should be a reporter.

All in favor, say “aye.”

All against, say “nay.”

Motion failed.

Thank you. I didn’t want to be a reporter anyway.

Superbowl XLVIII

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Before I get going, let’s talk about Roman Numerals. They’re pretty to look at, sometimes, but why complicate a simple number like 48? It’s not too difficult to figure out the number until you get to “40”, because “X’s”, “V’s”, and “I’s”‘ are pretty straight forward. Then at 40, they toss an “L” in there to confuse everyone. Forty is “XL” which means 50-10. No, it’s -10+50 because the X comes before the L. Then, when you get to 50, it’s just an L all by itself.

Using that logic, I think 1 thru 10 in Roman Numerals should be something like IXX, VIIIX, VIIX, VIX, VX, IVX, IIIX, IIX, IX, X. That way you get the X in play before you are allowed to use it all alone, just like the L.

I suspect Roman Numerals are used in conjunction with Super Bowl games as a link to gladiators times. They are kind of like warriors, after all. However, I’m pretty sure those playing pro football never considered leaving college early to join the military. Maybe it’s all about timing, or that there is no longer a draft.

The Draft should be resurrected. I mean, how is it fair that the only people getting killed in conflicts are volunteers? I thought we were an equal opportunity country. I think anyone running for any position in politics should be required to have served in the military before being allowed to run. Just a thought.

Yesterday I registered on a new website. After giving all the particulars we got to the security question questions to be used for access. One of the first ones on the list? … “What was the first name of your first boyfriend?”

I was stunned!

I’ve never been in a situation where that question was ever asked of me. I know, it’s 2014 and OK for anyone to have a boyfriend, even me, I suppose, but, I didn’t know what to do. There were lots of other questions I could have chosen, even one asking to know the first name of my first girlfriend, but I was stuck on boyfriend. There were three questions I had to answer, and that was a choice on all three. Getting passed that first question, however, was proving to be difficult.

Ultimately, after a long delay, I entered “Jack”, so I could move along. For the next question I chose girlfriend and entered “Jack”. For the third, I selected pet, and entered “Jack”. I’ve done this before, you see, to check if the program you’re working with is paying attention. Generally, in my experience, they aren’t. You can use the same word, or name, for all of the security questions and register just fine. If you do that, you won’t have to remember a lot of different things. On some web site registrations I’ve been born, and married, in the city of “Jack”. One syllable. Easy to remember. I suggest everyone use “Jack” for all your registrations from now on.

How many times do you think Peyton Manning said Omaha yesterday? I’m guessing it wasn’t as many times as “omygawd”.

Joining us to watch the game were Diane’s Mom, Jean, Jennifer, Lydia, Brianna, Haley, and Jeran. Cedric joined his friends at the Columbia Theater here in town to watch the game on the big screen. The kids’ youth pastor, James, took them and stayed through the first quarter. Then he joined us at our house until half time. He’s a really nice young man and the kids love him. Thankfully, he wasn’t at the house when Diane handed me a bowl of cashews and said, just as everyone quit talking, “here are your nuts.”

She rendered me speechless, not an easy thing to do. Making it worse was that I was the only male in the room of 7 people watching the game so it was pretty evident about whose nuts she was speaking. Worse yet, three of them were barely teenagers. And everyone laughed. I think Jennie started it when she snorted. Had I done something like that I would have been told to knock it off, or that it was inappropriate, something I hear a lot, but no one said anything to Diane. Even her mother laughed.

Now, about that game … #1 offense against the #1 defense, as it should be, and the #1 defense won. A new record was set, in the process, when Seattle scored 12 seconds into the game without ever touching the ball. Well, Peyton didn’t touch it either, so I guess he can’t be blamed. It doesn’t get much better than that, for me.

I actually like Peyton, but I’ve never liked Denver. That comes from years of living in Southern California cheering for the San Diego Chargers. Denver was the enemy during those years, and it’s never really gone away. Silly, I suppose, but that’s just the way it is. For the same reason, I have a Portland Trailblazer T-shirt the has “Beat LA” on it. Any Blazer worth his, or her salt knows that means “beat the Lakers.”

Back to Peyton … though I wasn’t looking for the thrashing Seattle gave Denver, it was gratifying to see they were up to the task. I admit I was a little disappointed when Denver finally scored, then made a 2-point conversion. Was that to prove a point? Like, “See, we can do it!”

In the end, going for that two points allowed watchers to witness virtually every way a team can score in a football game … it was like a clinic …

a safety
a kick-off return
a punt return
a pass
a run
a pick-6
a field goal
a 2-point conversion

Did I miss any?

For food, Diane made a big pot of taco meat which was used exclusively for DIY nachos. It was, as it always is, very good. I love nachos. Whoever invented those should get a bonus, or something.

We also had nuts, as I mentioned.

Justin Bieber, Golf, & Lunch

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Just a quick nod to JB, then I’ll get on to something worthy of discussion …

In my humble opinion this kid is an over rated human who needs to be deported back to Canada.

Let them deal with him.

Now for important “stuff” … Golf, and pretty much anything else than JB!

That’s what I did today with Doug, Junior, and Lyle. This Lyle is our local American Legion Commander and he’s commonly called “chief” because of his American Indian heritage. “Why,” you may ask, “does he allow people to call him that? I mean, think of the demeaning nature of being called ‘Chief’! How awful is that?” Well, bottom line is he’s perfectly OK with it. He’s responded to that name most of his life and he even writes that on his golf balls. Anyone who finds one knows the owner and returns it. Except for me. I keep them.

We all golfed pretty good, too. I even parred a hole, and had a couple of respectable bogeys. Nifty. Doug chipped in for a birdie on one hole and wound up beating me by 10 strokes. That’s not a difficult feat for him. I’ve discovered that I actually get better scores since I started counting all my strokes, as I go, instead of trying to remember after I’m done with a hole. what a difference.

Here’s a ‘selfie’ I took of the crew, left to right: Lyle, Junior, Doug, and me …

Here’s Junior teeing off on the third hole …

After finishing our game, we went to Fultano’s, in Scappoose, where Doug & Junior’s older brother, Jerry, and my older brother, Jack, joined us for a nutritious serving of salad for everyone but me. I also had pizza. Five pieces. And 1.5 large cokes. It was very filling.

Then I went home for a very brief time, then Diane and I returned to our church, Bethany Lutheran, where our plan was to make copies of the Annual Report we will need for Sunday. Sadly, I left the file I needed to copy at home. So we returned to get it. Then, back to church to deal with a copier always thinks it needs new parts, which it doesn’t, and it stops working when it gets too hot, which it did after only 17 of the 50 copies I was looking for. So, we packed up and went back home. Again.

I took the original file, scanned it to my computer to make a PDF file, then started printing the 33 copies we still needed. So far, as of this moment, I’ve done 15 of them. I would have had more, but while sitting here, watching TV, my printer over ran and spit three whole copies on the floor. They had to be collated, which took time because the paper covered about a 4 foot square area and didn’t really land in order.

On a lighter note, here’s Lydia in her Winter Ball uniform …

I find it interesting that she’s going to the Scappoose High School Winter Ball with a junior. I find that deplorable because when Diane was a freshman I was a senior. Lydia should have shot a little higher. But, her date, Wayne, is reportedly a good guy and he’s 6’3″ tall, able to provide ample protection should the need arise. He’s Cedric’s friend from church youth group. She will have a great time.

Still, she’s a St. Helens High School student who is going to the Scappoose High School winter ball. Diane and I find it sad that the old St. Helens vs. Scappoose rivalry isn’t like it used to be when we went to Scappoose High.

Now, I must quit, and make more copies.

My Truck and Diane’s DVR

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

The new turn signal switch for my truck arrived a couple of days ago and I was really looking forward to getting it installed. Mainly that’s because it meant I wouldn’t have to use the old hand signals for turning, something no one in this area remembers which makes it hazardous to drive without the blinky kind.

Yesterday I was all poised to get it done. I got up at a reasonable time, got some tools I felt would be essential for the task, bundled up, and headed across the street to get it done. Little did I know what an exciting experience I was in for.

First, I had to get the steering wheel off. That proved to be really easy because it’s only held in place by a large nut, friction, and a 1/4 inch screw. It the screw is removed, and the nut isn’t snugged down, the steering wheel just spins on the column, making it relatively useless. I discovered this once while driving down the road. Needless to say, it was exciting.

Once the steering wheel was off I could see the old switch, but the fixture, to which the steering wheel was attached, is fluted, and pressed into place. So, I still need a steering wheel puller for that. I actually had one, too, but the bolts were all too large, and mine only had two bolt slots and the one I needed to remove had three.

Off to ACE I go to get one. They had one for $34 but I thought that was a little steep, so I went to NAPA. They had exactly what I needed for $13, or so. With the military discount it moved into the $11 range. Much better. Still, the bolts weren’t small enough to fit the fixture.

This proved to me the value of keeping every nut and bolt I’ve ever touched because I was able to find what I needed in an Avon box lid, tucked away in one of the cubby holes in my shop which, you may remember, is in total turmoil since I deconstructed half of the work bench. Still, I found what I needed, and the bolts worked just great.

After the mount was removed, I removed the three screws that held the old turn signal switch in place, and set about removing it. But, it didn’t seem to want to budge much. That’s because the wiring harness for the switch goes through a tiny little hold of the cowling that covers the gear shift lever, then under a nifty little cover on the bottom of the steering column, through another tiny little hold between the steering wheel column bracket, then up behind the dash gauges where it connects with the wiring harness. Seemed simple enough, so I started taking screws out of what I considered to be the parts that needed to be moved in order to allow me to pull the old one out and put the new one in.

Since I already had the screws out of the dash-board array, I decided to remove it so I could access the windshield wiper motor that doesn’t work. That took more work than I really wanted to expend, but it had to be done so I can, at some point in time, drive the truck in the dark, when it’s raining. If I have to.

Back to the turn signal switch, I had to pretty much disassemble the upper part of the steering wheel area to remove the switch and extract the wire.

Then I took out the wiper motor and took it to a newly charged battery to see if it worked.

It didn’t, so I tore it apart and discovered that the back bearing was frozen. It’s a sleeve bearing, and I may be able to free it up. We’ll see about that.

Behind the instrument cluster is an amazing array of wires that seem to be randomly connected to each other and various parts that reside in that area. For this reason, I had disconnected the battery to ensure I didn’t suffer from the surprisingly painful buzz caused by a 12V circuit.

Now, here I am, contemplating my next step. I knew I wouldn’t be able to work on it today because Comcast techs were paying me a visit this afternoon to resolve a DVR issue we’re having. Diane had an appointment with her eye doctor in Portland which lasted all afternoon, and beyond. It’s currently 1819 and she’s still not home. She stopped to visit her Mom before coming home.

So, dismantling the truck parts, then leaving them alone for an entire day, creates a very challenging situation for me because I just put all the parts I removed into a box, went a day without looking at it, and won’t be able to do anything on it tomorrow because I have to play golf, so Saturday I’ll have to remember where everything goes. That is, of course, if I can resurrect the wiper motor, which seems unlikely. If I have to buy a replacement, it will be more days I’ll have to forget how I took it all apart. Still, I’m confident I can do it.

Here’s how I left it yesterday …

You can see that the new turn signal switch is hanging around the steering column in the approximately position it will ultimately reside. Other than that, it’s turmoil. The instrument cluster is dangling from the wires attached to the tach, which doesn’t work, although the wires are connected properly to the distributor.

Oh, and I had to remove the cowl cover to access the bolt holding the wiper actuator arms to the motor. That, and I dropped one of my prized wrenched in there and couldn’t get it out. It had to be done.

Pulling the motor out, of course, left a large hole into the dash area that would be perfect for allowing water into the cab had I not thought outside the box a bit and stuffed a yellow cap from a large bottle of 7-Up. It fit perfectly.

The Comcast techs showed up right on time and spent almost 3 hours with me, troubleshooting the entire system. We got a new X1 DVR, which was known to be bad, but the other big problem was a bad amplifier in the attic. Since I had a lot of free time, waiting for Diane, I went through the guide, selecting TV shows at random, setting the DVR to record the entire series. I think I got most of the ones Diane likes, but I know I missed a lot of them because I can’t ever remember which channel is HGTV. There’s the “Property Brothers”, “Bathroom Magic”, “Hell in Hawaii”, “Flip That Abode”, and “House People Don’t Really Live In”.

Yes, I made some of those up, but not all.

Now I must stop because, although the dogs haven’t yet barked, I sense Diane will be here shortly and I don’t want to be caught red-handed.

Cheers.

Parades, Football Games, & The Cone of Shame

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today I flipped over to a new page of the playbook I just found and didn’t take my traditional morning nap. Nope, I got up and stayed up, and I actually feel pretty perky. At least I do right now, but it’s only 0954 and there’s a lot of time remaining in this day. I figure that as long as I keep moving, I won’t fall asleep. Coffee helps, too. Lots of coffee. And snacks.

I can hear your minds whirling with the mention of snacks which you all suspect, I suspect, think will contribute greatly to defeat my 2014 resolution of not gaining 125 pounds this year. Fear not for that won’t happen. I know that because I’ve been up for three hours now and haven’t gained even one ounce.

The Tournament of Roses Parade, from Pasadena, is currently streaming across our TV screen. Diane set it to record from HGTV which is pretty cool because there are no commercials. Just non-stop bands, pretty girls, beautiful floats, and lots of horses. It’s fun to see the return of groups that participate every year but more interesting is seeing how the floats evolve from year to year. They get more elaborate and technical every year. Pretty amazing. Watching this parade, and recognizing how special it is, I must report that the Portland Rose Parade is pretty darn good, too. Growing up in Scappoose, and being a member of the high school marching band, as a drummer, I was fortunate enough to march in two of those parades. That was when the snare drums were huge and not strapped around the drummer’s waist. Nope, it had a horseshoe attachment that was way too big for my tiny little thigh allowing it to bounce all over the place for the entire parade. But, you know, I do not have any memories of ever getting tired while doing that.

Actually, I don’t have any memories of actually marching in the parade. I just know I did it. Someone told me that.

One of the announcers mentioned that one of the many high school bands in attendance was the largest marching band in the world. Maybe for high school, but the biggest, ever, that I know of, is the One More Time Around Again Marching Band (OMTAAMB). They have around 500 members and their signature song is “Louie Louie”. Surely most of you have seen them before. If not, you should. They have a ton of fun, and they’re fun to watch. Our good friends, Jeannie and Mary, play with them and I know Jeannie will correct all my mistakes. She’s that way, and that’s OK.

Now, for one of the best news events of 2013, that I can remember, Panzie has been release from the Cone of Shame. I took it off two days ago to see what she would do and after cleaning all the dry skin off her bare knuckle, she left it alone. The hair is growing back, and she can now effectively lick her butt. That’s important for a dog, as I’m sure you know. Though Ozzie didn’t seem to mind doing it for Panzie, it bothered Diane a little when we had company.

Here’s proof the cone is gone …

So, it’s a good start to 2014 for us and our pets. Things are well with us and we hope it also is with you and yours.

Peace and Love

Gilligan, Baylee, and Jeran

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Now that Christmas is over we look toward next week and the dawning of a New Year. 2014! Thinking back to when I wore much smaller clothes, 2014 wasn’t part of my vocabulary. Heck, neither was 1970. It was just too far out there to be a concern. It’s not a concern now, either, just more like reality making me thankful that I’ve actually made it this far in life. I got to see many of the Buck Rogers things of my youth become reality, we went to the Moon, saw photos sent from Mars … how cool is that? Old news, I know, but still pretty nifty.

The past few days have been very relaxing, giving us time to pause and reflect on things past. That doesn’t take very long for me since I can’t remember much, but it was a fun effort. Diane helps me along with hints until I guess correctly which makes me uncommonly joyful. We do this every day, so it isn’t something new for her. Deep down I know the answers, but keying on her hints makes her happy, especially when I’m right. Makes me happy, too.

Yesterday we received Gilligan and Baylee for their first overnighter with us. Gilligan has stayed before, but when she’s alone with us things are pretty boring. We understand that. So, when they both came it was a really good thing as they each had company with common interests. Here are their adorable selves, sitting at the counter playing with Polly Pockets … Gilligan is the poser on the left.

Making it even better, Jeran skipped going to the movie with his family so he could stay and play with his cousins. He had planned to be here anyway, but initially considered the movie, then opted to spend his weekend with us. The girls were thrilled and they all had a terrific time. Jeran is great with them. Here’s Jeran as he watches “The Sound Of Music” snuggled under my blankie, without permission, but it’s OK.

Baylee crashed and burned around 2030, then Gilligan at 2130. Jeran lasted a bit longer. It’s good they went to sleep so easily, and fairly early, but that just meant Saturday morning was an early one. Like 0600 for Diane to mediate. Jeran wisely stayed in bed until around 0930. Me? I don’t remember.

After a simple cereal breakfast the girls were sequestered in Diane’s bathtub with some Avon roll on soap. Blue for Baylee, Red for Gilligan. They each got a vintage Barbie doll to play with, too. They had a good time and didn’t splash all the water out of the tub, just like we asked them not to. After an appropriate amount of time, Grams went in and scrubbed them clean, then shampooed every hair on their heads, one at a time. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would until she told me it was one “child” at a time, not one “hair” at a time.

When everyone was out and dry, I was alerted that the tub wouldn’t drain and required my handy hands. This isn’t my first encounter with the non-draining tub, so I knew exactly what was wrong. Hair. Lots of long hair. It is my belief that whoever designed the tub plug was bald because his complicated mechanism restricts draining water even when it’s pristine clean. I would have taken a picture of it but I know Diane would have objected. It looked kinda like the fur ball Panzee barfed up last summer. Really, it did. Here’s what that looked like … don’t look if you have a week stomach because it’s pretty gnarly …

First, however, here’s the kind of drain I must deal with …

Now, Panzee’s fur ball … if you were quick enough, I had a photo here, but Diane was seriously upset that I published it. I must admit it probably wasn’t the best move I’ve made this year, but had to do it. Now it’s just gone.

The cereal was just a primer for the girls. For an encore, Baylee, who barely eats anything here, had a scrambled egg, another bowl of cereal, a cup of milk, and an M&M Cookie. Grams made french toast for Gilligan and I added a scrambled egg for her. Jeran ate cereal, two scrambled eggs, and a piece of jelly toast. I had a bagel, Diane had a fried egg, and jelly toast. The animals didn’t eat but Breezie took a shot at an agile hummingbird. Thankfully, she missed.

Now I must go reconstruct Diane’s mixer (the parts arrived yesterday) and see if it works. The coffee maker at church has also been reassembled with the new parts, in case I didn’t mention that in a previous post, like you really care. The coffee maker works perfect and delivers a full pot, every time, and I only got shocked once.

Hope you all have a nice quiet Saturday which isn’t likely if you either like football or live in a house with someone who does.

Cheers.

Christmas Shopping to “Home Free”

Posted on December 23, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Christmas is almost here and I, unlike most of you, am considering a little shopping trip. Considering, mind you, but not seriously. Oh, there will be a token gift, or two, but nothing major because Diane and I prefer to wait until after Christmas for a couple of reasons. First, we concentrate on kids, no matter what their age is. Second, things are less expensive when we wait.

I guess I’m not in much of a sharing mood because I’m a bit depressed about all those people whose credit card info was mishandled by Target. Thankfully, we’re not in the mix for getting our info snagged because we don’t visit Target often, and the thieves of the world have probably already figured out that infiltrating our personal accounts isn’t really worth their time. So, we rest easy. I don’t like thinking bad thoughts about people, most of the time, but I’d seriously consider Capital Punishment as a proper solution to those who steal identities, and those who find it enjoyable to create and share computer viruses. Yessir. I think for some of the crimes committed we should just revert back to Old Testament justice. You know, the one where an eye for an eye is OK.

For both categories we could develop a special surgery that would safely allow removal of all finger and thumb bones so they could no longer use a keyboard. Maybe a laser. Also, since technology is proliferate with voice recognition they could be fitted with a voice synthesizer that makes them sound like Chewbacca.

So, floppy fingers, no opposing thumbs, and voices that only allow them to yell. I suspect that would make them readily identifiable anywhere. Then we could shun them.

Complicating this train of thought is the sad fact that governments of some countries sanction such activity. I suspect there’s really no way we could enforce my proposals on entire countries, so it’s probably a moot point. Besides, both identity thieves and malware creators have spawned entire industries that work to defeat them. They ensure a lot of people are employed.

I finished Jennifer’s window table. Well, almost. I need to put a fixture on it so the top won’t flop all the way open and break something. Jennifer reads this, but I can talk about it because she wrung it outta me that I was honoring her wish to have one of these. Never done it before, but it seems to have turned out OK. The window is from our last house which was built in 1925.