The Past Three Days

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Over the past three days …

I crocheted beads on little gloves for little girls
attended a cantata at Warren Community Fellowship Church during which 32 choir members from 3 area churches gave us an incredible performance
Diane sustained a potentially fatal mixer injury when her mixer jumped off it’s stand, in the midst of a mixing frenzy, and hit the floor causing very moist spice cake mix to leap from the bowl scattering it all over the kitchen, and causing Diane to whip around real fast to see what was going on, wrenching her back
I helped pick out, deliver, erect, and string lights on the Christmas Tree for church
I cleaned off my work bench
attended the annual TVCC Christmas Party at Finley’s Funeral Parlor
had lunch at Fultano’s Pizza joint in Scappoose after church service
fixed Diane’s Mom’s Christmas Lights and sustained a potentially fatal injury in the process when I tripped on a rock and slammed into the house

If you’re OK with just highlights, you can stop now because the remainder of this missive is just detail.

Crocheting – yes, I’m “that” guy. I crochet. My Aunt Bert taught me how when I was 8-years-old and I’ve done it off and on ever since. I’ve made lots of doilies, a few table clothes, afghans and scarves. Oh, I make snow people, too. Lately, the activity of choice has been crocheting pretty beads on little gloves for little girls. This is the year for home-made things for Christmas. We’ve talked about doing that for years but it never seemed to happen. Until now. I’m finding that it’s something I should have been doing for years. It’s fun.

The Cantata at Warren Community Fellowship Church was great. As mentioned above, there were 32 singers from 3 area churches. Three of them are singing with our church for our Christmas Eve service. They are Marion, Crystal, and Tiffany, three generations of their family. All have incredible voices but Tiffany, the youngest, tops them all with her vibrant, crystal clear soprano. And, she plays the flute and works at Starbucks. A unique array of talents. Tiffany’s Mom, Crystal, is our choir director for the second year in a row since Nancy retired from that job. We only have 12 voices in our choir, and wouldn’t be able to do a cantata, but we have fun just the same. That, and we sing Hosianna, a traditional Swedish tune, in Swedish. Acapella, too.

The Fatal Mixer Injury was particularly interesting. Diane was making an upside-down fresh apple cake to share at the Saturday evening TVCC Christmas Party. During the course of making this tasty treat she said she turned her back on the mixer for just a couple of seconds. That’s all it took for the mixer to skip a beat and leap to its death on the kitchen floor. Cake batter flew everywhere. Startled by the noise, Diane jerked around to investigate and wrenched her tender back. I was in the East Wing of the house and heard the crash, but not the scream, so didn’t bother investigating. I hear noises all the time so they don’t startle me much. Especially when they don’t happen right next to me. By the time I made my way to the kitchen it was all cleaned up and the mixer was on the counter. I received a synopsis of the events which ended with news of the mixer’s demise. Curious, I plugged the mixer in, turned it on, and was treated to a lot of nasty grinding noises causing me to quickly turn it off. I took it to the basement and dismantled it discovering that a critical element was busted and needed to be replaced. With the help of a quick internet search I found and ordered the necessary part. It’s on the way.

The Church Christmas Tree was donated by Rod and Sandy who own a tree farm and go to our church. A month or so ago it was determined that Saturday, the 14th would be the day a group of Bethany Men would go get the tree. At 0950 I arrived. Bill was already there. We only had to wait a short time before David appeared with the pickup needed to transport the tree. Bill and I led David to the farm then went to select the tree. Fortunately, for Bill and I, there was a beautiful tree, already cut, leaning against a post near the entrance. Our job was done so all we had to do was get it back to the church. Once there Bill and I herded the 15′ tree from the truck into the church and got it installed in the incredibly heavy tree stand, then installed the angel and all the lights we could find. Considering our job done, we left to pursue other endeavors for the remainder of the day. I went home and cleaned off my work bench.

My Workbench has been the source of much grief to me over the years so I decided enough was enough and just had to clean it. At this point in time, all 17′ 2″ of it are mostly bare, awaiting my undivided attention to dismantle and rebuild it in a more useful configuration. First, 17’2″ is just too long for a reasonable work bench. That, and it’s too tall to work at for any length of time. So, I’m going to dismantle it and nail it back together. Also, all of the surface boards are bolted down with screws so the top isn’t flat. I didn’t notice that until I removed everything. We’ve been in the house since 2007 so I’m sure you can see how I might forget what that horizontal area looked like after six years. It’s been covered with ‘stuff’ for that long. Doing this will involve the use of some very sharp, powerful tools. I’ll try to remember and take pictures and I’ll let you know how it goes if I can still type when it’s all over.

The Annual TVCC Christmas Party is always a raucous affair where we have more fun than legally allowed by old people. TVCC stands for the Tualatin Valley Cruiser Club which has been around since the PT Cruisers debuted in 2000. Diane and I are charter members of the TVCC and participated as club officers for many years. Over the years the club became more about people than PT Cruisers and many life-long friendships were forged during that time. Diane and I have attended almost every Christmas celebration that has been held in various locations throughout the greater Portland Metro area until we finally got settled in at Finleys Sunset Hills Mortuary. It’s a very large facility near the Portland Zoo and has two advantages over past venues: 1) It’s free because one of our members runs the place, and 2) The neighbors don’t complain about the noise. Steve’s the member who facilitated this arrangement and we are all very appreciative.

Fultano’s Pizza you’ve heard about before. It’s a relatively new joint in Scappoose that we’ve visited a few times in the past and we’re very happy with the service and food. Yesterday, after church, that’s where we went with Diane’s Mom, Jean. It was her turn to pay so we picked a place a little higher on the food chart above McDonald’s or Taco Bell. The wisdom of our choice was reaffirmed, once again

Mom’s Christmas Lights were a topic of discussion on the way home so while Diane and Jean hunkered down in their chairs, I went back out into the cold to play with electricity. I knew what the problem was that caused them to stop working so it was an easy fix. One of those tiny little fuses in the pronged end of the cord overloaded and blew it’s brains out. That’s why fuses are surrounded by glass – so their brains won’t splatter all over like Diane’s cake mix did. That would be awful. I knew where Jean hid the spares so replaced one of the two in the first string of lights and, viola! They all lit up, just like I knew they would. The lights are on a lace leaf maple tree so it looks like a huge umbrella when the lights work. During the process of curing the problem I went under the umbrella portion, where I can stand erect, so I could get to the fuses. After replacing the blown one, I tripped over a large rock, stumbled about 2 steps, then slammed into the house with my right shoulder. My main thought was that if the house hadn’t been there I would have fallen flat on my face and problem broke something. Thankfully, the house was there and broke my fall so that the only thing injured was my shoulder and neck. I deemed it to be a temporary injury that had potentially fatal results at the onset of the events leading up to the crash. Later, Diane said she heard the crash but thought it was a car door, or something, so stayed wrapped up in her chair not feeling an urgent need to investigate. I think that was pay back for me not investigating the mixer crash event. That’s fair. When done, I returned to the house innards, to warmth, and sat in a rocking chair to rest, recover, and visit a bit before we headed home. About that time, the lights went out again so I think I’m just going to stuff a piece of gum wrapper in the fuse slot and call it good.

Now it’s Monday morning and I revel, again, in the reality that I do not have to get up to do anything, or go anywhere, unless Diane wants me to. If you must travel to work today, I bless you all with a safe trip there and home again. I can do that. Bless people. We all can, actually. It doesn’t always work, but it’s a nice gesture and, when it does work we can say, “I did that!”

Now it’s time for my morning nap.

It’s Freezing Out There

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

It’s very cold here. No snow. Just cold. Nice clear skies to ensure the nights are colder yet. As I sit here, it’s 14 degrees out back. This morning is was 9 degrees so I made a wise decision to work in the basement. With my table saw, and I’m proud, and happy, to report that I still have all my fingers. I must admit that I am very careful when playing with my saws regardless of what many of you may have come to believe over the years. It’s when I plug them in that things get dicey.

I blame it all this cold on Global Warming. With all those icebergs melting the cold had to go somewhere. After savaging the midwest and eastern portion of the country, it has finally come to visit us. We did have snow the first day, and some of that is still in residence around the house, but the clear skies only serve to provide magnificent sunrises and sunsets. No snow in site. All that stuff is south and east of us in places like Foresthill and Nampa. I know that’s true because neither Kathie nor Steffani fabricate things. At least I don’t think they do, anyway. If they do, they do so with compelling evidence to support their (possibly) false claims. I choose to think they are both honorable and do not fib about such things as I would tend to do.

During the past three days Diane and I have watched at least 5 Christmas movies in our copious free time. I think at least three of them record every day, so we will be in the Christmas spirit for quite some time. I’m gonna have to make more fudge.

Jeff, Gilligan, and Baylee paid us a visit this afternoon and we had a terrific visit. It’s always fun to see them. Heather was home with Tiana and Jerrie Anne who are a little sniffly. We wish them a quick recovery.

It’s currently 2200 and the temperature is 9, again. It’s supposed to drop to 7 before morning. I must remember to bring the hummingbird feeders into the house before going to bed so they’ll be able to eat tomorrow. We still have a bunch of them flittering around the place which amazes me considering how cold it is. This time of year their colors are far more brilliant, too, than in the summer. I wish I was quick enough to get pictures of them, but they always evade me. Though I can’t capture their images with the camera, I have them stuffed away in my little brain for future reference.

I do realize it sounds like I’m whining about the cold weather, but I’m really not. We are very fortunate to have mild weather, all things considered. Many of you have colder days and nights with all the snow that normally comes with it.

I hope you are all safe and warm.

Now I must go to bed and do my best to rid my memory of the worst Honda commercial I’ve ever seen. Perhaps you’ve seen it. The one with Michael Bolton standing on top of a Honda, bellowing? That one.

Church, Movies, Ravens, and Jeans

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

First, I must share yesterday’s sunrise with you …

Not bad for rainy old Oregon, huh?

Today is Sunday so you all know what we did. Yup. We opened our house up to all the homeless people in Warren, Oregon and fed them all a good meal. Since there aren’t many homeless folks in Warren, it’s really not hard to do. Actually, to my knowledge, there aren’t ANY homeless people in Warren. That may cause you to question who we actually fed today, wouldn’t it? Like most other Sundays, we brought home Diane’s Mom, Jean, and fed her a Hebrew National hot dog. She had a choice – one dog or two. Diane had one, too. They each had one. Me? I ate left-over lasagna with 1/4 of the remaining baguette which I heated up on the “pizza” setting in the stove. I still have 1/4 left for my favorite sandwich, which I will make tomorrow, of ham, cheddar, and butter. Maybe a little mayo, but mostly butter.

In church this morning I was the lone greeter because Diane and her Jean took that time to set up the stuff they made for coffee hour after service. Since there were only about 33 people in church, it wasn’t difficult, but it could’ve been. One just never knows how many people are going to show up to be saved.

Diane and Jean tried to take their normal seats behind Nancy, but Larry and Shirley were already there, so they sat a row back. Being uncomfortable sitting behind Larry, I chose to be a “Left Side” churcher this morning and sat by Ron. It was a pretty good seat because I didn’t have to swivel myself to the left in order to hear the sermon. I could just stare almost straight ahead. It was very nice. I may sit there from now on. Sitting with Ron also gave me an opportunity to suck him into helping me with he offering, one of the tasks to which greeters are appointed. I had the right side, as you walk up the aisle, and things went well until I got to the third row where Nancy and Lisa were sitting. The second row is a short one, making room for a wheel chair, so the kids love it. Today it was occupied by Lisa’s daughters, Sarah and Dani. The girls indicated they had something to place in the offering, so I stepped in to let them make their deposit. I also noticed that Lisa had something in her hand that seemed to be destined for the offering plate, but she was busy giving instructions to the girls about something. I stood there for a long time, waiting to get her attention until I just couldn’t stand it any longer, with everyone staring at me and all, so I rapped her on the knuckles with the plate to get her attention. Which it did. I immediately regretted it. Honest.

She almost leaped out of her seat, catching herself at the last-minute, looking at me with a wild look in her eyes like, maybe, I was in some deep kimchi or something. Believe me, if you are ever going to be knee-deep in something you don’t want it to be kimchi.

Instead of standing up to slug me, she made her deposit and I made a hasty retreat before she could change her mind. I apologized later, but it was as if she had no idea what I was talking about, like what I did was normal. God bless her. Lisa works in the dental office where I’m a member so I’d hate to get on her bad side. She has access to needles and lots of other pointy objects.

Coffee hour went well. Since the cheese, an entire 5 lb loaf, was first in line it was devoured in no time. Just a few pieces remained. Cantaloupe was next. I cut up two of them yesterday and am happy to report there is enough remaining for a snack tomorrow morning. Jean made all the sweet stuff like rice krispee squares, brownies, and cup cakes. There were a few of them left, too, so we brought them home to nibble on after they ate their hot dogs and I ate the left overs.

After eating, we sat in the living room and watched a couple of movies Diane had recorded from the Lifetime channel. Pretty much all they show there are “Chick Flicks”, but she had “The Bucket List” with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. I’ve seen it before, and it’s a good movie, but it’s not a chick flick at all. Maybe it wasn’t a Lifetime movie. During the movie I got a call from our friend, Tom, and talked with him for a couple of hours. I like talking with Tom because I always learn something new. Tom is the one who, not long ago, was hooked up to life support and pretty much written off as a goner. He fooled everyone, though, and made a miraculous recovery. Today he told me that last year when he went to the gun show in Hillsboro he had to use a wheel chair. This time he walked it all with just one cane. That’s amazing to me, and to a lot of other people. Tom’s also the guy who tried to staunch the blood flowing from a leg wound with a kotex. It would have worked well had he unwrapped it, first. Linda straightened him out on the proper use of a kotex. He will never forget that one. Nor will I.

Diane had a second movie which none of us had ever seen and it was good. For sure this one was a Lifetime Channel movie because it had commercials. It was definitely a Chick Flick, too. I actually like those kinds of movies because they end happy. Diane and I are alike in that manner. Like, if it’s a Bruce Willis movie, bad language seems to be more acceptable. Or, if it’s an action movie, something better blow up near the beginning or we lose interest. With CFs, their going to be a bit sappy, but problems are solved, and good things happen. All without bad language. That’s a plus.

Now the movies are done and we’re winding down. Me by doing this, and Diane by watching HGTV.

The Carolina Panthers won today. We follow them because Cam Newton’s backup QB is Derek Anderson, a Scappoose native. He gets to play when Cam gets hurt. Derek has played for other teams after being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens. His best year was with the Cleveland Browns in 2007. He owns a restaurant across the street from the Scappoose High School and he brings his NFL friends back to town every year to put on a football camp for the kids. One of our friends, Beth, was one of his teachers during his formative years, like maybe the 1st grade, who comforted him about his huge feet telling him that he’d grow in to them eventually. I know that’s true, because Beth told me that personally. He did, too, but he had to grow to six-foot-six to do it. Big boy.

Another little factoid is that Derek’s Grandpa live just around the corner from Diane’s Mom. We always know who Derek is playing for because Grandpa flies the appropriate flag in front of his house, along with the Oregon State Beaver flag where Derek set all kinds of records.

Oh, and Jean, the piano player, did you notice that the Panthers beat the 49ers today?

It was wrong of me to do that because Jean, the piano player, is a die-hard 49ers fan, her being from Modesto, and all. She went to high school with George Lucas there. Yes, “that” George. He’s only 6 days older than me so I guess that means I could have been a famous movie guy. I mean, we both know Jean, after all. She and George almost got married, I think, but she didn’t think he’d amount too much and moved to St. Helens. I’m guessing there. She may have only rubbed elbows with him once or twice, but I like my version best.

I heard from Idaho today and learned that all is well. It was terrible of me to shame Donna into communicating, but I couldn’t contain myself. The result was welcome news and worth the possibility of being shunned. That didn’t happen, however, and I believe it’s still OK to cross into Idaho any time we get the chance.

I think that’s about it. You all have a great evening.

Oh ya, Jewel. Here’s the sunrise that greeted me this morning …

Happy Halloween from Halloween Town

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

We live on a dead-end street in “Old People” territory so we don’t get your normal, run of the mill trick or treaters. Whoever stops by our house has to want to be here for other reasons besides candy. For that reason, we just had an influx of 4 children all of whom are related to us in some manner. Three were grand children, and one was a cousin of the largest grand child. All of them are girls. Daniel was the only one of the manly persuasion who showed up.

Cedric told his Mom she look like a tennis shoe. What do you think? I think she’s just cute.

Today was another busy day of painting for both of us. We’re still not completely done, but we’re getting there. It didn’t rain today like we thought it would so we had a reprieve. Tomorrow it’s supposed to start raining sometime late afternoon. I’ll believe it when I see it and will continue working on these outdoor projects until the paint starts running off the side of the house. Then I’ll take a picture for you.

Another interesting moment was when Diane decided to vacuum the weeds around the rhodies I hacked down. As you can see, they are sprouting and will be all bushed out in no time at all. You can also see the progress Diane made with the shop vac ..

She wasn’t vacuuming weeds. I was kidding. She was vacuuming up paint chips and dirt. We were at this until it got dark at 7 pm. Tomorrow Diane isn’t going to be able to walk because her knees are toast, and I have terminal pain in my right shoulder. But, we’re on a roll and will keep it going.

Had a Taco Bell supper tonight. Diane buzzed down to the drive-thru in her nightie to get it.

That’s it.

Panzee Speaks – addendum

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

I was using the laptop to share the last entry because it’s easier to use on the floor with my elbows resting comfortably on the floor. It’s just too hard to sit in a chair and type, or do pretty much anything, when you’re of the canine persuasion.

Because of that, I did not have access to the photos he put on the his desktop computer so will do that, now … It is my understanding that the group who was at the house Friday night were going to the shindigs as aliens.

Here’s the master … then the entire group with the large pumpkin used in “Halloween Town”.

Les & Sophie and Carolann & Terry …

Master & him … then Jim & Kim …

Cliff & Susie then random shots of the kids parade. Well, most of them were kids …

Reports are that some of the children had an unhealthy curiosity about the guy with the big nose holding the camera …

Aliens watching the parade then dinner at Dock Side …

Panzee Speaks, kinda …

Posted on October 27, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Just when everyone thought things were going along just fine, Jerrie woke up.

Three days had passed and he had no memory of what had transpired so I’ve decided to help explain. He doesn’t know I’m doing this. If he did he’d have a conniption fit because he doesn’t like anyone using his precious electronical equipment. He puts passwords on everything thinking we, who spend hours and hours all alone in the house, with nothing else to do, can’t possibly figure that kind of stuff. C’mon! What are we going to do when we’re locked up in the house with nothing else to do? Sleep? Pee on the rugs? Chew on furniture? Sure, we’ve done all of that, but after a while it’s just no turn any more so we started fiddling with his computers and we discovered a whole new world.

So what’s been happening with Jerrie and Diane? We have absolutely no idea beyond what we witnessed. As the spokesanimal for the group, I’ll do my best to get things accurate and in chronological order.

There were some familiar people at the house on Friday evening that would account for the flurry of activity on Thursday. That’s when Jerrie went out to his car, the old Subaru, and extracted his fancy cutoff saw from the back-end of it. It was kind of freaky and reminded me of the time I watched one of my friends have puppies, only puppies don’t have sharp edges and pointy things. He pulled that thing into the garage, and I went and hid when he plugged it in. It doesn’t scare me … I want that understood up front. I just don’t like loud noises. Honest. Thankfully, he closed the door into the house so I didn’t have to listen to the incessant whine of the saw motor. I know that’s what it is because he’s used that thing before, and it drives me nuts.

Before he fired that thing, up, he left the house fora period of time around noonish. I later learned that he went to some storage facility to help liberate a truck load of newspapers which he, and his friends, delivered to the Lions Club newspaper collection container which is located at the St, Helens High School. I know, that’s a lot of detail coming from a dog that has a limited understanding of the language spoken by most of the people with which I’m familiar. A lot of what I figure out is strictly conjecture because lots of the speech I hear is a little like white noise so I think what I really do is read minds. Really! I do.

Shortly after he returned home, disturbing me from a perfectly wonderful nap, the master of the house arrived and made him eat lunch. I’ve almost given up on begging for food any more because he rarely gives me anything … little teeny bits of things I can barely taste they are so small. What a waste of time.

Anyway, they ate, something, didn’t give me any, then he went to the garage and ignited the noisy saw. He quit about 4 pm or so and they left to go watch Lydia play soccer. I’ve tried to tell them that I think it would be really fun to go watch Lydia play a soccer game, but the words just won’t come to me, and they can’t read minds like I do. I stayed home and took a nice long nap.

It appeared that what he was doing was take small pieces of wood that he called baseboards, cut them, then try to put them back together so they looked like they belonged where he put them along the floor. He didn’t nail any of them down so I suspect he’s not done fiddling with them. After doing a little investigative investigation, listening to him talk with his female associate, I learned that they were expecting company at some point on Friday. That turned out to be true, incidentally, but that’s coming up in a minute.

I slept the rest of the day so don’t know what happened the rest of the day until I was allowed to exit the house into the back yard and search for a new spot to relieve myself. It’s kind of humiliating, you know, o have to crap and pee in public. But, one can get used to pretty much anything. Especially if you’re a dog. Like me. After doing my ‘thing’, I comeback in the house, trying to avoid the annoying little black dog who spins in circles like a little maniac in anticipation of the bed time treats we always get. I just sit calmly on the floor, waiting to perform my stupid dog tricks for a little pittance of a treat. But, he seems to enjoy it, so I humor him.

On Friday, they both left the house, a couple of times. The first time they came back the master was a little sad, so he told her he just wasn’t going to spend $100 on a couple of used, stained chairs. He then told her that if she wanted chairs, get new ones. It was really funny because she grabbed her purse and keys and almost ran to the car telling him to hurry up. Apparently they went to Richardson’s, right here in town, who sells furniture made in Indiana (so I’m told), and bought two new chairs to fill the void created when the perfectly good couch they had was carted away, along with the dining room table, a couple of weeks ago. I know is was Richardson’s because later that day they delivered the chairs and I heard one of the delivery guys say that name. When they got here, I barked, like I’m supposed to, then I licked their hands because they seemed to be pretty nice.

The chairs look OK, if you like chairs. The master really likes them, a lot, and said the red color actually does look OK with the carpet in the living room. I won’t be sitting in them so I really didn’t care. I took a nap.

About 3 pm, as close as I can tell, two folks I’ve met before showed up at the door. I looked out the Man Room window and saw that they arrived in a funny looking van that they use to travel all over the United States. The master, and he, were very happy to see them. I believe they were Jerry and Nelda Somethingorother. I’m not big on last names. Sorry.

All of them either sat around the table while the master worked in the kitchen, making something for the pot luck that was happened later that afternoon. It’s my understanding that the pot luck was attended by members of a Classic Winnebago Club that included Les, Sophie, Cliff, Susie, Terry, Carolann, Jim, and Kim. I heard someone say they were all staying at the Elks Club off 6th Street, just a hop and a skip away. With Jerry and Nelda, master, and him, there were 12 people. I don’t know what happened because I was forced to go down to the creepy basement with the annoying little black dog. They think I’m OK with that, but I’m not. I spent the entire time crouched on the top step, just the other side of the door, listening to all the fun they were having. The food smelled really, really good. I didn’t even have water, and my food bowl was just about 5 tantalizing feet from where I was crouched.

Finally everyone left and I was released and allowed to go out front to tell everyone ‘bye’. Then we all went to bed.

Saturday morning I woke him up at 0700, I think, because I was hankering for a touch of canned food which I get as soon as I come back in the house from my morning trip to the yard. Then I took a nap. I barely got to sleep before I heard Jerry and Nelda again. Interesting. I guess they slept in the driveway, which I thought was a little odd until I learned that they actually slept in their van, in the driveway. Big difference.

They sat around drinking coffee, talking, laughing, like I wasn’t even there. Nothing fell on the floor right away, but I feigned interest for longer than necessary before going in to the Man Room to take a nap. Sleeping wasn’t in the cards for me, however, because of all the racket they all made. Then, wouldn’t you know it, all the people from the night before showed up again. All the food had been removed from the refrigerators and reheated as necessary, in anticipation of their arrival, but no one told me. Then I was sent to the basement again. It’s getting to be quite a routine, me going to the basement. The cat, however, gets to go outside and run all over the neighborhood, without supervision! Is that fair?! I think not!

There were gaps in activity the remainder of the day. J&N left, then the master and he left, and they didn’t come back for hours. Really! Hours! Thankfully, they left the patio door open so we could go out and bark at something once in a while, but that’s a long time to be left alone. When they returned they told us all about the fun they had down town on the St. Helens Haunted Tour. Sounded fun. They even went out for dinner after that, extending the night even more than necessary. Then they went to the Elk’s Club to sit and visit in Les and Sophie’s new 1989 Winnebago Superchief. Apparently it’s quite a rig. Really big and nice, we were told. Plenty of room for a dog, or two.

When they got home they went to bed after allowing me into the yard one last time.

Today had a normal beginning, then something changed because only the master left. Since it’s Sunday, I suspected they would both leave for church, but that didn’t happen. She left early and took Jennifer, one of my favorite people, shopping for her birthday. I guess Grandma Jean, another one of my favorite people, went too. That left him home alone with pretty strict instructions to leave the power tools alone. So, he went outside, grabbed a ladder, and used it all the way around the house to reach areas that needs to have paint scraped. I was proud of him because he didn’t go on the roof, and he didn’t get the tall ladder to reach the really high spots. He knows I can dial 911, and bark, but doing that just doesn’t interest me much. I could have gone outside with him, if I wanted to, but I didn’t. Instead, I stayed in the house and took a nap.

In the afternoon, about 1:30, he left to go pick up another couple of my favorite people, Cedric and Jeran, and took them to the movie down town. I smelled popcorn on him when he got home. I love popcorn. Cedric was with him. Not long after they got home, the master arrived. Jennifer showed up a couple of hours later to get Cedric. Lydia, another one of my favorite people, was with Jennifer. She scratched my ear. I love that. Then they left and I took a nap.

Now it’s time for bed and I need to go outside and prepare myself for the series of tricks I make him do before he gives me my treat.

“Monsters University”

Posted on October 20, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Because of this movie, I may never, ever, eat popcorn again.

It was another free entry day for us old people, but I pitched in for the snacks, which is only fair. Once again, we wound up down close to the front, where Debbie Reynolds sat, with Jennifer and me sitting in front of Jeran, Diane, Lydia, and Chris. I chose to move down a row because the seat I was assigned in the row with Diane was apparently broken. I know this is true because I sat in it and it automatically reclined because the rocking springs were not working correctly. Consequently, I wound up in the lap of the young man behind me, who took it well, although I know I crushed his knees quite nicely. He was very kind to refrain from pounding me into the ground, which he easily could have. I would have understood. So, there are still some well-mannered young folks out there. More who are than not, actually. Sad that the minority side of any issue seems to get all the recognition.

Jennifer got in the snack line, where all the money is made at movie theaters, as soon as she got in the door. I just gave her all my money and went to my seat, after making the changes noted above. Lydia went back to help with all of it. It’s quite a deal, actually, because you can get a HUGE tub of popcorn, and two HUGE drinks for $10-$11 and all of them are refillable. That’s the reason I may never eat popcorn again. Since I sat with Jennifer, we had a tub all to ourselves, being adults and all, so I just picked at it all through the movie, as did Jennifer. Turns out that I’m a quicker picker than Jennifer which caused me to eat almost all of our assigned tub, all by myself. Plus, I drank most of the Coke she brought for me. I should have specified 7-UP which may have avoided my current situation – that being on the verge of barfing up an entire tub of Coke flavored popcorn. I’m holding it off pretty well, but it’s not a done deal that I’m beyond it, yet. I can only hope that I chewed it up enough that, if it does come back for a visit, it doesn’t scratch my throat, or get stuck in the back of my nose. The latter is the worst part because ‘snuffing’ out of my nose always makes me sick to my stomach. In a different way.

The movie? It was great, as we knew it would be. Not only was the animation awesome, it had a great story line which, if kids follow it, would do away with all bias based on personal appearance. I may have actually learned something from Mike and Sully.

I give this movie 16 stars, based on a 17.5 star system, where 17.5 is the best. Go easy on the popcorn, or sit with someone who is allergic to it and just don’t buy any.

Painting, Soccer, and Comcast

Posted on October 15, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

This is my 455th entry. It’s amazing because you’d think I’d’ve used up all the words I know by now, wouldn’t you? Another amazing thing is that I have over 100 friends on Facebook. I had no idea that I actually know over 100 people. I even recognize most of their names. How about that?

Today I removed all of the wood trim from the dining room and entry hall, then Diane and I painted the walls. It was such a beautiful day, seriously, that we opened windows, doors, and more windows, to air out the house.

Then we locked the dogs in the house and left to go watch a soccer game at Liberty High School. Lydia’s team lost 5-0 because of some terribly biased calls by the umpires, or referees, or whatever you call them. For instance, whenever a member of each team collided, if they both fell down, he blamed Lydia’s team-mate. If only one fell down, regardless of which team, they blamed it on Lydia’s team-mate who was closest to the mishap. Then, whenever the ball got past the St. Helens goalie, they gave the other team a point. I mean, what’s up with that? How is the St. Helens team supposed to feel good about themselves if they do that all the time. Seems like both sides should get a point, or they should just give the visiting team a couple of points to start with because they had to ride a bus to get there. Fair is fair.

The dogs were very happy when we got home. Just like always.

Some things just never change.

That’s a good thing.

Now I’m going to watch TV with my first wife because our current DVR is full of shows we have to watch before Thursday when a friendly Comcast employee will be here between 10-12 to install the X1 system. I have no idea what that is, but it involves a new kind of DVR that allows the user to record 4 shows at once while watching a 5th show. With this device we are assured of never getting anything done around the house, ever again.

I need to rest up for this.