Things & Stuff

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

Lots of Things and Stuff have happened and transpired over the last 10 days. Thankfully, Diane keeps good track of what’s going on by making sure everything is on our shared calendar. Even little things like “Jerrie take pills”. That’s an important one because, alas, I sometimes forget. I’m sure that’s a surprise to most of you, but I really do. Even when my overflowing pill case is sitting right in front of my keyboard all the time.

Using the calendar, I’m going to try something different and go in order. Doing that won’t, however, deter me from wandering off the beaten path once in a while to fill in where things need to be filled in.

First, Donna, Mother of Steffani, Wife of Jim, Husband of Bob, and Grandmother of Daniel, Tyler, and Maryssa, had a birthday on January 26th. I may have mentioned this before, but don’t feel like looking back in my posts. Jim thinks she only 58 but he’s like one of those records that keep skipping back, repeating the same verses over and over, and you have to bump it to make it continue. Since I’m not there to do that, he’s stuck on 58. I’m sure she’s at least 62 because I’m pretty sure she’s drawing Social Security now. This will be a shock to him, I’m sure, but he can take. Learning about that extra income will perk him up.

Reaching back into my ancient bag of IT tricks I was able to resurrect the Windows XP computer that belongs to my friend, Jeri. Now, getting an XP computer to function isn’t really as difficult as you might think because it is, after all, just a silly computer. The difference is that it hasn’t received any updates from Microsoft for a few years, and internet security has been absent for nearly as long. That would make one who does online finances a little jittery which is why I was summoned. It’s tax time, you know. Well, it’s almost tax time. That will be on April 17th this year since Jim’s birthday in on Saturday. He was born on the normal tax day. That’s April 15th, in case you were wondering. Jim will be 80 on that day. OK, now I’m feeling old …

Getting that old computer to respond was awesome and I left feeling pretty good about myself. Not bad for an IT guy who was dubbed “Mr. 286” at the peak of his career.

Next we have the Bethany Lutheran Church Annual Meeting. That happens once a year. That’s why I added “Annual” in there. This is the meeting where our Church Council, and Cemetery Board reveal all the secret stuff about their respective areas of church activity that they’ve kept secret all year. It’s all the time when new council members are elected. I may have mentioned in previous posts that I’ve served on the council for many years – about 15 I think – and have only been absent for one year. Sadly, that made me eligible to be nominated for another turn at the oars. Like normal, I accepted, as did Nancy, Shawn, and Randy. Nancy has been absent from council for a number of years, but Shawn and Randy have never served. So, we have new blood to spill. Our first meeting is February 15th. Until then I really have nothing worthy to say about this recurring aspect of my life.

I made a trip to the ENT Clinic at Good Sam Hospital in Portland and was quickly referred to the Vestibular Clinic to see what makes Jerrie almost fall down sometimes. Hopefully it’s not a vestibular schwannoma. That would be terrible. I think. I’m curious to find out. I was told the first visit will last 2.5 hours. Part of that time, I suspect, will be helping me off the floor while doing some of those fast turn exercises that led me to this point in the first place. That, and running into an occasional wall. Nothing major, just little mishaps that do not cause severe injury. Just a few nicks and dings that are quickly forgotten.

Then I went to OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University) which is located on Pill Hill next to the VA Medical Center and Doernbecher Children’s’ Hospital. Actually, Doernbecher is a OHSU facility. It’s complicated. Here’s what the entire mess looks like from a helicopter.

If you don’t have a helicopter, you can take the tram that launches from the banks of the Willamette River. The tram looks like fun to me, but Diane won’t ride it.

Our trip to OHSU was to, once again, participate in an intake process for a Diabetes Study for folks who are taking Metformin and whose A1C is above 6.8. I qualified because I take metformin and my last A1C was 7.4. So, I was looking at getting $10 a visit for the next 4 years. At the appointment I went through all the paperwork with Trish then she took some blood away from me while Brianna watched. Then I was released with the promise of a phone call the next day. Brianna called, as promised, and told me I didn’t qualify for the program because my A1C has mysteriously dropped to 6.2. This happened the last time I was interviewed for this program. So, I was out before I even got started and I had plans for that $10.

With that out of the way, I assisted Diane with some chores at our church to prepare it for their 37th Annual Quilt Show. That’s when all of the pews in the church are draped with elaborate quilts from all over the area as well as some antique quilts that have been in use for many, many years. It’s quit impressive and very beautiful. My job for this effort was to clean up the spots in the carpet where people always drop drips of wine with we have communion via intinction. We tell them to put their hand under the dipped wafer to avoid those drips, but not many listen. Thankfully I had a machine to help me and I’m happy to report that the carpet looks wonderful and will remain that way until we have communion again. The quilt show, in case you’re wondering, will be this coming Friday and Saturday, February 10-11, from 10am to 3pm both days. Downstairs there will be other displays, a bake sale, and sandwiches – egg salad and chicken salad. And pie. Lots of pies. Come and eat. It’s all good and it’s free unless you feel like donating to the jar located on each table. Donating is encouraged.

Another part I did was take photos of the Bethany Quilt Ladies who meet each Thursday morning and generally sit around drinking coffee and visiting, unless someone shows up, then they look busy. I don’t know how they do it, but they still manage to complete about 100 quilts for Lutheran World Relief every year. That’s amazing. This is, Right to Left, Vi, Pat, June, and some lady I’ve never met. Probably should have asked her name, huh? Diane said she is June’s niece.

One of those days I got another haircut. That’s two I’ve had in the last few weeks. It wasn’t so much that I needed one, but the barber, some of our Grandchildren’s Aunt, came to the house and I just couldn’t resist. Diane got a haircut, too. She looks great with her new do, like always.

Jeran went on a bona fide date last weekend to attend the Winter Ball. It’s mainly for Juniors at school so Lydia, a senior, help organize it. While we were at Diane’s Mom’s, Jean’s, house the group came by for a photo-op. Included was the Prince – not a Princess – which was a first for St. Helens High. A great group of kids on the way to having fun.

Jeran, Danielle, Lydia, Julianna, and Fiona.

That brings us to yesterday when I escorted my adopted Grandson, Ahmed, to our Lions meeting where he gave an incredible presentation about Pakistan, his home country. He’s really good at it. I call him my Grandson because he calls me Grandpa. It works. He’s living with Dan, Jennie, Lydia, and Jeran while attending St. Helens High School this year as an AFS student. His adopted parents, and sister, also attended the presentation. Jeran stayed home and ate spaghetti.

Another highlite from last week is that Lydia was one of the three students selected as Student of the week at the High School. The other two were boys. She was the best looking one in the crowd.

Sadly, I failed to get photos of Ahmed’s presentation so the day ended in failure but this is what he looked like from the back … on the left …

… and from the front … on the right …

The other people in there you already know.

Diane was summoned to the Court House again this morning. She wasn’t there very long before they released her into my custody so now I must regroup and work on being responsible.

A Lesson in Spatial Awareness

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

In case you’ve been looking for me, I apologize for not keeping things up to date. I’ve been in a coma.

It happened a couple of days ago when I was working in the basement on a cabinet that Diane requested I build to put above the refrigerator. There was one there before, the there was a tiny refrigerator under it so it fit nice. The refrigerator Diane wanted was much taller so the cabinet had to go. It’s been gone for 9 years and she wants it replaced. With something. With anything, actually.

So, we bought a door at the Restore Store that had glass in it and was just 3 inches shy of being wide enough and was spot on for the height. My task was to build a box on which to mount the door so it could be nailed to the wall.

While working up to this project things were getting shoved around in the shop and the new door fell over, breaking the glass. Thankfully, the Restore Store actually had two of the doors so I rushed right over and forked over another $2.75 for the second one.

Having both doors created an interesting situation because of the shape – one side was curved but the other one was square. Not curved on the outside, but curved on the inside in front of the glass. Diane asked if I could make both ends the same so I investigated the joinery and decided I actually could.

First thing I did was cut the straight section out of one door and the curved section out of the other one. I knew I could do it because the wood was not joined like normal cabinet doors, but with dowels. The goal was to make both ends square. It turned out to be a very simple process. I rejoined the severed pieces using a biscuit because they are move forgiving than dowels so I was able to line the pieces up just exactly right. If I remember, I’ll take a photo and show you.

After the door was glued up and started looking for 1/4″ plywood for the box I was going to make and discovered that it’s one items I didn’t have much of. While in the process of searching all the locations where I store wood, I found something that seemed like it would do the trick As luck would have it I had to bend over to extract it from the wood pieces that were trapping it against the wall where it was leaning. When I finally got it out I turned to my left and didn’t wake up until this morning.

I don’t recall what time of day it happened, but Diane said she got worried about me when I didn’t respond to her announcement that dinner was ready. Food gets my attention and I normally respond right away. She said she decided I was too busy to be bothered with food and went ahead and ate her portion while it was warm. I don’t blame her and probably would have done the same thing.

After eating, she said she went downstairs to see what I was up to and found me laying on the floor, blocking her path to her Girl Room. She noticed the dent in my head right away and dialed 911 for help. While waiting for the EMTs to arrive she said she moved me around a bit and discovered a small pool of blood under my head but, since head wounds typically bleed profusely, the small amount she found mad her think the injury probably wasn’t as bad as she first thought.

The EMTs confirmed her suspicion and she said they just shook me until I woke up. They said that was the best thing to do in a situation like this because giving any kind of stimulant could mask other injuries. A stimulant might also create a situation where the bleeding wound may increase in volume which was a bad thing.

I opened my eyes eventually, so it apparently works. Finally, she saw my eyes were open and quit shaking, loaded me up, and transported me to Portland for further review. I don’t remember any of this, of course. The doctors told me about it the next morning after taking some pictures of my head, looking into my eyes with those incredibly bright tactical flashlights, and conferring clandestinely in corners. Since they couldn’t find anything wrong mechanically, and I was responding to all their questions in a seemingly rational manner, they were on the verge of turning me loose. Then the hospital administrator rushed in and told the attending doctor that he was behind on his admission quota and admitting me for one more night would put him just over the line, salvaging the bonus he was counting on his new Mercedes.

So, they put me in a medically induced coma and told Diane that she should go home and come back the next day.

This morning they pulled out the IV, gave me back my blood-stained clothes and said I was free to go. Not knowing what else to do, I went to the waiting room, and there was my Bride. She gathered me into her arms and pampered me briefly as she asked me what it was I’d done. Not knowing, I couldn’t answer so she thought I couldn’t talk and started yelling for the doctor to explain why I was in the waiting room. Finding my voice, I explained that they said I was fine and could go home. So, home we went.

When we got home the first thing I did was eat the dinner that was still sitting in the microwave, keeping warm. After not eating for about 35 hours, I was hungry. Putting you in a coma does not stop you from getting hungry. It’s a myth.

Then I went downstairs to see if I could figure out what happened. Turns out the cabinet I removed from above that little refrigerator is the one I hung on my shop wall and is currently used to stow my routers. When I turned after the wood discovery, the side of my head ran smack into the sharpest corner on that cabinet, puncturing my head about 1/4″ deep, and causing considerable bleeding from the new hole about two inches above my left ear.

It’s 10:30 pm now and, except for a brief nap this afternoon, I’ve been awake for a long time. I’m tired, and I’m going to bed. First, I’ll admit that I embellished the events surrounding my injury just a bit but what you just read has to be far more entertaining than hearing that, because I wasn’t spatially aware of my surroundings, I whacked my head on a cabinet and it bled a little bit. Right?

Diane gave me ice and a sandwich and everything was good. There were no EMTs.

Only 362 shopping days left till Christmas

Posted on December 28, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Today was a bit different from the day before yesterday because we actually got dressed and left the house. Day before we spent all day in our jammies and just watched Hallmark Christmas movies all day long.

Yesterday was an indoor day, too, but for a different reason. It was time to move our Christmas tree outside into the rain so it could get a good watering until we’re ready to stick it in the ground. Then we moved furniture around so we could clean up all the popcorn and candy from under Diane’s chair. That was actually quite a surprise because she really likes popcorn and it’s hard to believe she dropped any on the floor. But she did, and the dogs didn’t find it. That’s odd, too, because they all like popcorn more than people do and nothing says on the floor for long.

Moving the furniture involved moving pretty much everything to a different location, including the TV, and turning the carpet 90 degrees so the dogs could lay comfortably in front of the fireplace. That, led to the need to actually light the fireplace, something we haven’t done for a long, long time. Thankfully it came on and worked just great. Ziva’s a happy camper.

It didn’t take long for Panzie to roust Ziva and take over. Actually, they take turns. They stay right in front of the fire until their eyes dry out, then move to a cooler location until they can blink. It’s a constant cycle. Little Ozzie sneaks in there once in a while, but not often.

Another interesting thing that happened yesterday was that we lost one of our new butcher knives, the blue one. We looked absolutely everywhere for it but couldn’t find it. It almost kept me awake last night, but not quite. I did spend a considerable amount of time looking for it before going to bed.

Then, this morning, thinking one of us (me) may have tossed the knife in the trash, for some reason, Diane dug around in it for a while to no avail. No knives in the trash. On her way back in the house she asked me if it might be in with the fudge.

Click! went the light and I had a clear view of the knife laying alongside the uncut fudge after I had cut a bunch of pieces for Diane’s Mom, Jean. Once again, Diane solved the mystery. She’s really good at that. Solving mysteries.

After all that hard work yesterday Diane had plans to relax a little and take Mom shopping for a new coat at Penny’s in Longview. I had planned to stay home and work on a couple of projects I have on my list. The main one is to remove the hair from the tub drain in Diane’s bathroom. It has an interesting contraption that plugs the drain for a bath, and it collects the hair. Consequently, when Diane showers, the water kinda starts filling the tub allowing her to soak her feet during the shower. She doesn’t like that.

Then someone mentioned having lunch at Sizzler. Upon being made aware of the lunch decision, I made a command decision that the bathtub hair could wait until tomorrow. Normally my command decisions are subject to review, but fortunately this one passed without comment.

The main reason for the shopping trip was to replace the coat Diane got for Mom that was a bit too tight. Fortunately, it fit Lydia just right so she inherited the coat. What a deal.

Finding the proper coat was much easier with the recipient present so we were at Sizzler in no time. I ate 8 chicken wings, two tacos, a soup bowl of ice cream, and a healthy salad. And a lemonade.

We’ve been home for a while now and Diane’s letting me watch a bowl game – Utah against Indiana. It’s tied 17-17 at the half. I’m not normally a Utah fan, but they are a PAC-12 team so kinda need to wish them well.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the tub hair. Might even show you a picture.

Christmas Day 2016

Posted on December 25, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

The day is almost done which means it’s only 364 more shopping days until next Christmas. So, you better get out there and rake in all those after Christmas bargains so you’ll be ready. Don’t, however, hide them in places like we do that turn out to be the best place ever to hide things because they seem to just disappear.

Last night our church conducted its traditional 11 pm Christmas Eve service for the first time in many years. Our previous Pastor moved the service to 9 pm the last few years because he had a long commute. It was good to get back to tradition and many folks participated. It was a good evening, led by our Council President, Angela. She was nervous, but did a great job, and the order of service that she and Nancy authored was excellent. Very meaningful, filled with songs. It was all about the Christmas story. Very nice.

Staying up so late is something we’re not used to and getting things ready for the family crowd today didn’t leave much room to sleep in for long. I did, anyway, because the dogs still got me up at 6-ish. Diane got up pretty early, too, but she left me sleeping in my normal morning napping spot on the couch while she went down to her girl room and wrapped presents. Lots, and lots of presents. I was oblivious.

All of our children and grand children were here as well as Jennie & Dan’s ‘adopted’ exchange student, Ahmed who is from Pakistan. This was the first time he’s ever participated in a family Christmas gathering so it was quite an experience for him. Lots of happy noise, good food, and a very slow process of opening presents. This year we alternated from the youngest, Jerrie Anne, to the oldest, Diane’s Mom, Jean. Then came Baylee, Me, Gilligan, Diane, Ahmed, Jeff, Jeran, Heather, Lydia, Daniel, Cedric, and Jennifer, in that order until everyone had opened all their presents. It’s a slow process but it’s one of our traditions that allows everyone to experience the joy of watching each person open their gifts instead of having paper flying everywhere like it’s a free for all. That’s just not fun for us.

On family days like this Diane always wears herself out with cooking and making sure everyone is properly fed, just like a super star mom should. This year she made her world-famous Black Bean Vegetable Soup for everyone, and her most excellent Clam Chowder (for Lydia). I cut up all the vegetables for the soups and for the vegetable tray. Sounds simple, but I managed to slice a bit from the side of a finger while cutting up tomatoes. I finally had to quit and put on a rubber glove when I started getting blood all over the carrots. Thankfully the carrots cleaned up OK and I don’t think I’m still contagious so everyone should be OK.

Diane’s Mom always comments on what a lot of work it is for Diane to host events like this forgetting, I think, that I actually participate in lots of the work. My part is to do exactly what I’m told to do and to not volunteer to step in to take over a task that Diane is already working on. I used to get in trouble for that all the time. It took me about 47 years to figure out that she was actually serious about asking for my help when she needed it. So now I just sit around doing other stuff, ready to jump up and help whenever she calls me. I have to admit that I’m still not very good about doing things that are scheduled a day or two out. I’m much better at helping when it’s needed right now.

I always to it cheerfully, too, because I’m the best husband in the entire world.

What else could I be for the best wife in the entire world?

Now the day is done and I must call it quits. Both Diane and I hope everyone had a terrific Christmas and that when the celebrating was done you made it safely home.

Joy and Peace to you all.

Diane’s Pantry & Snow Days

Posted on December 16, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

So … I reorganized Diane’s pantry. What do you think? It’s much easier to find things, now. Before we had to dig through all the shelves to find what we were looking for. Sometimes we just dug around to see what was there. Now, everything is right out there in the open and easy to see. The dogs love it because it’s like wandering around in a grocery store, picking out the things that look good.

It snowed a few days ago and doesn’t appear that it’s going to leave us soon. Watching the news yesterday about all the traffic jams almost made us want to move into Portland. It was an incredible mess. Those “in the know” pointed their fingers of blame at the Oregon Department of Transportation for not using rock salt on the road. Washington does, and they don’t seem to have any difficulty getting around in snowy weather. Oregon uses lots of gravel at intersections, which is good, and lots and lots of chemicals on bridges and main roads. Out here in the country, things are quite good by comparison because most of the drivers have an inherent knowledge that they should drive a lot slower when there is snow and ice on the road. Many Portlanders don’t have that ability. Consequently, they cause problems that all the news stations just love.

Now for some snow pictures, just to prove we actually had some. Not much, this time, but some. Just enough, actually, for the district to close schools for a couple of days.

I think I mentioned on my first posting of this photo that our balls look much nicer with snow on them.

Ozzie either isn’t a fan, or he’s got a problem with Panzee taking advantage of an opportunity to sniff his butt. Or is she just looking at it?

Our snowman even got snow on him. You’d think it would just absorb into him, wouldn’t you?

Regarding Diane’s pantry shelves. This is what I really did.

Right side

Left side. I loaded up all the drawers so, of course, everything is in the totally wrong place. Just just stacked stuff by size, not content. Diane said she’s going to reorganize them one of these days. Right now I’m the only one who knows where stuff is which makes me feel kind of powerful.

I’m going to add a couple more drawers. Just have to build them. Ran out of material for the drawer bottoms.

Happy Thanksgiving !

Posted on November 24, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Even though cramps, actually just ‘a’ cramp, forced me to my feet at 0345 this morning, it’s still a good day. Yessir, it is. It’s pouring down rain, nothing’s leaking, the furnace works, we still have power, Diane’s Aunt Carolyn is cooking dinner today and we’re invited, and the animals seem to be content. At least they aren’t arguing over food bowls but that can change in an instant even though we’ve had serious discussions about how inappropriate it is. They don’t get it. Both of them want to be in charge. Ozzie stays away from the arguments and the cat really doesn’t care.

Yesterday I worked in the flower & herb garden that Jewel and I constructed over the septic tank a few months ago. Pretty much everything is growing well, including lots of grass, so I took all the newspapers Diane had read and spread them around the plants and over the grass. Then I added more mulch so it covered all the paper. In all, it probably only took me a couple of hours, but that didn’t seem long enough so I continued by adding a bunch of tile that I purchased from the Restore Store here in town. Cheap tile. I just flung it all over the place. Basically, the objective was to surround each of the little, and big, plants that appeared alive to ensure no one would kill them with a hoe or shovel. The starburst thing in the middle is the septic pump port (SPP). Since I wasn’t too concerned with symmetry, it went quickly and I had even more time on my hands so I fiddled around with the rocks see if I could get them to balance on each other. Just getting rid of a little whimsy.

I also fixed the bathroom fan which was obviously not working correctly. Turns out the problem is common with fans using plastic fans – the hole, which is originally notched to fit a flat spot on the whirly thing, eventually wears out, making the hole round, allowing the motor shaft to spin relatively freely in the hole. Oh, the fan portion turns, but not as fast as the motor. It’s amazing how loud and annoying it is. So, I bought a replacement fan from Amazon. It’s metal and is held in place with an allen screw. No way is it ever going to fail. Ever.

A couple of days ago I repaired a lamp that Jewel tried to destroy. Actually, the little twisty thing that turned the light on and off twisted off in her right hand which is gaining strength every day, in case you’re wondering. Apparently it’s stong enough to wreck a lamp. I must clarify here that the lamp is an old one that Diane found either at a yard sale about 15 years ago, or at one of the many 2nd hand stores she likes. It was ready to break so it certainly wasn’t intentionally on Jewel’s part. I don’t think. Anyway, it turned out to be an easy fix. One that could have easily been accomplished without dismantling the switch mechanism, which I’d already done. I always go for the hard fix first. It’s always more fun.

Over the last couple of days I also fabricated a knife holder for Diane’s knife drawer. In the end it turned out to be a knife and wine stopper holder. Nifty. In case you’re wondering about the colors, it’s so I won’t get confused. Normally I’m only allowed to use the Orange one, but on certain days I can use one of the other knives for specific projects. Diane writes the color on our blackboard so I’ll know.

Now it’s time for me to go scrape things from my body in preparation to venture forth into the wild to visit Uncle Bill and Aunt Carolyn for Thanksgiving dinner. In attendance, we’re told, will be Julie, Duncan, Terri, and Lisa. Counting us there will be nine. Since there’s only room for 8 people at the table I suspect I’ll be close by with a TV tray. That’s OK.

Cheers everyone. Enjoy the day.

Golf & Christmas Cheer (already)

Posted on November 23, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

We got our Christmas tree today. I know, I know. Thanksgiving isn’t until tomorrow and we already have our tree. Should be against the law, right? Well, maybe it is, somewhere, but we’re counting on authorities to treat this like a misdemeanor that doesn’t warrant their attention right now.

The tree followed us home from Means Nursery in Scappoose and currently resides in the front yard next to the water hose. Diane insisted that I put it there for a few days so she could hose it down and make sure any critters living on it have an opportunity to escape before she makes me haul it into the house. Doing the hauling isn’t going to be a minor task, either. The tree is growing in a large pot and must weigh close to a million pounds. Getting out of the truck bed was a challenge and I used our hand truck to get it into the yard. Diane also bought a smaller live tree to use for our church’s giving tree. It will also be planted in our yard next year.

Yea! More trees to mow around. That’s OK, though, because it will give my shoulder s good workout.

Once the trees were selected we went into the very warm hut containing Poinsettia. Lots, and lots of them. Since they were all so pretty, Diane bought two of them. Jewel had already been to Means earlier so knew where all the good stuff is. She got a table centerpiece for home.

Today has been a sloppy mess, almost as bad as Monday when JP and I went golfing. No Doug this time because he was out in the woods hoping to shoot something to put in his freezer. It was just me and JP the entire time we were on the course. Kinda like having our very own golf course. Even though it was pretty mucky in spots it made getting around in the golf cart challenging and fun. Didn’t get stuck, but not for lack of trying. What’s fun is when we get going down a hill at a slant then lock up the brakes. Now that’s fun.

The golf was fun, too, like normal. The photos don’t give you a true sense of how messy it was out there because the sun came out and made everything look pretty nice.

This one is just to prove to everyone that JP can actually hit his ball with an iron. He dreads using an iron, but he did pretty good this day.

Then there’s almost proof that I can drive a golf cart. That’s really me in the driver’s seat.

Here’s Diane choosing her red poinsettia. Lots of choices.

This is an Amaryllis that Jewel bought Diane about a week ago when it was just a baby. It grew up quickly and now looks like this.

This is what Diane fed me for lunch today. It was really good. I ate four small dill pickles with it, and I mashed up an avocado to spread on the bun. That turned out to be a mistakes because it just created a mess that ran out making it necessary for us to lick our fingers. When I was done I put my hand on my plate and picked up all the potato chip crumbs that were left. You’ll just have to take my word on that because I couldn’t take a photo and Diane wouldn’t take one. She thinks stuff like that is gross. It is, I guess, but it’s fun, too.

Now it’s getting pretty close to popcorn time so I better stop and get busy poppin. This has turned out to be out go-to evening snack and we all agree that, even though the bag says it’s movie theater popcorn, I always put butter on it anyway because it makes it way better.

Something Other Than Politics

Posted on November 13, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving a little early so Cedric, our grandson, could participate. We’ll be delivering him to Kitsap Naval Base next Thursday on his way to his first real duty station, the USS Nimitz. He’s really happy to be home for these two weeks, but excited about moving on.

So, to keep this post on a positive note, I’m skipping the political angle and focusing on family, food, and the beauty of nature.

This is most of the crew. Left to Right – Lydia Claire, Grandma Diane, Ceiarra Jean, Daniel Dean, Ahmed Hassan, Jeran Daniel, Cedric Dean, and Great Grandma Jean’s left hand (I think). For clarification, I assigned “Jean” as Ceiarra’s middle name because I don’t really know what it is, or if she has one. I’m sure that will be corrected by someone who knows.

This was Diane’s idea I everyone thought it was terrific. Cedric prayed for us to start things, then Diane explained that each person in turn, beginning with Cedric, should light their candle from one of the two lit candles (purple) on the table and make a wish. It could be shared or kept secret. A solemn start to a wonderful meal. For Ahmed, who is an exchange student from Pakistan, this was his first experience with Thanksgiving.

Now for some pretty stunning sunrise photos. This first one I took from my rocking chair where I generally take my morning naps. I would have been sleeping, I’m sure, but Diane left the drapes open. When the light hit my eye I saw this and figured I was meant to capture it for you all. The funny thing about mornings like this is the color like this is only visible for a few minutes before it fades. This one was from November 3rd.

This is from November 10th.

This is also November 10th reflecting from the living room window.

This is the breakfast I had on November 3rd after the sun woke me up.

For Veteran’s Day Diane took me out for a pedicure, a new experience for me. I’ve gotta tell you it was pretty awesome.

Diane got one, too.

Then I decided to see if I could get my 2-wheel drive truck up the soggy path into the back yard.

Didn’t quite make it, no matter how many times I tried. The goal was to see how much of the truck I could stuff into that tan tent thing in the background. It’s intended purpose is for yard tools so I guess Karma intervened to prevent access to the upper back yard.

This is what it looks like after finally getting it back together, for the third time. The first two times I put it together a very zesty wind storm blew it down and bent a bunch of poles. That was in the upper yard. This time I carved out two trees (holly on the left, and some sort of bird bush tree on the right. I suppose another strong wind could dislodge it unless I lash it down to the trees. Jewel helped me resurrect it, so thanks, Jewel.

I guess that’s enough for now. Just another few ho-hum days in the great Northwest.

Fall Back, whether you want to or not.

Posted on November 5, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Last Wednesday, since it’s voting season, Diane voluntarily accepted being sequestered at the County Court House for the day. It was the first of many she will suffer through until the election is over and all ballots counted. Those occurring this week were normal work days but next week will include at least one all-nighter. Since I didn’t have any direction for today, I went golfing with Doug & Junior.

It was beautiful and warm on the course. I would have taken photos, but you’ve seen those. Oh, heck. Here’s an old one, from last week.

On Thursday, when Diane returned to the courthouse, I had breakfast at the Kozy with my friends Larry, Larry, & Howard. As we always do on Thursdays, we solved the ills of the world but, like normal, no one listened. Earlier in the year we discussed the possibility of one of us running for president, but nothing came of it because we all had better things to do. So, we must live with the choice of the people for the next four years. Or, is it the the ‘choice of the Electoral College?’ Sometimes that doesn’t relate to the will of the people. Sad, huh?

On Friday while Diane was busy with ballots, I made lots of room in the basement by removing a large horizontal surface. That would be a very large pool table that’s been there for years waiting to be reassembled. Instead, it’s served as a huge table on which most of our spare throw rugs have been stacked, along with some Christmas ornaments that never made it back on the shelves from last year. Since Christmas is right around the corner, I guess it’s OK. We’ll need them. Just so you know, the pool table parts are safely stored just in case we change our mind about it. Since Diane has two more long days of work next week I might just totally rearrange the entire basement, making it more user-friendly. I’ve been thinking about moving my computer down there. Maybe it’ll be faster in the basement. Sure isn’t speedy where it’s at.

Another task I’ve taken upon myself, in Diane’s absence, is to hang up as many framed pictures as I can find. I already hung a mirror in an inappropriate location so figure 40-50 more things on the wall just won’t matter. I’m talking in the basement, of course. I have no jurisdiction for hanging things above the last basement stair.

Yesterday afternoon Cedric flew home on the way to his next duty station – USS Nimitz CVN-68. He’s home for two weeks until the 18th. Lydia and Ceiarra picked him up then he took them to dinner on the way home. I texted him a little while ago, welcoming him home, so know they made it safely.

While the kids were working their way home from the airport, St. Helens High beat Hermiston High in first state playoff game 12-7. Score was 7-6 Hermiston until St. Helens scored with 16 seconds remaining in the game. Diane and I were going to attend the game, but her long days were tiring so we opted to order Chinese in, which was a terrible idea. Everything was totally overcooked and really not tasty. So, we’re taking them off our list of places to eat for a while, as we did with Taco Bell Thursday night. Two horrible dining experiences on consecutive days kinda takes it out of a guy and makes him lose faith in the cooking industry. So, we’ll be eating home cooked meals for a while until we think things have improved. I suspect we’ll have good luck at Hometown Buffet if we wind up going to Portland for something.

For those of you afflicted with Day Light Saving Time, don’t forget to Fall Back one hour tonight or your Sunday will be totally messed up. Really, it will be.

Now I’ll share some photos from the last few days. First is Mt. Jefferson as the sun goes down.

This is Mt. Hood, which is a bit left of Mt. Jefferson.

Then we have a sunrise view looking toward Mt. Hood. I haven’t figured out what makes all the smoke every morning, but notice that it’s not there during the afternoon.

This is what I had for breakfast Thursday morning.

Good thing I had that breakfast Thursday because the crappy Taco Bell tacos and burritos for supper really sucked. Might just stick to PB&J from now on.

Cheers.

Happy November 1st, the sugar rush Teachers love

Posted on November 1, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Yes, it’s November 1st already and I’m betting all the teachers will be glad when it’s over. I say that because Halloween was yesterday, on a school night, and there’s no doubt that most of the kids in their classes consumed way more sugar than normal last night. And, they probably brought some with them so they can taper off throughout the day. What fun, right?

Because of that I’m surprised our government hasn’t taken steps to move Halloween to the last Friday of October so the candy rush might wear off a little by Monday. After all, they changed a number of holidays to Monday so the work force could have more opportunities for three-day weekends, right? If I were president I’d make it a priority. Yes sir. I’d do that.

We didn’t have trick-or-treaters last night for two reasons: 1) We live on a dead-end street that doesn’t have street lights, and; 2) We ate all the candy so left the porch light off to ward off the adventurous tot’s. Does everyone realize that the word “tot” is actually an acronym for trick-or-treaters? It’s true. It’s a term for children that should only be used on Halloween.

You naysayers are no doubt thinking, “OK, why are there ‘tater tots’?” right? I’m with you on that. I think that’s a total misuse of the word and we should ignite a protest insisting that they be changed to ‘tater chunks’, ‘tater slugs’, ‘tater cubes’, or something equally more descriptive. Who’s with me on this?

It’s another lovely day here in River City and I may just have to mosey out to the burn pile and ruin it for anyone down wind by lighting up my burn pile. It won’t take long and it will give me an opportunity to take pictures of all those pretty flames. I’d wait until tomorrow, but Junior wants to go golfing and we don’t pass up those moments. Also, I need to work up an appetite for our late lunch because Diane is boiling eggs to put on our afternoon meal of Dungeness crab salad. My favorite thing in the entire world, right after Diane’s meatloaf and beef stew. Oh, and maybe homemade chicken and noodles. I guess it just depends on the day and what’s available. Food is good.

Now I must go to work.