Home Sweet Home

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

OK – we’re back!

Got home last night after 2300, and actually made it to bed before midnight. The dogs seemed happy to see us which is good because we weren’t sure what kind of reception we’d get. Sometimes they can be down right mean when they want to be. Not mean in a physical way, but more mental, like ignoring you, or looking out the side of their face at you without actually turning their head in your direction. It’s very disconcerting when they do that. Ozzie does it best. But not last night. He was a happy little dog.

Perhaps he was most happy because when we got to LA, Diane texted Jennifer and asked her to please turn the heat back on in the house. It was off the entire time we were gone and I think Oz got chilly. Panzee? No way. She has fur to spare so she just doesn’t get cold. Ever. She doesn’t even get very wet when it rains. I think she may have duck feathers scattered in amongst the fur somewhere.

Sleeping in this morning wasn’t an option because I Diane forced me to go with her to the VA to get my flu and shingles shots – one in each arm. It’s been 7 hours since I got the shots and now my little skinny arms really hurt. Fortunately, I had the flu shot in my left arm because it hurts the worse than the shingles shot. The reason is because the flu shot had to be in the muscle, but shingles is subdural. That simply means the flu shot needle has to be, like, 3 inches long in order to get past the layer of fat on my arm, but the shingles was only about half an inch long. There actually isn’t a lot of fat on my upper arm, and there isn’t very much muscle either, so the nurse, Beauty is her name, had to go at an angle to ensure she could get the entire needle into my arm. Then she hit the plunger and pressed it as hard as she could. I could tell because she was gritting her teeth. It kinda makes you forget about the needle pain when the medicine squirts out of that tiny little needle hole into a space that’s just not big enough for the syringe contents. That’s why she had to grit her teeth, to get the medicine to rip into my muscle fibers.

For the singles shot Beauty grabbed a chunk of that flabby area on the back of my arm, where there isn’t any muscle, pinched it up to make a good target, then jammed that little short needle into my tender skin and forced the shingles killer stuff into my arm causing the same problem as with the other shot – not enough room for the syringe contents.

Now that it’s been a few hours, you’ll be happy to know that both arms hurt about the same since the shots. The “fortunate” part about getting the one that hurts the most in my left arm is that my right arm hurts all the time any way, so now they hurt about the same. It hurts to use either of them so there’s no immediate danger of favoring the right arm over the left. Maybe in a few days I can switch back to that routine.

Tonight I must facilitate our church council meeting, as I do every month. So, there is no resting this evening until I return around 2030. I might have to go a little early, with my propane torch, so I can seal up a leaky part above the narthex. As everyone knows, there’s absolutely nothing worse than a leak in your narthex. It’s very unsettling, and makes the carpet all wet unless you can get the buckets aligned just right. Since he leak is right smack in the middle of the doorway to the basement, getting around the drips becomes a challenge for those who wish to partake of after service snacks. And coffee. It’s a Lutheran church, so coffee is an absolute necessity. I say that, then must share that our Pastor does not drink coffee. Never has as far as I know. All the other Lutheran’s in the world, however, drink coffee. Just ask one of them.

I need to rest now because my arms hurt, and I’m hungry. I believe I’ll go smash a few eggs and make a sandwich. That’s one of the things we missed while in Mexico. I know, they have eggs down there, but we didn’t want to eat theirs and we didn’t think it would be a good idea to pack eggs in the food suitcase. Diane was really thinking when packing for the trip home because she knew we didn’t have any bread in the house, so she packed the few remaining pieces of the loaf of Bimbo bread we bought in Mexico. We’re not sure if we violated any immigration laws by importing bread from Mexico, but no one said anything. Hope they’re not reading this. If they are, I know a lawyer who may, or may not, be able to help extricate me from whatever jail into which “they” decide to incarcerate me.

Perhaps I should start a fund …

To end this, I’m including a couple of pictures from the trip. The first one was taken while we were waiting for the airport shuttle to arrive. The shuttle, by the way, was a very nice tour bus instead of a crampy little van like we had the day we arrived.

This next one is two of the 4 ‘greeters’ we met each morning when heading for the stairs or elevator. The rest of their families is scattered all over the place. They really aren’t a bother, but if you stop to look at them for very long, they come right up looking for something to eat.

Mazatlan – Day 7

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Here it is, our last day in this paradise. Tomorrow at noon the shuttle will extract us from this place and deposit us at the airport for our flight home. It’s always such a surprise how time speeds up as the end of something pleasant nears. It’s kind of like a tether ball that winds round and round the pole, faster and faster as the tether gets shorter. All the sudden, BOOM, it stops, and you bang your head against the pole because you forgot it was there.

Then it unwinds the other direction and, as the tether gets longer, we get lulled into a false sense of security. Then it speeds up, again, spinning faster and faster until you hit the other side of your head. It’s a never ending cycle of winding and unwinding, over and over … it is my understanding that sane people have really tall poles and exceptionally long tethers so the trip is more leisurely and less traumatic at the end.

With help, and the right kind of medicinal know how, we can control, to some extent, how high our pole goes, and how long the tether is. I was thinking of getting a T-shirt made with the words “How tall is your pole?”, or “How long is your tether?”, or “How long is your pole?”, or “How tall is your tether?” I haven’t talked with Diane about that, yet, but I already know that she doesn’t like that plan. So, I won’t do it. We could, however, vote on our favorites.

Most of the time I have a short tether on a short pole making life a little jittery and quite exciting. Caffeine intensifies the experience.

In truth, my vacation ended yesterday when I ran out of imported coffee creamer. This morning I concocted a concoction of lactose free milk mixed with both white and brown sugar. It’s kind of weird, but will have to do. At least it’s the right khaki color. That’s really the most important part, you know. Taste is secondary.

While at the deli yesterday afternoon, purchasing our yoghurt con frutas y cereales for this morning’s breakfast, another guest noticed my Oregon hat and asked if I wanted to know what the half time score was to the Oregon vs. Colorado game. I said sure, then he made me guess. I said 42-3, Oregon. It was really 42-12, Oregon. I thought that was a pretty good guess. The Ducks won 57-16, so their roll continues. I don’t know how the Beavers did, or even if they played. The Beavers, for those of you unfamiliar with college football in Oregon, is the Oregon State team. The Ducks belong to the University of Oregon. The guest who told me the score went to UCLA, but he considered me an ally since we’re both Pac-12 fans.

Diane’s got the makings of a cold this morning. She’s hacking and coughing, mostly because the contents of her head are draining into her lungs. That’s not a good thing to happen. What doesn’t help is when she reads a lot because she gets emotionally wrapped up in the characters, sharing their victories and defeats, crying and laughing as the plot unwinds. She shares these moments with me and makes it necessary that I put these books on my “To Read” list, even though they are Nora Roberts novels. That’s not a bad thing … I enjoy Nora once in a while because they are just fun to read. Right now I’m reading the “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Ryan. It’s 3768 pages long in portrait mode, and 6727 long in landscape mode. I’m 1191 pages into it in landscape mode, and 664 in portrait mode. It’s wearing me out. I just finished “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.

It’s much later, now, 1409 to be exact. We went out on the beach at 1030, and stayed there picking up shells, wandering around, and getting more than our share of sun to the point where it began to hurt. We (I) took a colander from the kitchen utensils so we (I) could sift the sand from the shells and beach glass. It worked pretty well and I’m sure management won’t mind that a little used thing like that was put to such good use.

When the heat really started getting to us, we made our way back to our assigned lounge chairs, on which we left out towels, then took a dip in the pool to cool off. It was awesome. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned that they use a saline solution in the pools instead of caustic chemicals like bromide or chlorine. Consequently, it’s got a little salty flavor to it which I believe is intentional to cover up the fact that most people pee in the pools, even the adult pool. Maybe more to the point, “Especially” the adult pool, because it’s got a swim up bar and I’ve watched a lot of people spend an entire afternoon sitting on one of those submerged bar stools, slugging down one kind of drink or another, and never leave their seat. You’ll never convince me that there’s no way all of those folks could sit there for that long and not have to pee. Couple that with the fact that the pool water is always a bit warmer near the bar, and I believe my case is made. People pee in pools, and it’s OK because down here it doesn’t alter the chemical flavor of the water. This brings up the question about how does, like, everyone in the world, know that urine is salty? The answer, of course, is that at some point in our lives we found it necessary to taste it.

At this very point in time, we’re sitting at a table in the deli, eating our ham and swiss sandwiches, that was heated up like a panini. Here’s a picture of Diane eating here. She doesn’t know I took the picture, so I’m going to be in trouble for sure. But, that’s nothing new.

This is our big meal of the day, and only the second real meal we’ve had down here. The other one was at the restaurant in town. We actually talked about taking the shuttle back down there for another meal, but vetoed it because of the hour we’d have to spend in the shuttle. So, we opted for the deli. The other choices were two restaurants at opposing ends of the compound, one near us and the other far, far away. Too far to walk in this heat. That, plus the deli has wi-fi, a necessary piece of technology that we find to be an important aspect of our lives.

We’ve heard from sources in Western Idaho that Maryssa has signed a letter of intent to play softball on scholarship at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, Oregon. We’re happy for her, and proud of her, whoever she is. We think it’s someone Steffani and Bob know. Maybe Jim and Donna, and probably Jeff, Heather, Jennifer, Daniel, Cedric, Lydia, Jeran, Gilligan, Baylee, Jack, and Wynette, too.

Here’s one you’ll like … on the way back from the beach, we passed one of the many waterfall fed coy pools around the property, but this one had a sign that read “Please do not feed the fish tank”. I found that amusing. Feed the fish tank. They should have other signs all over the place telling people to “Don’t feed the iguanas”. Those guys are all over the place. A small herd of them hang out on the balcony near our room which bothers Diane a bit. It’s got to be hard to be an iguana because they are some homely beasts. I demonstrated to Diane that, in spite of their appearance, they are timid and will not attack unless provoked. Thankfully, we were just outside our room and Diane had the foresight to bring bandages, so I didn’t lose too much blood. I suspect the maids will be a little miffed about the mess on the floor near the elevator, though.

Time to stop, and reflect. Tomorrow we check out and fly back home so I don’t suspect I will be adding to this until we get there. You’ll all just have to wait, on pins and needles, if you wish, to find out how this ends …

Diane’s Hair, Fire, Golf, Mechanical Stuff, and Food

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

First, here’s Diane’s new hairdo for those of you who requested it. It’s kinda like the picture I took in Hawaii and included with the tiki torch entry. I like it. I tell her that, but I’m not sure she believes me. What do you think?

Now, about Jerrie the arsonist, the golfer, the mechanic, and elctronical wizard – what a package!

On Thursday, the burn pile was reduced to a pretty flat mess of ashes. That would be the grey matter in the middle of the picture. The raised areas around it are grass clippings, which we are not allowed to burn. Before igniting the pile, it was tall enough, from this angle, to hide the clippings pile, and it was that tall all the way across. I stood out there for four hours monitoring the progress, moving things around, getting burnt here and there, and inhaled more than my share of smoke. It burned my eyes and my nose, but I hung in there and did my job. The neighbors, to the left, lit their burn pile, also, but our pile went away first.

Now, about golfing – Junior, Doug, and I are 1962 graduate of Scappoose Union High School. We weren’t the only three, of course, but we three see each other more often than the other 70+ remaining members of that class. That officially makes us old since we are well beyond the 50 mark, the point where many young people think we should be put out to pasture, so to speak, and we take that literally because we golf in St. Helens on a course that Jimbo would agree would be better served as a pasture. There are mole hills to contend with, and lost balls in the fairway because of deep grass, or simply deep mud, but it works for us. We have fun. Jimbo, by the way, is also a ’62 graduate, but he lives all the way over in Lake Oswego so we don’t get to see him very often.

Doug is the better golfer of the three of us, but Junior can whip him once in a while. I never do that. I’m just out there to whack a ball, and have a nice conversation while looking for it. We almost always find it, but not always. It doesn’t matter because pretty much all the balls I use were donated by golfers who went before me and we seem to usually come out ahead

Junior watches the golf channel all the time and is just full of little tidbits about how to golf better. Just enough to screw up anyone he’s golfing with, me especially. I don’t mind, because I’m not all that serious about golfing. For me, a round of golf is just a nice walk in the woods. Really. If there’s a tree around, I’ll wind up behind it. Because of that, I’ve adopted the attitude that I can hit my ball over, or through, any tree that’s in my way. Sometimes it works.

Here’s a picture of Junior, from yesterday, hitting his ball again from the same spot because he hit the sign you see a little ways in front of him. The sign was in his way and he made an impressive dent in the metal sign at the bottom right corner. You can actually see how it’s bent from the way it sits. We reviewed our rule book and determined that the sign was at fault, so retrieved his ricocheted ball from the middle of the fairway, put it in its original spot, and moved the sign to the right side of the cart path, away from Junior’s projected flight path.. The second effort was much better and I think we agreed that he parred the hole. Our rule book is better than the one other golfers use.

After I got home I decided to make myself a sandwich before Diane texted me about it. It’s always good when I can beat her to the punch once in a while. The choice for the sandwich was ham and cheese. Not wanting to open a brand new loaf of cheese, I chose to alter the configuration of the little left over cheese chunks, that we cut up for coffee hour last Sunday, by slicing them a little thinner. This is the good Tillamook cheddar cheese which I prefer to the Kraft peel-n-stick American Cheese Food that’s actually pretty good in a grilled cheese scenario.

Here’s a photographic progression of how I made that sandwich …

decided to tackle the broken RV so I could get it back into the driveway. This entailed removing the broken mechanical fuel pump to see if it was at least close to the one that came with the ’73. It was a minor miracle that it was, indeed, exactly like the one I needed. Funny, though, because it isn’t the right kind for the ’73. Funny how things work.

Once it was installed, I removed the electric fuel pump, which I determined just wasn’t cutting it, and was blessed with ignition. From this exercise, it’s readily evident that mechanical fuel pumps suck more than electric ones. It sucks better than the electric one I had, anyway. So, the RV is back in the driveway where it belongs. It’s still not leaking, either, though there were torrential downpours off and on all day yesterday.

Since the motor home was handled more quickly than I had anticipated, we decided to drive to Hillsboro to visit Best Buy and retrieve my new iPad which they reported had been received. I had an appointment with one of their Geeks at 1700 to make the switch. We went directly home from there, arriving shortly before the rains came. Rick and Jodi, and Tom and Linda will probably object to the fact that we were that close and didn’t stop and say Hi. Little do they know that when we visit Hillsboro, we drive by their houses at least twice, to see if anyone is looking. If no one charges out of the house on the second trip, we presume no one is there, and continue on our way. Yes, we could call, but choose to use the visual method of contact which is a bit more of a challenge.

That’s a lie. We don’t do drive bys. We should have called. Forgive us.

The new iPad proved to be an electronical challenge. That was mostly because of the Apple ID’s that are necessary to do back ups and restores. So, the back up I thought I had locked down, just kinda disappeared on me so I set the pad up as a new one instead. That means I had to remember all kinds of passwords and things that will make it work like it’s supposed to. Right now it’s wi-fi only which saves a buck or nine on fees, and I think I’m going to leave it that way.

For supper Diane made a terrific meal of re-purposed chicken parts that were formed into cute little sticks then covered with a lot of breading. Baked in the oven, from a frozen state, they do the job of filling the void and they are simple to fix. She also fixed frozen mac and cheese that didn’t turn out so well. I ate all of mine because I love my wife. I also got two ears of corn on the cob, cooked a few days ago, and reheated in the micro. Tasted just as good as if they were fresh. Here’s that meal …

Yes – both plates are mine. I admit it, I’m a pig.

Today I finished the church newsletter and Diane and I went out and cleaned the church up a bit. Mainly, I scrubbed up all the wine stains around the altar where people seem to have a little problem getting those tiny little cups up to their mouths. I may be guilty, too, but don’t have any memory of dripping wine on the carpet. What makes it more interesting is that the red wine stains are on a red carpet. You’d think the spots would just disappear, wouldn’t you? Doesn’t happen.

Now it’s getting on to dusk and I need to consider packing a suit case. Diane’s already done. She packed our coffee grinder in with her underwear. I told her I’d wrap it up in my skivvies, but she declined. I actually didn’t offer to do that, and I don’t know if it’s with her underwear. I’m just guessing.

Now I’m gonna quit and finish watching today’s football game. While doing this I watched the Oregon State Beavers decimate Colorado 44-11. In a little while I get to watch the Oregon Ducks play the Cal State Bears, I think. It will be interesting to see if Oregon continues it’s march to #1. this will be the Pac-12 opener for both teams.

Phones, Puppies, & No Nap

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

As you all know, Diane was blessed with a bright yellow iPhone 5C on the 20th, and I received her hand-me-down old iPhone 4. Not an iPhone 4S, but just a 4. Her old phone is just as pristine and clean as the day I took it out of the box to set it up two years ago so I was all for it. You also know that the reason for this need was because I dropped my 4S too many times and broke the screen. I gave it to Jeff for showing us the girls’ new puppy which came to our house named Mallory, but left with her new name, Roku. That’s the number 6 in Japanese. Jeff wanted a “6” name because she has 6 white toes. She’s 10 weeks old and is already twice the size of Ozzie. When she grows up she’s expected to weigh in around 140+. Big dog.

Today was the first time I’ve been allowed to take my ‘new’ phone out of the house so it was a total surprise to me when it fell out of my lap and crashbanged on the garage floor upon returning from wherever it was we went. Seeing this, Diane pursed her perfectly formed, lightly tinted lips, marched in the house with an over-the-shoulder dictate that I need to carry my phone in a case, and she had the perfect one. The phone is a white one and so is the case. It’s a Hello Kitty one that’s she had, ‘Just in case.’ She thought I wouldn’t like it, but I think it’s just absolutely adorable.

It’s been raining most of the day so it’s good to be inside. The only trips we’ve taken, so far, was to pick up Mary, Trudy, and Glenn at 0600 for a trip to the airport, back home, them to Home Depot in Longview to get a $100 error, in their favor, corrected, then to Columbia Feed & Seed for Panzee dog food. So, it turned out to be a pretty busy travel day in the rain. Thankfully, due to Diane’s superb driving skills, we made it to and from every one of our chosen destinations.

It’s only 5:01 pm right now, but I’m really tired. No nap this morning kinda wrecked me for the day. So, I’m calling it quits early. No staying up until 11 pm like I normally do.

Hope everyone is safe and sound in your own abodes, or wherever it is you wish to be.

Rain, Wind, Home Depot, and Barry Manilow

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

It was a very rainy, and windy day here in River City. That not totally true because it’s not really River City, it’s still St. Helens. But, the town resides on the western shore of the Columbia River, where it flows north from Portland to Longview, so it’s also known as River City. Just thought I’d share that with you for clarification.

This morning at church Diane, her Mom, Jean, and I provided all the snacks for the coffee hour after the service. My job was to carry the bag of food to the basement then get out of the way until I was called to do something. That moment came as soon as everyone, all 30 of them, had made their way through the line once. Then Diane and Jean abandoned me, leaving me alone with two very hot coffee pots, decaf and regular, trusting me to not burn anyone. I did them proud by not doing that and I even got a little cocky and poured left-handed. Though I’m sure I’ve done it before, I have no memory of it. I even did an old trick I’ve used, not overly popular by most of the recipients, by filling Nancy’s cup to the tippy top, so full that picking it up bordered on dangerous. I didn’t burn her, though. That trick I developed while in the Navy aboard ship. Invariably, when someone fills their cup with coffee, someone is waiting right behind to fills theirs. Having the pot already in your hand, it’s an accepted practice to fill the cup of at least the next person in line. When it was me doing the filling, I poured them a heaping cup full. Really. Heaping full. If you fill a cup all the way to the top, and look at it sideways, it almost looks like the liquid is above the cup rim. The fun part at sea is watching the person ask you to stop well before it’s full, but continue anyway. They never once pulled their cup away, but allowed me to fill it all the way up, calling me some pretty creative names as I calmly put the pot back, and watched as they did their best to get the cup to their lips without spilling anything. Consider, too, that the ship is moving all the time. Sometimes in predictable directions. To their credit, everyone who had the misfortune of having me fill their cups in the Goat Locker (Chief’s Mess) never spilled a drop. That comes from experience. They also learned quickly to just wait until I put the pot down so they could fill their own cups. I guess what I did may be construed as mean, but I treated it like a training session.

Once the church was all cleaned up and locked, we dropped by the house to let the dogs out for a bit, then headed to Longview for an expensive visit to Home Depot. I got some baseboard wood, and shoe moulding, and Diane got paint. I think the way she picked it was to look at the price and go for the most expensive thing they sold. Of course, that’s untrue. We had previously agreed on the Behr brand, and the color, so it was OK.

Wood, in case you didn’t know it, is no longer cheap like it used to be. That’s true for everything, I know, but here in the Great Northwest, where people grow trees for a living, you’d think wood might not be so expensive. But, it is. Kinda makes me want to get a big saw and start making my own lumber, but we don’t have our own trees so I guess that wouldn’t work. I don’t know where this is going, so I’m shifting gears ..,

Diane was sad that her new iPhone didn’t have any music on it. Specifically, Barry Manilow singing “All I have to do is dream”, for her alarm clock. All of that music is still on her old phone, which is now mine, but there’s no way to transfer that information from one phone to another. Music must be added from iTunes, as in the iTunes on the computer from which it was originally added. At least that’s my understanding. If there’s another way, and you know what it is, I’m interested in hearing about it.

The problem, you see, is that we replaced Diane’s computer not long ago because she fussed about how long it took to do ‘stuff’, and it was always doing something she didn’t want it to do. And, a crucial bit of software needed for updating Windows XP self destructed so the computer was missing the daily critical security updates needed to keep the gremlins away. Her new computer is Windows 8 all in one Samsung with a touch screen. She’s getting used to it, but it tends to give her fits once in a while, too.

The old computer is in the basement, so I paid it a long visit so I could snag all those songs and put them on her new computer. Actually, the last two old computers, plus about 12 hard drives of questionable vintage, two laptops, and three monitors, were scattered around just waiting for me to find the time to see how they work now. Having a goal in mind made checking them much easier because not having one allows my mind to wander a bit and I tend to just take them apart. That’s why there are so many old hard drives lying around. They came from old computers that I’ve acquired over the years. I tore a couple of the hard drives apart to get the excellent magnets out of them just for fun. They are pretty powerful. I heard that it really hurts if you sandwich you ear lobe between them and let go. It’s true. It hurts a lot.

Anyway, the old PC booted right up but, guess what. I had apparently removed all the music from the computer. There was no iTunes, there were no tunes, period. That was true for the other old PC I found. So, I got busy checking all the old CDs lying around down there, looking for anything that had “Music” written on it. I found a few, but nothing with Barry Manilow.

In a panic, I felt the walls closing in on me because I couldn’t find Barry. Then I remembered the CDs we own and actually found them in a nifty little rack that’s hidden in a corner with all the kids toys and games that never get used. A quick search led me to a Barry disc which had the correct song on it. I was saved! I rushed it to her computer with the secure knowledge that I wouldn’t have to sleep on the porch, which pleased me because it’s a bit chilly out there. And wet.

The import went really well after I discovered how to open the CD tray on her computer. There’s no handy little button in the vicinity of the drive to push for it to open. Finally, in iTunes, I discovered that it’s simply a matter of pressing Ctrl-E on the keyboard. Good to know. She now has 154 songs on her computer, and sync’d her phone so they are now also available for her to use.

She can’t, however, stick her new phone it the little Bose speaker base I got her for Christmas a couple of years ago because, Apple changed the adapter on the new phones. Nifty, huh? They have adapters, I know, but we don’t have one of those, yet.

This afternoon I also had a wonderful conversation with Gretchen, one of my co-workers while I was employed at PGE. We worked together for many, many, many years. Well, maybe only many, many years. It was good to catch up on what’s going on with her and her family. I know she’s one of the 4-5 people who read this so I must let her know that we talked for 42 minutes and 43 seconds. I know that because Diane’s phone told me so when we ended the call. That’s not a complaint or criticism, just a fact. So, Diane’s phone is now properly broken in.

Here it is, almost 10 pm, and we’re picking up a friend, Mary, at 0600 in the morning to deliver her to PDX. She’s going on a Panama Canal Cruise. That’s the next cruise Diane wants to take because she’s always talking about it. When she does, I point out that I’ve already done that, in 1967, and it wasn’t really a big deal. It’s just really narrow in spots. But, it would, I admit, be interesting to do it again.

I must really quit, and crash. I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes.

Just for fun, here are some of the pets hanging around this place. There are lots of iguanas, too. Big ones, too. When they hear the click of a camera, they come running to get their reward. We don’t know what that is, however, so we just depart quickly. there are a few around that are 3 feet long and they are very homely looking creatures. I was going to say ‘ugly’, but I’m not sure if they have internet access or not, and don’t want to get into trouble.

Living On The Edge With iOS 7

Posted on September 21, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Diane’s now living on the cutting edge of technology with brand spanking new iPhone 5C, complete with iOS 7 installed. It arrived yesterday, the first day they were made available. It’s a yellow one, like this …

Very pretty, but it won’t fit in her little Hello Kitty cover, so I guess I’ll have to use it since I inherited her old phone. It’s an old iPhone 4, replacing my iPhone 4S, a newer one, which I broke to smithereens. It still works, but there’s still a distinct danger of one cutting one’s fingers while scrolling through the various screens.

About last night … I was up past midnight working on that stupid phone, the new one, trying to get everything set on it so it was explicitly Diane’s. Until then, we shared an Apple ID which we used to buy books and other fun stuff. The danger in that, however, is the back-ups. Yes, it’s handy backing up to the internet, and being connected in a manner that allows us to share calendar entries, photos, contacts, and documents from a common source, but there’s danger in that. Especially with Contacts. Her list is totally and socially different from mine so sharing that aspect has resulted, almost, in the need for me to seek safer living conditions. Seems like things get a little mucked up when the source data is manipulated by more than one interested person, making duplicate entries.

Therefore, I made a decision to electronically divorce her, as there’s no need for a lawyer, allowing us both to be responsible for our own information. We’ll see how that works out. We now each have our own Apple ID and it only took me about 6-7 hours to make the magic happen. I have to admit, it was a mental workout, but it returned me to my days of desktop support for pre-286 PC’s that took forever to boot up and doing any changes to it required you to boot it more than a few times to get it done. Anyone remember those days?

I know I’m revealing my age, and I’m really happy that I had that experience. I was even trained on the incredibly complex OS/2 operating system when there was a question about whether or not the company would install Windows 3.0, or not, on their desktop systems. What a time that was and, oh my, how things have changed since then.

Enough history. Now, back to all this new, frustrating ‘stuff’.

This morning I spent another 3 hours fiddling with various devices, iPads, and phones, working to get them all on the same page, separately, as previously mentioned. We each have our iPads and iPhones which makes life pretty nice. In debt, but nice. Instead of sitting in the Man Room on our respective computers, back to back, kinda, sending emails back and forth, we can now sit next to each other on our couch/recliner and text each other. The only verbal communication we have is to clarify the mood with regard to various texts, to ensure nothing is taken out of context. Got it? It’s like giving us an eye-to-eye moment to ensure the last text that was in ALL CAPS, was sent as meant.

That’s not true, of course. We communicate very well, actually. Having ‘devices’ like the phones and pads just gives us more and varied opportunities to communicate in the modern world. The iPads are really going to come in handy when we head for Mexico next week.

Hey! Idaho State and Washington State are playing each other on the Pac-12 Network. The network that Comcast won’t share with anyone. Go Vandals … I can say that because one of my numerous niece’s sons, Tyler, is one of those. Tyler has curly hair. Thought you should know.

Diane just told me I have to get a new DVR from Comcast next week because she’s going to take a hammer to the one we have. I’ll take pictures, if she does that. Might be fun. She’s pretty emotional about it.

It’s 8:30 pm and I’m just now getting around to supper. Since it’s late, I’m going lite – 2 bananas and a bowl of pretzels. Diane’s just having pretzels.

Sorry about all the distractions. I’ll try to remain on track the rest of the way, wherever this thing is going.

As I mentioned, I spent hours working my ‘new’ phone this morning, but didn’t quite get it done before it was determined that I needed to go to the church and see if the lawn got mowed. Someone did it so I didn’t have to. Instead, I went to work removing an over abundance of very large weeds from the Tom Ahlf Memorial Rose Garden under the church’s reader board. Then I grabbed a pitch fork kind of thing to work up the dirt, and remove dead weeds and grass from around the outside edge of the garden. About that time, Diane appeared with her Mom, Jean. Diane was there to clean the church, something we tend to do once in a while. Mom came out with clippers and started whacking away at the rose bushes, doing a little bit of ‘Zen Pruning’. I love to ‘Zen Prune’ anything that grows. You know … stand back and look at the chosen victim, tip your head back and forth like a bird, to get a good view of what needs to go away, then just start cutting off branches until you feel good about it. simple. No plan. It’s just an emotional response to nature.

Once that was done, I went into the church and took the vacuum cleaner away from Diane. She loves it when I do that because those things always ruin her back. So I try to do that job whenever I can. From there, I motored to help with the last few things that needed to be done with The Bathroom.

… The Vandals are having a little difficulty, down 28-0 …

As you may recall, we got the wainscoting installed, then waited until it was painted. That was done a few days ago, so all we needed to do was re-install the sinks, caulk some corners, and put the hardware on the tub. The caulk was the last thing we did and it was guaranteed to be dry in three hours.

In the middle of all that, Diane arrived with my left over meat loaf lunch. I delayed a bit too long so Diane and Jennie sent Lydia to tell me that if I didn’t go in to eat it right away, they were going to let her eat it. That was a credible threat because Lydia is a food cleanup specialist. Everyone knows not to get between Lydia and anything edible that catches her eye. It’s dangerous.

So, The Bathroom is FINISHED ! I think. Nothing leaks, so it has to be done.

Now I have to figure out something else to do.

Now I’m going to quite and play with my phone for a while and leave you with some photos that just showed up on my computer.

This is Rick and Jodi’s side yard that includes the Hot Tub House …

He was thinking ahead with the wheel chair access, with the challenge at the top, just to make it interesting.

And, this is Jodi’s car …

Pretty nifty. I think the graphic on the hood is a reference to the driver as One Hot Lady, which is true, but every time I see it it always comes out (in my head) as Titsafire. Sorry, Jodi. Had to get that out there …

Now I’ll quit … but not before reporting that I like the new iOS 7 features from Apple. Very nifty stuff.

Tiki Torches, The Moon, VA, Shopping, and Dinner

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Greetings fellow astronauts. I hope all is well with you as we zoom through the outer reaches of space, under our very own moon, which just happens to be full at this very moment. It’s lighting up our back yard as if it’s lined with tiki torches. I really don’t have any experience with tiki torches other than the ones that were lit in our presence while visiting Hawaii once.

… and tiki torches are as much fun as the company we keep while in their presence … I was in heaven …

So, here’s what the moon looked like, kinda. It’s ‘kinda’ because the photo is from June 22nd, the last time I took a picture of the moon. I’m not often compelled to take pictures of the moon because I see it all the time. When it’s not cloudy, anyway.

All of the foregoing was from last night. I had to quit and go to bed because Diane told me to. We had a date with the vet for Breezie to catch up on her shots. She spent the night inside last night, which was unusual for her. But, the weather is changing, getting cooler, and she’s not dumb. She knows it’s OK to spend the night outside when it’s warm, not so good when it’s cold. Her appointment was at 0900 so when she went out with the dogs, at 0600, I cautioned her to be back before 0830 or she would be in deep kim chee. There’s nothing worse than that, in my humble experience.

As the morning progressed, I lay snoozing in my favorite spot in the living room. Then Diane’s phone beeped, and my iPad beeped, alerting us to the pending trip to the vet. I let the dogs out again, with explicit instructions to bring the cat back, but they didn’t. Apparently they couldn’t find her anywhere in the back yard. I didn’t believe them, but it turned out to be true because not long after they returned to the house, Breezie came slinking through the fence where the dogs can’t go. I should have believed them, I guess, but they generally aren’t very truthful in situations like that because their main focus is to get a treat for just going outside when I ask. They expect it every time, but only get one on the last trip before bedtime. You’d think they would learn.

So, the cat’s back, her kennel is clean, and we head for the doc. It was a fairly quiet trip with only an occasional “Roowaaar” indicating her displeasure about being locked up. At the vet it wasn’t a problem. She weighed in at 10 lbs, which surprised Diane because she looks skinny. She took her shots like a man, and even gulped down her pills without much fuss. Then we took her home and set her free.

Apple released IOS7 yesterday for all their hand-held devices so me, being on the cutting edge of technology, and not in the least bit afraid of change, immediately downloaded it onto my iPad and broken iPhone. I also put it on Diane’s iPad. We both like the new look and functionality. I couldn’t put it on Diane’s iPhone because there’s not enough memory available to do it. She’s got too much stuff on her phone. It is, however, one with the least memory available at the time, 8 GB, I think, so all I have to do is just start deleting random things until the update can be installed.

You needed to know all of that.

Now, the day is about done, and we’re both almost in our jammies. I’m not, she is. We just got home from leaving the dogs alone for almost 8 hours today. Lots of stuff got done and I just can’t wait to tell you about it.

Our first stop of the day was the Restore Store in St. Helens, but we didn’t find anything we had to have, so headed to the VA Hospital on Pill Hill in Portland where I got a new picture taken for my new VA card because I lost the one I had. I also lost my ACE card at the same time. They just fell out of my wallet someplace so I removed everything from that wallet, which I purchased at a flea market in San Diego. Now I’m using one Diane gave me that Avon sells. It works well. Everything fits nice and tight. So far.

After the VA we worked our way over to Hillsboro to do a little looking at their Restore Store. Diane found a bunch of bottles of cleaning ‘stuff’, and we each got a different chair for our computer tables. The ones we had were OK, but too big. The ones we bought, $10 each, were from some business that apparently replaced all of their conference room chairs. They had a bunch of them.

From that store we worked our way toward 73rd and Frances Street to meet up with Rick and Jodi at their home. We planned to be there by 3 pm, but a pool supply store got in the way and required me to buy some new temp sensors for the hot tub. Not a cheap stop, but if it resurrects the hot tub, it will be worth every penny.

We arrived at R & J’s about 3:06 pm. They were sitting on their front porch looking at their watches when we drove up. We joined them and visited for a while, then investigated all the work Rick has done around the house. Their house, incidentally, looks brand new, and the hot tub has its own house that matches the big one. Diane wanted me to see all of that so I would feel bad about our yard, but it didn’t work because there’s really no comparison. You see, where we have lots of grass, R & J have lots of rocks and cement. They do have a lawn, but I bet it almost takes longer to get the mower started than it does to mow it. This sounds bad, I know, but I don’t think Rick will mind. Their place is awesome. It would be fun to have a yard that we could clean up with a leaf blower to dust off the rocks once in a while.

OK, Rick, now I’ll apologize for that outburst. It wasn’t justified, and we love you both dearly. You know that. My fingers just get out of control some times, ya know?

OK – after visiting for a while, we headed out to Bugatti’s for dinner. This is the one on Cornell near the Tanesbourne Mall area. The food was outstanding, but the visit was better. When we were seated, the place was nearly empty. I ordered spaghetti with prawns, Diane had a piece of dead chicken nicely splayed and arrayed on top of some green rigatoni, Rick has a HUGE meat ball sandwich with really good french fries, and Jodi had an artichoke sandwich with chicken, I think. I’m the only one who ate everything. Everyone else got boxes to go. We visited all through the meal and Diane didn’t once reprimand me for speaking with my mouth full of food. Then we visited for about an hour after we were all done. By the time we were done visiting, the waiter had made about 10 passes with the water jug, silently urging us to depart. By this time the place was packed. Totally. I guess it was time for us to leave, so we did.

We drove home, without stopping, and were greeted by the two barky dogs. Panzee is just so overjoyed to see us, whether we’ve been gone a minute, or a week. Ozzie? He barks his hello, but he just walks on past us, barking randomly, making his way to the front yard so he can relieve himself. Too funny. Breezie was sleeping on the back porch and has ignored us since we got home. No doubt she’s sleeping off the three shots she got this morning.

Once everyone was settled down, I checked the front porch and guess what? Diane’s new iPhone 5C was laying right there in the open for anyone to snatch. But they didn’t because no one comes up our street unless they live there. Nice being on a dead-end. Her new phone is yellow, her favorite color. I’ve been trying to figure it out since we got home.

Now it’s 10 pm and time for me to quit and go to sleep.

Dr. Grimm, Mowing, Gas Lines, Golf, Painting, Cats, etc …

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

I want to thank all three of you who check in every day and see if I’m still ticking. I appreciate it. Knowing you do gives me an incentive to honor your quest for useless information. The last few days have been difficult which is why I haven’t been around much.

It started with the tooth Dr. Grimm ripped out of my head. At the time, it didn’t hurt at all. It didn’t even hurt bad the next day, but as the week progressed it hurt more and more until I was on the verge of a migraine all the time. Not quite there, mind you, but close, and I knew it was coming from the area of the tooth I gave up for adoption.

Actually, I didn’t do that. The tooth is laying calmly on my computer desk inside a sandwich bag. One of these days I’ll hide it under my pillow and see if there really is a tooth fairy. That would be a dumb thing to do, however, because I’d only get a quarter, or maybe a $1 and, with its gold crown, that thing cost me about $900. Maybe I’ll put it up for sale on eBay so some person, who has a tooth fetish, can get me my money back.

Anyway, the pain was getting worse each day and finally Diane’d had enough and forced me to call Dr. Grimm so he could check it out. Being a good husband, I did as she ‘suggested’, and got an appointment for the same day. That was yesterday. We had a nice visit during which he told me the extraction site looked excellent, and everything was healing nicely. As for the pain, he suggested face and neck massage to relax the muscles in my jaw, which he could see were clenching and unclenching, something I wasn’t aware of. And, he gave me a script for cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxer. Since I had a vague memory of taking this before, for back spasms, I thought, “Why not?”

I related all of this to Diane upon my return and she asked if I had the prescription. I didn’t. It was folded neatly inside my iPad, which I take everywhere with me, except golfing. I don’t take it golfing. Perhaps I should. It might like it.

So, she sent me back to town to do four things …

Drop my script at Rite Aid
Go to Safeway and get bananas
Go to Taco Bell and get us lunch
Go back to Rite Aid and pick up my drugs
Go home

OK – that’s five things. I added #5 because I think it should be included on all lists for trips as an indication that one is actually allowed to do that. Go home, that is. Sometimes people are allowed to do that and it would be nice to know. It’s not a given, you know.

When I got home, Diane immediately made me eat something so I could take one, which I did. I waited for a few minutes for something to happen, but it didn’t, so I got some wrenches, went outside, and climbed under the ’79 Winnebago to see if I could determine if the fuel tank switch functioned. Now you’re shaking your heads, I know, wondering what I was thinking, and how could Diane allow me to do that while under the influence. Well, after I took the pill, she left, so I mowed the yard. All of it.

OK – now I’m getting confused. I know I did both of those things yesterday, but don’t recall the sequence. Now I think I mowed first, THEN worked under the Winnebago. No, it was the Winnebago, first, then the lawn. That’s because she returned from a trip to ‘someplace’ while I was working under the RV, and asked me how it was going. I was almost finished putting the fuel line all back together, knowing the fuel transfer switch was working properly, and that gas was coming down the line from the aux tank. I know the latter because I blew into the line and gas came spurting back at me, soaking my jeans. But the electric fuel pump still wouldn’t pump the gas, so I’ve got to figure something else out. I figure the electric pump is better at pushing gas than pulling it when it isn’t primed.

After that, I started mowing the yard, at Diane’s request, then she left to take her Mom, Jean, to the store. When she returned the lawn was done and I watched her make an attempt to back the Buick into the garage so it would be easier to empty the goods …

No … I think the store trip was today. Yesterday, after the pill took effect, I just kinda layed around doing nothing, and the pain subsided a great deal. Then I went to bed.

Yes, the store was today. I think. No, I golfed this morning. Had to’ve been yesterday. Diane will clear this up, I’m sure. We also applied another coat of paint to our hall, and the cats started migrating back to their proper place in the display cabinet.

There was a report on the evening news about two fans who wrote a letter to the editor of a (the?) San Francisco newspaper complaining about the noise level at the Seahawks home game against the 49ers, and various ways NFL management could deal with excessive noise. There’s speculation that the letter may have been submitted as satire, giving the 49ers (Jean’s favorite team, by the way – not Diane’s Mom, Jean, but the other one) another reason for losing the game 29-3.

I figure it was a good way to get people’s minds off all the flooding, misery, killings, and wrecks going on in other parts of the country.

Since it was San Francisco, it also made me think of Kathie’s impending trip to that fine city to search for a new elbow. We hope she finds a good one.

l took another pill about 1/2 hour ago and itsssß staringot make me wooosie. Did you knøw thæt if ÿøü hołd dowń a lėttęr on your keeybord you get some îńtëréštïñg čhøīçêś fõr åłtérñātę łëttèrś?????????????

Golf, Chivalry, Family, and Ducks

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

I’ll pick this up where I left of with the last entry, around 0845. That’s the time Diane made it known that she was sure I was going to be late for my 0940 T time with Jimbo. I knew better, of course, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. I just said, “Yes, dear,” and kissed her ‘bye. Her plan was to stay home and paint the hall, something she really enjoys … paint the hall.

I arrived with time to spare, and before Jim. Doug was also invited, and was prepared to play with us next Tuesday, but the day was changed due to the forecast of inclement weather on that day. But, he already had plans with his son today, so couldn’t go. That’s OK because there be other times.

Once Jim was there we got lined up for our T time, and were paired with a couple of young men, Mike and Scott. Jim went off first with a suitable drive, and I followed with a towering hit, all of 3 feet off the ground, and about 15 feet passed the end of the cliff that defines the 1st T box. So, it wasn’t a total bust because it rolled to the bottom of the hill, giving me the possibility of a decent 2nd shot.

Now, I’m not going to bore you with a play-by-play for the entire 18 holes because that would be totally boring. What I will tell you about it, however, is that today I learned that young people see me as old, potentially a bit feeble, and that most of them are really nice. Specifically, I’m speaking of Mike and Scott.

Scott went off the 1st T with a 3 iron, I think, not a driver, and he smacked it a long ways out there. Then Mike got up and gave us a preview of what we would see from him for the next 17 holes, except for the short holes. He drove the ball 300 yards, easy, bending it around the dog leg right like a pro. His short game was just as good. It was pretty amazing to watch both of them do what they do. They were having more fun than people are normally allowed.

Neither Jim nor I attempted to compare our games to theirs, but we did match them on a few hits. Jim more than me, but all of us had some pretty incredible putts. We even made some pretty incredible drives off the T, so all in all it was a good day of golf. On the front nine Jim and I were neck and neck, but he pulled away on the back nine. I ultimately won, however, because I got to hit the ball 118 times but Jim only hit it 96 times. We have no idea what Mike and Scott did, and don’t even think they were keeping score. It was one hole at a time for them and they bet on every one of them. The loser had to chug a beer. Yes, they got loud, but they were very considerate the entire time. It was obvious they were just letting off steam from a week of work.

On the back nine it became clear to me that Scott was looking after me, and was going out of his way to make sure I didn’t, say, fall in a ditch, or a creek. He was there to help dig my errant balls out of the brush and other places they landed where it was impossible to hit them. His actions reaffirmed my faith in young people and makes me think it would be OK for me to let them help when they wish. It’s just not something I’m used to because I’ve always been the one to do that. Both Jim and I are crowding 70, however, so maybe it’s OK to back off a little and accept help when offered. So, lesson learned.

Here we are having just too much fun for words … also, I win for most number of chins …

Here’s Jim looking like a pro …

… and here he is contemplating his T shot down to that green that’s right behind the big tree.

He hit it over the tree and got a par. I hit it the right direction and it came down right smack in the middle of the big tree and I got something like an 8. No, a 6.

Shortly after I got home, Jack called to see if we were home. He wasn’t sure if we were still at the beach, or not so was checking. He wanted to come visit, which he and Wy are always welcome to do. He knows that, of course. He just didn’t want to make a trip and find out we weren’t home.

While waiting for them to arrive, I took all the base boards off the walls in the hall to make it easier for Diane to paint. I will, of course, help with the painting – I’m the “cut in” guy, using a brush around door frames and around the area where the wall meets the ceiling. For some odd reason, that’s something I can do pretty well. Me, who can’t normally get a screw driver into a screw slot without using two hands. Go figure …

I also watched the last quarter of the Ducks vs. Tennessee football game which ended 59-14, Oregon. They had 59 last week, also, their lowest score so far this season. It’s all early scoring, too, because the last half of their games are played by the 2nd and 3rd string. Pretty amazing. Fun to watch, too, with their fast forward playing style. They are #2 in the nation behind Alabama. We look forward to seeing how it all works out.

Now, for some Good/Bad news. While Jack and Wynette were here, Kathie R called to say hers and Mike’s October trip was going to be delayed until March. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Kathie is getting a brand, spanking new elbow which is going to terminate her constant pain. Though we were looking forward to seeing them in October, it will still be good to see them in March. She’ll have an awesome scar to share with us then. Incidentally, Kathie’s new elbow is from San Francisco and she and Mike have to go there to get it for her. Seems to me that Mike could just go get it and bring it back to Sacramento to have it installed. Seems like something that could be done in pretty much any out-patient clinic. Maybe even a good horse doctor could do it. Might be cheaper, too, except I doubt insurance would cover it. Well, maybe it would, with Obamacare.

Now, the day is done. It’s half time for the Oregon St. vs. Utah game and I think I’ll go take a shower.

Before doing that, however, here’s a picture of the bagel I almost lost this morning …

The Bathroom, and A Potentially Hairy Bagel

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Jerrie Cate

Though it’s difficult for me, so early in the morning, the numbers will resolve if I just stare at them long enough … Yes! it’s 0645 and, as a friend recently told me, “I woke up this morning sucking air, so it’s going to be a good day.” I agree. I’m going golfing later.

But first, I need to catch up a little … so where to begin …

Thursday was two days ago so I’m just going to have to make something up for what happened that day. There’s nothing on my calendar, that Diane insists I keep current so I’ll know what I’m supposed to do next. She’s very adamant about that. I’m usually pretty good about doing that so, a few days down the road, I can look back and see what I did. It helps me separate fiction from fantasy. A little bit. Since Thursday is blank, that means I either really didn’t do anything, or I was on a secret mission to check up on the aliens I know who live in the old rock pit in Scappoose.

Or, I might have been working in The Bathroom with Daniel. I actually think that’s the one because I usually have some sort of residual memory of visiting the aliens. I’m not totally sure where they’re from but it must be a pretty progressive planet because they go through beer and cantaloupe like there’s no tomorrow. That’s another story. We’re working in The Bathroom.

Since I have no clear memory of the steps taken, I’ll just make stuff up based on the last results I saw regarding this project.

When Dahlgren’s opened, I paid them a visit to get the necessary supplies needed for finishing The Bathroom. Yes, for finishing The Bathroom. We’re that close. What I obtained was baseboards, wainscoting top rails, and shoe moulding. And glue. Well, it’s called ‘construction adhesive’ but it’s really glue.

I believe the goal for Thursday was to finish the project. Of course that didn’t happen. I know this is true because I was over there working again on it yesterday. So, on Thursday, we probably only got the baseboards in and a couple of walls of wainscoting before we simultaneously ran out of glue and pre-cut wainscoting. It was kind of interesting the way that worked out because we were absolutely positive we had plenty of both. Since we didn’t, we decided to call it a day and go, perhaps, take a nap, or something. Normally, when I’m not given clear directions, I simply rearrange things in the garage which gives me a sense of accomplishment even though it serves no purpose. It’s easy to do when Diane’s not here and her car is gone because it give me a lot more room to stack, and restack things. Then, when she returns she usually looks at her calendar and, not seeing anything scheduled for me, looks around and says with a bright smile, “Honey, you moved something! I’m so proud of you.”

She does that because I started doing something similar to her with regard to her hair. You know, when a woman gets her hair cut, no matter how little or how much, it’s imperative that her significant other immediately notice, and express how amazing removal of a few hairs can make such a difference. Being unaware of those rules, early in our marriage, I suffered a great deal because I didn’t notice many times in a row, over a rather long period of time. So, we had a discussion about it one day during which the rules were defined in great detail, in a manner that firmly implanted my need to ‘notice.’ It worked OK, for a while, then I discovered I’d missed a few alterations about which I was supposed to offer compliments, so I devised a new approach that never fails. In fact, it worked so well, that I was asked to stop doing it.

It’s simple … whenever Diane and I are apart for more than an hour, the first time I see her, no matter where it is, I looked at her in wide-eyed wonder and said, “you look amazing! Did you have something done with your hair?”

In the beginning her responses started out, “no, silly. I just went to the store.” That quickly devolved into, “OK, knock it off. You KNEW I just went to get the mail.” So, I was given permission to cease and desist. Oddly, however, whenever she got a haircut after that, I noticed. So, in a way, I trained myself to be a little more observant, I guess.

Friday morning it was overcast again, and almost looked like it might rain. You know, those summer thunder-storm type rains. Loud and wet. But, it didn’t, so Daniel and I were able to use the power tools outside to finish cutting the wainscoting pieces needed to cover The Bathroom walls. First, however, he met me out our house in order to get the old compressor Jack gave me, years and years ago, so we could use nail guns to help stick everything to the wall and floor. We stopped by ACE to get enough glue to finish the project.

The first thing we did was cut the top railing and the shoe moulding, and made them fit precisely in their assigned spots. It was very satisfying and exciting for both of us because these final actions were signaling the completion of the project. Seems like we’ve been working on this thing for months. No, years. We actually have been working on it for months.

So, with the exception of the need to paint the wainscoting, and reinstall the sinks, we’re done.

Yesterday evening ended with an exceptional meal of fresh salmon at the home of our Lion friends, Hank and Lynn, Kendra’s Mom & Dad. Hank is a District Representative with the Oregon Lions and a pretty darn good salmon cooker, too. So, he lured us all to his home with salmon in order to conduct a meeting, which was perfectly OK. Both Diane and I had a great time. We got to meet people from throughout our district and hear about some of the amazing things their respective clubs accomplish with just a few people.

Now it’s Saturday morning and a frightening thing just happened to me. I took a break from this in order to make a pot of coffee and toast a bagel, to ensure I am properly fortified for this morning’s game of golf. Jim always does 18 holes but my body is tuned to only 9, so it’s going to be a work out. As I was sitting back down on my half of the couch, two bagel halves balanced precariously on top of a paper towel in my left hand, I was almost completely settled when one of the halves slipped neatly to the floor. When it slipped, everything went into slow motion for me as I watched helplessly as it fell, then roll away from the couch gathering bits of dog and cat hair as I chanted the mantra I’ve developed for just this specific moment … “not on the cheese side, not on the cheese side, not on the cheese side.” And it worked! When it stopped, it remained in a vertical position for just a fraction of a second too long for comfort, then slowly fell over on the un-toasted side. The other side was smeared with cream cheese which, in turn, was covered with bacon bits that are normally used on salads and such. I warm then in the microwave for 15 seconds before applying them to the cream cheese. Not only does it look pretty, it’s pretty tasty. Sadly, when a bagel is adorned in this manner, any jarring movement, like falling to the floor, will dislodge the bacon bits allowing them to escape the grip of cream cheese and fall to the carpet as it rolls. Consequently, there was a brief contest between me and the dogs to see who could capture the most bacon bits before Diane found out. It wasn’t really a contest because I let the dogs win. It would take me too long to pick off the cat and dog dander for me to really enjoy the few that found themselves dislodged. Without bothering to look, I ate the fallen half without even looking at it. I figured if any hairs were long enough to notice, I could just floss them through my teeth. Turns out, there weren’t any, now I must go brush them.

I need to do that because my alarm just went off alerting me of the fact that I must prepare myself for 18 holes of golf. I do that by sitting in one of the dining room chairs, standing up, walking around behind the chair, taking a pretend golf club from the pretend golf club bag, and swinging it a few times before returning it and retaking my seat in the pretend golf cart. Since we’re doing 18 holes, I must do this a minimum of 123 times to emulate what is bound to happen on the golf course.

If I survive, I’ll let you know how it went.