Wallow Lake, Nampa, Oil Trains

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

As I write this portion, I’m sitting in a 26-31 foot travel trailer in Wallowa Lake State Park with my First Wife, Diane. The 26-31 foot reference is because Oregon DMV and the seller were at odds as to how long the trailer really is. Of course we went with DMVs 31 foot guess because that allows us to pay more for license plates. But, I tricked them because I invoked my right of licensing one vehicle using my VA entitlements and chose to transfer them from Diane’s pickup to the trailer. Saved me $200.

For those of you who aren’t acquainted with Oregon, Wallowa Lake is just south of Joseph, Oregon in the NE corner of the state, and the Wallowa Lake State Park is at the extreme southern end of the lake. Unless you want to travel on some unchartered roads, there’s one way in, and one way out. On that road is Joseph, Oregon which is named for, and the burial place of, Chief Joseph of the Nez Pierce tribe. We stopped to ponder our shadows in the stream that runs through the town. That’s Ziva on the left, Diane, then me.

The lake is beautiful, surrounded by mountains known as the Little Alps by locals. From the distance, say I-84, the Little Alps are always visible and almost always topped with snow. Very pretty. They are also visible from the lake and I’m here to tell you that the nice warm days don’t turn into nice pleasant nights. I gets down to freezing this time of year. That’s true because the Ranger told me so, and I went out side at night to see for myself. It was cold. Made parts of me shrivel right up.

The trip to get here from our designated domicile took about 9 hours. In a car it would have only been around 6 hours but we were towing a trailer, and we had Ziva, the big black dog, with us. So, 3 hours were spent stopping for gas, stopping for the bathroom, and stopping to eat.

Ziva is a very good traveller who didn’t whine one time for us to stop, and never once asked “are we there yet?” Then, after we arrived, she was perfectly content to just lay on her new cushion in the trailer all night and didn’t wake anyone up at all. Because of that we figure that Ozzie is the culprit who instigates the 5 am rise time. The big girls are OK, but he wants out so everyone has to get up. Here in the wilderness, Ziva finds the dog exercise area lots of fun. No leash to ruin whatever mood may strike her.

She also thinks hanging out in the trailer is pretty OK.

Here at the lake, Diane’s been treating me with some very fine meals. No doubt I’m going to get fatter. Currently, I don’t care. It’s all very tasty. All meals have been totally consumed, then today we had hot dogs and chili. The chili was all consumed, but there was a minor accident when I discovered some mustard had spilled on my Dickies. Fortunately, I was able to scrape and scrub it off before our trip to Joseph this afternoon. I was happy I wasn’t wearing Levis because Dickies is far more fun to say.

… here’s a pause …

It’s been a few days since I started this so please forgive me if specifics get a little jumbled and out-of-order. Then, again, it’s kind of normal that way, isn’t it?

Since I messed up my Dickies, things have happened. If I’m lucky I might remember some of them.

From Wallowa Lake we motored to Nampa, Idaho where we wound up parked in the driveway of a long-time friend of Gracie H. It’s my understanding that they’ve known each other for more years than most people have been alive. I’m sure that’s true because our hosts were pretty specific about that. Now, I’m saying Gracie is old, but it doesn’t matter, anyway, because she’s at least older than me. Considering my limited seniority, that leaves a lot of wiggle room for corrections.

We’ve been here in Nampa for two days and think our hosts are trying to tell us it’s time to move along down the road. Instead of sitting on their back patio, our chairs were moved to the front, next to the trailer. Looks like a pretty specific suggestion to me.

I took three naps on Friday (yesterday), and had a great dinner at Honkers to celebrate Bob’s birthday. No one knows how old he is so I’m just going to guess he’s 40-something. He just has the look. I ate steak, Diane and Daniel had French Dip, and everyone else had Steak Fingers. Sadly, Gracie was unable to make it so we just sat around and talked about her.

After dinner we returned to the trailer and began the process of shutting down for the evening. It’s getting really hard to visually determine bedtime because it doesn’t get dark until 10:30 pm here.

Around noon on Friday an oil train, the kind that explodes and kills people, derailed in Mosier, Oregon which sits next to I-84, the desired way to get home. Reports are that the freeway will be closed for at least the next 3 days while officials can deal with the fire that ensued after the derailment. Fortunately, no one was injured. One person, it may have been Bob, speculated that some oil official probably caused the accident so they could raise the price of gas. Wouldn’t surprise me.

Today, Saturday, Diane discovered that I-84 has been opened to traffic both ways, “with restrictions.” Perhaps by tomorrow, our required departure date from this driveway, those restrictions will have been lifted. We’ll see. Our hosts are going to church in the morning and we have been instructed to be gone before they return.

Perhaps next time we come to Nampa we’ll just stay with Gracie.

Breakfast and Blackberry Vines

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Yesterday I attended what the American Legion calls an e-board meeting at the local Village Inn in St. Helens. I think the “e” stands for Executive because the only ones who attend them are elected officers of American Legion Post 42. Since I’m one of those guys it’s pretty mandatory that I attend. Doug said so. He normally calls to remind me, but I don’t think he did this time. I actually remembered all by myself. Perhaps there’s hope for me yet.

Since we’re at the Village Inn I figured it might be a good idea to eat breakfast, something I rarely do during these meetings. But, since our Supreme Commander, Lyle, didn’t show up, I figured all bets were off and a meal wouldn’t interfere with the proceedings.

I got two eggs, over easy, a ham steak, hash browns, and two pieces of non-nutritional white toast. I had my own coffee from home so didn’t have to pay for that. When it was presented to me it looked really nice.

… but, I forgot to ask them to run a pizza cutter over all of it about 15-16 times. They do that for me because cutting all that stuff up, even the eggs, is pure torture for my shoulders. It’s just not the right angle. So, I sent it back to the kitchen and they brought it back to me ready to eat.

That done, all I had left was to get jelly on my toast. No one at the table would help me with that so I struggled through the process all by myself. I guess they just don’t love me enough to help out or, maybe, it’s because they’re all old and crippled up like me. Yeah. I’m sure that’s it. I’ll have to ask them the next time I see them to confirm.

After the e-board meeting I returned home with the intention of using that energy I saved from not having to cut up those eggs by dismantling some of the blackberry vines that surround the house. I figured if I let them go much longer we’d need a machete to get the front door open all the way. Actually, it’s not that bad, yet, but those things do grow mighty fast, so I wasn’t taking chances. I also trimmed the bottoms off a few trees so I could walk under them without hitting my head. That portion of my assigned task went well, with no injuries, but the blackberry vines won the battle and I had to quit before finishing because there was the distinct possibility that I might pass out from loss of blood.

I’ve got more to do today but decided that I’d wear something heavy-duty with long sleeves. Probably should have done that yesterday. I’m happy to report that, even though the injuries were rather severe, I didn’t get a drop of blood on the sheets last night which means I’m still married. At least for another day.

Then, this morning, I trundled my way down to the Kozy for coffee with my friend Larry, and my other friend Larry. We solve a lot of the world’s problems during these Thursday meetings. Sometimes I order the breakfast special, which used to be $6.95, but was recently raised to $7.50 meaning I couldn’t afford to eat it every week. I’m on Social Security, you know.

Then this morning, Kerry, our normal waitress, placed a menu in front of me thinking I’d order something. It took me a little bit of looking to discover that it was specifically for me and encompassed all the better eating habits that I probably should be observing, but usually don’t. Then I looked at the prices and figured out that, ok, it was a joke. I was disappointed that it took me so long to do that.

It was finally revealed that Larry and Kerry were in cahoots with this and got a good chuckle from it. So did I, as did our other friend, Larry.

Adding to the frivolity of the menu, whenever a waitress made rounds with the coffee pot she would ask me if I shouldn’t be drinking decaf instead of real coffee because of my heart condition. It was all in good fun and I feel blessed that I have friends like this who have my best interest at heart.

Now I’m going to go see about those blackberries.

Maybe I’ll torch the burn pile, too, if I can find out where Diane hid the matches.

Yesterday, Last Night, & This Morning

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Diane was released from the County Courthouse this morning and she got home at 0450 after 18 straight hours on the job. She was very tired when she drug herself through the front door (which I left unlocked for her). This was expected, however, because it’s a long drawn out process with specific requirements for each step involved. I don’t know them all, since I’m not a member of that inner circle, but I can speculate about what I “think” I know.

Like, signatures. Every ballot is signed by the voter and the signature is validated by one of the volunteers against a database of voters signatures which are kept in a special vault by the men’s bathroom. That’s unfortunate because the person who does the counting isn’t technically allowed to use the men’s restroom due to the nature of her physical characteristics.

Regarding that … bathrooms. There’s such a huge argument about which bathroom a transgender person should use which I think is totally asinine. Instead of building new restrooms for to accommodate people who aren’t quite sure which one to use, why not just rip out all the fixtures in public facility restrooms and install porta pottys. They are private and every gender imaginable can use them. In schools, for safety, I suspect they should be bolted to the floor so no one can tip them over.

Another alternative would be to build a separate structure, like I’ve seen in some campgrounds, that has a row of doors on each side that doesn’t indicate gender. Each door opens to a small private bathroom that can be used on a first come, first served basis. The signage on the door is either “Occupied” or “Available”. For students who can’t read, “Occupied” is RED, and “Available” is GREEN which has universal meaning all its own. For those who are both illiterate and color blind, there is always the simple test of trying to open the door. If it opens and there’s someone else already in there, they obviously don’t care if they have visitors regardless of gender. Or, they just forgot to lock the door. I’m sure the School Board would be open to establishing a special class to teach students how to recognize simple clues like I’ve mentioned in order to avoid a law suit. Pretty simple. Sadly, anything that requires a committee always winds up being complicated and expensive.

I’m sure that some of you are wondering what I was doing while Diane was working so hard. Well, I think I mentioned that I mowed all three acres of our lawn during the early afternoon, then I took Cedric to his DEP (Delayed Entry Program) meeting at the Navy recruiter’s office by the Hillsboro airport. While he was inside learning, I steeped a couple of doors down and had a wonderful Chinese meal of orange chicken and noodles for $8 at a very small establishment. One of those little family run holds in the wall places. Beats the commercial outfits every time. Then I sat in the Diane’s truck, which allowed me to drive, and read my book until my iPad ran out of juice. Then I drove Cedric to the Scappoose McDonald’s where he bought his supper, then dropped him at Grace Baptist Church where he helps with their Youth Group. The entire Walters family helps with all of the Youth Groups at church. They are busy.

Then I went home and let dogs out. Yes, I’m the one who lets the dogs out. That song is about me.

After fiddling with Diane’s fancy remote – she has one of those Xfinity things that you can talk to – I decided to just watch one of the movies I had recorded. It was “Tomorrowland”. I really liked it and would like to watch it again with Diane, when she wakes up. I also watched “Ant Man”, which was OK, but not something Diane would enjoy, and three episodes of “Quantico”. There might have been an episode of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” in there, too. It’s a little hazy.

The weather changed this afternoon, after we finished golfing. Went to the course at 0900 this morning, dog tired, and did pretty good. Can’t tell you what my score was because that’s not important. I can report, however, that I nearly had a birdie (got a par instead), and I only had 8 on one hole. The rest of them were 5’s and 6’s, maybe one 7, too. After golf we (Doug, Junior, and me) went to Burgerville for lunch and talked briefly about all the folks our age who are checking out to The Great Beyond which is a song by R.E.M and an Australian store that sell clothing made from bamboo. Who knew? For the purposes of my narrative, I mean that they died. Perhaps you knew that, but I had to clarify. Most recently was the lost of another class mate who decided to end it himself. No one I’ve talked with, so far, understands why. Then, Junior’s neighbor died and he’s been asked to be a pall bearer. All this is happening not long after Junior and Doug lost their very good friend, Mike Barnes. Golfing is a good way for us all to put all those dark thoughts aside and enjoy the day.

I think this is enough.

Oh! Tomorrow Diane and I are going to The Dalles to watch the St. Helens Lady Lions varsity softball team participate in a playoff game for state. Lydia and her friend, Ceirra, were both called up to play so we will, naturally, go watch. It’s only a simple 2.5 hour drive, but that’s one of Diane’s favorite things to do. No one expects the team to advance very far, but you just never know which way that ball will bounce. So, we go.

Rabbits, Dogs, & the VA

Posted on May 9, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Tomorrow is garbage day. I know that’s true because today is Monday. Garbage day is always Tuesday. Even on holidays.

While Diane and her Mom were getting their Poodle-do’s this morning I took it upon myself to get the old truck going so I could drive to ACE for some of that RV sealant that comes on a roll. There’s a name for it but I have no idea what it is. It’s really sticky stuff and keeps water out of stuff. I needed it to put around the edges of the fan I put on the trailer. That’s probably all you need to know about that. The important thing about that evolution is that I didn’t fall off the top of the trailer even one time. The fan is properly installed. All I have to do now is figure out where I’m going to get power from for the fan. There are no wires near the hole it’s sitting in. I’ll figure it out.

After Diane brought her new hair-do home she took me to Portland for an appointment with my VA doctor. They said it was a recall but it was really just my six-month checkup. If it was a real recall they’d have to replace, or adjust something. That didn’t happen. All that happened was I was told that all the blood I donated last Friday indicated that I’m fine. My HDL is 135, LDL is 70, my A1C is 6.6. There were a bunch of other numbers on the list but I can’t remember them all.

Then we came back home so I could go tell our neighbors that our dogs apparently killed Cloud, their rabbit. That happened when I took them out front with me while I was working on top of the trailer. They went next door to visit the chickens and the rabbit, which they’ve done many times. This time something went wrong.

We have good neighbors. They took the loss well and said they’d tell their girls that Cloud ran away. I said I would get them more rabbits but they declined. They don’t want any more of them. I’m going to do it anyway. Maybe stuffed ones so if they escape the house and the dogs notice, they can be repaired.

I almost forgot that we stopped on the way home and I almost hit Beth Zelfer with my car door. (Hi, Beth) I did it on purpose because she was walking by, returning her cart to the rack. I knew it wouldn’t hit her, but it got her attention. It was really good to see her because it’s been a long time. She’s a Teacher in Scappoose. She’s actually a retired Teacher, but I think “once a teacher, always a Teacher.” Like, “once a Marine, always a Marine.” She was Derrick Anderson’s teacher in first grade, I think. You know Derrick. He’s a pro football quarterback for the Carolina Panthers. From Scappoose. Go figure.

Now I must contemplate tomorrow. I must play golf. It is a must. Doug said. Also, Stephen Curry beat the Blazers tonight in overtime. He scored 17 points in that 5 minute stretch. Now they go back to Oakland for game 5 where the Warriors will probably finish the Blazers of in round two.

Dunsmuir & Non-USA Visitors

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Wow! It’s been eight days since I last made an attempt to communicate with you. You’d think my failure to do so would be because I have nothing interesting, or reasonable to share, but such is not the case. I’m gratified to know that during my absence many of you have visited the site pretty much every day and I was surprised to see that Brazil tops the list for non USA visits. Yes, there’s some little automatic counter on the web site that keeps track of visitors. Not who they are, but where they are from. It blows my mind that anyone reads the stuff I share, and it’s more mind-blowing (to me) that some people actually return to visit. The fact that folks from other countries drop by, more than once, is beyond belief.

So, thanks to folks in the following countries who spent a bit of their valuable time to drop by more than once: Brazil, Italy, India, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Colombia, Mexico, Indonesia, Turkey, Chile, Belgium, Germany, France, and Argentina.

Next time say “Hi”.

Now, what’s happened in the last 8 days? I believe I left you hanging with an offhand comment about “on our drive south”. One would think we were on a trip, or something. Well, that is truly the case. We drove to Southern California, Carlsbad, to be specific, because we recently heard that the San Andreas Fault is about to create havoc and break that part of California off into the Pacific Ocean. That’s not true, of course. We just go there once in a while so Diane can get her SoCal “fix”. It’s one of her favorite places in the world.

Our first night was spent in Dunsmuir, California which isn’t too far over the Oregon/California border. Just a little bit past the spot where the California Fruit Inspectors make all south bound travelers stop and lie about the fruit they aren’t supposed to have. We actually didn’t have to lie this time because we really didn’t have any in the truck. I don’t think.

Dunsmuir is a small town when viewed from the comfort of your vehicle as you fly by on the freeway. We’ve done that dozens of times of the years. Because of this Diane thought it might be interesting to see what lies beyond the visible layer we’re used to seeing. She booked a room at the Cedar Lodge Motel which, oddly enough, is part of that first, visible layer.

We arrived in the are in plenty of time to look around, so we did. It wasn’t our intention to do so immediately upon arrival, but a wrong 50/50 choice about which way to turn to get to the motel settled that for us. We went right at the first Dunsmuir exit, instead of left, and wound up driving down the left side of the freeway to the next exit, crossed the freeway, and drove back up the other side to our motel. Had we turned right instead, the motel is about two blocks down.

Once we got checked in, as the only occupants of the motel, we went down Dunsmuir Avenue in search of Yaks on the 5, the recommended place to eat. It’s a fancy hamburger joint that’s spendier that most, and better than rest, we were told. We can attest to that being an absolute truth, and worth every penny. The food is absolutely magnificent and we echo the recommendation.

On a sides note, I must admit that I once ate a yak burger and found it to be pretty good. It was in Washington state, not far from home. That doesn’t have anything to do with Yak’s on the 5, and they don’t serve yak meat. I don’t think. Perhaps they should.

We retired early so we could hit the road early the next morning. Next stop was NAS Lemoore, which is a little south of Fresno, CA. They have a very nice Navy Lodge that we’ve used previously that rivals any Hilton we’ve ever stayed in.

I’ll discuss the Dunsmuir to Lemoore leg of the trip tomorrow. If I remember. Perhaps my First Wife will remind me.

In addition to my foreign visitors, thanks, also, to all of you USA folks who account for thousands of visits to this site. I know you are probably related, or personal friends, and only visit to see what kind of stupid predicaments I’ve been in, or to find out which body part I’ve injured. I must admit that I, too, find that last part entertaining, a couple of days after the fact.

Jeran’s 16, and other Important Stuff

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Miss me? I’ve been busy doing all kinds of stuff. And Golfing. You may be happy, or amazed, to know that since my last post I have failed to injure myself. I believe this is a personal record – seven days with no injuries! Might have to put up one of those boards our front advertising this milestone. You know, like they do at factories. But they do their in hours, I believe. I’ll stick to days.

Today is another milestone for another family member. Jeran, Daniel and Jennifer’s youngest, is sixteen (16) today. Sixteen! Seems like just last month Lydia turned 17 not here’s Jeran turning 16. something’s going on. For his gift he wanted a bicycle so he could get more exercise and increase his stamina. The reason? He’s looking ahead two years when he plans to join the Navy, as did Cedric. He has a two-year plan to get ready. I find that amazing because when I decided to join the Navy, way back in 1962, I probably thought about it for a couple of days, tops. Two years to plan.

Jeran’s birthday party was last Saturday and it was planned without his knowledge. Diane, Cedric, and I took him out for breakfast, then we went to Portland to play putt putt golf at a strange indoor course where everything glows under black light. Even the balls. It wasn’t overly challenging, but was an experience. The outdoor ones are far more fun. Still, we all had fun. I won, of course. Because I’m better at golf. And, I kept score. Hard to lose when you keep score. On the way to the golf game, which didn’t open until 12:30 pm, we stopped at Wal*Mart, Fred Meyer, Costco, and Target to see if any of the bikes appealed to Jeran. After seeing dozens of possibilities, he settled on the one at Fred Meyer because it was blue. That’s a good reason. It’s also got disc brakes and eleventy-seven gears, but the defining criteria was the color. That’s OK.

The plan, as told to Jeran, was that Daniel and Jennifer were going to meet us in Portland then go to an arcade that has all the old games. J and D had to stay back because Lydia was taking the ACT at school all morning. During that free time they set up for the surprise party and greeted a herd of his friends who were invited. Jennifer said the first 7 friends who accepted the invitation were girls. Then, around 2 pm, Jennifer called to report that she wasn’t feeling well and that we should come home. Jeran was very good about doing that because he was hungry and wanted to stop at every fast food place we passed. But, there was pizza waiting at home so he was easily swayed to continue the trip. On the way back we stopped at Freddie’s in Scappoose to get he new bike.

When we arrived we unloaded the bike so Jennifer and Daniel could check it out. Finally, Jeran went into the house and the noise level increased logarithmically to the point where it was difficult to maintain a conversation. When the gear for the planned Nerf War arrived Diane and I felt it was time to depart to calmer climes. Like our electric couch. Plus, the dogs had been alone for nearly 8 hours and no doubt needed a trip outside. But, we stopped to see Diane’s Mom on the way, because we hadn’t seen her for a couple of days. The dogs had seen us that morning and could last another hour, we were sure.

Mom was just fine, you’ll be happy to know. Hovering on the edge of 89 she’s doing very well. We suspect she’ll out live us.

The dogs were very happy to be released from the house which was evidenced by their very loud happy barks and jumping. Their happy barks are distinctly different from their, “Hey, there’s a cat sitting on the fence” bark. Or, “The UPS guy is here” bark. Or, “That car I’ve seen about 700 times just drove by the house again” bark. The happy barks sound different because they’re smiling.

Yesterday we played hooky from church and just layed around most of the day. Diane worked in the basement, Jeff brought Jerrie, Baylee, and Gilligan over for a visit, and I moved the Winnebago and the old Chevy truck to new parking places across the street from the house. They had to be moved in order to make room for the trailer we bought the other day. Don’t know if I mentioned it or not. It’s a 2013 Jayco Eagle 266RKS that we found at the Rainier RV Center. The graphics are the same color as the truck so it seemed to be a sign that we should get it. So, we did.

Speaking of the trailer, we drove to Rainier this morning to pick it up. Diane’s truck, purchased with a trailer like this in mind, pulls it nicely down the road. I was a little concerned about getting it parked in the driveway, but that turned out to be pretty simple. I was able to stuff it into the proper spot with only a couple of tries. Made me proud.

I didn’t get any pictures of the noisy people we encountered upon our return because non of them seemed to be in the proper frame of mind to stand still long enough for that to happen. They were very energetic. I did get Cedric, Justin and Uncle Don who chose to sit at the table with the food.

At one stop where we checked bikes, Diane demonstrated her belief that when you have a handicap parking pass you can park in designated spots pretty much any way you want.

When we left with Jeran and Cedric Saturday morning I caught Jennifer at her best. Immediately after snapping this one, she jumped behind the bush to her left and moaned “Nooooooo!”, but it was too late.

It’s been a good week.

Lydia’s 17! Already? … and other stuff …

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Yesterday was Lydia’s 17th birthday. I know that’s true because I distinctly remember celebrating her 16th birthday about this time a year ago. Also, everyone was congratulating her on her 17th birthday making it even more clear to me. Here’s Lydia with her two best buds, Georgie and Ceirra.

Lydia’s party was held at the tea house in St. Helens where we ate tiny little sandwiches with interesting innards (one with curry that tricked me into thinking I was eating egg salad), various flavors of tea (all very good), many kinds of desserts (all good), and great service. Georgie, Lydia’s good friend, who works at the tea house, sat at the table with us to ensure we had the best service. We did, of course.

Georgie in her working uniform. The British flag apron is significant because her Mom, Jacqui, is from England and that’s where Georgie is going to college after graduating this year.

Maryssa, our only niece, has been tearing up the ball park with home runs lately. It all started when Diane and I were present at her game here in Oregon where she hit her first collegiate homer. A monster at the plate, she is.

Cedric will be leaving for boot camp mid April. He’s very excited about getting on with his life and a possible Navy career. We’re excited for him. Until he gets the call telling him when his departure date will be, he’s just hanging out …

Actually, he’s grabbing some rest after helping monitor the task of hiding eggs for the little girls. It is Easter, you know. So, Happy Easter.

The kids, big and little, all had a terrific time hiding the eggs (plastic ones with candy inside) then helping them find them. When that was done, the little girls got to hide eggs for the big kids. It was a great time. Lots of energy. The difference in the eggs is that the big kid eggs had money inside, not candy. Since Cedric is leaving soon for a paying job in the Navy, he gave the money he found to his sister, Lydia. What a guy.

Now, I’ll end with some pictures of all the fun they had, then I’m going to bed.

This is the Blackwood Legacy gospel group from Nashville. They blessed our little church last Wednesday evening with a 2 hour concert that blew our socks off. These guys are terrific. If you ever have the chance to see the in person, do so, by all means. They are (left to right) Paul, Hunter, Rick, and Luke. Amazing artists.

Jennie’s brother, Jeff, enjoying a cup of tea at Lydia’s party. The tea was pretty awesome.

Ceirra, Lydia, and Georgie

A plate of food before it was rapidly decimated

The girls, again

Gilligan and Jennie

This is, like, the best T-shirt ever for Lydia

More of the food. I must admit that I had my very first jelly and banana sandwich here and it was actually pretty good. Who knew? This is a photo of Diane’s hand headed for the plate to grab something.

Gilligan in full sprint mode looking for eggs

Little kids off to hide eggs for the big kids, Baylee in the lead

This is out of sequence, because I think it’s big kids hiding eggs for little kids.

Just checking to see if you’re still awake. I have no idea who this is, but he, or she, has pretty much hit the limit, I’d say. I suspect getting an MRI, should the need arise, probably won’t happen.

March Madness has me in it’s grip!

Posted on March 19, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

Is anyone tired of college basketball yet?

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

My second favorite team is whoever beats Notre Dame.

My third favorite is Gonzaga.

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

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

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

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

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

The Wind Gets Stonger …

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

The leaders of our country, and those who aspire to lead, are causing the promise of wind storms by local weather people, and I’m pretty sure these same leaders, and wannabes, are in some way responsible for all the terrible weather related events that are tormenting residents of our Mid West. I haven’t figured out how they’re doing it, but I’ll figure it out eventually.

Regarding our wind issues, I think it’s pretty clear that all the hot air being expelled by the politicians have encircled the globe and are assaulting our west coast with a vengeance. I’m not talking just along the coast. Nope. It’s going to be nearly hurricane force winds for half of Oregon and Washington, top to bottom. I’m not worried because, after my little fake tarp garage blew over twice, I dismantled it. When the weather improves to the point where it’s essentially not needed, I’ll reassemble it. Maybe this time I’ll find a way to anchor it to the ground even though there will be no campaigning this time next year. Our big election will be over in November and we’ll have 4 years of blissful silence, and maybe better weather.

Seems like I heard, a long time ago, that in Japan, political candidates are only allowed to campaign and advertise two weeks before their election. Since I wasn’t sure if it’s true, but think it should be for ALL elections everywhere, I looked up ‘stuff’ on the internet about restrictions on Japan’s political campaigns. You can see what I found here. I’m sharing it because I’m not sure what it says. I think it prohibits political activity, except for the right to vote, while serving. Perhaps someone out there can clarify what it says. I want it to say that politicians in office aren’t allowed to campaign during working hours and I want that to become true for the US, too.

No! Wait! I forgot that I’m descended from royalty and will be running for King as soon as I work out all the kinks. I’m against campaigning during working hours, which isn’t a problem because I don’t have a job. How convenient is that? I can campaign all the time. Now all I need is a campaign fund. I’ve actually already started one with money I’ve been saving for years. It’s a little rabbit bank I keep on my dresser into which I put all the quarters I receive in change for purchases. All the other change goes into an empty 1 liter Dr. Pepper bottle in my closet. The quarters don’t fit is why they are stored in a different place. I think I have may $37.86, or thereabouts. It’s a start. Please DO NOT send me money. I’m going to do this on my own. Just like Donald.

The only obstacles that may prove difficult are my two older brothers. Using current rules of royalty, the older brother, Jim, has first dibs. If he abdicates the throne is open to Jack. Then there’s me. So, one of these days you’re going to be working for either King Jimmie, King Jackie, or King Jerrie. I think all of them sound pretty cool, for king names. Depending on which ever one of us takes the throne, you’ll also have either a Queen Donna, Queen Wynette, or Queen Diane.

I just added that about the prospective queens so you’ll know who’s really in charge.

Gotta go before I get in more trouble.

Before I do that, however, thanks to all of you from around the world who take time out of your day to visit me. I’m always amazed when people do that. Especially those that come back again. Most recently, someone from Brazil has been checking me out many days in a row.

So, hello, there.

Cedric & Golf

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

The day before yesterday, as I mentioned previously, Cedric did his penance at the MEPS center in Portland. MEPS, for those unfamiliar with military acronyms, stands for Military Entrance Processing Station, or something like that. It’s where all prospective enlistees, for any service, go to be tested and thoroughly inspected by doctors. We’re happy to say that he did well and took his oath of enlistment last Wednesday.

He’s happy to be on his way with this journey.

But, he’s on the delayed entry program and won’t leave until July and graduate from boot camp in September. Since he’s going to the training center in Illinois, just a little north of Chicago, that’s a good thing, but he’s ready to go now. Shortly after boot camp he will go to school to learn about his new job as a navy cook. Yes, Cedric is going to be a Swashbuckling Chef. We’re looking forward to his journey.

Today Junior and I went golfing again, even though the course was a mucky mess. Still, we had fun. In the below photo, that’s Junior with his back to the camera giving instructions to Suki, the golf course owner, about how he should have the 4-wheel drive of his heft John Deere fixed to he could more easily dislodge his greens mower from the sucking mud in the 5th fairway. There were many muddy tracks around the course today.