Friends, Family, Gardening, & Pizza

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today, even though it was a Monday, was a great day. A terrific day, even. I did all kinds of things that I like to do which is good because I’m so old. In no particular order, I got to say pizza, dig in the dirt, watch a softball game in person, eat cake, visit with friends, ride with Diane for dozens of miles on various freeways, mow the yard (all of it), and something else I can’t remember. Perhaps it will come to me as I get all that in order.

First, I dug in the dirt on the east side of the house, making a space for the five new roses Diane got in the mail a couple of days ago. I took my trusty pulaski out there and dug up about 400 pounds of grass that had to go. Before I could get it gone, however, Diane beckoned me into the house to and ordered me to scrub my body because we had to be in Vancouver for a scheduled lunch meeting with the 3 Jerry group. There’s a long story associated with the group and we three Jerry’s respond to our shouted numbers. Jerry T is #1, I’m #2, and the other Jerry C #3.

Actually, it’s a short story. We all belonged to the TVCC PT Cruiser club for many years beginning in 2000. Since there were three of us, we just numbered ourselves according to age, oldest first. So, there it is.

Then, since we’re all old, and retired, we started having lunch once a month. Others, whose schedules allowed, joined the group to ensure there were enough people to make a memorable amount of commotion wherever we went. Those folks are Vie A, Rick & Jody R, Colleen G, Tom & Linda V, and whoever knew of the lunch dates and could make it. Big Brother Jack and his lovely bride, Wynette, also joined us on occasion. It was all good and we never, not even once, got kicked out of any of the many restaurants we visited over the years.

Today was scheduled a couple of weeks ago and the venue changed, but I didn’t give it a thought. We went to Jerry #3 & Nelda’s house in Vancouver for a pizza party. What I didn’t know was it was also a birthday party for me. Diane set it up and totally surprised me. How fun is that? I went with Jerry #3 to get the pizzas, with some urging from Diane and others. We had a very nice visit and he didn’t scare me even one time. When we got back the cake was unfurled and the secret was revealed.

We sat in their back yard, ate the pizzas, the cake, and had a terrific time visiting. We always have a terrific time whenever we get together. Their backyard is totally unique, very electric, and serene. It’s very difficult to describe. It’s a very large back yard that has a pond in which a fake duck floats, a little bridge, many large trees to which cowgirl boots are nailed, some have teapots attached, many kinds of bushes, a few squirrels, and, reportedly, an unwanted rat. There are large antique chains hanging from sturdy supports, there’s a hammock, obtained in Costa Rica, hanging under a house-like structure, that has lattice for a roof, which Jerry #3 said he has to tear down because his old cat used it to sharpen his claws. The cat, I learned, is no longer able to sharpen his claws because he can no longer move them because he died. I sensed that wasn’t a bad thing, according to the person who told me about the scratching.

Tom told me a couple of jokes I was supposed to share, but they got lost in my head on the trip home. I’m sure they were both inappropriate for a mixed audience so it’s probably OK I can’t remember them. If I had, Diane would have objected because I’m supposed to be nice.

Sadly, 1630 rolled around and it was time to leave. We would have stayed longer, but softball games had been in progress since 1530 and we wanted to watch the second game, if possible. It was supposed to be a JV double-header against Wilsonville, but turned out to be only one because they didn’t have enough players to field a team because they needed them for the varsity game which started when JV was done. Sarah, Lydia, and Abby joined the varsity team after winning their game 4-3. They didn’t get to play because the varsity girls had a defensive battle on their hands, and no one got injured. St. Helens won 1-0. Our pitcher was awesome, striking out Wilsonville girls one after another.

After the game, sometime after 1900, we went home and let the dogs out. They were very happy to see us return. They were alone for over 6 hours. They’re really good dogs.

Then I mowed the yard. Then entire thing. I also mowed one of the neighbor’s yard. Toward the end I was happy that the mower had headlights because I needed them. I think I finished somewhere around 2100.

Now I must take garbage to the street, something I do every Monday night. Then I’m going to bed because I have to get up early tomorrow and go play 18 holes of golf with Jim O at Wildwood. Should be fun. I’ll let you know how that goes. On, snap! While I was type all that, Diane took the garbage out. Awesome!

By the way, today wasn’t really my birthday. That’s not for another 8 days. But, considering my advanced age, Diane thought it would be good to celebrate with our friends because you just never know what’s going to happen next. It was a good idea.

Mornings, Golf, Dead Clams, Stumps, & Mowing

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

This morning Ozzie woke me up at 0530, a fairly certain indicator that we need blackout blinds for our bedroom. It’s getting light earlier and earlier and it’s pretty obvious that’s what gets him going. I learned a couple of days ago that Diane has been playing possum in the morning because Ozzie tries to wake her up first by walking up and down her body. She tuffs it out, however, knowing I’ll eventually get up and let him outside. Then she goes back to sleep for 3-4 hours. Tomorrow I’m going to try that and see what happens.

I slept on the couch until 0830, when Diane got up. She said Doug had called about golfing this morning so I went out and we teed off at 0945. I took Cedric’s Ping driver to see how well it worked, just for fun. I’ve never hit anything with a Ping club because I’ve never been in close proximity to one of them. Turns out it really does make a “ping” sound when you hit the ball just right. That’s not something I did with consistency, but I have to admit I did manage to whack a few tremendous drives. Straight, and everything. Very un-Jerrie-like.

After a fun, but bad round of golf with Junior and Doug, we went to Scappoose for lunch at Fultano’s Pizza joint. I knew Diane was going to be in Scappoose because she told me. That meant she would be at Goodwill, about 300 feet from Fultano’s so I couldn’t very well go to lunch there without alerting her. I’d planned to do that, anyway, but forgot my phone. So, I borrowed Junior’s to make the call. She agreed, of course. Who wouldn’t? We ate pizza and salad, and visited.

On the way home I stopped by Junior’s place to get some fresh dead clams so I could deliver them to Jack & Wynette. He’s always doing that because they really like dead clams. I was happy to do it for him because he was tired. Also, the story about how he got those clams was pretty exciting according to Doug. He told me that while hunting the tell-tale clam signs on the beach, Junior had to get closer to the ground. Too close, it turns out, because he was tumbled by a rogue wave. If he hadn’t been broadsided, the outcome may have been a little better, but he was. Doug said Junior rolled around in the water for a while, embarrassing him so he had to finally go get him and move him to higher ground. Doug said it wasn’t easy because Junior’s boots were full of water and he was hard to drag up the beach. But, he did it, and he salvaged the clams Junior had painstakingly gathered. That was the important part. So, sharing them with J & W has more meaning because Junior put his life at risk to capture some poor unassuming clams, trying to make a living in the sand. Now they will never see their babies again. If they had babies. Maybe they didn’t.

After visiting with J & W for a while I went home to dig out more stumps. It’s a grueling job, but it had to be done. So, I donned a new set of dirty clothes and went out to getter done.

The chore began in a normal manner but it was terribly tiring. Made me breath hard, like a pretty girl does, or going up the stairs. And I rid myself of a lot of excess sweat. Because of my tendency sweat at the sight of a pretty girl, I’m not allowed to watch any of those Victoria’s Secret commercials, or the Blazer dancers. Any dancers, actually. Especially those nearly naked ones on Dancing With The Stars. It’s a terrible affliction. Honest, it is.

When the sweat ran out, I had to find a better way to eliminate the stumps and decided to use the truck to pull them out. I found the towing strap in the garage, hooked it to the bumper hitch, wound it around a stump and wallah! Out it came, simple as could be, making me wonder why I didn’t think of that before. Such a simple solution, until the truck ran out of gas. I found a couple of gallons in a can in the garage, dumped it in the truck … and the battery was dead. It wouldn’t start. Being a believer in Karma, I took that as an obvious sign that it was time to quit.

So, I did. I quit, went out back and mowed the yard. That went fairly quickly because I didn’t bag it. I had to get it mowed because it’s going to rain tomorrow and I was prevented from mowing it completely because of events a few days ago. Don’t remember what events those were, but they kept me from mowing.

Once I was clean enough to enter the living room, we watched the new “24” show.

Jack’s back!

Baylee’s 5, & Other Stuff

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Here’s a hodge-podge of stuff for you to ponder. Mostly, it’s photos of recent events about which I’ve posted already. I finally downloaded the pictures from my camera. I was just too lazy to do it before. So, here they are. Perhaps while they are downloading I’ll think of something clever to write about, but no guarantees. I might just add something that’s true. You just never know …

The photos are in no particular order …

This one is from today at Baylee’s Birthday Party. She was 5 on April 30th, but the party wasn’t until today. That’s Jerrie Anne Diane next to her.

The Walters clan gave Baylee a bat, ball and glove which she loved. Lydia gave her some batting tips …

Then Jeran pitched to her and she was pretty good at it.

Lydia pitched a few, too.

Brianna, Michelle (Brianna’s Mom), Jennie (Lydia’s Mom), Lydia. Brianna is Lydia’s best friend. I know that’s true because Lydia told me so.

Baylee ran to thank Jack for his and Wynette’s gift to her. We had to recreate this because I wasn’t quick enough with the camera on the first, more significant encounter.

Here’s Gilligan all dressed up. She picks out her own clothes and goes to school like this. I think it’s awesome. She’s quite the individual.Here’s what the west side of the house looked like after a whacked down the overgrown, unkempt trees.

Then I did this, three times, to get them all down to the burn pile. One of these days we’re going to have one heck of a fire.

This is Breezie, our Holstein cat, enjoying the remnants of a Oregon Dark Cherry yogurt from Tillamook.

Then there are girls in trees … this is Brianna, probably from Easter. I don’t think any of the kids ever make it past that old tree without climbing it. It’s a source of joy for them all. Lydia’s above her but I couldn’t get a good picture because she was obscured by branches.That’s all I’ve got except to report I spent the better part of yesterday, before it began pouring rain, mowing the church lawn. I even edged it, too. I did that as an incentive to edge our yard at home. it’s been a while, and needs it badly. Once the rain started, it drained a whole bunch of clouds throughout the night, and got pretty brutal this morning. Thankfully, it was nice this afternoon so the kids could play outside.

It was a good day with the kidlets and we got to see Jack & Wynette. We talked about Jim & Donna like we always do when we get together. We do that because we’re pretty sure they talk about us, so it’s only fair.

After everyone left, and quiet descended, our friend Doug came up to retrieve the laptop I worked on for him. He would have picked it up days ago but he was at Long Beach, WA killing clams. He and his brother JR do that a lot. Kill clams.

Time to quit so I can watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

46 Years, Lions, & a God Moment

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Yesterday was Easter so after church we had our traditional free for all lunch for anyone who wanted to show up. Pretty much. In attendance were Jean, Me, Diane, Jeff, Daniel, Jennifer, Cedric, Lydia, Brianna, Alyssa, Jeran, Gilligan, and Baylee. Those are family members. You may question, Brianna, and Alyssa, but we count the kid’s friends as family. Also there was our friend Ron, from church, and our friend Gretchen who stopped by on her way home from Rainier. Gretchen and I worked together at PGE for many, many, many years. She’s still there, working hard.

The bigger kids, including Jeff, scattered candy filled plastic eggs all over the yard, front and back, for Gilligan and Baylee to find. There was no method to the distribution process, and no one had any idea how many of those eggs were scattered around so I have just cause for believing eggs will be showing up the next time I mow. After everyone left yesterday I found two. Today I found a couple more. I’ll get a better count with the mower because they’ll make a lot of noise as they go flying up the grass catcher tube.

Yesterday was also Adolph Hitler’s birthday, in case anyone was wondering.

The absolutely best part of yesterday, however, was that it marked the 46th year of wedded bliss for Me. Yes, just me, because I’m sure all those years weren’t blissful for Diane. Most of them, maybe, but not all. I know that’s true because I’ve been told. Thankfully, for Diane, the blissful part has been mostly on this end of the calendar. It just keeps getting better. Really, it does. Ask her.

After all the activity yesterday, it took us a while to wind down, then we watched the Blazers beat the Rockets in overtime. That caused an emotional outburst of adrenalin that didn’t go away until after midnight. So, there we were, laying in bed with our iPads at 0004 this morning. Diane’s checking her Facebook and I’m reading my book. I hear a little ding from my iPad and a little note pops up from Diane wishing me a Happy 46th. We’re like 15 inches apart, and she sends me a text. It was great, and I answered her back. Getting old and knowing how to use technology is quite fun.

Today I pulled weeds from the flower bed out front. We’ve both been working on it during the sunny days, a little at a time. This morning, when Diane told me today was the last sunny for the next week, I donned my pulling weed clothes and got to work. Diane stayed inside because that kind of outside activity isn’t kind to her immune system. Additionally, our neighbor was mowing his yard which is worse than simply touching weeds. So, I was on my own, and that’s OK.

I got everything pulled across the front, but not all the way around the corner. That was my goal, actually, so started gathering all the tools scattered in my wake so I could put them away. The net results of my efforts filled the little trailer I pull around with the mower when the grass catcher isn’t attached. I do that for fun sometimes. Just hook it up and pull it around the yard. Sometimes I put something in it and move it to another location. Just for fun. Really. Makes me feel like a real farmer.

Just as I began gathering my tools, it started sprinkling. That’s the rain that wasn’t supposed to arrive until after dark. So, thanks to Karma, I chose the exact right time to end my task.

Another good reason for ending it was because we had a Lions club meeting to attend. Diane was scheduled for the program and had Mary from SHEDCO lined up to speak. So, we got there early in order to be there when she arrived.

Shortly after we arrived a strange gentleman arrived so I introduced myself. I do that. His name was David. Expecting Mary as the only stranger for the evening, I asked about her and he said Mary had to cancel. This led me to believe that he was filling in for her as the SHEDCO speaker.

Then Mary showed up and threw both Diane and I into a momentary fit of mental frenzy as we tried to figure out what was going on. The reason turned out to be that Diane and Andy swapped program dates because we weren’t going to be in town on Diane’s assigned date. So, Diane wound up with today, but Andy forgot and arranged for David to come speak. David, or Dr. David Krier, founder of Volunteer Voyages, LLC, came prepared to give us a pictorial presentation about his organization. All he needed was some A/V equipment. But, we don’t have anything like that. All we had available was a screen that’s always there in the back room of the Village Inn Restaurant where we have meetings.

So, we had two presentations available: David, who had a flash drive but no A/V equipment, and Mary who, gee, had a laptop and a projector. David and Mary had a little discussion and cleared things up as to who would present by determining who came the farthest. That would be David who lives in St. Paul. The one in Oregon, not Minnesota. Mary lives in St. Helens.

So, the double booking worked out great for everyone, even me. David gave his presentation using Mary’s equipment, and Mary sat and watched. The real upside for me is that I was able to secure Mary as the speaker for our May 5th meeting. That’s the day I’m responsible for the program. She was a really good sport about the circumstances.

We call things like that a God Moment.

Dealing With Adversity

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today we had a terrific time visiting with new friends Nickie and Mary Louise (not their real names). I call them new friends because before today they were more like “friendly people we know.” I can say that, because it’s really true, but Diane has more of a long-term connection with them. Today, however, all that changed when they visited us so Nickie could loan me his a book … “The Frozen Shoulder Workbook” by Clair Davies, NCTMB which was published in 2006. I readily admit that I have no idea what NCTMB stands for but I’m confident they mean something important because the letters are all upper case, like MD, and unlike PhD, or Dr.

Nickie brought it to me because of the problem I’ve been having with my right shoulder and he wanted to share with me the story of his own shoulder. It was a generous thing to do and, after our visit, made me understand that it’s just the way Nickie is. I mentioned that Diane has more of a connection and that’s because her parents knew Nickie’s parents. They all lived in Warren and it’s common knowledge, in Columbia County, at least, that everyone in Warren knows each other. Part of that familiarity is due to the fact that most of the older residents are related to each other.

We visited for a long time in our living room. This is a rare event for us because that’s where the big TV is and it’s almost always on when we’re home. Sitting there, visiting, each in our own comfy chair just talking, was just great, and very informative. I got Nickie’s story and it is amazing. Not only does it involve political intrigue, it’s about overcoming incredible frustration caused by terrible medical care that’s the result of government control of an insurance company that dictates required treatment in order for someone to return to work. It’s intentionally complicated, in my opinion, in order to force patients to extract themselves by the most expedient means possible.

Nickie’s journey started with a fairly simple issue with his shoulder that escalated over a few years to a complex series of medical issues. That he’s relaxed, and pretty stress-free, speaks volumes about his fortitude. During this time, Nickie was admitted to the hospital a number of times as the result of doctor visits, and also because of emergency issues. He kept his wrist bands to document this tumultuous time in his life, and attached them to a metal ring normally used for making wreaths. He ran out of room so attached more of them to a long chain.

Maybe my words aren’t very convincing, but this should be …

Amazing, right?

We talked through lunch and finally made a unanimous decision to go out and get something. Burgerville was the choice where we all got Tillamook Cheeseburgers. Have I ever told you how good those things are?

It was a very good, very informative day. At the end, I decided that the little pain I have in my shoulder isn’t really a big deal.

However, I’m still going to read “The Frozen Shoulder Workbook”.

For All The Susan’s, Pizza Lovers, and Idol Fans

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

We drove out of the Hilton driveway at 0900 this morning, right on time. Really. It was the time we picked to leave. I believe this is another First for us … actually right on time. On my way to get the Buick so I could stage it for loading, my new publisher friend, Paul, and his wife, Doreen, stopped to greet me on their way to play golf and ask if I got the cards her left. I hadn’t done that yet, but I did. Diane and I both find that meeting him is kind of an omen. We just don’t know what kind, yet.

We made it out of Las Vegas without mishap, which was pretty amazing, then Diane drove her 200 miles which placed us a little north of Tonopah. If you do a little math on a map, you may figure out that Tonopah is more than 200 miles from Las Vegas, but don’t tell Diane. We were looking for the Subway Sandwich shop for lunch, but drove all the way through town without seeing it. So, she pulled over to the side of the road and made us PB&J sandwiches. I got apples and our bag of grapes for dessert, Diane got peppermint patties and carrots. We were set, so I crawled into the driver’s seat, readjusted all the mirrors, the seat, and steering wheel the clawed my way back into the northbound traffic on US 395. It wasn’t too difficult because there wasn’t a lot of it.

I have to mention that while Diane was driving, we drove passed Cheech AFB and she was affected by all the UMDE fowling the air. Cheech is, perhaps, the main facility where Unmanned Drone pilots are trained. It may also be the facility from which all the overseas drones are controlled. I don’t know that, of course, but it could be true. We do know they fly drones because you can watch them takeoff and land quite often. Just like the ones you see on TV. The “E” on UMDE is for exhaust, of course. It’s probably not true that it really bothers her, but she started sneezing right about then. So, that could also be true.

I drove my allotted 200 miles, that actually worked out to about 170, then Diane exerted her authority and recaptured the driver’s seat and drove the rest of the way to Susanville. I expertly guided us to our abode for the evening, the High Country Inn. Nice facilities. Overpriced, I thought, until I paid $18 for a medium pizza that was about the size of a Papa Murphy’s small pizza. We can get their mediums for $5. Once in a while. A caveat to this is that tonight’s pizza was a pretty awesome hand-tossed piece of culinary wonderment. I ate all four of my pieces but Diane stopped at three. She has one left for breakfast, lucky duck.

Now we’re just lounging in the room watching American Idol. So far our favorites are Alex and Sam. We loved the guitars. Nice.

The Las Vegas Monorail & Jersey Boys

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today was a perfecting ending to a very relaxing vacation.

No, wait! The perfecting ending is when we arrive home safely. That hasn’t happened, yet.

It was, however, a terrific day before we begin our grueling trip home. The decision was to make it a two-day run … about 500 miles segment. That means, of course, that I will be allowed to drive, more than once, time permitting.

Now, about today.

It started with a very nutritious breakfast of oat mill smothered in brown sugar, and a couple pieces of toast. We don’t usually eat that hearty at home because we never seem to both be up at a reasonable hour when food is necessary. A typical morning sees me with a banana and a raspberry yogurt somewhere between 0600-0730. Diane doesn’t get up until 1000 or so. By then I’m ready for lunch, but she hasn’t had breakfast, or coffee. Because of the latter, I’m not allowed to make noise until the first cup is poured. But, that’s an old story that’s been told many times previously.

After breakfast, we bundled up in our swimming suits and headed for the pool. We can see it from our window, fifteen floors down, and knew it wasn’t crowded. We selected two lounge chairs away from the crowd, composed of the other 5 people near the pool, reclined, fired up our iPads and just layer there in the shade. Yes, the shade. I’m not allowed to lay in the sun, even when I had apply spf 50 over the majority of my body. The reason is because I tend to develop little crispy spots that, left alone, can turn cancerous. So, unlike many things in my life, I’m pretty careful when it comes to the sun. Mainly I’m careful because I have Diane in my head asking if I’ve but on sunscreen, especially my little ears. Since I cannot lie to the voice in my head, I surely won’t lie to her in person, so I just do it. Admittedly, there are times when I have to say “no” and go back to make myself shiny with sunscreen.

We laid on our lounges long enough for the sun to make it’s way past the palm trees and shower us with glorious sunlight. Glorious, cancer-causing sunlight. Once I started sweating, I decided to immerse myself in the pool, just once. I stood up, sucked in my stomach, for the benefit of all those around me, and walked calmly to the stairs where I bravely stood on the first step and suppressed the urge to get right back out. It was cold. For some stupid reason, I thought it might be like Mexico where the pool is heated even though it’s 80-90 degrees outside. Silly me.

I stood there a bit, then bravely took another step, then another, until the water reached a level around the top of my swimming suit. This means, of course, that tender parts of me that like to remain warm, were now cold and making an attempt retract themselves back into my body cavity. Not all of them made it. I stood there building up my resolve to fully immerse my entire body, but it took a while. After a while, it became evident to my tender nether regions that clinging to the hope they could alter my gender was a total waste of time. So, they relaxed and descended once again to the proper place.

Then I took a breath and relaxed my legs, lowering my normally buoyant body into the water up to my neck. As soon as I could breath again, I made a few swimming-like strokes into the pool, finally getting my head wet. I had done it! I was totally wet. Objective met.

So I got back out and returned to my assigned lounge, next to Diane. I stayed there until she determined we’d been there long enough. It was that, or perhaps embarrassment because I was laying there with a towel covering all exposed parts of my body. Not normal for most people next to a swimming pool, I know, but t was comfy.

Back in the room we showered, then each ate a couple of hotdogs in preparation for an exciting end to the day. We had tickets for the Jersey Boys. We just had to arrive at least an hour early to trade our vouchers for real tickets. That meant we had to be there by 1730.

Since we chose to use public transportation for our trip to the Paris Casino, we left around 1530 to catch the monorail. It’s not a long trip, so we were at the Paris stop around 1600. From there it’s about a 1.5 mile walk through Bally’s Casino to the Paris ticket office. Getting the tickets that quickly meant we had a 2-hour wait for the doors to open so we had to entertain ourselves.

Gambling doesn’t interest us, so we found a venue with chairs situated along the main thoroughfare, bought a couple of large $6 root beers then sat there watching people for two hours. We even talked. A lot. It was good, and the time went quickly. An incredible array of people passed us by.

Finally it was almost 1800 so we extracted ourselves from the chairs and headed for the theater.

Once there, we were allowed into the area where drinks and snacks were served for enormous prices. We weren’t thirsty, after downing those 32 oz drinks, but the smell of popcorn was overpowering and I couldn’t resist. I mean, how bad could it be anyway? Well, $4 for a 32 oz cup full of popcorn. That’s not much popcorn. It disappeared quickly.

Finally the doors opened and we were admitted to the theater. Our seats were looted in row KK seats 30 & 31. That’s eleven rows from the front, about center stage. I picked them all by myself. It was a great location. We were quickly joined by a ton of other folks from all points of the globe, I’m sure.

Not being shy, I struck up a conversation with the couple to my right, in seats 28 & 29. This turned into a bit of a small world moment for us because turns out Paul is a publisher from Boston. I’ve avoided thinking, or contacting these kind of people for a very long time even though many people tell me I should write something sensible and see what happens. To me that sounds a lot like a job. But, who knows. Maybe in the half a million words I’ve shared in all these posts there really is a story.

The Jersey Boys show was absolutely incredible. One of the best we’ve ever seen. It took us both back to our school days when the Four Seasons were starting up. Great music, non-stop for almost 2 hours. Just amazing and totally recommended. The language is a bit rough, a lot of the time, but it’s like a Bruce Willis movie where you know it’s going to happen, but it seems to be OK. We loved every minute of it and were sad when it all came to an end.

After the show I talked to Paul a while about his publishing business and we ended up trading phone numbers. Since we plan to leave early in the morning, he said he’ll leave some business cards at the reception desk for us. I’m curious to see where this is going.

The monorail trip “home” was uneventful, and we sat here a bit, unwinding. Now it’s time for bed. Next news will be from Susanville, California if all things go as planned.

Sempre Fi my Brothers & Sisters

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Today we took a trip to Camp Pendleton to forage for food as we were apparently running low.

I accompanied Diane into the commissary, and followed her around for a while until she suggested that I go get a haircut. Boy did I trick her because I got every single one of them cut, not just one.

That’s a Marine haircut that I got in a Marine barber shop for $8 in 8 minutes. Maybe less. Although I retired from the Navy, and I’ve always heard about the rivalry between the two services, I’ve always considered them to be my brothers and sisters. They are all warriors and I totally respect their dedication and integrity. So, I got a haircut to honor them, and the sweater I’m wearing in the photo above has a Marine emblem on the back.

When I was done I drove carefully back to the commissary and stopped by the spot closest to the exit door and waited for that person to appear and move their car. All the people lined up behind me got a little testy, but I didn’t mind. I just put my blinker on and waited. It didn’t take more than 30 minutes or so.

Inside, it didn’t take me long to find Diane because she wore her new hat … the one she bought at Hearst Castle. I have a photo of her wearing it, somewhere, but can’t find it right now so I’ll just share this one of my right foot that I took on our way “home” from Mission Viejo …

I think it’s a very dramatic shot of an undramatic foot wearing a festive sneaker, and little fake socks. Notice how the shadow eliminates the need for anyone to be struck with awe by the skinny stick-like leg. I think I’m going to blow this one up, have it framed and give it to Diane for our anniversary. She bought the sneaker for me for this trip. She said I can have the other one when we get home. Can’t wait for that! Neither can Diane because my left sock gets really dirty and people stare at me in public.

They did that before I started wearing just one shoe, though, so that’s really not reason enough to yearn for my left shoe.

After returning from our shopping spree I made a couple of trips from the car with the food that will last us for a few days. Hopefully.

It was chilly, too chilly to sit on the beach, so Diane put on her sweat suit and sat on the deck, facing the setting sun, reading her book. Me? I stayed in the safety of our room and tried to take a nap, but Diane had the living room window wide open and I was cold. I suppose I could have put some long pants and a long-sleeved shirt on, but they were in the other room. I didn’t want to make any sudden moves that might distract Diane so I just toughed it out on the couch. I did, however, sneak into the bathroom and got my towel so I could cover up my little legs. There was a breeze blowing across my exposed elbow so I installed one of the couch pillows on top of my elbow and it helped a little. I actually nodded off for a short time. About 8 minutes, like I did at the barbershop.

After Diane finished her book she came back inside and started waiting on me, something I thought was overdue. That’s an out-and-out lie, of course. She waits on me all the time. She promised to do that the day we got married … you know …. “… love, honor, obey, and wait on …” and she hasn’t disappointed me. Fortunately, we wrote our own vows and that part wasn’t in mine. Well, it was, but I forgot to say it during the ceremony. She didn’t. Therefore, she’s really kind of obligated to cater to my every whim, even the whims I don’t remember having. I’m sure she’ll deny this, but that’s OK as long as she keeps waiting on me.

Now, having said all that, I’m going to start looking for resources on the internet so I can learn how to take care of myself. I’m sure that’s in my future, like, as early as tomorrow. Perhaps even a little later this evening unless go to bed before she reads this.

I know, I could edit all that out, but I don’t do that. Once it’s visible on my computer, it’s a done deal and I have to live with that. Like saying something really dumb in public … you just can’t take that stuff back, ya know?

I need another glass of water, and I’m going to go get it myself. For practice.

Then I’m going to quit.

Somewhere in Mission Viejo

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

This morning arrived early, as did yesterday, around 0730. Even though we were up early, it took us until 0900, or so, before either of us were ready for some serious breakfast. For that, Diane fired up the micro and made us some very nutritious oatmeal. Adding a bunch of brown sugar made it almost perfect, but it took two pieces of white bread toast to put it over the top.

After such a wonderful breakfast, we had to rest, so didn’t get moving until eleventy-thirty, or so. It was then that made our move to swap pajamas for outside clothing, and the point in time where I made my first underwear change of this trip, something that Diane found terribly disgusting. It was a test, you see, to find out if she really knew I’ve been wearing the same underwear since last Thursday.

That’s a lie, of course. I changed my underwear yesterday. Really. I’m sure you don’t care, and some may recite one of the acronyms I hear the most … TMI … you know, Too Much Information. I do tend to share a lot of inappropriate information, but it is what it is.

If I have already offended any of you, I’m sorry, and this is the point in time where I refer you back to my Home page that has my disclaimer. I don’t remember what it says, but I’m pretty sure it covers this kind of stuff.

After applying the appropriate layers of clothing … multiples for Diane, shorts & T-shirt for me … I called our Mission Viejo friends, Mike & Kathie, to warn them we were headed their way. I talked with Mike yesterday and received permission to make today’s call, so it was all good. I was informed that nothing had changed and we were still welcome to visit so we made haste to head north before the offer was rescinded.

As soon as we pulled out of the parking garage Diane ordered me to find the nearest car wash, so I did. We went there and got the Buick cleaned up nicely. The car wash people vacuumed it, washed it, hand dried it, and did the windows inside and out for just $10.99. Watching the young man hand dry the vehicle, and clean the windows, made it clear a tip was in order. He did an awesome job and Diane was super pleased that she didn’t have to drive a dirty vehicle all the way to Mission Viejo.

WAZE informed us that the trip was about 40 miles and would take 45 minutes which would put us at our destination right at 1245. If Diane had driven a bit faster we could have arrived at 1234, which would have been really cool. I love arriving places at a time when the numbers are in sequence. It’s special. The only other time during the day that can happen is 2345. I’m just guessing, but I think that’s true.

I-5 consumed almost all of our time to our destination, with just a few miles on the end to the right of the freeway. The latter part of the trip was very pleasant through some very beautiful neighborhoods so it wasn’t a surprise when WAZE directed us to “take a left” into a gated community.

After stopping at the gate Diane identified us, stating who we were going to visit. At that point, the guard pulled his BB gun and ordered us out of the car. Another guard appeared, seemingly, from nowhere and frisked us, twice, then alerted the guard with the harmless gun that it was OK, we were clean. I’m assuming, of course, that this kind of communication transpired … all we were able to see was the small nod from the guard covering us, then he lowered his weapon and told us we could re-enter our vehicle. Then he went into the guard shack and returned a moment later with a pass and allowed us to proceed.

Our destination was about a block away, as the crow flies, but it involved two rights and three lefts to get there. After the last right, we spied Kathie standing in the street waving, waiting for us. We were concerned about parking because there wasn’t a vehicle in sight, anywhere, but Kathie directed us into their driveway, an obvious effort to lure us into a situation where the HOA could confiscate our car and leave us afoot in Southern California. However, Kathie was very convincing in her assurance that all was well and that we were safe.

It was good to see Kathie & Mike again. It’s been a while. The last time we saw them was when they lived in Oregon City. They moved here after Mike retired.

Their house is magnificent, in all aspects, which didn’t surprise either of us. Mike & Kathie live in model homes no matter where they go. In this community there is no need to own a lawn mower, nor do they need to worry about ever painting their house. It’s covered. Pretty amazing.

We weren’t surprised that they had lunch waiting for us because we used to take turns having lunches at each other’s homes when all of us lived-in Oregon. Plus, that’s just the way they are. They feed people. We had planned to treat for lunch, but their idea was better because it gave us an opportunity to catch up on events in our lives. It took a while.

After that, we took a tour of the area, checking out the two recreation areas, the social centers, the gardens, and the botanical garden. The community has 1900 homes behind the gates so it surprised us that we encountered very little traffic. Just an occasional old person walking one or two small dogs. I, personally, was perplexed by one encounter where I attempted to make friends with a frisky little guy, and he barked at me. The lady holding his leash said she wasn’t surprised because the dog had already been told to beware of me. I was amazed. Not only could this strange lady not know who I was, neither could the dog. He was a scruffy little guy, so I just turned my attention on the other three curly white dogs. They were very friendly with me so apparently didn’t get the memo.

Then we went back to Mike & Kathie’s home where we looked at photos and had ice-cream. We visited more until the light began to fade a bit, then made our farewells so we could return to Oceanside before dark. Diane doesn’t like to drive in the dark, and she won’t let me. I only get to drive in really scary situations like ice and snow, not sunshine. This parting wasn’t sad like the last one because we know we’ll meet again. Who knows? We may take them up on their offer to spend a couple of days, and never leave.

We really enjoyed our day with them. One of the best, ever.

Back in Oceanside, we stopped at a Circle K to get a loaf of bread but the lady clerk said we’d be better off going back up the street to the Red & White market where there was a larger variety of choices. We did, and I got the bread. Then we went back to our condo.

Diane was going to have a couple of pieces of toast, and I was going to have a PB&J. Unfortunately, Diane overcooked her toast so I had a toasted PB&J, which is OK. I like those. She made another pair of toast, a little lighter shade.

That’s the day … Thank You Mike & Kathie …

Astoria, Breakfast, American Legion, and Laxatives

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Jerrie Cate

Greetings Everyone. If you’ve missed me, I’m sorry. If you didn’t know I’ve been missing, that’s OK. Lots of people don’t notice when I’m missing or just don’t care if they do. That’s OK, too. I’m easily missed.

Let’s see. What kind of compelling information can I share that might influence your moral compasses?

……. after many minutes of sitting here thinking about that, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t know enough about anything that would influence anyone’s moral compass. At least not in a positive way. Therefore, I’m moving on to what I remember and/or what I can find in my calendar.

On Thursday I suffered through a round of golf with Doug and Lyle. It was admittedly one of my more miserable attempts at golfing so I won’t even go there. The best thing about it was it was another beautiful day. Cold, but beautiful.

After leaving the golf course, I stopped to see Don and Judy on my way home. We hadn’t talked for a while so it was time. They’re doing OK. It was good to see them, as it always is.

Once home, I installed myself into my paint spattered jeans, held up by my stretchy tape measure suspenders, and one of my older PGE shirts, also paint spattered. They matched. These are the clothes I wear when there’s a possibility I’ll find something useful to do around the house. It happens sometimes. Regarding Thursday, I don’t have any memory of doing anything useful. Just the golf. I’m sure I did something memorable. I bet Diane knows, but I’m not going to ask her because he would be a sign of weakness.

Friday I was given an opportunity to redeem myself on the golf course but I declined. Although the odds were that I’d improve on Thursday’s results, there was no guarantee, so why flirt with fate for an unpredictable outcome? Instead, I reacquired my work uniform and went to the apple tree residue surrounding our burn pile. There was an enormous pile of intertwined branches that I reported on previously. They’ve been there a while, like all winter, so you may have missed it. What was very interesting to me was that these branches, seemingly dead when I hacked them from the tree, then layed on the ground throughout the winter, had blossoms that were blooming. Amazing. I suppose I should have taken a photo, huh?

My goal was to turn them all into ashes which required that I once again manually place the zillion pieces on the pile. First, however, I placed a couple of cardboard into which I tossed a bunch of wadded up paper from the residue of Diane’s files. Much of it was from many years ago and no longer necessary. The final result was that I managed to dispense with about 80% of the branches with only one match. It was a magnificent fire. My eyes will never be the same again. That’s because I was victimized by the age-old wives tale that smoke follows beauty. No place was safe for me as the smoke sought me out no matter where I located myself around the fire. I held my little eyes squished shut for long periods of time, but had to stop because it quickly became apparent that doing so made me quite dizzy. I had visions of collapsing into the fire, igniting my favorite work shirt, causing serious damage to my tender skin. This caused me to move away from the fire, creeping in sporadically to add branches to the pile. Eventually there was nothing left to move. Just myself, back to the house, for supper.

Before eating dinner, I sat in my chair for a bit, relaxing before my shower. As I sat there, relaxing, I put my hands behind my head, exposing my tender underarms to any casual observer. Turns out Diane observed that my shirt had huge holes in the armpit area because the seams were giving up. She commanded me to immediately remove myself, disrobe, take my shower, and throw my holey shirt in the trash. So, I did. I took my shower and carefully placed my sacred shirt into the garbage container in her bathroom.

This morning Doug showed up just before 0930, as arranged, to ride with us to the American Legion District Meeting in Astoria. We picked up Diane’s mom on the way to give her a day in the sun. It was an absolutely beautiful one, too.

On the way, we stopped at the Berry Path Restaurant in Westport, home of the Wahkiakum County Ferry, the only ferry on the Columbia River that crosses the Columbia between Oregon and Washington. There are others that cross the Columbia, interspersed between the numerous bridges and dams, but this one is ours. On the Oregon side we call it the Westport Ferry. It’s a cutie.

The Berry Patch Restaurant has always been one of our favorite places to eat on Highway 30. Doug had one pancake which was about 10 inches across and perfectly done. Diane’s Mom, Jean, had two pieces of toast because she had eaten shortly before we picked her up for the trip. If you’re ever out this direction, it’s a place you must stop to visit for either a great meal, or to purchase some of their incredible jams, jellies, and pies.

With breakfast out of the way, we continued our westward journey to Astoria, arriving about an hour early for our 1300 meeting. The high point of the meeting was a slide show presented by Sgt. 1st Class Steven Buck and him relating his story as the Casualty Assistance Officer who coordinated the safe return of recently returned remains from a plane that crashed in Papua New Guinea in 1943. It’s quite a story about an NCO’s tireless efforts that brought closure to the entire crew of B-17 “Naughty but Nice”.

During the meeting, Diane and her Mom visited Fort Stevens and spent a relaxing time, in the car, at one of the beach access parking lots watching kids cavorting on the beach and playing in the water. Since the temperature was in the 50’s, I guess the water wouldn’t seem all that cold, but I’m sure it was. I remember many cold sunny days playing in that surf when I wore kid’s clothes.

The trip home was uneventful with the exception of the having Doug in back so I had someone to talk with. Normally when we take Diane’s mom for a ride, I’m all alone back there.

Today is the one prior to my colonoscopy where I must not eat nuts, seeds, or anything colored. I can eat all the way up to midnight, and I may do just that because tomorrow is liquids only. I can eat all the jello I desire, and I will, because in the evening I begin ingesting 64 ounces of Gatorade laced with laxatives, a cocktail with a kick. Instead of Gatorade, I could have used Propel, a much more appropriately named choice for the purpose, but Diane said it had too much sodium. So, it’s Gatorade.

Then, the real fun begins.