Category Archives: Opinions

Letters to Diane – 41 – January 15, 2026

Posted on by

Howdy,

Hope you are getting along OK. I’m doing alright, but things could certainly be better. Like, you could be next to me, talking to me so I wouldn’t have to wear my little fingers out communicating with you this way. Actually, my fingers heal up pretty quickly, so it’s not a burden at all.

Yesterday I relinquished control of your Equinox at Emmert for a $70+ oil change. Actually, it was a little less than that because we get a Military Discount. That’s pretty handy.

After the oil change was done, Tom took me to a back room in the service area, and told me about all the other things that needed to be done. Like front and rear brakes, air filters, windshipperwiper blades,brake fluid, etc… The add-ons raised the price for releasing the car came to a little over $1600! Imagine my shocked surprise. I may have grabbed my heart at this point, but they didn’t make any efforts to have me looked at by a doctor, so I must have only thought I grabbed my chest.

Since there were 3 of them, and only one of me, my only option for a response was, “sure, go ahead and do all of it.” So, they got busy ordering parts and telling me I’d have to walk home because they were keeping the car until the work was done, and the bill paid.

Sounds really bad, right? Well, it really wasn’t. The work they identified consisted of things that needed to be done, and I knew it. So, they did it. Max and i just got home from picking it up. He was happy to get your car back because he loves hanging his head out the passenger window, something he can’t do in the truck.

Speaking of the truck … while waiting for your car and was talking with one of the sales people, who’s name I should remember, but can’t, and told her it would be interesting to know how much they would give me for the truck. I figure I don’t really need a truck since I have no plans to be driving all over the place, visiting campgrounds we’ve talked about because I won’t be doing that alone. If the truck goes, so does the trailer. While I’m at it, let’s toss the RV in there, too. I won’t need any of those things. That is, of course, not true if you could find a way to meet me at a campground of your choice. That would be pretty awesome.

I’m going to let that thought process simmer down a bit and talk a little about the walk about Max and I did downtown today.

First, I took the truck to the Kozy for coffee this morning and had a nice visit with Jeff and Larry. I left Max at home. I brought him back after coffee for our walk about. It was either that or he was going to bite me without warning for no reason. So, as soon as I returned home, we got in the truck and headed for town.

Instead of driving to the end of the paved road, like I’ve been doing, I stopped just across from the court house square on 1st Street. Doing that gave us more walking space, and provided some new delights to smell as we moved about. As you know, he’s all about the smells.

We went down and circled around Gracie’s then back up around the square, and back up to 1st Street. On the way we stopped at Wiggle Butz for a visit, and to let them know we were happy they were back. The last time we saw them they were in the process of boxing everything up to move. Turns out they just moved one space to the left.

A little further down the street, toward the parked truck, an item in one of the gift stores, “Spilt Ink Gallery”, caught my eye and drew us in to visit.

I talked with the person in charge at the time, and discovered that most of the items in the store were made by local, Columbia County artists. We love stores like that, right? Everything I saw was way better than the vast majority of gift shops we’ve visited in our travels. As it turns out, the clerk in the store is one of the owner. Her name is Diane. I knew there had to be something special that drew me into the store. Diane and her daughter, and granddaughter own the store. The granddaughter is a gifted artist and her art takes up a large amount of wall space. I made up my mind right then that I was going to go on a saving spree so I could bring some of it home. You should go there and have a look. I’m sure you will agree with me on the quality.

I didn’t get a chance to look at everything because Max was getting antsy and wanted to move along. So, my next trip there I’ll be dog-less. Please do not tell him about this plan.

So, I bid Diane adieu, and we went on our way. It was a very pleasant moment for me and I’m already looking forward to a return visit.

Shortly after we got home, Tom called to report the work was done on your car. So I put Max in his walk about gear and away we went. As we crossed Highway 30 by ACE, he kept dodging to the left because the was a dog walker crossing the street in the other crosswalk and Max apparently thought it would be fun to go visit. While tugging him back into our crosswalk, over and over, all the way across the highway, I wondered how he survived for 2 years on his own without getting run over. It was kind of like when he tried to jump out the passenger window in Bisbee, AZ to get the cat that crossed in front of us. Remember that? I think you do, because you almost dislocated your shoulder when you grabbed for him. He’s a silly critter.

I’m stopping now. I love you dearly, and miss having you around. Tell everyone hello for me. Here’s the view from the court house down town. It was a beautiful day. Reminded me of beautiful you.

Mt. St. Helens

Me

Letters to Diane – 40 – January 13, 2026

Posted on by

Good Evening on this wonderful Tuesday,

Wonderful is a subjective word for sure because I’ve been up since 0300. For some reason I woke up around 0230 and couldn’t go back to sleep. When i got tired of laying there, with no hope of going back to sleep, I got up and even took Max outside for a little relief. She was confused, I’m sure, because there are days when he doesn’t get a whiff of outdoors until 0900. She was pleased and he was a good dog and didn’t run away. He’s been known to do that, you may recall.

To while away the time, I found a book you left called “The Day I Died” and found it to be quite interesting. By 0600 I had it half gone and decided I should wake Lydia up so she wouldn’t be late to work. She’s usually gone by 0600 but this morning she was still zonked. I went in and poked my finger into her left arm and she assured me that she wasn’t working today because it’s Tuesday. I knew that. I have no idea why I was compelled to wake her. She went right back to sleep, though so I believe I was forgiven.

Then I made myself some coffee and breakfast (Jimmy Dean), ate it, and took a nap in my chair. Ai stayed there until Lydia appeared and reported that she was going somewhere. I actually have no idea what she said but it didn’t matter because I have ways of finding out where she is all the time. Just as she can find me any time she wants. I think she went to Safeway.

When she left, I took Max for his morning walk. Wee got back before Lydia and started our second nap off the day.

At some time before noon a guy showed up to fix the garage door openers. I’ve been fiddling with it for days and couldn’t get it to do anything. She came in and had it working perfect within 3 minutes. I won’t bore you with technical details. I was just glad he got it working so quickly. One more thing I didn’t have to worry about.

After lunch Lydia sat herself down at the table and started working on it. It was obvious that she was in for long haul and wouldn’t stop until it was done. So, I joined her and we got it finished pretty quickly. That was good because I had a lot of bills to collate and file away and a bare table made that easier.

As soon as I took this photo we tore it apart and returned it to the box. There are a few more puzzles to replace it. There’s one, I think, that has 2000 pieces. This one only had 1000.

Jeff stopped by for a while in the afternoon so we had a nice visit. Max loves it when he appears.

I’ve got to start working on our taxes soon. It will take some time for me to dig out all the donations we made last year because you always had them available for me. I might just have to make something up this year.

I’m running out of words for you so it’s time to stop. I think of you constantly and I long to hear your voice. Say Hello to everyone up there.

I Love you.

Jer

Letters to Diane – 39 – January 12, 2026

Posted on by

Hi My Love,

I just got Max home from the River Walk. I’m trying to get him down there at least once a day. It’s good for both of us. As I mentioned before, there isn’t much traffic down there so I can let him roam freely for most of the time we’e there. He appreciates that so much that when other dogs appear, he doesn’t argue with me about reattaching his leash. It was very pleasant down there.

Sadly, when Max had his first #2 event I discovered that I’d forgotten the poop bags sitting promanateoy on the counter. Thankfully, I was able to rummage through the remains of a fire and came up with a shopping bag. After stuffing the fire remains in the bag, I continued the trip, picking up every piece of litter I saw. I figured it was only fair. Next time I’m going to take a bag with me just for that purpose. Perhaps setting an example like that will set a positive example.

The walk is really very nice and I’m very sad that you didn’t get a chance to share it with me. I know you would have loved it. As it is, children, and other kinds of destructive people have access and have destroyed pretty much all of the path and street lights along the walk. They apparently make nice targets for someone to destroy them just for the fun of it. Consequently, once the sun goes down, no one goes there because it’s very dark without those lights.

Before leaving for our walk, I called the VA and made an appointment with the optometry department. I got a letter telling me to do so, so I did. When the scheduler told me June 2nd was the earliest appointment, I asked for a referral to something in St. Helens. Now all I have to do it wait for the chosen local eye place to contact me with a date.

I miss hearing your voice. I miss your presence. I miss the way we automatically hold hands while walking together. I miss the kiss we share when one of us leaves. I still expect you to tap me on the shoulder one of these days. Go ahead and do it when the mood strikes.

I have a couple of new photos to share with you. Here’s one of Max with an obvious message.

He loves the sunshine. Can’t you feel his joy?

I’m really close to taking the Christmas tree down and stuffing it in it’s bag til next year. It’s not really in the way because it’s not wide, so that makes it easy to just leave it alone.

The photos just showed up on my iPad so here’s the first one. It’s the Home Screen on my new watch.

This next one is the group of old people Jennie had me join for lunch at the Plymouth Pub after church. It was a fun lunch. The guy across from me was in the navy (1964-1968) and has a few stories to tell.

This next one makes me wonder. I took it this morning when we got to the river. Looks like Mt. Hood is leaking smoke.

It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if it shows up with a flat top tomorrow.

Although the day is relatively young, I’m going to end this. If something significant happens, I’ll make an edit.

Love you.

Me.

Letters to Diane – 38 – January 10, 2026

Posted on by

Hi Hon,

Today I was allowed to drive all the way to Costco to get “stuff” sand I didn’t run into anyone, or fall down. It was a successful trip. I actually did it for Jennie because she needed flour. So, I went. She also suggested that I get an Apple Watch because my Fitbit has refused to charge for the last month or so. I miss getting all that data it collects. I thought, what the heck, I needed something different to figure out. So, that’s what I did.

I also got bananas, Cheerios, and Jimmy Dean bowls. It was not a wasted trip for an expensive toy. I got food, too.

When I got home I immediately took Max for his second walk around the block then i spent the next 5 hours working on the watch. It’s supposed to be easy, but I managed to make it complicated to the point where I put it back in the box and planned a trip to an Apple Store so one of their geniuses could explain to me how simple it is to set up.

It didn’t stay in the box long because it was an unfinished challenge and I didn’t want the day to end in failure. I apparently figured out how to get it going before Lydia got home about 2030.

While messing with the watch, I washed my sheets and blanket. I got a whiff of the atmosphere under the blanket and figured you wouldn’t be happy with me. I will admit, however, that this is the first time I’ve washed them since you went away. You can imagine it was pretty ripe. I won’t go that long ever again. Promise.

With clean sheets, a shower is necessary, so that’s my next task.

The creek is a bit cranky.

Love you.

Sweet dreams.

Me

Letters to Diane – 37 – January 9, 2026

Posted on by

Dear Diane,

I remembered to go to Coffee @ The Kozy yesterday and was surprised to find 5 people at our table. There was Chuck, Jeff, Larry, Lonny, and Ingrid. Yes, the boss was there, too. Thankfully there was a spot next to Ingrid, so i took it. I learned a to of stuff about geology of the area where we reside. We talked about the Missoula Floods that created topography that’s now in place and I found it very interesting. Interesting to the point where I with I had paid ore attention in school about that stuff.

That’s the only thing on my calendar for yesterday so if something else happened, I’m not aware of it. I did manage to make it home where I parked myself in my chair to watch TV, and woke up around 1830. That reminded me that I was supposed to be at a spaghetti feed at 1700. Dang! I missed it. It was being held at the church. I haven’t heard anything abut it today, yet. I just hope they had a good turnout. It was a fund raiser for the B.O.B project at church.

Jennie sent me a text about this time asking me if I was watching ‘the game’. Thinking she meant the Ducks, I semi-panicked thinking I was missing it. A hasty search revealed that the Ducks weren’t playing until today. But, Miami and Old Miss were. So, I watched that one. It was a good one.

Now, about today. I got up at a reasonable time, about 0730, then hit the snooze button and woke up again at 0930. Max was a little antsy about getting outside so I took him for a quick walk in the yard then explained to him that I had to eat breakfast before a long walk. So, I ate and he retired his little self to my chair where he sat in a position that allowed him to stare at me the entire time. When I finally finished, he perked up, jumped down, and made it very clear that I has made him a promise, which I kept.

He knew it was going to be a good walk because we stopped by your car which meant we were heading to the river walk down town. He likes it down there. No many people go there so I was able to eat him run free for a one time. Another plus about going to a walking pals in the car is that I put his window down all the way so he can pretend he’s going 100 mph between lights and stop signs. So far he hasn’t made any attempts to jump out the window like he did in Bisbee, AZ many months ago. Since there haven’t been any cats running across the road he hasn’t felt a need to take that plunge again. Thankfully.

Max loves to watch Lydia eat. Actually, he loves to watch anyone eat, and he’s not even a tiny bit shy about doing it.

Well, the game is over and the Ducks lost 56-15 to Indiana. Ducks only lost 2 games all year and both were to the Hoosiers. Just wait till next year.

I’m not sure you were able to watch it, but had you been here you wouldn’t have liked it much. If you had been here I would have liked it a lot.

I miss you my Love.

Now it’s time to wind down.

G’nite.

Me

PS – When I took Max for his late walk this morning, this was our view. It’s nice on the river.

Letters to Diane – 36 – January 7, 2026

Posted on by

Good evening Dear Wife of mine,

I seem to have missed the 6th. “How,” you may ask, “can that be possible?”

“Well,” I would respond, “that’s just a common event in my daily life,” with crossed fingers hiding behind my back.

That’s not true, of course. I never hide crossed fingers behind my back. Honest.

So, what happened yesterday? Actually, lets talk a little more about what happened Monday and what didn’t happen yesterday.

Monday I drove myself to our favorite dermatologist to see how well my face healed. You’ll be happy to learn that I drove there and back without incident. While there I was told that I healed up right nicely. I could have told Kate that on the phone. All she had to do was call me. She quickly let me know that I’d need to put on the hospital gown laying on the chair I didn’t use, opening to the back. She also told me I could leave my jockey shorts on. So, I did all of that.

When she returned a few minutes later, she started investigating my entire body for other suspect areas she could identify. After once around, zapping random abnormalities she spotted on my nearly naked body. I didn’t count them, but there were more than ten. Then she got real close to a spot on my nose, right nostril, net to my lip. She said she felt the need to have that area biopsied.

Shortly thereafter, she sent the nurse back in with a hypodermic which she stuck directly into my right nostril and injected it’s contents which deadened my nose. I made it clear that the deadening did not take affect quickly enough. It really hurt. A lot. But I endured, knowing the pain would stop eventually. It finally did, and I was once again able to communicate coherently.

After a few minutes, Kate came back with a scalpel which she applied to the suspect area and removed a piece, which she put in a specimen bottle so someone could look at it with a microscope, then cauterized the wound so it would stop bleeding, and put a little band aid before sending me home to await a call to share the results.

Now, what I forgot to share yesterday was the news I just shared.

Today I got a call telling me the biopsy was negative so I could relax. I was already relaxed. I don’t tend to get upset about moments that tend to make most people tense. It’s a choice we all have. The news just made me more relaxed. Now I have the honor of waiting until my next dermatologist visit so she can burn off the newly healed wound she created. I have no idea when I’m supposed to have my net visit. I’m sure they’ll let me know. If, for some reason they don’t contact me to make my next appointment, I’ll get uncharacteristically tense and call them. I’ll play that by ear because I don’t know how long to wait before I allow myself to get tense.

Today Jennie supervised the receipt of their new refrigerator. She’s very happy. I was second choice to be at the house when it was delivered. Since I wasn’t needed, I didn’t do much today except walk Max and eat stuff.

It was a good day.

Love you.

G’nite.

Your Jer

Letters to Diane – 35 – January 5, 2026

Posted on by

Hi Sweetie,

Just a short note to share an interesting thing Max has been doing lately. You know that I take him out for romp around the yard before going to bed. Previously, he gladly went out but he’s backed off a few times. Then I open the slider and offer him an off-leash friendly run, he simply lays down. I even walk to the edge of the patio and he just lays there, with the door wide open.

Granted, it’s dark, but that didn’t used to bother him.

He starts this by coming to me and sitting where he can see me, no matter where I might be, and he gives me his tiny little growl. Just enough to make a noise. It’s not aggressive at all, just a simple growl to let me know he’s close and wants my attention.

Tonight he did that while I was working on the church newsletter. I stopped and talked with him a bit, letting him know that I had to finish my job then we could go outside. He seemed to understand because he just laid down by my feet and waited.

When we got to the door he made it clear that going outside wasn’t what he wanted to do, so I worked a little bit on the puzzle near the door. He watched me a bit then disappeared. He actually went to bed and waited for me there.

Such a funny little guy.

I cooked tonight. First time in a while I took the reins and got busy. All I did was slice up two boneless chicken breasts using Lydia’s new knife that is about the sharpest knife I’ve ever used It’s amazing. I had a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies I wanted to get rid of and some extra rice that needed to be cooked so that made a meal. It wasn’t the best stir-fry, but it was good and we ate all the chicken. So, we got our protein. I made way more rice than necessary so bagged it for a later meal and left some in the pan for Max. He was a happy dog and cleaned it up pretty good. That’s probably why he didn’t eat his dish of food I put down for him. Could be his earlier growling was his effort to let me know he wasn’t pleased with my food choice for him (it was turkey).

Here’s another fun photo I like. A good one to end the evening with you.

Say Hi to Brad for me.

Love you

Me

Letters to Diane – 34 – January 4, 2026

Posted on by

Hello My Dear Wife,

Today I planned to go to church and I woke up at 0530. Then I went back to sleep until 0809. Max needed a walk so I took him out which ate up the time I was going to devote to a needed shower. Now I will take the shower before bed. So, it’s Max’s fault I didn’t go to church. He’s willing to take the blame for that. We had a talk about it.

After that, I worked on a puzzle for a while, ate some lunch then took Max for another walk because I had to be at the Walters’ house for supper at 1700. It was steak and it was good. When I got home I think Max could tell I ate steak because he kinda glared at me a little.

I tried watching some sports on TV but none of that appealed to me because they were teams I didn’t follow so I turned it off and worked on my USS North Carolina battle ship Lydia gave me. It’s the tiny little pieces version and it’s difficult for my old fingers.

Now it’s 2330 and time for bed. I have a dermatologist appointment tomorrow at 1000 and I need to smell nice.

I was going to add a photo but I can’t find recent stuff and there’s 89,000+ on my laptop. They are also all out of order so I might have to just start using whatever photos pop up.

Gotta stop. I hear the shower calling my name.

ILY
me

Letters to Diane – 33 – January 3, 2026

Posted on by

Good evening, My Love,

The only things I can remember about yesterday are a couple of trips around the block with Max, lots of TV, and I went to the bathroom a couple of times. Oh, and I ate lunch. That’s about it. Oh, and Lydia returned safely from her trip out of the country around midnight. I believe I mentioned that she and Jered went to North Carolina to meet an old school friend of his. It was a spontaneous trip, and they had a great time. I think Lydia’s favorite thing about the trip was visiting BB-55, the USS North Carolina. They got to go all over the ship and she took a bunch of photos. She also got me a Mini Lego kit of the ship. The pieces are incredibly tiny and really hard to pick up. I took the pieces out of their packages today so I have to work on it continually to get them all in the proper places so they won’t get lost.

Lydia didn’t get up until noon today due to yesterday being a travel day. Doug came over for a visit while she slept so we had to talk softly to keep from waking her. We had a nice visit anyway, the first one we’ve had in a long time. He doesn’t come down from his mountain very often, so it was great to see him.

I forgot to share with you that when Jennie came over to watch the Ducks the smoke alarm in the hallway by our bedroom was chirping for randomly for a while so I changed the battery. Then it chirped some more then sounded the alarm. Not seeing, or smelling any smoke we agreed that the smoke alarm must be failing so I just took the battery out of it. A little while later Jennie went into the kitchen and discovered that one of the stoves burners was on low and had melted the silicon mat. That had to have been the source of burning the alarm detected. I must have bumped the burner control when I was busy sweeping fir needles up. Those things are everywhere. Arter that little episode, and previous ones we had, I think I might have to get a different stove with controls either on top, or toward the back of the stove. As it is, we have a hazard in the house. A simpler solution would be to not put anything over the burners. Kind of a scary situation, don’t you think?

You’re probably wondering how I could forget to share this with you right after it happened. Me too. We may never know how lucky we are to have a smoke alarm that works even when there’s no smoke even though the source of the alarm’s distress was discovered by the good observational abilities of your daughter.

I promise to be more careful in the kitchen going forward. I suppose I could simply turn off the stove breaker and just use the micro from now on. That would work.

Now I’m stopping. Max is asking for permission to go to bed. It’s 2230 and time to follow Max’s lead. Probably a good idea. I’ll leave you with a fun memory we made in Orlando once upon a time.

I love your smile.

G’nite.

Me.

Letters to Diane – 32 – January 1, 2026

Posted on by

Dear Diane,

First, Happy New Year. I have to admit this hasn’t been one of my favorite years of the many I’ve been fortunate enough to have ushered in over my lifetime. Most of 2025 was really great, but the ending not fun. I know you were in a lot of pain toward the end and don’t blame you for not wanting to go on. Because of that, the ending was more tolerable for me, but I still didn’t like it, much. I think that’s true for everyone who loves you.

Now, about football. You had the Oregon game set to record so, of course, I had to watch it. So did Jennie. She came over and spent most of the day with me watching football. Oregon was the first game this morning, beginning at 0900 and it was a good one. Most of the came made us all nervous but the Ducks persevered beating Texas A&M 23-0. Yes, they. What made that even sweeter is that Texas was ranked at #4 and the Ducks are #5. It was a fun game and made the day even better. I just wish you were in your chair watching it with me, but Jennie did a good job covering for you. She brought Siah with her and Jasper came later. We had hotdogs for lunch. I ate a can of chili and ate the whole thing because no one else wanted any. That worked for me because I can eat a whole can of chili no problem. You’ve seen me do that lots of times.

During half time of the Oregon game I took Max for his morning walk. I actually got up at 0500 for some reason, but didn’t want to take him out in the dark. We walked all over the back yard, though, and that seemed to please him enough for the time being.

I’m working on one of the puzzles I got for Christmas. It’s a 1000 piece one and looks pretty difficult. So far I have the edge done but had a problem with that. One piece was missing for a couple of days until I got on my hands and knees and searched all over under the table. It was hiding behind a chair leg. I was very happy to find it. The rest is going to be difficult.

Now that it’s 2026 I need to take the tree down. Maybe I’ll work on that tomorrow. Maybe not. It’s kind of nice to look at.

It’s 1800 now and I just got back from walking Max his second time. He earned it, and walking is a good thing for me, too. I’m getting pretty good at it because I haven’t done a face plant since my last one before our trip around Oregon.

That’s about it for today. You know I love you, but I’ll give you an ILY anyway. Just one more thing. When the Winnebago folks visited I gave Sophia the bag with all your Sketchers so she could see what fit her. I got a text from Carolann, who feet at much smaller than yours, thanking you for 3 pairs of sandals she found in the bag. Sophias feet are actually your size so she may wind up with a lot of the shoes. We’ll see.

Here’s just one more favorite photo I have.

ILYATT

Me