Dallas Cowboys Nipple Ring Tragedy

Posted on July 27, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

While reading news that has little or no worth to most people, I discovered that Dallas Cowboys’ David Irving suffered a tragic accident that may impact his ability to function in normal society for many months, possibly causing him to miss the first 3-4 games of the season. I’m guessing about him missing games, or course. I just know if it were me who were injured in the manner David suffered, I’d be out for the season. The injury should serve as warning to those who choose to get piercings in odd places.

I don’t view piercings as a bad thing, really, because I totally understand that they are an expression of the person and are, essentially, jewelry of sorts, and/or body art. I don’t, however, understand the mental process one must go through in order to allow someone to stab a projectile through their nipple. What’s that all about, anyway?

Since I have no piercings, my opinions may be suspect, but I believe inserting a little logic into their thought process might allow the pierced to wisely pick and choose safe venues to which they wear their body art, and remove those items that may be subject to serious injury.

Broken Arm, Day Four

Posted on June 3, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

It’s been brutal, let me tell you. Although I can’t say I know the pain Diane’s feeling, I can tell you that every time she gasps in pay, my poor little testicles get sucked right up into my abdominal cavity. It’s a very unpleasant feeling but serves to demonstrate the empathy I have for the pain she’s enduring.

What makes it worse is the cast she received yesterday. When they first put it on it was OK, but by the time we got home se said it was loose, allowing her wrist to move. So, not being able to keep it entirely immobile, it hurts all the time. She wants her splint back because at least with that she got some respite from the pain once in a while.

I suggested that we call the doctor now, and leave a message about the distress she’s in, but she’s my tough guy wife and plans to deal with it until Monday instead of interrupt her doctor’s weekend. What a gal, huh?

That’s about all I have, except the Oregon Lady Ducks beat Baylor 7-4 in the loser bracket of the WCWS and will be playing again at 10 pm Eastern Time against LSU. One more loss in the tournament and they go home. That doesn’t have anything to do with a broken arm, I know, but we both enjoy watching the girls play.

That brings me to one of my hot topics … Comcast, our cable provider, doesn’t deem it necessary to include female athletic events in the handy-dandy panel they provide for sporting events. For us, we push the “C” button on the remote (the one we can talk to) and the screen splits to show what’s currently playing on the channel we were watching, and a menu list of all current sporting events across the top: On Now (only man stuff), MLB, NBA, NHL, CFL, Soccer (men), and NASCAR.

C’mon, Comcast. This is the Women’s College World Series, from criminy sakes. How about some respect for these Ladies?

Don’t get me wrong, I like men’s sports, too, but I think it’s very unfair, maybe even sexist, to discriminate against the women in this way.

Gotta quit and get off that soap box. I’ll end with a photo of Diane’s arm just before her purple case was applied.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. I certainly hope so. I don’t know how many more times I can safely retract my testicles before it causes some sort of brain damage.

From a Flawless Plan to an Adventure

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

The plan was:

Jennie to take Cedric to Sandy for double-header – Lydia was to pitch both games – and Diane and I would meet them there.
After the games, take Cedric back to his ship, USS Nimitz CVN-68, in Bremerton, WA.
Diane would drive Jennie’s car home while we headed north to Bremerton.

Simple plan, right? Well, it morphed quickly into the Adventure when Diane returned home from her dermatologist in the morning with lots of burned, crispy spots on her neck and doctor’s orders to remain out of the sun for 4 days. Considering the way the sun shines around here, that could take a couple of weeks. When I returned from golfing, which I did while Diane was at the dermatologist, she said she wouldn’t be going to the games which changed the entire plan for driving Cedric back to his ship.

The new plan was for me to drive Jennie and Cedric to the game, then just head north after the games. Simple, right? Well, to get ready, I had about an hour to mow the front yard, shower, and pick up Lydia and Cedric for the 1.25 hour trip to Sandy. Traffic was horrendous and it took 2 hours so we missed the first inning. It was OK because Lydia wasn’t pitching. Brooklyn was! Shock. She was supposed to have been off doing her Columbia County Rodeo Queen responsibilities. So, the six seniors got to play two more games together. Lydia pitched the first 3 innings of the second game then moved to first base.

Left to right: Brooklyn (pitcher), Kayla (3rd base), Bailey (left field), Ceiarra (1st Base), Mercedes (catcher), Lydia (any position needed)

Towards the end of the game Cedric gave us a huge sigh, hung his head, and reported that he had forgotten his keys at home. That required another change to the plans. Instead of going directly north via the freeways, we had to detour back through St. Helens. This increased the 3 hour trip to 4 hours. He had also forgotten one of his hats. OK, it happens, so we just dealt with it and went on about the business of watching the rest of the game.

Before leaving, Cedric had time to say good-bye to Lydia who was going home on the bus with the team. She got very emotional knowing she wouldn’t see him until next February, at the earliest. She cried, something she rarely does. For that reason, and others related to female hormones, some of her team mates started crying too. It wasn’t long before many of them were crying in support of Lydia’s sadness, and Cedric was getting hugs from many of the girls who don’t even know him, wishing him luck. It was a Kodak moment the coaches couldn’t ignore so they gathered the team for a picture of them crying and laughing. Cedric was very touched by it all, as were we.

Then something happened off to my left that caused a reaction that soothed the crowd.

With all this emotion going on Coach Little told Jennie to just take Lydia home with us, which we did. She slept with her head in Cedric’s lap most of the way. During the trip it Lydia said she’d like to go to Bremerton with us because she’d never been on a navy base and would like to see Cedric’s ship. School on Friday was the only issue but Jennie resolved that quickly and the deal was done. Lydia was going with us.

We got to St. Helens around 2030, Lydia got a go bag while Cedric passed out more hugs with his brothers, Jeran …

… and Ahmed …

… and away we went. It was dark, nothing to see, and Jennie drove from home to Bremerton. We got on base no problem, and dropped Cedric at his ship’s liberty gate. Lots of lights but not a photo-op.

Then we went in search of the Navy Gateway Inn and Suites (NGIS). It took an hour to find it and required the help of a person on the phone guiding us while she used a map of the base. While looking for parking I noticed signs indicating the spots we’re reserved for NGIS which looked suspiciously like NCIS so I didn’t park in them. Finally, I looked closer and noticed it was for the hotel and gratefully parked.

When checking in I bantered with the desk clerk, Randy, and learned he was born on Guam. Jennie piped up, “I was too. In Agana!” she said. What a small world even though Jennie was born there about 20 years before Randy.

Room had one bed and a recliner. Lydia, to be kind, said she wanted the recliner but I declined her the recliner and reclined in it quite comfortably the entire nite while the two girls, one of whom forget her Jammies, rested nicely on the queen bed. Even though Lydia slept in the clothes she wore for the trip, she intentionally didn’t bring Jammies, so I guess it was Jennie’s Jammies that didn’t make the trip. It was OK. By the time we got the lights out, it was about 0100 and we were all dog-tired.

Got up about 1000, left the room, then went to the NEX for some trinkets to commemorate the journey. Then I drove them all over the base to get a good view of the USS Nimitz in the daylight so the girls could see it. Last night it was too dark to see it clearly.

Then we went to breakfast at Denny’s which was almost all the way north in Silverdale. We all ate quite well. Lydia had a bacon burger with avocado which I had doubts that she could wrap her mouth around …

… but she did …

Jennie had this, but didn’t want the sausage links …

… so I got them with my Denver omelette …

After breakfast, Jennie drove us south toward home, the long way through Shelton, because we didn’t want the freeway stress. About 50 miles from the finish, she cried Uncle and I took over to the end. She drove the lion’s share of the trip and didn’t scare me even once. I was proud of her. After I started driving it began raining harder, and harder causing me to run the wipers at full speed much of the time.

I got them home a little after 1500, waited for Lydia to get her softball gear, then took her back to school for practice. The team has one more game on Friday then they can put their softball gear away. Lydia will pitch the entire game Friday because Brooklyn is definitely done for the season.

I arrived home to an empty house because Diane is at the court house again, working with the election committee. Well, the house wasn’t really empty because the dogs were here, and they were very happy to see me. They’re always happy to see anyone, even if they’ve only been gone a couple of minutes.

Oh, and the hat Cedric forgot at home? He forgot it in the truck when he got his stuff to go to the ship. Lydia found it.

I was feeling pretty good until I put this all down on paper and now I’m tired again. If it was a little later, I’d go to bed but it’s only 1730, so I’m going just have a nap.

Oops! Diane just buzzed into the garage in the roadster so maybe a nap isn’t an option. I may have to go out and kill something for her to eat.

60+ to 80+, a broken lawnmower, and other Stuff.

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

Yup! That’s what happened. The temps turned on a dime from a high of 60 something to 80 something. The weather things I’ve looked at show 81 for today, but our thermometers registered 86. Now, my challenge is to get my lawn mower cleaned up before the rain comes back day after tomorrow.

I don’t know if that’s going to happen, but it may as well. I thought I heard that we’ve had more than 141 days of measurable rain this year so far, a record. That’s kind of tricky, I think, because there have only been 123 days registered in 2017.

Could be I have no idea what I’m talking about which is not news. I rarely do. But, it’s fun trying to make sense of what I think I hear. Diane’s solution for that is for me to wear my hearing aid, but that takes all the fun out of it.

Now, the lawn mower … it’s the one that Floyd and Nancy bought for the church. Just recently it decided to not start so I tried to get people to dig out all the small engine repair people they know so we can take advantage of the good weather. Thankfully, Howard mowed the church yard so all we need to do is clean up the cut grass. Having the mower run would help.

Well, I didn’t get any valid offers of help, except from Don, so I went to school on YouTube and figured out how to do it myself. Armed with my new-found knowledge I took my tools to the church, rolled the mower out, yanked the engine out off the frame (with Howard’s help),

and dismantled the engine down to a bunch of little parts, just like I learned on YouTube.

Doing so revealed that the bad part is exactly the one I expected it to be based on my recent education, a dysfunctional cam shaft …

It looks nice and almost new, but there’s a part broken that helps get the engine past the first compression point during the start process. It was in little pieces in the bottom of the crank case. Now I have to get a new one and figure out how to get everything back together again. I need to do that fast because I’ll forget where all those screws and bolts go in a few days. That’s all it takes. I’ll take a photo of any success I might have. If I fail, you’ll never hear about this again.

Here’s what I had for lunch yesterday … leftover meat loaf. It was really good.

I think there’s about a pound of meat there, but it’s all protein, something I can eat a lot of. Keeps my B-12 levels up there in the stratosphere.

Here’s our trailer while I’m check to ensure the lights work before we left Devil’s Lake State Park for the trip home.

While we were enjoying ourselves at the beach, the bamboo took advantage of our absence and reached for the sky. Might have to trim it down a little.

This afternoon Lydia’s softball team had a double-header with Parkrose. Lydia pitched 4 innings of the first game and played 2nd base the last 3 innings of the 2nd game. It was a lot of fun. They lost the 1st game 3-2 and won the 2nd one 8-4. It was a good day. One of the highlights was when Jennifer was trying to talk with Lydia over the cement block wall of the dugout, but couldn’t hear her. So, she did this …

She had sneakers on so didn’t slip, but it’s something she would have raised heck about had one of the kids, or me, done this. Just so you know, she extracted herself from this precarious position without injury. Made me proud. It was a good day.

It’s time for me to head to bed, after I let the dogs out to bark at something and pee in the tall grass out front. Ozzie just had a $37 haircut but that doesn’t stop him from plowing through the grass in search of a spot where one of the big dogs may have relieved themselves. He’s predictable, and doesn’t care about hygiene at all.

Good nite.

A trip in the trailer, Lydia, Ceierra, Ziva, & Jeran

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

I did not realize that it’s been over a week since my last posting so there’s a lot to catch up on.

First, and almost the most important thing, I got to golf with the Peal brothers on Friday the 31st of March then again yesterday. The most important thing, really, was getting to watch Lydia play softball a couple of times. They were pre-season games against more powerful schools so the outcome was predictable – they lost all of them. But, they were fun to watch and they had fun playing. That’s the important thing. They were supposed to have their season league opener this evening, at home, but it was cancelled because it’s been raining, a lot, and the school doesn’t have a decent field for the girls to play on. So, it was a muddy mess and the game was cancelled. So, I took that opportunity to mow the yard, in the rain, with the hopes of keeping it low enough so Ozzie doesn’t get lost when he goes outside. Then, wouldn’t you know it, the sun came out, dried everything off, and it’s actually a perfect afternoon for a softball game. Sad.

In between those two golf events Diane and I took our trailer to Fort Stevens State Park on the Oregon Coast so we could participate in the SOLVE Beach Cleanup. I’ve mentioned this in the past (way long time ago). It’s simply an event held twice a year where anyone can join the effort to keep Oregon Beaches clean. It’s amazing what kind, and the amount, of trash is removed by the voluntary clean up crews. Last I heard the total was over 27.5 tons. That’s a lot of “stuff” to haul off the beach in little plastic bags. For our part, Diane and I managed to remove a considerable amount of small plastic pieces and a few hypodermic needles. A small but significant contribution.

Other than the trip to clean the beach, and a couple of other walks on the beach so Ziva could run willy nilly, we spent our time in the trailer, listening to the rain, reading our books. No wi-fi, spotty phone reception, so it was very quiet most of the time. Diane took an afternoon off to visit Goodwill, leaving Ziva and me at ‘home’ to fend for ourselves. We had a good time taking walks and just sitting around. My prize for being good was a DQ chocolate malt. I love those things. Give didn’t get a prize because dogs don’t get prizes. Instead, I gave her a treat. She was happy about that so it was all good.

I got a message from brother Jack giving me a little more info about what’s going on with him in Arizona. As many of you know, he’s got prostate cancer. He recently started receiving radiation treatments which he must endure for 5-10 minutes every day through the end of May. His new motto is “I’m not dying of cancer, I’m living with is.” That sounds pretty optimistic to me. I’m pretty sure that all those praying for him are having an effect so keep on focusing good thoughts his direction.

Now for some photos to end the day …

Diane and I had PB&J sandwiches, Ziva got the empty jar. That sounds mean, I’m sure, but she loved it.

Just another ho-hum sunset on the Oregon Coast.

Ziva investigating miles and miles of driftwood.

Taking a break, guarding Mom’s Peeps.

Nap time …

Back home to the overgrown yard. Thankfully the little yellow flowers are back. I was afraid they wouldn’t show up this year for some reason. Silly me, because they always show up. The trick is to keep them mowed down so they don’t turn into those fuzzy things that fly seeds everywhere. My up-wind neighbors don’t do that.

These always show up, too. More and more each year.

So do the peonies.

Then there’s Alice, the neighbor’s yorkie, in a standoff with one of their chickens. Alice chased the chicken all the way home, then back to the same spot. Fun to watch. I think the chicken has fun with it.

Then Jennifer sent these to share … Ceierra, Lydia’s best friend, and her new prom dress.

And Lydia in her prom dress.

Quite stunning for a couple of jocks.

I didn’t get a photo of Jeran giving his testimony yesterday evening at the Junior High Youth Group at his church, but I can tell you it was a very emotional story about how and when he found his faith in God. He will be 17 next month and knows pretty much exactly what his future will be. We’re very proud of him.

Cheers.

2017 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

Hey! Is anyone watching the ladies play, or are you dedicated to the men’s teams?

Well, in case you weren’t paying attention today, both the University of Oregon and Oregon State University lady’s basketball teams advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2017 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. I think the Beavers have been there before, but this is the first time ever for the Oregon Ducks.

The Ducks beat Duke on their home floor giving them their first home loss of the season. Making it even sweeter was the way the team responded after a Duke player intentionally ran down an Oregon player on her way to the huddle during a time out. Totally avoidable.

Now we get to see where it goes from here. In the end, if a team other than UCONN wins, it will be a surprise.

Oh, ya. The Oregon Ducks men’s team is also in the Sweet 16 of the male version of the tournament.

March Madness

Posted on March 17, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

I have a question for all you sports nuts out there.

When you think, or hear about “March Madness,” what comes to mind?

I’m betting that the majority of anyone who followed NCAA sports will say it’s all about the NCAA men’s basketball playoffs. I do even though I know all about the other aspect of this craziness and the more I think about it the more I think how unfair it is. College and University women’s basketball teams are also competing for their championship at t his time but you don’t hear a lot about it in the media. It’s all about the guys. Always has been.

If I were King, I’d be working to make it a more even playing field because I find that watching the ladies play their sports is quite often more enjoyable than watching the boys play.

There. I’ve said it.

March Madness, Softball, and a Puppy

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Jerrie Cate

The games have already begun and according to the bracket I made here I’m already a loser. Well, some may say I was already a loser for various other things I’ve said and done, but I’m thinking I don’t really care about that. But the brackets … Only two games played so far and I missed on both. Now I can only hope that none of my picks win so I’ll still have a nice clean bracket of choices, all with little ‘x’s’ in a circle to indicate the loss. My one consolation with regard to this is that ‘Bing’ lost both of them, too.

I’m guessing that many of you couldn’t care less about NCAA basketball. That’s kind of me, too, until this time of year when things get exciting. It’s way more fun than watching the pros play. My opinion, of course.

It’s still raining here, but we did have one glorious day of sunshine when we drove to Eugene to watch the lovely Maryssa Santi play some fast pitch softball for Eastern Oregon University. It’s like God looked down on us and decided to give us a nice day to sit in the sun and watch the games. They played four games over two days (Sunday & Monday) and won all four. We only got to watch 1 and 3/4 of those games, but it was fun.

Lydia brought her new family member, Kylo, along for the 2.5 hour ride because he’s only 5 weeks old and is hard to put down. He’s kinda cute. This is Matt holding him, trying to keep him calm. Yeah, like that’s a problem because he sleeps about 90% of the time.

On the way, Lydia gnawed on the breakfast burrito she bought at Muchas Gracias before we picked up her and her Mom, Jennifer for the ride. I probably could have eaten one of those, too, but no one asked. I’ve had them before and they are really good.

EOU won the first game 7-4 and they were ahead 7-1 when we had to leave during the late innings of the 2nd game. They won that one, too, 9-5. On Monday EOU won 10-1 and 1-0 (I think). It was a good trip for the girls to win all four games on the road like that.

Now, back to the puppy …

Here’s Maryssa #10, 2nd base … she’s a junior at EOU.

Here’s Steffani, Maryssa’s Mom, Bob’s Wife, My Brother’s Daughter …

Here’s Maryssa and Lydia, Diane (in the hat), and Jennifer …

And that pretty much covers the trip. The puppy slept through the 5 hour trip, interrupted by a couple of softball games during which he was adored, and held, by all the pretty girls who walked by. Guys seem to be more immune to puppy cuteness than girls.

Lucky dog.

Kylo joins Solo (a big dog) and Boba the cat. Perhaps you can sense the ‘Star Wars’ theme for the Walter’s Family Pets.

Golf, Our Furnace, and Golf

Posted on October 25, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

So, I played another bad 9-hole round of golf today and had a great time with my former classmates, JP and Doug. I also played an enormously bad 18-hole round of golf last Saturday with a fellow named Dennis, and two former classmates, Jim and Doug and had a great time doing that, also. Although I had great fun golfing badly on those two days, I came away with new knowledge that will affect the future of golfing efforts. The main takeaway from those two days of bad golf is that my current body will not tolerate more than 9-holes of golf on any given day. Swinging a club, and looking for my balls for 18-holes, on the same day, is just too demanding for many parts of me. In order of importance, the parts that suffer most are my shoulders, and my egos.

Before you get all technical on me, I’m aware that my ego isn’t technical a part of my anatomy. I’m also aware that most people do not have more than one ego. So, the only part of that really hurts is my shoulder – the right one, to be more specific. My ego just gets a bit bruised from doing badly, but the company I keep makes up for that. By doing 18 holes, like Jimbo does on a regular basis, both my should and ego suffer more. By only golfing for nine holes, the damage is halved and far less painful and I heal in half the time.

Sorry. That went way farther than I intended it to go, but think I made my point that I will probably not be signing up for rounds of 18 in the future. Nine is the limit, I’m afraid.

Yesterday Ryan, from Columbia NW Heating, in Scappoose, paid us a visit to give our furnace a once over before the snow starts flying. I’m sharing this simply because I want all those other husbands out there to know how important it is to listen to their respective wives and to pay really good attention when they add tasks to your personal calendar, like “Jerrie Cleans.”

The first time that showed up on my calendar I admit I was a bit concerned about what I was supposed to clean because as stated, it’s very ambiguous, leaving too much room for interpretation which in turn provides too many chances for doing a terrible thing, like cleaning the wrong thing, in this instance. So, ignoring my male instinct to continue forward without asking directions, I asked for clarification.

“It means that’s the day you are supposed to clean the furnace filters,” I was told.

“Oh,” I replied. “But it only says ‘Jerrie Cleans’ on my calendar.”

“Really?” she said. “You really didn’t click on it to see the entire entry?”

“No,” I replied. “I thought it might be a test to see if I would ask for help, so I did. Did I pass?”

“No,” she said, “you didn’t pass,” then turned to her computer and got busy on the keyboard. Presently I heard a ding and a notice that the calendar had been changed. All those entries for the 25th of each month now read “Jerrie – Filters.”

Problem solved. Since then I’ve been faithfully cleaning the furnace filters on the 25th of every month, whether they need it or not. Actually, they always need come cleaning because of the animals that run in and out of our home all the time. In the summer I use my air compressor to blow out all the dust most of the time, but other times I use my power washer. When I do that, I use the compressor to dry them off. There are a couple of pieces of the filter that look kinda like a honeycomb which takes an incredibly long time to dry so I only use the power washer on them on really hot days so I can leave them in the sun to dry.

The main purpose for sharing all this filter cleaning task is to report that Ryan, the furnace technician, told both Diane and I, right out loud so we could hear him clearly, that our filters were the cleanest of any furnace he’s ever serviced. I asked him to repeat it to ensure Diane heard him because I thought that was pretty significant but she heard it the first time. The cleanest filters in Ryan’s service territory. Wow! Diane went right to the calendar on the refrigerator and put a gold star on it. It was awesome because I don’t get many gold stars, just mainly silver and red ones. The last time I got a gold one was when I remembered to take the garbage out every Monday evening for an entire month without being told.

Thankfully, since the furnace was essentially overhauled yesterday, I didn’t have to clean them today. Now I can relax for another month.

To end, I will share a few photos I’ve taken over the past few days …

This is Dennis. When I first saw him it was about this angle and my heart skipped a bit because with just a glance he looked a lot like my older brother, Lyle, God Rest His Soul. Kinda spooky.

This is for Jewel because she likes weird fungi. This is a rare R2D2 fungus that only grows on the Wildwood golf course.

The remainder of the Saturday foursome … Me, Jim, and Doug.

This is what the sky showed us before I left to golf this morning. Looks like aliens are looking for something.

I’ve been meaning to clean out my golf bag for a while because it was getting kind of heavy. That, and I was looking for a bag of tall tees that I used to have. I didn’t find the tees, but I found all of these balls.

Here’s Doug who was so excited about all those leaves that he got out a bag so he could take some home since he doesn’t have many of his own. Actually, that’s a towel and he’s preparing to pick up his ball and wipe the mud off of it. He’s got many acres of trees that drop leaves like this so he doesn’t need to import any. It’s really pretty on the course this time of year, but finding a ball amongst all those leaves is a real challenge. We generally find them.

Just a look at trees on the course. We like this time of year because it’s easier to hit a ball through trees that don’t have leaves.

I suspect that’s enough trees for now.

Day 29 – The Trip Home and Senior Night Soccer

Posted on October 19, 2016 by Jerrie Cate

The evening before we left, Ruth called to wish us a safe trip home. We missed the call because neither of us had our phone sound off. When Diane discovered this she called Ruth back and they had a nice talk during which I heard Diane say, more than once, “Oh, no!” This got me interested so I listened a little harder and determined that something bad had happened, but it wasn’t a health issue. What happened was, while Ruth was working with Ovide, preparing tons of food for a Lions International event, someone broke into her house and stole all her jewelry. Nothing big was removed, just small stuff that could easily be carried. They also emptied all of her dresser drawers onto the floor. She discovered the break-in when she returned home from her exhausting day at 2200. The police were summoned and now she must fight her insurance company for just compensation.

We got up at 0415 to sweep the room for personal belongings, get checked out, and get to the rental place before 0600. We beat the 0600 deadline fo turning the car in by 15 minutes but that wasn’t really difficult because the Norfolk Airport was only 6 miles away.

After the car was checked in, and unloaded, Diane asked the Dollar Rental Car Guy is there was a shuttle to the terminal. He looked at her and said, “It’s a 2-minute walk”, and pointed to a path, “right through there.” Indeed, we could actually see the terminal from where we stood, but hurking all those suitcases in the dark just didn’t appeal. Still, we shouldered the bags with handles, and got the suitcases ready for that 2-minute walk.

Just then a really nice Dollar Rental Car Lady, from Georgia, came to get the car and said, “You can’t walk to the terminal in the dark. You never know what can happen. Get in the car and I’ll take you to there.” So, we put all the luggage back in the car and she drove us to the American terminal. It was an unexpected act of kindness, but we wished she had appears about 10 minutes earlier, when all the luggage was still in the car.

At the terminal, I requested an upgrade to First Class, and was prepared to pay whatever it cost. But, since we used air miles for the original seat, it couldn’t be upgraded. But. the second leg from Chicago home was already First Class so the apparently qualified us to get First Class treatment for our luggage. We were able to check all four bags for free, even the overweight one.

The Norfolk to Chicago leg was on a much smaller passenger plane than we’ve encountered during our travels. There were only six First Class seats (three of them remained empty for the flight), and the coach seating was two seats on either side of the center aisle. Cozy. The big plus was that there was far more leg room on this little guy than we had on the big one from Chicago to Bradley on the way over. Interesting. It was comfortable so we were just fine. Plus, it was only a two-hour trip.

In Chicago we spent about half of our 1-hour layover in the USO lounge, and the other half walking the 2 miles from Gate G-7 to Gate K-5. The Rotunda, where the USO is, was on the way so it was convenient. I ate a bagel and Diane had a banana while waiting.

We arrived at K-5 just in time to sit down for about 30 seconds before they called the First Class folks to board. So we did. We had seats 3B and 3C which turned out to be the front row on the right side of the plane. We had all the room we needed to stretch out and enjoy the flight. The food sucked and the service was good, but the food sucked. Did I mention that the food sucked? Everything except the shrimp. The shrimp didn’t suck. Fortunately, I got to eat all of those.

Regarding the food … when the flight attendant got to our row, in the front, she explained that, since we were flying West, she had to start serving from the back of First Class so she was all out of the Roasted Chicken Salad. All she had left was the Cheese Ravioli’s in White Sauce. Diane explained that she was lactose intolerant and could not eat the raviolis and would just have to go hungry. The flight attendant said, “maybe I have a solution,” then left for the flight deck. She returned with the First Officer’s salad and gave it to Diane telling her that she owed the First Officer a big thank you. Really? The reason for the shortage, we learned, was because First Class passengers can pre-order their meals on-line. Nifty for those who know. It worked out, however, and we were both fed. The ravioli’s sucked, but I ate them anyway. I may have mentioned that already. Part of the problem with the ravioli’s is that I just don’t like them to begin with and they were just worse because there was no meat inside of them. Just cheese. The wrong kind of cheese. I know, I should just be grateful that I had something to eat, and I truly was. So, perhaps, the food really didn’t suck. Maybe I just didn’t care for it. The shrimp made up for whatever was wrong with the rest of it that I didn’t like.

Once we were airborne out of Chicago Diane and I plugged our little Apple ear buds into the plane’s system and watched “Central Intelligence”. It was a funny movie and we both laughed right out loud a few times. I suspect we woke up the guy across the aisle from us more than once but he didn’t complain. After the movie we both read for a bit then napped, and when we looked out the little window and saw this, we knew we must be close.

When the plane finally made it to the terminal, and we stepped inside, we were happy campers. When we discovered where the terminal was located with respect to the baggage claim area, we weren’t happy campers. But, we trudged on. I thought we’d be in pretty good shape because it appeared that we were just down the road from where the Alaska planes come and go, and that was essentially true. But we weren’t “just down the road.” We were “waaay down the road.” Matter of fact, I’m sure that the walk from the very tippy end of the American terminal to the baggage area accounted for about 2 miles of the 3.5 miles we walked in airports this day. Really.

I’m basing this claim on the fact that we travelled down three (3), count them, three moving walk-ways that are separated by about 50 yards and are each about 100 yards long. Then, once we made it down to the baggage claim area we had to walk all the way to carousel 9, there are 10 of them. The escalators from the gates drops folks off between 2 and 3. As we continued, and finished this epic trip I couldn’t help but think that we were being subjected to some form of punishment that those who ride American Airlines airplanes are subjected to on a routine basis. In Portland, Alaska Airlines is just a short hop and a skip from where they land to where they drop the luggage, on carousel 2 and/or 3.

There is a plus side to the baggage area, I must admit. Once the carousel started turning, in the wrong (clockwise) direction, of all the bags that came out of the little shute in the wall, our four were in the first 10 bags. Amazing! That’s never happened to us before. We’ve always had to wait until everyone else got theirs before ours showed up. We chalked this up to the bright orange PRIORITY labels the lady in Norfolk attached to the baggage claim tags on all four bags. That was huge.

Once we got the bags, we trundled our way outside to await our lovely daughter, Jennifer. She had snagged Diane’s truck the previous day in preparation for picking us up. When we hit the ground we texted her, letting her know that we would be at the American terminal, not Alaska – they are at opposite ends, as I mentioned. At that time she was on her sixth trip around past the arrival terminals. By the time she parked in front of us she was just completing her tenth circuit of the airport. It was good because the truck is bigger than she’s used to so it gave her lots of time to get used to driving it in heavy traffic. This guy must have been in a hurry to go fishing with whoever he was picking up. Interesting.

Jennifer did a terrific job and got us home safe and sound. Well, almost home. Diane wanted to stop at Means Nursery so she could get some roses for Lydia, Ceiarra, and Nina (a Denmark exchange student). They are the only seniors on the team and tonight was Senior Night.

Our Lydia …

Lydia, Nina, and Ceiarra …

Our arrival home was heralded by the happy barks of our three dogs, and cold weather. After enjoying mid-70 weather for the past month it feels like it’s about 12 degrees here. The cat couldn’t care less that we were home and just walked away. After all the excitement, and all of them had been properly scratched and petted, Jewel returned from her trip to DMV where she had registered her “new” vehicle. She did a great job of keeping the animals healthy and the flowers fed with her broken wrist. Thankfully, she had help from The Walters clan when needed. Like for opening cans, tearing tops off of packages, using scissors, etc. She resorted to eating food that didn’t need to be cut up so she could feed herself.

Back to soccer, sadly, our girls lost 2-0. Our girls weren’t playing together very well and allowed the Hillsboro strikers too much freedom. Both goals got past Lydia, who played the first half of the game. The first one was kicked from about the 25-yard line and players were blocking the ball from Lyd’s view. The ball sayed low and by the time she saw it there wasn’t much she could do, but she made a heroic dive worthy of a game highlite. Previous to that, she blocked many close shots on goal from strikers who got by the St. Helens defense. It was amazing to watch. She took at least three hard kicked balls directly into her body and caught them. She also blocked many others away from the goal to her team mates. Additionally, the Hillsboro team missed many kicks wide of the goal so it was just a matter of time before they scored. It was one of those games that could easily have been 12-0, but our Keepers held strong. Another plus at the soccer game was seeing Daniel, Jeran, and Dan’s Mom, Linda, and friends Jacqui and Georgie. Georgie is a recent SHHS graduate, friend of Lydia’s, and a total Girl Soccer Stud.

When the game was over both Diane and I were exhausted, both from watching the game, and because we had been up since 0100 local time – about 18 hours which is far too long for old people.

So, to bed we went, and we didn’t wake up until 0800 …

… Eastern time.

Guess we’re back on the dog’s schedule just that quick.

Dang.