“Jerrie!” you might exclaim, “where in the heck have you been?” Then again, you might not even know I’ve been missing from this mortal plane and are now wondering why I postulated that you may be concerned about my absence.

Well, let me tell ya, even if you aren’t overly concerned …

Over the past seven days I’ve actually been very busy doing “stuff” around the house. Of most interest, to those of you who follow the saga of my life, though you may not realize that’s what you’re doing, the bathroom renovation my ring a bell. That’s the most recent project I’ve been working on and it’s been going on for about three months. I know that’s true because Diane points it out once in a while. The overall plan is to progress through the house one room at a time and do what’s necessary to ‘fix’ what may be wrong and replace what may be missing.

With regard to the bathroom, my bathroom, that’s where my attention has been focused the past seven days. Actually, my attention has been focused there for the past three months but, like normal, ‘things’ kept interfering with my concentration and ability to sustain continuity in the completion of one, single project. Such is the way of my life, as well you know. Or, maybe you don’t. Perhaps you are one of the random 2 or 3 people a month who stumble onto this site thinking you will learn something. At this point I must admit that my intent here isn’t to impart knowledge. Instead, this is where I unload my brain in an attempt to see what’s in there. Using this venue allows me to see, for myself, the results. As my fingers flitter across the keyboard of my trusty little laptop, I never know what’s going to appear on the screen. Most of the time it’s a huge surprise because I didn’t know that what I just read was floating around in there. So, I guess you could say this is one of the ways I entertain myself. That, and take naps after breakfast.

Back to the bathroom …

Over the past seven days I painted it twice. The first time I used grey but after a couple of days I decided it was the wrong color so I painted it blue. It’s the same shade of blue as the blue painter’s tape. Festive, and it covers nicely. But, I didn’t paint all the walls blue, only three of them. Now I must do the white. Today is the day, I believe.

I would have had it all done over the weekend if Diane hadn’t decided to contract Shingles. I’m sad that she did that, not only because I didn’t get the bathroom finished, but mainly because she’s in so much pain that I can hardly stand it. Shingles are brutal, and that’s a dumb name for something this bad. It’s truly the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus which gave the recipient chicken pox in their youth. Some scientist, probably on steroids, decided to call the adult version shingles for some odd reason, and wouldn’t budge when his co-workers tried to talk him out of it. He became violent to the point where the other scientists backed down and let him have his way. Secretly, however, they call it ‘herpes zoster’ when they think he isn’t listening.

Anyway, Diane’s got them bad. She had a bad cold for the past two weeks, coughing and coughing to the point where she though she had dislocated a rib. Turns out this pain, which we had for about a week, was shingles trying to reach the surface. The first spots appeared Friday but she blamed them on the cat, thinking an errant flea escaped. Saturday she wandered around town with her Mom, Jean, going to the store for grocery’s, while I painted the bathroom blue. By Sunday morning it was more of a rash and starting to get painful, but we went to church anyway.

On the way home from church we stopped at KFC to cook lunch and brought it to our house where the three of us ate it all up. After eating, the conversation turned toward the odd rash on Diane’s stomach and she had her Mom look at it. Being older and wiser, Mom immediately said, “Shingles,” and told Diane she needed to go to urgent care. Now!

They bundled up and headed for the door, leaving me home alone to manage the dogs. It was deemed an unnecessary risk for me to tag along since I wasn’t sick and going to urgent care opened up a lot of possibilities for catching a variety of ailments. So, I stayed.

Being Sunday, I didn’t work while I waited. I just waited and waited, and waited some more. Presently, however, Diane returned with a bag of pills and news that Shingles was the correct diagnosis. She actually returned much sooner than I expected. A normal trip to urgent care is 4 hours. She was back in about 1.5 hours with the news that when she arrived around 2pm, there was absolutely no one in the waiting room. That’s totally unheard of. She didn’t have to wait at all. The doctor, Dr. Anderson, told her it was good she came in because had she waited until Monday she would have been in dire straits because of the pain. Going Sunday allowed her to get started on pain killers right away to help minimize the discomfort. Since the varicella-zoster virus rears it’s ugly head when one’s immune system is compromised, it probably struck as Diane struggled with the cold.

So, here I sit. Watching her writhe in pain every 30 minutes or so, even with the pain killers. Me, who as a child suffered only through the 3-day measles. I’ve not had chicken pox, mumps, or any of the other common childhood diseases. I’m blessed. But, not I’m on high alert because it’s reported that I can easily contract shingles through a simple, careless act, like touching Diane. So I don’t. I keep my distance. I do, however, wait on her hand and foot, and actually pray to God to let me bear the pain. So far that hasn’t happened because He knows she can handle it much better than I ever could. I’m a whiner. It would never work.

We have another week of her being contagious, but she has at least another two weeks of dealing with the pain.

Now I’m going to go paint the bathroom again.

Today I had to make a trip to the VA Hospital in Portland to see a dermatologist. There are always “iffy” things growing on my face which disturb Diane so I thought it would be a good idea to go. It was an early trip, too, and Diane is, hopefully, in the final stages of a head and chest cold. She’s coughed so much, and so hard, that she thinks she ripped a rib out of place.

Anyway, we had to get up at 0630. That’s not something we’ve done in a long time. And, I had to put clothes on because she wouldn’t let me go in my jammies. I don’t know what the problem is with that because I see folks running all over town in jammies. They’re comfortable. But, real clothes were deemed necessary. I complied. Like I always do.

I had my morning banana on which I found a cute little sticker that read “Stick me to your forehead and smile”. So I did. Diane didn’t smile back. It was too early. When I got in the car she told me to take it off.

The trip to Portland wasn’t bad for the time of day because we missed most of the early rush. She didn’t plan to go into the hospital because she didn’t want to take any chances of getting something worse than a chest cold. I totally understand that. So, she just dropped me out front and we agreed that I would text her (on my iPad since I forgot my phone) when I was done.

I was directed to the dermatology area, got checked in, and sat down to read my book while waiting to be called. It didn’t take long before I was sitting in a private room waiting for the doctor.

When she came in she pointed to my forehead and asked what that was. Reaching up I discovered the sticker I’d placed there at home. Smack in the middle of my forehead. I’d wandered through the hospital, checked in with a guy named Joe, got placed in my room, and no one said a thing about it. I gues they just thought I was one more crazy guy roaming the halls of the VA facility. There are a few of those. Maybe next time I’ll stick on the one that reads “I’m full of vitamins”.

Maybe the most disturbing thing about that was it didn’t really bother me at all. I just rmeoved the sticker then the doc got her ‘freeze’ gun out and zapped about 15 spots all across my forehead, including the really big, harmless, mole that bothered Diane. It was starting to look like a little brain so I can understand her concern.

Now I have red spots that look lots worse than the banana sticker. Maybe I’ll get some Hello Kitty bandaids and cover them all up. Wouldn’t that be festive.

Now I need to get ready for our church council meeting. I’m in charge. Scary, huh?

Oh the innocence of youth, when everything is bright, new, and attitudes are seemingly untainted …

… and how quickly it can change when they express themselves in interesting ways when they think we’re not looking …

This is for Jennifer & Steffani

I made a resolution this year to do just as little as possible and it’s working out OK. Other than helping Diane, who has a terrible head cold, I’ve managed to make it through three days this year without getting out of my jammies.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t done some actual work, because I did finish my bathroom and it’s ready for painting. After spiffing up the shower, making everything shine like new, I’ve been making sure to wipe it down after every shower, when I take a shower, if I take a shower.

Actually, that was another resolution … any day that I sweat, I take a shower. Sitting on the couch all day doesn’t make me sweat, so showers aren’t necessary. If I play my cards right, I can go days without showering. Saves lots of water. That means I must do everything very slowly so as not to exert myself too much, causing sweat to pop up.

Today Diane beat me up. She was up at 0730 but I didn’t get up until 0800. She was wrapped up in a couple of blankets because she’s so cold, and I have to admit it’s cold in the house since we lost two layers of shingles last September. Might have to spring for another layer of insulation. Or two, perhaps. Anyway, I toasted a raisen bagel for her and a plain one for myself, then we sat on the couch and watched a movie. Once the movie was over, I fell asleep and didn’t get up until around noon, after the stew Diane made was done. I think she put something in my water so I’d leave her alone and not ask if I could help with whatever she was doing every time she turned around. She gets testy, but I really do want to help her.

We watched another movie while we ate stew, then I took another nap, I think. Maybe she put something in my drink, again. Either way, I was unconscious for a while. Now I’m awake and thinking about getting a cup of coffee, but know that wouldn’t be a good idea, so I won’t. Diane’d get mad at me for even thinking about it at this time of night.

Earlier, when I first woke up, I sat there with my eyes closed and watched all the activity going on behind my eyelids for a while. It’s pretty amazing. Everything is moving all the time making it very difficult to ‘see’ what any one thing is. It’s very kaleidoscopic with one thing turning into another, over and over with nothing repeated. I tried very hard to concentrate in an attempt to slow things down so I could see just one thing and all I ever got, even right now, is the kaleidoscope with an overlay of Diane’s high school graduation picture. That’s the only thing that holds still for me.

OK. I guess that’s enough to confuse everyone, so I’ll stop. Just try and describe what you see when you close your eyes. It’s hard to do. For me, any way.

Cheers

Here it is, the last day of 2012, and, once again, for like the 57th time in my life, I wonder where all the time went. Unless I think really, really hard, there are no defining events to fill that seemingly lost void. Most people are lucky and can just fill it without even thinking about it, but not me. The whirl wind in my brain doesn’t provide me with many coherent images unless I sit and concentrate. I have to sit to do that because concentrating on the swirling pictures, while doing something else, leads to injuries and trips to the emergency room. I know that’s true. Ask Diane. Now I’m going to trust my calendar to be correct and give an in-depth review of our year … I suspect everything to follow was mentioned in one blog entry or another, but I’m not going to look …

January

The first day of 2012 found us waking up at the Hillcrest Inn in Seaside. We picked that place because we live on Hillcrest Road and thought it would be fun. It actually was, although we stayed in one of the oddest rooms we’ve ever had at a hotel or motel. But, it was right next to the board walk. Somewhere I have photographic evidence of us on the boardwalk, on a sunny January 1st, but it will not reveal itself at this time. You’ll just have to trust me on that. On the 21st Tiana attained princess status by turning 16. January came to a crashing end when our furnace died on the 30th.

February

The new furnace was installed on February 3rd so we lived, oddly, in the living room with the fireplace running while waiting for the install date. We ate lots of sugary things to take our minds off being chilly. On the 23rd we joined our Winnebago friends at the Cannon Beach RV Resort for a few days of frolicking. It was cold, rainy, and miserable, but we still had a great time.

March

On the 3rd we headed south for a week at a resort in Carlsbad, CA. It was located just above Lego Land Resort so all or my sunset pictures have remnants of huge Lego toys in them. It wasn’t too bad except for all the children screaming on the Lego roller coaster rides. Thankfully, we couldn’t hear them with the windows closed. From Carlsbad we drove to Las Vegas for another week at a Hilton resort. While there we went to two shows … Cirque du Soleil for “O”, and then to the Donny & Marie show. I’m sure we would have really enjoyed that show but, thankfully, it was cancelled for some unnamed reason, and we had to settle for another choice suggested by the concierge. It was the “Las Vegas Show”. We had excellent seats and found it to be one of the most enjoyable shows we’ve ever seen. That’s the reason for the “thankfully”, above. We would have liked to have seen Donny & Marie, but the Las Vegas Show was a stellar alternative. On the way home from Las Vegas we stopped in Nampa for a visit with big brother Jim and family for a couple of days. We made it home in time for Lydia’s 13th birthday which is on the 26th.

April

April brought us Jeran’s 12th birthday on the 11th, and then we had an opportunity to reimburse the US Government for all the blessings they’ve provided to us, and to everyone else in the world, during 2011. They do that on Jim’s birthday, every year. If I was Jim, I’d change my birthday to the 14th, or the 16th, but he won’t. On the 19th we fired up the Winnebago and headed for the Hoodfest in Hood River. This is an annual event for the Winnebago folks and we enjoy it a great deal. On the 20th we celebrated Ruth’s birthday by also celebrating Diane’s and my 44th wedding anniversary. After that it was just birthday, after birthday … Logan on the 25th, and his little sister Baylee on the 30th.

May

Daniel turned another year on the 1st, beating me by 19 days. So, I guess that makes him older than me, though I’m sure he, and most everyone else in the world, would disagree. On the 16th we drove the Winnebago to Moses Lake, WA where we, and five other classic ‘Bagos, spent a week surrounded by really, really big, expensive Winnebago motor homes. One of them tipped the scales at around $500K. The more “common” ones only cost a couple hundred grand. Nice rigs. We left for home on my birthday, the 20th, and arrived on the 21st, Jeff’s birthday, and Gram’s mammy gram on the 22nd. That same week we received word that big brother Lyle had passed away. Not a surprise, but not welcome, either. Diane and I made plans to take off right away to attend the funeral, picking up Jim on the way. Yes, we were going to drive. Events changed those plans when Donna broke her arm, and Diane’s mom received notice that she need to have a biopsy as the result of her mammy gram. Jack couldn’t make the trip, so Diane decided that I should go alone to represent the West Coast. Not being trusted to drive that far all by myself, she bought me a round trip plane ticket which allowed me to arrive at, and depart from, Bradley Field near Windsor Locks, CT, my ultimate destination. Niece Susan offered to pick me up at the airport, but had to attend a wake for a family friend on the way. I spent a week with Ruth, Lyle’s wife, with the thought that I’d get her through the rough spots, but her family did that in spades. She was never alone the entire time I was there. That was good because I got to know them better. I love them all.

June

Sadly, Lyle & Ruth’s anniversary was the 2nd but the “sadly” part was replaced with happiness when Heather & Justin were married in Sarasota Springs, NY. Since Heather is Ruth’s granddaughter her attendance was mandatory. Since I wasn’t trusted to stay alone in Connecticut, I had to go, too. Turns out my presence was useful because I escorted the bride’s Mom, Cheryl, in for the ceremonies. I was asked to do it for two reasons … she didn’t want to walk alone, and she didn’t want to fall off her high heels. I was pleased, and honored to be included. I flew back home on the 4th to my lovely bride. For Cedric’s 15th birthday on the 13th we took him to lunch on the 11th. We told him we’d take him to lunch anywhere he wanted to go. He made it easy on us by choosing Fultano’s in Scappoose. On the 14th, Bob, Steffani, and Maryssa arrived for a visit so Maryssa could participate in a softball event in Portland. It was good to have them here and the local kids (Cedric, Jeran, and Lydia) were very happy to have time to visit with Maryssa. Then we drove the Winnebago to South Beach State Park for the last week of the month. Word came to us that the mosquito population in that area was starving and we felt compelled to help in any way we could. So, we fed them. A lot. Actually, Diane fed them a lot. They only feed on me when I’m alone.

July

Daniel & Jennifer’s marriage turned 17 on the 1st. Hard to believe our baby has been married that long. Then Jeff’s Heather had a 30-something birthday on the 6th, and their baby, Jerrie Anne Diane, was 1 on the 15th. On the 19th thru the 22nd we camped with the Walters at Big Eddy Park. Topping off the month, Niecey Susan turned 28, I think, on the 28th. She started doing that a couple of years ago and liked being 28 on the 28th so has decided to retain that number forever. It’s a good number.

August

My 50th High School class reunion was on the 4th & 5th. We saw folks that we haven’t seen since graduation! It was awesome. One of them was little Eddie Decker who has been a tenured professor at Oral Roberts University for a number of years. Dr. Eddie. Who’d thunk it? He’s truly one of the good guys. Diane’s Mom, Jean, had a birthday on the 8th, but we didn’t celebrate until the 11th. Instead, on the 8th, she, Diane, and Ozzie all got their hair done. They use the same stylist so having concurrent appointments simplifies things. We spent the 14th thru the 17th at LL Stubb Stewart Sate Park with Jennifer, Daniel, Cedric, and Jeran. Lydia was at camp. Diane went to the dentist on the 20th.

September

Ocean Park was our roost from the 6th to the 9th when we visited to attend the Rod Run To The End Of The World. It’s pretty incredible … pretty cars and trucks everywhere. Our friends, Gary & Cindy, showed their 1968 VW camper. It’s quite a ride. While we were gone, Joe Mayer gave a presentation on I Love Lucy at our small little church in Warren. Joe and his twin played “Little Ricky” on that show in the early 50’s. He is employed at PGE in Portland where I worked with him for almost 20 years. He’s a wonderful geek. On the 17th I ordered rocks and a motorized scoop rig to move them into the ditch I dug over the past several months that will move water coming down the hill from the front of our house and out of our driveway, and out of our basement. Jack had surgery on the 14th and is well and happy. Our roof was replaced over the course of 3 days, 20-22, and after a day of rest we embarked on our trip to San Diego on the 24th. First stop was Medford, then on to Beale AFB, and NAS Lemoore, arriving at the 32nd Street Naval Base Navy Lodge on the 26th where we stayed the remainder of the month for the USS Dennis J. Buckley (DD-808) reunion, visiting with old shipmates from this ship that was decommissioned in 1973. I was aboard 1964-66 when the ship was only 20 years old. One shipmate who attended was aboard in 1948.

October

Ship’s crew of DD-808 took a tour bus to Point Loma, stopping at the National Cemetery to honor our lost shipmates. Then we went back to town and dropped everyone off at the USS Midway museum at the foot of Broadway. It was noon, and our two bus loads of people descended on the small fan tail cafe enmasse. We did not warn them because we though, perhaps, some of them would choose one of the eateries ashore. Big mistake. DD-808 crew members, and their wives, kept the 3-4 person crew hopping for a couple of hours. Diane and I ate much later, but still caught a little friendly flack from the cashier. We earned it. On the 2nd, we all took a 2 hour harbor cruise of the San Diego harbor. It was totally awesome for us, and all the old guys who haven’t been around the navy for many, many years. On the 3rd we celebrated with everyone at the old 32nd Street Chief Petty Officer club which is now a lunch place, 5 days a week. We had our own room with access to the all you can eat prime rib feast. It was a great ending to the past few days with these old guys. We left San Diego on the 5th and motored to Mesa, AZ to visit with Gene & Shirley for a few days. Then it was on to Kanab, UT, Hill AFB, then Nampa, where we spent a couple of days before returning home. We had to get home before the 23rd, Jennifer’s birthday, because we always seem to be gone on that day. That was the important part of the month.

November

Diane started working on the Election Counting Board this month, something she’s done for a number of years now. She loves it. They love her. She’s a good counter. On the 8th I had an EMG test at the VA given by a nazi Dr. with needles. He hates people and likes to make the writhe in pain. All the sticks were in my right leg, which gave the proper readings that avoided his need to stab me in the back. The 22nd found us gathered around our dining room table for a great Thanksgiving Feast with all of our family. Diane and her mom, Jean, had their hairs cut on the 28th. Ozzie declined to go.

December

This month was more than a whirl wind … I had a dreaded MRI on the 5th, which I miraculously survived, then on the 9th Jim & I decided we should go to Arizona. We had to be there before the 15th, to surprise Jack & Wynette for their 50th. So, it was Nampa, ID on the 11th; Ely, NV on the 12th; Nellis AFB, NV on the 13th; and Surprise, AZ on the 14th. We headed home on the 18th, stopping once at Ely then driving to Nampa on the 19th and home on the 20th (Diane’s birthday). The temp leaving Ely dropped to -19 degrees. Yes, that’s a “minus”. Jennie left a birthday cake for her Mom in our refrigerator so we had something to eat when we got here. What a gal. The last event of the month was Ozzie’s Poodledo on the 27th. For the rest of the month, calendar events are just vague, repeating messages reminding me to take my pills. Oh, and today is the 31st, and we got our first snow of the winter this afternoon. It was a glorious day.

This is the sunrise this morning …

… and this is the way the day ended …

That’s a wrap for 2012. You should be totally bored by now. Me? In looking at all that and I’m amazed by how many trips we took. We were gone from home about 88 days which means it’s good to get social security so we could pay for all that gas.

Happy New Year to everyone …

Wonder what’s going to happen next year …

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 5,600 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 9 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.