Our Animals In General …

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Wow! You folks made my day and put me in a position where I’ll have to watch what I say from now on. At least eleventy-two, or three, people deemed it OK to waste a little time and read some of this stuff. It amazes me, every day, that people would actually do that. I’m sure you all have better things to do than to “listen” to an old man’s drivel. There were 54 of you. That’s second best to the entry where I told a bunch of lies about Twilight & Hunger Games. That one caught 102 people off guard. From that I learned the value of “titles”.

Yesterday we banished Ziva from our home. She made it clear she wanted to move out. So, we packed her a bag, tied it to her leash, and sent her on her way. She wasn’t sad, at all, because she only had to walk to the driveway and climb into Jeff’s vehicle for the trip to their house. Ziva has been sad since we got home because she missed her three little girls. That’s where she went to live. We have visitation rights, however, so it’s not a total separation.

Now, Panzee is sad. She hasn’t got anyone to argue with about the food supply. She wasn’t even interested in her food when I carried it into the living room for her. She just laid down beside it and flashed around her sad blue eyes. Poor puppy. Going outside isn’t interesting to her, either. That’s going to be a serious problem once she finishes the next bowl of water. Or, maybe she’s discovered a place to pee that we’ve yet to find. I’ll be sure to let you know.

Yesterday I was watching the bird feeder outside the kitchen window when a streak of black and white shot from the sidewalk at about a 70 degree angle and landed on the picket right under the feeder. It was, of course, Breezie working on her hunting skills. She missed, but I know she doesn’t miss all the time. She shared one of her “catches” by dropping it in the hall where we couldn’t miss it. Nice. At the bottom of the stairway to the yard, outside the kitchen door, it was evident someone had used the rug as a sacrificial altar to birds of the world. There were feathers pretty much everywhere, but no bird. We can’t categorically blame Breezie for the mess because there were no witnesses, but I have my suspicions. We’re not inclined to convict on circumstantial evidence so, for now, she’s still roaming free. But, I’m buildinging a cat jail. I’ll be curious to see what it looks like once I’m done.

Ozzie isn’t quite as vocal as he was before we tossed Ziva out. They both kind of fed off each other in the noise department. He Yaps instead of Barking like a real dog. I think he used to pretend he was barking, like Ziva, by miming her once he got her going. He’s very predictable when he initiates noise because he leaps from the back of the Man Room Couch, where he keeps watch on the front yard and street, at the slightest movement of grass, or figment of his imagination. We never see anything, but it works to get Ziva and Panzee to the front door to see what’s up. There are several people who live up our one-way street who take great care when walking by our house. Perhaps, now, we’ll be able to visit with them instead of restrain the dogs. We’ve been here for 5 years and hardly know any of them.

Here’s a new picture of Jerrie Anne, just for fun …

Why Did I Turn Down That Road?

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I believe all things have meaning. There have been many TV shows, and movies, over the years that speculate on this. Most recently, “Touch” has brought this home to me in great detail. We’re all interconnected in some manner that defies description, that cause us to turn down roads, or streets, that we do not normally travel. The end result of such detours always, in my experience, leads us into a situation where we have an opportunity to help someone. Or not. It’s a simple choice we make every waking day of our lives.

Generally, such events are not overtly evident, they happen in small ways. I could be as simple as stopping at a crosswalk on a busy street to allow someone to cross the street. They may have been waiting for a long time and, perhaps, late getting to an important meeting. By taking the detour, and stopping, you’ve added your signature to the overall scheme of things. You mattered. You had a choice. For that person, you made the right one.

I’m not spouting something new, but simply adding my little spin on how I perceive these life changing events. Diane and I have them all the time, perhaps because we tend to travel the path less travelled. Backroads, and side streets are our preferred method of getting from A to B, no matter where we go. Consequently, we’ve had an opportunity to slow down and see many things that make us undetrstand why we either turned where we did, or why we happened to be in the wrong lane, and had to either get off the road, or take a chance to get back into line.

During our long trip in 2010 several things happened to serve as evidence that things fall into place in a seemingly magical manner. Two come to mind.

One was a stop at a fast food facility to get a couple of breakfast sandwiches before heading down the road. When we received our order it was wrong. It was corrected, but they allowed us to keep the extra meal. As we pulled away from the drivethru, Diane turned down an alley instead of onto the road so we could stop and organize ourselves. Near where we stopped there was a gentleman of lesser means searching trashcans for something to eat. He came away with a paper plate with “something” on it and started walking by the car. Diane and I looked at each other, silently communicating the knowledge that this is why we went this way. She rolled down her window and offered this man the extra meal. He accepted it, then returned his plate to the garbage can. It was solid reinforcement that we’re hear for a reason. Had we not had the extra meal, we would have given him one of ours and gone back for another. Having it, however, simplified the process.

A second detour, caused by construction, forced us off the highway into a small town in Montana. We’d been travelling a while and had a destination planned, but we weren’t ready to stop so it was briefly upsetting when we had to exit. The disappointment was brief because along the exit road was a cemetery that had a section specifically for Veterans that had identical headstones, like Arlington. It was very striking and, after exchanging a knowing look, we stopped to take a walk. It was beautifully maintained, and having a separate section for Veterans made it all the more special to us. That’s no doubt because of our close affiliation with the military for so many years of our lives. We’ve never seen another cemetery like it, before or since. We believe we were taken to that location so we could see that cemetery and witness the honor this community bestowed upon their home town heros.

I have absolutely no doubt that each and every one of you have had similar experiences. Maybe you don’t think anything about why these things happen, and that’s OK. Maybe you do think about it and chalk it off to coincidence. That’s OK, too. Personally, I don’t think it’s coincidence, at all. I think that no matter which road you take, no matter where you are going, you will always encounter an opportunity to give someone a helping hand, to do something good, to make a difference. This makes me think think of an old saying that “it’s not the road you’re on, it’s the journey.”

I’m not special because I think about things like that – we’re all wired a little differently. Some no doubt think I have a few wires crossed. So do I, sometimes. But, I believe I can see just a little bit of the interconnectivity we all have.

If you look, so can you.

Why Naps Are Necessary

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Naps. Do you take them? If so, where do you take them? Generally, I don’t take them anywhere. I just leave them where I find them. Instead of “taking” them, I “have” them. Seriously, how can you “take” a nap when you can just ‘have” them? They’re free. But, it might be important to some folks to think they are getting away with something when they “take” one. When asked, some folks may say they “took” a nap, whereas I “had” one. Those who “took” a nap undoubtedly did so in a premeditative manner. I don’t know if that’s a real word, premeditative, but it fits well in that sentence. Like, “I’m going to take a nap now.” When told that, should anyone try to stop them? It seems so … illegal when posed in that manner.

I’m getting off topic, aren’t I? Sorry.

Naps are necessary to help ensure one’s brain is properly maintained. It’s like preventative maintenance. It’s also like an emergency valve that trips you off line for a short period of time in order to preserve mental functions. This is especially noticeable when you’re watching a really boring movie and you’re on the verge of going nuts … your head flops sideways and you miss the end, which is probably OK. It’s the cheese that you were eating when you nodded off that’s the problem because you’ve drooled it onto your best blouse due to the lack of a napkin.

Napkins were specifically named to identify a tool used to ensure drool does not stain your clothes. It’s mainly for women because they only drool while napping whereas men drool any time they want, but mainly at the beach.

“Kin” is the generic term, and it’s evolved over time to encompass any manner of keeping food off your clothes. There used to be “lipkins”, “fingerkins”, “facekins”, “chinkins”, “lapkins”, as well as “napkins” until someone made the association that all of those were associated with body parts, or locations. So, a vote was called to allow everyone who used all those things to redefine them, and simply call them “napkins”, something that isn’t associated with a body part at all. It’s associated with a bodily function, as is drooliing. The results of that vote were recently brought to light with the discovery of a little known book called “The History of Napkins” which was written in 1232 BC by a fellow named Fritz Gasloppenhimer. Fritz was a hip guy, making all the rounds of the local night clubs, a favorite of the ladies, until they went to dinner. It was then his friends desserted him, and the ladies left him alone because he ate like a pig. It wasn’t so much “how” he ate as to how much food wound up on his hands and frilly frocks. Noticing this abandonment, he began carrying a gunny sack with him to absord the spillage. Not only did his cleaning bill go down to nearly nothing, his friends migrated back and the ladies begged for him to make them a gunny sack, too. He becme a hit and started marketing his invention to the entire world. Originally called the gasloppenhimerniblitzcatchinfrockenclean-akeepin but no one could say that with a straight face, so he went with his 2nd choice of sackawipinhanznmouth, which was quickly shortened to mouthsack. From there the history is lost as to how it evolved into the well known kin. The changes from kin are documented above. I know all of this to be the absolute truth because my fingers told me so. In a dream, and again just now.

Having digested all of that, and cleaned up my face with a mouthsack it’s easy to see how even the smallest insignificant things in our lives are entertwined in some way. I bet you all have stories you can tell about how some small “thing” or “event” placed you in a situation where you had the opportunity to influence someones life for the better. OK, that’s a little far out, and way off topic, but this is true, for sure. And, the topic for another entry.

Ciao

My Onan Generator

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Today I totally dismantled the Onan 4000 Gen Set in our RV. I had all the parts laid out so I could put them back together in the correct sequence when the cat showed up and started batting pieces all over the place. Thankfully, it started raining before it got out of control and the cat ran for cover. Being a dedicated Oregonian, I stuck it out and rearranged all the pieces.

The initial problem with the generator was the fuel pump. It didn’t suck very well so I bought a new one. Fortunately, the mounting holes are in the same location so I didn’t have to relocate anything. To test the system, I just hooked it up and got the new one pumping fuel from the tank like it’s supposed to. Unfortunately, that didn’t solve the problem because it still wouldn’t start. I knew I had spark, and fuel was flowing, so the carburetor wasn’t allowing the fuel in. Something was stuck. So, the dismantling began.

To do that I had to remove Diane’s mattress which, unfortunately, got all wet because I laid it out in the driveway. It was in the way. I put a piece of plywood on top of it, but it still got a little ground water on the bottom. Too bad the plastic covering got ripped when I tossed it out there. The plywood was on top of the bracing for the bed so with it out of the way I was able to see the top of the generator containment module. It’s been accessed before because someone cut the top out of it and used about 185 sheet metal screws, and a bunch of caulk, to put it all back together. Removing this allowed access to the faulty carburetor and other pertinent parts that cannot be accessed from the side opening of the generator containment module. I vowed that, when I reassembled it, I would install access doors to take care of that problem.

The carb didn’t cooperate so I threw it away and put on a new 4-barrel Holly, but it still wouldn’t start so I removed the head, took out the pistons, ground the valves, installed new piston rings, added a couple of extrta cylinders so I could fully ustilize the potential of the larger carburetor. It was simple matter of adding an old Kawasaki 750 cc engine I found in the attic over the garage the other day. I don’t know how it got there, but it came in handy.

After I got it all back together I did the “smoke test” and it passed with flying colors. With the addition of the Kawasaki parts the red line bumped up to 11,000 rpm which meant I could comfortably run the unit at 5500 rpm without fear of it falling apart. At that rpm the generator produced approximately 1.7 mega watts of power which is enough to light up a small city. Learning that made me head in a totally different direction.

With all that electricity being generated I thought, “Why not just  yank out the engine and install an electric motor on each wheel?” That turned out to be difficult, but not impossible. I found most of the parts at ACE and the remainder at Wal*Mart. So, now we have a hybrid RV. The very first one ever.

I did a test run to Astoria and back and made it in just over 1.5 hours and it got exactly 72 mpg! And, with no need for an engine or transmission, I added a small hot tub that’s accessible through the old engine cover in the cab. That’s really handy for Diane because when she gets tired of sitting and giving me directions, she can turn her chair and soak her feet. Nice. She doesn’t know about that, yet. It’s a surprise.

With all those kilowatts this rig can do a full 4-wheel burnout and get to 60 mph in just under 9 seconds, and turns a 1/4 mile at 115 mph in 14 seconds. The high end torgue of the electric motors really crank during thos last 5 seconds. They literally scream like little girls. They also smoked a little but I wasn’t worried because they were new and it was just the paint baking off due to the intense heat.

Now I need to shim up the toilet so it doesn’t wobble, install the new horn, and we’re good to go.

I wish I had pictures to share, but I don’t because none of that’s true.

All I managed to do today was get a new fuel pump installed and make it pump gas from the tank. For me, that’s success. Tomorrow, maybe, I’ll tackle the carburetor problem. The hammer didn’t work.

Susan Pierce

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Greetings – this is just a shameless plug for our niece, Susan. She recently posted a song on YouTube and I’d like to share it with you. She’s studied music for years and trained as an opera singer. This is a gospel classic that we love. Enjoy, and pass it along if you wish.

http://www.facebook.com/l/kAQH5W02KAQGUOYApPbYqJd2NL-QiueyNoV5MAXYuIxLEZg/www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovwjwL9_FsM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Let me know what you think.

Prayer Request

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My big brother, Lyle, is having a difficult time and is currently incarcerated in a hospital in Connecticut. He could have made things a bit easier by choosing a hospital a little closer to us but that apparently wasn’t an option. The diagnosis is colon cancer composed of 3 masses. Lyle is 87. Please send good thoughts toward the East Coast.

Thanks

Dr. Appointment, GWB, Lunch, and Thomas

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Today was “Recovery Day” for us. You know, getting back into the swing of doing nothing after spending a few days away from the house. Seems like we were gone for weeks instead of just three nights. I suspect that in the depths of some analyst’s brain that means we had a good time, and that would be correct. I’ve told you about that, though.

I had a VA appointment at 11:30 so we had to get up early to ensure we had enough time to get an after breakfast nap before we had to leave at 10:30. But, instead of the nap, we sat in our recliners and watched some of the recorded shows we missed while away from the abode. I forget what we watched, but they were good shows. Otherwise, we wouldn’t record them.

Diane got me to the appointment in time then went to spend some time at the GWB to await my call while I was basking under the watchful eyes of various nurses, the security guard, and the doctor. I was good the entire time.

The shows ended about 9:30 for me because I had to do some damage control on the RV by sealing the back window. Yersterday afternoon I tore all the old sealant off and threw it willy-nilly around in the driveway, for which I will pay dearly at some future date. I was supposed to have until tomorrow before the rain came but all of the weathermen lied to us, again. It started sprinkling so I had to fix it this morning instead of this afternoon as planned. That’s OK, now, because it’s done. Tomorrow I’ll find out if the fix worked.

After the VA appointment we went to the Helvetia Tavern for lunch. We’ve never been there before so it was a treat. We met Jerry1, Jerry3, Nelda, Coleen, Tom, and Vie. I got to sit at the end of the table between Tom and Vie. Tom had shorts on, like normal, so I got to play witht he hair on his leg. I discovered that Tom doesn’t purr like the cat .. he doesn’t like anyone to pet him. Or, maybe it’s just me he didn’t like petting him. I’m not sure. He didn’t say. He just kept slapping my hand. Tom also got himself in a heap of trouble by making fake sign language gestures at Diane, which I did to explain how I communicate when she asks me to repeat myself. He did that every time she looked our way, which was a lot, so he has a bunch of punishment coming. But not from Diane. She’s going to tell Linda, who didn’t come along because she was babysitting. Wow! I think I just did that. Sorry Tom, but your earned whatever you get. Take it like the hairy legged man you are.

As a group, we were very noisy and I’m surprised we were allowed to stay after the hamburgers, which were delicious, were gone. The management even contributed by giving us more caffeine which we accepted with the understanding that the noise was OK. Actually, the noise came mostly from Jerry1. I can talk about him because he doesn’t read this, and he generally has difficulty getting his computer to function in a manner he can understand. He’s getting better at it, but it’s still a challenge. The reason for that is because the love of his life did all the computer work before she left this mortal plane and ascended to a world where all horses run free. Jerry named his car for her.

After lunch we buzzed on home to let the dogs out, then I dropped Diane at her Mom’s for a visit while I went to the Lion’s newspaper drop boxes to make sure there wasn’t any garbage in them. People do that. There wasn’t any so I went back to Mom’s, visit a bit, then drug Diane home by the hair. She didn’t want to leave.

Once home I checked the RV for leaks. There weren’t any. Then, and 6:00 pm I went to the High School to help Lydia with her pitching. But, my glove was in the PT, in Portland, and we didn’t have any balls because the coach failed to show. So, we waited until 6:20, then I took her home.

I’m leaving you on a sad note today because the Walters family lost Thomas today. He’s been very sick for a long time. So, think good dog thoughts for Thomas. He was a very good dog.

Home Safe!

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Greetings Everyone … miss me? Probably not, and that’s OK because I haven’t been faithful to any of you. My mind is straying and I’m involved in new endeavors which drain my brain to the point that I don’t know what I did most of the time. I was able to salvage a wee bit of information that I will now gladly share with you in the hopes it might hold you, once again, for a few days. If it doesn’t, feel free to let me know you need some sort of data dump and I’ll share whatever is pertinent at the time.

Let’s, see … last Friday we loaded the RV with everything we could find that we could easily pick up, then went to a couple of the neighbors to get some of their stuff. Even then there was a little room left so we stopped at Fred Meyers to fill in the voids. It’s important to take six times as much stuff as you need for any kind of trip, especially one like this. One of the most important items we took was Diane’s contribution to the Friday and Saturday pot luck. She made a crock pot full of taco soup. I mean, it was really, really, full. There may have been 1/8 of an inch between the soup and the top of the pot. We put it in an Avon box, hoping it would contain the spillage, and were amazed that it hardly lost a drop. Guess the rig rides OK. But, when I parked, we weren’t perfectly level so had to find a shim to put under the pot so it would run over while we heated it up. Had to do that with the coffee pot, too.

Here’s what the Hood River County Fair Ground grounds looked like …

Our rig is the one on the right. There’s another one directly behind us that looks like the one next to us. There were seven old Winnebagos there and we had a great time with their owners.

The reason we gather in Hood River, besides getting the RVs out, and visiting, is to attend the annual Blossom Festival at the fair grounds. It’s an artsy crafty event at which we spent far more than planned, but they were essential to our well being.

I mentioned that Friday & Saturday were pot lucks, but that’s not correct. Every moment of all three days was a pot luck. It was awesome. The theme was Mexican so we had some excellent food choices in addition to some traditional favorites like snicker doodles, German chocolate cake, strawberry shortcake, and other necessities like that. No one went away hungry, even one of the vendors who let her dog stray into our area and just stuck around to eat once she caught up to it. No one was willing to dis-invite her after she sat down. Interesting evening.

We had an arts & crafts table …

when it wasn’t full of food …

We had an impromptu dump station competition which was really unfair because there was only one entrant … of course he won first place with a combined total of 33 points from the four volunteer judges …

The area surrounding the fair grounds was a sea of orchards bursting into bloom and the scenery was quite stunning …

Kind of like one of thos 1000 piece puzzles, isn’t it?

We stayed an extra night and drove home today. It wasn’t a sad parting because we’ll all be going to Moses Lake next month for a huge Winnebago/Itasca ralley. Should be fun.

Everyone will be pleased to learn that we got 9.05 mpg on this trip. That’s pretty good because the general average for these things is 8 mpg.

Now, if the generator only ran, and the back window didn’t leak, we’d be in fine shape. Guess you know what I’ll be working on …

Best Buds

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I think the cat, Breezie, has assimilated herself into the family quite nicely. Ziva won’t let just anyone hug her tail like that. I can of course, because she loves me most.

Now, about Hood River … that’s been delayed until tomorrow because too many things happened today that kept us from getting on the road before noon, as planned. But, that’s OK. It’s been raining all day and it would have been a miserable drive. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice so, hopefully, it won’t drench us on the way. I hate being drenched, unless it’s in an infinity pool.

I spent most of today all alone. Diane desserted me early this morning to go help the other church ladies with their quilts, so I had to think of things to do all by myself. That’s not always a good thing. Often I wind up injuring myself in some weird way and have to drive myself to the emergency room for stitches. When Diane’s home, she just slaps a bandaid on my wounds and tells me to get over it and get back to work. I’ve learned that I heal about as good with a bandaid as I do with stitches, and the bandaid is far more tolerable.

Jeff took the big dogs home with him this afternoon. They love going there to visit with our beautiful grand daughters, Tiana, Gilligan, Baylee, and Jerrie Anne. On the plus side, for the little ones, Ziva views them as her responsibility and will not let anyone mess with them. Heather said she could just leave their front door open all night long and wouldn’t be afraid of anyone trying to get into the house. We know what she means. Ziva’s very devoted. Since Panzee follows Ziva’s lead, she’s devoted, too.

I’m at a total loss about what else to write about so guess my brain has been sufficiently drained enough to allow me to sleep peacefully tonight. We’ll see how that goes.

Going to Hood River

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Greetings to the three or four of you that read this … bless you.

The last couple of days have been a frantic series of events to get the old Winnebago ready for tomorrow’s trip to Hood River. It’s only about 100 miles, and a good test to see just how far this thing will go before it breaks. Next month the trip will be waaay longer. Like 3 times farther. So, this will be an opportunity to get the wrinkles out of it.

Part of the frantic series of events was a golf date with my friend Doug. Diane told me I had to go. That was the first time out this year for either one of us. Actually, that’s probably the first time I’ve been out in over a year. Seems like it, anyway. To save a couple of bucks on future rounds, and to ensure we go again, we both joined the men’s club at the St. Helens course. It’s close, and easy. I say that because I’m so consistently bad at it. But, it’s always fun to go golfing with Doug and I look forward to the next round.

After golfing I came home and got Diane’s TV installed in the RV. All that’s left is for me to suck up all the sawdust I got on her bed, then make more sawdust to cut a hole for the power and cable. Guess I’ll cut the hole first. Doubt if there will be much need for TV during this trip because we’ll mostly visit. There’s no cable connection where we’ll be. I’d bring our DirecTV DVR, but then things wouldn’t record while we’re gone. That means, of course, we’ll have to get another DVR. Or, fork over some big bucks for a satellite antenna for the RV.

Diane was gone to serve at Community Meals when I returned from my grueling nine holes. It would have been worse had we walked, but we always get a cart. Since I hadn’t eaten much for breakfast, I was pretty hungry. Having to fend for myself I made it easy by eating all the left over ham (about a pound), two eggs, and two pieces of toast. With rasberry jam. Shortly after that I was reminded why I normally don’t eat large quantities of ham … it gives me horrible headaches. Ya gotta wonder how I could forget something like that, don’t you? Well, sometimes I just bite the bullet and deal with it because it tastes good. Besides, I have drugs to deal with the headaches. I had it all afternoon, and woke up with it this morning at which time I implemented the fix, which is a subdermal shot in my hip with a handy vial of Imitrex. Then I took a short nap and the headache miraculously went away.

Today I woke refreshed, and pain free. All that was the matter was I couldn’t close my hands into fists because I was all swollen up from the salty ham and eggs. It went away fairly quickly, however, which was good. I think it was my 3rd cup of coffee that did it. Maybe the 4th.

Then Diane and I installed the new awning material we received from a nice UPS guy a few days ago. It wasn’t to tough to do, and we learned a new skill that may come in handy one day. I also learned how to add tension to the nifty springs in the roller, but had to make a tool to do it to keep from losing a couple of fingers, or an eye. After we got it on it started raining like crazy so it got a good rinse. Then the sun came out and dried it off and I rolled it up. I used the old pull down strap, because neither of us could find the new one, and it disappeared about 3 turns from the end. So, it’s kind of useless. But, I know how to get it open.

After that, Diane went back to the Girl Room to continue on the curtains she’s been making for the last few days. For the RV. And I went to work to install the shiny gas cover that I retained from the 1968 RV we salvaged. I think that’s the only thing we kept. It’s got a key and everything. I had to get creative with some more sheet metal to install it and I got to use my pop rivet gun again. That’s a handy tool to have. I love to pop rivet stuff.

In the middle of that I was ordered to replace the living room curtain brackets in the RV to accomodate the new curtains Diane made, then we installed them. They look great! She lined the original privacy curtains that cover the windshield and side windows in the cockpit, so all that’s left now is the three windows in the bedroom area. Interesting stuff, huh?

My ears are ringing so it must be time for bed. That, and it’s 10:31 pm. And, I’m tired.