It’s Been Busy Here

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I just checked my calendar and discovered why I normally add ‘stuff’ more often than once every couple of weeks. Generally that isn’t a problem because we’re usually not very busy. Including today, here are the significant ‘things’ that happened over the past 16 days:

4/24 – Our annual Anniversary trip ended this day when we arrived safely home from Bayview State Park, Washington. In case you missed my previous post, this was our 50th. I’m surprised that she let me live this long and told her so. Since she didn’t respond right away, I suspect she’s surprised, too. I thanked her for my longevity. On a previous anniversary trip to NW Washington we arrived 2 days after they lopped off all the tulip tops in all the tulip fields. We had no idea they did this so it was a real downer. This year we arrived in time to take it all in …

4/25 – Trip to Best Buy to retrieve Diane’s repaired computer that we left with them before we took our journey. They had it fixed before we reached our destination and told me so. So, it was kinda funny that when I went to pick it up, it didn’t work. I couldn’t log in to it. Neither could the Geek Guy. So, I sat there while they went completely through the process of reinstalling Windows 10 and all the subsequent updates needed to get it current. It took two hours. I didn’t take a photo of Diane’s computer but you can trust me that it works nicely and it now has a cute little backup hard drive connected.

4/26 – Ruth arrived from Connecticut to join us for our 50th anniversary party where we planned to renew our vows. Ruth is our Sister-In-Law who was married to my older brother, Lyle, who is no longer physically with us. I have a photo of him on my desk that was used at his funeral so I see him every day. Ruth is staying with us for two weeks and was assigned to sleep in Jeran’s and Gilligan’s bedroom because it only has a twin bed. Our other party guests are couples which dictates the need for larger beds.

4/27 – Jack & Wynette arrived from Arizona to also join in our 50th celebration. They drove day and night to arrive on time and we were very happy to see our old pickup truck. You may remember that we swapped vehicles a few posts back. Jack is my brother and won the right to sleep in Diane’s and My bedroom simply because they arrived before Brother Jim and wife Donna. Then, Diane and I moved to the basement and made our beds on the sofas down there. Turns out they were pretty comfortable.

4/28 – Jim & Donna arrived from Idaho. They won a 4 day stay in Lydia’s, Baylee’s, and Jerrie’s bedroom because it has a queen bed. Their arrival signaled the end to our house guest for the near future. We loved having all the brothers and sisters with us because it doesn’t happen nearly often enough. We’re a little bit too spread out in the country.

4/29 – Diane and I renewed our marriage vows with a short service in the afternoon, after our normal Sunday morning service. Lots of friends and family showed up and I’m afraid I didn’t get around to talk with all of them during the course of this celebration. I was too busy eating. So, for those of you I may have missed, please forgive me. If you want to stop by the house sometime, we have plenty of turkey and ham left.

This is us and most of the grand kids.

Our daughter, Jennifer, and son, Jeffrey, took the role of Bride’s Maid and Best Man. I think they had a good time.

We even had a beautiful wedding cake thanks to Jennifer. She has a cake-baking friend. 

Unlike the first marriage, in 1968, Diane tempted fate and tried to smash some cake into my face. She was moderately successful, as was I. I’ve always wanted to do that.

This is pretty much all of us. We were missing some cousins (Debbie and Roger) who could have joined us but probably thought it would be better to not have a permanent record of our association. That’s OK. I’ll leave it to you to figure out who’s who.

The 2nd wedding was presided over by our good friend, Carolann, who lives part time in an old (1989) Winnebago that her husband, Terry, got from our other good friends, Les and Sofie, because they got a new Winnebago and decided they no longer needed three of them. They kept Wilbur, their very nice 1972 rig. It’s complicated. It’s a fun club (Classic Winnebagos) with fun people who have amazing skills and interesting backgrounds.

We also had attendees from our old PT Cruiser Club with whom we’ve been cruising since 2000. And, there were high school classmates who still talk to me. We even play golf. It was great to see everyone.

Although gifts were not encouraged, some were presented and gratefully accepted. Some were monetary in the form of $50 bills, and one notable pile of 50 $1 bills, in addition to this marvelous framed street sign from our USS Cleveland shipmates, Gary & Cindy:

4/30 – Baylee Jean Marie Cate celebrated her 9th birthday.  

Since we had a lot of exceptional cake left over from the day before, we used it and some candles to have a little party.

5/1 – Daniel’s Birthday. He’s getting closer to middle age all the time even though he still looks like a kid to me. He’s only 43. I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a secret, or not, but don’t tell him you got that info from me. That escalated age happened very quickly over the course of the last 20 something years. Daniel single-handedly runs one of the many Intel campuses in Hillsboro. If it wasn’t for him, your computer wouldn’t work. That may, or may not, be true.

5/2 – Jim & Donna left which meant Diane and I could have moved out of the basement, but we didn’t. Turns out we were pretty comfortable down there, and we didn’t want to make the vacated bed. So, we stayed in the dungeon with all the dogs. And the cat. Probably a bunch of spiders, too. It was sad to see them go because we don’t often have the opportunity for the whole (remaining) family to gather and visit. There will be more, I’m sure.

5/3 – Sarah Visited. Sarah is Ruth’s and Lyle’s granddaughter who moved to Hillsboro from Connecticut a couple of years ago. She’s the one on the left in the following photo. Ruth is on the right. Diane and Lydia are in the middle. We had lunch at the Klondike then took her on a scenic trip around St. Helens, stopping at Lydia’s place of work so she and Sarah could look at each other live for the first time. It’s good to know who your cousins are. It was good to see Sarah and especially good for Ruth to see her Granddaughter. If she looks familiar to you, you probably had open heart surgery at St. Vincent’s. She’s the nurse who is totally in charge of all the doctors and nurses at St. Vincent’s who do that kind of stuff. She’s pretty special. I’m sure most of that is true, especially the “pretty special” part.

5/4 – Dinner @ Elks with Jack, Wynette, Ruth – Jack & Wynette took us all to the St. Helens Elks club for dinner and it was excellent. I didn’t take any photos there because it was dark, but you know who all those people are. One of them, at an adjacent table, is a lady who used to share a seat with me on the bus to Portland when I was still working. Hadn’t seen her in 8 years. The rest of us had a great time visiting, something we don’t get to do as a group nearly often enough.

Earlier in the day, Lydia brought her year old Rottweiler puppy to the house for a last visit. Sadly, he had a spinal deformity that caused him to fall all the time and it can’t be repaired. Lydia and family have been hoping he would grow out of it and thrive, but that didn’t happen, so he was released from the strings that trapped him in a malfunctioning body. Lydia and Ceiarra spent the day taking him around to visit friends, then to the beach, and out for an ice cream cone before the appointed time for departure. He was well-loved and will be missed a great deal.

5/5 – Family dinner at home – pork roast and tiny taters by Ruth and associates. Sadly, Daniel, Cedric, and Ceiarra were missing due to scheduling conflicts. We missed them, but we ate anyway. There was a report that the pork was a little dry because I was left home, alone, without proper instructions or supervision, while Diane and Ruth toured Portland in search of Diane’s almost 50-year-old sewing machine that was at the Sewing Machine Hospital of Portland. We delivered it to them before departing on our Anniversary Trip to Bayview State Park. It was gratifying to learn that they had successfully resuscitated the machine. We had doubts.

5/6 – Jack & Wynette departed on the first leg of their journey back to Arizona. We were sad to see the pickup go, as well as it occupants, and wished them safe travels along the winding road home. One of these days we will be visiting them in Arizona. Really, we will. Looking at the photo, I see a band-aid on my left thumb so this must have been the day, before dinner, when I was brutally attacked by Dexter, the dog next door. Actually, there was an altercation between Panzee and the neighbor’s giant black lab that prompted me to insert myself into the middle of that dog fight. Probably not a smart thing to do, but I did it anyway. I do lots of un-smart things like that. I wasn’t actually attacked. All I did was break a nail on something, probably a shiny white tooth. The break was about halfway down the quick of my thumb and halfway to the middle where it was ripped away. There was blood on Panzee’s neck, which was in grasp of Dexter’s very impressive mouth, so everyone thought it was hers. Then I noticed my disheveled thumb and fell to the ground whining and groveling when I realized it was my blood, not Panzee’s. In spite of the groveling, I was able to extract Panzee from Dexter’s jaws of death and Tim was able to get Dexter under control. It was a pretty exciting series of events. Then we had dinner.

5/7 – Sarah invited us to a BBQ dinner in Hillsboro. Of course we went and were pleased to meet Sarah’s boyfriend Jay, his brother Todd, their parents, and Todd’s wife’s parents. Being an expert at forgetting names immediately after hearing them I was at a severe disadvantage for figuring out who everyone was. I know Keith is J & T’s Dad, but can’t remember their Mom’s name and cannot remember Todd’s wife’s parent’s names at all. I do remember Lucy, however, who was the smallest person present because she’s only 9 months old and belongs to Todd and his Wife. There is a pretty incredible story about how Sarah met Jay and it could be long, but I’ll give you a short version. Sarah and Todd are both RN’s who worked together in Connecticut. Todd moved to Hillsboro, Sarah visited, and they went to Seaside to visit Jay and family where Todd exposed his plan to marry his current wife. She’s an Emergency Room Doctor for Kaiser. Jay and Sarah got along well and she decided to relocate to Hillsboro. Jay was a Policeman in Connecticut and traded that job for one with the Washington County Sheriff’s department. They got a condo. The BBQ was awesome … the biggest and most tender filet mignon I’ve ever seen. Cooked to perfection by Todd and Jay. Halfway through the meal Diane and I had to leave to visit the Good Sam ER facility. This was a planned visit, nothing to do with the food. Did you know you can make appointments for Urgent Care? I did that to have someone attend to my escalating case of epididymitis that I’d been fighting for a couple of weeks. End result, I had a soothing ultrasound of my testicles, by a nice young lady, while Diane and I held hands and watched TV in ER room 10 at Good Sam. This was a new one for us. I got antibiotics and am healing. For some reason, this is the only photo I took at the BBQ:

Diane wouldn’t let me take photos in the emergency room.

5/8 – Diane & Ruth  took a trip to get their toes fixed at a local nail salon. Well already had the appointments but I gave up my spot for Ruth. Yes, I get a pedicure once in a while. I’m thinking that the next time I have an ultrasound on my testicles I’ll just get my toes done at the same time. Ya, I know that’s not going to happen, but it conjures up interesting things in my head.

5/9 – We took Ruth to the beach, via Astoria, and ate Crab Louie’s at Norma’s near the Seaside turnaround where Louis and Clark finished their epic journey. Here’s proof …

Then we went to Ecola State Park by Canon Beach where we were delighted to see a dozen elk wandering around in the grass by the parking lot.

Guess they like the view, too.

One of the main points of interest you can see from this location, is the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.

It’s fun to watch in a storm.

Then we went to Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock that was in the movie Goonies.

Then, it was time to head home by way of the Astoria Column located on a hill above Astoria.

 

This is just to show off the T-shirts Diane got us. Kinda cool, huh?

We made it home safely from our journey to the coast (that’s the same as ‘shore’ to those of you on the east coast).

Ruth left for home yesterday after spending two weeks with us, looking everyday for a glimpse of Mt. Hood. Alas, it never showed up even one time. Then we put her on a plane. When we got home, here’s what we saw, so this is for Ruth.

I think that pretty does it for the past umpteen days. Now I need to get out of my PJ’s and go mow the yard.

Cheers.

About My Bride of 50 Years

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When I was 16 my friend, Richard, took me to an archery club he had joined so we could improve our skills and have some fun doing it. The instructor, Mel DeLonais, was a no-nonsense kind of guy who everyone instinctively knew to obey for two reasons: 1) He was either carrying his bow or it was within his reach; 2) He was a dead-on shot; and, 3) He was always right. So, at 16, he was someone we listened to and obeyed. OK, that’s three reasons. There are probably more but those are the ones that rise to the top when I think about him.

Also in attendance at these lessons was his daughter, Diane. She was 13 at the time and I pretty much knew right away that she was going to be my life-long partner. She didn’t know that, of course, because that’s not something you tell a 13-year-old girl. I waited until she was 15 or 16 to that, and fully eligible in many countries to be married. At this stage of life the math is fuzzy but my intentions weren’t. She was a Freshman during my Senior year of High School and we were a couple most of that year and stayed in touch via letters and visits home after joining the Navy her Sophomore year.

Wise beyond her years, she turned me down the first time I proposed citing a very valid reason that she should probably finish High School first. That made perfect sense to me so I let her go to experience those tender years on her own. We stayed in contact over the intervening years as she grew up, went to college, and went to work.

When she was 21 I was home on leave after riding the newly commissioned USS Cleveland from Norfolk, VA to San Diego, CA where it was staged for a trip to Viet Nam. It would be my 2nd deployment to that area of the world. This leave period allowed me to attend my 5th Class reunion and I was poised to make the party on my own as I had no one to take with me. During those years all my High School friends had stayed connected, went to college, and some married each other as everyone knew they would. I was a loner because it’s difficult to find dates while living aboard a ship and being transferred all over the place on a regular basis. The loner part was me spending my time waiting for Diane to finally see the potential in me.

That moment came when I visited mutual friends, Junior (my golf partner today) and his wife Nancy. While I was there Diane showed up. I hadn’t seen her in three years. Once again I was stunned by her appearance into my life but managed myself quite nicely, I thought, visiting for a while then excusing myself to go home.

As I was backing out of the driveway Diane came running out of the house. I stopped to see what she wanted and we chatted a bit as she leaned on the passenger window. This was a Friday. She asked me if I was going to my class reunion and I said “yes, would you like to go?” She responded with an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

The rest, my friends, is history.

I don’t remember how much time we had left before the ship for deployed to Viet Nam, but we spent every possible moment together. The catalyst for our future was when she came running to my car like she did. It was THE moment in my life when everything came back together, making the world right again. Had that not happened, had I been allowed to drive away without that conversation with her, I’m confident there would have been another moment in time like that in the future. I’m forever glad she finally chose me that day so I no longer had to wait.

When I picked her up for our trip to the reunion, she slid next to me on the bench seat, like she’d always done on our dates years ago, but this was different. It was as if we silently, mutually agreed, that the final decision had been made. We were a couple again. It was a terrific day, and we made the remaining few we had just as great.

Then I was off to San Diego. There was no one on the pier for me as the ship pulled away but I knew Diane would be there in the future. Life was good.

The following April I transferred from that ship off the coast of Viet Nam and flew home to marry my one true love and embark on an incredible adventure that took us from one side of the world to the other more than once – Okinawa to Italy to Florida to Guam to California to Hawaii and more. Now we’ve been home in Oregon since 1989 and don’t plan to make any long trips. We will, however, be making trips around the Northwest to see what we missed during all those years away.

Now, here we are after 50 years. I’m still stunned every time I look at her because what I see is my High School Sweetheart when she was 14.

I always will.

Happy Anniversary, My Love.

 

Bayview State Park Washington, and Crabs

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Yesterday we embarked on a journey to Bayview State Park in Washington. That’s about 60 miles north of Seattle in case you’re wondering. The plan was to leave about 9 am so we’d arrive early afternoon. Doing that would have been a modern-day record because we rarely leave on time. Yesterday was no exception. Even with Jeff’s help to load ‘stuff’ into the RV we didn’t actually get all the way to Highway 30 West until 11:00 am. That’s actually not bad from a historical perspective.

We made it through Longview and made it all the way to exit 49 on Interstate 5 when a brief discussion with my lovely bride revealed that I didn’t have my pills. Since there’s no way I could go an entire week without partaking of the finer ‘fruits’ of the pharmaceutical world, I turned around and headed back, automatically making our trip 2 hours longer than it should have been.

Once we got home I got my pills, first thing, then Diane got the Brita filter from the garage refrigerator because I didn’t get it before leaving the first time as she thought I had. We also gained some deli ham that somehow hadn’t made it’s way to the RV. And some raisins.

Then we headed north, once again, record intact for not leaving before noon on any given trip. This time we pulled out around 1:00 pm and it wasn’t nearly as exciting as getting away the first time at 11:00 am. Actually, it was a little depressing as we traversed the same ground 3 times to get to a place just once. When we finally got past Exit 49 the 2nd time, things looked brighter and the GPS reported we would arrive around 7:30 pm. Not quite what we had planned, but at least it gave us confidence we’d arrive. Sometime. With the Seattle traffic arrival time turned out to be 8:00 pm. Incredibly, it was still light enough to see what I was doing to get the car off the dolly, get the RV parked, and everything hooked up. Everything except the TV, the most critical appliance. Thankfully, I was allowed to defer the TV issue to today and can report that, after numerous attempts, I succeeded. Diane has HGTV for the duration.

We read for a while last night, then went to sleep at our normal time – that’s when we’re tired enough to sleep. I only had to get up one in the middle of the night and it was pretty chilly. No, not chilly, but just plain cold. After getting back to sleep I stayed there until almost 10:00 am.

I woke up to the smell of bacon frying. That’s a motivator to get vertical. So I did, and we had BLTs for breakfast. Well, breakfast for me, but lunch for Diane because she was up at 7:30. I asked her why she got up so early and she said, “because I woke up.” Couldn’t argue with that.

Once fed, and awake, I did the dishes, and we jumped in the car and drove around the immediate area and discovered the Padilla Bay National Refuge Area Learning Center, or something like that. Inside we met and talked with Dale and Annie. Both were women, in case you were wondering. Her mom and dad must have liked Roy Rogers and Dale Evans growing up. We had a great conversation and learned about the places we should see and places we should eat. Annie, the younger woman, said that pretty much any place in Edison was good. So, we headed north to Edison.

It’s a neat little town and pretty much every place to eat turned out to be a biker bar. Now, don’t get me wrong, taverns and bars typically have good food. The ones with motorcycles parked out front validate the high quality of the food. We will probably partake of one of those places before we leave here. The one we’ll probably go to has a sign out front – “Adult Day Care”. Looks like a great place. I have a photo of it, but my phone is dead and it must be living in order to get the photo. Maybe later I’ll give it a shot. Maybe tomorrow.

Since tomorrow is our 50th Wedding Anniversary, thank you, we thought finding a good place to eat a good steak would be good. The Biker Bar Day Care was a possibility, but we had other places to look. Like Anacortes. There’s a casino there and I thought maybe they would have tasty food worthy of a reservation. We went, we saw, and we inhaled lots of second-hand smoke walking from the front door of the casino to the 2nd floor restaurant. The restaurant was very nice looking, and looked to be hermetically sealed off from the casino proper, but getting all that tobacco odor on the way kinda takes the edge of our appetites. We checked it off our list of possibilities. We’d fiddled around looking for a decent place to eat to the detriment of our now empty stomachs and needed to make a call about whether we go in to Mount Vernon to check out more possibilities or return to the RV and eat the Dungeness crab Diane brought. Hmmm. Tough call.

We went back to eat the crab. I had the biggest crab louie I’ve ever had. Really. She had a 1 pound container of crab meat ($26) of which she put about 3 ounces. That means I got the rest of it. If I escape a raging bout of gout in spite of ingesting that much crab, it will be amazing. If I don’t escape, I’ll happily walk around with a severe limp until it goes away. Yes, I’ll do that for my bride.

While Diane was preparing parts of our afternoon dinner, boiled eggs to be specific, I returned my attention to obtaining a picture on our TV that might be fun to watch, as directed. Doing that required me to ascertain the reason I couldn’t get a satellite signal even though I knew the antenna was in the proper place. After many attempts of moving the antenna, and restarting the receiver via various methods, I finally hit the proper combination by putting the antenna on the RV roof and unplugging the receiver for the specified 30 seconds. That did the trick. We have TV service and no longer have to leave the confines of our motor home. Unless, of course, the holding tanks over flow because I failed to go empty them. I might have to do that because this Washington State Park, that charges $31 a night, doesn’t have sewer connections. Go figure. Don’t worry, I won’t allow them to overflow. I’ll tape down the toilet lid before that happens. It’s a short walk to the out-door toilet and showers.

Now it’s dark, Diane’s all snuggled down on the sofa watching ‘Station 19’, and I need to go potty, so I’m terminating.

Before doing that, however, I must report on some new arrivals who showed up while we were eating our crab. They showed up with a very long trailer and it took the husband more than a dozen attempts, back and forth, to get it inserted into his assigned space. Diane counted them so we know that’s true. I think watching him made her a little proud of me because I’ve never taken more than 3-7 attempts to get our trailers properly parked. Most of the time I just zipped it right in with minor jockeying to get the hoses and cords line up. Now we have an RV and parking is even easier because it’s got cameras.

Ok. Now the potty stop.

Jeran’s All Growed Up & Diane’s New Phone

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I’m a couple of days behind reporting that Jeran has finally attained his 18th birthday and has ushered in the time when all of my Daughter’s children are grown up. His birthday was on the 11th in case you want to send him money, or something.

He evolved from this …… to this …… in the blink of an eye.

He will graduate from High School in June and somehow wrangled an acceptance letter from Corban University in Salem, Oregon. Since he’s currently still living at home the reality of that aspect of his life has yet to be realized so it’s business as usual for now. Too soon, however, he will embark on that journey and we’re all excited to find out where it takes him. His initial goal is to be ordained and work as a Youth Pastor. Somewhere.

In addition to Jeran’s remarkable feet of turning 18, so soon after Lydia turned 19, we’ve had some excitement here at home.

Most of it revolves around Diane’s washing machine. After 25 years it finally bit the dust. It entered a state of nirvana where it simultaneously pumped water from the tub and filled it with fresh water. We might not have noticed except the pumping was a bit slower than the filling resulting in a situation where the water level went halfway up the door. It’s a front-loader so that’s not a good thing. The pressure was too much for the water and the load of jeans it was washing. When I got to it to investigate the “little bit of water” Diane noticed coming from under the washer, the bottom of the door, which doesn’t lock, by the way, was sprung out and water was doing a Niagara thing onto the floor. Water was everywhere. I was able to push the door in and stem the tide, but figured that wasn’t a viable solution for the long-term. Eventually it occurred to me that I should turn the water off, which I did. This allowed the pump to empty the tub and spin the jeans to the point where the dryer would accept them for the finish.

We went to our local Sears store and purchased a new set which will be delivered tomorrow.

In preparation for the delivery, we’ve been carving a path from the lower patio door to the laundry room to make the delivery easier. I’m going to take the old W&D out, leaving the laundry room empty, so I can cover the bare studs that Diane’s been looking at for the past 11 years. She deemed it was time to “make them pretty.” So, I will do my best. Toward that end, I took a trip to the local lumber yard and purchased some bead board. I will also build a drop down folding table. Since there isn’t one there now (never has been) I need to work out the dynamics of how she’ll be able to use the toilet when the folding table is down. It’s going to be tricky because the table will cover it completely. I suppose it I had the table high enough, and she used it while folded in half, it would work, but doubt that she’d be happy about that. I’ll think of something and take a picture for your approval.

Just a little while ago a couple of young ladies from a company called “Enjoy“, a pretty nifty delivery service, visited to deliver Diane’s new iPhone 8 Plus. It’s a red one. I ordered it just before 2 pm this afternoon and it was delivered by 3:30 or so. Amazing.

Anyway, the ladies sat Diane down, had her unwrap her new phone, and proceeded to help her through the process of making her new phone look a lot like her old iPhone 5S. We all had a nice visit and it was really nice to have an expert on hand to take care of things correctly.

Now it’s time to stop and eat something.

Little Goats

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Our neighbor, Jen, has started farming, her reason for moving to the country. It was handy that the neighbors before her and her family had chickens and left a nice chicken coop. For us it’s an unanticipated benefit because we get eggs once in a while. Nice fresh ones.

The other day she came home with baby goats and they’re adorable. Who can resist the allure of a baby goat? Really? It’s like they beg you to pick them up and cuddle. Everyone but me, that is. I can resist baby goats. They’re fun to watch, though.

Today Diane and Lydia got to meet them for the first time and fulfilled their dreams of holding a baby goat. These guys are brothers and just 10 days old. One of them looks suspiciously like our cat. See if you can figure out which one.

Lydia’s only comment during this cuddling exercise was, “I want a baby goat.”

I asked Diane if she wanted a baby goat and she declined. We’ll play with the kids next door.

Their names are Ren (right) and Stimpy (left). Remember that cartoon?

Now, which goat looks like the cat?

Off The Road, and Lydia

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We’re off the road because we safely made it home from the rainy beach. No mishaps and nothing broke. It was a successful trip. Another reason for leaving the beach was due to the crowds …

Now, about Lydia. Today she turned 19.  We celebrated that event yesterday by driving to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm near Woodburn, OR to tramp around in the muddy fields of tulips. They aren’t all in bloom, yet, but those that were are pretty nice. Won’t be long before the fields will be blazing with color. Honest.

On the way home we stopped at one of the two Cracker Barrel Restaurants in the Portland area. The only other time any of us went was to a CBR was in Virginia and we loved it. We weren’t disappointed this time, either. The food was great and we had a secluded table where we could celebrate Lydia’s 19th without bothering anyone else. 

A glass dolphin from Jeran that I’m pretty sure she likes a lot.

I memory frame for Kylo, Lydia’s Rottweiler puppy (he’s one year old). Sadly, he’s got major mobility issues and will have to leave us before he grows up. He’s a great, friendly dog.

 

I think she’s unwrapping earrings.


Jeran and Jennifer (Mom) watching the celebration in their own ways.

Diane doing the same, and Jeran is, as you can see, still fully engaged.

Not long ago Lydia exerted her adulthood by having a hole punched in her nostril. I asked her how she picked her nose without destroying all the Kleenex and she showed me. Turns how it involves some hard-core nose picking.

Actually it wasn’t that bad, and I didn’t ask her how she cleaned that nostril. It was a lie.

Daniel (Dad) and Jeran hung out in front of the Cracker Barrel making good use of all the stuff they have for sale out there. Daniel waxed Jeran at checkers.

Daniel, Diane, and I went home after this and Jeran stayed with the girls while they went shopping at Cabela’s which was just across the parking lot. Diane got us safely home and all the dogs were extremely happy that we didn’t make the day last any longer.

It was a good day, too. The sun shined pretty much all the time even though there was rain in the forecast.

That’s it.

On The Road Again

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We’re on the road, figuratively speaking. We were on the road for a while to get where we are, but right now we’re in space A31 at South Beach State Park. That’s anywhere from ¼ to ¾ of an inch south of Newport depending on which map you’re looking at. We spent the last three nights at Bullard’s Beach State Park which is just a tiny bit north of Bandon. We were scheduled to leave there Saturday but turns out we were able to see everything they had to show us in just a few days so we left. That, and it was really cold when we got up this morning and we weren’t really into being cold. Neither was Ziva. We took her for a walk on the beach this morning and she indicated that she wasn’t having much fun. So, I guess we could blame the early departure on Ziva.

Some interesting things happened yesterday worthy of mention. First, Diane demonstrated her ability to tuck and roll with the best of those who do that. She was stepping off a tall rock down to the soft sand with me holding her hand. Once she was committed to hit the beach she lost he balance and instinctively put her body in “noodle mode” to ensure nothing snapped. The result was that she let go of my hand, taking me out of the equation, fell on her left arm and rolled to within a 1/16th of an inch of a large piece of scraggly drift wood. I was pleased to note that she didn’t emit the noise with which I associate severe injury and she reported that she was OK. What a relief. I was fearing another trip to the hospital for her. She was able to get herself up and we went on a nice little walk. That was a close one, for sure.

Later on, back at the RV, I got a little cocky trying to turn on the porch light without looking at the switches. When I went to take Ziva for a walk I discovered in a dramatic manner that I had instead retracted the steps. I was in free fall for only a very short time so I didn’t actually fall down. I just hyperextended everything in my left leg and had my right rotator cuff not already have been completely torn, it would have been when I instinctively grabbed the door jamb and succeeded in yanking my entire body to a screeching halt right after my left foot hit the ground. It hurt a bit, but I didn’t fall down. I count that as a successful exit.

Considering the potential damage to both of our bodies, we figured there would be issues with mobility this morning, but neither of us seemed to be any the worse for wear. It was quite a relief, I must say. To celebrate, we leashed up Ziva and took her to the beach for a very cold walk, the one I mentioned earlier.

While on Bullard’s Beach, we left foot prints for others to discover.

To round off the stay at Bullard’s Beach in style, we took selfies …

We also visited the area near the Coquille Light House on both sides of the Coquille River.
South side …

North side …

Finally, at the North Jetty of the Coquille River, Diane showed Ziva some really big sticks. She wasn’t impressed.

Now I must nap.

EOU Softball

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I may have mentioned previously that I have a relative, Maryssa, who plays softball for Eastern Oregon University. Diane and I like to go watch her when she’s playing close to us, but that doesn’t happen very often. Still, we keep track of her shenanigans.

Last weekend they played somewhere near Pendleton, OR and won all four games. I know that’s true because Diane told me and I believe everything she says, even when she’s wrong. In this case, however, I’m pretty sure she’s correct. She told me that Maryssa hit at least one home run during those wins and because she’s related, I’m sure she played a major role in all four wins, even if she didn’t hit. She’s the 2nd baseman.

This weekend, ending today, they played in Montana and only got the Saturday games in because the Sunday games were cancelled due t0 snow. That’s a first for me. Cancelled because of snow. I guess that happens in Montana. Anyway, EOU won the two games on Saturday running their current streak to 6 in a row.

Just wanted to let those girls know they have fans in places they’ve probably never been, and we’re proud of them.

Keep it up!

This is Maryssa holding Kylo, Lydia’s puppy.

Money, Peeps, My Lawn Mower, and some Photos

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Two things of concern

  1. Why so much money is spent on political campaigns
  2. Why movies are ranked by how much they earn instead of how many people watched.
  3. Peeps

OK, Three things. I was wrong, or I just can’t count. You choose.

First, lets discuss Political Campaign Money – it is my asserted opinion that spending billions of dollars on political campaigns is an astounding waste of money that could be used in a far better manner. Like, feeding hungry people in the world. That, and I think we can all agree that those who collect the most money aren’t necessarily the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

Movie Money – just because a movie earns a ton of money doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most popular. I’ve actually spent good money, more than once, to see movies that I didn’t like at all. When I shared that information with friends, they went to see it, too, and didn’t like it either. Still, the fact that they went added to the monetary total for the period of time covered. I think those who attend movies should fill out a brief survey about how they liked the movie. And how good the popcorn was. Each theater would then upload their data to a central collection point where popularity of the movies would be accurately captured based on LIKE or NOT LIKE, not on the price of a ticket.

Peeps – In case you aren’t familiar with Peeps, they are a marshmallow confection that has miracle healing qualities that aren’t well documented in medical journals. I know this is true because Diane told me so and I’ve been complicit in helping her carry out unauthorized use of Peeps to help her. So far she’s convinced me that Peeps cure hiccups, something she discovered a long time ago. I’ve seen it work, numerous times, for Diane and multiple Grandchildren. Our Grandchildren. Another Peep solution is they’re great for removing popcorn hulls that are stuck in your throat. So far, those are the only two significant cures about which I know. Since both hiccups and stuck popcorn hulls are unpredictable, Peeps must be administered as those events occur. By taking them, however, we don’t know if taking them for those events also serves as a preventative solution for other maladies that aren’t allowed to manifest. We’ll probably never know. If anything changes with this medial miracle, I’ll let you know.

Oh, wait! There’s four! My Mower. The weather here is probably the important news because it’s been so nice everyone around here has been able to mow their lawn using the grass catcher. That’s significant because normally this time of year the grass is too wet for any mower to actually propel the clippings through the plastic tube into a bag. The clippings just jam up the tube making a nasty mess that needs to be cleaned up. When I mowed it I didn’t take a chance on the tube getting plugged up by just leaving the grass catcher laying there on the ground. I’ll make another tour around the yard tomorrow to pick it all up, after I play golf. It’s going to be 70 degrees, I’m told.

This is Jeran, Jennifer and Daniel’s youngest, waiting for a concert to start.

These guys were the concert: New Legacy Project from Nashville.

Our back yard after I mowed it a couple of days ago. Really. A couple of days ago.

Our cat, Breezie, sleeping on her head.

I dog I encountered some place. I’m getting a sign like this, and another one that says, “I’m not working now, you can pet me”

Lydia visiting with a lizard on her shoulder.

My mower before I mowed it.

Desiderata

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No doubt most of you have read, or at least heard of this poem. It was  written by Max Ehrmann’s in 1927. I don’t read it often but every time I do a sense of peace settles over my soul, making everything right with my world. There are many experts out there who have analyzed Max’s poem in an attempt explain what Max is ‘saying’, but the true analysis, in my opinion, is what it means to each reader.

I share with you simple words of peace …

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann – 1927