After I closed out the previous letter, I realized that I failed to mention our success with Halloween visitors. Jennie provided a huge bowl of candy because it never occurred to me that we’d need any. It’s good that she did because we had lots of visitors. The “Littles” of course, and Baylee showed up, too. It was good to see them all. I let kids take hands full to see what would happen and most of them were polite and not greedy. One of them said, “I’ll just take one,” and he did. I was impressed.
Today is November 6th which means I’ve failed miserably with my desire to write one letter a day. Maybe when things calm down a bit after Saturday I can get back on track. At this point in time I’m just wandering around in a fog with no clear destination in site.
This entire week, so far, has been filled with sitting in the living room, Lydia by my side, watching some really questionable movies and eating. People keep bringing us food so eating is a must. Movies make time pass.
Today we are going to Costco for things Jennie needs. She’s been busy building a photo board of Diane. We have tons of photos for her and she keeps ordering more from Walgreens.
Yesterday a small package showed up in the mail addressed to Diane. Unless Amazon is available in Heaven this was obviously something that was backordered. She will be happy to learn that it arrived.
It’s been raining most of the time which suits my mood just right. I’m not as sad as I think I should be and that bothers me. I say I’m not lonely because Lydia is with me every day, but I am.
I trust things will get better with time.
it is now 1406 and Lydia and I successfully returned from our shopping trip to Costco. I’m happy to report that I didn’t run into anything going or coming. That’s the furthest I”ve driven the truck in a couple of years. I’m real proud of myself, I am. The only thing extra I got was a jar of cashews. Everything else was on Jennie’s list.
I miss you. Today is Halloween and I was really counting on you to be here to hand out candy to all the kids. Now that you’re gone I guess I should step up and do it. It would be pretty horrible if some kids made it down the street with getting candy from our house.
“Where,” you might ask, “did you get candy?”
Well, I didn’t get it. Jennie did. She’s been taking care of everything since you left us. Watching you die kinda put me in a tizzy and I was pretty useless for a few days. It’s been a week now and with Jennie’s help I’ve become more human, and even a bit useful. That’s what Lydia tells me. She’s living with me now. The family thinks someone should be close to me in case I hurt myself like I’ve been known to do.
Jennie has also arranged your service for November 11th at Bethany. There will be many people there, we’re sure. Jennie’s first guess was 100 guests, but there will be more. I’ll give you the count on November 9th, after the service.
I kinda wished you had made a will. Everything will be OK in the end, but it would have been a bit easier if we had a will from you. You no longer need to worry about it unless you have a way of getting information from beyond. I don’t know if what I send into the cloud reaches you for approval, so we’re really in the same boat with regard to the communication issue. But, I’ll keep sending these notes to you simply based on faith. If nothing else, I’ll benefit from the therapy I get from talking with you.
Good nite, my love. I trust you are well in the arms of God.
Greetings. it’s been a while since I fired up the old laptop so forgive me in advance for making mystakes. There re bound to be many.
So, whzt’s been going on? I tried to check my calendar but can’t seem to find it so I’m stuck with relying on my memory to conjur up something to share.
Diane just got back from shopping so I took a few minutes to help tote her purchases into the house. We’re a real pair about doing that because she’s concerned about my torn rotator cuffs and I’m a bit worried about her ankles, knees, and hips. so, we just worry about each other about stuff like that.
She worries about me falling down, too. Regarding that I’ve begun taking my cane when Max gets his walk around the block. Apparently it’s true that have that extra contact with the ground makes for a sturdier stance and keeps one from making turns too quick for ones brain to keep up. In this small way, not falling down, makes my bride happy. So, my goal each day is to remain vertical at all times when I’m not reclined in my chair. So far, so good.
We had plans to take a trip to Fort Stevens for Mother’s Day Weekend but in my effort to ensure my rotator cuffs could deal with the task of hooking up the trailer backfired a bit. I took two Tylenol with sleep aid Thursday nite and was useless all day Friday, the planned departure day. So, I kinda ruined that plan but I don’t think she was overly upset about it. By staying home we had the pleasure of visits from all the kids on Sunday instead of being stuck in a trailer, at the beach, rain or shine. I turned out to be a wonderful time for all of us.
A big highlight was Baylee’s birthday. We celebrated on April 30th. I know that’s true because I took photos.
She is now officially 16 years old. Time has flown. Seems like only 11 years ago she was only this big.
Daniel also had a birthday, on May 1st. His was the big 50 and Jennifer had an open house for him. It was a really busy day. Diane and I participated for a while but I failed to take copious photos like I normally do. The party was on May 4th so everyone could tell him “may the 4th be with you”. The party had a 50’s theme as well as a Star Wars feel. It was a lot of fun.
The bushes are exploding all around the house. They are pretty, but they are not Diane’s friends.
This is a typical dinner photo. We do most of our meals in our recliners. Max is in his best position to act like he’s not paying attention to every bite Diane takes. He’s counting on a plate to lick when she’s done. He’s really not very subtle.
Not long ago the shredder got full so I emptied it.
What a mess that was.I
I think it’s pretty evident that my mind is wandering around so I’m calling this one. Hope all is well with all of you.
If I was still counting days, this would be 175. Yes, it’s been a week since my last post and I have to admit that I feel like I’m falling down on my job. But, the journey is over for a while so I can relax a little, right? The problem with that is that I need something to write about. To do that requires me to contribute a little brain power to these efforts. Let’s see what happens.
First, there’s Max, who doesn’t have a problem with moving around a lot. Any time he gets outside, he plants himself close to his next possible ride. Close enough that he’s hard to ignore. It works, and he gets in his trips around town in addition to his walks around the block, so he knows we see him.
As you can see, there’s a travel trailer parked under the car port and, as far as I know, it hasn’t leaked. I haven’t had the courage to unlock the door and stick my head inside to find out. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.
While taking stuff out of the RV Max assumed one of his favorite positions. I think he was channeling Laurie and Pat, hoping they would show up. We explained to him that they aren’t here, but they think about him a lot. He sat on the back of that couch for an hour or so until we closed it up. Funny guy.
Monday I used my air compressor to blow off 6 months of dust that collected on the air cleaner filters on the furnace. It was pretty fuzzy so I did it when Diane was not here. Actually, it was part of the instructions that I do the cleaning after Diane exited the premises and wouldn’t be back for a while. Max doesn’t care about stuff like that so he was allowed to stay with me and watch the fun.
Also on Monday, Max had a bath. A shower, really. He’s not fond of getting clean, but he loves the part about buffing him off with a towel. He must have heard about the need for a bath because he escaped for a little while and came back partially covered in mud. My first impression was that he found some deer poop and had a good time smearing it all over himself. But, it ws just dirt and it came off easily with the shower wand. That made Jerrie happy.
On Tuesday, I think, Diane drove herself to town (Portland) for her CT Scan to see how things are looking with her lungs. I thought she had an appointment scheduled with her doctor but can’t find it on the calendar so will have to find out when that is. We both want to know if we’re going to be visiting Arizona again this year, or if we’re going to get a sauna instead. Might just do both. You will hear about it as soon as I know..
Diane got her hair cut a little bit on Wednesday. The last trim she got was in Coronado, I think, and I did a pretty good job. Made me proud. I offered to do it again, but she nixed that very quickly. That’s OK because Tracey is her friend and they get to talk which is good. Sometimes I go there and just sit in the waiting area and listen to them. They know I’m there because there’s no way to sneak into the shop. Most of the time they just let me stay as long as I want and sometimes I even get a haicut, too.
On Thursday Diane had a meeting with the church ladies, and Friday she had an eye appointment.
On Friday I also got to do something for Jennifer using the truck. I drove way the heck and gone into the woods above our house, but not far enough to encounter snow. We loaded up a free freezer and took it back to her house and got it installed in her garage. Jeran came along to do the heavy lifting while Diane stayed at Jen’s to watch cartoons with the Little’s. We all had a good time and I only got in trouble a couple of times for trying to help move that thing. To facilitate the transfer, we got a trailer from Don’s Rental. There was no way we were going to get an upright freezer high enough to get it safely into the truck. The trailer worked nicely. It turns out that when someone else does the heavy lifting, it’s pretty easy to get stuff like this done.
This morning Pastor Ingrid cooked pancakes at the church for whoever wanted to walk through the church door, so I went about 9-ish and had breakfast with a few people we haven’t seen in a while. It was a good visit, the pancakes were awesome. Thanks, Pastor.
When I got back Diane convinced me to take Max around the block once more, then I drove her and the truck to Scappoose so we could fill the truck’s gas tank, and she could get her Spring Rolls at Simms Restaurant. She’s been craving those things for many months and couldn’t wait for tomorrow. Sunday, after church is when we usually make that trip. It’s a ‘thing’ with us. I usually get Lomein with shrimp but having just eaten a late breakfast, I settled on tempura shrimp. They were really good.
Oh, and we also had egg flower soup. And tea.
That’s pretty much up-to-date as I can get so I’m going to quit.
Today was for celebrating family. Diane said so. It’s the beginning of our monthly gathering to replace the more infrequent gatherings we’ve done for one holiday or another. She figures, and I agree, that as we get older, we need to do these things more often as long as we’re able.
I don’t have any group photos, but I’ve got these:
Here’s Jeff, the father of our Hill Children:
This is Jerrie Anne Diane, our youngest granddaughter.
This is Baylee with Jasper on her shoulders:
Cedric was hidden behind Baylee in the above photo. I luckily got him in frame later. He’s a hard guy to pin down. Cedric is normally the one who wears his little brothers out, but he had help from his cousins today.
Here’s Gilligan:
This is Diane, Lydia, and Jennifer – 3 generations of one branch of our family tree:
You can ignore Jerrie on the left of that last photo. She was introduced earlier.
This is Daniel and Jasper:
Here’s Siah, the youngest:
Now I’ll tell you who is missing: Jeran, Tiana, Heather, and Elisabeth. By my count, that’s 15 people and a dog.
I always have good intentions of capturing everyone in at least one group photo, but this one got away from me. Then some folks left before I realized my failure. I’ll get them next time. I guess I was too busy just watching everyone. Could be, too, that my brain hasn’t recovered from the faceplant I participated in while in Lodi.
Yeah. Let’s blame it on that.
It was a roaring good time made better by Diane’s Sloppy Joes, and her 30 lb custom made Mac’n’cheese.
As with all family events of this nature, no one went away hungry.
As I type this, the calendar tells me that it’s really Tuesday, not Sunday so I’m obviously running a little behind schedule. I’ve decided that I will stop this rigid daily schedule of info sharing and just scribble something when the mood strikes. It’s much easier that way because being on a daily routine makes it necessary to make stuff up when nothing happens to write about. This is true.
Today Diane is going to Portland, all by herself, to get a CAT Scan, then later this week she will visit her doctor for the results and to find out which kind of sauna would be the best alternative to a trip to Arizona. Yes, stuff like that makes my head hurt a little too.
It’s been a long harrowing day on Highway 101. We left Willits around 1000 and made our first stop in town at the local Les Schwab to have the RV tires first pumped up a little. Actually, they needed to be pumped a lot. Most tires had 65-70 psi, and we needed them to be 90. My assigned Les Schwab tire jockey fixed us right up in about 5 minutes, then we were on our way.
It was raining when we started but it quickly turned to snow mixed with rain. As we progressed, the mixture of snow to rain turned to mostly snow, then only snow. Thankfully, the roads remained clear so there was no problem on the road. I kept the speed at 55 because 101 is a wiggly road so even though the speed limit for most of the trip was 65, but I stuck with 55 anyway. That made both Diane and me happy.
Putting more air in the tires made a big difference in how the bus handled. Steering was much easier and we didn’t jump around as much as it has up to this point in time. Should have done that years ago.
We got to Eureka around 1432 hours and parked in space #1. After getting it all hooked up, I went in and paid for 2 nights as directed. When I got back to the bus Diane told me that she’d made a big mistake because she already had a reservation for Tugman State Park for the 8th. That means I would have had to drive nearly 5 hours on Saturday. So, we reverted to 1 night and plan to spend tomorrow night in Harris State Park in Brookings. That was the original plan.
We’re staying home this evening. Diane thought about getting dinner at KFC but the one she found only got 2 stars and she won’t eat at anyplace that has 3.5 or lower. We have food so will cook this evening. I think it’s going to be ham, baked potatoes, and some sort of vegetable. Probably beans.
For this trip, we decided to leave Max home alone. We know he’ll be bored, but we’ll make it up when we return. I actually think he’s part bear, because he doesn’t really sleep, or play with his toys, he kind of hibernates. I’m guessing about that but intend to one day install a camera to see what he does when we leave him alone. We might be amazed to find out that he’s a super-hero who pretends to be a very nice dog when people look at him then becomes an unstoppable crime fighter when they look away. Quantum mechanics must be involved allowing him to shift back and forth as quickly as he does.
Before going on our trip to Green Valley I’m being forced to take my shower a day early. Actually, I’m a day late even though I was told I don’t smell bad. Yet. So, I’ll clean up and put on fresh underwear even though no one will see them unless I hurt myself badly enough that a trip to the doctor is necessary. Most people don’t know that any time you go to the emergency room, no matter what it’s for, they make you remove your clothes so they can confirm that you have clean underwear. There’s a check box on the intake form for that purpose. I looked.
When we left the bus, Max just sat on his pillow, hanging his head, looking as pitiful as he could, but he didn’t fool us. We knew he would shift to hero mode as soon as the crunch of our tires faded away.
We left a bit early to ensure we would arrive at the appointed time, so we took the long route. That means we stayed off I-19. I may have mentioned before that Interstate 19 is not really an “interstate” highway. It never leaves Arizona so it should be A-19. I won’t dwell on that but rest assured I’ll be thinking about it every time I look at a map.
The trip south once again took us through the vast pecan orchards that live in the valley south of the Tucson airport and north of E. Sahuarita Road. I’m guessing but believe I’m pretty close. Whatever the boundaries are, the orchards are composed of thousands and thousands of huge pecan trees. Maybe hundreds of thousands. There’s a lot of them. So many, I’m pretty sure there aren’t many available for planting anywhere else in the world. I’m pretty sure there’s a sign long one of the roads through the trees that has that written on it.
Once we got to Sahuarita, we had to turn left on A-19, heading toward Nogales. It wasn’t long before Veronica, our GPS, directed us to get off the freeway and establish a presence on the southbound Frontage Road on which we traveled until we made it to W. Placita de la Cotonia Street. That’s the street Roberta said she lives on. It has been about 70 years since we’ve seen each other, and we hadn’t communicated during that time, so we didn’t have any reason to not believe her. Surely after all this time she wouldn’t lead us astray, would she? No, she wouldn’t.
We found her home without any problem and drove in the driveway just as she was escorting two gentlemen out of the house. We were introduced to both of them but I only remember Ron. I think the other fellow was Bruce. That’s a guess.
As with most family members, Roberta greeted us as if we’d been missing for only a little while, not 70 years. It was a good reunion. Big hugs all round. Then we sat down a table on which she had her photo album displayed. Shortly, another person arrived, and we got to meet Jim whose grandfather was my uncle whom I have no memory of meeting. I knew the name, Knute, but to me he was just one of my Dad’s brothers who lived in California.
We sat around the table going through the photos, putting names to those we knew, and wondering about the ones we didn’t recognize. It was a great visit that went well into the afternoon until Max called and suggested that we return before he got a notion to chew on something. His call was a surprise because I didn’t know he had a phone. Huh.
Before leaving, i set up my tripod and took some photos from Roberta’s veranda to commemorate this joyous gathering.
This is me, Diane, Roberta, and Jim
Me, Roberta, and Jim
I didn’t get a photo of Ron because he left the party before I figured out how to get my phone hooked up to the tripod. I learned, from Roberta, that Ron came with the home when she bought it. Seems like they said he worked with the previous 2 owners, too. Kind of handy to have someone like Ron who’s been around long enough to know pretty much everything about the house and how to fix it.
After the visit we headed home using the same back roads that brought us here. Fortunately, we got home just about sun down, Max’s suggestion, and I took him for his walk right away. He’s about the best dog in the world. Really, he is.
The trip to SaddleBrooke was about the same as us driving from St. Helens to Portland. About an hour long. But getting to the destination involved having a minor altercation with either a sheriff, or state trooper. Here’s what happened.
SaddleBrooke has about 3-4 exits off Oracle Rd. That’s a long road. According to Wikipedia, it’s over 293 miles long. Today it was used for an Arizona version of Oregon’s Hood to Coast. They used the northbound side of the road (our side) to accommodate hundreds of runners of all shapes and sizes that just happened to be the most dense in front of all the exits we needed to use. We only needed one, but they covered all of them. I tried to find out what the race was about but the internet was not forthcoming with info, so I have no idea. I do know that by running on our side of the road made it difficult to make a right turn which was necessary to get to SaddleBrooke. Two cars ahead of us were allowed to make a right turn but when we tried, the policeman made a scene by yelling into my ear, so we drove ahead. I’m pretty sure he saw our Oregon plates and didn’t deem us worthy of a right turn.
A little further up the road, away from the major intersections, we turned right, driving willy nilly through the cones (didn’t hit even one of them), and we found our way to the church almost on time. I think we were about 2 minutes late.
The church is non-denominational, but it was amazingly like all the Lutheran services I attended over the years. Very familiar. It was very interesting and there must have been a couple hundred people there. Impressive.
After the service, we rode with Patty and Gene to one of the eating establishments for breakfast. The food was awesome, and we had a great time visiting. Before going to their home for more visiting, Gene drove us all over SaddleBrooke and The Reserve to see incredible views of the Catalina Mountains. It’s my understanding that there is a SaddleBrooke one, two and three and each of them have resort quality facilities for entertainment and eating. Very magnificent.
Then we went to their home where we sat and visited for a long time. It was a lot of fun. Eventually we had to leave and go rescue Max from his isolation in the RV. He wasn’t alone the whole time because our neighbors planned to take him for a walk while we were out. He was ready to get out of the bus when we got there, though, because neither Diane nor I turned the heater off. Thankfully, it wasn’t a particularly hot day, but the heater kept it toasty for Max. I immediately took him for a walk around the park which pleased him.
Now we’re all relaxed and ready to call it a day, but it’s only 1830 so I’ve got to mess around for another couple of hours. Guess I’ll watch the Seahawks/Packers game for a while.
Here are some more photos from today that might please you.
Dr. Patty and Diane, two former Warren Girls.
Gene stopped so I could get a shot of the two large Cacti that are actually Verizon antennas.
This is part of the Catalina Mountain range that resembles Abe Lincoln. He’s lying on his back, head to the left and it looks like he’s got a huge growth on his chest.
Gene didn’t comment on the growth part, and I didn’t notice it when I took the photo. Looking at it now, though, it’s pretty evident, don’t you think?
Saturdays are usually my day to watch NCAA football, but Oregon had time off after winning the Big 10 conference championship game. We won’t see them again until the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. Until then I just kinda watch whoever shows up on the TV.
I actually started watching the Army vs. Navy game and saw Navy score first, but let it go when a movie came on that Diane had set to record. Since our Dish receiver only has one tuner we can’t record a show and watch a different channel. Diane was out at the time, replenishing our food and I know she would not have minded if I have cancelled the recording. It didn’t seem right, though, so I just let the system change channels. I heard later that Navy went on to win that game 31-13. How about that? The only other scores that sometimes interest me is when Notre Dame gets beat.
After Diane returned, we went off base and got the car washed because we’re going to church tomorrow in Saddle Brooke. This trip is so we can visit with pattyaz and her husband geneaz. With the use of very few brain cells I think most of you can interpret those names to be Patty and Gene. Patty is Diane’s legitimate cousin and, therefore, my cousin by marriage. Patty and I were also classmates all through high school in Scappoose. Unlike me, Patty paid attention in all her classes.
Because of our lack of activity this day, I don’t have any new photos, except for this stellar sunset. I’ll leave you with that.
After breakfast Diane drove us back to the Last Outpost in Old Tucson to swap the shirt I mentioned yesterday. While she bartered with the store manager, Max and I wandered around the parking lot. The last time we were here I found a crisp $5 bill just lying there on the ground. That’s almost as good as finding a heads-up penny. We didn’t find any more during our walk. We were about halfway across the parking lot when Diane came out of the store. Since we were the only ones in the parking lot, I turned Max loose and told him to go get Mom.
He took off like the wind and got to her just in time for Diane to open the car door. He didn’t hesitate about jumping in. There was no way he was going to be left behind. That, and he loves to ride in the car.
Next, we drove to Mission San Xavier to get a refrigerator magnet, something we forgot to do during our last visit. I walked around the mountain adjacent to the mission while Diane bought me a tiny saguaro cactus. We hope it grows from its tiny state to a magnificent remembrance of this area.
Max and I climbed the hill adjacent to the Mission proper. It’s not very tall but gives one a nice view of the valley in all directions. This was the best view. The mission is like a massive jewel in the wilderness.
Looking the other way, you can see the “mountain” Max and I climbed.
Diane needs to print the AAA Trip Tiks she’s working on for our return trip to civilization, so we decided to get a small printer so she can study the routes. The first likely place to get one was the Base Exchange (BX). So, that’s where we went first. They had slim pickings and didn’t have the one I thought would be best. So, we drove to Costco and found just the right one.
I’m so happy Diane likes doing that because I’m much better at traveling as a silent observer instead of all that front end stuff necessary to make the trip pleasant. She’s a stellar planner and makes the trip easy on me since I’m the bus driver. We no longer feel the need to get from Point A to Point B the quickest way possible. Now we go from Point A to Point Z and visit all the places in between. It’s much more relaxing.
After Costco, we drove home in time for supper. Max didn’t care that he’d been home alone after lunch. He spied on our neighbors and ran to them and was rewarded with treats. Those are way better than supper. Our neighbors are Patricia and Laurie, Mother and Daughter. They dressed up for Halloween.
Awesome neighbors and they love Max, too.
We watched a little Dish TV then streamed “White Collar” on Netflix, but it wasn’t buffering well. Lots of pauses at night so we discussed, again, getting our own hotspot. I know I can get one from Verizon, but I’d like to do it through AT&T since we already have service with them. Should get a break because of that. Perhaps you remember I tried doing that in California, but it didn’t work out. I’m going to try again. I’m sure you will be holding your breath waiting for the results so I’ll report back as quickly as I can.
Temporary Sanity ... 