Hi. Happy International Blow Up Your Neighborhood Day (IBUYND). I know, I’m late but that’s pretty much what I am for anything I do, and you know what? It’s OK to be late. I’m sure that’s true. Especially for me because most people probably are amazed that I get things done. For them it’s a surprise that causes some folks to remark, “Hey! Jerrie’s still sucking air! Who knew?”
Like normal, I have no agenda for this post so I’m just going to pick some photos at random and see if I can remember what caused me to take them. It might be interesting for all of us.
As many of you know, I’m the cook in the house and Diane does the cleanup. I’m totally OK with that, in case you might be wondering. One of the main reasons for liking this arrangement is because while preparing a meal I can nibble on things. I mostly nibble vegetables. If I was the cleanup crew, I couldn’t do that because my hands would be dirty the entire time. That wouldn’t bother me, actually, but it would bother Diane. A lot.
So, I made some hotdogs and cooked up some corn I found in the fridge.
There’s potato salad on my plate, too. Diane and I collaborated on the salad. She doesn’t eat corn so I was forced to eat all of those. I didn’t take a photo of Diane’s hotdogs because she puts ketchup on hers and that makes my stomach crinkle up. I’m sure it’s illegal to put ketchup on hotdogs in a bun. It’s OK to do so when the hotddogs are cut up in a bowl of baked beans.
Here’s Diane’s sandwich from a different day. I think it’s a ham and swiss on rye sandwich. I had one, too, but it wasn’t worth a picture.
Here’s Max giving Mom a little help with her filing.
Here’s Mom trying to ignore Daniel & Jennifer’s new kitten, Anakin. He’s a very mellow kitten which is good for the boys.
This is Lydia trying to ignore everyone so she doesn’t lose count.
Here’s Max trying to get over his fear of the sprinkler.
I found this pair of socks in my dresser, so I wore them the other day.
After I tossed them in the hamper, I found another pair just like them in the drawer. Pretty awesome that I have two pair of them, right?
It’s been a while since I’ve ventured forth with a new post. I have to admit that I’ve started new ones a few times but for some reason my heart just wasn’t in it. Today is apparently different because I feel like sharing something. What that may be has yet to emerge but I’m confident something will reveal itself during the course of this episode.
It’s almost noon and I’ve actually accomplished a few things, unlike what’s been normal for me lately. It was easy to just lay around, reading my books, or just taking an afternoon nap with Max keeping my legs warm. That may still happen but I’m seriously going to see how long I can hold off nap time.
Diane is gone to see her doctor at Good Sam, leaving me all alone with various sharp instruments that have previously been responsible for emergency room trips. The worst one isn’t here at the Cricket House. It’s still residing peacefully at the Hill House, out of my reach. That would be my table saw. I’d love to have it close to me, but so far it isn’t one of Diane’s favorite tools for me to have handy for two reasons: 1) There’s no room in the garage for it, and 2) She doesn’t trust me alone with it. So, I’ll just have to earn her trust doing other things.
Like today. I walked around the north side of the house and found a really tall rose bush (tree) with beautiful, fragrant blooms. Though I’m not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination, I felt confident in my ability to cut the flowers and plant them in a bud vase without harming myself. Considering that bud vases have very narrow openings, I took it outside to fill it with plant soil so I could keep the kitchen counter clean. There was bound to be spillage. Thankfully, I couldn’t find any appropriate soil so I just filled the vase with water and called it good.
Yesterday, I think, Jeff stopped by to help me remove a dangerous bird house from our patio. It wasn’t dangerous until a bunch of wasps decided it would make a great home.
Most of the critters were hiding inside, doing a serious makeover, while a few of those remaining worked on covering the exterior, one thin layer at a time. I thought it was unique and didn’t want to disturb their efforts, but it was hanging about 7 feet from our patio door, hanging from a hangar, under the patio cover. I’d been walking past it for a few days without harm before Diane told me about it. The worker bees were kind of friendly, actually, and didn’t bother me at all until I was made aware of their proximity to the door. That’s when I started exuding fear pheromones which the bees detected right away. That made it difficult to walk past the nest, so I revised me exit strategy from the house. It didn’t work. No matter which door I used to access the back yard they new I was there and immediately attacked. It didn’t take long for them to figure out that 1 or 2 bees could make me run leaving the remaining 6-700 bees to keep working.
Not being able to leave the house made walking Max difficult. The bees didn’t bother him so I just let Max out on his own, hoping he’d get safely back in a reasonable amount of time. He did really well until the deer showed up. It turns out he can almost outrun deer, especially the little ones. What he can’t do is jump fences like they can. But he can run around them via the creek.
By now I’m sure that you’ve figured out that I’m lying about most of that. Some of it’s true but I’m not sure which parts.
Last week we spent a few days in our trailer at Ocean Shores, WA with our Winnebago friends. Cliff brought his scooter which pleased Max because he’s been begging me to take mine out so he could have a ride. I guess he’s tired of walking around the block and would rather ride from one pee-spot to another. I didn’t think that was a good idea. When he saw Cliff in the parking lot, he took advantage of us both and just jumped on for a ride. Since he was so insistent, and Cliff was willing, I took his leash off and turned them loose.
Turns out he’s a pretty good little scooter rider. Who knew?
While I’m out here on the back yard patio, near the previous home of the bird house bees, a different Jeff (not our son) has been working hard to clean up the RV. His business is Cascade Auto Detailing (503) 476-2311, and he works out of his SUV. Being mobile is necessary since someone demolished his brick-and-mortar facility which is why we had to call him. The building was just gone.
He’s got pretty much everything he needs to do a great job. It’s great because I don’t have to do it. I’m sure our Jeff would have done it, but I value his safety above the other Jeff.
I just noticed that Diane’s on the move so her visit with the doctor is apparently done. Looks like she’s stopped at a McDonald’s near the Hillsboro COSTCO so I’ll have a little time to clean up the house before she gets back.
This morning, we woke up to frozen water lines so couldn’t make coffee or flush the toilet until I remembered that we have a full tank of fresh water. All I had to do was turn on the water pump and we had running water. Thankfully, the water line (garden hose) didn’t burst so our next objective is to get some pool noodles to wrap the exposed hose. I don’t know what the temp was outside but inside the bus this morning it was 40 degrees. That’s a bit too chilly for me. I think I convinced Diane to leave the heater on during the night so we can avoid these low morning temps in the future.
We didn’t go anywhere today so the water hose didn’t get wrapped in pool noodles. By unanimous vote, we chose to take a day of rest. I did, however, give Max his long overdue bath. He asked nicely and it’s hard to turn him down. Bathing wears him out.
Twenty-nine Palms lives in a shallow valley and most of the buildings on the base are snuggled up against the eastern edge. This is what we see from space 72. First photo is looking north, second is looking south.
In the above photo, the main gate is the closest structure. The road from there to the next stop sign is a racetrack where motorcycles can easily attain 100+ mph. That’s done by those who are released into the public domain after their day shift is over. It doesn’t last long.
The structures in the middle are base housing. I have no idea what the other buildings are for. I do know that somewhere on the left side is a gas station, Carl’s Jr., and a bunch of other stuff.
The tire tracks up close on the left side of the photo is the path for getting into the RV park. It takes you across a fairly high curb to the paved street and causes a lot of rock and rolling to ensure that anything that’s loose will fall on the floor and cupboards that do not latch shut allow their contents to join the items already on the floor. It makes a tremendous racket. Amazingly, nothing broke. I’m pretty sure.
That’s our bus across from the kid’s playground and the dog area. Across the street from us you can see the individual carports at each site. I’ll get a better photo of our spot soon.
A neighbor moved in next to us, on the other side of the above photo. His name is Rich, and his wife is Susan. Their car and trailer are licensed in Oregon but they both grew up on Oahu. Their kids went to Mililani High School. This is interesting because that’s where our son, Jeff went to High School for a while. Rich is retired Army. That’s not pertinent, just another interesting aspect of our visit. We just had a short visit, but we hope to talk with them again.
Once again it’s time to say farewell to the current spring weather and welcome, with open arms, the rush we get from the exceedingly hot summer we’re projected to have. It’s already hot, so it won’t be a surprise.
Max has been banned from running willy-nilly in the neighbor’s yard so I’ve tethered him to one of the patio posts so he can reach most of the yard. He doesn’t seem to mind and he finds fun stuff to do. Like this morning. I found a baby mouse, adorned with copious amounts of dog-slobber, laying on the patio. It was about 1.5 inches long and still kicking, but not in a running mood. It may not have been able to run. But, it did react to my touch. Tiny little thing. I’m such a sucker for tiny little things.
I gathered him up with the thought I’d put him out of harms way. I know, we set traps for their parents, but when they are so tiny they seem to be quite harmless.
Today is supposed to be pushing 90 degrees. Right now, it’s noon and the heat is definitely upon us.
So, I started writing this on June 25 which just happens to be one month ago. I have an excuse for that and I’ll be happy to share it with you as soon as I remember what it is. For now, I’ll just ramble on like normal.
Max got me in trouble yesterday so he can no longer roam freely about our back yard. He’s miffed, I’m sure, but we’ve had this talk more than once. He has this uncontrollable urge to run as fast as he can to our neighbor’s yard so make sure there aren’t any deer lingering around the feeding station erected just for them. Dogs aren’t allowed. I’ve been working with him to control that urge in favor of a tasty treat, but yesterday he just couldn’t help himself.
I went after him right away to get him back, but I wasn’t fast enough to keep him from running off 4 baby deer. I didn’t see them personally, but my neighbor made sure I knew what a vile thing Max had just done. In his defense, he’s a dog, a little dog, and likes to chase things. Deer are the most fun because he likes the way they just bounce up and down when fleeing full speed. Squirrels are a close second. They stymie Max because of their climbing prowess, and they know Max can’t climb trees. Yet. But he’s working on it.
A couple of days ago we ran across his little guy. His name is Rocket and he’s also a rescue. After a lengthy investigation they determined that they weren’t related. Even though there was a hint of recognition between them they decided that something just didn’t smell right, and we went on our own ways. They could pass as brothers. Kinda freaky.
Yesterday I caught Diane digging around in a cupboard she normally leaves alone because it’s out of reach. It was a handy place for me to hide “stuff” until she found the 1950’s step stool.
I’m going to have to move that thing to the garage so she won’t fall down and break something. Now I must find a new hidey place for my secret stuff. I don’t know why I’m going on about hiding things. If there was ever anything on that top shelf that I put there, it’s a sure bet I can’t remember what it might be. On the upside of her investigation, she found my Cheerios. I’ve been looking all over the house for those.
Here’s a sunset from a couple days ago.
The weather has been pretty warm late into the night but has cooled off some. We had quite a few 100+ days and a lot of 90+ days. We’re down into the mid 80’s now but we hear it will be going back up again. Half the state is on fire, the mid-west and eastern states are suffering from horrible weather. We feel blessed to be living in the right part of Oregon where hot weather seems to be the only problem we’re experiencing and that’s not really a problem. If it gets too hot, I’ll just go lay in the creek with Max.
Here’s Diane’s new tow car for the RV.
It’s not really new, it’s a 2020. And, it’s not really a tow car yet because I haven’t added the parts it needs to make it one. I have them sitting in the garage, just waiting for me to get into the right mood to do it.
Today I finished turning the fluorescent lights into LEDs in the RV. It’s a simple process, really, but it took me 3 days to figure out how easy. Once I did that, it was a snap. In all, I replaced eleven dual bulb fixtures with sticky strip LEDs. All the work I did, of course, was above my head which isn’t something my arms are fond of. Plus, one of the last two times a stumbled and fell, my left shoulder took a beating and isn’t behaving well at all. So, most of the work was done with my right arm. Kind of tricky when it’s a two-handed job.
This morning, taking advantage of a dry spell, we did some more gardening around the front of the house. It’s always easier to do after it’s been raining for a while. The weeds kind of just jump into your hands, like they’re afraid of dirt all the sudden. It’s a dirty adventure, but pleasing to get things looking nicer. Still lots to do, and there always till be. Cleaning up weeds around here is a little bit like painting a bridge. As soon as it gets done, it’s time to start over.
This afternoon we went to Hillsboro Stadium to watch Lydia’s team play their second league game. Their first one was last Tuesday, which they won 6-0. Today’s battle was a little more intense with the girls making mental errors, allowing the other team to score. In the end, our girls won 12-11 so it was pretty exciting. The other team was last up, bottom of the 7th, and managed to get two runners on base with only one out. The next batter hit right to our first baseman who caught it and tagged the runner trying to get back to the bag. Game over.
Lydia did awesome. She was 4 for 4 on the night … two doubles and two singles. On defense she’s the left fielder and claims that it’s boring. I can understand why because, so far, no one has hit that direction. But, she’s ready.
So, the Lady Lions JV team is 2-0 in league play.
For Maryssa, if you see this … tonight’s game was played on the same field at Hillsboro Stadium where you played a game after demonstrating your massive talents to a vast array of college coaches. Nice facilities.
After the game we all trekked to Home Town Buffet for dinner. I ate 5 chicken legs, a series of popcorn shrimp, corn, potatoes & gravy, and a soup bowl bull of ice cream covered with hot fudge. So much for portion control.
Temporary Sanity ... 