July 22, 2026 – Trip to the Beach

Today is Wednesday. Yesterday Lydia asked me what I had planned for tomorrow, which is today, so I checked my calendar and found nothing listed so I said, “Nothing. What’s on your mind?”

She said, “well, I need more yarn to finish my current project so I’m going to Cannon Beach for more.”

I said, “why Cannon Beach?”

She said, “because that’s where I got the yarn I’m using and I need the batch numbers to match,” in a tone that meant I should know that.

Not one to miss a chance to go to the beach, I said, “that sounds fun. What time are we going?”

She said she would get up a little earlier than she did today, meaning yesterday, because stayed in her bed until noon. As it turned out, she got up and was ready to go by 0900. That worked just fine for me because that gave me time to take Max for a walk along the river, which I did, this morning.

I woke up about 0730, ate my breakfast to decrease the chances of me falling down, then took him to town about 0830 and had him back by 0930 which ensured we could get to her yarn shop by 1130.

The drive over was fast because Lydia doesn’t drive slow, and uneventful because she’s a good driver. We took Max with us and he was ecstatic because going anywhere in a car is one of his favorite things to do, any time.

Once we got to Cannon Beach a parking space appeared out of nowhere so Lydia grabbed it. We had to walk a ways, but that was OK because we were surrounded by friendly people and lots of dogs. Max was in heaven. He got a sniff of every one of them.

While Lydia was getting her yarn Max and I just walked around visiting people. I was amazed that there were so many people wandering around in town. It was almost like walking around the streets of Honolulu again.

On the way out of Cannon Beach, we stopped by Ecola State Park for a while. She had never been there. So, here we were …

Regarding previous events, I’m sad to announce that in addition to the fair beginning on July 15th, I inadvertently failed to report that Jerrie Anne Diane Cate attained the lofty age of 15. That’s significant. She is, as you may have guessed, the youngest offspring of Jeff and Heather and is named after Diane and me. I’m very honored that she bears my name and I know Diane is also honored. I’m truly sorry I failed to let everyone know in a more timely manner. Perhaps Jerrie will forgive me for this failure.

Now I leave you with this PDA.

Day 108 – Tuesday – Free Christmas Lunch

Yesterday we joined a large contingent of Bone Yard dwellers for a very nice lunch at the base community center. It was a full-blown Thanksgiving Dinner all over and it was wonderful.

Someone told me a few weeks ago they had planned to have Thanksgiving Dinner at the community center, but it was changed for some reason, so they just stuffed it in the refrigerator and saved it for another date. I suspect today was the chosen date. Voila! Thanksgiving Dinner became Christmas Dinner. We’re happy that happened. As we were leaving, Diane was given two full take away containers for later. It was perfect because our neighbors didn’t attend the meal, so we took it to them.

Then we went to the humane society thrift store and shopped for a while. Max and I were asked to calm down or leave because he was having words with a noisy chihuahua. They didn’t have to leave. It was plainly a case of sexual bias. We walked around in the parking lot for a while then sat in the car till Diane was finished. It was OK.

From there we returned to the base and stopped by the visitors center to find out what someone with a VA card had to do to get on base. Now I must tell Gene and Patty.

The Christmas tree has been erected.

The mornings here are 38-ish and it warms up to the 70’s. It’s interesting weather. When we3 first got here, a 100 degree was common. When in the sun it was very hot, but in the shade it cooled right off. Nothing like home. With the temps cold like now, it’s really chilly until the sun gets high enough to hit you in the eye. Then it gets warm. The temp shift is drastic.

Diane got me a giant Snickers Bar the other day. I’ve been gnawing on it once in a while, one slice at a time. It’s really good and should last me well into next year if I’m careful. I’ll let you know how that goes.


She also got me new socks. They are very festive, and I appreciate them very much. I wish I could reciprocate in kind, but I’m not creative like she is. One of these days I might figure out.

I actually got her a couple dozen pairs of socks one Christmas and creatively wrapped them after mismatching the pairs and making it necessary to unwrap each pair individually. I guess that was pretty creative. But I think the fun wore off about halfway through the unwrapping process. Still, it was pretty cool. Maybe I should buy her more socks.

Maybe I can paint her a picture. That would be nice. I actually have all the tools to do it, but getting started is difficult. It’s like writer’s block, something I’ve never had because I just start writing gibberish until something coherent rises to the top. Sometimes that never happens, but at least I got the gibberish. Transferring that to painting, I suspect I need to just start painting something with no clear notion about what it might be. That sounds interesting.

By golly, I think I have a plan. Maybe I’ll even take a picture of it.

Peace to you all.