Interesting

I think it is funny how all the bloggers that I follow from the PNW have pictures of the snow on their blogs. Now we need some pictures of the rain. :P

Mail

When I went in to the retina specialists office on Tuesday I was asked if I had filled out my paperwork. Well....no...I hadn't. I hadn't ever been there before. So she gave me the paperwork and I filled it out. All that normal stuff...medical history, insurance, etc. This morning I noticed that the mailbox looked different. So I looked in the box and lo and behold we did get mail last night, well after 5 p.m. One of the envelopes was for the retina specialist telling me of my appt. last Tuesday and the paperwork I should have filled out prior to my appt. At least now I know what Wendy was talking about. Just amazed me that it took that long to get to me. I'm sure the snow had something to do with it. :P But they did send it out on the 19th.

Coolness

The pictures don't really do it justice. This is one of the outdoor lights that line our driveway. When it snowed they were covered up, but still worked. And it looked really cool seeing the light come up through the snow.

Christmas Morning

The best present given had to be Pat's new blanket. He opened it as soon as he was done opening all of his gifts and put it right to use.

Adrianna says Nana is hiding behind me. You know she doesn't like her picture taken.

Adrianna was not really all that interested in the packages or the presents. She spent most of her time eating, taking ornaments off the tree or trying to get the dirt out of the ficus tree pot.

Elizabeth was showing off her new present and trying to take pictures. Don't know how they turned out, but she is taking them. Guess that is how we learn. Her best present at our house had to be the oil pastels and paper from Grammy.

All in all it was a very nice Christmas even with the eye thing looming at the time. I am glad that I opted to wait until after xmas to get the shot.

Picture

Doesn't that look like it should hurt? At most it kind of feels a bit bruised, but not big pain. The doc must have hit the little blood vessel pretty good.

Eyes Again

I survived it. I actually saw a different specialist today as the one I saw on Tuesday is on vacation. This one seems to think it is probably not macular degeneration, although it is all the same for that eye. There is a lining under the retina that degrades in MD and usually in both eyes. Also it pretty much happens to people 55 and older. My right eye has no degradation. So he thinks that at some point in the last ten years I have had some sort of inflammation in my left eye which caused degradation in that eye. So from my standpoint that sounds good. Then I don't have to worry about this happening in the right eye except as everyone does when they get older. So once the lining is weakened then abnormal blood vessels can grow through it and then they leak. That is what causes the vision loss.
Once diagnosed with the abnormal blood vessels, which I have, treatment is offered. Do nothing and lose the center section of sight, use lasers which will leave a scar, or medication in the eye. The medications of choice right now are anti-colon cancer drugs. These drugs attack the blood vessels and hopefully make it so new ones don't form. That is what they do as cancer treatment...attack the blood vessels that feed the cancer. This option gives a shot at some of the vision loss maybe reversing. So I choose that one even though I may have to have multiple shots...that all depends on how I react to the medication.
So on to the story of the shot in the eye. First I was again dilated. Tuesday's dilation lasted for 24 hours. Guess it will this time too. Then the doc came in and talked to me and then he gave me a drop of anesthetic before he gave the the anesthetic shot. Told me it would sting a bit. It did for about six or sevens seconds, but it was a weird stinging, almost electrical. Then I had to use the restroom and it felt like I was drunk walking to it. That was rather weird. Then it was time for the iodine wash. She put it all around my eyes and in my lids. It stung more than the numbing shot. Next I got an eye speculum put in my eyelids. The first one popped out. Once the second one was in he measured where he needed to put the shot. Did the shot and I felt nothing. I did see swirling in my eye like cigarette smoke. Then he went to take the speculum out and it didn't want to come. He was like oh yeah...you aren't old and your lids work right.
I look like something smacked me hard in the eye. They said the blood will reabsorb in about a week or so. I was to expect the feeling of sand in my eyes, but other than the drive home haven't. Now I just watch for signs of infection and other than that I am good to go. I don't know how long it will take to see results if they are going to happen. I have another appointment in Feb. They will take measurements of my retina at that point. And for now we just wait and see.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. Staying in and staying warm here.

Eyes

So my eye appointment on Tuesday did not go as well as I expected. I do not have a little retinal bleed that will go away on its own. At the office I got to do some eye tests I didn't know about. I got pictures of my eyeballs taken. That is quite trippy. Colors are wrong after that for a bit. Light is pink. Interesting. Anyway I have a form of macular degeneration in that eye. Yeehaw for me. There are two treatment options. One is a form of laser surgery which if successful would keep my eye right where it is. The other form is medication in the eyeball. And that requires a thin little needle (or so the doc says). If that is successful I may get some of the sight back in that circle of blurriness. And then he tells me he would like to do that as soon as possible like xmas eve day. Nope. Don't think so. Need time to think about that. So I have an appt. on Friday for my little shot in the eye. Everything I have read says up to three shots in the eye. Can you tell I am just so excited about that prospect? I am not liking all the things that are happening to me since I hit the 40's.

Mishka Said

That Minnie is getting all the glory. She wanted her picture posted on the blog too, but she was not going out in the snow.

Whiteness

We are now over 12 inches of snow altogether. It does appear to have stopped for the moment. Minnie has been having a blast playing in the snow. She likes the snow better than the ice. We caught the picture of her with a leaf on her nose and thought it was cute. She looked at us like why are you looking at me.

I got a snow day from work. Still waiting to see what happens for tomorrow. I do have a retina dr. appt. in the afternoon as long as they are open. I am sure hoping that the opthamologist was right when he said he thought I just have a little retinal bleed that will eventually go away. But this blurry spot in the middle of one eye is getting pretty annoying. But something that will go away without surgery sounds pretty good to me.

"White Christmas"

Dave estimates that all together we are at eight inches of snow. It isn't snowing right now, but we have more freezing rain predicted. It is beautiful. The only casualty so far, is the gazebo, that completely collapsed. Dave is now tearing it apart. We were talking about replacing it anyway, so I guess that works out all right.
Elizabeth and I were suppose to go to another symphony today. There is just no way we would make it over to Portland. So we are hoping that they reschedule it. If not we will just plan another activity soon.

Mica is a silly cat. Doesn't seem to mind the snow at all. Doesn't she know she is a cat and is not suppose to like precipitation?

Easily Amused

It is snowing here. Not a great amount, but enough to make our road a little interesting. We live at the bottom of the hill. So we have no problem getting home. There are quite a few people who live up the hill and we have been having a great time watching them make their attempts to make the hill. Looks like it is taking four-wheel drives or chains to get up the hill. I imagine in the morning there will be plenty of people parked on our road.

A Monday Afternoon Drive

Myk had a court date this afternoon in Stevenson. He needed a ride so I got off work early to take him. Now our weather is cold and there was snow yesterday. So I decided it would be best to drive up I-84 and cross at the Bridge of the Gods. No problem whatsoever driving. There wasn't even any moisture on the road until we crossed back over to the Washington side. Turned out Myk did not have a date today as the new dates were set for the first of the year. He felt it was a wasted trip and yes it wasn't productive. But we saw frozen waterfalls which are really cool. Then as we crossed the bridge back to Oregon two eagles flew out in front of us and up the river. I almost never see eagles. And the best part is there was almost no traffic on our drive. :)

Today

Minnie was so disappointed. We have started giving Mishka some special food. It seems like she isn't eating the dry kibble and we think it may be her teeth. Minnie waited patiently for Mishka to be done with her treat. Then she snuck over and got the container, only to find it had been completely licked clean.

Dave cut the tree yesterday. We let it sit and dry off. Then tonight I decorated it. Mica is excited. She loves being under the tree. Last year she spent a lot of time amongst the presents.

So did Mishka, but that is a different story. Mishka likes to do circles around round things.

Oh Yeah

I also won a free companion fare coupon on Amtrak. There was a contest going on that if you had changed how you go to work....ride a bike, ride a bus, start carpooling, etc.....you could enter. Well Brenda and I started carpooling back in Sept. so I entered. Was very surprised to win. Now to decide..a trip to Seattle or a trip to Vancouver, BC.

Girls

Tanya and the girls came over so Dave could work on Tanya's laptop. They also picked out

a Christmas tree. We had to take a picture of the cute little feet and Adrianna in her hoody. Here is also a picture of Elizabeth with some artwork that she worked on while here.

Today

This is a picture of the sunset out our front windows. Just beautiful. And of course as soon as Dave was done snapping pictures it became even more red.
Mom and I made it to Clackamas Town Center today. We haven't been there in years. Got to listen for a bit to a young band play. Then we shopped. She made more progress than I did, but she has more left to do than I do. Then we went out for lunch and home for naps.

Shopping

Going Christmas shopping with Mom today. I am almost done so it shouldn't be too bad.

Nathan

As we become older, family seems to become more important. That said many years ago I took it upon myself to make sure I visited my aunt and uncle out near the coast more often. Most of my relatives live in the Midwest and it is hard to visit with them much. But my aunt and uncle here I could see on occasion. They kept me up to date on various other relatives and how they were doing. One of those relatives they told me about is my cousin Nathan. Guess to be correct that is my second cousin Nathan. We share a great-grandmother in common. I have heard wonderful stories over the years. Right now my cousin is having a great adventure and teaching in Italy. My aunt gave me the link to his blog so I could read about it. And then me being me....I had to leave a comment or two. And then he left me a comment, but unfortunately he hasn't a clue as to who I am. So I told him how I got the link to the blog. And then I commented his comment about us being cousins. And maybe, hopefully someday we will meet in person.
That said I have to say his blog has really shown me what a wonderful young man he is. He is charming and funny and very smart. I think he got that from my side of the family. :P

Oops

Heather had a little fender bender yesterday. Wasn't her fault as the other driver pulled out in front of her. Still pretty much totalled her car. She is sad and probably pretty sore today. Said she was really glad she didn't fix the air conditioner yet. Man.

Last Leftover Day

Dave says today is the last day of Thanksgiving leftovers. Well except for the soup that he is having tomorrow night. And so ends November and on to Christmas. :)

Soup Day

We have been eating leftovers from the turkey. Today the carcass is in the pot becoming stock. Tonight it will become turkey and wild rice soup. Yummy. I think the leftovers are as good as the original meal. We actually have leftover rolls to go with the soup. :)

Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving. There were ten of us. Adrianna has figured out how to climb up on the coffee table. She fell off a couple of times and then figured that out also.

So I had a pie problem. I had commented to my friend Brenda from work about my meringue always falling during the night. So her mom told me a trick. Broil until just turning brown then shut the door and the oven off. Don't take pie out until completely cooled. Okay....sounded good. I got a nice fluffy meringue going and put it in the oven. Walked away for a minute and the smoke alarm goes off. The meringue was moments away from fire. Took it out, scraped off the very dark brown meringue and started over. Did it my way in the oven at 350 for fifteen minutes. Perfect. It fell overnight. Still tasted good though.

Holidays

I have quit fighting it. I now play the radio station playing holiday music. I got my first xmas card in the mail today. Yes, today, and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet.
I am in the process of making pies for tomorrow. We will have a big crowd of ten this year. It is a lot more than the last several years. Doesn't make any difference to me. The meal is still one of the easiest to fix and so I have to peel a couple extra taters.

Myk may have a job

Myk got a call last night from coast to coast which is an events company. They want him to come to orientation next Monday afternoon. We have our fingers crossed for him.

It's Over

The famine has ended. We were having such a nice slow period at work. We knew last week that it was changing. Fedex and UPS were bringing many more boxes than they had been. Then yesterday we got nine pallets of books. One more today and seven more expected this week. Yeehaw! And our boss thought we would be taking extra days off this month. We just looked at him like he was crazy. Today he asked us to give up our usual days off during the week to stay ahead of the craziness. He will figure it all out. :P

A letter to Kimit

I guess I am very dense. Sorry. Maybe I should have picked up on the first non-responses to email. Or perhaps the missed Christmas card. But the no response to Mr. Bill did finally get through. Who can't respond to Mr. Bill? So I guess this is the end, but I had some things I wanted to say first. I don't have a clue as to what transpired the last time we saw each other that would make you want to completely disown me.

People come and go through our whole lives. And I believe that every one is important for the time. You are my oldest friend and my longest relationship outside of family. And while we haven't been close at all during our adult years I still consider you my best friend from my childhood. You are the only one from high school who I send xmas cards to. And you are the only one of all that time period that I would even care to still call my friend.

When I think of you I think of BCR and walls covered with posters. I think of the year we gave each other "Back in Black" for xmas. I think of the concerts we went to (I didn't go to another one until 1996). I think of SNL and how you thought Steve Martin and Mr. Bill so funny. Which is why that Mr. Bill commercial made me email you. Who else would I email about that?

Those last couple of years of high school were a changing time for us. And that is okay. I knew when you went to Spokane that you weren't coming back. I knew that you had to go away to have your life. But we always had xmas cards and then sporadic email. It was still a link to the friends that we started off as. Twelve years-old and falling in love with music. Remember the albums we had and how eclectic they were? Can you fathom how much money we spent on those albums?

So just know that I always always have thought of you fondly and warmly. I always wanted you to be happy and have all the things in life you needed. I know that you have made a life, home and family there in Spokane. So know that I will continue to think of you when songs come on the radio or when I see silly commercials that remind me of my youth. I'll just try really hard not to email you about it because you obviously don't want the connection anymore.
And while I can cut it off here, it will always be in my soul.

Xmas lights

So one of the neighbors have put up their xmas lights. Guess the one-upmanship has started. But it is still almost two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Mica

Adrianna discovered that she could crawl in the cat condo and play in it. She found it rather amusing. Now the cat condo has sat in our dining room for months and months....just sitting. After Adrianna was in it, Mica, our cat, has been playing with it. She is in it a lot. She must not have liked having an intruder in it.

Dinner and a Play

My mom and I went out for dinner Friday night. We had been wanting some beef and broccoli at the local Thai Restaurant, The Golden Tusk. So we went and had that. It was delicious as always.
Then we had tickets to go see the play "The Heiress". We thoroughly enjoyed it. We like to go to the plays at the college. They put on really good ones.

Ack!

The Christmas music is back. I can't believe it.

Boots

Caitlyn at work wears these beautiful suede boots. I really like them. Thought about them and decided they would go really nice with a longer black skirt. Elizabeth and I want to dress up for the symphony in Dec. So I asked Caitlyn where she got her boots. Well she got them at the mall for about $100. Now my nature is pretty frugal. So she told me they had some like them at Target for $30. That is more to my liking. Well the ones at Target hurt my feet. Walmart didn't have anything close to my size. Naturally.

So Thursday was my Elizabeth day. So we went shopping. Checked a different Target for sizes. Went to Walmart and got her a crochet hook and yarn for school. Went to eat at Sweet Tomatoes. I think that is one of her favorite places. Then we went to Kohls to see their selection. Well they have a wonderful selection of shoes there. Found boots. Couldn't get them on my feet at first. But then I prevailed and did it. My boots were $80 there, but turned out to be on sale for $50. Elizabeth fell in love with a short pair of boots that go great with jeans. She insists they will go with a dress.....I'm not too sure, but they are hers. They were also on sale and that made us happy.

Empty Nest

So Myk did move. He took most of his stuff. The apartment isn't bad for the price. I saw no evidence of gang-bangers or druggies while there.
It was kind of weird sleeping last night. I was still listening for the door or the phone. Then to get up this morning and know he isn't here and isn't coming "home" this morning was kind of strange. I wonder how it was for him.

Amazing

Someone or someones must have complained to that radio station. They went back to normal format.

Myk

So Myk is moving out again tomorrow. This time he isn't couch-surfing like before. He is going to an apartment in Hazel Dell. At first that concerned me because there are some scummy areas in Hazel Dell. He finally told me it is across the street from where an old girlfriend used to live. It seems like an all right place. The interesting part is he is still unemployed. The girl he is moving with does have a job and doesn't mind carrying him for a bit. He is seriously looking for a job and has put in many applications. Time is going to tell how well this works out for him.

Books

I picked up a couple of books at the new local Goodwill. One of them being "Hour of the Cat" by Peter Quinn. I brought it out to the computer so I could add it to my booklist on this blog. Inside I found the original receipt. The man who bought it also bought some other books that I have read. I just found it kind of interesting the things I find inside used books that I pick up. This book came from Tigard. It would be interesting to see how it got to my small town.

Christmas

A local radio station always plays Christmas music during the season. The station is one of the ones I have programmed on my radio so I hit it often when I am station surfing. Well they have already started their Christmas season and the music plays. I love Christmas, but it is a bit early even for me.

Our Week

Tanya and the girls came over for supper. They brought the newest addition to their family. Her name is Deja. So far she seems really good with Adrianna. She was a bit assertive with our dogs. Time will tell if they will be friends. If not Deja will have to stay home.

Adrianna loves playing in Nana's cupboards. I steer her away from the glass cupboard and point to the plastics. She is learning how to put on lids or at least which ones go with which containers.

Dave spent some time pressure washing the roof. We have moss. He said he did it on a low setting so as not to hurt the roof.

Unbelievable

We actually had a trick or treater last night. Jodi brought Zach over in his bmx/motocross racer costume. He looked pretty cute and naturally I forgot to take a picture. We live rurally so don't get kids coming around on Halloween. I think it has been a good ten years since we got one of the neighbor kids.

Oct. 30

Yesterday was my usual Thursday to have Elizabeth. We convinced Grandpa to go out to dinner with us in honor of his birthday. We went to El Rancho Viejo which is a local Mexican restaurant. Dave really enjoyed his carne asada. It has been hard to feed him since he developed his meat aversion. Anyway Elizabeth and I also baked him a pineapple upside down cake. Turns out Elizabeth doesn't like pineapple. Good thing the rest of us do. :)

Tool

Here is the tool that will now be used to make wood chips for smoking on the bbq. No more thumbs in the jointer.

What a Day

So the Mini had a service scheduled and also needed to find out why the check engine light was coming on. Seemed like a good time to do that. So Mom and I dropped Mini off early. Rasmussen gave us Max tickets so we could venture up to Washington Park to see the Wolf to Woof exhibit. It was a nice exhibit and we enjoyed it. We went back to Rasmussen and found out the welds on the catalytic converter were bad. So we still had some wait time. Went to the Goose Hollow Inn for lunch. It is kind of a pub place. We had sandwiches and then went back to Rasmussen's and waited some more. Finally the mini was fixed and we headed back home.

Dave, Myk and I went to my friend Mona's house. She wanted to get rid of her oak dining table. I wanted one so she gave me hers. We are thinking about refinishing it with a much lighter stain. Anyway it is very nice and I am appreciative.

An Outing to the Symphony

Elizabeth and I had our day on Sunday. We have season tickets to the Oregon Symphony Kids' Series. This was our first show together. After picking her up we made out way to Portland. Took the wrong exit off the freeway and had to tour a bit to find the place. It has been seven years or so, since the last time I was there. Anyway we managed to find it and get parked. Went for lunch at Oliver's Restaurant which is a basement restaurant across the street. Not overly impressed. Lunch costed $21 plus tip and her burger was rather crispy. Decided next time we would just go to the McDonald's around the corner and eat much cheaper. Then we had some time left to kill so we walked around a few blocks. Played in a park behind the concert hall and looked at this cool church. We enjoyed the concert. The first song was from Harry Potter and Elizabeth recognized it right away. They played six numbers with one of them being "Peter and the Wolf". Each kid got a glow stick to use for the finale. Naturally they almost all had them glowing before the concert ever started. We had a good time and finished off the day with decorating cupcakes for Halloween with the sprinkles from Aunt Heather.

Naturally

Now all the signs are gone out of my yard.

A box

I go out to the mailbox today and there is a box in it addressed to me and Elizabeth. Hmmm. Now I know Heather got a birthday present for Adrianna, but I was sure she said she was going to mail that to her. So I almost didn't open the box until I have Elizabeth again. But, you know, boxes can't just sit around not being opened. So I did and I found these goodies inside. Elizabeth and I are going to bake some cupcakes. Maybe we'll even do it Sunday after our outing to see "Peter and the Wolf" put on by the Oregon Symphony.

Bits and Pieces

Dave did get an infection in his thumb last week. So he is again on antibiotics. Overall it looks much better though.

Brenda and I saw this Subaru in the parking lot at work with a bat painted on the hood and then bat wings added to the top. Methinks he was trying for a bat-mobile. We should have taken a picture, but didn't. I saw that car a couple more times in town since then. I teased Brenda that we could do that to her mom's car. She said that would be fine as long as no one then called her mom an old bat.

Got our ballots in the mail on Sat. Someone stealing my sign had no affect on who I voted for. Glad to say my ballot went in the mail today.

We had a little receiving gathering lunch on Sat. It was nice. Tried to get a couple of people who used to work with us there, but life said no. Maybe next time, but it was a nice lunch.

Damn!

Someone stole the Obama sign out of our yard.

Adrianna's First Birthday Party

Adrianna had her first birthday party today. She was pretty good and really enjoyed her cake and opening her presents. She got some new toys and several new outfits. There was no drama at the party since Tanya changed the guest list and the venue. It was really very pleasant.

Sign

Mostly I keep my political opinions to myself. I already know that I am not going to change anyone else's mind and no one will change mine, so there is no real reason to have discussions.

So earlier this year someone decided it was okay to post signs in our yard for political candidates. No one came and asked if it was okay, they just did it. Even the real estate people ask before putting signs on our corner. So I would go and pull the signs up, and honestly I would not have given permission for those signs.

So my neighbor up the hill asked a couple of weeks ago about putting up signs in our yard. And I stated "Sure, as long as they aren't republican". And I told her about the signs I had gotten rid of. She commented that they are always suppose to ask. Anyway...she told me last week she was going to add a few more signs to my yard and she did. This one I really liked and was so honored that she put her ONE Obama sign in my yard. And so far no one has stolen it. Heard a lot of that is happening because there aren't enough signs for everyone who wants one.

And then if you couldn't tell....this makes me a liberal democrat, with political signs in my yard for the first time in my life.

Family Dinner again

We had a family dinner again last night. We don't really do it often enough, but we do do it once in awhile. Dave and the girls had went down to visit the cow. Dave had cleaned out the marionberries earlier so they were just sitting there. There were still a lot of good fruit on them. This time Adrianna decided to try one and that was that. She liked them.

We did a pretty good number on a big cake pan of scalloped potatoes and ham. I also made homemade cracked wheat rolls and finished up with frozen peas. It was delicious and there was only a tad bit left over. Guess what I am having for lunch today.

Fall

Fall is here. We are working on putting the garden to bed. The nights are getting very cold and should frost soon. We still have a few tomatoes and the brussel sprouts. I have no idea what frost does to the brussel sprouts, but it will for sure end the tomatoes.
The pampas finally bloomed. Seems like we have a late one. When we planted the little itty bitty plant we put it next to our pond. And it grew. And then we decided we didn't want the pond so we re-landscaped that area. The pampas was too big to move easily. And while we have contemplated moving it many times or starting over...we just leave it. The birds absolutely love it. They hide in it and eat the seed when it is done blooming. So it stays and it is beautiful in bloom. I think next year it gets chopped all the way back though.

TiVo works

TiVo is working just like it is suppose to. It did kind of throw me when it recorded shows it thought I would like. I'm pretty sure there is a way for me to turn that off, I just haven't found it yet. So far it has recorded the two shows I had it set for this week. Watched them both. Have to get used to the fast-forward function as it can work very fast if you aren't paying attention to it.

A true joke

WHAT CAUSES ARTHRITIS?
A drunk man who smelled like alcohol sat down on a subway next to a priest.
The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half-empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket.
He opened his newspaper and began reading.
After a few minutes the man turned to the priest and asked, 'Say Father, what causes arthritis?'
The priest replies, 'My Son, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked women, too much alcohol, contempt for your fellow man, sleeping around with prostitutes and lack of a bath.'
The drunk muttered in response, 'Well, I'll be damned, ' Then returned to his paper.
The priest, thinking about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. 'I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?'
The drunk answered, 'I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does.'

MORAL: Make sure you understand the question before offering the answer.

Trees

Here are a couple of pictures of trees changing in our yard. The red one is the Grandpa tree that we planted for my grandpa. The other maple is one in our back yard that I thought looked very interesting right now with its two tones.

Hopefully the Conclusion

So a nice new TIVO sits under our TV. I managed to find one yesterday. After visiting a lot of stores online, I started with the bricks and mortars store. I found out that only Best Buys is carrying TIVO now in our area. One salesman just couldn't understand why I just didn't upgrade my cable and get a DVR from them. Let's see.....I pay nothing for basic basic cable. I would have to upgrade to the $70 a month plan and then add on for the box. No, I don't think so....already looked at that. So I went to Best Buys. Got a salesgirl who really knew nothing. I knew more than she did. Anyway I bought the last dual tuner TIVO on their shelves....everything is moving to HD of which I am not. So we installed it this morning and let it do its thing. It phoned home a few times setting itself up. We could attach it to the phone line or to the internet network. We opted for the phone line because we could get to it easiest. So after it got done doing whatever it was doing it let me program all my shows. I set them up for the whole season and told it to NOT record re-runs. Got to like that feature and it will also follow the shows if the network should change date and time. Got to like that also...no more having to remember to set up that last Survivor show because it is always on Sunday. And so now I should never miss another episode of "House".
P.S. And Scott, the fifth season started here and it is excellent....like what it was in the beginning.

The Saga Continues

I managed to watch all the shows on that ate up video tape. Made me happy indeed as I love
"House". Threw it away when I was done and opened a brand new package and put the brand new tape in. VCR was set to record last night. Got up this morning and the light is blinking and it did not tape. Not a biggie as I can live without "Numbers". Obviously it is the VCR.
Scott told me it is time to get a digital recorder. And I guess it is....I just hate having to pay to use it when my tape was free.

Tape

Dave got the tape out of the VCR. And then I was able to get it to rewind. Now hopefully I can at least watch the first couple of shows on it. Still not sure if the problem is the tape or the VCR. I'm hoping for the tape.

Argh

My VCR ate my tape. The VCR isn't even that old. I bought it midseason last season. Argh.

Kenny Pawski

My neighbor's son was just involved in a fatality accident at Sand Lake this past weekend. Her son is in ICU with some pretty serious injuries. According to the news articles online alcohol may have been a factor. Online there are places to make comments on the articles. People are just vilifying my neighbor's son and saying horrible things. Which brings me to Kenny Pawski. Kenny is the young man/kid who hit our son-in-law head-on up in the hills. First reports said alcohol may have been a factor and boy the fun began. Friends of Jason's were vilifying Kenny. They were out for blood. Checked his myspace page and said it was proof that he was drunk. I saw his myspace page before Kenny took it down and there was nothing on there about getting drunk ever. His myspace page was extremely tame compared to a lot that I have seen. Tanya was asked by some friend what they should do with their "evidence" in regards to the prosecuter. She has been advised by so many people to sue this 19 year-old kid. Tanya had learned that if he was convicted of vehicular homicide (due to the alcohol) he would only get three years in prison and that made her angry. I'm not sure what she feels he deserves.
I'm sure that any time in prison is not the correct answer. My opinion is just my opinion and the laws are the laws so if something comes of this...it will be up to the law, lawyers and judge. I absolutely do not see how sending a kid to prison is going to do anyone any good. Won't bring Jason back and will certainly ruin a kid's life who is already serving a life sentence of his own. Anyway that said it turns out Kenny was not drunk. He did have a minuscule amount of alcohol in his system (which at his age is illegal, but not a factor in this accident). Says to me he probably had partied earlier, like the night before. Probably slept for awhile and then woke up and realized he needed to be home...work....someplace. And that is when he made the bad decision to speed on that road and then took that corner too fast. But he wasn't a drunk driver...he was a kid who made a poor choice and now lives with it forever. And all those people who were vilifying him were wrong.

More Wildlife

So at about 3 a.m. I hear the bathtub noises. It usually means that one of the four legged members of my family has an animal trapped in the bathtub. So I get up and check. Mica had a bat in the tub. Every time it tried to fly out she would bat it back down. I got Dave up and he rescued the bat and gave it a toss outside. My bathtub has had more critters in it than people.

Amusings

My week started off on backpack checking/security. That means I got to stand at the front door of the bookstore and make sure no one brought backpacks/bookbags into the store. I also got to direct people to the return area and check receipts for bags coming out that beep. I hate the beeping part. So I get a beep and it is a woman with a bag and a man in a wheelchair. I'm pretty sure he beeped and she just left. So I stop him and he tells me he didn't buy anything. Then he moves a sweatshirt on his lap and there is a keyboarding book under it. It isn't dawning on me yet just what is occurring, so I go to get the book off his lap and ask about his receipt when he gets a little snide and says "Don't panic, I'm going back in and pay for it". And he did. I was just flabbergasted. Wow. I didn't expect that.

Yesterday another interesting thing occurred. I was reminding this gentlemen that he needed to check his backpack and he tells me how everything to do with going to school is such a pain in the ass. He tried to talk his girlfriend into going in to the store and buying gum for him. She wouldn't so he dropped his backpack on my feet and went in the store. I said "Oh, I'll watch this for you." When he came out, I gave it back and he told me that when he builds the big boat he will consider letting me on board during the flood because I was so kind and watched his backpack. Okay then. I felt very honored.

Today I actually got to do my job mostly. I much prefer receiving. At least with it you can measure how much you get done. When you are up front you don't really have a good grasp on how much theft gets prevented. Anyway a good week and I am glad it is almost over.

Full Work Day

I must be spoiled. I usually work four hour days and I like that. This week is rush week being the first week of fall quarter. That means my bookstore is busy and I got relegated to backpack checking today. I worked 8.5 hours today and I am tired.

Neighbor Sharing

Lynn, my neighbor from up the hill, brought me a nice piece of steelhead this afternoon. Then when she found out our cucumbers weren't producing enough she brought me back some lemon cucumbers and normal cucumbers. We kind of share back and forth like that. I gave them a load of firewood that Dave was given a month ago. Frugality at its best.

VanWagoner's Est. 9/13/2008

My friends Nathan and Stacey got married last night. It was a beautiful day for a wedding and it was a beautiful wedding. It was held at Stacey's parents' house in Beaverton. A gorgeous house with a lovely yard. Collin, who is Stacey's son was such a little man in his tux. And he wore it the whole time. Even when he ran away from the girls onto the tennis courts next door. He is quite a dancer also. Addison, Nathan's daughter was everywhere and looked beautiful in her white dress. No pictures of Nathan, but I got one of Stacey. I was so impressed with the children's tables. There were gift baskets for each child. We were fed a catered dinner which was really very nice and the caterer was hilarious. She would not let us eat from the children's buffet. I did want to tell Stacey's mom to sit down, have a glass of wine and breathe...it was all good. Congratulations VanWagoners.

Wow

Heather has reported that gas jumped a dollar a gallon overnight where they live in Georgia. Wow.

Had to Happen

Heather got one, so it was only a matter of time before Doug had to get another one. I think he has dirty feet in the picture.....must have been wearing sandals.