The Start of Our Heat Wave!

I could tell early this morning that it would be getting mighty hot today. So after eating breakfast, reading the paper and putting the dishes into the dishwasher I went outside and watered the vegetable garden, roses and berries.

Since Stan was not here yet I decided that I would go for a walk: Kathleen had stopped by to see the train wreck just above our place and suggested that I go up there on my walk. Well when I got up the two blocks away they had the roads blocked off so I had to walk up to 102nd and up the bridge to look across to the train overpass.

By the time I got back home my left hip was really sore and I had worked up a pretty good sweat. The walk up there was just that up hill; at least I got the hard part out of the way first...it made the walk back much easier.

As I was walking up to the house Stan was coming toward me; he had played golf with one of his sons and then stopped at Home Depot to pick up our hand rail and also the wood for the tops of Kathleen's counters in her new room (Toni's old room).

He dropped off the wood and then went back to his house so that he could pick up his tools. When he got back we fitted the boards to fit on the counter. We had to splice two pieces together as the boards were only two foot by eight foot. We also had to cut the back splash board so that it was only five inches tall.

Once Stan got the large board cut and we got it upstairs I scrapped the glue off the counter tops so that we would have a relatively flat surface to glue the counter tops to. After I finished scrapping the glue Kathleen used my portable vacuum and vacuum up the scrapings.

Since it was in a corner there was not a lot of air movement and I got really overheated so I went downstairs to cool off and rest. It had gotten to be lunch time so I fixed myself something to eat. I say the neighbor pick up her mail as she was going up her driveway so I went out and got our mail and read it while I ate lunch.

After lunch I put my dishes into the dishwasher and cleaned up a little. There really was not anything else for me to do so I did a few things on my computer and got some information for Kathleen.

One of the things that came in the mail was our natural gas bill, so I went online and paid it and the electric bill which I get notified through an e-mail. Once I got my confirmation numbers I plugged them into my computer checking account to make sure that I keep it current and as accurate as possible.

Aaron called this afternoon and told us that he passed his pilot's license so now he is an official "pile it". This is a picture of the type of airplane that Aaron will be flying this is a Cessna 172F; although this is just one of the airplanes that he is certified to fly.

Stan left around 1700 as he had to go over to one of his son's house and then tomorrow he is doing some flat work at his house and needed to get ready for that. He is going to put up a shed and is pouring the foundation for it. I do not envy him having to work with concrete when it is so hot out.

I remember when I was a teenager I did some work for one of our neighbors who had a pool company. I also did some flat work for one of my grandfather's old neighbor's who was a mason and he needed someone to help out on a couple jobs; so I how hard a job that is.

Well, we did not get the handrail installed today so that will have to wait until Stan can fit us in; he though that he might have some time in between a couple of his other jobs. This next week he and his wife are heading out a week early to our churches family camp. His oldest some is in charge of the maintenance department and they wanted to spend a little extra time there.

Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer than it was to day; I know that they were predicting a very high possibility of over one hundred degree temperatures for the next two days. I am not looking forward to that at all!

It is Starting to Look Finished Now!

I woke up early again this morning; I must be starting another trend. I kind of like getting up early as the house is quite and peaceful and now that I am sleeping better I am more wide awake earlier.

Since I was meeting with the guys this morning I had a light breakfast and while I was doing that I read the paper and drank my coffee. When I finished I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up. Then I went upstairs, told Kathleen that I was going and then took off.

There were only four of us there this morning, usually I am the one missing, but today I made it. I finally left around 1100 a little later than I had planned, but I had not been there for a while so I guess that I needed it. When I got back home Stan was already there and starting to put the molding around the doors.

I changed clothes and asked Stan if he needed me for anything and he said not now, so I went outside and worked in the vegetable garden. Most of the seeds that I had planted did not germinate; not a big surprise as most of the seeds were between fifteen and twenty years old.

I planted them when I did because if they did sprout I would be ahead of the game, but if they did not I would still have time to plant what I wanted because June and July is when I normally do my garden anyway.

When ever I have tried to start planting early it is so wet that the seeds just rot in the ground and I have to do it again anyway. I went through each row and hand weeded just to see if I could see any plants coming up that I had planted but there were not enough of anything to make it worthwhile keeping any. Now I will just re-till the rest of the garden and plant what we really want instead of just what we had laying around.

By the time I finished weeding it was 1500, so I put my tools away, cleaned up and made myself some lunch. While I was eating lunch I went through the mail; not much there, a couple catalogs and the bill for my long term care. I had thought that I had made arrangements for my financial advisers to take care of it so I called them.

They were not available to answer the phone so I left a voice mail; they returned my call about fifteen minutes later and said that indeed they would be taking care of it and for me to disregard the bill. It is a good thing as it was for almost $3500 and I would really have to make some serious adjustments in order to pay it.

Since Stan did not need me today I emptied the dishwasher and flipped through my Jeep catalog that came today. Kathleen was planning on going to a sewing seminar at Montivilla Sewing Center tonight so I made dinner; I made some Spinach and Mozzarella Ravioli and topped it with some olive oil, Italian herbs and cheese. There was enough left over so that when Kathleen come home she can have some also.

Well we now have molding around the doors, along the floor and around the rail at the top of the stairs. Tomorrow I think that we are going to put the hand rail up, we have not had one for six months now; of course the old one had the center bracket broken so it was not very stable anyway. We are also putting up a sill for the window and the molding around it. Now Kathleen and I will have to pick up some door knobs and I will have to install them.

That should just about finish this phase of the remodel; Next up will be the downstairs bathroom, kitchen and then refinish the rest of the floors. I think all but our bedroom will get wood floors, the bathroom tile, the kitchen maybe cork, we have not decided yet and then probably carpeting for our bedroom.

I am tired just thinking about all that we need to do yet. We probably will not do much more until this fall when Stan has some more open time, so I hope to get a few things done around here and enjoy the summer.

The Upstairs Room Now all have Doors on Them!

Today was another beautiful day, I could tell as soon as I got up that it would be a good day. I did not cough nearly as much as I had bee and my throat was not as congested as it has been the last month or so.

This morning after eating breakfast and reading the newspaper I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up; then I went outside and edged around all the gardens in the back yard. Since I did the vegetable garden yesterday the rest of the gardens were looking rather neglected.

Stan Arrived as I was finishing up so I went and helped him unload his tools and set up his saws. While he was doing some measuring I decided that I would mow the front lawn. I wanted to get that done before the temperatures got into the nineties so that I would not have to do it then; I might wind up doing it anyway, but at least I will not have to do it.

After I finished mowing, putting the mower away and cleaning up I helped Stan install the door to Kathleen's computer/sewing room and then our bedroom. Stan had taken the door off earlier this morning so it was just a matter of shimming up the new door and making sure that it was plumb and would not swing either open or closing the door.

When we finished that I made myself a sandwich and had some of the left over macaroni salad from yesterday. Stan said that we needed to pick out our molding; both for the doors and around the baseboard so Kathleen and I took off. Before going to Mr. Plywood we stopped off at Fred Meyer to pick up a couple prescriptions and a few other things. Then Kathleen needed to stop off at Montivilla Sewing Center to pick up something and she also wanted to see if an old Singer sewing machine was worth fixing up or not.

Once we finished there it was off to Mr. Plywood where we spent the next couple hours looking at molding. I got tired so I sat down on some steps and rested until I got sore from sitting and needed to walk around a little. Kathleen could not make up her mind so we had a foot cut off several pieces of molding to take home so that we could see how each one would look in real life.

While we were gone Stan had taken out the broken stair and replaced it with a new one that he bought the other day. The new one looks so good now we are thinking about replacing all of them now.

I finally got hungry and since Kathleen did not seem interested I made my own supper. I had a Morningstar sun dried tomato and basil veggie burger with some macaroni salad and sauerkraut. These are things that I usually eat alone as Kathleen is not that fond of them.

After Months of Rainy Weather...

I got up a little earlier than I had planned on but when I looked at the clock it was a half hour before I had planned on getting up and I knew that I probably would not get to sleep right away and then I would have slept in longer that I wanted so I got up. I felt much better than I had been feeling which was a nice change for me.

So after eating breakfast, reading the paper and doing the dishes I went outside and took the recycling up front. After that I went into the back yard and mowed the lawn. Stan got here before I finished, so I helped him unload the doors that he picked up at the store. Then I went and finished mowing the lawn and the west side of the fence so the weeds over there would not creep into my lawn.

Since Stan was making a threshold for the upstairs bathroom I decided to edge the vegetable garden and do a little more weeding. I worked on it for a while and pretty soon Kathleen came out and said that she and Stan were going to his house so that she could look at the molding that Stan used when he remodeled their house.

I got tired and sore enough that as I was putting my tools away they were just returning. The sun was really getting hot and even though it was not terribly hot, being in the direct sunlight made it feel that much hotter. I had better get use to it as they are predicting ninety and possibly one hundred degree temperatures by this week end.

Right now it looks like at least four days in the nineties and possibly more, they are not going past next Monday so it looks like we are in for our first hot spell for a while. I just wish that some year it will gradually work up to the hot temperatures instead of going from the sixties and seventies to the nineties and one hundred degrees. The older I get the less my body can deal with that kind of swing in temperatures.

After Stan finished with the threshold, I helped him install two doors upstairs. One door went in Toni's old room and the other door in Andrea's old room. Tomorrow we will put doors on Kathleen's sewing/computer room and our bedroom. Then we will have new matching doors on all the rooms.

When we did the remodeling twenty years ago we never got around to staining the doors that we put in at that time and Kathleen said that she never liked the style anyway. When we did that remodel I think that Kathleen's dad was just trying to get similar doors as was already up there even though Kathleen did not like them.

Toni and one of her friends stopped over last night so I got a chance to ask her how she liked and she seemed to be enjoying it so far. Of course the newness and all that probably has not had a chance to wear off yet either.

Tonight for dinner Kathleen made a half a chicken breast and a macaroni salad for dinner. There is plenty of macaroni salad left over for another meal or two and even some of the chicken breast.

Well I do not feel overly tired tonight which is a nice feeling after being so tired for so long...I think that I could get use to feeling like this. Now if I could only get my body ready for the really hot weather coming up toward the end of the week.

Flooring is Finished in the Upstairs Hall

I felt better this morning when I woke up but it took me a while to get going. I coughed for a while this morning and off and on throughout the day but not nearly as much as I had been lately. Since Stan was coming over this morning I wanted to try and get as much done before he got here as I could; so after eating the breakfast, reading the paper, loading the dishwasher, starting it up, and washing all the hand washing dishes from this weekend I shook out the kitchen rugs, swept and mopped the kitchen floor and then went outside and mowed the front lawn.

Stan still had not gotten here so I edged the west side of thee driveway and then swept the area where I had edged. Stan arrived while I was doing this so I stopped and put away my tools and helped Stan get his tools set up.


Stan worked just about all day and finished up the flooring and then when he finished that he went to the lumber yard and got some nice fir to finish off the rail top and the pole at the end of the rail. He finished that up and I helped him by holding the wood together while he attached them with brads.

When all that was finished we cleaned everything up, put his tools back into his truck and then talked about what we need to do tomorrow. Getting new doors is the first thing we are going to do so Stan will pick those up before coming over here tomorrow. We also need to choose the molding that we are going to put up around the floor so he is going to bring over a few samples that he has.

I ran out of steam a couple times today, but after resting for a while I felt better. My feet got really sore from being on them all day but other than that I do not feel all that bad. I am not sure what Kathleen is doing for dinner, I probably need to go up and check with her as it is already after 1800 now.

Toni is suppose to start in her new position today; she got promoted to supervisor and I think that she will do well at it. She was really discourage about her job a while back and I think that it shows a lot of maturity on her part to stick it out and now she has been somewhat rewarded for it.

Andrea sent out her new CarePage invitations today; we suggested that would be a good way for her to keep everyone updated on her and the new baby's progress so I am glad she did it.

Quick Weekend Wrapup

Yesterday was almost a wash; I cannot think of anything that I got done other than get up and make myself three meals. I was pretty worn out all day; I did not go outside other than onto the front porch all day. I did get a couple naps in throughout the day but I think that I spent ninety percent of my day sitting down.

We were suppose to go over some friends house for dinner last night but I did not feel very well so I told Kathleen to go by herself, so she did. So for dinner last night I had a piece of peanut butter toast that Kathleen had made herself for breakfast and did not finish and a bowl of yogurt and cottage cheese and that was all I had the energy to do.

Today I felt much better when I got up although I did cough for a while this morning but then it pretty much stopped. This afternoon I even felt well enough to mow the back lawn, prune the roses, watered the new rose bush, new plants, the blue berries, strawberries and my vegetable garden.

I also washed, dried, folded and put away a load of towels before we left for my doctor's appointment at 1530. When I made the appointment I was really feeling bad but as usual; by the time I was able to get an appointment I was feeling a lot better. I usually hesitate calling the doctor because of that very reason, but this time I guess that I felt bad enough that I did not want to risk getting any worse.

Anyway after the doctor's visit we went to Andrea and John's for dinner. They were both sick last weekend so the canceled last Sunday and changed it to this weekend. John's parents were there as well. Andrea made a nice prime rib with potatoes, salad and finger food.

Everyone had a good time and Andrea went over what everyone was to do when she is in the hospital; just two weeks from now! The grandparents are going to be watching Brandon for the time that she will be in the hospital and she wanted us to know what Brandon's schedule normally is so that he would not have a disruption to his routines.

More Nice Weather

This morning was another nice morning so after eating, reading the paper and cleaning up my breakfast dishes I went outside and edged around the whole front lawn. Kathleen came out while I was doing it and the mailman was just down the street so I went to the front of the driveway to get the mail. There was nothing there worth stopping to look at so I gave it to Kathleen to take into the house.

Kathleen had come out to tell me that Stan was going to be over shortly and she wanted me to stop and rest before he got here. Going off past experiences I thought that I could probably finish the edging before he got here so I kept going.

Not only did I finish edging, but I also had time to sweep off the driveway where I had gotten some grass clippings. After I gathered up my tools and put them away I went into the house and cleaned up. Just as I was finished cleaning up Aaron and the girls stopped by; the girls had made some clay trinkets and Kathleen had baked them after they left yesterday.

While the girls made their jewelry with Kathleen Aaron and I talked for quite a while. The girls took turns dumping some of the toys on the middle of the living room floor and then they would be off playing with their jewelry again.

Stan got here after a while and went to work upstairs. Since my allergies were really acting up I decided that I would keep away from the dirt and dust as much as possible. Stan got the pad put down and finished putting down about three quarters of the flooring; I think that it will really look nice when it is all finished.

Aaron and the girls took off a little after 1300 as Becca had 4H at 1500 and he needed to do some running around before that. It was his and Tami’s tenth anniversary today so he probably needed to pick something up.

He and Tami were going to play golf tomorrow so I lent Aaron my clubs as he only had a cheep set and it has been too long since I have used mine. Last year I set up my driving net and practiced driving several times last supper. I even set up a putting green to practice my putting but that was about all I could handle.

Even after Aaron and the girls left I stayed downstairs for a couple reasons; primarily because of my head being so clogged up and secondly I noticed that my knee had a couple of what looked like rug burns on them; I finally concluded that it was probably from wearing the knee pads and being on my knees so much yesterday. Anyway they really bothered me and I guess that I just wanted to take it easy and see if I could start to feel a little better.

I know that I must not be feeling well as I even called the doctor's office and made an appointment to get checked out. The earliest I could get in is Sunday afternoon so I hope that I am able to keep from getting any worse. I am starting to feel a little like I would when I had pneumonia and I sure do not want to go through that again.

Stan finally left a little after 1800 and Kathleen heated up the rice, chicken and pineapple from last night and I had the left-over spaghetti. That pretty much takes care of my day, not much of anything exciting, but I made it through another day.

Miserable Day

This has been a very frustrating day for me; when I woke up this morning I could tell that it was going to be a really nice day. So after eating breakfast, reading the paper and emptying the dishwasher I went outside to plant the rose bush that Kathleen bought a week ago. After I planted it I dead headed the roses and pulled some weeds.

When I went to the side of the house to put the rose clippings and weeds into the yard debris barrel I noticed the mailman down the street so I went out front and waited for him to get close and then went to meet him a couple housed down.

There was not much of anything there; about the only thing worth keeping was the checking account statement from our bank, so I put that in my office to reconcile later. Then I went upstairs and finished screwing the new plywood to the old plywood so that when Stan got here we could get started laying the pad and then the flooring.

While I was doing that Tami dropped the girls off so that we could watch them while she went to the dentist as Aaron was up in the air flying. Shortly after the girls got here I finished the floor. I would have been able to finish it sooner but I had to stop and stand up because my back was really getting sore.

I had gotten some new knee pads that are filled with gel and boy they were really comfortable; or as least as comfortable as knee pads can be. Usually whenever I have to do something on my knees like that my knees get so sore that they hurt more than my back, but these new pads really made it bearable.

Tami came back and we talked for a while, while Kathleen and the girls made some clay jewelry. After a while Tami had to take the girls to the dentist and after they finished there they were going to go to Troutdale airport and wait for Aaron to land.

After they left I made myself some lunch and then went out and mowed the front lawn. I felt good energy wise but my nose has been running all day and I have not stopped coughing so I though that I better not make my allergies any worse than they already were.

This is the most frustrating thing as I feel better energy wise although after I finished screwing down the plywood I was pretty tire, but after resting for a while I felt better again.

Stan never made it here today; he had said yesterday that he thought that he would be here early afternoon but that he had to finish up a job before Friday. So he must have had more problems with it than he expected.

Today was really a nice day out in the upper seventies and not much wind but I feel miserable as I have to spend my time inside because my allergies are going full speed ahead. I have been using the nasal and throat spray that my doctor prescribe but they have not helped much; but then they were more for bronchitis and not necessarily for allergies.

Well, Kathleen just got back from her weekly visit with one of the women from church so I guess I will put this to bed for the night as I doubt that I will get anything else done today.

Starting up the Remodeling Again

This morning was dreary looking outside when I woke up but I got up anyway because Stan had said that he would be over between 0800 and 0830 so I wanted to make sure that I had the upstairs cleaned up, breakfast eaten and the kitchen cleaned up before he got here.

As it was he did not get here until between 0900 and 0930 so I had plenty of time to get things done. Once he got here he unloaded his tools and then after surveying the floor went to pick up enough plywood to cover the flooring.

After he was here for a while he decided to get 3/4" instead of the 1/2" that he had originally gotten so he took off to exchange the plywood. While he was gone I went outside and did a little weeding in my vegetable garden. When I heard him come back I went to stand up and lost my balance and when I went to catch myself I cut my thumb on my stainless steel Hori-Hori knife. It bleed pretty well and by the time I put the knife back into the garage I had gotten quite a lot of blood on the handle.

Once I got inside I cleaned up and then put some Neosporin and a bandage over the cut. We put down a layer of felt between the old plywood and the new plywood to help cut down on the noise factor and then cut the plywood to fit around everything in the upstairs hallway.

Stan finally finished, put his tools back into his truck and by the time he left it was around 1800. So shortly after he left Kathleen made some spaghetti with some hot Italian sausage. I feel really tired tonight mostly from going up and down stairs and trying to carry almost full size sheets of 3/4" plywood up at the same time.

This is not a very long blog, but it is all that I have energy for tonight.

This is Really Getting Old!

Another morning when I woke up with a congested nose and throat, even though I had over eight hours sleep, I spent enough time waking up off and on all night that I did not get a lot of sleep at one time. When I finally decided to give up trying to get any more sleep it was really overcast out.

I coughed and sneezed my way through the morning and finally around 1030 I decided to go for a walk to see if some exercise and fresh air might help. I felt really good while I was walking and for a while afterwards pretty soon I started sneezing and coughing again.

This afternoon I decided that I would try to work on the kitchen faucet so I started to take the old one apart to see if I could find a replacement cartridge for it. It was next to impossible to get it a part so finally I finally decided that since I already had a replacement faucet I would just go ahead and replace the whole thing.

Well, crawling under the sink was not meant for me in my condition, it was bad enough when I was feeling well, but today it was unbearable. Luckily Stan stopped by to see what we needed to do to finish the upstairs hallway and so when he had finished checking it out I asked him to help.

It is a good thing that he is quite a lot smaller than I am and even he had a hard time down there. After a while he was able to get everything out and even put the new one in for us. The new faucet is much different than the old one, especially since it does not drip continually.

Toni and Chucky came over tonight and picked up a some hamburgers for us from Cruisers; I got a mushroom burger with mushrooms and fried onions on top. I also had a cherry shake to wash everything down.

Well to day was one of my more unproductive days that I have had in a long time, I am going to go to bed early tonight to see if I can make up for waking up so much during the night. Tomorrow Stan is coming over around 0830 so I need to make sure that I am somewhat awake and alert by then. I am always up but sometimes not that alert so maybe some extra sleep will help.

It took a while but the sun finally came out.

When I got up this morning it was really overcast and I was not giving much hope for a sunny day, but by late morning the sun popped out and it turned out to be a really nice day. The weather the last few days has been more normal temperature wise in the high sixties and low seventies and today was kind of a normal late spring day.

After eating breakfast, reading the paper and cleaning up my mess I thought about going out and mowing the front lawn but I was feeling really tired so I thought that I would sit down in the living room for a while. I must have dozed off because I was awaken by the mailman closing the mail box; so I got up and got the mail, opened it and recycled the majority of it. Kathleen was up and so I told her that I was going to mow the lawn and went out to the garage to get the mower.

I decided that I would raise the cutting height as the weather is getting warmer and we are not having as much rain now and the grass will be drying out much easier now if I did not keep the grass a little longer.

After I set the cutting height I took the mower to the front yard and noticed that there was several long straw like blades of grass wrapped around the blade axes so I decided to clean it out.

With the cutting height set higher I did not cut a lot of grass and so I had a lot of battery life left so I got out my Scott's Turf Builder and my spreader and fertilized the front lawn since this was something on my to-do-list for today anyway.

With the battery still pretty strong I decided that I would mow the back lawn as well, so I did. Since I already had the spreader and the fertilizer out I decided that I would do the back lawn as well.


After putting the mower, spreader and fertilizer away I got out my rose pruners and dead header the roses after I put the law furniture back on the lawn. So after I finished pruning I sat and soaked up some vitamin -D- for a while.

When I got back into the house Kathleen had taken the canned goods out of the pantry and various other places and was sorting them out and also making a data base to keep track of what we have and where it is. So I cleaned up and made myself something to eat for lunch.

After eating I went back into the living room to rest up a while, read here fall asleep, before I started anything else. Well, I never did get anything else done, I had not slept all that well last night and I kept waking up as my nose was blocked up.

Tonight Kathleen cooked the rest of the steak from the other night and made a salad to go along with it. I think my allergies must be acting up again as my eyes have been rather irritated much of today as well. I am getting really tired of not feeling well and not having any energy.

Satisfyingly Sunny Saturday

I slept in a little later this morning than I usually do but then I had stayed up until after midnight, so I guess that was to be expected. It was a pretty nice morning and I wanted to get outside and get some work done and enjoy the nice weather while it lasted. So before 1000 I had washed, dried and folded two loads of clothes, eaten breakfast, loaded up the dishwasher and started it up.

So as to get a little extra sun time I grabbed the paper, mail and a fresh cup of coffee and headed outside to sit out and enjoy the paper, mail and my coffee in the sunshine. After I finished reading the paper and the mail, I did some weeding and dead headed the roses.

After that I took my coffee cup, paper and mail inside where I recycled the paper and mail. Kathleen was up so I took my clothes upstairs and put them away. Kathleen had a lot of things on the bed so I asked her if she would take them off so that I could wash the bed linens as well.

While I waited for her to do that I decided to mow the back lawn, but before I could do that I needed to move the lawn furniture off to lawn so that it would make it easier to mow without having to stop and move it a couple of times.

Since I had not gone over to Aaron and Tami's to feed their animals yet I asked Kathleen if she wanted to go over with me and she said no. So I got my Jeep out of the garage and went over there, feed the animals, and played with Archie for a while.

Then when I got home I left the Jeep out and dusted it off, since I do not drive it very much it does not get very dirty just dusty from the wind blowing dirt under the garage door. I decided that I would leave it out just to make it easier for me tomorrow morning if Kathleen does not make it to church.

After I finished dusting the Jeep I went inside, cleaned up, gathered up the bed linens, loaded them into the washer and then made myself some lunch. Once I finished eating I emptied the dishwasher, and put Kathleen's breakfast dishes and my lunch dish into it.

By this time the washer had finished so I took the linens out and put them into the dryer; then by 1530 I had the linens dried and back on the bed. So I went back downstairs and watched Fox news for a while...until I fell asleep!

Tonight Kathleen made a potato salad and steak for dinner we also had Bing cherries on the side. Well I think that I need to hit the shower before going to bed tonight since I have clean sheets so I will put this thing to bed as well. Tomorrow looks to be as nice a day as today was and possibly a little warmer.

The Bouncing Ball

I had been reading in Ecclesiastes lately and one of the verses got me to thinking about what I had accomplished in my years of working and what got sacrificed over the years because I was working; and so I thought I would write down some of my thoughts hoping that my children will learn from my mistakes and make wiser choices than I did.

Anyway this is the verse that started me thinking. “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11 NIV)

There are “seasons” in life when ones work requires more of us than it does at other times. As a father working to provide a home, food and “things” for the family and as the soul provider for the family that season seemed like everyday.

Here are some examples just to try and clarify what I am trying to say. There is tax season for the accountant. Where Christmas season for the person working in retail is like no other time of the year. Whatever your line of work you choose, it likely has a natural rhythm that spikes at certain times of the year.

But increasingly in our success-driven culture, busy seasons have run together into all seasons. We have allowed the pace to perpetuate itself, driving us at full throttle month after month, year after year. Things may begin to come totally unraveled at home, even in your marriage; in your relationship with your children. It can happen, seemingly, in the blink of an eye.

I read an article a while back about a commencement address attributed to Brian Dyson, who held several senior management positions with Coca-Cola during his long career. He told a class of Georgia Tech graduates, "Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life." Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca-Cola Enterprises, 1959-1994

While you may not get as many pats on the back for being at home to wash and dry the dishes; settle a disagreement; help your children with homework or study for a test. You may not receive the same sense of affirmation you feel from accomplishing a work goal or achieving recognition among your peers.

You will however be living proof that winning at home first is the key to winning anything of lasting value. This is something that you will never receive from your work or any where else you might choose to spend your time.

Marriages and families do not bounce. They shatter and they will have an impact on your family for generations. Spend your time wisely…you rarely get a second chance to do it again; spend your time where it will make a difference in eternity and not be forgotten the moment that you walk out the door and leave work.

During all my working years I had planned on doing so many things when I retired and then shortly after I retired my health, cancer in particular, change many of those “dreams” and now I regret not doing some of those things when I could have and enjoyed them with my family.

So do not put off doing what you and your family enjoys doing because you never know what may happen later on. Build memories into the lives of your children, they will last a lifetime, what you did or what you achieved at work they will never remember, they will only remember what they did not get to do.

So with all that said my pray for my children this Father's Day is that they posses the ability to juggle well . . . and to know which balls can be dropped and when they can be dropped without causing major or eternal damage.

Fabulous Friday

When I woke up this morning the sun was shinning so brightly that I thought that it was later than it was. It was actually about the same time that I normally get up on this morning there were no clouds to block the sunshine.

So after eating breakfast and reading the paper I picked up and shook out the kitchen and mud room rugs then put them into the washer and while they were washing I swept the floors in the kitchen and mud room. After finishing that I vacuumed the downstairs carpeting. Kathleen had come downstairs and said that she wanted me to go with her to Montivilla Sewing Center, so I told her that after I finished mowing the front lawn I would go with her.

She needed to eat breakfast and get dressed so I knew that I could get that done in time. So after mowing I got out my blower and air swept the driveway, walkway and all around the edge of the lawn. Kathleen was still not ready to go when I came in but when she came downstairs she said that it might take longer than I would want to stay there so she was going to go by herself.

So I helped her load her sewing machine, baby lock and embroidery attachment into the back of her SUV and she took off. Since I had worked up a pretty good sweat I cleaned up a bit and then went back outside and dead headed the roses and pulled some weeds.

After doing that for a while I decided to go inside clean up and make myself some lunch. Then after cleaning up I got the mail and since most of it was junk I recycled it. I did get my portfolio statements and I did rather well this month.

I had taken out about thirty thousand to put into a more easily accessible account so that is what we will live on plus the interest that it draws for the next hopefully year or as close to that as we can. I can always draw more out of it if I need to but it does not make me as much money as if I left it in the different stocks.

As it was even after taking that much money out I still had more money in my accounts than I had at the start of last month, so I feel pretty good about that. Kathleen came home shortly after I got done plotting my stocks progress; I do that every months so that it is easier for me to decided which ones to keep and which ones I need to see about replacing with something that is going to make me more money.

I am beginning to sound like I know what I am doing, whether or not I do, at least I am having fun doing it. It is kind of a challenge knowing that I am probably not going to be adding to the over all around other than what I can make in the increased value of the individual stocks, funds and bonds.

I hate to leave too much in my cash equivalent funds as I do not make much money on them, but I need something to live on and the other trick is to figure at what time it is a good time to take it out of the money making investments so as to make it less painful.

After I add the amounts in the data base it updates my charts so that I can plot out how each investment is doing either since the last month or last year or last five years or what ever I choose. I am surprised that the last year has been a steady rise which compared to the market in general it is doing much better; I guess that is why I pay someone to help me manage it.

After Kathleen ate something for lunch we took off; we needed to return some things at BiMart, feed Aaron and Tami's animals, and then find a new faucet for the kitchen sink and get some Scott's lawn fertilizer.

So after feeding the animals and playing catch with Archie until he wore out, we proceeded to Wal-Mart as Kathleen to check there first. We did not find a faucet there so we took off for Lowe's. We found a faucet that was not too expensive as I am planning on replacing it when we remodel later on this year. I also picked up the Scott's fertilizer there.

On the way home from Lowe's we stopped off at Backyard Bird Shop and picked up some bird seed for our feeder as we were out of it. Then we finally started back home and Kathleen wanted to stop off at the OroWheat outlet store to pick up some bread items. Then we headed home again.

Our final stop was to pick up the flooring that we had ordered the other day. Kathleen almost drove past it until I reminder her that the reason we were going that way home was to pick up the flooring. After picking it up and going home I got to unload it all. By the time I finished unloading everything I was ready to take a nap.

All in all this was a really nice day and I think that it is suppose to be like this for the next few days; kind of a late Oregon spring!

Another Change of Season

While this morning was still pretty overcast, it did clear up and turn out to be a really nice day. It took me a while to get going this morning in fact I did not get outside until around 1230. After checking out the garden and picking up some of the golden mountain ash branches I got out my electric reel mower and mowed the back yard.

After I finished mowing the back yard I mowed the east side and then the area on the west side of the driveway. Since the mower battery was running low on its charge I put it away and put the battery on the charger. I then went and weeded for a while on the east side of the raised garden.

By the time I finished filling my bucket I decided to clean up and make myself some lunch. Kathleen had taken off before I went outside to meet up with Andrea at John's shop. Kathleen was going to have her oil changed and a new muffler put on and while John was doing that she and Andrea were going to do some running around, at some yarn shops among other things.

She had left a slice of toast with peanut butter and banana on it that she said that I could have so I did. I also had a buttermilk donut that I ate for lunch; probably not the healthiest meal that I have had this week but some days are like that.

We had gotten a couple of bills the last few days so I went online and paid them and checked my e-mail. By the time I finished it was about 1700 so I went into the living room and watched the local news and then Fox news after that.

Kathleen came home and had me take her sewing machine out to her SUV so I did that. She had made herself a sandwich that I cut up for her and put in a bag so that she could take it with her to Montivilla Sewing Center as she was taking a class tonight.

We had gotten some sliced ham and turkey the other day for the deli at Winco so I made myself a sandwich for dinner as well. I kept hearing a lawn tractor and finally I went out back to see what it was and I was surprised to find Steve, the brother of the guy that is going to build on the lots behind us.

He was trying to mow the field behind our house and while he was cutting some of it a lot of it was just being pushed over so he will probably have do it again to get what he missed. I does look much better even partially cut; now I will not have to use my line trimmer to do it. Although he could not get as close to the fence and I can with the trimmer, but I am glad that he at least made the effort. I went up to the fence and thanked him and he seemed appreciative that I would do that.

Look Mom no Cavities!!

Well this morning I had my annual dentist appointment; this is the first time that I have gone a whole year without seeing the dentist for my six month cleanings. It had been a while since I had a full mouth x-ray so that was the first thing that I had done. After sitting through the x-rays the dental hygienist cleaned and applied the fluoride and then did the periodontal depth check; where they check how deep the gum depth is around all the teeth.

She said that my teeth looked really clean especially since it had been over a year since I had had them cleaned. Me x-rays also looked good and my periodontal depth looked pretty normal; she said that some of my teeth showed that I had teeth pulled and she knew that from my having orthodontics.

After the hygienist finished the dentist came in; this was the first time that I had seen this dentist as he replaced my normal dentist who retired at the end of last year. He said that there were a couple old fillings that are starting to show wear and we will need to keep an eye on them so that they do not deteriorate to the point where decay could set in.

The whole process took over an hour and so by the time I got home it was just a little after noon. I could tell that Kathleen had not made it downstairs yet so I went upstairs to change my clothes. When I got upstairs she decided that she probably needed to go downstairs and eat breakfast, so after I changed my clothes I went downstairs to go through the mail.

We picked up a couple apple fritters yesterday and so I had one with a fresh cup of coffee and Kathleen had a jelly donut and her fritter for breakfast. After my snack I went into my office and reconciled my credit union savings and checking accounts and checked my e-mail.

After finishing that I made myself a Boca burger on dark rye toast with melted cheddar and a dill pickle for lunch. Then I emptied the dishwasher that I had loaded up and started this morning.

Around 1430 Kathleen decided that we needed to get the flooring picked out so that we can have it installed when Stan has some time again. By the time we left the shopping area it was around 1730 so Kathleen suggested that we stop at Sherri's and have dinner there. I sounded like a pretty good idea to me as well so that is what we did.

Aaron, Tami and the girls are going to the beach for a few days so I will be going over to their place to feed the animals and check up on things for them for a few days.

Grocery Shopping

This morning was dreary when I got up and it only got worse as the day progressed. I really did not get much of anything done as we needed to go grocery shopping as I was running out of creative ideas for meals. Finally around 1100 I went upstairs and asked Kathleen if she were planning on going grocery shopping today and she kind of muttered at me, so I went downstairs again and checked my e-mail.

Kathleen finally came downstairs and made herself something to eat for breakfast and then went back upstairs. Since it was getting close to my lunch time I made myself some soup. We finally got out of the house around 1430 and shopped at Winco until around 1730.

When we got home I drug the dozen bags into the house and helped Kathleen empty the bags and put things away. Once we got all the bags emptied I took the reusable bags back out to the SUV.

Since she wrote a check for more than she had in her account I had to log on and transfer a couple hundred dollars into her account. After I did that I went upstairs and changed clothes and then went downstairs and watched Fox news.

For dinner tonight Kathleen made some frozen shrimp primavera that we bought today. Tomorrow I have my annual dentist appointment; this is the first time that I have gone a whole year between dentist visits. Up until this year I had always gone every six months, but since I retired from Boeing I have not had dental insurance and since I never have anything done besides cleaning last year I asked my dental hygienist if it would be alright if I came in once a year instead of every six months.

She checked with my dentist and since my teeth usually only require a very light cleaning he and she thought that it would be fine, so it will be interesting to see how bad my teeth are after a whole year of not seeing the dentist or having my teeth cleaned.

We kind of agreed that we would try it and if my teeth stay reasonably clean over the year we would continue that, it would save over a hundred dollars a year and I would rather have that in my pocket rather than theirs.

Visiting with the Children

Yesterday we got together at Alyssa and Dan's to celebrate Dan's birthday; Alyssa had invited some of Dan's friends to get together with Dan to play Basketball and when they finished they all met back at the house for a sports themed party. All of the children were there except for Aaron and Tami.

Toni and Chucky had just returned from their trip to Florida and got there a little late and Andrea, John and Brandon were there ahead of us. We had a good time, good food and got a chance to catch up on what everyone was up to. We finally left a little after 2100 and it was still pretty light out; if fact I was a little surprised at how light out it was.

Then today was kind of a mixed day, part of it was overcast and part of it was really sunny; part of the day there was very little wind and then this afternoon the wind picked up and at times it blew around thirty-seven miles per hour.

This morning I stopped by and picked up the spool for my line trimmer that I broke last week, so now when I get an opportunity I can go on the other side of the fence and whack some weeds.

Remember that clean driveway that I had for the last couple of days, well after the wind the driveway and front lawn are covered with fir pollen pods and fir cones. I guess that with home ownership comes always having something that needs to be done.

Then tonight Becca had her kindergarten graduation, so we went to her school after and watched her graduate. Besides Aaron and Tami, Tami' parents were also there, so she was well represented. The program was about an hour long and it was interesting to see all the different nationalities represented.

Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade Day

Today is our annual Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade and somewhat normal it is overcast and drizzly. I am not sure why they do not schedule it for the end of July or August when the weather is warmer and dry, but it is usually cool and wet for the time the Rose Festival activities take place.

I can only remember a few times when it was hot and sunny, and I think most of them were when our children were young and we use to go to the parade. I can even remember a few times when everyone got a pretty good sunburn from sitting for several hours watching the parade.

Anyway, this morning after reading the paper and eating breakfast I gathered up the dishes and loaded up the dishwasher and started it up. Aaron had called and wanted to borrow my roto tiller, so I went to the garage and got it out so that it would be easier to load up into his Vibe.

He got here a few minutes later and in the time it took for him to drive over it had started to drizzle enough to get everything wet. It stopped before he left and he should be able to roto till today and maybe again in a couple of days so that the soil will have a chance to dry out a little.

Kathleen came outside and talked with Aaron for a while and I had noticed some ivy growing under the fir trees so I dug it out. Then after he left I got out my Brill mower and mowed the front lawn, both sides.

After putting the mower away and putting the battery on the charger I got out the cordless line trimmer out and edged along the driveway, gardens and street. After finishing that I got out my blower and air swept the driveway and walkway; over the last couple of day there have been a lot of fir pollen pods that had fallen and the driveway was really a mess.

After finishing that I went inside, cleaned up and made myself some lunch. The dishes had finished washing, so I unloaded the dishwasher and then put my dishes into it. Alyssa called and said that she would be coming over around 1500 but did not make it until a couple hours later.

We had a good visit with her and then after she left Kathleen made some hash and potato rolls for dinner. She put cheese on top and then toasted the rolls so that the cheese melted, it was really good. I pilled some hash on top of mind and ate them like open-faced sandwiches and added a little Tabasco sauce to spice it up a bit.

The End of a Cool and Wet Week

It was dreary when I got up this morning and it was dreary all day long; I do not think that the temperature got much above fifty degrees all day. What a change from a couple of weeks ago when it was in the nineties.

After eating breakfast, cleaning up my mess and reading the paper I went outside and used the line trimmer to trim the other side of the fence on the east side of the back fence. Then I trimmed my neighbor's yard around her fence and house where her son's riding mower does not get.

While I was doing that the spool for that holds the line broke so I had to stop. I will have to make a trip to Stark Street Lawn and Garden to see if I can find a replacement there. After I put the line trimmer away I got out my cordless hedge trimmer and trimmed the hedge on the east side of the house.

Once I had the "wild" new growth trimmed I put the trimmer away and got out my rake and a yard debris barrel and raked and picked up the trimmings. After I had it all picked up I put the rake away and went into the house and cleaned up.

It was lunch time so I made myself some lunch out of last night's left-overs and also had a turkey brat on a whole wheat bun with the last slice of provolone. After finishing eating I cleaned up the kitchen including picking up, shaking out the throw rugs, sweeping and spot mopping the floor.

I had thought about trying to do some painting upstairs but I did not want to because Kathleen was working on something for Alyssa and if she had finished them we were going to take her SUV to John's shop to change the oil and muffler. Then we would take the Jeep to Alyssa's to drop off the project, but since that never happened and when I realized that it, it was too late to get started.

One of the things that came in the mail today was our savings statement from the bank, so I reconciled it and filed it away. After I finished doing that I logged on line and checked the checking account online just to make sure that everything was okay.

Kathleen reheated the macaroni and tuna casserole from the other night for dinner tonight, there is just enough for a snack that was left-over so maybe tomorrow I will have that with something else for lunch.

I still have not heard from Sue today, I tried calling her home and cell phone again, but did not get any answer; her home phone just keep ringing so I am not sure what was up with that.