Another Day at the Doctor's

This morning started off quite overcast but it was starting to wear off by 0800 and by 0900 it was starting to get pretty warm. Kathleen came downstairs while I was eating breakfast as she was going to go across the river to see if she could get her glasses to fit better and also to pick up her diamond ring and wedding band that she was having made smaller.

So when I finished eating and reading the paper I put my dishes into the dishwasher and washed the pots and pans. Then I took the recycling outside and worked at picking up some of the small junk in front of the garage. I gathered up a couple small bags of mostly small chunks of wood but also some dry wall and a few nails.

After I put the bags into the garbage can I went into the back yard and straightened up a little, pulled a few weeds and apples. I found a couple pieces of pipe that would fit over the plastic stake that I bought a couple weeks ago to set the bird feeder on and cut them to fit. Now I just need to see if the squirrels can climb up on it!

I was getting pretty sweaty and since I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon so I stopped before I got too involved and it got too late for me to take a shower. It was already noon by the time I got inside and so I gathered up the bed linens and put them in the washer.

After doing a few other things I made myself a couple roast beef sandwiches for lunch and looked through a couple catalogs that had come in the mail today. Then I put them into the recycling container and put the bed linens into the drier.

Then when the drier buzzer went off I gathered them up and remade the bed. By this time it was getting late enough that I decided to shower and get ready for my appointment.

Since Kathleen had not gotten dressed yet I was guessing that she was not going to head across the river, since traffic gets pretty hectic with rush hour traffic if one does not plan their trips around the traffic patterns. So I asked her if she wanted to go to the doctors with me and she said she would.

The appointment went pretty well and the doctor said that my self diagnosis was pretty accurate and said that about the only thing that he could recommend was foam so he wrote me a prescription for some.

So after we left there we went to Fred Meyer to have it filled. Well, I guess that what I have is rare enough that the last time they had ordered it was a couple years ago and they did not have any at the store but they would have to order it from their warehouse and it should be here tomorrow.

While we were at Fred Meyer we picked up some more deli salads, a pace of brats and some buns. I think that we are going to have some bean less chili on buns tonight for dinner along with some of the salads.

Speaking of dinner I think that I am going to have to check with Kathleen to see if she is going to cook dinner or if I am going to have to do it. Since it is after 1800 I think it is time to get serious about dinner, I hate to eat dinner too late in the evening and if I do not do something soon it will be late!

More Recycling

This morning I slept in a little longer than I usually do and it felt good! I could tell it was going to be a nice day as I got up and saw that the sun was shining in the windows already.

Before eating breakfast I went outside and picked a couple handfuls of blueberries for my cereal and then emptied the dishwasher before I sat down to eat. After eating I put my bowl and spoon into the dishwasher and then sat down to read the paper and finish my coffee.

After I finished the paper I gathered all the paper, plastic and metal recycling and took it out to the recycling container. Since I had not had time to pick up all the apples yesterday I went back to gather them up, but surprisingly there where not a lot of them.

While I was out there I started going through all the "stuff" that was under the apple tree that had to do with potting. I use to have my potting bench set up there but I have since moved it but there are still a lot of old plant pots back there and I never will use all of them. So I saved out a few of each size and recycled the rest of them.

I even took the pots that I had used for container planting and dumped the dirt out of them and either recycled them or put the good ones together for use later. I also found some pots that I had some bulbs planted in that I took out and planted where the old apple stump was and recycled the pots.

Since I could now see what was there I gathered up some old Tiki torches and threw the bamboo into the yard debris and the metal fuel cans into the recycling. I even put an old barbecue into the recycling.

While I was in the front of the garage I gathered up the rest of the "stuff" that I had set next to the garage and either put it in the back, in the garage or recycled. By this time I was getting pretty worn out so I sat in the sun for a while and drank some of the water that I brought out earlier.

When I finally made it into the house it was almost noon so I went and brought the mail in. There was not much, about the only thing I kept was the credit union monthly statement. By the time I had gone through the mail and returned a phone call it was about time for me to make myself something for dinner.

I made my self a roast beef sandwich using some of the roast beef from yesterday's barbecue. I also made myself a salad with some dried cranberries and roasted walnuts on top. After I finished eating I gathered up my dishes and put them into the dishwasher.

Since I had the credit union statement in my hand I went and logged on to the credit union website and opened up my copy of Quicken and reconciled my savings and checking accounts.

Kathleen just came downstairs and wanted ideas for dinner so I suggested that she use some of the roast beef and some potatoes, so she did. Well it is time for dinner so I am just going to post this and have dinner.

Where did the Day Go?

I got up this morning I made myself a pot of coffee and then after emptying the dishwasher I made myself a raisin nut English muffin for breakfast. Since I had slept in a little longer, I stayed up too late watching the Olympics; I had only a short time to get ready for church. Kathleen had not made it downstairs yet but when I got up there she was dressed and heading downstairs to get something to eat.

I changed my clothes and want downstairs and waited for Kathleen to finish eating. We managed to get there on time this morning something that does not happen too often when we both go to church.

Attendance was down a bit from last week, I guess the honeymoon of the new pastor is over already, but it was still pretty full by the time the service started. For our Sunday School class we sang hymns from the hymnal, something that we do not do very often any more in church.

After church we came home and changed clothes and then headed back to church as Aaron and Tami's class was putting on a barbecue for the whole church. This is the third year that they have done this. They roast a few roasts in the ground and then have some salads and cookies.

Kathleen and I were one of the first to venture outside as most of the people stayed inside, what kind of barbecue does one have inside? Anyway after a while Tami brought Becca and Alexis outside to sit with us while she went back inside to slice up some more roast. After awhile she and Aaron joined us along with several of their friends.

We had a good time and after visiting for a while we decided that we needed to leave, they were folding up the tables and taking down the canopies, we eventually got the hint.

A friend of mine has not been coming to class for a while as he is having a lot of hearing loss, he has a lot of fluid in his ears and just a couple weeks ago had tubes put in his ears. He is a little embarrassed by the whole thing and had kind of isolated himself for others.

So I called him to see if they were going to be home for a little while as we wanted to stop by for a while. His wife answered, so we went over and visited for an hour or so.

By the time we left and got home again it was 1630 and both of us were really tired. I changed my clothes and decided to get some work done on my computer and my blogging.

It is getting close to dinner time, so I think I will wrap this thing up and see what Kathleen has in mind for dinner if anything.

Sore Saturday!

When I woke up this morning not only was my back still sore, although not as sore as when I went to bed, but my legs were really sore. I made it downstairs and was glad that I made it down without my legs giving in on me.

I had a Discipleship Ministry Team meeting this morning and it seemed like it took me forever to get going. I finally made it out the door with a few minutes to spare, or so I thought.

When I went to start my Jeep all I got was a week attempt by the started to turn over. So without even thinking about it I got my jump starter, which I had charged up, and jump started it. I took it along just in case I would need it after my meeting.

The poor Jeep does not get driven enough to keep the battery charged and if I do not think about starting it up once in a while I wind up with a weak or dead battery. Luckily after the meeting it started right up just like it is suppose to do.

I got home about 1130 and since I did not have very much for breakfast I had the rest of the cold pizza from last night and a slice of lemon cake. While I was eating I went through the mail that had come today.

About 1500 I got hungry again so I made myself a couple English muffin pizzas. Since I had not done any hand wash pots and pans for a couple days I decided to gather up all the pots and pans and get them washed.

I had poured a couple containers of water and added the drops to take the chlorine out of the water a couple days ago so since I had the counters and stove top relatively cleared off I decided to give my beta a "bath".

It is amazing how quickly the water turns green in that vase that I keep him in. It does not seem like it was that long ago since I changed the water, it must be the time of year and the amount of light that the water is exposed to.

I am doing this early so that I do not fall asleep before I get a chance to do it later on tonight. Say, did anyone else watch the opening of the Olympics last night? Kind of amazing, but at the same time very sad when one considers the poverty in that country and the amount of money spent on it.

A Nice Cool Day

This morning when I got up it was really overcast, little did I know at the time that it was a sign of the rest of the day. I guess that I have lived on the beach long enough to think that the overcast would just burn off around 0900 or 1000 and then be nice and sunny the rest of the day until evening when the fog would roll back in.

So after I finished eating breakfast I decided to go outside since it was still pretty overcast and do some chipping. I hate doing it when it is sunny and hot as all the dust from the chipper settles on me and I look almost like a tree without leaves. As it turned out this was an excellent day to do this as the temperature only got up to the high seventies today.

Anyway, I thought that I would try to pick up as many fir cones as possible from the front and side yard as possible so that while I was chipping branches I could also chip up the fir cones as well. I filled up a fifty gallon barrel with just fir cones (95%) and walnut shells (5%); I could not believe how many there were.

I spent from around 1030 until about 1330 chipping branches and cones, I had two really large garbage cans full of small branches, three or four feet long, and several larger branches from a pile that I had stacked up a couple of weeks ago.

After I finished chipping and putting the chipper away I drug out an old picnic table umbrella and took it apart separating the metal parts for everything else. I put the metal parts with the recycling stuff and the rest I just put into the garbage can.

By the time I finished putting away everything, went into the house and cleaned up it was a little after 1400. I went and got the mail as I had not had an opportunity to get it before and then I realized that I was so tired that I could hardly stand up, so I sat down in the kitchen and then after resting a little bit I got out the lemon cake and cut a slice for my lunch.

That was all that I had the energy for but after a little while longer I asked Kathleen if she wanted her left over salmon and salad from last night and she said she did not so I ate that cold. There was not much left, but it was just enough for me at the moment.

I noticed that my back had really started to hurt, I had not picked up anything heavy but I had been bending over a lot picking up fir cones and then loading the chipper for over four hours so that is probably what was causing it. I guess I will have to take some extra Tylenol today.

Not having a lot of energy left I decided to go through some of my catalogs and magazines that have come in the mail the last couple of days. Kathleen needed to run to Montavilla Sewing Center to pick something up so I suggested that she pick up a Papa Murphy's pizza on the way home. We both like their delight style pizzas so she ordered a three meat for her and a veggie delight for me. That was one pizza split in half.

We had a couple pieces leftover so I will probably have that for lunch tomorrow. Right now I am so tired that I am already having a hard time staying awake. I am fighting going to bed because if I went to bed now I would be awake in the middle of the night and I really do not want to do that.

Run Around Day

This morning felt cooler when I got up and after I finished eating breakfast I loaded up the dishwasher and turned it on, then I went outside and picked up apples. I also gathered up more junk and put it into the garbage can.

The weather folks said that we might get some rain this afternoon so I did not bother watering, but found some weeds that were trying to sneak into the gardens so I pulled them and put them into the yard debris container.

As I was putting the weeds into the container I spotted the mailman so I went out front and got the mail from him. Then I went into the house, cleaned up and opened up the mail. About ninety percent of it was junk so I added it to the junk mail pile and then went back into my office and sorted out some more paperwork.

I had a lot of old Boeing things that I had been saving and decided that while I was working there it was a good place to earn a living but I had given Boeing too much of my time already and now was as good a time as any to start getting rid of memories.

Kathleen had taken off to Montavilla Sewing Center to trade her sewing machine for another one. Hers has been in and out of the shop more than she has been able to use it so they finally agreed to give her another one.

While she was gone I went through some of my old paperwork and threw out about twenty pounds of paper. A lot of it was stuff that I had been saving from Boeing and a lot of it was just stuff that I should have thrown out a long time ago.

Anyway Kathleen got home about 1045 and grabbed something to eat so that we could take off for her sleep doctor appointment at 1130 over in Tigard. After her appointment we stopped of at the jewelers where I bought her diamond ring so that she could get it and her wedding band resized. She has lost so much weight that her rings are too big for her.

After we finished there we stopped of at the place where she got her glasses so that they could exchange her frames. Her old ones had some of the rhinestones fall out and they just replaced the old ones with new ones for her.

We got home about 1545 and after bringing her sleep machine into the house I made myself a Boca burger on dark rye toast with an onion slice and melted cheddar cheese. I kind of vegetated the rest of the afternoon. I think that I finally have my computer working close to how it was before it lost it's mind on my a week or so ago.

Tonight for dinner we had cold left over salmon and some deli salad that Kathleen had picked up yesterday at Fred Meyer. The temperature only got up to the mid eighties today which almost seemed cool after the last four days in the upper nineties.

Well my mind is starting to wander, usually a sign that I am getting tired so I think that I am going to publish this and call it a day.

Not as Hot but Really Muggy

This morning when I got up I left the fan on as the temperature inside and outside were about the same. The first thing I did when I got downstairs was to make a fresh pot of coffee. I had not had any in a couple days because my stomach was so messed up and I did not want to upset it with coffee.

While the coffee was dripping I went outside to pick some blueberries to have with my cereal. After eating breakfast and reading the paper I went outside where I picked up apples, sorted the barrels of branches and fir cones; I kept the fir cones and larger branches to run through the chipper and the smaller ones I put into the yard debris container.

I also pulled out all of the spent poppy plants, I like them when they bloom but they look rather ugly once the petals fall off. I also picked a few more blueberries to snack on before going into the house to clean up.

For lunch I got a frozen pizza and baked it in the toaster oven. They are not my favorite meal but I have pretty much run out of other options as we need to go grocery shopping.

This afternoon Kathleen took off to meet with the lady from church and I kind of dozed off and on most of the afternoon. After her meeting Kathleen went to Fred Meyer to pick up a prescription and she also picked up some salmon for dinner.

After dinner I put the dishes into the dishwasher and then caught up on my e-mail as I had not done that this afternoon. Then I read Zander's and Alyssa's blogs and now I am doing my own.

Too Hot to Do Much of Anything

This morning when I got up turned on our whole house fan and then went outside and watered the vegetables and berries as it was suppose to be in the upper nineties again today. When I got back inside I opened some windows and left the back door open to let as much cool air in the house as possible.

When I checked the indoor/outdoor thermometer it read over seventy-five degrees inside and only seventy degrees outside so I wanted to get as much of the cool air inside before it started warming up.

I made myself some hash browns and egg beaters for breakfast and after emptying the dishwasher I loaded my breakfast dishes into it. Then I went outside and picked up apples and ate some blueberries. I also sorted out some of the potting pots that I have been "collecting" and now when Kathleen comes out we can decide if we want to keep any of them.

It was starting to get a little hot for me so I went inside and cleaned up again. I did not get much done today other than what I did this morning except I did sort through some magazines and catalogs. They have a way of piling up and I need to get a handle on them before they get out of control...if that is possible!

Well, the last temperature high that I heard for today was only ninety-seven degrees, the house only got up to a little over eighty degrees so opening the windows and having the fan on early this morning helped a lot. I had to shut the windows and turn the fan down around 0900 so as not to suck in too much warm air.

Now tonight when the outside temperature get to be about the same as the indoor temperature I will turn the fan on and hopefully tonight remember to open the windows before I go to bed. Last night I was too tired and my brain was not working very well.

I am starting to feel better today and I did not spend nearly as much time in the bathroom today as I had the last couple of days and nights. Well, I am getting brain fog and I need to say good night!

The Day After

Yesterday was the first day for our new pastor and between services we held a reception for him and his wife. Afterwards Kathleen and went home, I had not felt quite right that morning but I wanted to go for his first service so I pushed myself a little. Then at 1330 our class had our annual picnic and croquet tournament.

I did not feel any worse so I went, but shortly after I finished eating my stomach started cramping up on me and I had to leave. Kathleen wanted to stay so I put our stuff into the SUV and went home by myself. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon and evening in the bathroom and by the time Kathleen got home I was really exhausted.

I did not feel like eating anything that evening and went to bed early. When I got up this morning I belt much better but still not really great. Between last night and this morning I finished a two liter bottle of lemon-lime soda.

Since I had not picked up apples yesterday I did that this morning and then picked up some leftover junk and put it into the garbage. Then I went into the house, cleaned up and read yesterdays paper. I felt so awful yesterday that I did not read the paper.

After reading the paper I went upstairs and went to bed and took a nap for a while. Andrea had called earlier and wanted Kathleen to go with her to the doctor's to watch Brandon and Christian. It turns out that she has a staff infection in her leg and so she got several things to try to get it cleared up.

I had just come downstairs when they drove up. The stayed a little while and then Andrea had to leave as John was on his way home from work. So for dinner Kathleen heated up the leftover salmon and rice for the other night.

I am starting to feel better tonight but I am still really tired, I got a pretty good night sleep last night and took a nap this afternoon yet I still feel like I need to go to bed.

Another REally Nice Day

It was still pretty overcast when I woke up this morning, but it was not raining and the weather forecast was for cloudy morning and the sun coming out this afternoon; strangely enough they were correct.

This morning I sliced up a banana and a peach to have with my cereal and the peach was just the right ripeness and was as sweet as could be. After eating I emptied the dishwasher and then put my breakfast dishes in.

Since I had not picked up apples yesterday, I though that I had better get outside and pick them up before they all got squished. It took about twenty minutes to pick them up, it is too bad that they ripen and then get really soft so quickly because if they can be picked and eaten right away they do not taste too bad.

Since it had been a while since I had watered and the little amount of moisture that fell yesterday did not do much good I thought that I had better water today. I not only watered the berries and vegetables but I also watered the roses and flowers in the back garden.

After I watered I did a little pruning on the roses and a little weeding in the rose garden. While I was watering I noticed a blackberry that had started to come through into the rose garden so I also dug it out.

I was all set to go into the house when I saw that I still had not finished weeding around the tree rose by the gate to the driveway so I got my tools and finished weeding that area.

While I was down in that area I thought that I would pull out the violets and the mint that was growing along the fence by the basement stairs. Part of it I got from the back sidewalk and the rest of it I stood in the stairway and pulled them. I really like the idea of pulling the weeds from the upright position...it is much easier on my back.

By the time I put my tools away and cleaned up it was after 1300 so I decided to make myself some lunch. Since I still had some salmon from last night’s dinner I decided to have that along with a sardine sandwich.

About 1530 we got a phone call reminding us about a dinner we were having with some friends; it is a good thing we got the call as Kathleen had next Saturday marked for the dinner. So Kathleen had to rush off to Winco to pick up something to bring.

While she was gone I shaved and showered as I was a little dirty from working out in the yard for over four hours. I normally do that just before going to bed as it is kind of refreshing and relaxing.

That is the reason that I am blogging this early; I do not think that I will be feeling much like doing it when we get home tonight.

It almost Rained Today!

When I got up this morning it was really overcast and when I got downstairs I could see that it looked a little damp outside. Since Kathleen had picked up some bananas the other day I had a sliced up banana with my cereal this morning. After eating I loaded up the dishwasher and when Kathleen finished eating I put her dishes in and turned it on.

Then I tackled the pots and pans; I had not cleaned out the pan that the salmon was cooked in last night and when I came downstairs it really smelt like salmon so I thought that I needed to wash it first. The rice cooker had not been cleaned out other than just the cooking bowl so I took it apart and gave in a little cleaning.

Since I was meeting with the guys today at 1000 I went upstairs and changed my clothes and then took off. It was drizzling a little, but not enough for me to have to run the wipers.

After I left Manny's house I went to Costco as I had a couple coupons that expired Sunday and that place is really a zoo on the weekends. I was worse than I had seen it in a long time and I was lucky in that a line just opened up as I was getting ready to check out.

So when I got home I changed my clothes and then got the mail, not much of anything interesting so I went to my office to pay a few bills. None of them were due right away and so I had the credit union to send them just a few days before they are due. That way I get to keep my money a little longer and earn some interest on it.

After a while Kathleen came down and said that her sewing machine was ready to pick up and she wanted to know if I wanted to go along as well. I thought that since we were out anyway we could stop by Newport Bay and get some thing to eat for dinner.

Kathleen asked me if it had rained today as she heard on the radio that it had but she was not aware of it. I told her that it did not really rain but drizzled off and on for a while this morning, but this is the first time we have had any significant precipitation in a month.

Kathleen had a shrimp Louie and crab salad and I had some Alaskan Coho salmon and a cup of fisherman's soup. I had a good size piece of salmon left over and Kathleen had a lot of her salad left over so we took home three boxes for tomorrow's lunches.

Well I did not get much done today, I am getting closer to getting my computer monitor looking like it should, it is still not quite correct, but it is a lot better than it was last week end.

What Was I Thinking?

First off, Happy Birthday Alyssa and Charie; both share the same birthday only Alyssa is ten years older!

This morning when I got up I felt pretty good so since I had sorted clothes last night I did a couple loads of laundry. Then and after a while I made myself some hash brown potatoes and I used Kathleen's egg whites and some egg beater to make myself and omelet. I used a pretty good size potato and so there were a lot of hash browns, so I did not make myself any toast to go along with it all.

After I finished eating I finished my coffee and read the paper. After that I Put the first load of laundry into the dryer and the second into the washer then I went outside and picked up apples.

After I finished picking up the apples I mowed the back lawn, pulled some weeds in the rose garden and pruned the roses. After adding the yard debris to the container I went into the house cleaned up and then took the first load of clothes out of the dryer.

I took the clean dry laundry upstairs and folded it and put it away. Then I went back downstairs and made myself another salad for lunch. I used up all the baby spinach and arugula and just about all of the romaine lettuce. By the time I finished lunch the laundry was done, so I took it upstairs; folded and put it away.

Then I went back outside and sat in the shade while I did a little reading, I was going to read inside, but it was such a nice day that I decided to enjoy the fresh air and listen to the birds. While I was out there I noticed some birds feeding from my thistle feeder; I noticed that the amount of thistle level had gone down but I had never seen any birds using it.

After I finished reading I decided to mow the front lawn and move some more dirt from the front of the garage to the front of the west side of the driveway to fill in a low spot. By the time I finished all that I was so tired that I could hardly stand up but I managed to get my tools put away and cleaned up.

I had just sat down to rest when Kathleen asked me to help her load the sewing machine into her SUV for her class tonight. I got her machine into the car and she took off for class; I was going to eat but I was too tired so I sat down and watched The O'Reilly and Hannity and Colmes.

In fact I am watching Hannity and Colmes on my computer now while I am writing my blog. I decided that if I kept sitting there I would fall asleep and so I decided to write my daily blog while I was still somewhat awake.

Well, I am getting more tired all the time so I think that I will go ahead and post it and then have some fresh salmon for dinner.

Nice Weather Returns

I did not feel like getting up this morning, but I knew that if I stayed in bed I would be more tired than if I just got up and started my day. So before breakfast this morning I went out and picked some blueberries for my shredded wheat and Cheerios. Kathleen got up this morning as I was getting breakfast ready and so I poured her a cup of coffee as well.

After putting the dishes into the dishwasher I went outside and picked up apples, there were not as many again this morning. I think that it has something to do with not having as many left in the tree. After Picking up the apples I ate a few more blueberries and then watered the berries, the vegetables and then went and watered the gardens in the front of the house.

Kathleen left while I was watering to go over to Tigard and Beaverton so while her big SUV was not in the driveway I decided to get out my blower and air sweep the driveway off. While I was doing that I did the back stairs, the sidewalk and all around the front garden.

After I finished putting my tools away I went into the house, cleaned up and made myself a baby spinach, arugula and romaine salad. Since I used the last of the raspberry dressing I made my own out of some apricot sauce and some tarragon vinegar.

After putting my dishes into the dishwasher I rested for a while and then went back outside so that I could dig out the big apple tree stomp from the back garden area. I had been planting around it for a couple years and it was getting so rotten that I was afraid that it would fall over and crush one of my peace roses.

After getting it down to ground level I got out my good old stubbing hoe and dig the roots and the rest of the tree stomp out. I still have my old wheel borrow over at Aaron's and I did not have the energy to get the garden cart out of the garage so I moved my big reel mower close by and loaded the largest pieces on it and wheeled them over to under the fir trees.

I had to use several five gallon buckets to pick up the smaller pieces but I got most of it picked up. After digging all around the former stump I put all my tools away and went into the house and cleaned up. I had just finished cleaning up when Kathleen came back home so I went out and helped her bring her sewing machine inside and upstairs.

She had also stopped by Fred Meyer's and picked up one of her prescriptions and some groceries so that she will have something to make for dinner tonight. Well, I am feeling a little tired so I think that I will go rest for a while before dinner.

A Different Kind of Day

Well I got a good eight hours sleep last night and when I woke up it looked like it was a lot earlier than it really was. It was really overcast this morning and it never burnt off; the weather man had said that it was suppose to rain today, but I did not see it. I could see things looked a little damp outside but if it precipitated at all today it was not much.

It was so dreary out this morning that instead of having my normal Egg Beaters I decided to have some hot cereal instead. Before I started cooking it I took the kitchen vegetable scraps and put them into the composter and then I picked up apples. There were not as many apples as there have been so that was nice; and after picking up the apples I picked a couple handfuls of blueberries to have as a pre-breakfast snack.

After I got back into the house I emptied the dishwasher as my cereal was cooking and then I read the paper as I finished my coffee. Since this was garbage day I took the bag out to the can that I had brought to the front yesterday so that we would have a full can for them to pick up.

After coming back into the house I decided that since it was suppose to rain today I probably would be better off working inside today so I went into my office and started going through the bookcases on the walls and the small bookcase that I had just moved Sunday. I am now using it to house the shoes that I keep downstairs; like my walking shoes and most of my Birkenstock's.

I even cleaned off the extra desk and now I can actually use it to sort things out on. I got rid of a lot of my old Boeing memorabilia, stuff that I had held onto just because I wanted to keep them as mementoes of about a third of my life.

A lot of what I got rid of was just paper, old catalogs or brochures that I had picked up at some time. I sorted out my computer programs, disks and manuals and got rid of several disks and manuals of equipment or programs that we no longer had.

Other than a lunch break I worked on my office about seven hours, I do not feel too tired but then I did not do anything that took a lot of energy either. Kathleen was tired so I made myself some dinner and then cleaned up my kitchen mess. Well since it is 2000 I think that I will call it a day, so good night!

Almost a Perfect Day

I awoke early this morning and did not get to do back to sleep so finally about 0545 I got up. It was a really nice looking morning out and not overcast like it has been the last few days.

Then this morning for breakfast I went outside and got a couple dozen blueberries to put on my shredded wheat and Cheerios. After finishing my morning coffee I picked up my dishes and put them into the dishwasher.

Then I gathered up the recycling paper and cardboard and put it into the new recycling container outside and then picked up twenty gallons of apples. I think that between the squirrels and birds just about all of the apples have been chewed on to some degree. Every once in a while I seen raccoons up in the tree as well, so it is kind of like a mini wild kingdom.

After picking up apples I decided to go back and work on the garden area that I did not get planted and de-weed it. While I was at it I spent some time weeding around the raspberries. That area was not as bad as it has been in years past but some of the weeds were getting pretty tall.

Since I was working both in the sun and in the shade I was not sure how long I had been exposed to the sun, so I stopped and put my tools away and then went into the house and cleaned up. The mail had come while I was outside so I went and got it and put it on the kitchen table so that I could go through it and the paper while I ate lunch.

For lunch I heated up the rest of that Trader Joe's shepherd's pie and an English muffin. There were more catalogs than anything else in the mail today for some reason; almost all of them said that this might be my last catalog if I did not order anything. Funny thing is that I did not ask for most of them in the first place.

After recycling the junk mail and putting my lunch dishes into the dishwasher I went into my office to see if I could figure out what was wrong with it; I spent most of the afternoon trying to get things back to "normal" to no avail. It is a little better and it is usable to some degree but not as friendly as I had it before and I still need to get it working better but I am too tired to worry about it now.

My leg kept cramping up on my while I was working on the computer and I kept having to get up and walk around to work the cramp out. Finally I gave up and went into the living room and sat in my chair and put my feet up on the ottoman. Of course when I did that it did not take too long for me to fall asleep. All that I remember is that I was watching the Reilly Factor and when I woke up Hannity and Colmes was on.

Today was a great day as far as I was concerned, the temperature was in the high seventies or low eighties and was sunny just about all day. Well, it is after 1900, I have not heard from Kathleen for a while and I am guessing that she is sleeping so I think that I will make myself something to eat for dinner. With that said I am going to call it a night.

What a Weekend!

Yesterday started out pretty good; the weather was nice although not as sunny as t has been, in fact there were many clouds in the sky but still mostly sunny. While I was making breakfast I loaded the washer with a load of towels, then after putting my breakfast dishes into the dishwasher I put the towels into the dryer on my way outside.

When I first got outside I picked up apples and then mowed the back lawn. Still feeling pretty good I decided to do some weeding, only the place I needed to weed was in the sun, I weeded for as long as I could take it and then decided to eat some berries for a while.

The raspberries have slowed down and now I have to look harder for what berries are left. We will get another crop later but for now the berry production is not was it was for the last few weeks. The blueberries are still going strong so I collected a few handfuls and then headed inside.

I was about 1230 so I decided to make myself some lunch. I finished up the rest of the Trader Joe's chicken and some ride that was left over from the other night. After sitting down and going through the mail I decided to go into my office and see if I could straighten it up a little.

I started by putting everything on the desk into a box and then unplugging the wires from the CPU so that I could put it back on the floor. It has been on the desk for over a year and it makes it hard to work at the desk and hence keep it clean.

Once I had everything unplugged I put the CPU aside and then moved the desk about three feet toward the west. This will allow me to move my file cabinet to the east side of the desk so that I can fill things easier. I keep stacking things to file and by the time I get to file them I have three or four updates of the items. Hopefully now I will not have that excuse; that is when I get the stack filed in the first place.

To make a really long story short when I plugged the monitor back in the screen came up differently than it had when I disconnected everything. Kathleen had been helping me as I could not work under my desk due to my back and so she spent a lot of time working on it to try to get it working correctly...it still is not working as it should so I am doing this on the lap top.

While she was working on my computer I decided to take the garbage out and then dispose of an old watermelon. Just as I was picking it up Kathleen called me into the room; well rather than put the watermelon down I carried it into my room. On the way to the computer, I tripped on something and not wanting to drop the watermelon I went crashing to the floor.

I held onto the watermelon until my elbow hit the floor and that jarred it out of my hand and all over the place. When I tried to get up my left side was really aching, from my shoulder on down. I finally made it up and then went into the living room to sit down for a while.

The longer I sat the more I hurt; I could feel my insides starting to not feel too good and my head was really pounding, so I took some extra Tylenol and sat some more. The towels had been dry for quite a while so I took them out of the dryer, folded and put them away.

Finally around 1900 I asked Kathleen if she were going to make some dinner; she heated up some of the left over meatballs and potatoes and rice from another meal. By the time I was done eating I was too worn out both mentally and physically.

Since my computer was still not working correctly I just kind of vegetated in front of the TV until around 2000 when I decided to take a shower before going to bed. I thought that a hot shower might help my aching body, and it did a little.

That was yesterday, last night every time that I move, my body would hurt and I would wake up for a while. This morning Kathleen's sleep machine was noisy so I got up a little earlier than I normally would because I knew that I would not be getting back to sleep anyway.

I still was pretty sore and I did not know for sure if I were going to make it to church or not. Finally after moving around for a while I started to feel less sore so I went upstairs and changed my clothes. Kathleen had gotten up to see how I was but she was still tired so she went back to bed.

I got really sore from sitting so long at church and Sunday School and was really stiff again for a while. By the time I got home I was pretty sore again so I took some more Tylenol and changed my clothes. Instead of resting and reading the paper I decided to work on my office again for a while.

In the last two days I have moved every piece of furniture except the large bookcase. It was a good thing that Kathleen was upstairs the whole time because I had "stuff" in the living room, the dinning room and the hall way, just so that I could move things around in my office.

I still have a lot of sorting to do, but at least now I have some open space in which to do it in. I have been trying to group things in boxes that are similar, i.e. computer cables in one box so that I can sort through the box and get rid or what we do not need any longer. The same for my Palm, Garmin and iTouch. This will hopefully make it easier to find things and get rid of what is not needed.

By the time I had move everything around and got the boxes back into the room it was 1500 so I heated up some left over chicken and rice for lunch. When Kathleen had come down I showed her what I had been working on and what I had gotten rid of already. Kathleen worked on my computer some more and so I went into the living room and read the paper.

Finally around 1730 I asked her what she thought about having for dinner and she did not know so I suggested heating up a shepherd pie that we had gotten at Trader Joe's so she did. She does not like them so I had half for dinner tonight and probably will have the other half tomorrow for lunch.

Kathleen wants me to see the doctor about my back tomorrow, I told her that I will see how I feel tomorrow but I am afraid that I will have to do something sooner than later. Well I am still really tired, I did not get a nap today and I did not sleep all that well last night so I think that I will just post this and call it a day.

Too Tired

This was another nice day; almost a little cool this morning as I woke up but I liked it. So after eating breakfast and reading the paper I went outside and picked up apples and then finished chopping up the branches that I had stacked by the raspberries.

I put all the really small branches into the yard debris container and the medium branches I put into an other barrel to chop up in the chipper and the really large ones I stacked to use as poles or cut up for fire wood.

I also pulled the grass that had crept up on my dirt pile where the branches had been and made it loop into the rose garden so that it almost looks like I planned it to be that way.

By the time I finished chopping and taking care of the loppers it was almost noon so I went into the house, cleaned up and got the mail. There was not much there except for a couple catalogs which I have not had time to look at yet.

Finally around 1330 I decided that I needed to eat something as we were going over to Andrea's house to take her to the eye doctor to have her eyes checked. So I made myself a salad with some baby spinach, arugula, romaine lettuce, some sweet onion and some slices of yellow and orange peppers. I put a raspberry dressing mixed with some red wine vinegar on top of it all.

We picked up Andrea, actually took her SUV as it already had the car seats in it and got to the eye doctor's just in time. Andrea was able to get an appointment right away and it usually takes me weeks or months to get one, but the last time I was there I was still working in Sandy.

While Andrea filled out her forms, this was her first time there, I took Brandon over to look at frames as I need to schedule an appointment for myself and get some new glasses. Each time I get new glasses I get smaller and lighter ones; I use to have to wear larger ones when I worked at Boeing because they needed to be safety glasses and most of them are on the large size.

I did not feel comfortable at first with smaller glasses but the longer I have to wear glasses the more conscience I am with the size and weight of the frames. That is one of the main reasons that I am looking at smaller frames, also the smaller ones are not quite as conspicuous as their larger counterparts are.

Andrea did not need glasses so we took her home after she got out from seeing the doctor. We stayed at her house for a while so that she could adjust to having her eyes dilated.

After we left we needed to stop at Fred Meyer so that both of us could pick up a prescription. While we were there we picked up a few items, like muffins and something for dinner. We got a combination mashed potatoes and meatballs; I guess that sounded good to Kathleen as she and Andrea had talked about having meatballs at Ikea.

By the time we got home it was almost 1900 and I could barely make it back into the house with the groceries. For the last couple of days my back has been bothering me; not a much as it did a week ago, but more than it usually does.

Well, I had planned on not even writing to my blog tonight because I was so tired, but I thought that I would give it a try. So I am sorry if this does not make a lot of sense or the spelling is bad but I am too tired and sore to care. I think that I will be turning in early tonight!

Warming up again

This morning when I woke up it was still pretty overcast, but by the time I sat down to eat breakfast, around 0900, the sun was out and shinning brightly. So after I finished eating I emptied the dishwasher and put my breakfast dishes in.

Since it was starting to warm up already I decided not to take a walk this morning besides I think I walked enough yesterday that I wanted to give my legs a little rest. So I went out to the back yard and chopped up some of the branches in my branch pile and put some in one of my barrels to run through the chipper and the smaller ones I put in the yard debris container.

It was almost noon by the time I got back into the house and cleaned up so I went to the mailbox and got the mail. There really was not much of anything worth keeping so most of it went into the recycle pile or the shredder.

While I was outside Kathleen had come out and said that Aaron, Tami and the girls were coming over after stopping off at Subway and wanted to know if I wanted something from Subway for lunch. It had been a while since I had a store bought sub so I had a veggie sub.

While I was waiting for them I went to the west front lawn and raked out the piles of dirt that I had dumped there a couple weeks ago. I finished smoothing it out and went back into the house and cleaned up.

They got here after a while and we all sat down and had our subs and after that the girls and Kathleen went out back to pick raspberries. Tami was watching one of their friends baby and so she and Aaron sat in the shade of the cherry trees and mountain ash.

After a while they left and I went back inside and paid a bill and checked the activity on our credit union accounts. Around 1700 Kathleen asked me to bring her sewing machine and embroidery attachment downstairs for her; I had forgotten that she had a class tonight. So I brought them downstairs and put them into her SUV and then she took off as her class started at 1730.

I was glad that I only ate half of my sub sandwich because that is what I had for dinner. I had though about having it tonight or tomorrow for lunch and I am glad that I had it tonight because it was starting to get pretty soggy.

Well today was much warmer, I think that it got up to the mid eighties and it is suppose to be this way most of the rest of the week. I do not mind the temperature like it was today, but much hotter will be getting a little bit uncomfortable for me.

Fire Fire!!

It was slightly overcast this morning and the weatherman had said that today’s temperature would be in the seventies again today. After I finished my breakfast and reading the paper I loaded up the dishwasher and started it up, then I got my walking gear and went for a walk.

As I was walking behind our house I notice a plume of really black smoke that looked to be four of five blocks away so I cut across the field and headed down the street toward where I thought the fire might be coming from. The further I walked the further away I could tell it actually was but I kept walking; after all it was down hill and the walking was easy.

I finally got all the way down to Sandy Boulevard and 112th and saw a fire engine heading north on 112th and I could see where the fire was; it was a couple blocks north of Sandy, but since my bronchitis was just getting better I decided not to go any closer. Her are a couple pictures of the fire:

I kept walking down Sandy until I got to 105th and then decided that I had better start heading home since Kathleen had a doctor's appointment at 1130. As easy as walking down hill was walking back up the hill was equally hard...but I made it and I did not feel all that bad afterwards just tired.

We went to Kathleen's doctor appointment and then Kathleen dropped me off at home and she went to meet with the lady from church at 1330. I had some of the Trader Joe's chicken and rice from last night’s dinner for lunch and after I finished eating I emptied the dishwasher and put my lunch dishes in.

Since it still has not rained I decided to water the garden in the front of the house, so I went out and did that. After watering I got my broom and swept off the steps and then the walkway. Then I went back into the house and read the mail.

Tonight Kathleen heated up a can of chicken gumbo soup for me and fixed herself something else as she does not like gumbo. After dinner I put the dishes into the dishwasher and here I am writing my blog.

Tomorrow it is suppose to start heating up once again, I will not like it as much but just about everyone else will and I guess that warm or hot weather is what one should expect in the summer.

Unseasonably Cool...but my kind of Weather!

It seemed darker outside than I thought that it should be when I got up this morning, and after I got up I realized why. We had a beach like cloud cover that stuck around most of the day that not only made it cooler but also darker than usual.

So after reheating the pancakes from last night and making a fresh pot of coffee I sat down and had breakfast and read the paper. After I finished eating and reading the paper I emptied the dishwasher and put my breakfast dishes into it and did the hand wash pots and pans.

After I had finished in the kitchen I put on my Birkenstocks walking shoes and took myself for a walk. My hip did not bother me as much as it had last week and so I took a little longer walk than I had in a while. When I got home I changed out of my Birkenstocks walking shoes and then I went outside and picked up apples from the back yard.

I stopped for a while to enjoy some blueberries, raspberries and probably the last strawberry for a while until the next crop come in. Then I went and got my hedge trimmer and trimmed the hedge in the front yard. After I finished with the hedge I got my rake and picked up the trimmings and put them in the new yard debris container.

That new container sure holds a lot more than my old barrel did as I filled my old one up with trimmings and but it on top of the yard debris that I had already collected over the last two weeks. I think that the new one must hold two or three times as much as my old barrel. That is nice because many times I have to use two barrels one to put out front and one to hold the excess until the next collection day.

After I finished I put my tools away and went into the house to clean up. Andrea called and said that she was in the neighborhood and wanted to know if she could come over to pick up a tank top that she had purchased and some how Kathleen had in her SUV and left there.

So she dropped by for a while and we played with Brandon for a while and then I got to hold Christian until he fell asleep and I put him in his car seat. Andrea, the boys and Kathleen went shopping after a while and once they left I made myself some lunch.

While they were out they stopped at Trader Joe's and Kathleen picked up a few items and made one of them for dinner tonight. If the one they went to today was a closer and a little more convenient to get to I think that we would probably do most of our grocery shopping there.

Kathleen said that I seemed to be feeling better today and I think it is because the weather was much cooler and working outside was not a tiring as it is for me when it is hotter. I definitely like this cooler weather but I also realize that the vegetable garden will not do as well when the weather is cooler. I think that it did not make it to eighty today.