Welcome to Winter 2008!

I know this isn't that unusual for people east of here, but this is a really big deal here. We usually get some snow every year, occasionally it sticks around for more than a day but we haven't seen weather like this in 10 to 15 years. It started with a storm on Sunday two weeks ago that dumped 1 to 2 inches of snow and pretty much brought things to a standstill. It warmed up some every day, it snowed some every day and dropped below freezing every night. The snow didn't completely melt. The well traveled roads were clear maybe 60% of the time but a lot of the side streets were very slick. I got to work every day, just put a couple of sand tubes (150 lbs) in the back of the truck and switched to 4 wheel drive. Of course, being older and wiser now, I didn't try anything crazy so I didn't have any problems. It was one of those strange weeks at work, a lot of people out because of the weather conditions, but it also was the last week before the three week shut down. I don't have to be back to work until 12 Jan. Thats a good thing, considering this weather! 

Last Wednesday, employees were notified if they were eligable for the Voluntary Separation Plan . This is the first act of an 1800 person reduction in force. I am one of the eligable employees. I would receive 34 weeks of pay (14 wks + 2 wks for every year I've been with the company) plus what it would cost for 4 months of Cobra coverage for insurance. A tidy sum. I have to weigh that against how hard it will be to find another job by the time the money runs out and the chances of being laid off later anyways if 1800 people don't take the VSP. Merry Christmas, eh? I have to decide by 2 Jan. And, there is a chance that if I do opt to take the package that they could not accept me for the program! Between 2 Jan and 14 Jan they will decide who they need to keep to do business and who they're willing to let go. That would make for an awkward situation, asking to leave, not being allowed and have to come back to work. 

But, I am fighting a cold I got last weekend from taking the boys for a walk without proper head gear on.  My first head cold in several years. 

Heres the bird bath after the first snow fall.

Here it is after the freezing rain and another couple of inches of snow

We thought that would be it, but we've been wrong before....

This is the view out our kitchen window. Notice the branch the snow has bent all the way down to the driveway.

We lost a limb from the tree in our front yard. It didn't damage anything but it probably suprised the squirrels when it came down. It only took one day of warmer temperatures for the trees to loose all that snow.

R, on the other side of town, got a bit more snow and a lot more wind that caused drifting. He had to shovel  a path from the dog door, across the deck and down to the back yard so Gabby could get out to do her "business".

Shakespeare enjoys romping in the snow. It rev's him up every time we head out for our walk in the morning. We've had to walk in the streets for the past week because the sidewalks don't get cleared here. Luckily there hasn't been a lot of traffic. The snow depth is no problem for Shakespeare, but Baileys legs are shorter. He doesn't like to drag his stomach and such in the snow. 

Normally we have the family over on Christmas Eve for a party. Not so this year. The icy, snowy roads and pathways with the possiblilty of an accident or nasty fall just aren't worth it. With luck the weather will cooperate and we will get together some time next week to swap presents, lies and have some good food.

Merry Christmas and a Happy Safe New Year!

Fall

It's grey, cooling off and starting to rain. The dogs took me for a walk as soon as it got light enough, around 8 this morning. That will change with the time change tonight. They'll like that but I'm sure it will take some time before they get used to eating an hour later. The trees are changing colors and loosing their leaves. One last show before they go dormant for the winter. Here's a sample of the show Ma Nature is putting on around here.



With the foliage finale comes the raking of the leaves. The price to be paid for all that nice shade during the hot parts of the summer.

R has been having some success fishing on the Columbia this past month. The run of Chinook salmon was very low this year but the Coho salmon have been returning in solid numbers.



That's a 20+ lb Coho salmon R caught a couple of weekends ago. Pretty nice!
R and Gabby were over yesterday to participate in and add to the general hullabaloo for Halloween. We didn't have a lot of tricker treaters but that may have been because of all the barking the dogs did each and every time the doorbell rang. We have a lot of candy left over. I'll take whatever is left on Monday morning into work. Let it fatten up everyone there. R brought his deep fryer too, last night, and his secret beer batter receipe. We had an excellent halibut fish & chips dinner. He says the leftovers are just as good. We'll be checking that out later today.

Granddaughter Tyfini started at EWU (Eastern Washington) this semester. Her mom is enjoying the peace and quiet and thinking that all that quiet and peacefulness may not be all it's cracked up to be. It's a bit of an adjustment going from a high school senior with all her friends to an empty house (nest?) with just the dogs to keep her company. Tyfini did come home for a Halloween party last weekend, but it is a 6 hour drive, a long drive for a short weekend.

Grandson Eric became a teenager last month. Need I say more?

A "Grand" Friday

Listened to the Grand March from Verdi's opera Aida on the way into work just now. The trumpets made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, sent chills down my spine. I turned the volume up. Exhilarating!! We have a long central hallway at work with 30 foot ceilings. A "grand" space that I marched down the center of with the music still ringing in my ears, imagining myself making that triumphal return after vanqishing the enemy. What a way to start a Friday, all charged up!

It's a good thing to get the blood flowing...it will help for my apheresis donation this afternoon. I'm closing in on 27 gallons of the good stuff donated. Lately they've been taking triple doses. It makes the hour plus with a needle in my arm take about 15 to 20 minutes longer. The arm gets a little sorer and worse, it puts me right in the heart of Friday rush hour traffic trying to get out of downtown back to the 'burbs. All for a good cause though.

Summer

Sat on the deck and watched the sunset this evening. Quite nice, as the light fades from the pinks and oranges into twilight, the wind rustling the leaves. Its the eerie time when you can see most things but the shadows have things that only the dogs can see. Then to the streetlights and porch lights start shining in the your eyes as darkness falls in earnest.

We bbq'd steak for dinner earlier. A tasty end to the latest shutdown week. I've been off all week and we've been busy. We put the house up for sale several weeks ago and this week fell into our laps as the time to repaint. We did quite well actually, it only took four days. P did the lower part, I spent most of my time up on the ladder. It was a lot of work, long days, a lot of sore muscles but it was all well worth it. The place looks good.




It's been a while since I've posted here. I thought I'd carved out a time in my week for writing but apparently not yet. I guess it's like I took the summer off, right? I'll have to work on finding a time and working it into my routine. Just like it turns out now that any day I don't go in to work for a Amat I "get" to take the boys for a walk right after we finish breakfast, before the rest of the world is ready for their day. They're going to be disappointed come Monday.

Me too.

HOT!

It's 102 out back, its 100 in front in the shade. Its 89 upstairs, 86 in the computer room and 82 downstairs in the family room. All the windows closed, the drapes and curtins pulled and all the fans on high. The previous record high for today is only 95 so we've set a new one. Oh boy... Tomorrow won't be quite as hot, a couple of degrees cooler. Monday it's suppose to be in the low 80's, Tuesday in the mid 70's, cooler and rain (possible thunderstorms) on Wednesday. Nice weather for my second work shutdown week, scorching hot to rain. Figures, eh?

The dogs went for a short walk this morning, early this morning. It was already 80 by 8:30 when we finished. Bailey had a vet appointment to get some lumps on his chest and stomach (benign fatty masses) and a couple of hot spots looked at. The best we can figure the pollen level has gotten to the level where he itches. He's got some antibiotic and antihistimine to try to keep things under control. The vet wanted him to wear a lamp shade to keep him from scratching his neck. Ain't gonna happen! Especially with Shakespeare sticking his nose in everywhere.

R and I spent last weekend in Shady Cove, a couple of days fishing on the Rogue River. We (I) only caught one fish on the second day. The guide had caught 11 fish the three days before we got there, only one the two days we were there, none on Monday and then 5 on Tuesday. Poor timing on our part...
Heres what we got, about 15 lbs worth.

Empty Nests

Tyfini graduated from Washougal High School last night, received her diploma, survived all the whistles and woo hoo’s from her family and friends in the audience and got to move the tassel from right to left on her mortarboard. That portion of her life is history.

She leaves for a week in Mexico on Tuesday with other members of her senior class, her mom’s going too as one of the chaperones. Tyf will be working for her dad this summer before going to Easter Washington University in the fall. Yup, it was a major milestone for her last night. Tabetha has the rest of the summer to get ready for her baby leaving the nest. A nest that she will be proud to tell you, that she (and the bank) now owns! They’ve had a lease with an option to buy for the past year plus. Tab has been struggling with scraping together a down payment, all the details of getting a loan, and dealing with all the paperwork. She was able to qualify for some sort of a grant program to help single mothers purchase their own homes. So, she is the proud owner of her own home now and up to her eyeballs in debt.

Friday and yesterday were beautiful, weather-wise. We finally got some sunshine and temperatures in the 70’s for the first time this month. We worked around the house and garage, cleaning and tossing stuff. I made two trips to the Goodwill with the back of the truck full of the past 23 years accumulations cleverly disguised as next years tax deductions. I was able to get after the out of control bush next to the drive way that tries to get in the car every time we go anywhere. I had to get the stepladder out to trim the top of it. It was taller than the garage roof! I was wearing a hat and a long sleeved shirt but I got plenty of sun on my face, neck and ears. I seem to be radiating heat this morning, especially from my ears. I’m sure I won’t be the only one with a sunburn at work tomorrow. It didn’t help that Tyfini’s graduation ceremony was out doors and we were facing the sun the whole time. I got an extra dose of vitamin D just for good measure. This morning it’s kind of overcast but it’s suppose to burn off and be another sunny, 70 degree day. The forecast calls for the temperature to drop down to the 60’s again by Tuesday with clouds and possible showers. That’s Oregon weather for ya!

It will be a short work week for me. R and I will be leaving on Friday for southern Oregon and a couple of days fishing on the Rogue River. Last year we caught three salmon. R called the guide late last week to make sure everything was in order. He was told that the spring run was making it’s way up the river, the fishing was fine. We hope the conditions are just as good when we get there next weekend.

The mama robin has been busy this week. This is how you know something’s going on:
I got up on the stool to see if I could find the culprets

I went around the other side and got this picture. It looks like there are four beaks poking out of the nest.

The chicks seem to have lost their baby feathers already. This nest should be empty in a week or so too.

Almost Summer?

It’s been another week of cloudy, grey, wet, cool days. Hard to believe summer starts a week from today. We’ve only had a handful of days were the temperature has gotten above 70, and two of those set record highs. Crazy weather! The Rose Festival has been going on this past week and culminates with the Grand Floral Parade this morning. You can guess the forecast for parade time: cool (low 60’s) with the overnight showers tapering off to possible showers.

We’ll miss the parade this year. (We’ll have our own parade around the neighborhood with the dogs this morning.) We have a bit of cleaning to do. Scott moved out of his room here last week. We have a spare bedroom again! We have a lot of vacuuming, washing and dusting to do. I have a ceiling fan to install now that I have room to move around there. We’re “discussing” how we will use that space now: sewing, crafts, exercise. There are lots of possibilities. More discussion is required…

I talked about the nest under the deck being used again this year, well last week I peeked through the boards in the deck and this is what I saw:

R and Gabby were over yesterday and when I went to show him the eggs, this is what we saw:

You can see bits of feathers and flesh down there now. The eggs have hatched, but it’s hard to see. The mama wasn’t too far away giving us a piece of her mind, telling us to move along!

We won’t be using the deck for a couple of weeks, or at least until we see some baby robins testing their wings.

And speaking of testing wings, Tyfini graduates from high school next Saturday. A major milestone! She's going on the senior trip to Mexico afterwards. Tab will be going along to help "chaperon" the group. Sounds like a fun time. Tyfini is going on to college in the fall at Eastern Washington University, outside Spokane, close to the Idaho border. Just far enough away that you don't just drive home on a whim, like, say, when you're out of clean clothes and need your laundry done...

This has not been the best of vacations. P came down with a cold on Monday and it hit me Tuesday. It starts with a headache and a sore throat. Next it screws up your voice for a several days and turns into a nice cough. The headache doesn’t really go away either. We were planning on taking in the IMAX film with R on Wednesday but decided against it, not wanting to get on a coughing jag in the middle of the film. Even today, a week later, we both haven’t shaken this bug. We still have the same general symptoms: cough, twinge in the back of the throat and the headache. Not much you can do except wait it out, eh?

The dogs have had a good week: they got walks every day but one (that would be the day I took a nap instead). A lot of flowers are blooming all over the neighborhood. There are a number of places where the fragrance from the flowers hangs like a mist over the area. It smells wonderful walking through them. Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone. I managed to get the dogs to quit pulling on the leashes for a few seconds so I could take them. I have to start taking the camera with me. The quality just of the phone camera doesn’t do justice to the beauty of the flowers.



So, it's back to work tomorrow. The dogs will be bummed.

Happy Memorial Day!

It’s cool, damp and grey with scattered showers forecasted throughout the day: another typical spring day in the Northwest! I think this has got to be one of the wettest and coolest springs here since I got here 31 years ago. I sure hope that doesn’t mean we’re in for a string of scorchers (like last weekend) later on just to average things out. One of the ways we can tell it's spring is the rhododendrons are blooming, adding a nice splash of color to the backyard.

This is a shutdown week for me. I don’t go back to work until 2 June. The Solar and Flat Panel divisions of the company are very busy and not affected by the shutdown. A couple of our Mfg Engineers along with the buyer and planner are doing vendor visits for the Solar Division this week. They’re helping them ramp up to meet demand. A win-win situation for all involved. I don't have anything special planned for this week, just cleaning, straightening, yardwork (when it's not raining) and the like. We're thinking of taking in the IMax film about going down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon at OMSI. I think we've talked R into coming along. Despite living here all his life he's never been to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) and he's never seen an IMax film. I figure with the 360 degree view this is as close as we will get to rafting through the Grand Canyon with out getting wet.

Saturday, R came over with Gabby to help me take out the pool heater, pump/filter and the spa bubble blower. It wasn’t as difficult as we expected, it only took a couple of hours and one trip to the hardware store for a couple of pvc pipe caps.

Before

After

And of course we couldn't do anything without proper supervision

We got scolded a couple of times by a mama robin who has taken up residence in one of the nests under the deck recently. We'll have to be careful going in and out of the patio door for the next several weeks.

Here's the best I could do for a picture of a hummingbird at our new feeder. I had to use the extreme zoom on the camera and of course, the bird it using the feeder on the opposite side from where I was but you can see it's tail at least.The feeder is just outside the window to the computer room. Sometimes I'll be at the computer and they will hover in front of the window and I swear they are looking right at me trying to figure out what I'm doing. They are voracious eaters, I've had to refill the feeder four times in the couple of weeks since I put it up.

hot, Hot, HOT!

I feel sorry for all the people that live east of us. We are in the midst of a bubble of HOT air passing over us causing record highs: 92 at the airport, 100+ in several areas around us. As a matter of fact, the low last night was 56, which was the high for last weekend. It has cooled off some today; only suppose to hit 88 this afternoon. But, this little heat wave is moving east. I’m sure it will hit the mid-west in the middle of next week. In the mean time it will cool off and start raining again here. The forecasted high for next Tuesday is only 54 degrees. Back to the cold, wet spring we’d been having right up to this little break.

This morning we went out to the car dealer we ordered the new truck from and got our old one back. It seems that the factory refused to accept the order for my new truck. They don’t have enough parts to build more 2008 Frontiers. They aren’t scheduled to build any more before they switch over to the 2009’s in September. I’m just SOL! So, we got the old truck back. It seems that it’s been sitting on the car lot for two months, just collecting dust, waiting for the deal for the new vehicle to get sorted out first. This is a bummer! I ordered what I wanted instead of settling for what they had. I didn’t really have a plan B. We are starting all over again, two months later, except we know we can’t get what we want! This will require some thought, some cogitation and some readjusting our expectations. Maybe we won’t get a truck, rather some other type of vehicle. P has been saying that she’d like a car with automatic transmission… Like I said, this will take a while to figure out what we are going to do.

I have one more week to the long Memorial Day weekend, and the shutdown week after it. We don’t have anything special planned, except to prepare for and have a Garage Sale at the end of the week We have been going through closets and cupboards already, but we will be going through the house, top to bottom. After 23+ years it is time for a lot of this stuff to go. Our plans call for moving to a smaller house in the future. It is time to downsize. What doesn’t go in the Garage Sale will go to the Goodwill. We hope to pull in a tidy sum from the sale and should have one heck of a charitable contribution deduction on our taxes next year. It’s all good, right?

It’s time to freshen my drink. We are celebrating Janet’s birthday this time. Seeing as she is many miles and several states away, this will have to suffice for now.

Happy Birthday Janet!

It's been a quiet week...

It’s been a quiet week, with just Scott, me and the dogs. I came home everyday at lunch to let Shakespeare out of the den to do his “business” and run around some while I have my lunch. The only problem was/is that it’s been wet most of the week. Shakespeare is so happy to see me that he runs around some and then come over and jumps on me. I’ve had dirty paw prints on me every afternoon when I returned to work. I have to do some wash today if I want clean pant’s for work this week.

Yesterday I took the boys for their walk first thing, got it out of the way. They BUG me when they realize I’m not going to work, follow me around everywhere, watching my every move. “Not going to work, Dad? Good! Take us for a walk, NOW!!” The weather was cool but nice in what little sunshine there was. I waited until after 10 to start in on the lawns. Scooping poop, pulling dandelions, trimming with the weed wacker and actually mowing the lawns, it turns into a big production. The sky was turning very dark by the time I finished and sure enough, it started sprinkling when I was having lunch half an hour later.

I packed up the boys around two and drove to the other side of town, through half a dozen rain showers, to R’s. Gabby and Shakespeare started in with the playing and rough-housing right away. Bailey tried to stay out of the way until they calmed down some. R fed me drinks and dinner. He’d put up a hummingbird feeder right out side the door to his deck several days ago. He gets a lot of activity. The dogs going in and out and chasing each other all over the backyard must of spooked the hummingbirds, but we did see a number of them before the day was over, pretty cool. It’s surprising all the different colors they have. R told me the feeders are on sale, now that he’s already bought his, and I picked one up. I just have to figure out the best place to hang it so we can see it and can get to it easily. R says he has to refill his feeder every three or four days, a cup and a half of sugar water at a time. They’re thirsty little birds.

P called me while I was on my walk with the dogs this morning. Two leashes, the kind that extends out to 16 feet, listening to my ipod when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I was able to pause the ipod and answer it in time. I had two leashes in one hand and the phone in the other with the ear bud handing down, swinging all over the place as we walked down the street. It was a little awkward especially when the leashes got tangled and the dogs trying to go in different directions. I had to tell P to hold on a couple of times while I sorted the dogs, the leashes and the lamppost out. Obviously I should have had my Bluetooth hands free ear piece on like you see so many people wearing these days. Maybe next time… P and DJ are on the road, taking the long way home. They were outside Sacramento when P called, on their way to the coast. They’re going to see a lighthouse tomorrow and then head north towards Portland. They won’t get back until Tuesday afternoon. We’ll sure be glad to see them back home again!

Another year gone by

The week started out wet, grey and cool. It ended up fairly nice, despite predictions by the weathermen to the contrary. Friday was P’s birthday and I scheduled it as a vacation day to take her out for lunch on the Portland Spirit, and a cruise up and down the river. It wouldn’t have been any fun if it were raining and the like. After listening to the forecasts during the week we were resigned to going on Saturday, and then putting it off until the end of May, during the first shutdown week. Friday, when we got up they’d changed their tune to no rain until late Friday evening so we decided to risk it. It turning out to be a nice day – partly sunny, mostly clouds with sun breaks now and then, and not too cool, not too warm. We were seated right by the second window from the bow on the lower deck. We had a nice view the whole way. P grew up in a neighborhood not far from the river. It was a little trip down memory lane but from a different perspective.

Yesterday was very nice too. I got a chance to mow the lawns and work in the yard a bit after we did our running around. R brought Gabby over and DJ came up from the coast in the afternoon for drinks and dinner. The Shakespeare and Gabby played and rough-housed all afternoon, used up some of their seemingly endless energy. I didn’t bbq but we spent some time out on the deck. The maple tree is working hard on growing it’s leaves! It will be very nice later in the summer when it really gets warm.

DJ spent the night and this morning she and P left for Reno to visit DJ’s mom who retired there. It’s Scott, I and the dogs, just us boys, on our own while they’re on the road. It’s going to be quiet around her this week. I’m sure we’ll manage. We still don’t trust Shakespeare with the run of the house while we’re gone, he gets shut up in the den, with the sliding glass door that looks out on the cul de sac. He gets to watch all the activity, the cats and squirrels walking around with impunity. I’m sure he gives them a piece of his mind when he sees them. I’ll be coming home for lunch every day to let him out, give both he and Bailey some company for a while before I go back to work.

The nest in the eave, just out side the computer room is full. Every morning I hear the babies chirping their tiny lungs out when mom and dad come back with something to eat. Spring is in full force around here.

This is Spring?

What a crazy spring we’re having. A high pressure area swept down from Alaska late Friday and yesterday the temperature didn’t get over the mid-forties. It was/is very cold for late April. It rained some last night and the car is covered with ice this morning. The fruit farmers in the area are scrambling to keep their orchards from freezing the blossoms. Yesterday morning I was just sitting down at the computer, P was starting on her breakfast when the power went out! I called the electric company - thank goodness for cell phones (VOIP – voice over internet phone – technology doesn’t work very well when the electricity to your internet router is cut off) They were aware of the problem, but didn’t know what caused the outage to some 5000+ customers. P and I sat around looking at each other for a while before the dogs talked me into taking them for a walk. I got dressed, bundled up with gloves and scarf, grabbed my ipod and off we went. When we got out of the cul-de-sac I could see that the traffic light a block up was out. We meandered through the neighborhood for about an hour. The traffic light was back up and running when we got back home. P reported that the power came back on about 10 minutes after we left. She got a call from DJ, who lives at the coast who reported that she woke up to snow and it started mixing hail in with the snow as she was talking to P! Early yesterday afternoon, as we were heading home after our Saturday running around, it started to hail and then changed to rain and that changed to snow by the time we actually go home. It wasn’t sticking to the ground but we were in a real snow flurry for about 10 minutes. It looked pretty neat, all that snow swirling around. Shakespeare loved it, running and jumping around, trying to catch the snow. It eased up, changed to light rain and moved on. About an hour and a half later we heard from R, P’s brother, who lives on the east side of town. He was experiencing the same hail – snow – rain mix sequence. Like I said, crazy weather. This cold air mass is suppose to move on to the east, out of our area, some time late to day and we will warm back up to the 50’s or so. Still below normal for this time of year, but at least warmer than this weekend! I read in the newspaper that a track meet at the state university got hailed on before it was over. It reminded me of running cross country when I was in high school back in Wisconsin. One year it snowed during the conference championship races. We were running the course around a golf course in our little 2 oz nylon track shorts and top. We were running around naked for all intents and purposes in that weather. I didn’t really care how I did, I just wanted to finish and get my sweats back on!

We packed and shipped a tool last week at work. Just in time, this is the last week of the quarter coming up. We have a few other items to take care of to wrap up, and then it’s on to the next one. The bar always gets move up each time: more, new, greater accomplishments are expected. It’s the corporate way, isn’t it - insatiable.

Sunshine!!

We are finally experiencing some Spring-like temperatures this weekend. Glorious sunshine Friday, Saturday and today has resulted in a lot of aches, pains and sore muscles. It got into the mid 70’s yesterday for the first time this year. We have had a cooler than normal spring up til now, 10 to 15 degrees below normal! The weatherman says that it’s returning this evening again, with cool, rain and snow levels down to 2000 feet. More snow in the hills again. At least the lawns got mowed and some bushes got trimmed. It’s a start. The big maple tree in the back yard should break out it’s leaves any day now. I thought it would be last week so it’s got to be this week for sure. The tree out side my window at work has finally unfurled it’s leaves. I saw that a robin has built a nest two trees down from “my” tree and is sitting on some eggs. We can see it now because the leaves are so small; it may be different once those eggs hatch. It makes for a pleasant diversion from the work day routine. We need it these days. We are affected by the downturn in the economy, just like nearly everyone else. Tuesday we got an email from the company president announcing two weeklong shut downs for two divisions of the company, including the one we report to. We will be off the week after Memorial Day and again the week before the Fourth of July. Luckily I have enough vacation saved that I can use to cover the days off. So, we know when vacation is this year, now we have to figure out what we will be doing. A lot more house cleaning is penciled in for now. We have started on a campaign to go through everything we’ve accumulated and held on to over the past 20 plus years we’ve been in this house. It’s amazing, all the stuff we couldn’t manage to part with over the years. We look at it now and ask ourselves “What was so special about THIS?” It’s causing a lot of memories, laughter and head shaking. I guess its one of the draw backs of having a large house: you just have more space to put things.

And for those of you who are really into this sort of thing, here is a link to the Molecule of the Day web site, thanks to Growabrain.typepad.com

This was the week that R got the tube removed from his ureter. He went in on Thursday for the procedure. He said they started out with a sheet with a hole in it. As you can imagine his business end went through the hole. They shot some gel up his urethra to numb it. Next they used a syringe to fill up his bladder. They wanted it expanded so they would have room to work. They had a camera and light to see what was going on and a grabber to do the deed. When they got to the bladder and looked around they didn’t see the end of the tube sticking out of the ureter. I’m a little fuzzy on how they found it. R said that it was about then that he started looking at the monitor and associating the words the doctor and assistant were saying to the movements on the screen and the occasional twinge he felt. They did find it and were able to get a good grip on it. Out it came. It took a couple of minutes all told but seemed much longer, R said. I can imagine. The tube was plastic, over a foot long with curly ends. He said something about being preoccupied when I asked if he got a picture of it. Rats! Now that’s something you don’t see everyday. You’ll have to just use your imagination. R said that he had some “air in the line” afterwards; it took a while for the system to become fully primed. R has a final follow up appointment in a couple of weeks to double check the kidney function, make sure it’s as expected.

We had some very nice days this week, but it’s grey, cool and raining off and on this weekend. I caught a break this morning: it didn’t rain while I was out walking with the dogs. It was a nice walk. The blossoms on the trees create clouds of fragrant air to walk through. Of course, the dogs were more interested in other smells.

Spring???

This has been Spring Break Week but it certainly wasn't what everyone expected. We've had a lot of precipitation which is normal. What isn't normal is the snow! Somehow a couple of nice cold low pressure systems moved into the area dropping a lot of moisture, snow above 500 feet, rain mixed with snow below that. There are a number of places between here and the coast, a favorite Spring Break getaway, that have had the roads shut down due to snow and ice. A lot of people staying a little longer than planned rather than risk an accident. The good part of it all is that it doesn't stay icy for long and the roads clear up in the afternoon. There is a window of opportunity for the travelers. This is a weather record for us: the latest measureable snowfall (at the airport) for this area. The previous record for the latest snow was March 8th some 57 years ago. It's interesting in a novel sort of way, but I wouldn't want it to be a regular occurrance, if you know what I mean.

It has been quiet at work, many people taking time off to supervise their children during the break. It's nice to have the more relaxed atmosphere for a while, a chance to concentrate for longer stretches on tasks you might not normally get to. I have windows right out side my cube so I have seen the snow these past several days. Thursday we even had dark cloud pass over and drop hail a little smaller than pea size for about five minutes or so. We could see it collecting on the lawn and roadway but it was gone ten minutes after the cloud moved on. The air may be quite cold but the ground is well above freezing. There is no chance that any snow or ice that makes it to our level (263 feet above sea level) is going to stick around for long.

So, the cold front is suppose to move on to the east early next week. It will warm up to the 50's but continue to rain for as long as the weathermen care to forecast. Last Saturday was a beautiful day, sunshiny and warm (50's). I had to mow the lawn as parts of it were starting to get out of hand. The cold seems to have pushed it back to the dormant stage, it hasn't growm much since then, thank goodness. Plenty of other things to do besides that.

Spring Cleaning!

It’s been a quiet week in the neighborhood. I didn’t have any reason or excuse to take any part of Friday off and so worked a full five days this week. It was the first time in a long time. I fully expected to be contacted by the Red Cross for a platelet donation but then I guess they didn’t because it was Good Friday. It was also the first full day of spring and J S Bach’s birthday (323rd). I hope you celebrated all appropriately. There’s nothing like some Brandenburg Concerto in the morning to rev up your day.

The Spring Chinook Salmon season starts Monday on the Columbia River, for TWO weeks. That gives you some indication on how bad the runs are. The poor conditions for the past several years in a row are having a big impact on the number of fish returning this year, which in turn will affect the runs several years from now. It’s a viscous circle. Next week is Spring Break around here, so there are already a number of people taking off work. I expect that more than a few of them will find time to go down to the river and “wet a line”. R is still recovering from his surgery and is not suppose to lift more than 10 lbs which means he can’t take his boat out. He still has a couple of weeks before the tube comes out. Just thinking about that gives me the willies.

We are planning to do some(more) spring cleaning this weekend. There is a garage sale in our near future. The question is becoming where to stage the stuff for the garage sale while we clean up everything else. We recently received a large recycle bin from the garbage company. It couldn’t have come at a better time. We’ve been filling it with the years of stuff saved in the filing cabinet: manuals and paper work for toasters and lawn mowers and VHS players and old computers and what all that broke or was donated to some good cause years ago. We’ve been running the paper shredder a lot too. The ultimate purpose of all this is to clean out so we can downsize. This house is a lot of room for the two of us. There is just too much room for the dogs to mess up, that we have to constantly clean up. The cleaning up won’t change, it just would be nice if it was contained to a smaller area. I know, I know… good luck with that!

Spring Cleaning?

I am happy to report that R is recovering nicely from his kidney stonectomy, or whatever the official name for the procedure is. He’s still not supposed to lift more than 10 lbs, but he’s not letting that stop him from getting back into the swing of things. After all, he is a homeowner and it is the time of year for winter clean up/spring cleaning. We have a bit of that to do ourselves. P is planning to have a garage sale in several weeks. We have over 20 years of accumulation stored in the nooks and crannies of this house. There are lots of treasures for other people. We just have to figure out how much all these things are worth, sentimental more so than dollar-wise. When you have a garage sale you have to get it into your head that all the stuff is already gone, that you don’t want to have to put it back in storage again. You’ve already said your goodbyes to it all, it’s time for it to go…

The experts have closed the commercial salmon season from Washington all the way to California. A combination of circumstances over the past several years has reduced the salmon runs to very low numbers. The cost of salmon it going to go sky high. I’m not sure exactly what the effect will be on the sport fishing season. I’m sure R has his finger on that pulse, and he can’t be happy about it. I think they’ve stopped salmon fishing in the Willamette and severely restricted catching native salmon in the lower Columbia. I’m not sure what the limits are for hatchery salmon. I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

It’s time to get on with the events of the day. Hopefully I can get the dog’s walk in before the rains start today. It has been grey and raining off and on all week. With luck this little dry spell will hold until we get done. There’s nothing like the smell of wet dog all day long.

As Well As Can Be Expected

R’s surgery went well yesterday. He felt fine early last night when he got to his room. We’ll see how he feels this morning when the pain medication wears off. He could go home as soon as Sunday if all goes well.

The doctor said his kidney looked like a stone quarry. Apparently R’s Crones Disease predisposes him to kidney stones. It’s been 20 years since he’s had problems with kidney stones but this may be the reason for his recent back pains. They made a larger hole than his nephrostomy, higher up his back with a sheath to protect it from the tools, camera, light and stones. Apparently a lot of bacteria get released when you break up kidney stones. “Blast scoop and scrape” is how the doctor described it. They got them all, including the big one blocking his ureter. A tube was inserted down the ureter, from kidney to bladder, to keep it open while it recovers from the trauma of breaking up and removing the stone. R will experience some pain and “discomfort” from the tube according to the doctors. It will have to come out in a couple of weeks and when it does, it won't be the same way it went in. They will be pulling it down, out through the bladder and subsequent male plumbing. R is NOT looking forward to that! At least they removed the nephrostomy. No more tubes sticking out of his back. R is looking forward to having all this done with and things back to normal so he can get back to being retired. And going fishing!

After the doctor talked to us I drove out to R’s house, in rush hour traffic, to feed Gabby. A little later I packed her up with her blankie and drove across town back home. She was real happy to see Shakespeare and Bailey when I unloaded her. Shakespeare was beside himself: someone to play with! It took a couple hours for them to calm down enough to even think about going to bed. We put her crate next to Shakespeare’s cage. Normally she sleeps on the bed with R, not an option with us.

Bailey got up before 5 this morning and then came into to see what Shakespeare and Gabby were up doing and wake everyone up. I think Bailey saw the memo on Daylight Savings Time but misread the date as today instead of tomorrow. At any rate, we’ve been up for hours. We aren’t doing anything except supervising the dogs today, making sure they don’t tear the place down with their rough-housing. We will take the dogs for a walk in the park when the forecasted sunshine chases the clouds and rain away this afternoon. I don't think Gabby gets a lot of walks, just a lot of running around in the backyard. She can follow the others. It won't take long to get the hang of it, I'm sure.

Wish us luck!

Way To Go Royals!

Last night Eric's cousin, Vance (Jody's sister's boy), a sophmore at Portland Christian High School, helped his team, the Royals, win the Oregon 2A State Basketball Championship!! (2A is schools with an average daily attendance of 116 to 235) The game was played in Pendleton Oregon. We listened to the radio broadcast on the computer. They beat Western Mennonite in convincing fashion: 70 to 38. The Royals led after the 1st quarter 22 to 2 and never looked back. It helped that they shot amost 70%, a very high percentage for a basketball game. Congratulations to Vance and the Royals!

The month of March is suppose to come in like a lion, go out like a lamb. Well yesterday we had some nice rain storms pass through the area, drenched us good. The weatherman said we might get some lightening and maybe even some hail. If so, it wasn't in our area. It actually cleared off in the afternoon and turned out to be a nice day. R and Gabby came over for a visit in the afternoon. Gabby and Shakespeare chased eachother to whole visit with short breaks for food, treats and naps. Bailey got in the action for a while but stayd on the sidelines and watched for the most part. It's hard to keep up with the energy of 11 month old dogs.

P changed the dressing on R's nephrostomy for the last time, his surgery is this Friday. He won't know exactly what time his surgery will be, morning or afternoon, until the day before. If it's in the afternoon we'll pick him up, take him to the hospital and wait for the results. If it's scheduled for the morning, P will go out the night before to take him first thing. I will take care of the morning routine around here and meet her at the hospital. The surgery is suppose to take up to four hours. They will go in throught the nephrostomy hole in his back, break up the stone, pull out the pieces and see what else needs to be done. Hopefully it will clear the ureter and his kidney will be able to function properly again. Once R is out of surgery and recovering, we will go back to his house to pick up Gabby. She's staying with us until R gets released from the hospital, up to four days depending on how quickly he recovers. It's going to be general mayhem around here until then! Wish us luck, all of us...

Presidents Day, 2008

It's the extra day off this weekend, President's Day. We are having nice weather for the long weekend, very spring-like with temperatures hitting the low 60's. I saw a couple of purple and yellow crocuses peeking up through the ground. The first signs of spring! We're ready. That and the birds singing first thing in the morning. We're waiting for the birds to start fixing up the nests in our eaves pretty soon and start the mating ritual once again.

Tab and Tyf stopped over Saturday to say hello, pick up birth certificates so they can get passports for trip to Mexico a little later in the year. And to show off their smiles:

Please note that Tyfini no longer has braces! Unfortunately, that didn't happen until after senior pictures for her high school year book were taken. I guess those will show what she looked like for most of high school.

Later on Saturday, R and Gabby came for a visit too. (A busy weekend...) R goes to the doctor tomorrow for a final pre op visit. Take care of the final details for his surgery in three weeks. He had P change the dressing on his nephrostomy. I got a picture of his external plumbing this time:

Looks a little sore from taking the old bandage off
Now, hold still, this won't hurt a bit....

All set, ready for another week or so.

Other than having to be careful, no sudden movements or twists of the torso, no lifting anything of consequence, he is just fine. No fishing for a while either. We've had a lot of rain and the rivers have been a bit swollen, but this weekend, with the nice weather (no rain and a bit of sunshine) would have been perfect to take the boat out just to make sure it still works. My boss, Eric, is an avid fisherman also, was thinking of taking his boat out and seeing if the sturgeon were hungry. I'm sure I'll get a full report if he did.

Well, the sun is shining, the fog is starting to burn off. Time to start planning the day. I think a bit of yard work is in order: trimming some bushes, raking out the flower beds, just generally getting ready for warmer weather. Naturally, the forecast calls for rain the rest of the week.

While the unfortunate people in the Midwest are experiencing a typical mid-winter storm with lots of snow and sub-freezing temperatures made worse with biting winds I just wanted to let you know that I'm hearing the birds singing when I go out for my paper in the morning now. That started along with the nice weather we had last weekend: no rain, a little blue sky and temperatures that got all the way up to 50. The forecast calls for a little rain today and then cloudy but for the most part dry through the long Presidents Day weekend. I'm not so sure the groundhog was right when saw his shadow earlier this month. It's amazing what a couple of dry days can do for your disposition.

We visited R over the weekend to help with some technical problems he was having with his gadgets and change the dressing on his nephrostomy. He has a blockage keeping one of his kidneys from draining to his bladder. It relieves the pressure on the one kidney until his surgery early next month to remove the large stone blocking his ureter. He's waiting for the "Pro from Dover" to do the cutting. In the mean time he has a tube about the size of a straw sticking out of his back connecting to a little larger tube going down his leg. It's secured with some nifty surgeons knots on the tube and stitches to the skin around the hole in his back. R has adjusted to it pretty well. He's not in pain because of it, but he has to be careful and he's not suppose to lift anything of consequence. His other kidney is operating normally. He went in for some pre-op work last week. When asked for a urine sample he asked which kidney they wanted it from? That stopped them for a minute. They had to ask to find out - the "normal" one.

Now, if I could just figure out my taxes.

Crazy Weather

Yesterday we were suppose to get a bunch of snow overnight. It was foggy here when we got up but eventually that burned off and we had a nice, partly sunny day. Not so for the rest of the area to the east, north and south of us. R, who lives on the other side of town to the east reported several inches of snow for the dog to frolic in first thing in the morning. The news shows on tv reported lots of snow and ice and accidents on the roads all around the area, except for the west side. Weird.


The weather report said rain/snow mix over night for the area. And this is whats out there waiting for me this morning:

Not much compared to what the rest of the country has experienced but for around here pretty exicting. Not something we get every year, so it is enough to cause major headaches for the adults and fun for the kids.

The forecast calls for temps in the 40's this afternoon, so we will undoubtably lose all of this but, the forecast also calls for more rain and below freezing temps over night so we may see somemore tomorrow!

Cold!

The Northwest getting part of the artic blast thats covering the rest of the country. We're experiencing an easterly wind yesterday and today. That means the wind is coming down from Canada rather than the warmer, western wind off the ocean we normally get. It's suppose to continue tomorrow but some it's suppose to change Wednesday. Even the weatherman isn't quite sure exactly whats going to happen: snow, freezing rain, or what but they're sure something will.

It was nice and clear today, and cold. This is the fountain in our back yard.

Despite the cold, it didn't freeze all the way through because the water was still flowing after work this afternoon.

We'll see if it's still going in the morning...

Go Packers!

Lets hear it for the Packers!
It looked like they were having fun, playing in the snow.
Now, are they going to beat New York or Dallas for a chance to play New England in the Superbowl?

We are heading into a stretch of days were it isn't suppose to rain every day. Maybe the back yard will dry out some. You can clearly see the path the dogs take across the family room and up the stairs when they come in from outside. It wasn't too big of a problem with just Bailey, he doesn't like to get his feet dirty. Not so with Shakespeare. It doesn't matter what its like, grass, dirt, mud, puddles, he goes running straight through it. We have very clear evidence of how high he can put his paws.

Washing walls is becomming a regular task now, just like vacuuming.

Who Me?

I go to the dentist Wednesday to get one of my back teeth prepared for a crown. First major dental work in a long long time, maybe twenty years or so. I've been lucky I guess. The dentist always attributes it to the hard water and floride when I was growing up in the Mid-West. Whatever it is, I'm glad. I just hope it will be another twenty years to the next time.