ramblings

I haven’t written for a while, which is a punishable offense.

As an appeasement to the blog gods I’ll throw some salt over my left shoulder the next time I think of it.

We have been busy. Emily graduated from the 8th grade in Portland, and of course it is not possible to graduate without a grandpa and grandma being there. That day was also our 52nd wedding anniversary.

Spring is finally here, not summer mind you, but spring. We have finally had days in the 80’s. The garden is growing, which is good. We are eating out of it, but not like my friend in Georgia. I almost envy her!

I have been working on the entry to our church. Wainscoting, rather complex design. My design of course, so no one to blame. It looks good. We will be working on the church most of this month, then that should be done for a while. I’ll post a few pictures at some point.

On our trip, I decided to drive a constant steady 60 mph, even on the freeway. I knew it would increase gas mileage. Well when it was all figured out, slowing down earned me about $15 to 17 an hour in gas savings. In retirement especially that is workable.

There were a lot of cars doing 60, and lots of big SUV’s and pickups doing 80, a speed that gets the really bad mileage. But at $4 to $4.25 a gallon (that was last week, it is up another 5 of ten this week) gas is a major thing. The shortage of RV’s was partly related to the price of fuel and partially to the late spring.

Emily was the uncrowned star of her graduation. She attends a small Charter school. It was a pretty low key service, but at one point each of the 15 graduates had an opportunity to make a short speech. One girl thought a bit about what to say, a couple more spoke a bit off the cuff, but Emily had a speech all written out. It was funny, well written and she delivered it flawlessly. Then at the end there was a power point program about their recent week long science trip. Emily did the power point and it was very well done.

She told me that the fee for the bus on that trip was 7000. It was a good trip. They were busy every moment traveling around Oregon looking at specific things: fossil beds, volcanos and so on. It was a science trip. The school takes the 7th and 8th graders on such a trip each spring.

We got to Portland Friday a few hours before Emily arrived back from this science trip. I expected her to call me for a ride home, but there was a dull bang on the front door, and when I opened it, there was Emily burdened with bags and books and a sleeping bag. She had banged her head on the door. When I saw her, she broke into tears, she looked so pathetic there for a minute.

She had not had a shower for a week (no one else did either), she was bone tired and hungry for “real” food. After a bit of rest, a shower and some “real” food, she recovered well.

So here we are back in Idaho, I watch the grass grow, and sand boards. Exciting stuff. Miriam is chugging right along, though even my friends see a bit of slippage.

Fathers day, I worked in the garden. Emily had gone from Portland Oregon a day after we left to visit her half brother and sister in Houston, Texas. Portland is a very moderate climate, rarely hot or really cold. But Houston is very hot and humid this time of year. “I hate Texas” was her first comment. It is good for her to visit her sibs though. I got phone calls from all my wonderful daughters as well as Emily and Stefanie. It was a nice warm day besides.

We are finally going camping next weekend. If friends can go along it will be fine, if they don’t it will be fine too. Haven’t decided where to go, that will depend on the weather: cool weather stay at low elevations; warm weather go higher. And with that gas price we may well take tent gear and enjoy that mileage boost!

And, after a friendship that dates back to my mid 20’s my mustache and I parted ways this week. It has been along time since the sun shown on that lip. I don’t recognize myself in the mirror! One daughter said: “Wow, he has lips.” Many comment, some don’t see any difference.

So that is how it has been here in the Gem State. It is a bit boring, but life is more than a bit boring much of the time. I remember a pilot talking about flying. Long periods of boredom interrupted by brief moments of panic.