Thanks to Dea and photoshop this is closer to what it looked like.
Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
13 years ago
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
passing it on
A while back my youngest daughter, Lia, decided to tile her front porch.
She went to the tile store and bought the tile and mastic. Then she went to the rental store and rented a tile saw.
The guy at the rental store asked her if she was sure knew what she was doing. She assured him she would do fine. Her dad was a retired tile contractor, after all.
When a problem popped up, she wold stop and ask herself: “what would dad do?”
It came out good of course.
Amazing what she learned by hanging around dad.
Miriam and I were professional photographers when the girls were little. Dea, daughter 3 recently needed to do some food photographs for an account she had. She called for a little advice, and then produced wonderful pictures. I was almost stunned at her understanding of light.
Later she did some architectural photography, with the same results. She said it was amazing how much about photography she remembered from just being around us those years. She was about 10 when we got out of the business.
So a month or so ago a grandson called. He wanted some advice on photographing food. He was entering a competition and needed some coaching. His photographs were pretty good, really.
Can’t say he learned anything from hanging around watching me, we quit professional photographs 20 years before he was born. HIs photographs were very decent.
I am proud of them all.
Sometimes it is amazing what we pass on to our kids. It is also amazing what a positive attitude does!
She went to the tile store and bought the tile and mastic. Then she went to the rental store and rented a tile saw.
The guy at the rental store asked her if she was sure knew what she was doing. She assured him she would do fine. Her dad was a retired tile contractor, after all.
When a problem popped up, she wold stop and ask herself: “what would dad do?”
It came out good of course.
Amazing what she learned by hanging around dad.
Miriam and I were professional photographers when the girls were little. Dea, daughter 3 recently needed to do some food photographs for an account she had. She called for a little advice, and then produced wonderful pictures. I was almost stunned at her understanding of light.
Later she did some architectural photography, with the same results. She said it was amazing how much about photography she remembered from just being around us those years. She was about 10 when we got out of the business.
So a month or so ago a grandson called. He wanted some advice on photographing food. He was entering a competition and needed some coaching. His photographs were pretty good, really.
Can’t say he learned anything from hanging around watching me, we quit professional photographs 20 years before he was born. HIs photographs were very decent.
I am proud of them all.
Sometimes it is amazing what we pass on to our kids. It is also amazing what a positive attitude does!
Friday, September 12, 2008
canning and freezing
My family always were food preservers.
Mom canned, both grandmas did too. When our daughters were home we canned a lot of anything we could find. It was good.
Then we went to Texas to go graduate school, and there was not time, and not much affordable fruit, so we ate from the grocery store.
When we came back to Idaho the last time our orchard was starting to produce. We did not and do not get a crop each year, so when we have a crop we put it away as much as possible.
This was an interesting year. Some of our trees were loaded. I canned 42 pints of apricots (I remember when we often canned in 2 quart jars!) and froze 25 quarts of peaches. The other peach tree will ripen next week and much of that will go in the freezer as well.
Apricots are on in mid summer when it is hot, for the last few years I have set up a table in our back yard, put my trusty camping stove on it and canned outside. I even did most of the prep work outside.
Next month it will be grape juice.
A couple of weeks ago we went to CostCo with friends (they are members, we are not) and I got a flat of strawberries. We ate from it for a while, but there was a lot of good things to eat tight then.
So I checked on line for recipe for frozen strawberry jam. I got 8 half pints of very fine jam. It was easy and fun.
Miriam could not remember her doing frozen jam and she was sure it was the dumbest things she had ever seen.
But on my fresh bread, even she can’t resist that jam!
Mom canned, both grandmas did too. When our daughters were home we canned a lot of anything we could find. It was good.
Then we went to Texas to go graduate school, and there was not time, and not much affordable fruit, so we ate from the grocery store.
When we came back to Idaho the last time our orchard was starting to produce. We did not and do not get a crop each year, so when we have a crop we put it away as much as possible.
This was an interesting year. Some of our trees were loaded. I canned 42 pints of apricots (I remember when we often canned in 2 quart jars!) and froze 25 quarts of peaches. The other peach tree will ripen next week and much of that will go in the freezer as well.
Apricots are on in mid summer when it is hot, for the last few years I have set up a table in our back yard, put my trusty camping stove on it and canned outside. I even did most of the prep work outside.
Next month it will be grape juice.
A couple of weeks ago we went to CostCo with friends (they are members, we are not) and I got a flat of strawberries. We ate from it for a while, but there was a lot of good things to eat tight then.
So I checked on line for recipe for frozen strawberry jam. I got 8 half pints of very fine jam. It was easy and fun.
Miriam could not remember her doing frozen jam and she was sure it was the dumbest things she had ever seen.
But on my fresh bread, even she can’t resist that jam!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
my vw pickup
The back window was made from the tailgate of a VW Squareback. It was welded in place. The flat bed was all wood, and I had the back seat area filled with foam to cut engine noise.
It was a lot of fun to build and drive.
Unfortunately, like all air cooled VW's engines did not last very long.
It was a lot of fun to build and drive.
Unfortunately, like all air cooled VW's engines did not last very long.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
more on pickups
A few more words about pickups.
I spent much of my life in the building trades. I have worked out of everything imaginable. Old Ford and Chevy Panels, a sedan delivery or two, a hand full of import pickups, and as nutty as it sounds my VW bug that I cut down and made into a pickup.
That was quite a sight. I would put the carpet pad on the bed the the cuts of carpet on top of that and tie it all down. That model had a swing axle and those back wheels would be at a wild angle and the engine pan was about an inch above the ground.
I did not travel far for work in those days and it worked quite well.
As much as I would drive, gas price was always a factor. I had a new Chevy Luv that would only get 18 mpg and not with any power either. Same for my Ford Courier and my Dodge D50.
Then I saw a full size chevy pickup with a V6 and a 5 speed that the sticker said would get 23 mpg and I as hooked.
That was a truly wonderful rig. Basic as can be, no AC, but a sliding back window which helped a lot on hot days.
My current Dodge is a pretty basic rig, as pickups go, but it is more luxurious that any rig I ever owned! It has a 19 mpg rating and will do that pretty regularly.
I would have bought a new chevy like my old one, but the current version is listed at 20 mpg and for the difference I got a lot more comfort and capacity.
So it goes.
With the pice of gas now, I have not filled that tank for close to a year! I buy enough to get along each month and drive the Cavalier mostly.
Oh well.
I spent much of my life in the building trades. I have worked out of everything imaginable. Old Ford and Chevy Panels, a sedan delivery or two, a hand full of import pickups, and as nutty as it sounds my VW bug that I cut down and made into a pickup.
That was quite a sight. I would put the carpet pad on the bed the the cuts of carpet on top of that and tie it all down. That model had a swing axle and those back wheels would be at a wild angle and the engine pan was about an inch above the ground.
I did not travel far for work in those days and it worked quite well.
As much as I would drive, gas price was always a factor. I had a new Chevy Luv that would only get 18 mpg and not with any power either. Same for my Ford Courier and my Dodge D50.
Then I saw a full size chevy pickup with a V6 and a 5 speed that the sticker said would get 23 mpg and I as hooked.
That was a truly wonderful rig. Basic as can be, no AC, but a sliding back window which helped a lot on hot days.
My current Dodge is a pretty basic rig, as pickups go, but it is more luxurious that any rig I ever owned! It has a 19 mpg rating and will do that pretty regularly.
I would have bought a new chevy like my old one, but the current version is listed at 20 mpg and for the difference I got a lot more comfort and capacity.
So it goes.
With the pice of gas now, I have not filled that tank for close to a year! I buy enough to get along each month and drive the Cavalier mostly.
Oh well.
pickups
I officially retired a few years ago, actually when I turned 65.
My trusty 1992 Chevy pickup was nearing the end of it’s easy life, with 240,000 miles. I knew large repairs were ahead, so I decided that the best thing to do was to buy a new pickup.
I went shopping. The new version of my trusty Chevy has 20 more horse power, for some vanity reasons I guess, but the killer was that it got 2 or 3 mpg less that my old one.
The Ford people just laughed at me. The idea of buying a Chevy (“It’s a piece of junk”) was horrible to them, but they made no offer to help me find a Ford that would fill my needs.
Then we stopped at the Dodge store. Before it was over I was the owner of a new Dodge pickup.
My theory, which you can argue with easily, is to buy as new as possible, and to drive the whole life out of the vehicle. If it fits your needs and if you like it why not. Miriam’s little car (I bought it for her 55th birthday) is 16 years old now and still goes right along.
So the idea was that if we had to be reduced to one vehicle a pickup would be the most versatile rig for us.
One point I did not anticipate. Gas was a buck and a half a gallon when I bought the Dodge. Now it is “down” to $3.75.
My what a difference that makes.
My trusty 1992 Chevy pickup was nearing the end of it’s easy life, with 240,000 miles. I knew large repairs were ahead, so I decided that the best thing to do was to buy a new pickup.
I went shopping. The new version of my trusty Chevy has 20 more horse power, for some vanity reasons I guess, but the killer was that it got 2 or 3 mpg less that my old one.
The Ford people just laughed at me. The idea of buying a Chevy (“It’s a piece of junk”) was horrible to them, but they made no offer to help me find a Ford that would fill my needs.
Then we stopped at the Dodge store. Before it was over I was the owner of a new Dodge pickup.
My theory, which you can argue with easily, is to buy as new as possible, and to drive the whole life out of the vehicle. If it fits your needs and if you like it why not. Miriam’s little car (I bought it for her 55th birthday) is 16 years old now and still goes right along.
So the idea was that if we had to be reduced to one vehicle a pickup would be the most versatile rig for us.
One point I did not anticipate. Gas was a buck and a half a gallon when I bought the Dodge. Now it is “down” to $3.75.
My what a difference that makes.
Monday, September 8, 2008
changes
As we age we seem to live just so we can take medications.
My doctor says I am “amazingly healthy” but I take a couple of medications any way.
This last week I visited our doctor, a wonderful young woman not too long out of medical school (a while back she told me she had her student loans paid down to $200,000 now).
We talked about Miriam’s anti depressant, which we tell her is a blood pressure medicine. There are some rather irritating side affects and I wondered to the doctor if we could change her from that one to the one I am taking which has fewer side affects, at least we hope so.
I tried to explain to Miriam that the new pills were the same as the ones I take and since they are taken twice a day and since I often forget to take the evening pill, I have a surplus, and yes for the next month you will be taking a medicine that has my name on the bottle.
Seems simple enough to the doctor and me. But any kind of change is really hard for Miriam. She asked me about a dozen times what was going on and scolded me for making changes without talking to her (I have talked to her from the beginning).
Just reminds me of how much routine is to the Alzheimer patient, and how much they fear change.
My doctor says I am “amazingly healthy” but I take a couple of medications any way.
This last week I visited our doctor, a wonderful young woman not too long out of medical school (a while back she told me she had her student loans paid down to $200,000 now).
We talked about Miriam’s anti depressant, which we tell her is a blood pressure medicine. There are some rather irritating side affects and I wondered to the doctor if we could change her from that one to the one I am taking which has fewer side affects, at least we hope so.
I tried to explain to Miriam that the new pills were the same as the ones I take and since they are taken twice a day and since I often forget to take the evening pill, I have a surplus, and yes for the next month you will be taking a medicine that has my name on the bottle.
Seems simple enough to the doctor and me. But any kind of change is really hard for Miriam. She asked me about a dozen times what was going on and scolded me for making changes without talking to her (I have talked to her from the beginning).
Just reminds me of how much routine is to the Alzheimer patient, and how much they fear change.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
extra innings
Three score and ten, the Big Book says.
But we might make it to four score it says in Psalm 90.
Once you pass that magic number, I guess it is extra innings.
Then if there is Alzheimer's in the mix all those numbers mean little.
I did a fair job of keeping up with my garden this summer, then it got ahead of me, during the hot days. I apologized to my neighbor who has a perfect landscape. “Dave that just goes to show that you had more important things to do.”
Each day is special during this time.
Our doctor and I decide to try Miriam on a new anti depressant. There might be fewer side affects. But to Miriam it is a vast conspiracy and no amount of explaining gets the point across permanently. We finally came to an agreement.
That, of course, meant that I stretch the truth a bit. I tell her the med is for blood pressure, and my kids agree saying it is dad’s blood pressure medicine that mom takes.
We discovered a year or so ago that if we could give her a mild anti depressant she was a mile easier to get along with, which does help my blood pressure a lot. The joy of extra innings.
We have been on this Alzheimer's plot for 9 years now and she does pretty well. Love those extra innings.
But today is good, my task is to make it wonderful.
But we might make it to four score it says in Psalm 90.
Once you pass that magic number, I guess it is extra innings.
Then if there is Alzheimer's in the mix all those numbers mean little.
I did a fair job of keeping up with my garden this summer, then it got ahead of me, during the hot days. I apologized to my neighbor who has a perfect landscape. “Dave that just goes to show that you had more important things to do.”
Each day is special during this time.
Our doctor and I decide to try Miriam on a new anti depressant. There might be fewer side affects. But to Miriam it is a vast conspiracy and no amount of explaining gets the point across permanently. We finally came to an agreement.
That, of course, meant that I stretch the truth a bit. I tell her the med is for blood pressure, and my kids agree saying it is dad’s blood pressure medicine that mom takes.
We discovered a year or so ago that if we could give her a mild anti depressant she was a mile easier to get along with, which does help my blood pressure a lot. The joy of extra innings.
We have been on this Alzheimer's plot for 9 years now and she does pretty well. Love those extra innings.
But today is good, my task is to make it wonderful.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
dressing miriam
Miriam has always had good taste in clothes.
She would wear them with grace and dignity, but we are in a different era now.
Before we go to church she asks: What do you want me to wear.
Now women’s clothing has always been an interesting subject for me, but I was not terribly good at it, nor needed to be, but now it is different.
So we get out skirts and jackets and look for tops the right color. She has lost a bit of weight (since I started cooking, which is not a good recommendation), and some of the clothes she wore some years ago fit again.
At this age fashion has no meaning, and some of her outfits have too much shoulder pads perhaps, but do you know what, I don’t mind.
Today I found a very nice wine colored suit, and a frilly blouse to go with it. Black lingerie and shoes, with wine colored hose.
She will look nice and I will be glad (as always) to have her on my arm.
I love you Miriam.
She would wear them with grace and dignity, but we are in a different era now.
Before we go to church she asks: What do you want me to wear.
Now women’s clothing has always been an interesting subject for me, but I was not terribly good at it, nor needed to be, but now it is different.
So we get out skirts and jackets and look for tops the right color. She has lost a bit of weight (since I started cooking, which is not a good recommendation), and some of the clothes she wore some years ago fit again.
At this age fashion has no meaning, and some of her outfits have too much shoulder pads perhaps, but do you know what, I don’t mind.
Today I found a very nice wine colored suit, and a frilly blouse to go with it. Black lingerie and shoes, with wine colored hose.
She will look nice and I will be glad (as always) to have her on my arm.
I love you Miriam.
Friday, September 5, 2008
boards
I am a collector.
Not coins or t-bills or barbie dolls, but of boards!
“Dave, I have 5 2 by 4 by 20s that I did not use, could you use them?”
Of course I can, some time, maybe, perhaps.
So I stack lumber. I am ready to build. At least I have the boards!
Tolstoy asked the question: “How much land does a man need?” How much lumber does a retired coot need?
As in Tolstoy’s story, maybe a lot less than you might think.
Not coins or t-bills or barbie dolls, but of boards!
“Dave, I have 5 2 by 4 by 20s that I did not use, could you use them?”
Of course I can, some time, maybe, perhaps.
So I stack lumber. I am ready to build. At least I have the boards!
Tolstoy asked the question: “How much land does a man need?” How much lumber does a retired coot need?
As in Tolstoy’s story, maybe a lot less than you might think.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
finite energy
I have a good friend who is building a large home and airplane complex.
He was about 65 when he began. First he built a 40 by 80 airplane hanger. I forgot to say that the house and hanger are along the side of an Air-Park not far from where I live. They are side by side.
Any way he built this huge hanger pretty much by himself. He is big and strong and it went well, but it took him 3 or 4 years. Then he began the house.
He is a great craftsman and a consummate perfectionist, so everything is done very carefully. The property comes complete with geothermal hot water to for heat, but not cold water for drinking. If you want cool water to grout with you fill buckets and let them cool to room temperature.
He has back up systems for everything, and sometimes back up for the backup system.
But there is a downside.
He is about 75 now. His legendary strength is not so strong any more. Fourteen hour days have reduced to 5 or 6 hour days. He and his wife (who is a great helper) plod along getting prodigious amounts of work done.
But this is a big house with a LOT of time eating details.
A while back while visiting with them after church, I found out that he had put down about a thousand feet of ceramic tile in the entry, kitchen and hall areas. Did a decent job of it too. Wife said she was grouting the tile, but it would probably take her all summer to get it done. I asked what she was using for tools and she said she was using a 1” putty knife.
So I offered to come out and “show her” how to grout tile, a LOT faster. So Miriam and I spent a short day and did ⅔ of the grouting. We went back and finished later.
Now she has the summer for other things.
Miriam asked him if sometimes he wished he had never started such a big project. He nodded his head.
So I think about all of this. They still have at least 2 more years to go on the house. The kicker is that when it is finished it will be sold and they will go live closer to a daughter. He does not fly any more and his airplane is for sale.
An old friend once said to me (I was in my early 60’s at the time) to get my “heavy lifting” done by the time I was 70, it is harder after that.
Hmm. We only have so much strength and as we age that strength is finite, sadly reduced by age. I wonder, often, what I should be putting my time and effort onto now?
And as I think about it I go back to my art studio to think it over.
Or I take a nap.
He was about 65 when he began. First he built a 40 by 80 airplane hanger. I forgot to say that the house and hanger are along the side of an Air-Park not far from where I live. They are side by side.
Any way he built this huge hanger pretty much by himself. He is big and strong and it went well, but it took him 3 or 4 years. Then he began the house.
He is a great craftsman and a consummate perfectionist, so everything is done very carefully. The property comes complete with geothermal hot water to for heat, but not cold water for drinking. If you want cool water to grout with you fill buckets and let them cool to room temperature.
He has back up systems for everything, and sometimes back up for the backup system.
But there is a downside.
He is about 75 now. His legendary strength is not so strong any more. Fourteen hour days have reduced to 5 or 6 hour days. He and his wife (who is a great helper) plod along getting prodigious amounts of work done.
But this is a big house with a LOT of time eating details.
A while back while visiting with them after church, I found out that he had put down about a thousand feet of ceramic tile in the entry, kitchen and hall areas. Did a decent job of it too. Wife said she was grouting the tile, but it would probably take her all summer to get it done. I asked what she was using for tools and she said she was using a 1” putty knife.
So I offered to come out and “show her” how to grout tile, a LOT faster. So Miriam and I spent a short day and did ⅔ of the grouting. We went back and finished later.
Now she has the summer for other things.
Miriam asked him if sometimes he wished he had never started such a big project. He nodded his head.
So I think about all of this. They still have at least 2 more years to go on the house. The kicker is that when it is finished it will be sold and they will go live closer to a daughter. He does not fly any more and his airplane is for sale.
An old friend once said to me (I was in my early 60’s at the time) to get my “heavy lifting” done by the time I was 70, it is harder after that.
Hmm. We only have so much strength and as we age that strength is finite, sadly reduced by age. I wonder, often, what I should be putting my time and effort onto now?
And as I think about it I go back to my art studio to think it over.
Or I take a nap.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
my new ipod
For fathers day, one of my wonderful daughters gave me a gift certificate to an electronics store. Now, my daughters are generous and wonderful, but hardly wealthy, so the gift did not have a lot of zeroes.
So I began thinking about what I might get. My ancient TV will soon be obsolete, but maybe that is alright! And there was not enough to buy a new plasma screen, so I kept thinking.
Then it dawned and I got a green iPod, the little inexpensive one.
Wow what a wonder it has been.
Since it does not have a screen, I load it each day with what I want to listen to, and change if as often as I wish.
But the biggest thing has been that I have been able to download books from the net and spend my time listening to books. There is no shortage of books, but most have a charge, some small and some high on recent releases.
LibriVox.org has been a wonderful source of recorded books that are in the public domain, which means they include a lot of the old masterpieces.
I have listened to half a dozen books so far. Some old favorites, and some that I should have read but did not. Right now I am mostly through with Melville’s Typee and when I am finished I will go for his Moby Dick, a book I have not touched since early college.
And maybe I will listen to Mozart opera for a few days, or Iris Dement!
So I began thinking about what I might get. My ancient TV will soon be obsolete, but maybe that is alright! And there was not enough to buy a new plasma screen, so I kept thinking.
Then it dawned and I got a green iPod, the little inexpensive one.
Wow what a wonder it has been.
Since it does not have a screen, I load it each day with what I want to listen to, and change if as often as I wish.
But the biggest thing has been that I have been able to download books from the net and spend my time listening to books. There is no shortage of books, but most have a charge, some small and some high on recent releases.
LibriVox.org has been a wonderful source of recorded books that are in the public domain, which means they include a lot of the old masterpieces.
I have listened to half a dozen books so far. Some old favorites, and some that I should have read but did not. Right now I am mostly through with Melville’s Typee and when I am finished I will go for his Moby Dick, a book I have not touched since early college.
And maybe I will listen to Mozart opera for a few days, or Iris Dement!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
ahh september
Wow that was a fast and busy summer.
Miriam is going very well. She is fun to be with and we enjoy each others company. She has given up on cooking, which is quite amazing in itself, but she continues to be good at clean up, and I mean real good! I take her with me wherever I go, and she is patient with me.
Mostly we stayed home this summer, only went camping once with one more trip scheduled. One grandson came up for a few days and we took him camping. The price of gas and the budget says we stay home much of the time.
I continue to work on the refurbishing of our church. Last year we remodeled the entire front of the sanctuary, with me doing the majority of the work. Since then we have redone the narthex and and wood base in the hall. I still have bulletin boards to make and one more bathroom to tile.
Today I spray lacquer on the base that will go along the wall in the long halls. The light colored wood base replaces rather ugly rubber base that was put in when the church was new in the '60's.
The church was built at a time when glass was a favorite material. There was a total of six windows, each 5 by 8 feet in the front of the church. In the time I was head deacon I replaced 3 of those due to vandalism. At $500 a pop I balked at the last breakage and eventually replaced all of that plate glass with double glass, but where the original window was huge, now each window has 5 smaller pieces of glass, the total cost ⅔ as much as that huge hunk of plate. It looks good, I am assured.
But all of this winding down. I have a specific list of things to finish, and when it is done I am too. This year I gave up the head deacon post, though I kept my bible study group, which I have lead for most of my adult life.
Anyway, the fresh corn was wonderful, the tomatoes delicious and the string beans were marvelous.
But now fall comes.
Thanks for being patient.
Miriam is going very well. She is fun to be with and we enjoy each others company. She has given up on cooking, which is quite amazing in itself, but she continues to be good at clean up, and I mean real good! I take her with me wherever I go, and she is patient with me.
Mostly we stayed home this summer, only went camping once with one more trip scheduled. One grandson came up for a few days and we took him camping. The price of gas and the budget says we stay home much of the time.
I continue to work on the refurbishing of our church. Last year we remodeled the entire front of the sanctuary, with me doing the majority of the work. Since then we have redone the narthex and and wood base in the hall. I still have bulletin boards to make and one more bathroom to tile.
Today I spray lacquer on the base that will go along the wall in the long halls. The light colored wood base replaces rather ugly rubber base that was put in when the church was new in the '60's.
The church was built at a time when glass was a favorite material. There was a total of six windows, each 5 by 8 feet in the front of the church. In the time I was head deacon I replaced 3 of those due to vandalism. At $500 a pop I balked at the last breakage and eventually replaced all of that plate glass with double glass, but where the original window was huge, now each window has 5 smaller pieces of glass, the total cost ⅔ as much as that huge hunk of plate. It looks good, I am assured.
But all of this winding down. I have a specific list of things to finish, and when it is done I am too. This year I gave up the head deacon post, though I kept my bible study group, which I have lead for most of my adult life.
Anyway, the fresh corn was wonderful, the tomatoes delicious and the string beans were marvelous.
But now fall comes.
Thanks for being patient.
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