My usually trusty MacBook crashed last night.

Nothing that a reboot from the OS disc, but mine is another state, so it will be hit and miss for a while.

Such is life in the digital world. Oh well.

jay and kay

I took Emily to school then we left for Olympia.

It was a two hour drive. A bit of traffic, but not bad.

It was about noon when we got there. They were so glad to see us. Miriam and Kay hugged. It had been half a year since they had seen each other.

Kay is still a beautiful red head. She looks younger than she actually is. Jay is 76 and right now he looks every day of it.

When we got there Jay was sitting in on his end of the couch with a shoe box sized tray of pills. Since his by pass surgery he has been on a lot of them. He was washing them down with orange juice. He smiled as we came in.

Jay is about 6' maybe a bit taller. He is a barrel chested big man, who weighed in at about 280, but while he was in the hospital he lost a hundred pounds and he looks a bit gaunt.

He is not as healthy as he should be. He has smoked most of his life, in fact when I saw him last spring he was still smoking. Now he is off. But he does not look good, really.

The day before we visited he took his 3 wheel motorcycle (a real work or art, powered by a 2 liter Dodge engine!), on a parade. The trike is built to look very good and to be eye catching, but it is not too protected from the weather and Jay got pretty cold.

Kay has memory issues. She won't admit it and won't let any one else admit it for her (Miriam is about the same). Jay and I talked in hushed tones. She is a decade younger than Jay and she is worried about what might happen to her if something happened to Jay.

It is a legitimate worry, unfortunately.

I relayed a message from a daughter: “Kay is family. If she needs help we will do all we can.”

He was reassured by the message.

Seeing them was good and sad both.

And I worry a bit.

I worry about all of us a little bit.

old and older yet

stuff

How to you put more gear a tiny trailer?

The question was asked on the teardrop forum. The owner had a small car and a beautiful small teardrop but he had it all filled with gear.

Suggestions were made to put a rack on top of the trailer. Others suggested a fiberglass pod, but one answer was THE answer: “Take less stuff.’

Three wonderful words. Easy to say to some one else.

Horrific to put into real practice.

Lia/Linda just moved from a house she had lived in for several years. She had a big yard sale, she sold stuff on Craig’s list, she gave away, and she threw away.

Her example encourages me.

We moved into our house 34 years ago. We took a few years off for an adventure in Texas and Washington State), but we have lived in that nutty little house a LONG time.

Now lets talk about “take less stuff.”

Yea, let’s talk. Lol.

OK, I cheated.
I did take the picture, but it was at a science museum and the critters were well lighted and VERY still.

more changes

A few days ago I sent an email to Dale. We will be in your town.

So today we touched base, and then spent time together.


Dale had been to a friend’s wake a few days earlier. The friend had not hit the 60 year mark and suddenly he was gone. Dale went out of his way to make sure we could spend time together.

You never know, he said.

Tomorrow we are driving 2 hours north to Olympia Washington. Miriam’s sister and brother in law live there. Kay is showing every sign of Alzheimer’s. But the big thing since we saw them in the spring is that Jay has had serious by-pass surgery and along the way his weight dropped a hundred pounds.

They were coming down here today, but he was not feeling well. He does not have the strength he used to have he said hand he just was not able to make the trip.


Suddenly it seemed important to me that we made the trip to see them. Jay is a life long smoker and that is not good. He was a big strong powerful man. Now he weighs what I do. “You won’t even recognize me,” he said.

So tomorrow we will take Emily to school then head north. We can’t stay too late, but it is essential to me that we make the trip.

Jay was glad when I told him of our decision.

“Kay will be so glad to see her sister.”

hmmm

hill top houses

A few years ago worked on a house on a hill.

South of our valley are what we call the desert hills. There are some good vistas out there and views and MacMansions are drawn together.

So this one house was sitting on top of the hill and it had a commanding view, though most of the view was a good ways off.

I was there on an early fall day. It was cool and the lady was not in a good mood. “The wind always blows around here,” she opined.

That is why the old timers who settled in these areas put their houses down lower, much lower, survival and a degree of comfort (this was before they invented insulation, weather stripping and caulking) and even survival.

We are staying in a rental house in Portland. It is an 80’s house I think, with recent extensive upgrading. It is pretty nice, and quite tight and well insulated, except for those aluminum window frames. The glass is double, however.

But it is cold out. Not quite freezing, but with a nasty wind and high humidity, so it feels cold. And as I sit here I remember the lady complaining about the wind in Idaho.

This house is built on a pretty severe incline and today it faces right into the wind. As portland houses go it is well built, but in another area it would be considered way under insulated.

So I sit here looking out at the wind, being a tiny big nostalgic for my little burrow house with the wood stove.

The fence and the "carpenter"

ahh Em!

And we keep moving.

From San Francisco to Klamath Falls Oregon and then to Portland.

Now we are with Emily (though she is in school at the moment) while Lia takes a well deserved break.

Klamath Falls temp was 19 when we woke up Thursday evening. Portland is having a cool snap and last night it frosted pretty hard, for here.

Meanwhile back home the highs are barely out of freezing, and next week single digit temps are expected. Our house will start to freeze at about 20 below zero, so we are safe for a while yet.

Lia’s house in Portland is a tall house on a very sloping lot. You go up about 8 or 10 feet to the garage level, then up stairs to the main floor over the garage with the bedrooms over that. It is a fairly small house (1200 feet) with good natural lighting all over the house.

The house was seriously remodeled recently, but the windows are all aluminum framed, but the glass is double. It has a real wood burning fireplace, and it even has a gas jet to help get the wood fire going.

And once again, Lia is away. It is a new kitchen a new house and I am fixing food! There is good food all over the place, but like our kitchen, little of it is “ready to eat.” That is good, btw.

We are going to the book store in a bit. Powells claims to be the biggest independent book store. The main store takes a full block of space. We will go to a branch store, not as big, but PLENTY big.

Tonight we go to a fashion show where two of Lia’s dresses are to be shown. Emily and I will be the “artists reps.”

It would be hard to find more devoted pair of reps!

Griff, grandpa and Josh.
Once upon a time I was the tallest in the family!

more travel

Today we continue on our journey.

We have been here for a week, which is a fairly long time for 6 people to be in a very small house.

With Dea’s help I rebuilt a fence, hung a screen door and made a chain link gate. It was a good bit of work, but now it is time to move on.

Originally the trip was down in two days, stay a week and back in two days, but things have changed. Tomorrow we will head north into Oregon and stay with friends from the early 70’s. Then on to Portland.

Our youngest daughter (Lia) is to be out of town for a few days and we will “hang” with Emily, which is not punishment by any means.

Then a few days with each of the other daughters and their “above average” children!

This is winter and there is no real reason for us to stay home, but this is the first time we have ever made a round robin trip and visited every one.

It is very good.

Our trip today will be up the center of northern California on I5. The olive and nut orchards go on and on. Mt. Shasta is breath taking. It should be sunny the whole way!

the railroad used to go through here

fences

Fences and edges.

When Dea’s house was built, way back in the pre WWII days, chain link fencing was the new thing.

It was new then and had a substantial look to it, but through the years we have not come to think kindly of chain link as beautiful. Solid structure, but not quite beautiful.

Before the trip Dea decided to upgrade the fence. So this week we tore out the old link fencing, wire, fasteners and such. The posts were solid, and while bent a bit here and there, they are were good for another fence.

The new fencing is wood, with a “picket” design. But, there are two wild eyed artists at work here, so it came out not quite “regular.”

Some have scolded daughters for “taking advantage” of dad for putting me to work when i come to visit.

My life did not involve a lot of the kind of wealth that goes into banks that I can pass on to my daughters, but it does involve a few skills I am glad to share with my family. So, you won't hear me complain.

Fences keep things in and things out. This one changed the entire mood in the smallish yard.


I am pleased.