"Me Guy"

Many, many years ago when I was a couple years old, my family was having a new home built. The previous home was very cold and drafty. I remember nights when after the wood stove fire went out, the teapot would get cold enough to have some ice on it before my dad would get up to set a fire for the next day. That is cold.
Back to the new home. I was especially fond of the carpenter named Guy. I would emulate him by hammering nails into boards given to me. I bet I was cute. When I was building a home for Andy and Jo Marie, their son Aron, was like this. It was amazing to me how well Aron could drive nails into his chopping block. In a short time, the entire block was covered with nail heads.
Mom tells that when I would be at it, hammering like my hero, Guy, I would be saying "Me Guy". I guess we were now moved into the new home when I was entertaining myself with a hammer. My mom came to the basement and found me with her new overshoes. You guessed it. They were nailed repeatedly to a board and me reciting "Me Guy". It must have been so cute that my mom did not discipline me. I do not remember any repercussions, anyway.
I still like to emulate my friend Guy. I no longer say " Me Guy" and I sure do not nail overshoes.

Maggie

We have a dog named Maggie. She is an easy-going beagle. A couple years ago she lost her best friend, sister Molly, to a stomach tumor. Then a year ago, she lost another friend, Bandit, to stomach tumor.
Maggie still has her animal friend Zoie, but a cat is likely not the same as a dog. They clearly like each other, but——?
Along with her friend losses, Maggie has become fully deaf. This clearly distresses her a lot. She cannot find where we are in the house or yard by listening for us. When we are away, she remains awake, peering out at the driveway waiting for our return. If you touch her when she is unaware you are near, she reacts with fright.
Now, I suspect she is struggling with dimetia. She will go to the dog door and start through it. She will repeatedly go in and out looking like she is lost. When I am in the shop, even if I give her a comfy bed to lay in, she will get up and get totally lost. If I am on a ladder or inside my boat, she will go barking from room to room. To me, she cannot remember that I am nearby for her. My heart is breaking fo her obvious insecurity.
So, for now, she is always given a nice comfy bed that allows her to keep an eye on me. Maggie is sweet. Hang in there girl.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

I have a hard-working neighbor, Art Berg. Art lives about a mile East of me on his beautiful farm. We became great friends over our common interest in our own version of antique tractors. I say version because he collects John Deere tractors while I collect Allis Chalmers tractors. In defense of Art’s poor choice to collect John Deere tractors, he has also acquired a couple Allis Chalmers tractors, too. Maybe there is hope for him.
A few weeks ago, Art and his son, Daniel, started building a long piece of rail fencing around the entrance to his farm. Progress stalled when Art’s health reduced his strength and mobility. The diagnosis is bone cancer. While this diagnosis is very serious, Art declares he is going to fight and defeat it. I bet he does.
His family saw Thanksgiving as an opportunity to get together and support them. They traveled from their Western Washington homes to spend the holiday with their parents. They came prepared to to work on the fence.
When Doug D’Avis, Assad Altayer and myself heard that the family was planning to work on the fence, we raised our hand to pitch in. The day went very well. The entire fence is done except some trim work. That will likely be completed today.
This Thanksgiving will go down as one of my favorites. Thanksgiving Day was superb, as I wrote about, yesterday. It is equally memorable because of the warmth of the shared effort. Art, you are loved! We are praying for you!

Post Thanksgiving

How is it possible to describe the Thanksgiving Day Celebration we enjoyed Yesterday. You know me too well. I am going to try.
Stephanie and Jeff hosted us in their home. We arrived to a lively batch of family playing. I got a tour from Jeff showing the hard work of installing their surveillance equipment. Good job, Jeff.
Shortly, Jennifer and family arrived with snacks to hold us over until the main course. These snacks could easily have been a celebration of thankfulness. I especially liked the herb soft cheese with fresh vegetables.
When we were called to the table, we were blessed with a beautiful arrangement. The arranging was done by Lily Balladone, home from college. I am so proud of Lily. She is achieving at an excellent level. Lily is the first grandchild to be enrolled in a full 4-year college program. Keep up the good work. Each person had a lovely name placard with a handwritten joke inside. My joke was; Why did the turkey cross the road twice? To prove he was not chicken!
Jeff gave a wonderful presentation about thankfulness and allowed me the honor to give thanks for the meal. The food was unbelievable. I think there were four salads, plus enough olives to satisfy all the grandkids. A favorite salad for most of us--broccoli. Greg volunteered at the last minute to find sunflower seeds for it.
 The main course lived up to it's billing. The turkey was perfectly cooked. Again there were many choices. My personal favorite was the baked carrots. The carrots were all different colors. That is a first for me. Delicious.
Somewhat across from me was Amaris celebrating her first Thanksgiving. She sure did well feeding herself. Amaris is something special to all of us. We are all very thankful for her.

Let’s Eat

We are all together at Stephanie’s home. Family is scattered around. The smell is terrific. The table is beautiful.

Paradise?

When Paradise is not paradise!
I am unable to comprehend the anguish that must be felt by those that lived in Paradise, California through this year's fire season. How can they get through their day without all the stuff they had gathered around themselves. No favorite coffee cup for the morning cup of coffee while you read the morning paper. Many lost their pets. Your neighbor is not available to listen to you tell how well your child is doing in school. Oh, no way for your child to go to school. My home has its own personality. I leave the TV on while I go about my day, but theirs is GONE! Not only the tv, remote, recliner, reading glasses, but the home itself!
I did the math on how much has burned. Yesterday, they said it was to 151,000 acres. That means it would be 15 miles by 15 miles. Another way to look at it is; an average lot is about 2500 square feet and it would be about 26,000 homes. I realize that it matters none about the math if it was your own family that is impacted.
God Bless those going through this Hell while I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. I am certain to be more thankful this season because of what I see going on in Paradise.

Oh Happy Day

"Oh Happy Day" is something I heard often as a child. Sometimes it was used sarcastically. For example; grandma was making waffles and the batter sticks to the waffle iron. You can just hear grandma say "oh happy day". Emphasis added! Or, mom asks where my younger brother is and I say I do not know. Mom drops her task at hand and races out to search for her child. When she finds him she exclaims "Oh happy day".You can feel the relief in her voice.
Well, which is it? Does it mean a negative exclamation or a positive exclamation? Or, could it also mean a literal, nonexclamatory utterance? I want to establish that today is a truly happy day. There are so many reasons to be happy. I feel I will succeed in my tasks to ready myself to drive to Stephanie's home for Thanksgiving. I will get the eggs off the ceiling. I will get the morning newspaper and relax with a cup of coffee. My feeling of a great outlook is normal for me. I am quite positive about my outlook on life. I am blessed with much. To which, I simply say "Oh Happy Day".

Eggs on the ceiling

About two months ago, I forgot my pot of eggs on the stove while doing other tasks around the house. The stove setting was quite low, but I let a lot of time go by until the water was boiled out and the blackened eggs eggsploded. Get it? Eggsploded! Ha. Ha.
The result was pieces of egg on the ceiling, a pan that was nearly impossible to clean, no boiled eggs, and my ego shattered. Eventually, I managed to clean the pan. My Ego is still shattered. I did promise myself to never leave a pan unattended. Smart!
Well, tonight I did it again. I must admit that it took the third egg eggsploding before I realized what was going on. The same scene was found when I rushed into the kitchen. I am such an idiot! I hate to watch a pot boil for six minutes. It seems one should be able to check back before the disaster. Nope. Not me, anyway.

Thanksgiving 2018

I love to tell Stories. My favorite subject is my family. Our daily lives are filled with much interest and excitement. I look ahead a few days and know we will gather together to share Thanksgiving in Stephanie's home. 

Our family is clearly different than when I was young. We lived in a community where we were near both of my grandparents. If I walked through the woods from our home to either of their homes, it was about one mile. Now, we have to travel halfway across the State to gather together. I am mostly to blame for the distance between us because I refuse to live in a rain-infested climate. My health is much improved when I live in a drier climate.

Admitting the family is different today does not include admitting it is less loving. I love time spent with all of my family. We can do many of the things fun to us in the past. We all enjoy table games. Hand and Foot, anyone? Speaking of table games, Stephanie is amazing at doing many things while whipping us at any of the games we choose. She can be texting instructions to others, making dinner, settling squabbles, loading the dishwasher and more and still be faster at her turn of play than anyone else. 

So, on Thanksgiving, find me happily sharing the thankfulness I feel. We will gather and formally give thanks for all we have. It is abundant. As far as my love to tell stories, I plan to restart writing to this blog.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE