20-AUG-2006
Sunday, August 20
Mom called me on Saturday night and asked me if I wanted to go out to breakfast the next day. I said I would so we thought we'd try out IHOP. Mom had never had "Funnel Cakes" so she tried those out. Now she knows why I didn't get them too. Nora and I went to IHOP when they had the funnel cake promo a couple years ago--been there, done that.
20-AUG-2006
Sunday, August 20
This is Mom's cat Glory. She cooperated and didn't run away when I tried to take her picture.
I brought Gillie with me and we ended up staying for most of the day. A young couple bought Mrs. Kazala's house four doors down from Mom and they had an open house. I went to it with her and met Gary and Michele and the other new couple (Ryan and Melinda) that live the next door down as well. All nice folks. Also saw some of the "old" neighbors too--Margot and Charlie, Mrs. Bishop, and the gal from across the street, Adrienne. Boy did we all go down memory lane trying to remember all the people that have lived on the street in the last 40 years--who lived in which house, etc. In talking to Adrienne, Mom and I realized that we know her sister-in-law who also works at Intel. Talk about six degrees of separation... We stayed for a few hours and then headed home. Mom made a comment about the effort required to walk up the sidewalk and I told her to be glad she wasn't dragging a loaded canoe up a rocky, potholed trail with tree roots running across it.
We got home and decided to watch a movie. James has a bunch of movies that we probably would never choose ourselves but I chose "American History X" which was a very thought provoking dramatization of racial hatred. Ed Norton did an excellent job as Derek, a neo-Nazi gang leader. Even though it had very graphic language, sex and violence, I would recommend it. When the movie was over, I went home.
21-AUG-2006
Monday, August 21
I got another call from Mom this morning--Do you want to go with Julie and I to pick peaches on Sauvie Island? I was just getting into my blog update but said yes, I would go with. They came and picked me up and we drove across the Fremont Bridge to get to Hwy 30 which is how you get there.
21-AUG-2006
Monday, August 21
We found the peach place on Sauvie Island--first we bought sweet corn, 5/$1, and then went across the street to the orchard where the ripe peaches were. Mom picked 13 peaches and I picked 7 for $4 (they were $1/lb.). I could have sworn mine weighed more. I guess Julie didn't pick any. While I was picking, I got a call from my nephew Grant asking if I was with Grandma. "Yes, but she's across the orchard, what do you need?" "I need a ride to work at 4:30pm." "Well I'll ask her and call you back." This little conversation took place at about 2:15pm. I asked Mom when we were within speaking distance whether she could take Grant to work and she said probably not. I tried to get hold of him but there was no answer. I tried again after a while--If we did get home it would be very close so when I called and Grant finally answered, we told him we wouldn't be home in time--he'd have to walk or get a ride from James.
We wanted to go get something to eat so decided to go to the Helvetia Tavern. I ordered a Jumbo Burger and Mom ordered a regular cheeseburger and fries. She told me not to get any because the orders were large. Not as large as my hamburger! What a whopper (no pun intended). Two patties and an oversized bun. Thank goodness they didn't charge me to grill the onions. It was very good though and I ate all of it plus a few of Mom's fries.
When we dropped Julie off, I asked her just before she went through the gate into her yard, whether she still had blueberries. "Yes," she said. Mom and I wasted no time picking over her three blueberry bushes. I had about 3 quarts and Mom probably had more, and there were still berries on the bushes. So much for peaches!
The clincher for the whole day though was when we got over to Mom's house, Grant was there! I couldn't believe it--because he couldn't get a ride, he didn't go to work. He's only had the job for seven working days and he calls in sick??? UNBELIEVABLE.
23-AUG-2006
Wednesday, August 23
Their numbers were dwindling as I was eating them like popcorn, so I decided I needed to make something with the blueberries I had left. I really would have liked to make some sort of a peach/blueberry combo but I couldn't find any recipes for that kind of thing. So I went through all the blueberry recipes that I had (and I have LOTS!), looking for something that didn't need eggs since I don't have any, and because don't like them and any excess would undoubtedly go to waste. I found a recipe for Blueberry Cobbler that I had all the ingredients for and I made it. I think it turned out pretty good.
24-AUG-2006
Thursday, August 24
This is a picture I took of Gillie on Sunday after she returned from a walk with Grant. Both Gil and Sadie were panting heavily as it was warm that day--especially for Gil with that long coat.
I need to finish my Week 6 blog TODAY! I have 2.5 days to go and I'm determined to finish today.
I took my car over to my neighborhood Les Schwab to have the brakes checked. They are within the 3 year/25,000mi warranty period and I just want to have them checked and also see if they can do anything about the parking brake. It doesn't release the way it should. I leave it and walk home. During the time the car is with them, three different guys call me--all with a different recommendation. When I go to pick it up at 2pm, the guy starts to charge me and I tell him "Ken" called and said they didn't have to do the rear brakes like "Robert" had gotten my OK to do when he called me. Another guy, whose name I can't remember, also called to tell me that the parking brake was something that was electronic and that they couldn't fix it. The guy that was assisting me ran out to the garage to find out the true status and came back and said I was good to go. Of course if they had needed to do the brakes, it would have been a freebie for me as I am still on warranty. Kind of makes you wonder, huh? They did flush them out though and replaced the fluid, I think.
Tomorrow I'll take the car for an oil change.
I have finished Week 6!!! What a relief. I send an email to all my friends and relatives announcing that it is available for viewing and then head off to body sculpting.
25-AUG-2006
Friday, August 25
Well once again, I stayed up waaayyy too late last night. I finally went to bed at 2am, and as a consequence, didn't get up until 9:30am. I am going to have to get out of this sleep pattern quickly as I have to go back to work next week.
So I got up and took a shower and then went to let Gillie out. She had pooped in the room which is kind of surprising because it's not like she didn't have the opportunity to go before I went to bed last night. But then, now that I think about it, I don't recall actually seeing her go yesterday. She'll do that--hold it for a day and then go.
Anyway, I didn't do much today--sat outside and read a magazine that Lois had given me a few months ago, National Geographic Adventure. I read part of an article about some group that is even more extreme than Greenpeace in their efforts to squash Japanese whaling ships. They described how they actually kill the whales and it was not a very humane process.
Then I read about a guy that disappeared trying to climb some mountain in the Himalayas in the winter (I guess this is not done?). Why anyone would choose to put themselves through that is beyond me. The guy had had pulmonary edema (fluid buildup in the lungs) on a past climbing attempt and had to be helped down the mountain by a couple other climbers. This time he was by himself so if that IS what happened again, chances are he was a goner. Or he could have been blown away--literally, or could have gotten too cold and frozen to death. They don't know. His body has not been found.
After a while I picked what blackberries I could find that were not shriveled up. I rinsed them off and decided to cut up a peach and have the blackberries with it. I also had a couple plums so cut one of those up too. That bowl of fruit looked so good I had to take a photo of it. And it didn't only LOOK good, it tasted good too!
25-AUG-2006
Friday, August 25
I LOVE CORN! I mentioned the other day that we bought corn while we were out at Sauvies Island to pick peaches. Well I had mine tonight--actually I ate one ear the other night with some other corn I had bought at Safeway. I had to test it out to see if it was truly sweet (it was, as was the corn from Safeway) because if it's not sweet you might as well not eat it (go ahead call me a sweet corn snob). Anyway, I love corn pretty much any way I can get it--popcorn, corn nuts, corn flakes, corn tortilla chips, Fritos corn chips, cornbread, corn Chex, and of course, corn-on-the-cob. Now I'm drawing a blank on the additional forms of corn I like... Well you get the point.
25-AUG-2006
Friday, August 25
Did I mention that I liked corn-on-the-cob??? Sorry, I'm being kind of corny (pun intended!).
Saturday, August 26
This was the first Saturday in August that I was able to go to Jazzercise, and it just happened to be Yachiyo's birthday. Marcelline brought balloons and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Here we are doing a tough ab routine with the ball, "SOS". It really kicks.
After coffee and on my way home, I dropped the car off at the Firestone place to get the oil changed. They called me after a while to tell me that it needed a bunch of other stuff too--there was oil leaking so I needed some kind of new valve gasket ($139); I have a leak in the water pump and that should be replaced ($303); the serpentine belt is cracked so I need a new one of those ($100); and cooling system should be flushed ($70). I just know they're trying to soak me for more stuff than my car needs... So I catch our "friendly mailman" Doug, and ask him what he thinks. He says that I should only get what is most critical and forget the other stuff. When I call them back I ask what things are worst and decide to have the valve gasket and serpentine belt replaced--I can wait and see with the water pump and cooling system. After all, I haven't had any idiot lights going on in the car, and haven't noticed any different (bad) sounds so I'm not going to shell out the money this time. Hopefully I've made the right decision.
26-AUG-2006
Saturday, August 26
I had to return some stuff that I had ordered pre-trip. Sport Shoes (too tight); 2 pair of wool socks (I ordered two packs of two but they are just too thick so am sending back one pack); sandals (the more I look at them the more clunky looking they get to me); shorts (decided green wasn’t my color); sweatshirt (what was I thinking? It certainly wasn’t what I expected). Part of the order was a return label so when I talked with the mailman, I gave him my box to return.