Back To Real Life

Nothing like after the holidays, is there? Too much leftovers in the fridge, you keep finding stray decorations and pine needles when you thought you got it all, constant distraction because you know another day off is looming and you can't wait. David took down the Christmas tree (AKA The Tinder Tree) yesterday,  ugh - PILES of pine needles all over! I'm still amazed it was not down to branches and limbs. The front porch remains to be stripped of it's holiday gear but other than that, it's over. Work was one big distraction, a lot of people have taken days off so it was very quiet, I had to squeeze it into two days but just had no motivation. It feels like everything is suspended until after the new year. And during all the holidays we're playing House Shuffle, the house in WV finally sold and we are proud to say we are no longer Mortgage Holders, what a relief not to have money tied up in a house so far away. We are slated to close the foreclosure out here after the beginning of the year so that is still in progress - and then this house needs finished.......

I took Bob for her follow up appointment yesterday, once again hauling that small dog cage because she refuses to get in a cat carrier. It's not heavy, but it is bulky and our vet you have to go up a flight of stairs for the small animal clinic. Bob behaved, the fur on her tummy is coming back and we are to continue to rub lotion on her belly - oh joy. She got her vaccinations this time around, last visit she had a fever and infection so they put them off, but all in all it was an easy and quick visit. Then we headed out to Pier 39 in Astoria to meet up with Kim and Steve for a quick lunch out. The sea lions are still not in, they show up around January or February following the smelt migration. From what I understand the fishermen don't like them because, well, they eat all the smelt. But I like them! So after we got home not much went on, David has some sort of upper respiratory illness which also gave him laryngitis and sometimes when he speaks only the dogs can hear him.

Since he's not feeling well he's been reading alot - still stuck on the Spenser detective series, thank goodness for Overdrive. I started using Overdrive a couple of months ago, it's an app for your local libraries. If you have a library card you can download it and sign in - the audiobooks and ebooks work just like library books. You borrow them for 14 to 21 days, then either you can return it when you're done (which they encourage since there's a waiting list for the popular books) or it returns itself. The downside is if you're not done you have to borrow it again and of course the best sellers can have a wait time of up to 8 weeks.  But if I see something either David or I want to read I just put it on hold and read something else until it's ready.  And it gives you access to ALL the libraries in your area so most of the time the wait is only a week or less. I use the audiobooks in the car since I drive a lot still, it's really a lot of fun. I do still buy some books but I buy a lot less since we've been using the Overdrive - it's pretty easy to use and I love anything that saves me money. That's about all for now, the grocery store calls as we have a ton of cooked ham but not much else. 

One For The Record Books.

Since we had planned on having Brandi and the girls for Christmas, we'd been scrambling to not only get the house ready, but to get it death trap free since we would be hosting two very active 3 year olds. Brandi ended up driving around - the ferry was booked solid but it only took her a little over 4 hours and the girls did very well - this was their first big trip! They were a bit out of their element for about 60 seconds, then started exploring. Molly is not a kid friendly- dog so she ended up in the bedroom when we were home, we tried but realized that it would not be worth it if one of the kids got bit and we would have to put her down for something that was not her fault. We were out everyday and she was out after they went to bed so it was not awful. Plus she was on the bed all day.....anyhoo,enough of that. As you might have suspected our house was a HUGE hit - you can see the horses across the sluice from the upstairs balcony and you can yell to Papa from the inside balcony. They also found Papa's tape measures so we spent a few hours having them pulled and retracted. Bob the Cat was weirdly loving the girls, she was letting them pet her and snuggling - since they love cats it worked out in both directions, I wonder if there were children where Bob came from?

But at some point during the night Delilah's asthma got set off(possibly Bob), Brandi had not thought to bring the inhalers (it's pretty mild) so she and Delilah headed off to the emergency room at 2am for  a treatment and prescription. She didn't want to disturb us so they were there and back before we knew they were gone, I sent Brandi back to bed (Chloe slept through the whole thing) and we played with little Miss Jacked Up On Steroids while everyone slept.  One of  the things we had planned was going to the movies - and the matinee of Frozen 2 was at 11:30am, so after breakfast and getting some sort of organization going off we went. You would be surprised at how many people go to the movies late morning, the theater was about half full and it's never too early for popcorn, is it? If you're wondering how the girls did for their first movie, they did great. They love Frozen and aside from the occasional excited yelling when Elsa and Anna came on screen they made it through the whole movie. And of course we used the bathroom after - they LOVE any public bathroom and Chloe yelled down the hall to Papa that she had Peed in the potty! 

After that  it was off to Joann's so Brandi could get some embroidery floss and the girls each got a doll from Frozen. Yes, we do spoil them - why wouldn't we? No, Target does not take Tricare but the pharmacy in town does so Brandi got that filled. Then it was home and a bath in the giant claw foot tub which is almost large enough for them to paddle around in. Sleeping was never a problem, they hit the rack each night like they'd been on maneuvers all day and we rarely heard a peep out of them

. The next day it was off to Aunt Kim's and Uncle Steve's in Seaside for Christmas Eve fun - Brandi loves to beach comb and the girls like to run around - the ocean here is so big, the driftwood is full logs you can sit on. We brought Kim's dog Piggles so the girls took turns walking him, we looked for sand dollars everyone chatting and taking pictures, it started to rain so we headed home. For lunch it was make your pizza, I think the adults enjoyed that as much as the kids, then presents. Kim made us a beautiful afghan for our home, it's so pretty! She also gave the girls each one of her daughter's dolls from her childhood, they are well loved already. Back home again, a few laps in the claw foot tub and passed out again for the night. We finished wrapping and charging the gifts - the Christmas tree was hanging in there. David bought it early for once and it dried out super fast so we had been limiting lighting it until the girls got here not wanting it to go out in a blaze of glory before Santa arrived. They ate breakfast before they noticed that Santa had been by - then it was on! They're old enough this year to understand it and they attacked the gift pile like a pair of honey badgers, it was a sea of paper and toys.

They loved all their gifts, they got a lot of princess gear, tool sets, books, blocks, games. My mother sent a frog game where you whack the frogs with rubber mallets, if you get annoyed with the other player you just give them a whack and you get the game all to yourself while they're busy tattling. It was so nice having everyone around the table, we had a real Christmas dinner which they pretty much hated, but they are three. I was back to work the next day so David took everyone to Astoria and they went to the Maritime museum and then out to lunch - the girls are so much fun now because you can really do things with them for longer than 11 minutes. They headed back home yesterday morning, I think they were ready to go back home as things have been pretty much nonstop since they arrived. But I have to say this was one of the best Christmases ever, it was a near to perfect as you could get - hopefully next year Jackson and Adam could be here too. I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday too!

Breath In,Breath Out

Years ago I was having problems with what I thought was a blood pressure issue sending me to my Dr's walk in clinic early am, after work. One day Dr. Carey took my arm, did my blood pressure and said there is NOTHING wrong with you, but stress. You need to find something relaxing to do - at the time I worked across from a yoga studio and thought that was perfect. I got the schedule from them and they had a 5:30 class, I could just stroll across the parking lot and be all zen and stuff, even time to change. I arrived and changed, my future classmates started arriving in, well, not leggings and an old Eddie Bauer tee shirt. Matching yoga outfits with all sorts of yoga accessories - and they all brought their own mats. And Yoga Blocks. That matched. I marked myself as a newbie by using the off the rack stuff supplied by the studio.

 No matter, I was there to de-stress and other mystical stuff. And here was my problem - I cannot deal with doing things slow and methodical, I need to start at X time, run through it and have enough time left over to stop for gas on the way home. 

We started doing beginner poses, breathed through our Chakras, blah blah blah. The second class was worse - I busted out all the moves in under 5 minutes, ripped through all the chakras and was laying there thinking about how much longer it would be before we were done. The yoga instructor did talk to me, apparently there is no such thing as a Yoga Race or Competitive Yoga. I do disagree about the competition, I could tell those designer yoga people were laying there pretending to experience the 2nd chakra but were most likely planning out their grocery list like me. As you can tell I barely made it through the 3rd session before bidding my inner yogi goodbye. After that I bought a backpack for me and a harness for Pearl and took up hiking, much better decision. 

And here we are again, we have a LOT going on - we are selling one house, buying another, still have the lawsuit going on in PA with Mr. Jackass about the  telephone pole, Christmas, work, on and on. I have not been sleeping too great as you might imagine. Some nights I wake up every hour on the hour with some other real or more likely some made up, super blown out of proportion pretend problem which had me thinking about meditation, yoga stuff, etc... again. AND that stressed me out. But today a light bulb went on - I had to take the little ferry home and it runs every hour on the hour. I stopped for coffee, still had tons of time  to make it- then they were doing construction. Then a slow truck got in front of me and I missed it by about 15 minutes. Ugh, 45 minutes til the next one! I continued listening to my audio book (that's an obsession lately) and pulled out my knitting. I carry a plain sock to work on, it's what's referred to as "mindless knitting", the rain was beating on the roof of my car and my coffee had cooled to just the right temperature. And at some point I just relaxed -and I thought  that meditation does not have to be sitting cross legged and chanting, that it can sometimes be just stopping everything and quietly doing something simple that you enjoy. The only time I stopped knitting was to get on the ferry, so I had an entire hour of not really doing anything but something I enjoyed - maybe I just need to start making time - to do nothing. 

My Very Own Luddite

Lud·dite

/ˈlədˌīt/

noun

1. 1.

   DEROGATORY

   a person opposed to new technology or ways of working.

   "a small-minded Luddite resisting progress"
2. 2.

   HISTORICAL

   a member of any of the bands of English workers who destroyed machinery, especially in cotton and woolen mills, that they believed was threatening their jobs (1811–16).

David and I have been battling for awhile over this subject of technology - he announces on a regular basis he does not have time to figure this stuff out, that he is too busy with the house, etc..... not the first person who has handed me this argument and will not be the last. Now let me make this clear - it has nothing to do with intelligence, David  can calculate square footage in his head, he often tangles with real estate agents and lawyers as he pushes our buys and sells through. If you ask him about real estate law or how to close a sale he can sing that to you chapter and verse. So it's not a matter of not being able to do so much as a matter of not WANTING to do it. That normally turns into a round robin of an argument - he will say "It's not a big deal" , so  I'll retort " Then you should have no problem doing it!". It's more annoying than anything to tell you the truth. 

A couple of weeks ago he called me at work to tell me he needed to send a signed copy of some paperwork to the RE and he said "Can I email it to you, then you can email it to your work address, download it, sign it for me, scan it and then email it back to the RE?". Um. No. I pointed out I was at work which has nothing to do with real estate and I doubted my boss would be on board with it, but also we HAVE a printer, multiple laptops and tablets at home, not to mention he has a smart phone.He huffed and decided we could sign a hard copy when we met with the RE out at the house. He has also done things like be working upstairs but will come down and look for me to go upstairs to take a picture, then put it on his Face book. 

No. 

He has gotten a little better lately, more from the fact I'm quite prickly when he asks rather than from any sort of desire to learn how to do it.And he uses the Alexa quite often, to spell words, play music, call our kids, etc.. There are some things I don't mind doing, we both read a lot so since I hold the the account I'll add the books to his ereader. I also have an Overdrive account which I can find books for him too. I love Overdrive by the way - you have to have a library card to use the app and if it's something popular you have to wait ( just like a physical book). You borrow the book for up to 3 weeks and at the end it just returns itself to the library! And better yet, you can borrow audio books which I use when I drive all the time. If you don't like the book or you finish early you can just return it and find something else. The down side is they don't have everything but that's fine - if it's something I can't wait for or they don't have, I buy it - otherwise I wait and it's free!! And it accesses all the local libraries so you can always find something to read or listen to. But I digress. David has taken some little steps and he is getting better but he's being dragged kicking into the 21st century. 

Mice.

With what passes as winter around here the field mice have started coming in, not a lot of them but enough to be annoying. I've found holes in avocados and bananas in the morning from them on the counter. Most annoying is they've found my bucket of walnuts in the closet I've been drying, I cannot begin to tell you the racket a mouse  makes chewing through the shells, I've tried to launch surprise attacks but when I whip open the door there's no one there. I'm sure it's sitting behind the vacuum cleaner happily munching my walnut while holds back little mouse giggles about how upset I'm getting. Before anyone gets all crazy about mice in the house you need to remember this is not our first rodeo. We moved into a house once so infested with mice they didn't even bother to hide most of the time - one night we were sitting in the living room and the cat was crouched in front of my stereo speaker. David picked it up, shook it hard and a mouse came tumbling out looking offended at it's unexpected ejection, it took off with the cat hot on it's heels. The cats got so tired of mouse catching David would point at the mouse - Vincent would look at him like he was not sure who's turn it was to get it. 

I'm sure your thoughts are now straying to Bob the Cat who is the worst stray cat in the universe. She barfs up anything that costs less than a dollar a can - at this point in time her diet consists of Fancy Feast Dry food ($9 for 3 pounds) and Sheba wet food which comes in a divided plastic container so when the cat gets fed half the can for breakfast and dinner it never has to deal with "old food". Bob's definition of Old Food is anything that has been in her bowl for over 10 minutes. And now she's having some sort of weird hair loss issue so she has to go to the vet. I called them and made her an appointment, they seemed to be delighted I have yet another little money maker for them. David will have to see if he can get her records from PA too and then I'll have to bring her in the big dog cage because she will not get into a cat carrier. I'm annoyed already and her appointment is not til next week. You probably think she earns her keep by catching mice, don't you?

Yeah, about that......

Bob could only catch a mouse if it was drunk and in a wheel chair and even then I'd only give her a 50% chance of success. We've caught them all with traps which kill them instantly but the other night......

I heard it snap about midnight, Bob was actually in the bed next to me snuggled under the covers cat snoring. Then I heard the trap shaking around, they're plastic so they make a lot of noise and they're very loud when it goes off. I looked at Bob to see if she was going to get that, but she continued snoring, the dogs and David slumbering and that stupid trap frantically banging on the counter. Ugh. When I got up Bob was accidentally woken so she padded into the kitchen with me and jumped up on the counter. I snapped on the light and there, with it's little hand stuck in the trap was a mouse trying to look invisible while giving tiny tugs to free itself. What was Bob doing - was she sizing up the situation? Dispatching the mouse for me? Nope. She was sitting about 4 inches away from the mouse eating her Fancy Feast Dry food since she needed a little nosh before making any decisions. The mouse boggled it's eyes back and forth while continuing to wiggle it's hand, by then David got up because every time I  got near the trap it would panic. I HAD TO PICK UP BOB TO MAKE HER STOP EATING SO DAVID COULD GET THE MOUSE. David threw a towel over the whole business, carried the mouse and trap outside and released it, it scampered off all four limbs intact. Bob finished her kibble and came back to bed since she was full and David reset the trap. We're guessing Mouse Catching is just not in Bob's job description. 

Regrouping

A couple of months ago I was lamenting that there was no knitting groups here I could get to. I'd looked around and the only ones I found were either at times I couldn't attend or just too far. My mother suggested I start my own knitting group and I had to think about it. It's always more fun to be an attendee than the one in charge of attendance, isn't it? But after consideration I realized that would be my only alternative - it's been way harder than I thought it would be. I don't really know anyone here aside from my co-workers, all of whom don't knit and none of which live in Clatskanie. And then the bigger problem - where? When we lived in WV I was in the one that met at the Morgantown Hotel run by Dottie for years and when I moved to PA and started working up in Monroeville I found a group halfway between work and home in Bridgeville. We started off in the LYS Kid Ewe Knot until she rather unceremoniously decided to shut it down with no warning, that was a bit of a panic. But it worked out - we moved to Bridgeville Library who welcomed us with open arms and we grew the group. It turned out be a very good thing, not only for the group, but for our pocketbooks! But here the LYS is only open for a few hours a week and doesn't have a group and I didn't know any of the local community buildings.

So, my first issue was where? I found the local library and it is very small - there's no meeting room but they do have a large table. I planned on having it late afternoon so people that work could attend(like the person starting it!) and also I was pretty sure the library would not be busy between 5 and 7 pm which is important since there is only one table to sit at. I talked to the  woman at the desk and she was fine with me starting a group. I posted on the Clatskanie Community Board which gets a lot of traffic! When I first started posting I got a ton of likes and enthusiasm....which petered out and I spent two late afternoons knitting my little pathetic sock by myself at the big table in the library while the librarians peeked over at the weirdie. The 3rd week it was thankfully me and Kelly, two of us knitting and talking. But then Thanksgiving hit and still nothing. I put the new date up and once again got liked, but no one seemed interested. I had one woman who repeatedly kept suggesting after announcing she was not joining that it would be more cozy if it was at "someones' house". She did not volunteer her own house.  I had actually mulled that one over but the logistics of it are daunting and then we have the dogs, insurance worries, etc.... and my other reason for the library is it's in the middle of town and easy to get to. Our house is down a long raised gravel road with no guard rails and steep drop offs on sides. I have great parking at my house but then you have to pick your way through my pitch dark yard - there's a sidewalk but it tilts rather drunkenly at points, you get the idea. 

My last post I had asked if anyone was really interested at all or should I just bag it entirely? Because there are only so many times you can sad sit at the library in your Group Of One knitting. And you know what? Success! We were a group of four, five if you include Hannah but she's only 5 months old and her only knitting participation was being unwound from her mother's yarn, but we were a group! The library director even came over to welcome us, she said we only had to be quiet if someone was trying to read but otherwise we were free to talk. She was glad we were there - she was very nice. And the two hours passed quickly, it's always fun when you have a group of people you're getting to know, it's a very eclectic group. We are planning on meeting again next week and hopefully can keep it together through the holidays. But I do have to say I'm hoping my little group stays together and grows, it would be nice to have a group of knitting friends again.

Out For A Troll

So, I accidentally trolled a Michael Vick's face book page which turned out to be an interesting experience. He was recently named as one of four captains for the 2020 Pro Ball -  astonishing given he's a convicted felon and has an extensive history of animal abuse of epic proportions. The dog fighting charges happened back in 2007 so when he was named of course the Internet has been flooded with articles, etc. about his crimes. I was curious to see if he had a face book page and he does - there were all sorts of congratulations so I just added that we should all pray no one gives him a puppy for Christmas. It was off the cuff, yes I was mad and yes, it was snarky. The first thing I noticed was I got about 40 likes within a few hours so I'm not the only person taking a Sunday Troll through the park. But then his supporters chimed in - and I do find it's interesting that no one  addressed what I said but focused on hurling insults.  Two of them said I looked like some obscure secondary actor (??) and I was impressed that anyone would spend that much time working trying to find someone to insult me with so I can't look too bad. Then they started fighting amongst themselves and got so caught up in calling each other names what I said was relegated to the back burner - I haven't checked back but I'm sure by now they don't even know what they're arguing about. 

They didn't know what they were talking about - but then again, did I? I was basing my opinion on what I read and like the Trumpeteers it depends on who wrote it. So I started to research Michael Vicks. 

All You Ever Needed To Know About Michael Vicks

In 2007  during the time Michael Vicks was the quarterback for the Atlantic Falcons it was discovered he was the co-owner of a property named the BadNewz Kennel. The reason it was being investigated was due to reports of dog fighting.  Purnell Peace, Quanis Philips and Tony Taylor were also indited for dog fighting, animal cruelty and illegal gambling. 70 dogs were seized of which 53 survived, bodies of the dogs that had been killed were also found on the property. The manner that  the dogs that did not perform up to standard were killed was horrifying - some were hosed down and then electrocuted, they were shot and hung, drowned in a 5 gallon bucket of water, one dog died by being repeatedly slammed to the ground. Vicks himself was aware of what was going on and eventually admitted to killing two of the dogs himself. They strung up clothesline between two trees and hung multiple dogs at once - look at your own dog and think about that.  He was convicted on two counts - promoting dog fighting and engaging in the torture, ill treatment, beating, maiming, mutilation and killing of animals.

 He DID serve time(I've read in several places he didn't, not true) - he ended up serving 18 months of a 23 month sentence which was more than his co-conspirators served due to his deliberate, false statements. He served out the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. He had 3 years of supervised probation that he was not allowed to own any dogs, fined $5,000, ordered drug and alcohol treatment which he had to pay for, $928,073 restitution for the 53 surviving dogs from his property - one dog in particular Georgia had all of her teeth extracted with no medication so she could not fight back from forcible breeding. He went bankrupt in prison, lost multiple endorsements and was suspended from the NFL

In 2009 after his release from prison he started working with the humane society speaking out against animal cruelty, he spoke at schools and events saying he wanted to be a positive change and help break the cycle of cruelty. This was not due to his remorse but his manager's suggestion that it would help his public image.He became the quarterback  for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2010 and was reinstated to the NFL.

In 2012 he got a dog. 

So, did any of this change my mind? A little I suppose - although to this day he has never expressed remorse or regret for what he did to those poor animals he did make an effort(regardless of sincerity) and since his conviction he hasn't participated in dogfighting. The only good thing was the whole nightmare shone the light hard on illegal dog fighting and started helping get better protection for animals. If this happened this year I can pretty much guarentee he would not be the quarterback of anything and he certainly would not be a dog owner (and I hope his current dog sleeps with one eye open, just saying..) And I guess the NFL's concern is with making bank, not employing good people. My biggest objections have more to do with him being a role model - there are so many other players that should have been put in that position that ARE worthy of the admiration and accolades. On his facebook page there's a parent standing next to him with his 3 kids smiling proudly and all I can think is...why are you smiling?? And I'm not the only one, there was a petition with thousands of people that feel the same as I do - yes he paid for his crime but no, he does not deserve to be a captain. Brock Turner did his sentence too, but doesn't mean we should forget. 

The Problem With Pets

Last night Molly came to sit next to me after David had taken them out - what is THAT I asked David, he peered at her and didn't know either. She had a large lump on the right side of her face that had not been there before. It's too late for it to be an insect bite, I palpated it gently, it wasn't painful but was very hard. Molly looked at me curiously  as I continued to touch it, it was mobile.....it was very mobile and as I pushed it the "lump" slide along the side of her face. Then she chewed a couple of times and swallowed it, Molly had been pocketing a large piece of biscuit. She did not seem to be the least bit ashamed of herself for making us worry. The problem with the cat and dogs is it's sometimes difficult to tell if I should be worrying or not. 

Molly and Reuben are large hunting dogs with long skinny legs, they run at top speed most of the time and are always getting into something so minor injuries are par for the course. We keep dog aspirin on hand, since they're both very healthy they rarely take any medications so we've found it to be very effective. Molly sprained her leg a couple of weeks ago, two aspirin put her right. This morning she was not acting well, she refused to get up on the bed, she just seems off. So, do I worry? Is she really sick or injured or is it something that will pass? And of course she chooses Saturday to do this, of course. She does seem a little better and the other thing is it is hunting season around here she may very well be hearing the distant gunfire and that will make her act a bit squirrely. We are going to watch and wait - she's not off her food, she is going outside and at the moment seems a bit more like herself. 

And let's not forget about Bob. Since we've had her has always had a small bald area on her belly, it grows back, it's gone, etc.. but lately she has been losing hair and it's just weird. There's no rash, she not itching and it seems to be her coat, the short undercoat is intact. David is taking her to the vet next week - he's pretty annoyed about it but it's six of one and a half dozen of the other, isn't it? If we don't take her it will certainly get worse, if we do it will most likely be nothing. It would be nice if they could tell me not to worry about it or when they're truly sick. I really don't have too much to complain about, for the most part the three of them have been very healthy with some minor bumps in the road - can't ask anymore than that.  

Tradition

David called Ray yesterday - he was thinking about us too. For years since we lived closer to him we had spent every Thanksgiving in NJ. The day before we would hop in the car and make the trek to Kearney to visit, we were there so often we had a favorite hotel, restaurant, store. We went to the bar on the corner once, it was all the local men and it took me a few minutes to realize I was the only woman in the place. I had to laugh when the bartender came down to assure me she had spoken to the bar and no one was allowed to swear - I told her that was REALLY not necessary as I could probably out swear anyone in the bar. We ate Thanksgiving dinner almost exclusively at The Stack because they did a really stellar job of it. The staff knew us and knew Ray better, only once did we go somewhere else and we laughed about that for years. Our waiter was an alcoholic and had the shakes, getting our meals was a precarious thing as he jittered them down to us! He actually sat down at our table a few times next to Ray when he got too wobbly - we did tip well, you cannot pay enough for such a wonderful memory. After that we would spend a couple of days, we went to museums, restaurants, the bookstore was always popular. But Ray is no longer able to get out and we are too far in any case. 

For the past couple of years David and I have spent Thanksgiving on our own, it was not a sad thing. A lot of restaurants are open for the holiday so it was fun picking a new and different place to go. And now, we are here. Near family and friends - it's a whole new universe. We had Thanksgiving early on Whidbey Island as Jackson was shipping out - but over the years we've  found it's the celebration, not the date that's important - it was wonderful after all these years to be be able to drive to our destination and not have to spend a day recuperating from the trip and adjusting to the new time zone. And we got to keep celebrating! - last night we had Thanksgiving with Kim and Steve, her daughter Celia and son in law Gabe. We have not seen Celia in years so it was wonderful to see what an amazing young woman she's become.  And dinner - Kim could out cook Ramsey with her eyes shut, she made enough for about 30 people, on and on it went but so much fun. They have a fleet of tiny dogs bouncing around, we had a great time. I'm so glad we moved here and now we need to start getting ready for Christmas. 

The New Normal

The weather is still taking a bit to get used to - I'm not complaining about it by any means, but it is very different than the east coast. This time of year it snows a bit, a few storms here and there, temperatures are dropping so in my head it's winter. So far we stay in the 50's during the day, the 30's at night, sometimes there's frost in the morning. Sometimes. We've learned to turn the heat either off or at least down to 60 at night, there's nothing more fun than waking up at 1am gasping like a beached fish that sweats a lot. I'm still wearing what I consider my fall jacket, I washed my short winter coat but have not worn it once, the full length down parka remains packed. When  I ask about how the winters are here I get that everyone has heard it's going to "get really bad" but on closer inspection "really bad" is a  week or two of snow. A few inches. Maybe. 

We are stuck in the waiting for the other shoe to drop mode for now. Anyhooo, the floors came out great - we are beyond pleased with them, another thing to cross off the list. We are looking for kitchen cabinets now, carpeting for upstairs and I ordered a couple of 5 x 7 for the living room and entry. The house really looks like a house. We have been looking at the yard too, we've gotten most of the garbage gone - at least the larger piles and David's cleared so we can see the water from the back deck by the den now. The otters come back once in awhile but scare easily, I've also seen a white egret, a nutria, wood duck and a host of other wildlife behind the house. That the other thing - David is STILL mowing the lawn! 

We're meeting Kim and Steve in Astoria this afternoon, we're going to Rogue to drink beer and watch the sunset at dinner, I'm hoping we see some more sea lions this time as it's a little later in the year. We remember to bring out jackets now, it's warmest around 2 or 3 but as the sun dips, so does the temperature.  After Thanksgiving we're going to start getting the house ready for Christmas, I have to go through what we brought. We had cleaned out a lot of the old and broken stuff ( you know, you take it out, you say"this is broken!" and then you put it back) so I don't think we have too much stuff. I need to find more dishes as I can only have two guests at this point and we will be furnishing the guest room soon. We haunt the Facebook market  place and the estate sales - that I love! Here they have these estate sales where a company comes in and sells EVERYTHING, that's where I got my butcher block table so I try to keep an eye out for that. Well, I gotta get going, the sea lions are calling. 

The Finishing Touch

  

We are finally at the point where the floors can be done - they actually could have been done awhile ago but we've been putting it off due to the PITA factor. (Pain In The Ass). The main bedroom on the first floor we will be carpeting and then the stairs and part of the main floor will be carpet due to the severe damage to the floors but the den, kitchen and dining room need to be done.. We got a floor finisher that was coming around 9:30 -10 this morning and David would be dropping the dogs off at the kennel due to all the chemicals and plus you can't walk on the floors til they are dry.. i had decided to drive out to Vancouver for part of the day as there would not be much to do, .I'd go around 10 when everything was open and do some of the shopping, check out a yarn shop, etc...

We were sitting in bed drinking coffee and skimming Facebook, dogs were snoozing, Bob was spooning.....and David went flying out of bed like his hair was on fire and started running around the house - I queried why the sudden change of pace and he yelled IT'S  AFTER SIX OCLOCK. Apparently there had been an undisclosed change of plans and the floor guy was coming before 8am.  It was 6:30, I hopped in the shower while David started piling furniture in the kitchen, he was not going to have enough time to drive Frick and Frack to doggie daycare so I got recruited and at 6:45 am I was on my way to Longview.  Their was no point in coming back so I went on to Vancouver - Newsflash - there is not a whole hell of a lot to do in Vancouver at 8:20am but I found a Trader Joe's and got some shopping done. The cashier brightly asked me how my day was going - he's lucky biting is not publicly acceptable.  I drove over to the mall and sat in my car and read for half an hour or so, then they opened. I stopped by a few stores but didn't really buy anything, it's too close to the holidays for the good sales to be starting. Over to Costco to wait on line for gas - it's 50 cents less a gallon so yes, it's worth the wait, finished shopping and then off to the yarn store. 

It was a very decent one, good prices - I will be back. I started to meander my way back and saw a sign for an alpaca farm so off I went  - it was further than I thought it would be. She had some stuff I can buy anywhere but the alpaca was lovely, most of it was too thick for me to use but I did buy one small hand spun skein because it was so cool and it smelled so good. Back to home where the floors were getting done, he has one more day so we're all parked in the bedroom, Molly and Rueben have to spend another day at the doggie daycare but I don't think they really mind it so much. What's been done so far looks very good and its only one more day, but I cannot wait for it to be done. 

Family

Jackson will be going overseas again shortly so we headed out Thursday afternoon to catch the ferry to Oak Harbor - since we've made the  trip a few times it gets easier each time. From our house to the port is really only 3 and a half hours, but you have to be there about 45 minutes prior, then the there's the ferry ride, docking etc.... but all in all not an unpleasant way to spend an afternoon. There's a lovely little diner right before that we stop and have dinner at, the food is good and the prices are too. Since we're back on the water David enjoys eating fresh seafood again, he tries something different each time. I had posted on Facebook that we were going to be out there this weekend and my cousin's wife told me their son is on the base for training - yep, it's another Navy boy. I contacted Tom Jr and asked him to dinner Saturday which he accepted, since Jackson will not be here for Thanksgiving I was doing the meal ahead of time. 

We could see the ferry from the restaurant and as we were finishing up I noticed they had not started loading so we hot-footed it over there to see if we could take the 5:45 - they squeaked us in the corner, we arrived at Chez Lester at 6:30 instead of 7:30, just in time to be bad grandparents and upset bedtime. We've noticed since moving here there is a lot less fan fare, the hugs and kisses are not quite as Gone With The Wind level, but I love that they' re getting used to seeing us at least once a month, so wonderful! It was a short visit and Jackson took us to the NEX to do shopping, it's been a long time since I've cooked for a small crowd - I was doing the basic Thanksgiving dinner but we managed to fill up the cart. Saturday was cooking, it's made far more interesting with having a pair of 3 year old "helpers". It's like cooking with an Octopus, opening the refrigerator they're both in there getting all handsy with the yogurt and applesauce. David and Jackson went to pick up Tom, they took him to the NEX so he could see it and also to pick up some odds and ends for me. Tom has only been there for less than a week and is only there for training. Dinner was so much fun, we were a bit crowded but made it work. Delilah and Chloe loved having Tom over, Chloe was beside herself - she must've hugged and high fived him a dozen times, it was very cute and Tom is a very patient man. 

We were so happy to get to see Jackson a couple of times before he is leaving and to have Thanksgiving with family for the first time in years. Tom got returned to the barracks after dinner and then we took off this morning around 7:30am as I have to work tomorrow. The girls are a little sad to see us go but I think they understand they'll see us again soon, not in 6 or 7 months. We will be spending Thanksgiving with Kim,Stephen and they're family and then for Christmas - Brandi and the girls are coming HERE!! We will have Kim and Stephen over too, I can't wait. 

Opus

o·pus

/ˈōpəs/

noun

1. 1.

   MUSIC

   a separate composition or set of compositions by a particular composer, usually ordered by date of publication.

   "The Gambler was Prokofiev's sixth opera, despite its early opus number"
2. 2.

   any artistic work, especially one on a large scale.

   "he was writing an opus on Mexico"

So, finally.

 I got this shawl pattern called Lily of The Valley about a year ago from Ravelry - it's a Russian pattern which means it's wildly complicated. The first time I printed it out I freaked a little because I couldn't read it, then realized I had accidentally printed the Russian pattern, not the translation. Oops. It's all charts - about ten of them, hundreds of rows, the chart key for the different stitches  alone is 2 pages long with links to videos to show the harder stitches. It has videos, did you catch that? Videos.  The charts printed on regular size paper was really hard to  read, I rarely work by chart alone so that made it all the more difficult. Here's something you may not know - if you need something to be bigger you can bring it down to an office supply and have them enlarge it for you, it's not even that expensive. When I was in PA there was a shop near the office so I trotted down there to have them do that. 

The guy that did it found it challenging because the charts had to be enlarged evenly on 11 x 17 paper, he enjoyed the challenge and I enjoyed the results. And I had a couple more copies  made up for my knitting group. Step one. Then the yarn. I had bought undyed alpaca lace weight yarn and ordered the dye - it took me a few days to dye it, dry it and wind it. But it was perfect. I started knitting it and quickly discovered - the yarn was too thin. The entire pattern got lost and you couldn't even see it. So I took the yarn and made something else with it. I continued to look off and on, too thin, too thick, not enough. By that time we had decided to sell the house and I packed it away - off we went. Of course since it was packed last I didn't remember where it had been packed.I finally found it about two weeks ago and was back on looking for yarn

 

I had bought some but when I started knitting realized I was about 400 yards short, arrgh!! So I rummaged in my stash and found the perfect shade and plenty of yardage. So FINALLY, after a year I have started and I do think of it as my opus. It's the hardest lace shawl I've ever attempted but like anything else in life you can't keep doing the same thing over and over if you want to improve. I'm already halfway through the first chart, whether I'm doing a good job of it is up for debate, but I love a challenge. 

The Octopus's Garden

We have been here six months - half a year. Hard to believe! Around 7am this morning workers showed up to stand next to the crane that has been occupying our yard almost as long as we have. The guy that brush hogged our yard asked if he could keep it here "for a few days" - and we all know someone like him. They are always 2 hours late, if they show at all - they will leave things with you and then act a bit surprised that it bothers you - it doesn't bother them so it's mystifying. The fact that it might be a little annoying to the neighborhood to have heavy equipment running around at the crack of dawn on Sunday, well - but I'm glad it's finally going - I was beginning to figure out how I would be decorating it for the holidays. 

So we continue to work on the house - we're at the point where we can finally get the floors refinished, David is going to finish up (hopefully) sheet rocking, spackling and painting the bedroom upstairs so we can start to put together the guest room. David's done the electrical work in the kitchen but the rest of the house still needs done. Like most older home the outlets are few and far between which means we have little octupi sprouting all over the house. We have 3  power strips in the living room alone, I have a Jackyled device in the bedroom - every outlet and port on that  is filled for the tablets, watches, phones, ereaders, on and on. The chandelier in the dining room is interesting, sometimes it's bright, sometimes it's low lighting, you never know. But the fixtures in the entryway, outside and in the dining room are going to be replaced so for now we just deal with it. 

The only place where there's great outlets is the Serial Killer Basement. I'm sure I've talked about it before - we have a basement that was so well hidden  people that looked at this house didn't even know it HAD a basement. There was a false floor in the closet and when you pull it up there's a built in ladder. We usually hang on to the clothes bar to step on and then down you go. It's a pretty big size and you can stand up straight and walk around, it's very well poured and when we moved in the only place that did not smell of cat or was full of dead bugs. The one thing I noticed was all the outlets - David was surprised to see they are up to code, all of them. We thought because it was obviously added later - there's even a separate breaker switch for it - but then,.....I get it. 

It was added before pot became  legal - we have our very own secret grow room!! 

But since you can buy pot all over we are not growing anything so we use it to store attic stuff, etc... David accidentally cut up the floor (he thought it was left over wood) so he has to redo that. The last thing we need is a guest falling in the closet! I'll be glad when we get a little further  along and I can start putting things away instead of it all sitting in bins. This will be the first place in a long time that we will actually be unpacking in instead of taking out the basics. Can't wait!

Today Is Not Your Day.

So yesterday around dinner time the Secretary of the Water Association came by - yes, we have a water association. Around here it's common for a neighborhood to get their water from a natural spring or artisan well. The very upside is your water has no chemicals in it - it's so clear it puts bottled water to shame. It's pretty economic and it also limits the amount of houses they can build in an area. The downside was last night - the pipe had developed a major leak and they had patched it, but the repair would not be done til tomorrow. As a result the reservoir was down and the pump had lost it's prime, we were told we needed be very conservative and we might run out of water anyhow. This would have been better if I heard it before I decided to wash my car. And in hindsight we should have filled at least a couple of buckets and will be doing that in the future.  We tried to be Very Conservative but despite everything when I got up at 2am to pee - we had no water. In retrospect I panicked prematurely - I had us destitute by 3am since you cannot sell a house with no water, we went broke in my mind and I actually got up and took a shower at the gym at 4 am, unable to sleep. I was exhausted before the day started - and the water came back on at 6:30am. Apparently it is not a big deal. 

I had the yarn festival today in Long Beach which is why I wanted a shower - who wants to show up at the yarn show looking like a hot mess?  I  was looking forward to it because, well, yarn and because I enjoy exploring the area whenever I can. I met Kim and Stephen there, Kim does not like to drive over  the Astoria Bridge (AKA The Big Ass Bridge) - I find it thrilling - it's so stinking long, it just goes on and on and on. I stopped for coffee at a coffee stand, it was so good. It's probably good that I don't work there because I'd just shut the window and turn off the lights so I could drink it all myself. I digress. They held it in a hotel and it was.....ok. It's the first one ever so it was very small and most of it was roving, not really yarn. If we were spinners we would have been in heaven, but this?, not so much. We were in and out in under and hour and I bought nothing. Nada. Zippo. But we did get to got to Marsha's Free Museum and peep at Alligator Boy, so that was ok. On the way home I stopped at the beach and took pictures, by the side of the road, more than I 've taken in awhile. On the way home I went down a road I've been down and spotted a gravel road figuring it would take me closer to the water. Yeah, nope. 

At first it was fun, I love back roads and took a few pictures - according to my GPS the highway was right there so I wasn't worried. At first. But my GPS kept glitching, the road would be heading toward the main road and then would disappear. And there wasn't just one gravel road - there lots of them, splitting, winding up and down some were so covered with leaves it was hard to distinguish where the edge was. David called and was supportive but there was nothing he could do - I saw no one, no cars, no houses, no driveways, no paved roads. And of course the longer it goes on the more anxious you get and you're not sure if you passed that big stump on your way in - or you're driving in circles and you're just seeing it again. I finally saw another car and rolled down my window - are you lost too?  No, he smiled, just adventuring on the way home. Thank goodness for nice people and their moms! He waited for me to turn my car around and lead me out - there is no way  I could have done it myself, I was shocked at how far off course I had gotten. It took half an hour at least of winding roads, I had been heading completely the wrong way. When we got to the paved road he rolled down his window and and gave directions to the main and then thank goodness I recognized that building, that house, what  relief! The rest of the day has been uneventful, thank goodness! My feet are up and a movie from the 50's is playing, so glad to be home and at the end of this very long day.