Smile for the Birdie – Or maybe, Birdies, Smile

When I was growing up, birds occasionally flew into the front window . They didn’t come out of that very well.

Fast-forward more than four decades. Over the years I have heard a clicking-thump sound occasionally but have never seen just what was rapping on the window. In the past few days, I have heard it so many times that I am almost getting used to it.

Wednesday, I was quick enough to look and see robins trying to land on my window. There wasn’t just a one-time attempt. There sometimes would be three or four attempts in a few minutes – and then a while later, another one arrived. Today, it started up again.

See me sitting at the computer. See me hear that now familiar sound of bird on glass behind me. See me grab my camera and sit and wait a bit… and take photos of robins banging onto my window.

After a couple days of this, I have developed a theory that they are trying to land on the reflection of a Japanese Cherry Tree which is in full bloom a few feet from the house. It hasn’t been cut back very far for several years so the branches are coming closer to the window.

Fortunately for them, since my new red-breasted friends are coming down to perch, they are angling in feet first. That saves some major injuries. That also gives me a very interesting view of robins - feet first.

After supper, I decided to see if my “cherry tree” theory could be possible. Even from a down-on-the-ground perspective there was a nice reflection. While I was out there, I witnessed another robin trying its best to take a rest. I had my camera with me but had it on macro so the shot was nothing but a blur.

I’m not sure if this is just a couple of birds that got concussions the first time they tried it and keep coming back, or if this is a robin spring-training requirement, or that robins are attempting to break into our house, or that there are an awful lot of dumb robins around here.

This is truly bird-time. Yesterday while waiting for another robin attack, I found a goldfinch and another little bird with yellow streaks on its wings. After I came in from checking out the reflection I came back upstairs to the computer. A little while later, I noticed a growing noise outside. My first thought was that a gaggle of Canada geese was flying over – or had decided to land in the field in back of the house.

Once again I grabbed my camera and headed out to the back yard.

Crows. Lots of crows – and they were flying between our fir trees and Marie’s huge dogwood in back. I hope this isn’t going to become their nightly ritual. I enjoy listening to and watching most birds but I draw the line at calling that loud cackling noise enjoyable. Way down inside of me I admit that I was hoping just a bit that a hawk or eagle was trying to pick off a crow or two. No such luck.

I do count 23 'black' birds in the tree. If there was one more, there would be enough for a blackbird pie.

Easter-time Lost and Found

All of you who have been asked repeatedly - "Are you sure you haven't seen my camera?" have a reprieve.

I have spent the past several days in frustration because I could not locate the wonderful digital camera Bob got me a couple of years ago. I missed it around Easter. By the time we went to Alexis’ birthday party Saturday, I had about decided that I must have left it some place or other. Bob and I had both looked high and low and behind this and under that and couldn’t think of another place to check for the third or eighth time.

I brought it over at Alyssa’s on Good Friday with food for our Easter dinner. I used those black re-usable Fred Meyer shopping bags to haul the food, and had put my purse, camera, and some other things I was delivering in one, too.

I didn’t take the camera out of the bag but that didn’t stop me from asking Alyssa (and everyone else) more than once, if she had seen it. Remembering that once, a long time ago, I could not find a camera, I even asked my grandkids if they had seen it. No luck there.

That camera finally showed up. I had just gotten it on Easter – for an early Birthday gift. It was the wonder-camera of the day with tiny 110 film – and I knew there was about half a roll left. We picked Caleb up a week later. The camera disappeared soon after. The film was all used up when it showed up again. The question of what happened to it was solved when we developed the film. Little Miss Toni, always quick to figure things out was then about 20 months old. She took her own pictures of our new puppy, Caleb, his dog food - and of herself. (By the way, I have been looking for her self-portrait and cannot locate it. If anyone knows where it is, please share.)

Since I had emptied the rest of the grocery bags in the kitchen, that was where I thought it must be, but couldn’t find it anyplace. The bags had been folded and put back in the car. The camera was not on the counters or floor, in cupboards or drawers, nor on shelves – not hiding on chairs under the table, either.

I quit looking. I spent this afternoon calling all of the stores I could think I may have been in and even changed from asking about my ‘misplaced’ to my ‘lost’ camera.

I gave up and started cleaning up. Bob and I have been under the weather since Easter and things had accumulated. Tonight after supper, I tackled the pile of old papers that had been mounting up on the table since then. After a while, I looked up on the table and there, sitting in the middle of the table, was the camera. Whew!!!!

My 040404 #4 is Four Today!

Today is one of my dear sweet granddaughters' - Alexis - fourth birthday. This one is easy to remember. She was born on 04-04-04, is our fourth grand, and is four today.

She was over Wednesday night and was telling me about her birthday. She said she was going to be four on Friday and is having a party on Saturday for the kids and, "I will be four… and in the afternoon I will have another party for family and I will be five."

She was so sweet – and so serious - but I still had to explain to her that no, she will have to go whole year while everyone else has their birthdays before she gets to be five.

That was a bit disappointing.

I think she had spent some time thinking about this one... exactly what makes her another year older? Deciding that it MUST be having a party that adds that wonderful year makes perfect sense. Two parties - well, double bonus - two years older.

Seasons of Change

I’m in the ‘Bob ate something as soon as he got home and won’t be hungry for a while’ lull so I thought I would write.

We had to go to the DMV, which was half-way to DD#1’s. Since we didn’t make it over there yesterday, we delivered the little boxes of Valentine chocolates we had for the older kids. It was fun to spend so time with them. Natalie came in from her bus ride home from school and sat on my lap giving and getting hugs for a long time.

After a while, Zander asked if we would go up to his room to ‘play.’ To him, having us sit and talk with his mom seemed to be a waste of time. I explained to him that to grownups, sitting around and talking is playing. That didn’t make any sense to him.

The youngest, Hayden, so much a big boy nowadays, didn’t have much of a nap earlier and was almost asleep on his feet. I picked him up, held him for a bit, and talked to him quietly as I carried him off to bed for a nap. It won’t be long before they are all too big to pick up like that. It was pleasant to have some one-on-one with them all. When all six of the grands get together, grandma time is much more hectic.

There are many ways to take coming home but I find that my car is on autopilot by that time and don’t bother to think which way to go. We usually end up on a road that parallels some train tracks. Between the road and the tracks is that bit of land that tends to be wild. After many years of getting to look at everything along the road, I’ve been driving most of the time lately. That means I can’t pay attention to anything but the road.

All of a sudden Bob piped up with “Quail!” I said “where?” he continued, not quite so excited, “… no, pheasant.” For that in-between moment I was ready to turn around to find that bird but knew that was about as useful as straining water. The idea of seeing quail made my heart sing just a bit, and I think it did that for him, too.

That ride home has changed so much. In the past 15 years or so, what used to be farmland, north and east of us, has become more and more ‘industrial parks’ – sprawling parking lots of cement warehouses. I don’t miss the smell of the previous year’s leftover cabbage on a warm late-winter’s day. But, I do miss all of what hadn’t changed for decades before that. I’ve seen coyote and bald eagles not that far from home.

It must be a few weeks since the last time I came down that road and noticed some more old farmland was being flattened. Today, some old farm buildings were gone and a new ‘park’ is going up across the street from Boeing of Portland where Bob worked for so many years.

There aren’t many old places left. Even the truck farm at the end of our street had to quit last spring – not enough land to make a living. At least the barn and other buildings and equipment are still there.

Spring is coming and it can either be bringing warmth and flowers or allergy attacks and sinus infections. I want the flowers.

There was still a lot of snow up on the foothills. It is supposed to be about 60 tomorrow so I’m guessing that the trees up on those hills will at drop their snow shortly, then the acres of open white fields will melt and it will be another year before that beauty returns. There are some year-round snow-capped mountains around here but when the foothills are also white, for me it is especially delightful.

Avoiding Ditches in the Hall

We now have plywood-patched hall on part of the upstairs, one sheet of plywood almost down and the carpet (and all of the padding or whatever that was) ripped from the stairs. There was/is a 3” difference in the hall floor's slope north to south across about 8 feet. Then there is the slope from the top of the stairs east to the window and the other slope that ran from this same point near the top of the stairs going west to our bedroom door. Reminded me of the top of a circus tent.

We have always had to step down into the upstairs rooms on the south side. It was strange to walk into my sewing room on a flat surface - and stepping up to our bedroom. I knew there was something odd under the carpet but I assumed it was just a missing floorboard. The things you discover when you rip out that carpeting. That something ‘odd’ under it was pieces of plywood, paneling, shims - both wooden and metal (or it was part of a lightning rod) - and more plywood and more paneling, layered to almost make it level. The original flooring was installed so both sides of the floor met at all the doorways without a step. It would have made a good pine-wood derby place.

We discovered there had been a fire in the floor a very long time ago – long before we moved here – and a small, scorched box of wooden matches. Is there a connection here?

Right now, avoiding the holes along the sides of the plywood is my goal. It reminds me of learning to drive on narrow roads when where I lived was out in the country. We had deep, Washington-rain style ditches on both sides of the tar and gravel roads so you drove down the middle – until you came to the brow of a hill.

Putting holes in the ceiling downstairs is NOT in the plan. Of course, re-doing the floor so thoroughly was not in the plans either. Once the carpet was up, there just was no way to do anything to the floor – even putting down more carpeting – unless we did some major work. I just love old houses.

Now it looks like the stairs were put in slightly off-kilter. I am learning to LOVE that little bit of crooked.

Flooder

Our upstairs bathroom is getting close to being done. I finished sealing the grout on the floors and wall on Sunday. Tonight I was finishing up scrubbing the excess grout sealer off the tile before the Toilet, Sink and Faucet (capitalized out of excitement) are installed tomorrow.

I've lost about an inch since I was 'young' and I must not be adjusting to my shortening height. I tried stepping over the bucket and managed to flood the new tile floor. Bob was standing there talking to me at the time so he went to get mops and I worked on slopping the water back into the bucket.

We got the mess cleaned up. I have a great appreciation for my new floor -- and now it is freshly cleaned. I don't recommend this as floor-washing method.

As I was sopping up the mess, Flooders came to mind. The water pooled nicely on the tile instead of leaking under the baseboard. The Flooders were the boys who lived in the section of the dorm Aaron was assigned to when he went to LeTourneau. Once upon a time, a bunch of the boys boarded up the tile bathroom, turned on the showers and went swimming – until the boards let loose a whole lot of water and flooded the dorm.

I don’t want a pool. I did wonder if it would be a good idea to add a lip to the floor that would prevent spills from draining out into the hall….

Hyper/Hypothyroid - get it right

Just an update. I felt very good for a while but since June or July, I've been getting tired again. That has been discouraging. I've been to doctors and nothing was obviously wrong. So, I looked for someone else.

I went to an endocrinologist today. We seemed to be able to communicate. She said that my last test indicated that I’m getting too much thyroid now. That makes sense since it is dosed by weight and I’ve dropped a bunch. HOWEVER, my fear of getting much worse by changing meds became very real while we talked about it. She said that I’m not showing many symptoms of hyperthyroid but that it does make you feel fatigued. Fortunately, this is caused by medication dosage so the first thing is to reduce it.

I'm going to try Synthroid again. I’m going to try a higher dose of Synthroid than I had when I was heavy. I told her that my tests always came out ‘normal’ before but I still felt horrible. She said that the ‘normal’ is being officially lowered and that what was my ‘normal’ is now considered quite high. I hate trying to understand thyroid test results – some, when the number is up means you are low, but another can mean just the opposite. I told her that I am concerned about changing it but I’m more concerned that I feel so tired. If I don't improve, she will try some other things.

She did say that I might gain some weight. I do NOT want to gain. Hyperthyroid usually causes you to loose weigh. I haven’t been loosing since I started not feeling well, so we’ll see.

They also measured my height – 62 ¾” – I’ve lost ¼’ since last summer. That’s not good. Too much thyroid can be bad on bone density. I do want to stop shrinking.

She also said that people on the West Coast – except California – often have a vitamin D deficiency. Too many gray days, among other things. I got blood sucked for some tests, including the vitamin D.

Understanding Vitamin D Deficiency might be good to read. Apparently, once you leave childhood, it is a problem for a lot of people.

It was interesting talking to her. She didn’t have an appointment right after mine so she stayed and talked. She’s from Romania. Her husband works for Microsoft – telecommutes - and was transferred here seven years ago. She got her training before coming here and had to do post-med school training again before she was permitted to practice here. Bob and I both told her we enjoyed her accent. She is bothered by it. I said that it reminds me of many people from my childhood and I miss hearing it.

Wadda Mess - Upstairs Bathroom

Today, Monday, October 22, 2007, I’ve had a change of heart. I love HGTV. However, I've been amazed (and critical) to see how unprepared people are when they start a project. I had forgotten that, until you start ripping up and tearing down, you don’t really know what will work. I LOVE LOWES AND HOME DEPOT. Home Depot has the price but Lowes has a better selection. They both save me from even more driving to get stuff.

This morning, I was off to Home Depot to get some primer and picked up sample tiles, knobs, and a vanity light. I wasn’t finished shopping but had to hurry home because I was watching two grandboys while my DD#1 went to see how the kidney stones were progressing. On that front, things look stuck so she thinks she will have more surgery/procedure. She is thinking, why wait another week, check it again and then schedule it. Getting it over now sounds good to her. She has a stent in which is like a heavy wire that keeps the uriter open for it to pass, which can be quite painful.

When I got home, the bathroom was bare. A friend is doing much of the work and he and Bob got a lot of exercise ripping, pulling and carrying it all out. Anyone wanna cracked toilet? Howsabout an ugly vanity?

The boys arrived and we had fun for about three hours. Zander, the older one, cried – sobbed - when his mom came. He wanted to stay longer. They haven’t been here much since Bob’s surgery since he gets so tired. They watched the guys across the street dump rocks into a retaining wall with a backhoe. Then they made their way upstairs to get a good look at our mess.

The discovery of the day: packed between two joists, was a stash of very old walnut shells that would do any varmint proud. That’s the very down side of an old house.

Dinner came and I went – to Lowe’s for more tile samples and the bathroom fan fit for a king we saw last week and then to GI Joes for a portable throne for night emergencies. Once I got the fan home, we decided that it was a bit over the top for a little bathroom so I get to retrace my steps in a few hours. I got gas on the way home - $3.05 and gallon for middle grade. Lovely.

Bob is frustrated that he gets so worn out. He hasn’t had much reserve energy since his prostate surgery a year and a half ago although he doesn't hesitate to do what exhausts much younger men. It takes the fun out of it for him to be so tired.

I've taken a few pictures and will try to add some later.

I think I’m just postponing the inevitable – going all the way downstairs to brush my teeth than back up to bed. Fortunately, I no longer sleepwalk to the bathroom like I did when I was a kid.

Kathleen, who thinks a tiny bathroom doesn’t need a fan with a nightlight, a dual bulb light fixture, and a heater tonight. I wonder what I'll think in the morning... It’s a bit crowded up there on the ceiling – especially when we will already have a ceiling light - and a vanity light so I can see those wrinkles more clearly…

I'm Stoned

I got to see the doc at 1 pm today. Tomorrow I check into day surgery and have they will attack this lovely 6mm kidney stone with Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL). The short version is that they blast it with a machine and put in a shunt that lets the pieces come out easier. They are going to see what's going on in my kidneys since there is some cloudy stuff they are not sure about but appears to be pre-stone materials.

I have to be there at 12:15, the surgery is at 2:15 and I will probably be ready to go home by 5. The procedure is scheduled to take an hour – plus the time that I need to be there before hand, recovery room and a few hours spent in day surgery.

I just hope I don’t have the same problem I had last time. Last time, I really had to go – to use the facilities – and the nurse said they wanted me to wait for a while since I probably didn’t ‘really’ have to go. I guess that sensation is common after the procedure. However, I ‘REALLY’ had to go. When I finally convinced them, I filled the container I had to use so they had so they could evaluate the stuff.

I will then need to strain it for a week or so and collect the pieces so it can be sent off to wherever they send it to see what its composition is. I have so much fun to look forward to, tomorrow. Bob will need to bring a book or two, and maybe some jogging stuff since he just can’t sit for very long. Emanuel hospital is nice – and large – so there would be a lot to see. That is where Natalie was born, Zander had his surgeries, and Alyssa also had her kidney stones taken care of.

Of course, it is much more fun than the other choice is. He – Dr Winchester – said it is too large to pass and it is at least partially blocking the exit point of the kidney.

I finally got anti-nausea pills this afternoon. By the time we left the doc’s office, got the pills and made a have-to stop at the grocery store, we were gone about four hours. We just got home a bit ago.

http://www.web-feet.us/RLS/htdocs/litho.html is a look at the procedure.

I will also be exchanging my APAP machine. Apparently this one has been used and shipped as new. I was able to get it re-set this morning. A good night’s sleep will be wonderful.

Wadda Knight

We are home after a very long evening. Our Andrea, her John and "our" Brandon invited their folks out to eat at Sweet Tomatoes for Father’s Day.

Brandon was parked between the two grandmas – someone needed to keep an eye on that boy… I just realized that he was in his car-seat-carrier the whole time and we didn’t get to hold him at all.

I took just a tiny bit of what my heart desired, which filled my plate. I began to feel uncomfortable in my abdomen and thought a trip to the powder room might help. It didn’t. We left because I was feeling worse. I had driven there but I couldn’t drive back. I continued to feel worse, every mile we drove. Just before the exit closest to our doctors’ office, Bob asked me if I wanted to see if any one was there. Yes, yes, yes indeedy I did. They have short hours on Sunday so there was a slight chance but not a very big chance after five and this was after seven. (They closed at three so there never was a chance.)

By the time we got there I decided to call the on-call doc who gave me the choice to go to the emergency room or to go home and try to wait it out. I chose the emergency room, which was just a couple of blocks and three turns away. By the time I had almost filled out my paper-work I couldn’t sit. I ended up leaning against the wall. The pain was worse in the general area of my left ovary and it radiated down my left thigh to my knee. The only thing I can compare it to was labor pains –rolling waves of pain that radiated down my leg.

Fortunately there wasn’t much of a wait – only one person was before me. When she finally opened the door to let me in I was able to lean on this sweet little (short and a bit substantial – just right for leaning on) admissions lady and shuffle my way back. I just needed to lie down. I kept hyperventilating from the pain and I was afraid I was going to pass out. They got me onto some funky little examining table just so I could answer the questions. They finally decided to just put me in one of the cubicle first and admit me later.

Then came the dreaded insertion of the IV and blood draw. Second time worked so I’ll have matching bruises on my forearms. Then came the pain-killer. J Then the cup needed some filling. Finally, at about 9:30 they wheeled me in for a CT scan and discovered it was kidney stones. One is 6mm – too large to pass - and several small ones behind that. My urologist was on call so he decided I need to come in to see him tomorrow then they sent me home with a couple of Rx for pain and nausea. I still had lots of Vicadin left over from breaking my arm almost a year ago and I ‘knew’ I had seen some pills for nausea just a few days ago so we went home.

I needed to take some pills so I tried to eat something. I got the pills down then ran to the bathroom. I made it but I have my doubts about any pills having a chance to dissolve – including the pain-pills I took before leaving the hospital. I feel ‘better’ but can’t wait for the stuff they put in my drip to wear off completely.

Remember when your mother was concerned that you had ‘holey’ underwear in case you were in an accident? Usually I just grab a pair of undies and put them on. This morning when I looked in the drawer, I actually thought – do I want to wear those old ones or the newer ones – in case I end up in the emergency room. I chose the newer ones.

When I was getting dressed to go this afternoon, I chose pull-on pants, a black camisole to wear under a lacy, pale chartreuse sweater and a long sweater-coat over the whole thing. Normally, I would just grab a jacket but I had decided the sweater looked best out over my pants so I took the long sweater-coat instead.

By the time we got to the emergency room, I had to pull everything down from my abdomen area altogether. The pull-on pants were snug enough to stay up – even while pulled to a new low. The green sweater came below my ‘new’ waistline and the long sweater covered all of the rest. How very comforting that I didn’t have to worry about exposing myself along with the concern for my pain.
It still isn’t over.

I have to get through tonight and through getting this taken care of. Now I just don’t feel good.

Happy Father's Day, dear Bob, and thank you for being there.

Well, we all went 'round the mountain, we all went 'round....

I have finally gotten some photos uploaded. It is so slow so this has been a few days in the making. Some of them are grainy because of the high contrast of the scene.

At the parking lot at Timberline. Linda, Karis and Toni admiring one of the Three Sisters on the horizon. I had taken panorama photos and stitched them together so it was a complete view from where we were. The proportions were too odd - too long and too short - I guess, since it wouldn't load up on blogger. This photo is a chunk of it and seems to be at least four different shots.

The View we were subjected to throughout lunch. Snowboarders kept coming down where Linda and Karis could watch them from their side of the table..

Below, the part of Timberline Lodge that faces south. We ate behind the center part of the building, facing north. The middle chimney in the photo is for the central fireplace/fireplaces - four hearths. It was to our backs and no fire that day. It wasn't necessary, except for atmosphere.

Coming away from the north side of Mt Hood, I pulled over to take a look. The best view was in my rear view mirror.

Looking north towards Washington, Mt Adams popped into view. Linda took pictures while I drove.

Karis and Toni in front of Bonneville Dam. What a beautiful day - and noisy with all of that water spilling through.

The view through the counting window in the fish ladder. The marks on the glass are different measurements. The fish are filtered through a narrow channel in the fish ladder where they can be counted. These are Shad. Some fellas at the old locks in Cascade Locks were catching and saving them in their freezer to use as bait when setting crab pots at the coast.

43,375 of these fish were counted the day we were there. 820 Chinook Salmon, 89 hatchery Steelhead (sea-going trout), 13 Wild Steelhead, 5 Sockeye Salmon and 15 Lamprey Eels were also listed that day (May 29, 2007) as having passed by this window. https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/op/b/fishcam.asp is a link to the camera there.

Lupin. Beautiful, peppery lupin.

At the Bonneville fish hatchery, the prime star is a Herman the sturgeon. Herman is a white sturgeon. When Herman was first introduced to his new home in 1998, he was 9’ in length, 400 lbs. and 60 years old. The first photo is this fella's face, the second, his mid-section. there was only so much you could get into view in each shot. They have built a larger pool for the big guys which has a little house containing an underwater viewing area.

Multnomah Falls

Karis was already up close taking photos while Toni, Linda and I took in the view. We walked up a ways above the bridge.

Crown Point

The gorge wind's version of Titanic's, "I'm the king (queen) of the world......"

The winds whip around this spot so fiercely that you can be knocked off balance quite easily. They were leaning into the wind, hair whipping around... it was exhilarating!

View from Crown Point looking east, up the Columbia River Gorge.

The view from Women's Forum State Park. This is a wonderful view of Crown Point (that white dot on top of the cliff) and the Columbia River Gorge.

A Most Perfect Day and I 'did a very bad thing'

I am very tired. I had a most wonderful day.

We four women – sis-in-law, Linda, niece, Karis, daughter, Toni, and I, piled into my gas-guzzler and headed east. We drove up Highway 26 just past Government Camp and sped up the road to Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood.

The day was excellent. We ended up having lunch in the bar – the only place with a view of the mountain. We shared wonderful turkey, tomato, etc, sandwiches and hot chocolate with crunched up English toffee sprinkled on the thick whipped cream while watching snowboarders and skiers swooshing down the mountain. Thus satisfied, we made the decision to continue to wrap our way all around the mountain.

We turned left on 26, continued until the cut-off for Hood River, and then took another left to the north. The weather was perfect. Warm, breezy, blue sky. We had a wonderful view of Mt Adams in front of us and Mt Hood in the rear view mirror. We kept driving until we reached the Columbia River. We took another left onto I-84 towards the Columbia River Gorge. We watched birds fly and the whitecaps on the river while we continued to chatter the entire trip.

We stopped at Cascade Locks and had our traditional ice cream cone. After wiping up all of the ice-cream drips, we got back in the car and back on I84 to make our way to Bonneville Dam. We had less than an hour before they closed access to the dam itself.

I tootled across the road to the guard station (post 9-11). When I stopped, the guard said, “You’ve just done a very bad thing.” My tootling was at 30 M.P.H. and the limit was 20. It sounded like he had said that before. He told us we only had a half an hour so I slowly sped across the locks, up the side of the power plant and on to the parking lot.

What should be blooming in the planters but beautiful lupin? I saved a sniff until we came back. We hurried to the fish-counting floor where we watched many Chad make their way up the ladder. I did not see any salmon. I saw that they have been coming through but it is early for the June run.

We then went outside to look at the top of the ladder – to watch the Chad sneak over the cement steps of the ladder. Salmon are much more exciting since the really jump from one level to the next.

By this time, it was time to head back to the car. I went to sniff the lupin while the others took pictures. Unfortunately, Canada geese had been there first and had left, ahem, signs of their presence. Magnificent birds but magnificently messy, too. We then drove down off the dam and went over to the hatchery.

We saw rainbow trout by the hundred, and salmon fingerlings by the thousand in holding ponds waiting to go off to make some fisherman/woman very happy. We stopped to look at Buddy, the huge sturgeon, and his friends and feed the rainbow trout in the trout pond.

Then it was back to the freeway until I was able to switch to the old road to the falls. We passed several cool spots and stopped at Multnomah Falls. While taking pictures we decided to take a walk to the bridge. Unfortunately, I left my bifocals in the car so coming close to the side of the pathway or to the railing on the bridge was a concern. I have no depth perception and tend to get vertigo without my glasses.

The result of that is that I have a terror of falling and pitching myself over something. I made it across on two feet (I’ve been known to crawl) and up the path a bit to get some great shots. When we got back down, we stopped at the gift shop then got back on the road.

We slowed for Wahkeena and Latourell Falls, pointed out Shepherd’s Dell and Bridal Veil and finally arrived at Crown Point.

Normally, I drive this road from the West and hug the inside next to the rocks and grasses and safe stopping. From the East, you are hugging the edge of the road with guard-rails that don’t make me feel protected at any cost and the view straight down to what lies below wasn’t on my ‘gotta see’ list.

At Crown Point, Toni stayed in the car to see if anyone wanted to join us in town for Pho. The wind was wonderfully brisk and we walked and were blown around while taking pictures and saying ooooooh a lot. These Texas gals did the Titanic ‘flying’ at the bow thing as they leaned into the wind with their arms reaching out. It was exhilarating to be out in the wind but it was wonderful to get back into the car.

We then went around to Women’s Forum State Park to show them where they take the most beautiful shots of the Gorge.

My normal spot to get back to the freeway was closed because of slides so we went the long way through Corbett, down along and over the Sandy River at Stark Street and came back up to civilization.

We met my son-in-law at the restaurant and had wonderful food. I had Sesame Chicken. This is going to be a repeat item.

We got back into the car as the evening sky was at my favorite point – from dark blue through green at the horizon – and came home. Sadly, they will leave Portland in the morning. We all need our rest tonight after a long, perfect day.

Zee Cannon Beeeeech

We brought our laptop (that is really sad...) so I though I would share a couple of photos. The first is at sunset last night down on the beach; the second is from our balcony this morning. A little virtual vacation for you. Can't you smell the salt sea air and hear the squawking of the sea gulls?

The last one is of Bob working on a puzzle. They were giving them away at the Radiation Center when we were there yesterday. Not only did his PSA go down a wee bit but we got a puzzle to boot. The best thing about the puzzle is that it is one that has already been put together and they put large chunks of it back in the box. That makes putting together 1000 pieces much easier on a two-night stay.

We're on our way out to take a walk on the beach then go to lunch at Dooger's. They have the best clam chowder!!! It is a white-type but it has a flavor like none other.

Talk to you later
Kathleen

Happy Anniversary

Winco Wanderings

I had a delightful thing happen today. I was sitting at a light and noticed a baby in the vehicle in front of me. I thought it was so cute – looked just like it could have been one of my own. I then noticed “it” was strapped into the same kind of vehicle my new-mom daughter just got and realized that must be Brandon. Even from my perch behind them, I could tell that the baby looked like John.

I was ready to tap my horn when the driver waved – and the passenger waved - both of my younger daughters. I had a stop before I went to Winco to fill up those spots in the fridge. I pulled up next to them and we rolled down our windows – they were on the way to Winco, too. After my quick errand, I arrived at Winco, parked and got a cart. They were still at the entrance, waylaid by the mom of an old friend of theirs.

It was fun to shop with my girls and to get some peeks of my mostly-sleeping grandson. She had him in a Baby Bjorn so I couldn’t take a turn holding him but it was delightful. We didn’t stay together the whole time but spent the same amount of time, occasionally at the same spots. We walked out; spread some kisses around and went home

A Story On a Bottle

Recently I found an old pill bottle in my dresser drawer with a small, broken, red and blue bead necklace inside. On the outside was a story.

Payless Drug Store

Methergine

12/18/78

Dr Patchin

Payless at Mall 205 is now a Home Depot. I had no idea what Methergine was. The doctor’s name was only vaguely familiar – possibly a partner of my OB/GYN, Dr Harsany…. Yes, Peterson, Patchin and Harsany. I had no doubt about the date.

I looked up Methergine:

Ergonovine and methylergonovine belong to the group of medicines known as ergot alkaloids. These medicines are usually given to stop excessive bleeding that sometimes occurs after a baby is delivered. They work by causing the muscle of the uterus to contract.

That I do remember.

Andrea was born December 4, 1978, with lots of strawberry blond hair and, using my motherly methods, I could tell she had blue eyes. Bob’s mom had come to watch the kids while I was in the hospital for five days and Bob was at work. She left, I think, the day after I came home from my third of four, once-every-two-and-a-half-to-three-years, C-Section. December 18th was the day before Aaron’s birthday. It had been painful - almost impossible - to walk much for quite a while before the delivery and we still were not ready for Christmas. By then it was only seven days away. We went shopping.

After supper, we took our 5 ½-year-old Alyssa, our almost 3-year-old Aaron and our two-week-old Andrea with us. In the 20/20 vision of hindsight, this was not the best thing for me to do two weeks after my latest bikini-cut. The surgery was healing just fine. However, all of the walking disturbed my insides. On my way home I began to have excessive postpartum bleeding – so much so that we ended up in the Emergency Room back in the brand new Portland Adventist Hospital. They told me to go home, take the pills and rest.

The next day was Tuesday, December 19, 1978 – Aaron’s third birthday. I definitely remember this day. I remember that I explained to a disappointed Aaron that I was not able to make his birthday cake but we would go to Safeway and buy one – and he could pick it out. I’m not sure how I got to the store, but since Bob was working nights, he probably drove, with our two littlest ones strapped to the back seat of our blue VW Dasher. I’m sure Alyssa was at school in her kindergarten class.

This was a major change for me. Other than my wedding cake, I never had used a ready-made, store-bought, frosted and decorated birthday cake before. Most of all I remember Aaron’s choice. Of all the cakes they had, the particular one he wanted had huge, red, artificial poinsettia ‘flowers’ decorating it. I think I was successful in keeping him from getting a clue that this big-for-our-little-family, ¼-sheet, white frosting covered chocolate cake with large red poinsettias was a bit unusual for a three-year-old’s Birthday Cake. I still smile about it today. We then had “Aaron” added in red along with the “Happy Birthday”.

After we got home and had everything unpacked, I was in Andrea’s bedroom changing her diaper. My little Aaron was so excited about his cake. He wanted to look at it. He kept asking over and over if he could see his cake.

Whatever rationale I used, being tired from the previous evening, being postpartum, taking care of a new babe, with whatever assumed reasoning I had left, I decided he could. I didn’t ask myself why he thought he needed permission to look at something sitting on the counter. I told him, yes, Aaron, you can go to the kitchen and look at your cake all by yourself.

I will never know, one way or the other, but I don’t think it would have made any difference if I did or did not spell out exactly how he should do it. This was one strong little boy – both in will and body – and he was a thinker. It hadn’t occurred to me that it was in a box and he couldn’t just go in and look at it. I thought that at the most he might get a near-by kitchen chair so he could climb up and get a good look.

The next thing I knew I heard something come crashing down from the direction of the kitchen. Aaron started crying. When I got to my little kitchen, there was the cake – on the floor, beyond pretty.

His idea of ‘looking’ was to reach up from where he was standing in front of the cupboard it sat upon, grab the box from the counter and lower it to his newly-three-year-old level. He later told me couldn’t see it because of the box so he wanted to hold it. It was mostly still in the box but crumpled chocolate cake and bright white frosting decorated the floor. We salvaged enough for candles. After all, when you turn three, you need a cake for your birthday.

I kept the poinsettias. Not too long ago I found just the flowers from some artificial poinsettias and wondered why in the world I kept them... now I think I know.

Time Travel Via E-Mail

I had the strangest thing happen tonight. I have had problems with my computer so I rolled it back a week.

When it was finally back up, I discovered this message from my yet to be born first child letting everyone know about my recently arrived sixth grandchild.


-----Original Message-----
From: Alyssa ………..
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 1970 7:13 AM
To: ………………..
Subject: It's a Boy!

Come see my handsome new nephew...
http://ernstopia.blogspot.com/ --
Blessings, Alyssa
*****************************
Tuesday, January 6, 1970, 7:13 AM.

If this was central time, I would have two minutes to get to my desk in the Personnel building at Eglin AFB, a Systems Command Air Force Base near Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Five weeks and two days, my husband and I will pack up and ship our earthly possessions and our 1969 Austin America (our first and last new car) would be filled and ready to drive out the gate to go out into the big unknown world.

I would grab my coffee cup, checking to make sure nothing was hiding in it then go across the hall and wait for the red light to come on indicating the coffee was done and we had to get to work. I would check off my ‘Short’ calendar – thirty-six more days and a wake up. In the next few weeks I would finish buying every McCormick’s spice I can find at the Commissary. Thirty-seven years later, I probably still have a couple in my spice drawer (contents replaced, though.)

Some time this morning I would walk over to the BX (Base Exchange) and meet Bob to pick up mail. He might pick me up for lunch since we would often go out to a bayou to eat. At 1515 we would go back to our duplex, jumping through the front door to avoid the scorpions that lived above it, then change into something more comfortable.

Dinner could be a lovely yellow meal - mac & cheese, corn and cornbread muffins or something quick out of my Cooking for Two cookbook. We might take a walk with the neighbor's Irish setter who loved to catch things we threw out in the water even when it was cold (Florida cold).

If I knew then what I know now, I would not turn in my wonderfully soft, blue Air Force blanket and I would not sell all of my uniforms to ‘Ma’.

I would take more photos – lots and lots more photos. Photos of the different places we lived, places on the base, the little beach we would walk to a couple of blocks from our duplex, the beach – the sugar-white sand and the teal blue water.

I would also learn how to change the film in Bob’s camera. That may have prevented not having one photo from the time we left New York until we arrived in Tacoma six weeks later. He thought I was changing the rolls and I thought he was. It turned out that the film didn’t catch when he changed it just before we left East Patchogue.

We clicked and wound and clicked and wound as much as we wanted and not one of those clicks did anything. We lost the photos of his cousins, uncles and aunts in Akron and Indianapolis; the blizzard in Iowa City Iowa, amazingly rugged cliffs in Wyoming, slots in the restroom in Elko?, Nevada, shots of Alcatraz , Sharon, my best friend from high school, the Siskiyou mountains and all that in between.

I would look in the mirror and really see how much in shape I am.

I would get to know Bob’s relatives better that we visited on our trip. I didn’t know that we would not be back to see most of them.

I would try to sell our foot-long Plecostomus instead of crowding it into a one-gallon tank and carrying it thousands of miles cross country.

Most of all, I would try to live more in the moment and not be quite so concerned about the “What if….s” that often kept me from saying “Yes!”

Nighty Night on NW 22nd

I spent Thursday night one block from NW 23rd, the trendiest area in Portland where it is next to impossible to get a good parking spot. Unfortunately, I arrived a bit before 8 p.m. and was home before 9:30 the next morning. So much for shopping....

Almost anyone who knows me also knows that I am always tired. Even when I was young and lived in the barracks in the late 1960’s I would often come home from work and take a nap – and it wasn’t always because I had been out until 2 in the morning. A few weeks ago I went to Dr. Blessing about several things and he decided I need to have a sleep study done. It had been suggested before by someone else I had seen but with Dr. Blessing it wasn’t a suggestion. He made arrangements for me to be seen before I left the office.

I went to see Dr. Fromherz, the sleep specialist, and after a long question and answer time and reading the questionnaire I had filled out at home he scheduled me for a night’s sleep study. Thursday night was the night.

It was quite an experience. Two other women were also there. One was expecting her first-born in April and the other was probably about my age. We were each sent to our rooms and a technician explained the process. Since my ‘normal’ bed time was the latest, I was wired up last. They gave me some juice and popcorn and I had a TV in my windowless room to watch while I waited. The bed was adjustable but that wasn’t very comfortable even for watching TV. Next to the TV was an infrared camera focused down to tape and watch me through the night.

Hooking us up took at least 20 minutes each. They first marked me with a non-permanent red felt pen then they began attaching the wires. I had wires taped on my neck, my chest, my face, my legs, gelled onto my head and one that glowed red was slipped on one of my fingers – shades of ET phone home. All these wires were plugged into a terminal that hung around my neck until bed time. I was so cute. I thought of bringing my camera but didn’t. What a missed photo opp!

A bit before 11 they came in to hook it all up to the computer. It wouldn’t read all of the connections so they spent quite a while trying to fix that. They had already unplugged the heating pad I use on my shoulder every night because they knew that would cause a problem. They finally discovered the lamp that was usually on the other side of the bed was causing the problem. Lights were out and I tried to snuggle on my pillow. That wasn’t really possible since the head where all of the wires connected was tucked under it. They wanted me to lie on my back and really had no choice.

After the lights were finally out again I had to do some testing – move my eyes up and down, side to side, breath, hold my breath, curl my toes and a few more. I hadn’t taken my wake-up pills for a couple of days so I was very tired. It wasn’t hard to get to sleep. I did wake up a couple of times during the night. I thought about making a trip to the bathroom but I would have had to wake up enough to find the button to call my tech so she could come and unhook me.

Before I knew it, it was 7 in the morning and they were waking me up. She took all of the wires off and I went to see myself in the mirror. Pretty – not! Red marks from the felt pen and red marks from where the tape had been on my neck decorated me. My hair, well, it had been gelled with stuff and I didn’t fully comprehend it. I was too slow, or so I thought, to take a shower before I came home so tried brushing it the best I could.

By that time, the doc was in to see me with some preliminary results. He showed me some of the graphs that had been produced during the night. He said that I was fine for an hour here and there but the rest of the time my breathing slowed way down and occasionally stopped. This was on an average of once a minute for about 30 seconds at a time. I didn’t really snore very often and that wasn’t the problem.



The chart is 5 minutes worth from the polysomnogram. On the bottom you can see the SAO2 which is the oxygen level. It should be in the high 90's but it slips down below 90 when my breathing slows down. You can see all of the things they had me wired for. The arrows point to where things slow down.

I do have Sleep Apnea, with apneas (when breathing stops) and hypopneas (when it slows down) and will have to come back to be fitted for a CPAP which helps keep you breathing. Under some circumstances they do that the first time you come but that didn’t happen. I am also going to be checked to see if I need something done to enlarge my upper nasal passages that would make it more effective.

I came home, planning to hop into the shower but I was too tired. Andrea came over and let us know the baby is breach and that they will try to turn h/she Sunday Morning. It was then time to take Bob to get zapped. I had forgotten about the gel in my hair and was so tired I didn’t really care. He started chuckling on our way to the radiation lab and said, “Do you remember the movie, “There’s Something About Mary?””

The Ant Time of the Year... or month or day

We've had ant problems in this house for longer than I can remember. It got much worse when we had the sewer put in. This morning Bob was noticing more ants on the right side of the sink than usual. He moved the coffee-maker and discovered a repeat of Alyssa's computer hub infestation (pictured at right).

Hundreds of the buggers were outside, under and inside the coffee pot. The fact that it is black made their presence more difficult to discover. By the time I got involved there was a definite dead-ant odor at the sink. I took over shaking them out and finally took it to the utility sink in the back porch. There was a little puddle where I had set it down. When I went back to look at it a bit later there was at least 50 ants floating in the puddle. I've drained it a few times and each time there are a lot more.

Those little dots in the picture from the utility sink are a few of the ants. Tiny, prolific, irritating ants. Our auxiliary nest just might need to be replaced since there aren't any screws that will allow us to open it up to clean it out.

Addendum... The pot is gone. There was no way to open it up so we could destroy the ants. There was a screw that held the whole thing together but we didn't have a screwdriver that would fit. As I began trying to pry open the bottom to see what we could see it smelled 'anty' - not the way breakfast is supposed to smell. Bacon, now that wouldn't be bad but odorous ant - ugh.

I finally got the bottom off by taking the small hammer Bob has had since he was a kid and whacked at the plastic around the screw. I could then pull off the bottom. Outside some more ants, it was surprisingly empty. I expected to see some sort of debris like I've seen in ant-hills outside. There were still some ants in there but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a cavity I couldn't get to where they were more entrenched. I thought I saw one ant with an egg but, unless there was some place where there was the normal nest, I not so sure now.

I ended up turning the hot water on and filled the pot and the sink with hot water. Hopefully we have eliminated one cozy ant home.

It looks like we will need something else to use to make coffee in. We had been a bit frustrated with this one. Bob had made comments just this past week about how he didn't like it. I couldn't easily see the filled mark and overfilled it a couple of times and it didn't have the capacity to pull the pot out and pour a cup while it was dripping. It did make good coffee, though, had an insulated carafe and fit under our low upper cupboards.

Happy V Day

I had a fun time with grandkids today. Bob has about an hour or two before and about a two hour window after he has his radiation treatment until he starts feeling lousy again so anything that keeps him away from home longer than that just doesn't happen. I dropped Valentines off for Becca and Alexis yesterday but they were napping so I missed seeing them.

Today after our trip to get Bob glowing, I drove out to the Ernst abode. The fog/low clouds were still hanging on when I got there so I knew I didn't want to be out there with no street-lights after dark. It was fun getting hugs from Zander and Natalie. She sat on my lap for quite a while and wanted me to "tell me stories about when _____ was little" as usual. She is sweet and consistent. I sometimes think that story-telling is a dying art but I think she may single-handedly keep it alive. We had gotten the kids little boxes of sweets. After chomping through one piece, they wanted to taste each others' and then wanted to share them with me.

Alyssa gave us one of her cookie-hearts. I just realized that I forgot it in my purse when I got home so I guess we'll have to share tomorrow. After a bit and a couple of "I'm hungry"s Alyssa got out her cookie cutters and sandwich fixings. She cut hearts out of bread and spread them with raspberry-cream-cheese (MMMMMM! good), topped that with raspberry jam which was then capped off with another bread-heart with a little heart hole cut into the middle so the pink/red inside could peek through. She made enough for everyone, but the eating came after photos for her blog. What fun she has with her bloggin.

Hayden was napping until just before I had to leave. He takes a while to wake up but I did get a smile out of him before I left. I took pictures (of course) but am about ready to crawl to bed now so they will have to wait.

On the way home I stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up some things for Bob. All of those things we are supposed to avoid were in my basket: white bread, Velveeta, 'white' macaroni.... You get the picture. All of the things you are 'supposed' to eat are to be avoided: whole grain anything, fresh fruit and vegetables, any thing in the cabbage/broccoli family, nuts, most milk products except for yogurt and buttermilk and Velveeta since they don't have lactose. He never has liked white bread.

When I finally got home he had already fixed some leftovers for himself. I made myself an open-faced toasted Velveeta sandwich in the toaster-oven... memories of childhood. We didn't have a toaster until I was in high-school or later. Mother made toast in the oven by toasting it under the broiler and Velveeta was the only yellow cheese I remember. The other cheese was Gjetost which is made from goat's milk whey. It probably would have tasted better with whole-grain bread like I had growing up but I went with what I used to consider to be the ultimate treat - store-bought sliced white bread. You toast the bread with the Velveeta slices on it and finish it by broiling it until the cheese bubbles up and browns a bit. It sticks to your teeth and probably doesn't appeal to many but I made myself a second one before I was done.

It wasn't the "Valentine's Day" one would necessarily dream of but it was a good day.