January

Monday 31^st. . . . . Took some time going through my closets and dressers today, going to toss out a bunch of stuff that I no longer wear or no longer want around.  I will be moving into a smaller place one day and a lot of unnecessary junk is the last thing I need. I have a lot of camera and video equipment that is no longer up to date and have no idea what to do with…….. I will never use it again since I am now all digital and don’t know anybody who would want the older stuff……Turned out to be a slow, lazy, sometimes rainy day. Not too cold though, that is always nice.

January

Sunday 30^th.      I am happy to report that my sore toe did not get in the way of my bowling today. 149-180-113-140 for four lines. If those numbers were not correct they were very close. My average for the day turned out to be 146 so I was pleased enough. . . . After bowling I stopped by Wal-Mart for some shopping, mostly groceries, and no ice cream. I was home early in the day and spent the evening in front of the TV.. . . . The Pro Bowl was very disappointing so I switched to 48 Hours, and checked in during commercials. At 6pm I found a movie on demand that I liked so I popped the popcorn and sliced an apple to eat for the time it lasted. It was a good day but the ball game was a let down.

January

Saturday 29^th…….By 10:30 this morning I had worked up the courage to look at my sore toe. The toe next to the big toe is the one that looks the worse for wear. At the moment I can’t tell which one hurts  worse but I expect they will both heal with no serious problems, I did not remove the band aid from the big toe. I’m going to leave that alone for a while. It might hurt when I pull on the band aid and the nail wants to come with it. I am not much for pain, you know.. . . .The day was spent napping in front of the TV while watching the news from Egypt. I tried hard  not eat too much because Ron and Caren were taking me out to dinner tonight and I was sure I would over do it at the restaurant. I know I did last night when Bill treated me. The Prime Rib I ordered was just the way I like it and the baked potato was very tasty too. Colter went to dinner with us, he wanted to drive but Ron wouldn’t let him. Ron can be a real spoil sport at times. Colter enjoyed the elevator, he took Ron up and down a couple of times. Ron would tell him which floor button to push and he had no problem. We all had a good time. They dropped my off at the house about 6:30. Just in time for me to jump into my PJ’s and bring my chess games up to date for the third time today before watching some TV commercials. It was a good day.

January

Friday 28. . . . I had a weird dream during the night and in the process of the dream I ended up kicking the devil out of some guy. The first couple of swings with my right foot didn’t seem to do much good so I took another harder one. The last kick woke me up with a throbbing and bloody toe. My right big toe had come in contact with the dresser next to the bed. That was when the dream ended and reality took over. I new it hurt but I didn’t look at it till morning and when I did I found blood on my foot and  on the bedding too. I went to the bathroom sink to clean up the toe and found there was no color in the big toenail. I guess it had been broken at the quick and the blood supply has been cut off. It is a sick blue/gray color. I wrapped a band aid around it and I am sure that when I remove it in a week or so the nail will come with it. There is a bit of pain when I walk but with a little luck it will not get in the way of a good bowling score next time I try. My poor toe has a booboo. Heck of a way to start a new day. . . . .Bill offered to take me to dinner for my Birthday so today was the day we did that. I drove into Longview and picked him up and we had dinner in Castle Rock at the 49ER. I had a pretty good steak and brought enough of it home to have steak and egg breakfast two days in a row. We had a good time driving in a rain storm, it stopped by the time we got out of the Castle Rock area but it was really coming down for a while. It turned out to be a good day. Even with the rain.

January

Thursday 27^th. . . . I did much better bowling today, 153-138-150 for a 147 average. That is 12 points above my league average so I am most happy with my results. The darn chest cold I was complaining about a couple of weeks ago has returned so I didn't attend the team 'meeting' afterward. I did stop by Caren and Ron's place for a few minutes but Caren was not home. She was out running errands with BB. Ron was busy around the house while Colter was napping. He told me Colter is fine again and doing all the things two year olds do. I didn't stay long because I was getting hungry and I wanted to get back in a relaxing mode. I wish there were a lot of exciting things to report from Larsen Lane but not much is happening that I have heard of. Sometimes that can be a good thing. I lost another chess game so now I am down to 1855. Still not too bad for a novice.

January

Tuesday 25^th. . . . I did laundry today. It was on my mind so I got it out of the way before I started working on my chess moves. Time was flying by and before I finished my chess moves the clock above the puter was reading 1PM. Had a fire going in the fireplace and my bowling ball was bleeding oil right beside it. It is surprising how much oil those balls pick up from the floor each week. I wipe it off with a paper towel and turn it about a quarter turn each half hour or so……Phoned Caren a few minutes  ago and was told that Colter is doing fine and is expected to be coming home tomorrow. I developed a slight cough earlier today, I’m going to get some extra rest tonight and hope to nip this in the bud.

This picture of Mom and me was taken about 1965. Madeline and Leonard sent it to me, perhaps I can get them to send some more. I  left all of my old pictures in California seven years ago.

January

Monday 24^th. . . . . Finished breakfast and had the kitchen cleaned up by 9am. I had four chess games waiting for me this morning, they were answered before I did anything else. I like to get to them early in the morning before my little brain finds other things to concentrate on.

I phoned Ron this morning, he told me Colter is doing much better and he will be in the hospital for another day, maybe two. Caren is with him so things are slowly getting back to normal. It was shortly after that that I left for the drive to Tigard. Terri had invited me down to spend the day with her and to celebrate my Birthday at a new nearby restaurant. It served Persian food and reminded Terri of Turkey when she was there visiting. I was on a cruise ship at one port in Turkey and did go on a half day excursion but don’t remember eating anything until I got back to the ship.

Terri picked up the tab and we drove to Borders to check out her new [expensive] laptop puter and learned we did not know how to connect to the free WiFi available there. The man behind the counter was nice enough to show us so all was well. I had Terri home by 6:30 and I arrived back at the house to a happy doggie and in time to catch O’Reilly at 8PM. It was a happy Birthday and I received more Happy Birthday messages via email than I have ever received before, thank you guys, you are the best!

January

Sunday 23^rd.. . . . . . Bowling was much better than I thought it was while I was practicing. Dave and I discussed several points that seemed to help a lot but because I was practicing I did not pay a lot of attention to the score board. I did notice at one time that I was doing especially well so I checked my score for the third line. It was a 207! Surprise, surprise. I have no idea what the other lines were but the final tally was 813 pins for 5 lines so I am pleased with the 162 average for the day.. . .  .I got home in time to watch the end of the Bears football game, I was cheering them on but to no avail. It would have been a great ending for the game had they won. Stopped at the market on my way home and stocked up on groceries. I am happy to report I did not buy  ice cream, first time in months, good for me, I say.. . . The first half of the Jets game was a disappointment, it is difficult to play well when you are limited to an average of 4-5 minutes per quarter. The second half was much more exciting and would have been great if the Jets had been able to overcome the score and win the game.. . . . .Caren phoned me about 6pm and asked me to keep an eye on Lizzy while she and Ron took Colter to the emergency room. They discovered the little guy unconscious on the kitchen floor. She was told it was a diabetic coma, as I write this he is being flown to a Portland hospital. I stayed with Lizzy until one of the other Foster Mothers came by to pick her up. I left the house shortly after 7PM.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b17jD6Q9tVw

January

Castle Rock Jail 1909

Saturday 22^nd……………Lots of clouds today but no rain. My friend Pepik in Prague called me on Skype this morning, it was about 8pm over there. Skype is a lot of fun but it would be better if Pepik used more lighting around his computer, his picture is not as clear as it could be…….. I found a way to retrieve the pictures I had stored on my previous blog so I will now be able to transfer some of them here. I have lost a lot of pictures in the past, I must go through my burned DVD’s to see if any are to be found there. Most of my DVD’s were used to store video though, I can’t remember saving many snapshots. I thought if I kept them on the puter I would have them forever, fat chance, when the puter went crazy last year I lost them all.

I am now the proud owner of a separate storage device I transfer things to periodically…….Resigned another chess game today, he was higher rated than I was but I still lost 12 points. I went from 1868 to 1856.

Cricket, ChiChi's Mother

January

Friday 21^st. . . . Had a fire going in the fireplace most of the day. Sat my bowling ball near the fire and the heat drew oil out of the ball. Every hour or so I would wipe off the oil  and turn the ball a half turn to cook the other side. I have been told it is best to not have an oily ball because it gets too slippery on the oiled woods of the alley……. It was something to do…… I fixed myself a thin New York steak with hash brown and eggs for lunch today. Now, that’s livin’! Everything was cooked just the way I like it. ……I experimented with placing a picture on the blog last night, I may do more of that. Especially pictures from my trip to Nova Scotia. The trip to Europe in March was mostly recorded on video and pretty poor quality. At least not good enough to put in here as snapshots. I still have a few snapshots to add to the blog, I’ll get to that as time goes by. The picture above is about 5 years old, when ChiChi was a nice doggie.

Cannon Beach, Oregon. Couple of years ago, just expermenting with this blog.

January

Thursday 20^th. . . ..  I lost another chess game last night after I posted my blog, I didn’t lose too many points though; the guy was higher rated than me. Still it is a loss, boo hoo. My car stayed in the garage after getting washed yesterday. Not a drop of rain fell during that time or while I backed out of the garage this morning; but as I turned to drive down Larsen lane it started. Such good luck!! I stopped by the lab for my protime check [3.0] before going on to the bowling alley for my weekly embarrassment. That turned out to be 161-126-117.  My league average is now 135 and today was 134. Dang it! I drove home with a bit or rain following me and got here in time to fix something to eat and settle down to watch O’Reilly. I shouldn’t be complaining, things are going OK.  After all, my chess rating is still at 1868. Life is good! And after his bath the dog does not smell so bad.

January

Wednesday 19^th. . . . .The hoses were frozen this morning but they thawed out early enough in the afternoon for me to wash the car. After coming in after that little chore I discovered ChiChi smelled like cow poop so I gave him a bath too. He knew it was coming because I ran water in the kitchen sink. He was difficult to hunt down and when I did find him he let me know that he was willing to bite me if I touched him. So I grabbed him quickly and waited for the pain. He was bluffing and although he did place his teeth against the skin of my hand he did not bite down. Lucky dog, he will live to see another day and be clean while doing it. . . . .We had a nice day, clear and cold but there was no snow and that is just about the best things can get around here in January. Tomorrow is bowling day, I am hoping I do well.

January

Tuesday 18^th. . . . I started the day on a downer…….Eva, my chess friend in Prague has defeated me, again, for the umpteenth time. I have been trying for years to truly win a game against her but have failed each time. She has gotten herself into trouble once or twice because she did not pay attention and I have won on those occasions but when she really settles down and does her best I have no chance in the hot place of winning. Life is tough at times.. . . . . I challenged her to another game. . . . . . Spent most of the day reading and watching the rain come down. I did get out to the mailbox between the raindrops. ChiChi liked that but he was unable to find any critters to chase. . . .  .I guess we all have our problems…………

January

Monday 17^th. . . . . MLK Day, the only man in our countries history who has a Federal  Birthday celebration all his own. Forty eight degrees in Castle Rock this morning. That means the snow is still melting and filling the rivers. All is well on the farm though, for the moment. I took a letter out to the mailbox today for pickup tomorrow. Had the TV on for a while and dutifully did my exercises while the commercials were on. I feel I did not do enough and attempted to cut down on my calorie intake for compensation. It would not have been a bad day to get out and walk down the road for half an hour but the mood just never hit me hard enough. Sometimes I’m just bad.

January

Sunday 16^th. . . . Still raining. Had my chess games  caught up by 10:30. That was after putting my new batch of chili in the freezer [four large containers] and cleaning up the kitchen and having breakfast.. . . I left at 11:45 to meet my instructor at the bowling alley. I practiced what he preached and paid no attention to the score. Good thing, the score was way down but I did pick up a few 7 and 10 pins that I found to be more important than score anyway.  He had a few suggestions that make delivering the ball a bit easier so I am going to practice that when Thursday comes around. Got home after the Seattle game ended but I guess that was not the most exciting game ever. . . . . . I ate a bowl of my new chili, not too bad but next time I will use tomato sauce and tomatoes instead of Picante. I watched some of the New England game but became disenchanted with the score so turned on a silly movie to watch while pigging out on popcorn and cheese.

January

Saturday 15^th. . . . Had a lazy morning. I did start another pot of chili though, had no tomatoes sauce so I used a jar of Picante in its place. That will change things tremendously, I hope it is edible. It might turn out to be just fine but somehow I doubt it. Drove over to see Ron, Caren and the kids for a while around noon. Caren had invited me for some of her famous spaghetti so of course I couldn’t turn that down. I returned in time to light a fire in the fireplace and settle in to watch the football game. It looked like Pittsburgh was getting kicked around so at half-time I turned on the puter and brought my chess games up to date for the second time today. I returned to the game in time to watch Pittsburgh score twice in three minutes to tie it up. It turned out to be a great game. Tomorrow is bowling practice, I’m looking forward to that.

January

Friday 14^th. . . .I just realized that Friday the 13^th fell on a Thursday this month. . . . . . Had my chess games caught up by 7:30 this morning. I was surprised to find only three opponents had left moves for me to respond to overnight. I challenged a man from Belarus last night and had two of his games waiting for me also.. . . . I left for Portland a bit after 10AM to spend the afternoon visiting with Terri Lynn. She just got back from a six week break in Hawaii. Lucky lady. I delivered her Birthday present  and her Christmas gift  that she missed earlier because she was not around. We had lunch then went to Borders book store and she turned on her new Mac notebook since they have free WiFi and we enjoyed learning how that animal works. It certainly is a nice machine, but way out of my price range. We stayed at Borders until the Friday night traffic subsided. We walked out to the cars about 6:30 and I drove home in time to turn on O’Reilly at 8PM. It was raining very hard when I left Castle Rock but by the time I reached Portland it stopped. On the way home the rain started again about two miles south of my off ramp and I was so disappointed I refused to turn on my windshield wipers for the last three miles home. I watched O’Reilly then decided to check in on the puter to post this before going to bed. I have to be tired but for some reason it has not yet hit me. I expect to sleep like a baby tonight, but what else is new?

Thursday

Thursday 13^th. . . . . .Still raining and the outside temperature  is over 50 degrees. The happy thing is that it can’t snow at that temp. The bad news is that the snow  in the mountains could be melting. That is bad for the river and those of us in the flatlands below flood level. As of this evening the river has come up close to five feet in the past 24 hours.. . . . I went in to town for my bowling exercise today. Bowled three games with an average 12 pins above my usual efforts. It came out to 147 for the day. After  bowling our team had a meeting [Lindy’s Bar] so I stayed around until almost 4PM. After buying some more ice cream I hurried home to catch O’Reilly at 5 O’Clock.

My favorite Thursday night commercials come on at 8pm and I plan on being in bed and asleep shortly after that. It was a good day.

January

Wednesday 12^th. . . . . I was up at 6:30 and was surprised when I looked at the thermometer reading of 40 degrees. Of course I was hoping for higher reading later in the day but that never happened. . . . . .  Anon Amos asked me to share my chili recipe but I have no idea what I put in it. Hamburger, beans, red chili peppers, sometimes a can of corn, usually tomato sauce and or tomatoes, fresh or canned, I don’t know. Perhaps I should pay attention next time and write it down. It tastes different each time.. . . .The rain fell continuously all day, the sky was dark, I needed a lamp on to read even when sitting right next to the living room window. The fireplace was cooking enough to keep the forced air from kicking on. That makes it easier on the electric bill but the back of the house cools off somewhat.. . . . .Rained the entire day, I hope it was cool at the higher elevations so the river will stay inside dike.

January

Tuesday 1-11-11. . . . I have been told that folks are having trouble placing comments on my blog. I have now changed the procedure and would like someone or all of you to at least put a “Hi’ in there letting me know it was done with no trouble. Comments would be appreciated. It was almost 10AM before I realized that I had a lunch date with the ‘52’ group today at 11:00. It turned out to be no problem because I had already done all of my important stuff around here and had time to dress for the occasion. I stopped by to see Bill for a short visit before having lunch and telling lies with the gang. I arrived back in Castle Rock about 12:30 and stopped by the Pharmacy for my meds and found that I needed to contact the doctor about one of them. After phoning them I discovered I had to drive back into Longview for a blood draw. At $3.25 per gallon this gets expensive. I took doggie with me, it is time for him to learn how to obey himself in the car. He did very well but started shaking with excitement when we returned to the driveway and I rolled down the window to retrieve the mail from the box. He was disappointed when the window was rolled up again. He was happy to be home but I am sure he will be ready to go next time too.

January

January 10, 2011. . . . .  Monday morning, broken clouds with promises of showers as the day progresses. It was 10:00 before I had my chess moves all caught up. I have taken the last of my frozen chili out of the fridge. Might be a good idea to make another pot to have on hand when I am too lazy to cook anything else. By noon it was apparent that we were going to have a very nice day sans warmth. I drove into Longview to bowl three lines and came away from there with a 158 average. That was fun and before coming home I stopped by PetCo to buy some potty pads for ChiChi, I am going to try to teach him to use them because when we move into an apartment it is going to become a necessity. After getting home I fell asleep in the recliner for a well earned nap before putting in a load of laundry. By 4:30 that was done and the clothes were put away. All caught up again. Turned on the Oregon football game, pretty exciting! Too bad they lost in the last seconds.

January

Sunday 9^th……It was 9:30 before I had my chess games all caught up today. Some of those guys are much better than me and it makes it very difficult to produce a good showing. I decided to drive into Longview for my Sunday bowling lessons but found after arriving  they were having some kind of big doings taking place. All of the lanes were full so I climbed back in the car and came back to the nice warm fireplace and a very happy doggie. This evening I watched a movie with Robin Williams and enjoyed some popcorn and cheese.

January

Saturday 8^th. . . . . Lost another chess game this morning, I resigned about 4 moves from defeat. My rating has dropped to 1847, boo. It was almost noon before I had my games caught up, I had eleven moves to make and it took a while…… Terri just HAD to phone this morning to remind me how wonderful the weather is in Hawaii these days. She added that she is flying back on the 12^th, I told her she will get here in time to enjoy a nice snow storm. That didn’t take any wind out of her sails, how can anybody care about stuff like that when they are in Hawaii? Let the truth hit when she lands in Portland. By 2pm I had won a game that brought my rating back up to 1859. I was riding high! Seattle played a fun game of football this afternoon, that was nice to watch. I hope Barbara got to see it.

She might be busy campaigning for Mayor of Heaven though.

January

Friday 7^th. . . . .Another lazy day, visited Bernita at 11 am for a haircut then stopped by to see Ron, Caren and the kids for a while before coming home. The rainy weather gives me a good excuse to stay home where it is dry and warm. Last night a critter got into the garbage sack that was in the garage. This happened after I went to bed and doggy ran him off into a tree behind the house. I got out of bed to investigate all the noise and that just seemed to cheer ChiChi into more barking and carrying on. I cleaned up the mess inside and today after picking up more trash in the back yard I installed a screen over most of the doggie door leading into the yard. I was told those critters can get through any hole ChiChi can get through so perhaps it is a lost cause. Time will tell. The exercise was good for me, I’m sure.

January

Thursday 6^th. . . . .I was out of bed by 6:30. I have no idea what that was all about except perhaps because I had an unfinished blog from yesterday to be posted I was unable to stay in bed any longer. It is darker than the dickens at that ungodly hour, you know? I had two pieces of toast and a glass of orange juice before sitting down at the puter to catch up on the doings of the world. The last chess game I had to address was studied and the move sent off to wherever, Iran I think, by 9:30 am. I then got myself cleaned up and dressed for going out. I turned on the Senate debates and fell asleep waking up at 11:50, just in time to be too late to get to the bowling alley. No games had started by the time I arrived so no harm done. My bowling scores were all over the place, 104-175- 112. That made me three hairs under my average but I was still unhappy because I know very well I can do a lot better than that. I left the bowling alley and drove to the Wal-Mart Super store for some more grocery shopping [I’m almost out of ice cream again] and got home after 4pm. After putting away the groceries and preparing dinner I watched O’Reilly while eating. When that was over it took me a while to clean up my mess in the kitchen and get my pajamas on. As I write this it is 6:30 pm and I am pooped out. There are a couple of shows coming on TV at 8PM I hope to stay up for; I’ll use a bowl of ice cream as incentive to stay up. I usually eat the ice cream while my favorite shows are on. Someone told me it is less fattening that way.

January

Wednesday 5^th. Woke up to rainy weather, as expected. Looks like it will continue for a while. At least the next six months. I forgot about posting my blog on this date so here I am the next morning trying to remember all that went on yesterday. Caren met me in Castle Rock about 11:30 and introduced me to the manager of an apartment house that looked promising. The places are small and they take little doggies so I was interested enough to complete an application and submit it for their approval. I have no idea when or if I will hear from them but I am certainly in no hurry so the wait will not be a bother. I delivered the app. To the office in Longview and was home again by 2pm. The rest of the day was TV commercials and reading.

January

Tuesday 4^th. . . .The PUD man stopped by this morning with a final notice on the electric bill. Evidently there has been a mix up regarding the way the bill is to be paid through the estate. I drove into Longview and paid it. It will all get straightened out when the estate finally settles. I was home again and had my chess games caught up by noon-thirty. The morning really went fast, I was getting hungry and was surprised so much time had gone by since breakfast. For the first time in many days the wind chimes on the front porch are moving. Not moving enough to tinkle, but they are moving. Rain is falling about 30 miles West of the mouth of the Columbia River. Could be here soon. Present time is 12:35 pm. I made another blunder in one of my chess games, the story of my life. By 3:30 the little wind movement we had has died down, the fire is crackling along in the fireplace.. . . . By bedtime the storm has rain falling about 30 miles north of here but it looks like our rain will arrive later, fine with me.

January

Monday, Third. . . . This has been another day without wind, no air movement has been reported at the airport in Kelso for about 5 days. This is, I am convinced, the calm before the storm.. . . . . It took me until 11:30 to get my chess games caught up. All of my opponents are stronger than I so the time needed to stay even with them becomes more and more difficult to find. My birth defect has an effect on my chess games too: no brain. .. . . . . Went bowling again today, wanted to see if Dave’s suggestions helped. My first game was a 161 and I thought ‘Wow’. The next three were not as good so I ended the four lines with a 545, 136 average. I feel I can do much better so I will continue in the hopes my feelings pay off…..This evening I watched my favorite commercials on Monday night TV and was in bed before 10PM.

January

Sunday 2^nd. . . . Another frosty and almost clear morning. I lost another chess game so my rating has dropped ten points to 1852. I can remember a few years ago when I wished I was as good as 1850. The game takes a lot of perseverance and no one has perseverance like a man who sells insurance. Or so I have been told.. . . . . Went bowling today, really did not do well at all. Dave, my instructor showed up sometime during my second line and watched for a while. He had a couple of suggestions that I tried and found very awkward but he said I was doing better so I continued. After a while things started to jell and he left. My last line was 154 and I felt better about things. My average for the day was 126. I might go down there again tomorrow to continue with Dave’s suggestions. Since I am a member of the league it is cheap enough to practice; it costs more for gasoline than 5 lines of bowling. I made a stop or two on the way home and still arrived before 4:30. The garage door surprised me by shutting down automatically when it closed. It has not been doing that; perhaps my cussing at it the other day had some effect. Like my doggie, I expect it to fall back into its bad habits any time.. . . . Watched Seahawks football tonight while enjoying my popcorn and cheese. I was thinking of Barbara while the game was on; she would have loved watching Seattle win. It was the only football game this season that kept my attention to the very end.

January

Happy 2011 Saturday 1^st. . . . As I turned on my puter this morning I was surprised to find Eva and Pepik calling me from Prague. They are the couple Terri and I spent a few days with last March while we were passing through. I met Eva several years ago via the chess site we both belong to. I find Skype to be a fun way to stay in touch but I do wish Pepik could get a better picture out of his camera. I don’t know what my video looks like at his end but he says it is a great picture. I introduced them to ChiChi through the camera this morning, now they know what I am talking about when I mention my killer dog. The call lasted about 30 minutes and cost nothing more than the Internet hookup. . . . . It was cold out this morning, close to 18, from the reading I got outside the kitchen window. That thermometer always is high because it is so close to the house. It was too cold for me to walk out to the open thermometer on the back porch. . . . . Although I did venture out to the garage to take a look at the broken spring. My plan was to check the temperature to see if I would be comfortable in my ‘Blizzard’ suit while working on the repair. One thing led to another and before I knew it the spring was replaced with a rusty one I found hanging on the wall and except for a bit of adjusting it worked just fine. I went inside to stoke the fire and warm up a bit before continuing. Never did put on my cold weather gear. I went out later to correct the fact that the door does not stay closed automatically. After it gets to the closed position it opens again. I have to do some tweaking, I guess.. . . .It was a cold day, but dry. That beats cold rain or snow.