Sunday

I washed the doggie this morning after I had breakfast and worked on my YouTube pictures until about noon when I had lunch. After lunch I decided to go to the bowling alley to confirm that I am as bad a bowler as I think I am.

I was right, I bowled 6 lines with an 84 being my starting line. The next three were all over the place but by the time I got to the fifth I found my groove, such as it is and got a 144. I could not let that stand so I continued with one more just to see if I could improve and I did. My sixth line was 149. The more I bowled the more I realized what I was doing wrong and by the end of the session I felt pretty good about how I was doing. Now I must remember how to throw that ball when I get back in 3-4 weeks. Winter league starts again September 8th. I am hoping I can work up to a 150 average by next spring.

On the way home I filled the gas tank so it will be ready to go Wednesday. Tuesday I have the new tires put on the car then I'll come home and start packing for the big trip. I plan on popcorn and a movie this evening but before that I may attempt to post the first half of my Sandsation pictures on YouTube.

Saturday

 I got in the mood to continue on my Sandsations pictures but made so much work out of the project I doubt I will get it finished before leaving for Alaska next week. I am feeling much better health-wise and intended to visit the fishing hole for a while today but time just slipped by too fast. Tomorrow I plan on practicing bowling for an hour or so and that may help make up for the fact that I got no exercise at all today. The weather in this neck of the woods is not too bad, may have gotten to 80; certainly is nice, I'll say that. Anchorage was 69 today, expecting 49 tonight. They are having lots of rain this season.

Friday

ChiChi and I were tire shopping most of the morning. After lots of looking and pricing the decision was to buy four new Cooper tires right here in Castle Rock. The work will be done Tuesday afternoon and doggie and I plan on leaving Wednesday morning for the big trip North.

My plan after shopping was to stop by the fishing hole and help clean it up for the new fishing season. Things just did not work out that way; I found myself not feeling well and could tell the chest congestion was trying a comeback so I took the doggie home, had lunch and took a three hour nap. I was feeling much better when I awoke and turned on O'Reilly. Laura Ingram was sitting in his chair so I lost interest after a half hour and decided to get things caught up on the puter.

I did get my laundry caught up yesterday so the 'packing' part of my trip is going to be quite easy. I will be able to get all of that done Tuesday afternoon and install my sleeping arrangement before loading the car. If all goes well I will be arriving in Abbotsford, BC in the early afternoon Wednesday and spend the night with Sharon and Virgil.

My hope is to be back no later than the 26th because I do not wish to miss the Henion Family Get-Together in Olympia on that date.

Thursday

I am feeling much better today. If I were so inclined I could use my bowling results as an excuse to feel next to pretty bad but I won't take the trouble. I bowled 88-114-124. There is no way I am going to worry about it because I knew while I was there that I should have stayed home. Not because I was sick but because I was not feeling well enough to really give a darn how the bowling went. My muscles refused to cooperate with my brain so I just did the best I felt like doing and forgot about it. I was slowing improving my score and that is the most I can say for my results.

After bowling I stopped by Safeway then drove home. When I pulled in the garage I found Roy had the way blocked with a love chair he was trying to find a place for. I agreed to place it in my living room. He also had a small bedside table that needed a home so I put that next to my bed. One of these days I will get on the ball and rearrange furniture in the living room.

I'm really happy with the results of the work done by R&R Motors. The car is quieter than it has been in the past couple of years. Next week, if not before, I am going to put new tires on it and that will quiet it even more. My Cousin, Sharon and her husband Virgil phoned to let me know they are expecting me to stop by as I cross the border into Canada. She also reminded me that ChiChi needs up to date Rabies shots, which he has, and to not try to carry firearms into Canada. I assured them that there was no problem on either count.

I had eaten a large Burger earlier in the day so when dinner time rolled around I just had sliced apple and an ounce of Cheese. I think the lunch was just too much for me and I hardly touched the French fries that came with it.

We are enjoying very nice weather around here today, I'm sure it got above 80 degrees, not too shabby for Cowlitz County. Bring it on! I would like to see summer last until at least next May.

Wednesday

I had a long day today but it was fun for me. Not the best thing for Ron but he was in good care as he went through his surgery ordeal. He arrived at 4:30Am for the drive to Clackamas and it was a bit after 5:30 that we parked in the garage down there. The doors did not open until 5:45 so we enjoyed the day brightening while we shivered on the cold steel benches they have available. He was called by the nurse at 6:15 and the 'track' of his progress flashed 'Surgery' at 7:30. I relaxed and may have even fallen asleep a few times until 8:30. That was when I discovered I had not eaten for four hours so I walked to the cafeteria for some much needed bacon and eggs. I arrived back at the waiting room about 9:30 and relaxed for another hour before I noticed the 'track' said 'Recovery'. It was not long after that that I was called to the recovery room, Bay 19, and found him alive and well,wanting to get home. He showed me an Xray picture of his left thumb that showed the joints fused together and held in place by a stainless steel bar and four screws. His hand was wrapped from the tips of his fingers to the elbow and he was feeling good because he was feeling nothing. While he was getting released I visited the pharmacy for him and picked up some pain meds he will be using for the next week or so. We were on the way home before noon. However we were not on the freeway more than a minute when he wanted to get off and find an Espresso. We got lucky and found one in a most unlikely place near a side street. He jumped out of the car and returned with an Espresso for himself and a hot chocolate for me. It was really a good hot chocolate too! We then hopped back on the freeway, me driving , of course.

By the time we got to Kalama his bladder was bursting so we had to get off on a side road and found a little restaurant in a RV Park that allowed him to relieve himself. By now the pain was reminding him of the same previous surgery on the other hand. He popped the cap on the meds I had picked up for him and took one, I think it was one, then decided he wanted to make a stop in Longview to buy a pocket knife he had spotted a few days ago. It was my feeling that the pain meds were getting to him but I drove to the store and he went in to make the purchase. I will be interested to see if he remembers any of this after the meds wear off. It was in the neighborhood of 2PM when we got him home. After things settled down Caren drove me to R&R Motors and I picked up my car. The rattle has been fixed [a loose bolt] and the oil pressure sender is working well enough but there is a chance the gage is haywire. I'm not going to worry about it, tests show that I have plenty of oil pressure. There was no charge for any of the above so Chris, who does the work took it upon himself to change the oil because he knew I was getting ready to make my drive to Alaska in a few days. I'm glad that was done, next on the list is a new set of tires before I start burning rubber in a Northerly direction. The oil change came to $52.00 so it was a cheap day. Those are the best kind, you know.

I expect to be feeling pretty good when I go bowling tomorrow, I would like to do well, at least better than last week, which was not too bad!

Tuesday

I am feeling much better today and I must say it feels better to be feeling better. I have spent the last four days with nothing but rest and lots of fluids on my mind. I knew this morning that things were much better but since I had no other plans I spent most of the day being lazy. I did get a shower and that perked me up a lot too. The computer was never turned on all day, I am behind on my chess games and my email but that is a small price to pay for getting better.

I delivered my car to R&R Motors this afternoon so it will be there in the morning when they start looking for that rattle and the oil pressure sending device problem. Caren picked me up and drove me home; early tomorrow Ron is stopping by to pick me up so I can drive him home from his one day surgery he is having in the morning in Portland.

Perhaps you have heard of the Balloon Boy, well we have a Closet Boy in the family. While in Long Beach this weekend little Colt walked into a closet and turned the dead bolt against his favor. He was unable to turn it back to unlock the door so the maintenance man had to be called to open the door. That is when the problems really began. The maintenance man discovered he did not have a key to that dead bolt. In the meantime little Colt was screaming his head off in that dark closet. It turns out the door had to be removed in a very ungentlemanly way to rescue the little guy. All is well now and Colt seems to be doing just fine.

I'm glad I'm feeling better because I am still planning on feeling well enough next week to begin my trip to Alaska. I also want to go bowling tomorrow and have a good day at that before leaving for another extended stay on the road. Winter Bowling league begins on September 8th and if all goes the way I am hoping some of that time will be missed because of a long trip to Mexico. Do you think that can happen? We will just have to wait and see, I have to check with my doctor about that 55% Kidney Function test first. Got to see how he feels about my going.

This was a good day, I'm up and walking, can't beat that. I also have an appetite, that is a good sign too.

I have recently been very lazy but I know it has been for a good cause, well worth every boring minute of it!

Monday

 I decided when I got up this morning that this would be another lost day. I have done nothing more than the absolutely necessary all day. I think the rest I am getting is helping me beat this thing and I don't mind being just as lazy tomorrow. I had wanted to go bowling but decided that would have been a silly thing to do. Doggie wanted to go walking both yesterday and today and I hated to turn him down but I can not see that helping me at all. I feel things are getting better, I will be fine in a day or so.Hope hope.

Sunday

. I have not been feeling in top form today so there was not a lot to mention when I sat down here to deliver my daily report. The sun was out and the weather was nice and warm, that made me feel a lot better than I would have. I spent a few minutes editing the pictures I took yesterday but the excitement was not there so I gave that up and read myself to sleep several times. I hoped to go bowling but that didn’t happen either, we shall see what tomorrow brings.

Saturday

. I left the house at 9:30 to drive to Long Beach and enjoy the Sandsations. I have never been up close to so many sand carvings. The crowd was having a good time and there were a lot of people making up the crowd. A lot of them also had their dogs, I had no desire to take ChiChi and I am happy I didn’t. He does not get along well with other dogs and a few of them down there felt the same way. I took more pictures today than at any other event I ever had my camera at. I feel some of them will come out just fine and a few that I really want will not. Too often I found myself shooting into the sun and that is not good. Ron and Caren were there with the boys, the boys were having a ball in that icy Pacific water, brrrrrr. I took pictures until the tide got too close, it would have been fun to have stayed around and watched the carvings bite the dust but I felt it was time to get my body home. I have a very deep cough that comes on every half hour or so so I am going to baby myself a bit and see if I can get that to go away. I got home about 5:30 and got some stir fry in my tummy before sitting down at the puter and recording my active day. The weather was great, 76 at the beach and about 86 here at home. Bring it on! I’m loving it!

NASCAR is on this evening so I am going to post this then pig out in front of the TV for a while.

Friday

I spent most of the morning working on my pictures of Oregon Lighthouses. It was shortly after lunch that I got them posted to YouTube…………….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR2rocyj4Zk

Check them out. ChiChi and I walked for an hour today, the weather was nice, and that has been rare around here this month. I have developed a cough, have no idea where that came from. I am considering going to Long Beach tomorrow to get pictures of the Sand Castles before the tide comes in. We will see how I feel about it in the morning.

Thursday

  I had an appointment with my Kidney Doctor this afternoon after bowling. I also had my Protime check while I was there. My Kidney function is at  55% and the doctor told me that is to be expected because the medicines I am taking to keep my heart strong does a job on the kidneys. I don't know which one will give up first, the kidneys or the heart. It is what folks with congestive heart failure are confronted with. I am just going to keep on keeping on as long as possible and take one day at a time.

My bowling scores were not too great at 144-144-138 but it does show consistency. I would be happy if I could be above 150 on a regular basis and break 200 once or twice a month. I think more practice will help that a lot.

I helped Melvin get his boat out of the water this morning. Another fishing season has ended. As far as boat fishing is concerned. Just about two weeks more should see the salmon enter the river, I plan on spending time trying my luck but that will be after my drive to Alaska. My next Protime check is August 18th and I expect to be home by that time.

After getting the boat back to the Mels place I stopped by Bernita's place for a haircut then had a light lunch before starting for the bowling alley. The lunch turned out to be too light so I had a hamburger while bowling then fixed a light dinner at 4PM when I got home. It was not long after that that O'Reilly came on TV so my computer time today was limited to this evening. I will get my chess games caught up tomorrow morning, I expect.

I considered some practice bowling yesterday but I got busy with my picture project and let it slide. I am sure it would have helped.

I am happy with some of my Lighthouse pictures but none of them are really 'winners'. The sun was not out much and that takes a lot away from good pictures, especially for amateurs who usually don't have any idea what they are doing. It was fun trying though! My editing program cleans things up a lot and put some color in the scenes that I never saw there before. I really like the Panorama feature of the program, that is something new I am just now learning. Also, using captions on the actual pictures rather than narration is an improvement. I just have to remember to write down more info about each picture I take as I travel along.

This weekend is Sandsations at Long Beach, since it is going to be a nice day I am tempted to drive down and take pictures of the sand sculptures. That would be fun to post on YouTube too!

Wednesday

Happy Birthday, Caren!. . . . I was up and out early for my blood draw. I then had breakfast at the hospital cafeteria while waiting for my bladder to fill so I could leave a sample. I stopped by Safeway on the way home and after leaving there I dropped in on Jiffy Lube to check up on my claim for damages concerning my radiator. The Manager was not in so I will try again tomorrow. I also made an appointment with R&R Motors for next week. That rattle they had fixed last month is back and I want the car in top shape before starting out for Alaska next month. The rest of the day was wasted away on the computer. Never did go walking, the weather was really good for it though.

Tuesday

.Spent a good share of the day working on my Oregon Coast pictures. I hope to get that posted to YouTube in a few days.

ChiChi and I did our 45 minute walk today, the walk was nice but the breeze was a bit cool and threatening rain. We got in a nap this afternoon, well deserved. Terri had Laprascopic [spelling?] surgery so she is healing quickly and feeling good. More tests to come later though so she is still on pins and needles about her future. I posted first pictures of my trip on YouTube this morning: Type in celford52 on your Google browser and you will find a link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v​=wRCiZ4xjC-g This one might work too. Today I will start on the Oregon Coast part of the trip. Oregon did not have really nice weather but I did get to see all of the lighthouses. A couple were from great distances but I did get pictures. It was a fun trip and I am looking forward to Alaska next month.

Tomorrow I have doctor appointments and blood draws, the usual checkup stuff then Thursday I get to try bowling again.

Monday

I had the laundry room buzzing by 6AM. My laundry is now all caught up and ready for  the next big adventure, probably Alaska. I also had a one hour nap before lunch so it would seem my sleep is all caught up too. I loaded my pictures on to the computer this morning and am in the process of making two more presentations to put on YouTube. The first one is pictures of the East side of the Cascades and Yosemite Park. The second one will be pictures of the lighthouses on the Oregon coast from south to north. There are only eleven lighthouses so most of the pictures are of the rocky coast and waves rolling in. During the whole trip I ended up with three really nice pictures, that is a bit below my average but not bad. ChiChi and I had a nice walk to the river and back. I was surprised it took only 40 minutes today, it usually takes an hour. The weather was overcast and warm but still I wore a sweatshirt. Perhaps the temperature got to 70 during our walk.

Sunday, One week later

 Sunday. . . I arrived home at 9PM last night. I showered and went to bed immediately. This morning after breakfast I put my car back in order and washed it before going back to bed and getting some more sleep. At 4PM I drove over to Caren and Ron’s to get my doggie. He seemed happy to see me and was really excited in the car coming home.  I have posted the Cardboard Regatta on You Tube. Thirty or forty pictures I took a couple of weeks ago in Longview. Cardboard boats are fun to watch, some of them sink right away and a lot of them do a good job of racing around the lake. Check it out. I got a note from Terri, her surgery went well but it is not yet known if the doctors have removed all of the cancer. Lets hope so!   On my trip I added 2750 miles to the odometer and had no trouble with the car. Another rattle has developed though, it sounds a lot like the same ball joint I had repaired last month. I will have it looked at  before starting out to Alaska in August.

Saturday

. . .I spent the morning packing for my trip. The biggest part of the job was removing the passenger seat from the car so I could install my bed.

The packing itself was easy-five minutes, tops. I also had  phoned the Merlin Heart Monitor Company to tell them I would be out of town for 10-12 days. The same for the Day Link monitor that keeps an eye on my weight, sleeping habits and water retention. The Day Link machine is a scale that also asks questions via a computer hookup and transmits the answers to the nurses who monitor such things. Most interesting. I monitor my BP and furosemide intake.. . . . It is a shame that Terri is unable to make the trip; she is on her way to Hawaii for surgery because of  a lump on her intestine. That was a last minute change in plan!

This afternoon ChiChi and I walked for an hour and later in the day I delivered him to Ron and Caren’s place for a ten day visit. I hope that goes well, I will know more when I return around the 20^th. Caren had steak for dinner so I stayed for that, good job, Caren! Thanks!

Friday

.Today for exercise I chased the vacuum around the house and filled the washing machine for its weekly load. Later, when I checked the dryer I found the heating unit had failed so Roy offered me his dryer. He said he would get mine back into working order while I am gone next week. I took my wet laundry to his place for drying then had lunch. After lunch and putting the dried clothes away I took a much needed one hour nap. I did some reading later in the day and took out the trash during one of those lucky breaks in the clouds when the sun came out. Never did get ChiChi out for a walk, the temperature was just right for walking but we didn’t walk. My bad.

Thursday

  Bowling was extra fun today because the first three balls I threw were strikes! the scores were 151-147-154.

I was pretty perky as the day wore on, it felt good to be in the groove and doing well. Our team won the three games and except for one guy on the other team I was the high scorer. He was only 30 some points ahead of me so the two teams were well matched. On my way to bowling this morning I dropped ChiChi off with Ron, Caren and the boys. Again, he laid an egg on the dining room carpet while my back was turned. Crazy dog, he's going to see God one of these days. Caren drove him into town with her today and she said he did really well. She was also able to hold him and pet him. I'm glad to see him getting used to others. . . . Terri's biopsy did not turn out well so she is going to miss our drive South next week. She has an appointment with a surgeon in Hawaii and is leaving Portland on Saturday. I will head South on Sunday to see an ex-brother in law and his wife in Palmdale before driving to Sun City to see if an old friend is still alive. She must be ninety and is blind. I have not heard from her in a year and fear bad news when I knock on her door. My plan after that is to drive back the coast route and take pictures of the eleven lighthouses in Oregon. I will not be staying long at any location so it will be a fast trip as far as I know right now.

Wednesday

Wednesday. . . .I delivered ChiChi to Caren about 10AM. We went walking for about 15 minutes before I turned around to get back to the car for my drive to Beaverton. The doggie was not happy to see me go but Caren said he calmed down after I got out of sight. She said the day went well with him and I will take home over there tomorrow while I go Bowling. I arrived at Borders in Beaverton a bit after noon and took Terri to lunch. She had not yet heard her biopsy results so we drove over to Ben and Jeans for an afternoon visit. While we were there the lab called to tell Terri that the results would not be competed until tomorrow. They are to phone her when they are ready. I got back to Caren’s place about 8:15 and visited for a short time before driving home. After getting home and feeding the old dog I enjoyed the fresh strawberry shortcake Caren had given me, isn’t she nice?

Tuesday

Tuesday…….Doggie and I drove to the fishing hole again today. No fish but I did get my daily exercise shoveling sand out of the sitting area. There is still a lot to shovel and when I get the sitting area cleared the fire pit [it is at waist level] and the cupboard [same level] will need to be shoveled off. I was home and hungry at 3:30. The weather has turned comfortable, I hope it lasts until next June. It was in the high 70’s at the rivers edge.

Monday

 ChiChi and I didn't get to go walking today. I captured him this morning and gave him a much needed bath. There is no need for me to leave him with Caren and Ron while so dirty. After he was almost dry I put him in the car along with my fishing pole and we drove over to the fishing hole on Larsen Lane. He proceeded to get sand all over himself but what else is new, he's just a dog. . . . While there I decided to start cleaning out the steps leading down the dike to the river. I was really surprised that it only took about an hour to complete the job. The work went really fast and though I stopped several times I never really did get tired. I started cleaning out around the fire pit too but about that time Mel arrived and we visited until I began to realize I was getting hungry and it was time to get home. Doggie and I arrive home about 3:30 and ate some cheese and apple with a small handful of home made trail mix I have on hand. That will hold me until later in the evening when I raid the freezer for a couple of scoops of ice cream. I caught no fish, of course.

Sunday

I went bowling this afternoon, 100 115 124 133 and the last line I don't remember. I do know I averaged 118 for the five lines. That may mean I will do well on Thursday. After leaving the bowling alley I drove over to Ron and Carens to pick up doggie. I took him over there to help him get acquainted so when I leave him with them for 8-10 days he will not be able to complain that I left him with strangers. He slipped out of his leash once and Caren had to put on leather gloves to capture him and put it back on. She held him for a while and one time after she removed the gloves he did clamp down on her hand but not enough to hurt. She was patient with him. I also sat with Ashton helping him learn chess, he surprised me by setting up the pieces without any help from me. That is good considering he has done it only once before..... As I was walking out the door Ron gave me an apple fritter that I inhaled on the drive home. Those things are really good, that is why I don't buy them at the store. Well, it is time to pop my Sunday evening Popcorn so I'll call it a day.

Saturday

 Ron and Caren were taking Ashton and Colter to the Cardboard Boat races at the Lake today and asked me if I would like to meet them there. I arrived at about 10:45 along with the entire population of the county. Thanks to the cell phone I was able to find them but once the races started I wandered off to take pictures and never saw them again. Those boats are supposed to be made of cardboard but I did see some of the paddle wheels with thin plywood paddles. I captured a lot of exciting moments with the still camera but next year it would be a good idea to get it all on video. The boat from the Longview PD sank and left 6 cops swimming to shore, that was fun. I will have a good time putting together a short presentation to publish on YouTube. One problem I had was discover at 12:30 that the batteries in the camera died. I then inserted the two rechargeable batteries I had brought with me and found them to also be dead. It took me 20 minutes to walk to the car for fresh batteries and return. After the races ended I drove to Caren and Ron's place to return the food containers they had sent me home with last time I visited. Caren printed out a Potato Pie recipe for me to try and Ron gave me enough meat to make several dozen of the pies. I doubt I will use that much meat in a year. They are butchering again soon and need the room in their freezer. I no longer have a lot of room in my freezer. Caren is a good girl! I also talked to them about leaving ChiChi with them during the trip to So. Cal. and the lighthouses we are going to visit. They were OK with the plan and we decided it might be a good idea to get the doggie used to different surroundings so I am going to take him over there tomorrow and drop him off when I go bowling. I think it would be a good idea to do that several more times before leaving for the trip South...... My original plan this morning was to stop by the bowling alley after leaving the boat races but I was not in the mood so I will make up for it tomorrow. I ate a 50 cent slice of pizza and a Pepsi while I was there. It cost five dollars. I sure hope it went to a worthy cause.. . . After getting home and making room for the frozen meat in my refrigerator I read for a while and relaxed. The temperature got to above 80 today, It is a shame to have to wait until summer is half over before it gets warm around here. Did you know the longest word in the English language is Quitchurbellyachin? Perhaps I'm wrong about that.

Friday

I feel OK about my bowling Thursday, I feel I am learning a bit more each time I throw the ball, it just takes a lot of throwing to get to the point that one throws it exactly the same each time. If it is done perfectly those pins come falling down! Getting it perfect time after time is very difficult. That was yesterday's exercise, today ChiChi and I walked down to the river and back. That took an hour and I started out with the wrong shoes on and realized it as soon as I got to Pleasant Hill Road [300 feet] but like the nut I am I continued. My poor toe was really complaining when we got back an hour later. I am really happy I have the Icy Hot gel to smear on that foot when I get home. All will be fine by bedtime and for the next few days I will remember and wear the correct shoes when walking. I am going to make sure I take the correct shoes on the tenth when the trip to take pictures of the light houses on the coast begins.