WEDNESDAY

..................I spent a bit of the day hanging a couple of pictures that Terri had given me yesterday. I am also now the proud owner of one of her dads favorite clocks. It has been made from a tree stump or limb of a really dark colored wood. It is going to look good over the TV.  I will replace the clock motor tomorrow or the next day.  I have collected a lot of things for this place in the past two years, I hope I never have to move. Moving it all would be a real chore. I have enough trouble keeping it clean and dusted.

TUESDAY

................I had lunch with Terri this afternoon and visited for several hours at Starbucks in Tigard. She is in the process of cleaning out her local locker and getting her car ready for its shipment to Hawaii. We also mailed a package of stuff to her address in Hawaii, I wonder why we did not just leave the package in the car and let it arrive when the car arrives. Perhaps she will read this and wonder the same thing herself. It was sad saying goodbye but she expects to return for several weeks next summer so we will meet again, As soon as I win the lottery she and I will be taking a round the world cruise, that is something nice to look forward to. I was home by 7:30 and ChiChi was so upset that I had left him alone all day that he refused to eat his dinner [it was four hours late] for at least twenty minutes after I set it out for him. Poor dog...into each life a little rain must fall............

MONDAY

..................We have been having some very nice weather around here lately.
It has been cool at times but the lack of rain has been really great!.....I stopped by the bowling alley again today and came home happy enough. My first five lines added up to a 135 average and after giving myself a talking to the second five showed a 142.2 average. The day ended with a 137.3 average and since that is better than my league average I feel just fine with the world.  My high game was only 150 so that indicates consistency. Lookin' good!

SUNDAY

.................I drove in to the bowling alley late this morning. I threw eleven lines and averaged only 135. That was not the best in the world but the practice will do me some good eventually. I hope. When I got home I masked off the mirror on each side of the car and painted the black trim. It was showing a bit of wear after so many years of no more than an occasional waxing. It looks a lot better. Those little details add up to a better looking automobile each time I attend to one. If I am going to be driving cross country next month I want the car to look as good as possible.

SATURDAY

.........This was an OK day. The dog talked me into a 45 minute walk and that perked me up pretty much. I also got as far away from the house at the Post Office to get a package in the mail to Aunt Coral. While I was in town [Castle Rock] I left the car in the PO parking lot and walked around town looking at all of the Classic cars that were visiting today. There was even a '91' GEO setting in the mix. It won't be long and my '94' T-Bird will qualify. It was a little cooler today but at least no promise of rain any time soon.

FRIDAY

..............I took Caren to lunch today to celebrate her Birthday. As usual I ate too much so good bye diet for this entire week. This evening they invited me to go along with them to the County Fair. It was fun seeing all of the animals again. I was surprised to find that goats seem  to be much more popular than dairy animals or beef animals. Things have changed over the years. There were many different breeds of chickens available too. Some of the chickens at auction brought very high prices. I just don't know what the world is coming too! I got home after my bedtime but that did not stop me from enjoying my cookies and milk before calling it a day!

THURSDAY

.................Got to the bowling alley on time but only averaged 134 for the day. I didn't feel really bad because that is better than the average I have been holding in league play. At least I felt I helped the team. After bowling I stopped by the Market to stock up on Rum. I got out of the place with $85 having been deducted from my checking account. With prices like that I should give up drinking. 

WEDNESDAY

.....................The doggy talked me into a 45 minute walk this morning. I am glad I went because the rest of the day came to nothing. The weather was great, as soon as I hear of fish in the river I will be there with bells on.

TUESDAY

.....................Michael and Glenda stopped by for a few minutes today. It was nice to see them and we had a fine visit. They are on their way South on Hwy 101 to see the Oregon coast and to venture into California far enough to to visit the Redwoods. The weather is perfect for them! I am really happy for it turned out so nice; I remember telling Glenda on Facebook to bring her own weather with her and it appears they did just that!. . . I drove into town to fill the gas tank today and stopped by the bowling alley long enough to squeeze a ten line average of 133.6. Not very great but it is a good sign that I will do better on Thursday when the league meets.

MONDAY

...................I slept for twelve hours last night. I was a lot more tired than I had thought. It is going to be interesting how well I do on a cross country drive next month. I am looking forward to the drive but there is a chance I will be spending more time renting rooms than in the past. Sleeping in the car is fun and saves money but not at the price of wearing myself out. As soon as I got up I turned on the washing machine before checking my email for the day. As 9AM rolled around I had eaten breakfast and found myself transporting the clothes to the dryer. After the stuff was dry, folded and put away I found time for a short nap. I gave some thought to bowling a few lines but for some reason knew that was not going to work for me even though I felt the need for some exercise. From somewhere the mood struck me to wash the car. That was enough exercise for one day, perhaps in the next few days I will take the time to clean out the inside too. I will have to wait for that mood to strike. Mel stopped by with three dozen eggs his chickens produced. That is way too many eggs for me so I shared them with Roy, my landlord. The weather was great today, it never did get too warm or cloudy and there was no wind.

SUNDAY

..................I met the gang at the Sunday Brunch at 9AM  as planned. There were maybe two or three missing that were at the picnic yesterday. We had an enjoyable breakfast and a very short Family Meeting. Ann Marie has promised to continue putting the future Reunions together and the plan is to return to Leavenworth next August. She mentioned that the room rates have gone up to $180.00 per night. I hope that does not cause a problem for many of the folks that were there today.....I left Spokane at 10:15 for the drive home arriving at Teigens at 4:40 to pick up the old dog and get home to settle in for the evening. The drive both ways was beautiful and I even stopped at one point to get a great picture of Mt. Adams. I do not remember ever seeing it so well framed in the trees with blue skies surrounding it. It was a fine weekend, makes me want to get out on the road as soon as possible and see some more countryside!

SATURDAY

……………I had a lot of fun trying to check in to the Hotel at noon. They had no record of me so I had to phone Caren [she had made the reservation] to get things straightened out. I was settled in the room by 12:30 after a comfortable seven hour drive. I could have made it in six hours but I am pokey. I then decided to gas up the car and look for a light lunch before attempting to find the pic-nic  I was promised would be taking place at Three this afternoon. It took a while to locate the place but I didn’t feel too bad, others had the same problem. A sign that used to be located on a street corner had been removed. There were a couple dozen people at the picnic and a bunch of little kids. I am sure they all belonged to somebody; they were being watched very closely while they were in the lake splashing around. There was a lot of visiting and happy sounds coming from every direction. I was one of the last ones to leave and after stopping at a local market for some chocolate chip cookies and milk I arrived back at the Hotel about 7PM. The plan is all of us will meet tomorrow at 9am for a brunch and final farewells before heading in different directions.  The weather was just fine, 97 degrees and a shady location on the edge of the lake with a nice breeze blowing. 

FRIDAY

. . . . . . . .I noticed while getting ready for my weekend drive to Spokane that I was in need of a new toiletry bag. I found one at Walmart then had lunch before stopping by the bowling alley for one more try. The results were pleasing enough: The first five lines came to 144.6 and the second five added up to 148.2.  The average for the day was 147.3.  I was happy with that, now lets see how it goes at league bowling next Thursday. After I got home I packed my bag before bundling up the doggy stuff. I then delivered the pooch to Teigens house for a weekend visit. On the way back I stopped by the market and purchased some Dr. Pepper for the drive tomorrow. I plan on leaving early [If I wake up in time] and when I do that I have a tendency to get sleepy after a couple of hours so the Dr. Pepper will keep me going. At the moment it is time for my cookies and milk then off to bed.

THURSDAY

 . . . . . I phoned Teigens at the last minute this morning and hooked a ride with them to the Cousin's Luncheon in Olympia. We all had a great time. The four of us, Ken, Don, Lee and myself surrounded Aunt Coral and hogged all of her time. I think she had a ball. We all hope so! Ninety four years old and still going strong. She is one hundred percent behind me in my wish to take a solo drive cross country next month to visit all of the Presidential Libraries. I bet she would love to go too! She is a Cracker-Jack Lady! Loads of fun!

WEDNESDAY

. . . . . . . Doggy and I drove over to visit the Teigen's this afternoon. The nasty little dog left a pile of poop on the dinning room floor. Some visit that was!. . . . .I went over to see the new RV trailer they have purchased. It is in great shape, 32 feet long and looks like it has been well cared for. Ron told me it was Caren's Birthday present this year. Next year she gets a new truck to pull it. I have no idea what his plans are for the year after that. There were a [very] few rain drops on the drive over but the weather cleared this afternoon and the evening turned out to be very comfortable. No wind, no clouds. The calm before the storm? Perhaps. You never can tell in Washington!

TUESDAY

.....................I did some grocery shopping today but stopped off at the bowling alley on the way. I bowled another ten lines scoring a 145 average during the first five and a lot less on the second five. My average for the day turned out to be a fairly OK 138. That is better than my league average so I can't feel too bad a about it,........I bought my groceries and went home to spend the rest of the day eating too much while enjoying the warm temperatures. Some dark clouds rolled in but that did not turn into anything except higher humidity. It was a good day.

MONDAY

............Another wonderful day in Cowlitz County! I had a haircut and spent a nice afternoon sitting by the river reading, napping and fishing. Still no fish but that is not a problem, they will arrive eventually. 

SUNDAY

............Doggy and I never did walk today but I ended up having a great time at the bowling alley. The first five lines came out to a 136 average and the second five  gave me a 145. I decided that the 140 average was just fine for the day. My foot was causing a bit of trouble during the last five games and I am happy I was able to work around it. After bowling I drove home and popped a bowl of popcorn and watched a good movie. The name of the fare was 'Divorce, American Style'. Lots of fun and it ended just right.

SATURDAY

...............I drove the doggy over to the Teigens house today for a short visit. They had one of their last puppies running around the house [his name is Pooch] so ChiChi had someone to be afraid of until he realized the dog was just a pup. He suddenly become tolerant of the little fella who out weighs him by a couple of pounds. They got along pretty well, for dogs.. . . .I never did go walking today but I did attempt to not over do the eating thing. I would rather not eat than exercise. It was a nice spring day, I'm very happy with the nice weather we have been having. Keep it up, God!

FRIDAY

...................I was very reluctant to go walking today and I thought that the doggy was just hungry at 1:30 when he began to jump at me and get my attention. I fed him and was surprised that as soon as he finished the bowl he started jumping around like a crazy dog again......By that time I decided he really wanted to go walking. Just getting outside was not important to him because he has the doggy door that he can use any time. I put on my walking shoes and grabbed the leash. He was really excited when he saw that. So we walked for almost an hour, down to the river and back. I was pleased that my bad toe did not act up and the weather was just right for a walk. The exercise was a good thing, I have to get into the same habit I have gotten that dog into.

THURSDAY

...................Wonderful weather again today. Best to enjoy it while it is here, it can't last much longer, odds are against it. I began my bowling day with a happy 156 then fell on my face coming up with only a 119 and 124 for my next two games. That all turned out to be a nice 146 average for the day though, so I felt pretty good. I still can not understand why I can't do 150's all of the time. But I suppose if that is my biggest problem I shan't complain. At least my toe gave me no trouble today, perhaps the foot doctor has the right idea, I will continue with the pad under that foot and see how it goes. I am sure I can create my own pads for a lot less than the small fortune he charged me. I need some soft padding and Duk-Tape. No problem.

WEDNESDAY

.................I stopped by my Cardiologist office this morning and gave a negative report regarding that new Med she had asked me to try. I told her it made no difference in my breathing and my bowling score was going nuts because it added to my coordination problems and I had not had a comfortable BM since I had started taking the stuff. We agree that there was no reason to continue with it so I quit......I then kept my appointment with the foot doctor and after X-rays [which showed nothing] he told me that he feels the pads of my feet are too thin under that part of my foot so he supplied me with new inserts for my shoes. $42.00 worth of foam plastic, there seemed to be an improvement but just to be sure he wants me to return in a month for a follow up report. I will use those inserts in my bowling shoes tomorrow and see if there is any difference. . . . .Before I left the house today I started some 16 Window Updates and when I arrive back four hours later found that things had frozen solid on Update 3. I called Caren and she stopped by this evening to see what the problem was. Although the instructions said do not turn off the machine we did a restart anyway and darned if it didn't snap out of the mud and begin operating properly. She had it going in about 20 minutes. Thanks, Caren! She said she would send a bill but I told her "Na, your Birthday is coming up next week so lets just call it even." Works for me! She drove over in her sporty [and expensive] little convertible with the top down, about froze herself in the process. That breeze coming off the river cools things down around here. She said it was a lot warmer at her house.

TUESDAY

.................Had lunch with the '52' Gang today. Only eight made an appearance but we still had a good time.  Bob loaned me a couple of books that he thought I might like so that will keep me busy for a while. After lunch I stopped by the bowling alley and embarrassed myself again. The first five lines only averaged 113 but when I decided to pay attention I delivered a 131 average for the second five. That is always a good sign, it means I will do well on Thursday. I wish me luck. 

MONDAY

....................The laundry was finished and put away by 8:30 this morning. It turned out to be a nice day weather wise so doggy and I walked to the river and back. It felt good to be out and about but I would not have been comfortable in short sleeves. The long sleeved T shirt was barley enough. The folks who are broiling in the rest of the country should make a trip to Washington. Bring money.

SUNDAY

......................I was in town shopping today and stopped by the bowling alley to try my luck again. Things did not work out as well as I would have liked. I ended up with a 129.6 average for ten lines. My best game was 153. My sore toe gave me little trouble until the sixth line. After that I seemed to lose interest or the ability to concentrate. I have yet to decide if that was a toe problem or a brain problem. I haven't given up, I'll be back in a few days and give it another try. 

SATURDAY

.................This turned out to be another quiet day but I did get in some productive exercise. I finished waxing the car and even removed the wind shield wiper arms and painted them. That sure perked up the appearance of the old T-Bird. I started early in the day and the sun was getting warm by the time the car was put away. The weather was great but it never did get really warm. Watched NASCAR this evening, great race.

FRIDAY

..............After running my errands today I stopped by the dollar store and found two more books that might be interesting.  I then stopped by the bowling alley and felt OK about my results after ten lines. The first five delivered only a 128 average but I did well during the second five and bowled 148. The average for the day was above my league average so I will not complain. I did get my exercise, that is most important, I guess. Better scores would put some frosting on the cake though.

FOURTH OF JULY 2013

..................The weather has changed to cooler. I did not go walking but I did wax part of the car this morning while the sun was still lower in the sky. I worked on it for about 45 minutes and felt as pooped as I would be had I walked down to the river and back. I still have more than half to go..... Tomorrow I have some errands to run in town so I may attempt to bowl a few lines with both of my feet still complaining. We will see how well that goes. I do want to continue with exercising each day but find that as difficult as loosing 10-12 pounds by not eating so much.

WEDNESDAY

..................This was another lazy day, I did remove the glass windows from my front screen door and washed them. I decided to leave them off for the balance of the summer, probably about two more weeks.
     Washing the windows was my total exercise for the day, I am sure doggy would have liked going for a walk and the weather was just right for that but it never happened. I did pay a few bills on line and got some other stuff ready for the mail box. I have to go into town Friday so I may stop by the bowling alley just for the heck of it. 
     Last night I was dreaming that I was kicking the devil out of someone and woke up suddenly to find I had kicked the edge of the headboard. My right foot has a small [large enough to bleed on the bed cover] cut under the right large toe and two of the other toes have broken skin on the top of them. At the moment I am wearing three band aids on the foot. This same thing happened to me about four years ago when I kicked a dresser next to the bed and lost my right large toenail. The brain keeps that from happening in normal people. I have some wires crossed, I reckon. I don't think I walk in my sleep, I hope not!
     Perhaps the wounds will bother me if I try bowling, hard telling.

TUESDAY

........................This turned out to be another nice, warm day. I was at the bowling alley before noon and bowled ten lines that produced a 139.6 average. I was so proud of myself that I rolled another line just to see if I could bring my average up to 140. I am sure you can guess how that turned out. My average dropped to 138 so I picked up my ball and went home. I stopped by Safeway for a half gallon of milk and upon checking out found the bill was $42.00. That happens to me a lot when shopping for groceries. I arrived home, fed the dog, put away the groceries, fetched the mail while doggy went potty then we two climbed into the car and drove to the Teigens. All is well there, Colter is getting tall and thin as a rail, his tan looks like he is going to 'brown out' very well this summer. ChiChi was happy to be there and say hello but he was ready to come home after about 30 minutes. I was not planning on staying long anyway, I had lunch at the bowling alley but hunger pangs were returning by 4PM. The temperature is 80f at 6:10PM. Great day!

MONDAY

.......................I had a great day, I drove to Beaverton to help Terri with a day of waiting for the Honda Dealer to check out the transmission on her car. We had another fine and tasty meal at Home Buffet and spent a couple of hours visiting discussing and cussing automobiles in general. It was nice warm day, maybe 90f, I love it! I left about 2:45 and hopped on the Freeway not remembering it was Monday, I was thinking Sunday so I spent a lot of time in the commuter lane, my bad. Lucky for me there were no policemen watching. I arrived home in time to feed the dog before he fell over from lack of attention. [his words, not mine}. It was a good day, The temp. in Kelso at the moment, 18:36, is 80c.