Saturday

Saturday. We were lucky this morning to find  our drought has ended. We went a full day without rain yesterday and that is almost unheard of anymore.. . . I so enjoyed producing and posting the YouTube videos that I have decided to do the same in an edited form with the pictures from the trip I took to Nova Scotia a year ago. . . . . I used up the entire day working on another [4^th] video to post to YouTube. I hope you all can find it. It contains pictures of my trip across Canada in June of 2010. I lost or tossed my notes so it was done without a lot of knowledge of the scenes. I did my best. I have it posted now but have not yet attempted to play it, I guess it works. I will start part two tomorrow but I will take a break from it to go bowling. I need the exercise because today it never stopped raining. I did take a water pill today, I am bloated, and perhaps that is caused by lack of exercise. It could be caused by  worse things but I’m not considering that possibility at all. I now have an appointment with the Snore Doctor in Longview, June 28^th. 9AM, that means I will have to get up before breakfast again. I hate when that happens.

Friday

. .Early this morning I removed my video Part Two from You Tube. It had not been accepted. I mean the mode in which I had sent it had not been accepted. The plan was to work on that today. Part 3 is now finished so when I find a way to apply the proper mode to the two remaining videos I will post them.

I left the house a little after 8AM to get my car to the shop for that ball joint replacement. The mechanic drove me home and on the way I mentioned I was driving to Alaska in August so he promised to give the car a good inspection. The last thing I need on that trip is car trouble, especially if it is something that needs attention now.. . . .  I was back home by 8:40 and started work on remaking Part two of my video. Hoping I save it properly for uploading to YouTube. By 1PM I had all three parts of my Trip To Key West posted on You Tube. There was some trouble with the original link so I did change that. I doubt I will press the issue any further, if you are interested in the videos and cant find them you will email me, I hope. . . . . I strongly recommend you click on the little four poster icon in the bottom right corner of the picture frame and enlarge the scene to full screen. My total results, good and bad, are there to see. Please leave comments. More good news: Roy Hill, my landlord, has cleaned out his three car garage and offered me one of the spots to park my car. It is right next to my apartment and has it’s own remote control for the garage door. He said he and his wife were impressed with the way I fuss over my car, keeping it clean and looking good. Since he has sold his boat and moved it out they decided to give the spot to me. That was very nice of them and it made me forget all about my bad luck bowling yesterday. Following is the YOU TUBE link I hope works for all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr1HYo9GDog   Or log in to YouTube and just type in celford52. . . . The mechanic from R&R motors claims to have been here at 1pm knocking on my door to deliver the car. He said I was not here. I have not been out of the house all day. Anyway I discovered that about 4:30 when I phoned them. They had the wrong address and a different guy was delivering the car than the one who picked it up. They still had Barbara’s address on my records. A great waste of gas and it was all my gas! Thankfully the second guy had a cell phone and they were able to phone him and redirect him to my new address which I furnished the office via phone. They had also left a message on Barbara’s phone letting me know the car was ready. Once they arrived here I went with them to pay the bill, give them my new phone number and then headed towards Caren’s place for a visit. They now have a new drug baby to care for for a short time. A cute little one year old, smiles a lot and seems really happy. I stopped by to see Mel on my way home and explained why he ‘saw’ me drive by his place twice today without stopping or waving or even acknowledging that he existed. He was having trouble trying to figure what I was up to when in fact it was Ray from R&R motors attempting to deliver my car to me at Barbara’s address. Great fun!

Thursday

I forgot to mention yesterday that ChiChi and I took a two mile walk. It was almost 7pm before we left the house but there had been so much rain earlier that I was afraid to get too far from the house. We left with bright blue skies to the south but a large dark rain cloud formed overhead before we returned. Happy to say it never spilled over on us but this morning all is fogged in and everything is wet. The fog around here is good though; it usually means clear weather for the day. I thought I would take the doggie for a walk again today after getting home from bowling but I was so unhappy with my results that I was not in the mood. I bowled 93-133-88 for the three games. That is the worst I have done in many long times. I hope it is out of my system and I can make a comeback next week. I am still working on the pictures so I can get the balance of them posted to You Tube. I can not figure out why I was successful with part one but not able to get them to accept part two. Just one of life's little challenges, I guess.

Wednesday

I had my luncheon on my calendar but failed to look at it while I was busy with my photo stuff yesterday. I guess I will have to eat twice as much next month. Again, I spent most of the day playing on the computer, I am attempting to place some stuff on my You Tube account but it tells me I need to use a MWV mode and I have no idea what to do about that. The strange thing is that You Tube did accept the first part of my trip but refused to accept the second part. I would like to send out the link to all my friends but I don't know how to do that either. Tomorrow I go bowling again and if I come home in a good mood I may try to figure it out. Maybe someone out there in the Cloud will send me an email explaining it all. I also have no idea how to delete the two items that I have posted to the site that the site refuses to play.

Tuesday

. Spent most of the morning working on my pictures of the cross country trip. I have made several panoramas’ that have been posted to my Facebook page. My plan is to make a slide show and post it on You Tube. The first slide show I made did not contain any panorama’s so I am going to make another clip to post to that location. I thought I might get out and walk for an hour or so but realized just before I left the house that I had taken a furosemide tablet at noon so I decided to stay near the water closet…….Got an email this afternoon reminding me that I forgot to make an appearance at the monthly ‘52’ luncheon. I had every intention of going but forgot all about it. That is a disappointment.

Monday

Kept my doctor appointment at 8:30, all is well. He did set me up with a doctor who has a Bachelors in Snoring  that I have to see. When I sleep on my back I am unable to exhale through my nose. Something gets in the way, the doctor says it may be a polyp. If so I will have it removed. I stopped by Safeway on the way home and left them some more money. After putting the stuff away I ate a small bowl of my famous chili then waved goodbye to the doggie while climbing in the car for the drive to the bowling alley. My results were 93-167-193 then I spoiled a good average by sticking around for a 135. My average for the day was about 146 so I didn’t feel too bad about that. There was a light rain today, off and on, mostly on. The temperature got to about 64. The sun did come out this afternoon. It had to wait until it was sitting to peek out from under the cloud cover though.

Sunday

Sunday. . . It did warm up enough to go walking today, I had to wear a sweatshirt to feel comfortable but I survived. ChiChi really got excited once he caught on to what was happening. He happily ran to me and stood still while I fastened the leash to his collar. That is something new for him. In the past he has tried to get away from the leash. We took our usual 2 mile walk down the hill to the river and back, after leaving the main road I removed his leash and let him have his head. He never did get more than 15 feet away from me, that is about the length of the retractable leash I have been using. He was a good dog and he seemed to have learned a lot of good things during our long, long trip. After we returned to the main road he was willing to remain in place while I leashed him up again for the rest of the walk home……. I played on the computer this afternoon, printing and fitting together side by side pictures I had taken on the trip. I have noticed that I can get a perfect match at the horizon but the parts of the picture don’t fit exactly in the foreground. I may be able to correct that problem by using a tripod with each shot. I had my tripod with me on the trip but never did take it from the trunk of the car. Dummmmb.

Oh, by the  way, let me mention that as I look out the window at this very moment my car is soaked from the latest rain that has just drifted by. There appears to be a serious drought around here if a day goes by without some rainfall. Tonight I will try to find a funny movie to watch with some popcorn and butter. I had the apple and cheese a while ago for dinner. Earlier in the day I had some of my world famous spaghetti, yum yum. My weight is now 198. gained 5 pounds since getting home one week ago. I think doggie has gained a few ounces himself. I will go bowling tomorrow after the doctor appointment, that will be enough exercise for Monday. Not.

Saturday

. By 7AM I had my laundry caught up, the bed made and was ready for breakfast. Doggie likes to start begging for his big meal of the day by daylight each morning so what am I to do? I was pleased to see no rain drops on my car this morning, that is a good sign, around here at least.. . . I have had a nice day, it was mostly cloudy and I never did get ChiChi out but I did spend the day with my "picture hobby'. I made three 'pans' of mountains that I could never get in one picture frame. I enjoyed the work and was happy with the outcome. The pictures are long and narrow so I doubt I'll ever get them framed. Unless I take up 'frame making' as a next hobby. I watched some Indy Car racing from Texas this evening but went to bed to read at 8PM.

Friday

. I had the car in the shop at 8:30 to get the oil changed. They also looked for the latest ‘rattle’ I have discovered. He discovered  the suspension needs attention and I made a $200.00 appointment for next Friday morning to get that repaired. I left the house about 11:30 and drove to Beaverton to see Terri and take her to lunch. We then went to Borders and she showed me the pictures she took while spending last month in Hawaii. She got some great Rainbow pics. I wish I could do so well. She did borrow her friends camera though and that was the main reason for such fantastic shots. It was a fun afternoon. I got home in time to watch the last half of the O’Reilly show on TV. That was my crowning achievement for the day. Now it is bed time!

Thursday

  I was not overjoyed about my bowling scores today, 141-134-147, but it was close enough to my average to keep me from jumping off a bridge. I have not yet decided what to do about the lack of sound on my trip cd. I have had that problem before and have no idea how I solved it then. More work is due, I suppose. My plan is to run the cd in another machine and see if the sound is actually there but just not being played back on my puter. I stopped by Jiffy Lube today, still trying to get them to accept some responsibility for the plugged radiator  they supposedly ‘cleaned’. It has been over two months. The manager of the local shop took my information one more time and promised to submit it to the powers that be. Jiffy Lube drags their feet when it comes to accepting responsibility for sloppy work. I wish I had 2 million readers on this blog, that would get their attention real quick. I will put in a plug for O'Reilly Auto Parts in Kelso. I had to return a small 12 volt ceramic heater that was of poor quality and I had no receipt for. They bent over backwards to see that I left happy. I traded the poor quality item for a new one that purrs like a kitten. The first one seemed to have some bearings missing in the main motor.

Score: O'Reilly Auto Parts 1, Jiffy Lube 0.

Wednesday

Today I burned my first copy of my pictures of my trip. The pictures show fine but for some reason I can not get the sound to work. I think I will try the cd on another machine before deciding that it is not there to be heard.

We had a light rain overnight and I used that moisture to help wipe off the dust from the car. It looks pretty good now, the water here leaves a film of something on the car so I has to be wiped off after each wash. That was also true of Barbara's well water, that is the reason I used to wash my car with city water while living there.

I was not impressed with the weather around here today, I'm glad I had an excuse to be inside. I hate the guilty feeling when I don't get out and walk for an hour or so.

Tomorrow is bowling day and I am hoping to make a better showing than Yesterday.

There is talk of better weather, that is something to look forward to, I felt cold most of the day today.

Tuesday

Today is Birthday Day for Tammy! Happy Birthday, youngster! Are you still 29? That’s what I thought! I visited Bernita today, my haircut was due while I was away so it was really due by the time I sat in the chair. After that I drove into town to throw a few lines of bowling. 116-113-150. I was happy enough with the 150 so I left while I felt ahead. I stopped by Safeway on the way home and arrived back at the house around 3:00. It was cold most of the day-did It ever get above 65? This evening I watched O’Reilly on TV and spent time working with my slide show of the Key West Trip I just got back from. I hope I get it finished by Christmas. LOL.

Monday

Monday  turned out to be a good day. It was cold and lousy outside this morning but the weather cleared considerably by the afternoon. I down loaded my pictures from the camera, all 353 of them and started the editing process. At about noon [after lunch] I laid down to read and fell asleep for two hours. Ron text me a message inviting me over to have potato soup so I arrived there about 4pm. I also delivered a pocket knife to him that he had ordered from Key West. Ashton was there, he is a bright kid, and he will go far if he stays on the right track. Caren loaded me up with soup to take home and I left about 5:00. On the way home I stopped by the market in Castle Rock for some essentials and as I was unloading all of my stuff from the car Roy, my landlord walked down the hill from his place and gave me some tacos they had not been able to eat. All of those groceries! All of that food there and I plan on having ice cream for dinner tonight while watching O’Reilly at 8PM. I had missed his 5pm show because I was not here. Life is good, except for one little problem, while on my trip I lost my 77 year old silver dollar I have been carrying around for 40 years. Perhaps Tammy will search in her couch at the spot I always sat in while there and find it. I arranged a doctor appointment via the Internet today, that was a first for me. Great fun. Now it is time to settle in for the evening, eat my ice cream and get to bed.

Sunday 5th

The doggie and I have returned. I wish to thank all of those who put up with me for the short time I was visiting with them. I really had a wonderful time, driving in the neighborhood of 9,000 miles. At 25 mpg that means about 360 gallons of gas at  $3.90 per gallon and around $1400 out of pocket. I liked Key West and took a lot of pictures. Big Bend National Park was a winner too! I have to get rested up enough to get interested in uploading my camera and producing some pictures to post. I arrived home at 9am and the first thing I did was remove everything from the car except the contents of the glove box and vacuum it out. Later in the day I washed the car but have yet to restore all of those ‘things’ to their place in the car. The car looks so nice without all that stuff in there I am fighting with myself about the importance of hauling it all around. We shall see. At the moment I am going to fix a bowl of popcorn and watch a movie before going to bed. I forgot to mention I also took a three hour nap this afternoon.

Friday 27th

Surprise! I am at Tammy's house. sitting here while she puts dinner together. Thanks Tammy! You are the greatest! The trip has been great to date, no rain at all until the 15th day on the road Lots of pictures and a great  time exploring Key West. Doggie is fine, fat and sassy.ya'll be good, hear?

Tuesday

Tuesday. . . . I drove into Longview and met the gang of ‘52’ for lunch today. We had a pretty good turnout. But then the weather was not so great either so they couldn’t find anything more exciting to do. At least it didn’t rain, I expected rain because I had washed my car yesterday. My radar picture shows rain about 150 miles west of here, perhaps I will be out of here before the rain arrives tomorrow.  .  .  . This afternoon I removed the passenger seat from the car and ‘built’ my bed in its place. I finished my packing and stuffed most of the items in the trunk. Looks like I’m ready to hit the road, folks. I cancelled my haircut of the 26^th because I have no plans to return that soon. I will add to my blog when and if I find a computer to use. Not a high priority though.

Monday

Monday.  .  .  Up early, the sun was shining for a little while, that is always nice to see around here. I was happy to drive to Vancouver and back in a rain free mode. It was cloudy and the temperature never did get above 60 but what the heck, it is Washington after all. The doctor report was as good as could be expected. The doctor said I was doing as well as most of his 77 year old patients. The prostate is enlarged but we already knew that. He claims I’m lookin’ good. Can’t beat that!  .  .  .   I returned via Caren and Ron’s place for a short vast. All is fine there, Ashton, age 5 has discovered that games can be played on the computer so he is now excited about spending more time there. Ron is enjoying his Mothers Day Present. A brand new John Deer lawn tractor. The problem is the yard is still too wet to do any mowing, the earth has to dry out a bit. Leonard phoned about 6:30 to check on me, I’m looking forward to seeing those folks when I arrive. This evening I ate the last of the potato soup Caren had given me  and watched TV until bed time.

Sunday

Sunday  .  .  .I was awake at the crack of dawn; that’s good because that is the way it will be on my trip. I do hope though that I awake to better weather than we have here. I suppose Cowlitz County will suffer one of the nicest May’s in history; since I won’t be here to enjoy it. I went bowling today, 146-143-141. I decided to stop there because it seemed things were only getting worse. I stopped by Safeway for a few things and a $52 tank of gas. I will use some of that gasoline tomorrow when I keep my doctor appointment in Vancouver. My laundry is now all caught up so I can start packing my clothes for the trip to Key West and Shreveport. {Down in South America}.  I produced my first ever stir fry tonight. I used a bunch of stuff I had around including a can of spinach. I think the spinach was a bad idea, next time I use it I will use raw spinach. I also used Kikkoman Stir Fry Sauce; it may be OK using a small amount but it is too strong for my taste buds. Next time I will try just a few drops of it. I have enough stir fry left over to make 6 more servings. I aim to freeze it and try it again later. This evening was commercials until bedtime. I have no idea what happened to my Saturday post, sorry.

Friday

Friday.  .  .  .  I lost two more chess games this morning, my score is down to 1731. That is not bad for an average club player but I have done better and hope to again.  .  .  .The rain fell most of the day so I made no effort to get out in it and go walking.  .  .  .  I watched O’Reilly then found the end of a NASCAR race to watch. Very quiet around here, lousy weather, Terri flew to Hawaii today, lucky lady.

Thursday

Thursday. . . . .I didn’t do well enough bowling today. I started off with a 90, believe it or not. I had changed my delivery and was hoping the change would work for me but during the second game, 136, I decided to switch back to the old way. By the time the third game started I found myself in the groove and finished that line with a 166. I think I will stay with this delivery until I get good enough to start experimenting again. .  .  .  I was home about 4:30 and nothing exciting happened the rest of the evening. I posted this about 7:30 with plans to watch commercials until about 9PM.

Wednesday

Wednesday. . . . I had breakfast [and cleaned up the mess] washed the dog and waxed the hood, top, and trunk lid of the car all by 11AM. I didn’t expect to get a lot more exercise today but by 2PM I was getting antsy so I took the dog down to the river again. We were down and back in an hour. He was panting as we walked along; it was fairly warm out and with his extra weight the ‘heat’ was telling on him. This afternoon I pulled my ‘RV’ bed out from its storage location under my bed and put it together. It is a week early but I wanted to know that the support I have for it is going to be strong enough to hold me. If it collapses on me I will have to stop someplace along the way and get a stronger box to put under it. I plan on installing it in the car next Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday

Tuesday. . . . I began the day by taking a shower, ChiChi is next but there is not enough sunshine for him to properly dry off. If he is going with me on my trip he is going to have a bath before we leave. He is not going to like the bath idea and I hate to do that to him in cool weather. Such is life, doggie. . . . . I went to work on my first attempt at spaghetti sauce this morning. All of the ingredients I could think of were in the pot and simmering by 11:30. My base was Prego, I did add some salt and pepper but not much. I added no other spices, just hamburger and onions. Oh, yes, four cloves of garlic too... . . . There were two deer exploring outside my living room window at noon. ChiChi never even noticed them. They walked on up the hill past the pump house, minding their own business. . . .  After simmering the spaghetti sauce for about 6 hours I boiled up some noodles and sat down to a wonderful tasting bowl of my famous spaghetti! Wow! I really surprised myself! That is good stuff.  I had added a can of corn, large olives, and a can of stewed tomatoes during the cooking process. I feel the finishing touch was the dab of sour cream stirred in after the finished product was placed in the serving plate. . . . . After watching too many commercials this evening I headed for bed at 9:15.

Sunday

Sunday. . . . ChiChi and I left at 11:30 for our trip to the Oregon Coast with Terri. We had planned on meeting Ben and Jean at their yurt at 5PM so we were early enough to stop at Cannon Beach for a walk in the sand and an ice cream. We arrived at the yurt at five and Jean was busy preparing a stir fry for dinner. The weather was cool but we came prepared for that, the Oregon coast can be cold any time of year and this is certainly one of those times. We had a nice visit and left them about 8:30 for the drive home. ChiChi was very well behaved all day, never barked once. I was very proud of him. We dropped Terri off at church and 10:30 and arrived back at Pleasant Hill at 11:30. ChiChi had some dinner while I ate chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk before going to bed.

Saturday

Saturday. . . . For exercise I washed the car today. A few sprinkles fell during the process but they were clean so no harm done. I cleaned up the whitewalls too, that is the most difficult part of washing the car, next time I buy tires they will not be whitewalls. Cousin Sharon and Virgil stopped by early this afternoon on their way south. It was nice visiting with them if even for a short time. They used to stop by once or twice a year while Barbara was alive, we really enjoyed their visits. NASCAR races came on late this afternoon so I turned that on and was ready for bed by the time the race was over.

Friday

Friday. . . .Very little rain today, that is always a special thing around here. I took Charlotte out to lunch this afternoon and we discussed how well we are doing with bowling, she scores much better than I but I am working hard to correct that. Our team doesn’t have a name, other than Team 4. She is bowling with the same group she bowled with during the winter league. As a matter of fact I am the highest scorer on my team, that will give you some idea of how powerful we are. . . . Yes Jenir, ChiChi is going to make the long drive with me, I hope he lets me sleep at night, all of the new smells and sounds are bound to keep him wide awake the whole 3-4 weeks.. . . . I have to comment on the Comcast comment I got yesterday on the blog. It was very nice of them to say what they did, thanks, Comcast. Now I wish Jiffy Lube would be as nice and contact me about the blown radiator they willed on me last month. I have yet to hear from them, I feel forgotten. Perhaps that is their plan, what say you, Jiffy Lube?. . . I phoned Comcast about 6:30 this evening in reference to my needed change and was told the process was not yet complete. I agreed to phone them tomorrow at the same time. Twenty minutes later I got a phone call telling me the process was NOW complete and they made celford52 my primary user name and supplied me with a new password. After signing in to my account my email from the past two days flooded my screen. I voiced my joy and we hung up on good terms.

Thursday

Thursday. . . .My email is down again, Comcast is not easy to work with, folks. The guy who was to have fixed things last week just put a band aid on everything and now I am bleeding problems again. It will be three days before I can attempt again to recover my celford52 address. In the meantime if any one wants to contact me please use celford52@hotmail.com. Or is it dot net? I can’t remember.  I went bowling today. Did not do well at all, 155-135-132. The whole thing made me very upset with myself. Isn’t it nice that that is the biggest problem I have in my life? The weather was not good today…..lots of hail in Longview this afternoon. I’m glad I am shortly leaving on a long drive to Key West in a couple of weeks. I can hardly wait! Sunshine, here I come!

Wednesday

Wednesday. . . There were four deer outside my bedroom window when I got up this morning. That was a peaceful sight to behold. All morning ChiChi and I considered going for a walk but the threatening rain kept us from braving the elements. By 1:30, since no rain had fallen I decided to do it! I put on my heavy, wool lined jacket and I am glad I did. It was cool and with the wind blowing it was almost cold. We got about a mile and a half from the house when sure enough it started to sprinkle. We started home and as soon as we did the rain stopped. The total time of the walk was about fifty minutes and as soon as we got inside the rain pelted the rooftop for about 20 minutes. I’m glad we were not out in that mess. This afternoon I finished one book and started another, ChiChi fell asleep in front of the heater. It came on several times today to keep the temperature around 70 degrees. . . . Tammy phoned me while she was driving home from or to work. She told me she is putting in 16 hour days, three or four of those a week is just about enough for anybody. She invited me to stop in and see her and Della during my trip in May. She expects me to be pretty tired after all of that time on the road so she said I can spend a few days there resting up. That was very nice of her and I intend to do just as she suggested. I told her I expect to be in her part of the country around the end of May. I will be on my way home after driving to Shreveport and then Key West. My plan is to drive a lot of that distance sans freeways. I enjoy all of the little towns the quit roads take me through. I think I will be leaving here in about two weeks. We will see how it goes.

Tuesday

 My day was well spent, the morning weather was iffy so I made plans to go bowling after lunch. I got there about 12:30 and bowled on the new lanes again. My scores were 175-192-154-156-160. I was really happy with my results.Now I hope I can do that well on Thursday, wish me luck.. . . After bowling I stopped by to see Ron and Caren and do some bragging. Colter woke up while I was there so I got a chance to say hi to him. After getting home I still had some energy left so I put in a load of laundry and had that all folded and put away before O'Reilly came on TV. I also had some time to fly my simulator, there was a little breeze blowing and I had some bad landings because of it. Don't ever go flying with me, for your own sake! That Piper Cub is just too light, I will switch to a Mooney next, tricycle landing gear, much easier to handle in the wind. A year ago I was good with most of the small planes but I find I have to learn all over again. Ain't life grand!

Monday

 This day was off and on rain so I never got out of the house to do any walking. I did vacuum the place though, so I did accomplish something and got some exercise doing it. Doggie got a lot of exercise too, he did his best to stay as far as possible from the vacuum. He really fears that loud animal. I gave some thought to bowling but decided I would put that off until tomorrow and see how I feel about it then.. . . I also spent about an hour flying the simulator, believe it or not that is a lot of work, especially in a very light plane and this present weather. There was rain outside in real life but although the puter is programmed to copy real time weather it never did pick up on the rain. Perhaps it never rained in Kelso today. I'm not really sure. Tonight is Monday so my favorite commercials are on starting at 8PM. I will watch them until about 9:30 before calling it a day.

Sunday

 My day was a happy one. I never did go walking but I did get to the bowling alley around noon to practice four lines. I got to bowl on one of the new lanes, my hook was unbelievabel, I had to change my left foot position to compensate my delivery. My scores in order of appearance were 125, 135, 149, 146. 173. That gave me an average of 153 for the day. I felt good about that. I bowled the fourth line because I was so sure I could do better than the 149 and sure enough, I did. I was expecting a couple of people from the team to show up but they did not make it. My instructor arrived as I was leaving and he was impressed with the 173.. . . I then stopped by Safeway for some more ice cream and other stuff before going home. After putting away the groceries and letting ChiChi run for a couple of minutes I drove over to see Ron and Caren but found that Caren and Colter were taking a nap so I didn't stay long. Ron sent me home with enough spaghetti to last four meals and by the time I got back to the house I was hungry so I warmed that up and watched some afternoon TV. I then mixed up a batch of pancake mix and added a lot of blueberries. I made large pancakes and ended up with five for my troubles. That will be a full breakfast any time I want to put one in the microwave for two minutes. Those large pancakes are going to make it difficult to keep my weight down. I bet they are going to taste pretty good though! I cooked them with too much heat so the inside of the place got smoky but the smoke alarm never came on. I opened the door and one window in the bedroom, that cleaned things out quickly enough.....If I had an excuse to go into town tomorrow I'd stop at the bowling alley again. Maybe I should just enjoy the score today and not make myself feel bad for a poor showing tomorrow.

Saturday

The weather was really great around here today. ChiChi and I walked down to the river again, we didn't do any fishing because there is no place to fish down there and because we have heard nothing of anyone catching anything. I might get in some fishing before I leave town around the tenth but I am not convinced the weather is going to be so great between now and then anyway.. . . The rest of the day was spent reading, napping and watching NASCAR on TV. I also watched the end of that three hour movie I had cut off yesterday. It was "CASINO", pretty good movie, I thought. I am a prude though, I do not appreciate the foul language but the blood and gore at the end was OK.

I am looking forward to bowling tomorrow and perhaps more sunshine. I am not sure about the sunshine, bad weather has to be on the way because today was so beautiful.

It would be nice if the rain held off until after the kids search for the Easter eggs in the morning.

Friday

Friday. . . ChiChi and I helped Tipper and Mel put the fishing boat in the water today. The river bank is really soft, they are lucky that boat did not weigh 400 pounds more. After that little chore ChiChi and I stopped by to see Ron and Caren but they were not home so we returned to our little house for lunch. This afternoon we walked for an hour, exploring the flat lands near the river bottom.  ChiChi is good about staying close by me but we have yet to see a rabbit or other critter he might take a run for. I usually take him off the leash as soon as we leave the main road. On one walk we heard a very large dog barking and that spooked the little guy but the other walks didn’t cause any problems with other animals. There are cows down there but he does not mind them and he has learned how silly it is to chase birds. I do consider the Eagles around here but he stays so close to me that I don’t think an Eagle would make the attempt. We have as yet to see one while we are walking. This afternoon I started watching a three hour movie [commercial free] but turned it off at the half way point. I was tired of TV and since it was on ON DEMAND I can restart it at the same spot some other time.

Thursday

  Today was a busy one. I met Vonda at Comcast at 9Am to get my old email address verified to be used as my new address. That took about 6 minutes and I had a Pacemaker tech meeting at 11am so there was a lot of time to kill. I then went to Safeway and left $80 in their till before driving home to put the stuff away. I had ice cream and didn't want it to melt. When I got home and  put things where they belonged I discovered I did not have enough time to set up my email address so I left just in time to get to the Pacemaker Tech. That report was fine, she told me I am in good shape to do all of the traveling I want this summer. That made me feel good. I was still ahead of schedule so I stopped by Burger King and had lunch at 11:30. I was getting hungry because I had eaten breakfast at 7:30 this morning.. . . .I got to the bowling alley around noon and found the team that Sharon was putting together. They expected me to join them and it sounded like a good idea to me so that is how I got a team this summer. We started bowling about 12:30 and didn't finish until almost 3:00. Again, the team I am on is the slowest team of them all. I think Sharon and her sister would rather visit than bowl. Any way, I did very well, 147-175-165. As a matter of fact I was third from the top of the eight bowlers on the two teams. The problem is my average is starting out 20 points more than I finished with in the winter league It is going to be tough to maintain that but I will give it a try. This new average is what I always thought I should be able to maintain and progress from so it will work out fine. They already know I will miss 6-8 Thursdays this summer and that is fine because Verda, from the winter league will fill in for any of us who are gone.. . . I phoned Comcast and asked them to correct my email address to what it was before and after being away from the phone for about seven minutes he came back and told me it had been done. I have sent email since then but so far I have not received anything. Film at 11:00.

Wednesday

Wednesday. . . . I spent some time flying my simulator today. I programmed it to pick up local weather so I was flying near a lot of clouds about 4,000 feet. It was cool too, Doggie and I went for a one hour walk this afternoon and it was light jacket weather. The thicker clouds had turned into a thin layer all across the sky, blotting out a lot of the suns warmth. . . . Tomorrow I will attempt to retrieve my celford52 email address, wish me luck, I hate the idea of starting all over again with a new address.

Tuesday

Tuesday. . . . My email account has been halted for a few days because it was tied to Barbara’s account. I have to take Vonda to Comcast with me on Thursday to try to retrieve my celford52 address. She has power of attorney and that is what is needed. I tried a couple of weeks ago to go around that restriction but no such luck.. . . . Doggie and I got in a one hour walk today, lots of sunshine but there was a cool breeze to go with it. He still takes his naps near the wall heater during the day. . . . .I have to thank Caren for lunch today, it was delicious and I still have three meals to go.

Monday

Monday….I had breakfast, the laundry all caught up, as well as my chess games and the kitchen back in order by 9:15 this morning. A bit after lunch ChiChi and I went out walking. We took Rivendale drive and ended up at the rivers edge a half hour later. Just as we started back the rain began very lightly and I am happy to report it never got any worse. We were home by 1:30 wondering what the rest of the day would bring. About an hour after we returned there was a nice thundershower, if such things can ever be called nice. I looked around for ChiChi while the thunder was jumping on the roof but I didn’t see him, I think he ran under the bed. I can see him covering his ears with his paws.. . . . This evening, while watching O’Reilly, a small doe walked by my living room window, she was no more than ten feet from the house. She slowly worked her way across the lawn between my place and Roy’s but shortly after she gained the driveway and started down the other side she got spooked by a car speeding buy and immediately hightailed it back the way she had come.  I ran to my bedroom window to watch her jump the fence behind my place but she had done that and disappeared before I could get to the window. I don’t run too fast these days.

Sunday

Sunday. . . . .There was a lot of fog this morning and that is usually a good sign. By 9:30 the fog was gone and we were enjoying the sunshine I have been missing. I don’t believe the temperature ever topped 50 but the sunshine helped make up for that. I went bowling today and surprised myself. I had a 172-203-168-142. A great day for me! That is a 171 average. I can hardly wait for the summer league to start next week. After bowling I stopped by the market and bought a jar of Orville Redenbacher popcorn. I have been using something Safeway had on the shelf [couldn’t find the good stuff] and did not like it. On the way home I stopped by Caren and Ron’s to return a couple of food containers they had given me previously. [With food in them] This time Caren filled them again, with more good stuff. Looks like about four meals for me! Colter was in a much better mood today so I was unable to tease him like last time. He is slowly getting used to having me around and becoming more friendly or aware of my existence. He is still enjoying his terrible two’s so he has his days, like most of us. I got home about 2:30 and ChiChi was here to greet me. I had left him home because I didn’t know how hot it might get inside the car while I was bowling. I should have not worried, opening the window just a crack would have kept it plenty cool today.  I watched a good movie while enjoying my Sunday evening popcorn and cheese. It was “The Long Goodbye” from 1977. I don’t remember having ever seen it before. I was pretty busy in 1977.

Saturday

Saturday. . . . I did get in another hour of walking today, hate to admit it but that was all I did. NASCAR was on so I spent too much time in front of the TV. The sun finally came out a few minutes before sunset, that was a bummer. Perhaps tomorrow will be better.

Friday

  I was tempted to broil that other T-bone Colter gave me  but I had had too large a salad for lunch so I decided to wait until tomorrow. I have been giving some thought to inventing a Spaghetti sauce but I don't know where to begin. I guess hamburger and tomatoes is a beginning but what follows that? I have yet to purchase spices since I moved in, I guess that is an ingredient too.

    I got in a one hour walk today, I was not in the mood to finish the last 15 minutes but I kept putting one foot in front of the other long enough to get to the finish line.

    Never did get around to the flight simulator today, Did a lot of reading and took a nap during some of that time. It has been a slow, wet and cool day. Too many clouds to suit me

Thursday

Thursday. . . . The weather certainly is not anything to write home about. I have heard it is going to improve by the weekend but if that is true it is going to have to make a mighty big change in a might short length of time. I arrived at the Bowling Banquet a few minutes before noon and found Dave, my instructor in the bar so I joined him. We swapped lies for a while then took our drinks to the dinner table and found Sharon, another of our team sitting with her sister and husband. We joined them and waited for our chicken fried steak to be delivered. As it turned out we had to go get our own, that was the procedure. As a matter of fact I thought the high ‘dues’ we were paying each week to bowl was paying for the dinner but no such luck. The meal cost eight dollars. It was a pretty good $4 dinner. I had another Bacardi Coke and enjoyed the festivities. When the meal ended and they passed out prizes for the year I got $63 for some reason or other so the whole day ended up being a pretty good deal. After the banquet came to a complete halt six of us retired across town to the Bowling alley for a team conference; that amounted to having another drink and telling more lies. My original plan was to use the time practicing my bowling but decided to be sociable instead. So unlike me. I nursed a beer for over an hour before driving home. I got back around 4pm and still I was kicking myself for not practicing.

Wednesday

Wednesday. . . . That T-bone steak Colter gave me turned out great! As a matter of fact I found two steaks in the package so there is another waiting for another day. I was able to broil it in the oven I have here and for a container I used a Pyrex dish that Terri had given me Monday. Thanks to all who made that meal possible. . . . .Today I sat up my Flight Simulator for the first time in perhaps a year. I am flying a Piper Cub out of Kelso. I was able to land it in Woodland a few minutes later but crashed while trying to turn it on the runway for a take off. I increased the power too quickly and was unable to compensate properly. Like Bowling, I need more practice!. . . .I was hoping to go walking today but the weather did not cooperate with me. That happens a lot around here.

Tuesday

Tuesday. . . . . It is getting daylight earlier so I found myself wide awake at 6am. I fed the dog and went back to bed but it did no good, I was up and about a half hour later.  I had my luncheon with the gang of '52'  so I figured since I had driven into town anyway I might as well stop by the bowling alley and try my luck again. I bowled four lines with scores of 155-166-183-148. I was doing so well at the end of the third line that I thought I could hit 200 on the next game. It never happened of course but I am still happy with the results. That is about a 162 average, one day that may be my league average. I know, dream on!

After bowling [I had taken ChiChi with me] I stopped by to see Ron and Caren for a while. Today is Chi chi’s sixth birthday and they gave him a bunch of treats. So many in fact that the last one had to be taken to the car with him. I think he finished it on the way home. At least I hope so, I don't want the car to smell like doggie treats. Colter walked up to me while I was there and handed me a t-bone steak to take home to have for dinner. I had already had my big meal for the day so that will be on the menu for tomorrow.

I got back to the house about 2:30 and gave some thought to washing the dog but that didn't materialize either. Sort of like that 200 game I was dreaming about.. . . . It is warm enough to have the front door propped open today. Doggie loves that, he thinks he is king of the hill when he can come and go as he pleases. He had better enjoy it while he can, I have been told winter is returning tomorrow. We have short summers around here.

Monday

Monday . . . . . Went to a doctor appointment in Vancouver today, it took three hours to get out of the place. I then drove to Borders in Beaverton and met Terri for lunch, we visited until 7PM before I got sense enough to get myself home. ChiChi was happy to see me and piddled all over the place when I scratched his little pea brain. It was a good day, just not a whole lot to talk about. Maybe tomorrow will bring more excitement, although that can not always be a good thing so I better watch what I hope for.

Sunday

. I'm still trying to get that email  address changed but it may take a couple  more days. I am waiting for them to completely cancel it out of the other account so it will be available for use.. . . . My day turned out to be a happy one. I drove in to town to do my practice bowling, it was cool so I took ChiChi too. My scores astounded me. I got them in this order 155-219-155-138. That is my highest game ever and it is the best four games I have had in a single day. I was practicing putting a bit of a spin on the ball so when it hits the pocket it hits it just right. I am really happy with how well I did. Now we have to wait and see what the summer league brings. After bowling I stopped by Wal-Mart again for some groceries, I don't know why, the refrigerator is bulging as it is.  Before leaving for bowling I sat an apple on top of one of the fence posts out back and a few minutes later I looked and found it was on the ground-with a crow chewing on it! This afternoon I checked again and the apple was gone and I found four deer down in the hollow. . . . . Sunday night has rolled around again so I am looking forward to popcorn and a movie.

Saturday

Saturday. . . . Terri and I drove Wills doggie back to Seattle today, never experienced a drop of rain the whole day. I got home about 9PM and had a bowl of ice cream before going to bed. This was the first long drive I had had the car on since all of the work was done and it came through with flying colors.. . . .I am still not receiving email. I am attempting to reinstate my celford52 user name so I don’t have to suffer through a change. Wish me luck, I was promised I could do it within 48 hours but so far it has not taken. I’ll continue trying for another day or so before giving up and accepting the fact that I have to change. Film at eleven.

Friday

. After breakfast I got my laundry caught up and put away. After lunch I vacuumed out the car and got it looking spiffy before cleaning up the kitchen. The sun was out by 9:30 but the weather is still cool, darn it. While cooking lunch I discovered that both of my smoke detectors work fine. I like steak seared on the outside so that creates a lot of smoke. The fan on the stove has no outlet other than back into the apartment so I ended up opening a couple of windows and the front door while I was outside cleaning the car. Roy has mowed the grass so the place is looking good, as usual. I have blocked the screen door and the front door so in good weather ChiChi can come and go as he pleases. He likes that but sometimes he finds too many things to bark at. I suppose as the weather warms up the flying things will try to get in so I may have to limit his running in and out.. . . . .  This afternoon I posted several pictures on the blog. The first one is an outside shot of the garage I live in, the apartment is behind the car. The other pics are taken inside the apartment then I put in one showing the backyard and another of a deer I took while looking out my bedroom window. The sun was shining brightly so the pictures came out looking just fine.

ChiChi and I left the house at 4pm for an hour walk. I guessed it to be close to 3 miles. His toenails are slowly wearing down to something more acceptable. My hope is that my waist line wears down to something more acceptable. . We got back in time to catch O’Reilly at 5pm. I had three chocolate chip cookies with milk. Think that will help my waistline?. . . .

It seems my Comcast account was secondary to Barb’s account and now that her account has been turned off I have lost my email address. I am going to attempt to get it back but if not I have to change it. I’ll keep you all posted. I was on the phone with Comcast for four hours this evening trying to understand all that I have to do to jump through the rings they have set up for me. Saturday I will be out of town all day delivering a little doggie to some friends in Seattle so be very surprised if I post anything tomorrow night.

Thursday

    My last day of bowling this season was far from a record breaker but I did beat my average by a few pins so I feel pretty good about it all. My scores were 137-140-142. I was consistent but I wish I had been consistently higher. When summer league starts I will spend more time experimenting and attempting to better my score. The weird part about the games today was that only one player from the other team showed up so we had to bowl against their averages. The games went fast but I'm not sure we won. Dave, my instructor had three games all above 200, he has not done that well in some time. After bowling about ten of us got together for a 'conference' [beer]. I didn't stay long because I had decided to stop by the hospital and say hi to Verda, one of the members of the team who has been in Mexico the past month. She contacted pneumonia and refused to take care of herself after getting home so she is paying for it now. I don't know her well and we had little to talk about so I went shopping for a while before getting home just in time to watch O'Reilly. . . . .My Thursday night TV stuff is on tonight so I will break in the new popcorn machine I bought today. I plan on being in bed by 9:30. I heard reports of lots of hail around here today, I never ran into bad weather until after I parked the car out front and saw raindrops coming down. The sun was bright but it was very cool all day, I should have worn a heavier jacket when I left this morning.

Wednesday

. . . . I never did get to go walking today, there was too much threatening rain to venture too far from the house.

I did wash my car though, that didn't take long but it was enough to call it 20 minutes of exercise. I also walked circles inside the apartment during commercial breaks while I had the TV on. Ron stopped by today with Colter, they were on there way to run some errands so they stopped by to drop off a sack of goodies for me. Caren had made some Spanish Rice and another container of what looks like green beans but I have to admit I have not as of this moment opened it to see exactly what it is. There was also a half gallon of milk and a dozen eggs.  I may partake before the evening is over. I had chocolate chip cookies with a glass of milk while O'Reilly was on so I am sure I will eat again before going to bed.. . .  .Tomorrow is bowling day, the last one of the winter league, I'm looking forward to it. I hope I do well, at least better than my 137 average.

Tuesday

 The weather today was almost but not quit ugly. I never did get out the door except to get my mail. That is a story in itself. I have a mail box out on the street but Roy told me that the mail is all put in his box anyway so he has installed a mailbox beside my door and when he picks up the mail he leaves mine in the box with the flag up. Such service! I still think I should check my box once in a while anyway, just to make sure. . . . . .  .I built myself a pot of stew today, the weather was just right for staying in and doing that, I did a little house cleaning and now have the last moving in mess cleaned up so the place is ready to live in. . . . . I also took a nap in the rocking chair Roy left for me to use. I was trying to read but that did not last too long, the nap was good though. That is about all I can report about this rainy day, perhaps more will happen around here tomorrow. I hope to at least get in a walk next time the sun comes out.

Monday

It was raining most of the day so I didn't get my walk in but I did get to the bowling alley. I took ChiChi along and left him in the car for a little over an hour. It was only 49 degrees so I had no fear of him overheating. I bowled four lines: 160 - 145 -135 -165. Those are round numbers but my final for the day was 607 pins and that breaks down to a very nice 152 average.  I am pleased with my results. After bowling I stopped at Safeway before stopping at DMV to change the address on my drivers license. I found DMV  to be closed on Monday, that is my kind of luck. I will try again on Thursday when I go bowling.

   On the way home I went by Ron and Caren's for a short visit. Caren was not there, this was her day to take Billy shopping so I yakked with Ron for a while before heading home. I can not remember when I was out today that it was not raining. Lets hope that stops before August.

Sunday

 This has been another lazy Sunday for me and ChiChi although we did walk for almost an hour in the early afternoon. We walked down the hill and across the rail road tracks. It is very quiet down there with houses scattered about and signs of life but we never saw anyone at all. At one point we heard a very large dog barking and ChiChi was straining at the end of his leash to make tracks out of there. It turned out to be no problem so I continued in my own slow pace, making the dog edgy.. . . This afternoon I watched NASCAR and a couple of movies with popcorn  later in the day.  I'm looking forward to bowling tomorrow, it will be nice to get out and about in the car. I have a little shopping to do, it seems I eat a lot and have to keep the larder filled. I'm glad I am getting back in the habit of walking every day, I must find a way to off set all  that food I can't seem to say no to!

Saturday

   I put in a full day today, I didn't start out planning on a busy day but one thing lead to another and I ended up accomplishing a lot of good stuff. It all began with a good breakfast then while the sun was shining the doggie and I left for a walk. Of course it had to sprinkle all the time we were gone [about forty minutes] but it cleared up nicely as soon as we returned.. . . .  I pulled out my 2010 tax forms and was getting ready to write the $459.00 check when I decided just for the heck of it to run the whole thing through one of those free tax preparation programs on line. I chose Taxslayer.com and went to work punching in all of the numbers and his bottom line was no tax due. So I just punched a few more buttons and filed it right there on the spot. I hope the IRS accepts it with no trouble.. . . After that I got to thinking about last years $1,034.00 check I sent them. I decided to run that through the free tax program too. That time it showed I paid $646.00 too much so I printed out an amended return and sent that off requesting a $646.00 refund. Can't hurt, I figured, all they can do is show me where I am wrong. All of this took a lot of time and I finally turned the computer off about 7PM.

I hope the final result shows that I had a good day. We shall see in a few weeks when the letters come from the IRS. . . . . .I found no NASCAR races last Sunday so I hope they are on TV tomorrow, that will keep me busy until I go bowling on Monday. I expect to tear up the lanes at practice. Maybe one day I will get good enough to do as well during regular bowling. Next Thursday is the final game of the season, the following Thursday will be the banquet then the Summer season starts a week later. Perhaps a year from now I'll be a better bowler, I sure as heck hope so!. . . . I still have that little corner full of stuff that has not been put away at my new place. I may get at that tomorrow, then I will be completely moved in! Sorry for the small print again, I forgot to change the font size and I'm too lazy to retype it. I don't know how to make it larger after it is typed. We all have our problems.

Friday

My day was spent poking around the apartment, Roy, my landlord and I came to an agreement about a little corner of his garage where I could store my fishing stuff and my car wash equipment. Now my kitchen is all in order except I still have the folding chairs at the table. I will make some changes there eventually but I'm in no big hurry. One day I will see a little kitchen table and chairs that I think will look great in that spot and bring them home. There is still one small pile of stuff in the bedroom that I have not decided what to do with, I expect I'll find a place for it in the closet and forget about it. It is a lot of forgettable stuff that I really have no use for.

      I took a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood this afternoon, the traffic was very light and I took the doggie along. I found that is a good way to not to  have to cut his nails, he broke a couple today and perhaps if we keep this up all of his nails will be their proper length. I wonder if that would work for me too? The weather was threatening rain and there was a slight breeze but I would guess I got in over two miles. My hope is that I can continue doing that every day, I remember how much better I felt when I was walking daily a year or so ago.

Thursday

      If I measured my day only by my bowling score I'd jump off a bridge. Lucky for me I found other things more important! Today I bowled 132-92-139 in that order. Of the two teams I was the worst bowler, that does not happen very often, there is usually at least one of the old guys around who I can beat. I guess today it was my turn to be the old guy, darn it! After embarrassing myself at the bowling alley I drove over to the dollar store and drowned my sorrow by spending a whole fifteen dollars, another book included. I think I now have fifteen unread books on the shelf. I also stopped my Wal-Mart again for a lamp to put over my computer [forgot to buy a bulb though] and a few more things for the kitchen. I broke down and bought a quart of ice cream too, As well as chocolate chips to go with it. I wonder if I did that because of my bowling score? I bet that was the reason! I had to race home because I did not leave Wal-Mart until 4:40 and I didn't want to miss O'Reilly. I made it on time but ChiChi was all over me for attention because I had left him in the house all afternoon. He was a good boy though, no messes. I fixed myself a tuna salad sandwich during commercials and washed that down with a very weak Rum and Coke. I was feeling much better by the time O'Reilly ended at six PM. Tonight I will be up later than usual to watch my Thursday night comedy stuff on TV, but there is no doubt I will be ready for bed by the time they end.

Wednesday

This turned out to be another rainy day with not a lot getting accomplished. I even fell asleep just as O'Reilly came on TV so I will have to catch him again at 8PM just to get caught up. I did a little decorating around the place today, attached some thin colored poster boards to my bare walls in the living room and my bedroom. I like 'em.

           The two colors I used in the bedroom are green and yellow, the same colors that are in my bed cover and a desk cover. I think I'm pretty clever. . . . . That chili turned out to be tasty enough but it is true I am about chili'd out, I am going to get tired of that stuff before long, I only wish I could get it to taste like Mom's. Or Barbara's. I thought I almost had it once but I was not able to repeat the recipe later. I think it is about time for another pot of stew. I forgot to bring some plastic containers from Barb's place when I moved  so I will pick some up tomorrow when I'm in town bowling. That way I can freeze the chili and use the pot to make  stew. A change in diet is a good thing. .. . . . . My printer is still not hooked up, I will do that as soon as I get a round tuit. I may look for a round tuit while I'm in town tomorrow.

Tuesday

My day was well spent packing up five bags of trash that has to go out next week. I bought a few things for my new place [Wal-Mart loves me] and the boxes and 'leftovers' from those boxes had to be broken down to fit in the trash bags. .....I also put together a large pot of chili, it does not taste quite the way I would like it to but perhaps next time. I did add less hot pepper this time. The other pot I had made was so hot ChiChi refused to lick the bowl each time I offered it to him. That was not the case this evening. I may not even have to wash it because of the good job he did cleaning it up. The living room looks much larger now that all of the mess has been cleaned up. I still have a bunch of stuff to find places for, especially the car care items that were in the garage at Barb's place.  Roy, my landlord has promised me a corner of his very large garage but I have not yet gotten around to that part of settling in so that will wait a few more days.. . . I still have not hooked up my printer to the computer but I have moved my telephone to the puter desk. The printer sits on the floor as I type, looking so forlorn and forgotten. I am really surprised at how much stuff I really have and now it has been added to because I wanted my own things as far as kitchen items were concerned. New towels, a table cloth, things like that. I have no intention of moving out of here so I suppose I will have a stupendous garage sale done in my name one day.. . . .The rain we had today had no effect/affect [I never have learned the difference in those words] on me, it was there but I never stepped out of the door. I have not even taken the trash bags out. I still feel unorganized. Tomorrow is another day.

Monday

Yep, my weekend was just fine, I got pretty tired and am not yet over that but everything worked out peachy keen.

                                         This turned out to be a fairly good day for me, I was a bit pooped by the time it ended but there is nothing new there. This morning I was busy around here putting more stuff away and making a grocery list. I left the house before noon and drove to the fishing cabin on the dike to retrieve my fishing pole and fishing gear. After putting that away at the apartment ChiChi and I drove to the bowling alley. As I was walking toward the entrance I stopped and thought about leaving the windows down for ChiChi. Not because I failed to do that but because they were really down far enough for anyone so inclined could reach in and open the door. I raised them so that could not happen then proceeded to bowl a 170-156-140. That took about an hour and when returning to the car I found I had never locked the door. So what good did it do to roll the windows up? ChiChi was fine and I let him out to walk on the grass. I thought he might wish to empty his bladder or something but I was wrong. We then stopped by the gas station, $3.86 per gallon, before arriving at Wal-Mart.

I was in there way too long and put a big dent in my debit card in the process. After leaving Wal-Mart I stopped at the Comcast office to complain about the remote  they had given me. The lady traded it for one that she claims will do a better job so I was happy. I have not yet tried it but perhaps I will do that before I get to bed. I then drove to Ron and Carens to check on them. Before going in the house I waited for the dog to do his business but Caren's dog barked and scared my little guy poopless so we went inside. I kept an eye on him in the house but he was a perfect gentleman and caused no trouble. I visited for a while and since I had a trunk full of Wal-Mart stuff I decided to get home and get it put away before O'Reilly came on TV. While I was unloading the car ChiChi walked in the kitchen and left a puddle in the middle of the floor. Dumb dog. I was feeling so good about my bowling score that I didn't say much more than 'bad dog'. He got off easy this time. Next time? No promises! . . . .  .I must say this turned out to be an OK day. Oh, I forgot to mention, on my trip into town and back I never saw one raindrop until I got to the Castle Rock City Limits. It rained a while during my unloading process at home but otherwise it was not a bad weather day.

March 27 PM

. . . . I have been tired and lazy all day today. I couldn't find NASCAR but there were Indy Car Races going on in Florida so I watched that off and on. Ron and Caren stopped by with Colter, we were lucky enough to have deer in back of the apartment so Colter got to watch them for a while. I took some pictures but have not yet downloaded them. Caren showed me how to pick up my voice mail off the phone so that is now up and running too. The day was full of rain and I see now about 5:30 that the sun is low enough in the sky to peak under the clouds. That tells me there are no clouds to the west. Good, maybe when I am out bowling and shopping tomorrow I will not be blessed with rain. I talked to Brother Len on the phone for a while, he was just checking up on his big brother and had I given him the opportunity he would have bragged about the nice weather they are having in South America [Shreveport, La.]. I was planning on watching a movie tonight but have discovered that the Remote control Comcast sent me does not do all that was promised. I may stop by the office tomorrow and ask about that. If I watch a movie it will be with commercials. You know I just love that! I got a note from Eva today telling me they are home again, I intended to have my Skype program up and running by this time but it is not yet ready to go so if they were on I missed them. I hope to try again next Sunday.

March 27

 Well, I am in my new place but far from finished. The puter desk was the biggest problem I had to deal with, it is now in position and I will never move it again, I'm getting too old for the hassle. My plan this morning was to give an accounting of the entire move but since it is over I think I will forget about all the crazy stuff and move on with putting things away and enjoying the NASCAR race when it starts shortly.. . . Before I do that though I must say thank you, Ron Teigen!

He did a good job of driving between the rain drops during the entire move. I never noticed a drop of water on anything. However, 15 minutes after he dropped me off for the last time and I got in my car the skies opened up and dumped big time....... I'm going to cut this short and get back to work. Ask me about putting the desk together at 3AM. That was after I went to bed at 7pm Saturday night and woke up 8 hours later all rested and ready to go.

March

I just got back from bowling a 115-104-179 series. I did not quite make my average and those first two games made me feel bad. Right now I am in the process of shutting down my puter and carrying it over to the new place so it will be ready for the cable guy in the morning. It was trying to rain as I pulled in the driveway. That is the way it is around here this time of year.

March

23. . . . I am in the process of letting folks know that Comcast called to tell me that the time is up on this hookup. The bill will not be paid so they can be shutting things down any minute. I'll keep checking my email on a regular basis as long as it is on but don't expect any response from me until I get things hooked up at my new place. That should be Friday night.. . . . . . . .After posting the above I got a phone call from the lady who is taking care of Barb's Estate and was told that Comcast will not terminate service before the 26th. . . . . . . I took ChiChi to the new place again today and the first thing he did was poop on the carpet. The door was open and there was no reason for him to not go outside except that the landlords dog was out there. I carried some kitchen things over and put them away before driving by Ron and Caren's place to verify that Ron will be available Saturday morning to help me haul the large items.. . . . Tomorrow after bowling I will disconnect my telephone and computer and deliver them to the apartment so they will be ready for the cable guy when he shows up Friday morning. Things are moving along nicely. I will have my computer desk broken down [it is a corner unit] for easy transport by Saturday morning also.

March

    I had a lot of trouble getting started today, no reason for it, I was just lazy until after I had lunch then things seemed to change. I had a small bookshelf next to my bed that was full of college lecture courses I have purchased in the past seven years. Today was  the day to dust them off and move them to the new apartment. I stopped by the Post Office on my way  and officially changed my address . When I drove down the driveway to the apartment I saw a deer standing about 50 feet from my door. It never moved until I accidently hit my horn while getting out of the car. And even then it only moved a few feet. After getting inside I looked out my bedroom window and saw three more deer down the side of the hill that is directly behind the building. The first one was in the mood to jump the fence and join the others so I watched for a minute or so and sure enough he took flight and very lightly cleared that five foot fence. Poetry in motion, that jump. They were grazing on the side of the hill not more than 150 feet from me for as long as I watched. ChiChi never saw any of them or if he did he was to afraid to make a fuss. After getting the bookshelf back together and the contents placed where I wanted them I drove ChiChi and I to town for some groceries. We were back home by 2:30. Not a whole lot was accomplished after that, except for the large stuff the move is about complete. After bowling Thursday I will haul my computer over there so it will be ready for the cable guy to hook up on Friday morning. After the cable guy leaves  I will haul the full dresser drawers over to the new place and Saturday morning Ron will help me transport the dressers themselves. My computer desk and bed will also be taken over then. Since my bed will no longer be at 2278 it looks like Saturday night will be my first night in the new place. I am interested to know how much trouble I will have with the railroad since it is only about 600 feet away. [beyond the place where the deer were today]. 

March

I had another famous steak and egg breakfasts this morning. The idea is that I bowl better after eating a good meal. I left the house about 11:30 to go bowling and stopped by Pleasant Hill on my way. I delivered another box of stuff to my apartment before driving the rest of the way into town. There was some rain today so my car did get dirty but that is just one of those things. Bowling was fine, 159-177-123. I averaged over 150 for the day and was tempted to bowl another line but after looking at that 123 I decided to quit while I was ahead. Now I am ready to kill some pins on Thursday!. . . . . . After leaving the bowling alley I did some household goods shopping, towels, toaster, broom and dust pan. Stuff like that. I had intended to stop by the grocery store but went to Burger King for lunch and after eating I was too tired to do any more shopping. Eating does that to me. On the way home I stopped by Pleasant Hill again to unload the trunk and forgot all about going to the Post Office to change my address. I will try to remember to do that tomorrow, if it is not raining too hard. I'm joking of course, rain can't be a factor or I'd never get anything accomplished in this part of the country.. . . .My lineup of Monday night TV is on tonight so I'll be up to enjoy that silly stuff then get some sleep before facing another wonderful day in Washington Springtime.. . . .

March

20^th. . . .First day of spring! Oh, happy day! I had breakfast, the kitchen all cleaned up and my laundry finished by 10am. I then drove to Pleasant Hill to empty some boxes and put some things away. I wasn’t there too long before I felt the need for lunch and when I got back to the house I found NASCAR on TV so there I was for the rest of the day. I didn’t get rained on today so the car is still clean for my drive to the bowling alley tomorrow for more practice. Such luck! It has been a good day……………

March

19th  I got a lot of exercise today. I was busy packing two loads of 'stuff' into the car and delivering it to the new place. By the way, the address is 4161A Pleasant Hill Drive, Kelso, Washington, 98626, in case you want to send money or something. The phone number is 360-703-3880 but I don't have a phone in there yet, I am not sure it is even hooked up. I am expecting the Comcast guy to come by Friday and put all of my stuff in operating condition. . . . . My first arrival was interesting, I went inside to pay Roy the first months rent and ChiChi followed me. We were not there long enough to write the check when he dropped a stool on their living room carpet. Stupid dog. Roy owns a dog about Chichi's age but four times larger and ChiChi was afraid of it but they settled their 'meeting' and all went well...... After delivering the stuff today I put some of it away and left some in boxes. The rest I removed from the boxes and piled it all in the bedroom, I wanted to get them out of the boxes because if I don't I may never get to the stuff. . . . I took the new TV out of the box and was disappointed because I didn't get a larger one. This one looks small in this living room, I didn't think that would happen but there it is. I attached the base to the TV and sat it on the table that will be supporting it. Even the table is so large the TV looks small. I will solve that problem by moving my chair closer to the TV. Where there is a will there is a way. . . . The owner left some furniture [tables] that look great in the living room and gave me two folding chairs that I put at the dinning table for the time being. Eventually I will get a small table and chairs to put there and move the other one to the back hallway for a laundry folding table. I noticed today  Roy [the owner] and his wife put up new curtain overheads in the living room windows. Nice color, light blue, I'm liking it.

I wonder now if there are new ones in the bedroom, I was in there several times during the day but it never registered if they are there. I got home for the last time this afternoon about 4:30, sort of pooped but I feel good about my accomplishments today. This evening I had my popcorn and apple slices while watching ‘Joe Dirt’. It was a good movie, lots of fun.

March

18^th . . . . .I had part of that Porterhouse steak Caren gave me with eggs this morning, delicious! I left the house before 11am to spend the day with Terri Lynn. We were unable to celebrate St. Patrick’s together yesterday because of my bowling so we made up for it today. We really wanted to meet because last year at this time we were in Prague with Pepik and Eva. Remembering that trip today was  a lot of fun. Terri prepared a great St. Patrick’s Day meal with a glass of beer and we had a nice talk. After eating we each drove our own car to Borders and walked to Best Buy which is about two blocks away. I found a TV I liked for $350.00 and told the salesman to drop the price to $300.00 and I would take it home with me. He said he couldn’t do that and I asked why. His answer was that he needed to talk to his boss. I told him it sounded like a plan to me and he left. Terri was surprised I did that, she didn’t feel it was possible to bargain in a store like that. She was very surprised when the fella returned and told me he had a green light to make the deal. I then purchased a 4 year unconditional guarantee that cost me $50.00. We walked out of the store with a very nice 32 inch LED HDTV. Total price was $349.98. Works for me!  After doing that Terri and I went in Borders and visited for another couple of hours before I left about 6:30. I was home by 8PM and watched the Factor on TV before catching up with my email and posting this item to my blog. It was a great day and I still have some of that steak left over. I will let it age for another day and try that again.

March

I started my day by oversleeping, I was supposed to be at R&R Motors by 8:30 and just made it by the skin of my teeth. It took about an hour to install the 'new' used servo but I was out of there by 9:45. My next stop was at the Post Office because I needed stamps. I bought a roll of Forever stamps, I dated the inside of the roll so it will be interesting to discover just how long a roll of 'forever' stamps really last.

      I then had time to stop by the house and get myself cleaned up enough to go shopping and to meet the gang for bowling.

I stopped by Sears and looked at 32 inch TV's and making notes of the price before continuing on to Wal-Mart. The prices are lower at Wal-Mart but the manufacturer is different too. After that I drove to the bowling alley and had a bowl of soup before checking in for bowling. Things started off well enough with a 149 but after that things fell apart. My second game gave me a 117 so I decided my blood sugar was in turmoil so I bought a small bag of chips and finished the third game with a 122. It was a bad day, my best game was the same as my worse game was last Monday. I was still hungry so had a dinner salad and visited with Charlotte for the first time in weeks. She was not able to stay long and after I finished my meal I drove by Target Store in Kelso. The have 32 inch TV's too but still no price within $50. of Wal-Mart. My plan now is to stop by Best-Buy in Vancouver in the morning to see what they have to offer. Since I will be in the Portland area I might stop by someplace there and see what is available. By buying in Portland I will save about $25 in taxes, it might be worth a shot. it worked well for me a couple of years ago when I bought my Video Camera. We shall see how it goes, The lady at Wal-Mart told me they never close so I may stop in there on my way home tomorrow night and get the one they have. I don't really 'have' to buy tomorrow but it would be nice to have that chore accomplished and behind me.

     After leaving Target Store I stopped by to visit  with Ron and Caren for about 45 minutes, they gave me a huge Porterhouse steak to take home. I can make two large meals out of the steak and if I use it for breakfast [steak and eggs is a wonderful combination] I can get four meals out of it.

    I got home in time to watch O'Reilly at 5PM then for the first time today I turned on the computer. That is when I wrote this little tome  and posted it on my blog.

      I did forget to wear green today and got teased at the bowling alley. I had intended to wear green but I started the day wrong by not waking up in time to remember anything except getting the car fixed.

March

. I phoned Comcast this morning and ordered the same Internet, telephone and HDTV package that Barbara had here. Since I ordered the HD I will go ahead and visit Wal-Mart or Sears tomorrow after bowling and purchase a 32” flat screen HD television.

I have been afraid to look at the balance due on my Credit card but I feel safe enough to spend the money. My plan is to remove my puter from this location on Thursday the 24^th and have the installer from Comcast help me get both the puter and TV hooked up when he arrives on the 25^th. The rest of my day was spent sorting and boxing stuff. That and watching the rain come down by the bucketful. ChiChi and I were able to get out to the mailbox during a break between clouds. I’m sorry I bothered, there was nothing worth while in there.