Saturday

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

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

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

Friday

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

Thursday

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

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

Wednesday

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

Tuesday

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

Monday

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

Sunday

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

Saturday

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

Friday

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

Thursday

 My bowling was not a lot to howl about today but I improved as the day advanced and I consider that a good sign, 133-124-147. After bowling I had a coke with the team then drove to Caren and Ron's place to introduce the kids to chess. Colter was not interested but the 5 year old attempted to understand what I was explaining. I brought home a couple of 2X4 blocks to put under the head of my bed per the snore doctor's suggestion. I told Ron I was reluctant to do that because the heart doctor is worried about my feet swelling. He wants my feet to be higher. I told Ron I should take four blocks with me and raise both ends of the bed. That way both doctors would be pleased. He laughed, he's a good guy.. . . Caren sent me home with what I think is a Mashed potato pie. It was delicious and I have enough left over for another meal. I have several too many potatoes around here, I think I will attempt my own version of that pie.She also gave me some Strawberry Shortcake. I will eat that with my ice cream tonight. I'm looking forward to it!

Wednesday

I have two or three new videos pasted on YouTube as of last night. Perhaps this link will help.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6iJRj5UZaA Today ChiChi did our little walk down to the river. Rain was falling on the freeway as we started out but it didn’t move our way until the last ten minutes of the walk. We got home safely. I changed into a dry shirt right away just to be on the safe side. It was a light rain at the house. A one day drought is to start during the weekend, who knows what day that might be. Or which weekend for that matter.

Try to Google celford52 then try YouTube

Tuesday

I was at the snore doctors office early and luckily they were able to get me in an out rather quickly. I thought I might go practice some more bowling after leaving there but the bowling alley does not open until 11am so I went to the dollar store and bought a new book and drove home for the day. The doctor gave me some nasal spray that he claims helps a lot of people who snore a lot. He wants to see how that works before going any further. He said my exhaling problem is probably caused by the little gadget in the back of my mouth that block my exhaling through my nose. Hr feels that can be corrected with a little 'snip'. He said he is reluctant to do that because I am on blood thinner and again wants to see how the nasal sprays work. If they do work he said he will write a prescription for more and if that does not do the job he will consider 'snipping' the back of my mouth. The threat of rain was in the air all day so I never ventured out for a walk. I think ChiChi was disappointed, he likes to get out and go places every chance he gets. I posted a few pictures to Facebook this afternoon and I am still working on a 'Bird Feeder' video for YouTube.

Monday

Cloudy and cool again this morning. I downloaded my pictures that were in the camera. I will eventually post the Balloon pics on You Tube and maybe a couple on my blog.  I have taken pics of the ‘lane’ ChiChi and I use to walk to the river; I may post a couple of them on the blog too. After lunch ChiChi and I drove to the bowling alley. I am happy with today’s results. 169-150-144= 154. That is the way it is ‘posed to be. So now I wait for the Thursday results. LOL. This evening I started a YouTube project staring Barbara’s Bird Feeder. I had the video camera recorder aimed at it for a couple of hours 4-5 years ago and caught a few birds and squirrels eating peanuts from it. I might be able to capture five minutes of excitement off the tape.

Sunday

ChiChi and I did our walk today. Close to three miles, I want to drive the course next time I am in the car and determine exactly how far it is. On the way a very young buck deer stood on one side of the road and looked at us as we looked back. He was curious and in no hurry to move along so we gazed at him from nine steps away for 3-4 minutes. ChiChi got bored and walked around me, getting tangled up in the leash in the process. The sudden movement spooked the deer and with two bounces he disappeared into the brush. One more of those times when I did not have my camera with me.

I took a lot of pictures last night but have not yet downloaded them. I was on the puter today, cleaning up all of the old unwanted pictures and safely storing the wanted ones on my portable memory chip. Now if the puter goes down I will have all of my important stuff saved.

This was popcorn and apple night, I watched a comedy I had seen 3-4 years ago. the name was BEST MAN. It's a lot of fun along with comedy, blood and gore.

Average Hollywood stuff these days.

Saturday

. .Today I finished posting the remaining pictures of my 2010 road trip across Canada and back. That is a lot of fun, I enjoy it. I hope you all will check in and take a gander at my work. My YouTube user name is celford52. I left for Tigard this afternoon in time to get to the Balloon Festival and take pictures of the colorful excitement going on there this weekend.  The balloons arrived just before dark and inflated but never did take off. Terri and I had ribs and beans down there for dinner then tried a local ‘Stout’ for dessert. I am not a great lover of ‘Stout’ beer. We left the fairgrounds close to 10pm and I got home about 11:30. Doggie was glad to see me!   

Friday

Friday       I am happy to say that ChiChi got better as the night progressed. I was awake at 2:30 this morning and found him to still be lethargic. He had never gone to his bed and was sleeping on his pillow in the living room. I got him to eat a small helping of ice-cream, something he has trouble refusing any time, and then I went back to bed and turned off the light. I could hear that he had followed me to his own bed and was settled in for the rest of the night. At 6:30 I was awake again and when he noticed  he slowly came over to my bed lazily wagging his tail. He was willing to go outside to take care of his business but did not wish to eat anything that was in his dog bowl. When I had breakfast I placed about half of a scrambled egg on top of his dog food and he ate that. He has not eaten a whole lot more than that so far today. We braved the dark clouds that have been hovering overhead all morning and walked down the lane to the river and back. We were lucky regarding the rain. A few drops fell but the clouds were so high in the sky that I didn’t expect much. ChiChi showed excitement when I approached him with the leash so I felt he would do fine. After we entered the lane I removed the leash and he acted as healthy as he ever has on our walks. I would feel better if he got hungry but I am sure that by tomorrow everything will be fine.     

Thursday

I began the day by feeding my hungry dog at 5:30 and going back to bed. I awoke at 7:00 and realized I had to have the car in the shop by 8:30 so I was a bit rushed. I was out of there by 10am and a bit later left the house for bowling. The bowling was not good, 155-111-128. I was not feeling too well about half way through the second game so I ate a small burger and that perked me up but not enough to recover from the terrible 111. I had another snack after bowling then headed for Safeway to spend $47. I purchased lots of goodies that will go in stir fry experiments I am going to try in days to come. Wish me luck. I did sit in front of the TV while O'Reilly was on tonight but after that ended I started in on the vegetables. It took me almost an hour to chop up 6 servings of stir fry vegetables. I am going to freeze 5 of them for later use. I hope my little idea works, it is difficult for me to understand why it wouldn't. A couple of days ago I prepared and froze a dozen slices of French Toast. I had one of those for breakfast this morning, pretty good but it didn't last me through bowling. Next time I should have an egg with it. I think the extra protein would be good for me.

I found doggie was sick while I was away today and he is really under the weather this evening, has no appetite at all and wants to crawl off by himself.Poor guy. This has happened in the past and by morning he has always felt better, I hope that is the case this time.

Wednesday

Worked on my next YouTube posting for a while today but by 3:30 I was so ‘stove up’ I had to get some exercise so I took my camera and the doggie and went walking down the lane to the river. I have been wanting to get some pictures to post here and I did do that while getting in an hour of walking. This evening I caught O’Reilly on TV and took a nap before waking up to post this at 9:30. I am awake enough now to go to bed and read myself to sleep in an hour or so.

Tuesday

Tuesday. . . . The day began with a bit of fog in the air and that was a good thing because as usual in the summer it burned away and we had a nice day. I drove  to Beaverton this morning to have lunch with Terri. After lunch we went to try miniature golf. . . .She won by one stroke………….The doctor said she will be released in the morning and the nurse thinks I should get into anger management classes right away. Terri made me promise not to kick the dog when I got home and I agreed to cool down by them. ….I left Beaverton for the drive home at 6:00 PM and 45 minutes later looked at the odometer and discovered I had covered 6 miles. By the time I got to the Hwy 26 Tunnel traffic was clearing and 8 minutes later I was across the river and on the way home. The traffic was almost nonexistent after leaving the tunnel. The temperature was 86 in Beaverton today and cooled off quickly as I approached Cowlitz county. As per usual.

You will be pleased to know I did not take out my golf score on the doggie.

Monday

Cool again today. ChiChi and I did walk for an hour, we got all of the way down to the river and back.  I also played on the puter long enough to post all of my remaining Canadian pictures to YouTube. I will next start on the return trip beginning in Maine. The weatherman has promised no rain tomorrow so I have washed my car. I don’t want to get it wet when I go to Beaverton tomorrow to accept a Miniature Golf challenge from Terri.

Sunday

I was really surprised when I Googled celford52 this morning. They have me all over the place, interesting. I tried to bowl again today but things were not working right, I feel I have no coordination. I averaged 124 for 5 lines. I did take a water pill this morning, I have never noticed any problem in the past. I came home and continued working on another video to put on YouTube. Every time I start a new project on the computer I have to learn everything all over again. I have lost all of my pictures again. They are there, I know because I found them once but forgot how I got to them. My computer performs like it has a split personality. I work fine with one of them but the other one is a bear. At the moment it is hiding my pictures from me. I decided to watch some dirt track racing on TV at 2PM and by 2:10 I was sound asleep in the recliner. I woke up in time to watch them give the winner his trophy. . . . .There was no rain today and it never warmed up much either.

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.