TUESDAY. . . . .

. . . . . My bowling results were bad enough to make me feel hopeful about League Bowling on Thursday. My first five lines averaged 140.2 and the second set of five came back at 141.40. That averages out to about 140.8. That is a bit better than my league average so I hope to do at least that well next time I get down there.. . . . .Tomorrow I have an appointment with the cardiologist in Beaverton so I will not be able to make it to the fishing hole. Maybe Friday! 

MONDAY. . . . .

. . . . . .Turned out to be a good day. My bowling started out not so good but that was because I was trying to follow through properly with each ball I threw. It took about three lines to catch on to the routine and after that I did very well. The first five lines averaged out at 140.2 and the second five gave me a 157.4. I ended the day with a 148.8 for the ten lines.. . . . .Not bad for a kid! . . . .  ..  Mel told me there are Steelhead in the river but I am going to return to the bowling alley again tomorrow just to see if I can force myself again to deliver that ball correctly.. . . .  .I got home around 2PM and decided today was the day the doggy gets his bath. The one I have been putting off for so long. I filled the sink with cool water and dish soap then retrieved my heavy gloves from the trunk of the car but before donning them I picked up the dog to remove his collar, he snapped at me but did not really show a lot of anger so I continued the process without gloves. I am very happy to report that this is the first time in ever that I have bathed him without gloves! He is catching on! He even liked me after it was all over! In the past he has hated me for hours after the experience. He was nine years old this past April. Good dog, ChiChi!

SUNDAY. . . . .

. . . . . I drove over to Teigens and picked up Caren for our Birthday Luncheon. She has been a very busy lady lately and felt the need for some relaxing time. We had a nice visit with our Applebee's meal. She and I don't get a chance to visit too often so it was fun sort of getting caught up. Colton was not feeling well today and had been at the hospital last night being checked out. The problem was and still is sinus trouble. It seems he has some airborne allergies or something similar. I had Caren home by 3PM and Colton showed more life than he had shown earlier, he was out in the yard driving his electric tractor around the yard at full speed. It seems he always sets that thing at full throttle and goes like the wind. Today was no different.  Sick or no sick. Caren gave me some tomatoes from her garden and some ham out of the refrigerator. Along with some other goodies to eat. It was enough food to last me for the next three days at least. I arrived home about 4PM just in time to feed the dog before he fell into a starvation coma. His words not mine!

SATURDAY. . . . .

 . . . . .Doggy and I were at the fishing hole again today; the river is up a bit and there are a lot of weeds coming downstream. We caught no fish but I did find the handle to my fishing reel that I lost a couple of days ago. That means I now have two reels, three, actually, counting the one on the other heavy duty pole. Again, no fish were caught but I saw two small ones landed by boat fishermen as they drifted by. It appears that the chances of catching one or two this month is improving. How is that for positive thinking?

FRIDAY. . . .

. . . . No fishing today; I attended the Memorial Service for Rudy Teigen. The service was well done with several good speakers and a full house. Rudy had a ton of friends in this area. The food and visiting afterward was very good and luckily the church has an air conditioned basement 'rec' room for the gathering that took place when the service ended. The river has risen about 18 inches since the last time I was down there; I will check the new water flow tomorrow before deciding whether to go fishing or bowling. Another very nice, summer day, I hope they continue until after Christmas.

THURSDAY. . . .

. . . . . My first two lines of bowling today were fine [138-148] but the third line went to pieces at 114. I ended the day with a 133 average which is close to my league average so I didn't hurt the team too much. . . Ernie, my instructor was on the other team and it has been a long time since I have worked with him so when he brought up my follow through when delivering the ball I decided to try to do things the right way. I know my follow through is not proper and I have even gotten out of the habit of trying to correct it. We both know that I must improve in that area if I am ever to become a Winter League class opponent. Since that is my wish I decided to start working on it while I had him there for feedback. Any way, that is the excuse I will use this week for my poor results. By the time next week rolls around I am sure I will be able to come up with another excuse. Never fear! . . . On the way home I stopped by Bob's Sporting goods and bought a new fishing reel, I hope to try it out on Saturday. The weather is beautiful around here! Reminds me of Mazatlan in January!

WEDNESDAY. . . .

. . . . Doggy and I arrived at the fishing hole shortly after 11AM and since the water was higher and the temperature was lower I decided to finish the book I had brought with me instead of digging the table out of the sand.  About noon Mel showed up with his weed eater to clear some heavy grass around the path beside the river. He was unable to get it started a couple of days ago so he installed a new spark plug and did some work around the house yesterday. Then today he carried it down to the river and found again  it would not start. As he was attempting to get the thing started I walked to my pole and reached for it to reel it in to clear the stuff off the line. I was most unhappy to find that when I had cast the line out earlier the handle had fallen off the reel. I had to pull the line, lure and sinker in overhand and stop fishing for the day. Mel and I sat in the shade for a couple of hours to cool off before we gathered up our stuff and vacated the sitting area. I will attempt to locate a handle for the reel tomorrow after bowling and if that does not work I will purchase a new reel.It was one of those bad fishing days. The good news is I went fishing.

TUESDAY. . . . .

. . . . .I averaged 132 over ten lines at the bowling alley today. It was not a happy day but I am pleased to note that that is the worse thing I have to worry about.. . After bowling I stopped by the house for ChiChi then drove to the Teigens to check up on them and to deliver a book about spiders that I thought Colton might like; but when I handed it to him he shivered and tossed it to  the floor. He told me he does not like spiders. .  .  .Ron applied some 'tire shine' to my cars tires and to the 'bra' I have on it. The car looks great all spiffed up like that.. . . I made a date with Caren to take her to dinner in celebration of her Birthday on the 20th past then loaded up the car with the little dog and drove home.  It turned out to be a very nice day with lots of sunshine!

MONDAY. . . .

. . . . My friend Ben Bader passed away yesterday, may God be with you good buddy! . . . .Ben was a wonderful story teller, it was a ball visiting with him. All that was needed to get him started on an adventuresome story was to ask him a question on any subject. He was ready to turn it into something that at one time or another happened to him.  It has been said by people who knew him well for many years that most of the stuff he came up with actually happened. Ben had a very exciting life.. . . .  .ChiChi and I spent three hours at the fishing hole today working on removing the table that has been buried in the sand since winter. The water is way too deep and each shovel full I remove is replaced by the sides of the hole sliding down into the previously removed spot. The exercise is great but I can't say the same for results. Sort of like my bowling.

SUNDAY

. . . . It was a nice day to drive a freshly washed T-Bird into town this morning. My bowling results were very good, considering my usually poor results on Thursdays. My first five lines came to 154.8 and the second five squeaked by with 148.8. I was happy to leave with a 152 average for the day. My last game was the high for the day, 177. Stopped by the market on the way home and arrived there just in time to feed my dog at 3PM. He was happy to see me because eating is his favorite exercise. 

SATURDAY

. . . . . Another lazy day in Pleasant Hill. Being well aware of my need for exercise I did wash the car though. I suppose the time I spent in front of the TV and eating could have been used for better things but I plan on making up for it by bowling again tomorrow. I did not get to the fishing hole because there was a NASCAR race that I did not wish to miss. I suppose I gained another pound today. My bad.

FRIDAY

. . . . . ChiChi and I arrived at the fishing hole about 11 AM. Didn't catch any thing but I did dig around the table that fell into the water last winter. Mel came down and watched the operation after discovering that his weed eater would not start. He wanted to clean out the path leading to the sitting area but that will have to wait for another day. In the course of the digging I found that his fish net was tangled in the rope that was also wrapped around the table legs. I was able to remove the net from the water for Mel but in the process I lost my balance and fell backward into a foot of water and a sandy bottom. I knew the water was cold because I  had been working in calf deep water but that sudden soaking up to my belly button was a shock to my system! I was on my feet immediately and heading for my chair when the dizzies hit me. I am happy that the chair was there because without it I would have fallen to the sand. It took me about three minutes to stabilise my system, cold water is tough to accept plunging into! It was not long before I was back in the water to continue digging the table out. I think the river will have to come down at least two feet before I can be successful with that chore. Mel feels that the river might reach that level at some time in the next two months so I will continue working on it. When I got home I put my wet clothes in the washing machine along with my other laundry and watched a movie while that was processing. By 5PM the laundry was finished and put away. There seem to be no lasting effects from my earlier 'dunking'. 

THURSDAY

. . . . Turned out to be a good day: It began with a haircut this morning and my pro time check around 11AM. I arrived at the bowling alley about 11:30 and had a hamburger to fortify myself for the league bowling that started at 12:20. I was happy with my first two lines of 157 and 166 but I fell into bad habits on the third line and walked away with only a 134. The final result was 152 for the day and since that is 14 pins better than my league average I had to be happy! . . . .After bowling I stopped by Safeway for some groceries, gasoline and cash from the ATM, I am now set for the rest of the month. Life is good.

WEDNESDAY

. . . . . .I guess the fifteen lines of bowling yesterday took more out of me than I had expected; I slept for almost eleven hours last night and had two more naps today. My plan for the day was to go fishing but the falling rain in the morning created a mood for reading and napping. After lunch the rain seemed to be letting up but that did not last very long and when it began again I returned to my book and another nap. It was just one heck of a lazy day. Lazy days can be good though!

TUESDAY

. . . . . .We had rain for a while before I left to go bowling but happily it stopped before I left the house. I bowled five lines and was not happy with the 125.6 average so I buckled down and tried another five: 142.8.  That average for the day was not really good so I stayed around and bowled another five: 144.8.  I felt a bit better after that but my total average for the day only came up to 137.7. That was not very nice either. What was nice was to see that the weather had cleared since arriving at the bowling alley and the short drive home was very comfortable. Tomorrow I will try fishing again. I hope the little rain we had has not made the river dirty again.

MONDAY

. . . . . Doggy and I arrived at the fishing hole at 11AM and we caught nothing of course. I did take off my shoes and waded into ankle deep water to work on digging that table out of the mud/sand. Naturally the sand fills in about as fast as it is removed but when the river comes down another foot or so I believe I will be able to recover the thing. My question is will the top still be attached? I feel that it is because I uncovered enough of the legs that had they not been attached to the top it would have been lifted off the mud. .  .  .  I will continue with the project. I might add that that water is cold! I can't believe that folks on inner tubes actually have a nice ride down the river. To each his own, as they say. 

SUNDAY

. . . . . . I was pleased enough with my bowling results today; the first five lines averaged 150 and the second five gave me a 158.  The grand total for the ten lines was 154.4. I must learn how to relax and do as well each Thursday during league bowling. . . . Today was Caren's Birthday, Colton said she is about 17 but he is only five years old so what does he know?  .   .   .   .   She had invited me over for a BBQ this afternoon and I arrived about 2:30, just a few minutes after Ron and his Mom had left for the hospital; the hospital had phoned earlier and ask Lila to come quick so they did. Rudy had passed away suddenly from a possible blood clot in the heart. We will miss Rudy, he was fine member of the family and a great Dad to Ron. Ron phoned Caren about an hour later and asked her to be there too so the party ended at that moment. Rest in peace, Rudy.

SATURDAY

. . . . The annual Cousins Lunch went very well this afternoon, about a dozen people showed up at Ken and Junes place in Longview and a good time was had by all. We could never have asked for nicer weather. The food was fantastic, thanks June, for all of the work! I left around 4 PM and went home to take a nap but found a NASCAR race on TV and enjoyed that until it ended at 8PM.

FRIDAY

. . . . . .No fish again today, I didn't even see another fisherman on the river. It turned out to be a nice day sitting in the shade reading but I wore heavy clothing because it was cool down there until 2PM or so. 

THURSDAY

. . . . . My bowling results today were as follows: Stinky, Stinky and really stinky.
My average for the day was 134 which is 4 pins below my league average [which will now go down because of today's results. . . . .After stopping at Safeway and putting away groceries I went to Roy's house and removed the new printer they had me install a few days ago. It seems it is working way too slow for them to be satisfied. I explained that perhaps we could speed it up by changing the quality of the results to a lower sitting but Iona said she wanted to return it.  I also told them I knew a guy who might be able to speed up their computer [it is very slow] so she agreed and I delivered it to Tom, my computer guy. They are going to tell me when they get the machine back and I will hook it up for them. Tom said it would be ready tomorrow but I told Roy to not bother asking about it until about Monday. Tom is not too quick about working or keeping his word but he does a good job when he finally gets started.