I am tired and planted the tulips by digging two large holes between the rains today. It stopped raining about 5PM, so I got out the spade and dug in the softish hard clay that is the dirt here. I believe you could just make a pot out of it if you fired it. I planted my Woodenshoe Company (yes, not the other one) bulbs, and I am sure some squirrels are already planning a feast on this exotic dutch treat. But with some hope, I will get some nice ones next year.
I had to wash all the clay off my Air Force Ones, having recycled the old shoes I usually use for this, which are in the dryer forever. Unfortunately, the clay stuck to them like glue, and I had to use lots of water, soap, and a cleaning brush to get them back.
Starting from the beginning, I was up at 7AM and had breakfast cereal with milk and liberal coffee made in a French Press. I then wrote the long blog for Saturday. With Susie in the car for a long drive, Saturday was a busy day.
We went to church on Sunday, so I had to rush. The blog took, as happens, longer than I had planned, and I was late leaving, 9:45ish. I had on my tie and sweater for church. Oregon is a come-as-you-are state, and our new pastor is in a cotton shirt, jeans, and sandals. I learned Methodist on the East Coast and always feel that a white shirt and tie are the default choices for men.
The weather is still gray until June or July, with the light Oregon mist painting everything shiny and clean. The traffic was light and fits a Sunday morning. I was fifteen minutes late when I dared to cross Beaverton (skipping Old Town). Susie was dressed in yoga pants (from a pre-Covid Christmas from the Giessners) and a red plaid shirt which I then added (Susie was panicking she would be cold in church–she froze last week) a long warm sweater, and I had a winter-themed blanket for her in Air Volvo.
I managed the lift on my own and got Susie, with some of her help, into Air Volvo. The trip to Beaverton was fine. Anassa, the nurse aide on for today, told me that Susie was tired. So we were just a few minutes late for church. The church was warm (Dan told me they had set the heat to start at 6:30AM–it takes four hours to heat the sanctuary with those huge ceilings and only radiant heat along the walls). Susie was comfortable, and I was a bit warm.
The service worked; I felt it was our first genuine post-Covid service. It felt normal and ran well. The pastor’s sermon, Pastor Ken gave the sermon, was about the Sermon on the Mount. Ken said that Jesus was there to refocus and realign the historical Jewish folks not from the law but to better understand the law. Jesus wanted the focus on money and position to be replaced with a concern for the meek, poor, and undervalued people of the times. Jesus wanted us to throw away greed and power and find better ways to live.
The service was closed, with Howard playing a gothic organ piece. It was perfect. I recorded some of it and put it on Facebook.
As Anassa warned me, Susie was falling asleep (the sermon and music were good) and leaning to the right–the stroke devastated her side. Susie was having a rough day, and I have seen these before, so I was vigilant the whole time. If Susie is tired or sleepy, she leans to the right and will fall right out of bed, in a wheelchair, or right onto you. Attention is required to be safe.
Susie had a few sips of coffee and a few nibbles of some spice cake–likely the ubiquitous pumpkin or season spice. We called Susie’s mother while at the church as coffee hour was breaking. Leta, Susan’s mother, was happy to virtually join the church and was pleased to chat with the Weld-Martins too.
Next, I had to load her into the car, and she was eighty pounds of wet noodles, and her head flopped and bumped the padded interior of Air Volvo–that had not happened before. So I will watch out for that next time Susie is leaning to the right!
Aside: I have detected that Grammarly spell-checking is not working. Sorry if I miss something. Another software update, I believe. Later: I found the issue. They have a problem with updates. If I resave the document, the checks will work again.
I managed to get Susie back to the hummingbird house without incident and managed to swing her out of the car with a bit of her help. Anassa was ready for Susie, and I left with a kiss, and Susie was headed to get some rest.
I drove, with care, through Old Town Beaverton, dodging Trick-or-Treaters as Beaverton was holding a less damp Halloween celebration on Sunday afternoon. It was sad that our church missed out and did not join in. I reached the food cart park near City Hall and got a waffle sandwich, their version of a Monte Carlo sandwich. I collected John Company, a new board game delivered yesterday and headed to Central Taps.
There was an event for the Chamber Music group in Beaverton, but they offered me a table anyway. I then ate my food and started learning the setup. Wehrlegig Games instructions, while well written, have few pictures and not the simple example setup you see with other games. It is a slugfest. I spent three hours learning what the components do, where they go, and how they function. I still have a few mystery pieces; I am not sure what they are used for. I am still reading through the rules tonight to understand better.
Central Taps had a massive load of pumpkins you could just carve and take. Like sixty uncarved pumpkins. They had lots of tools and tables to carve at. Really nice.
I spent the restful afternoon just trying to play an insanely detailed game. It has a solo version, but I was not ready to start that setup when I was learning the components. The metal coins really kick up the immersion in the game.
I had two excellent beers, a dark porter that was not too sweet and Red Zepplin, an amazing red ale. I watched a lot of pumpkin carving while I read the rules and understood what I had got in this new game: John Company.
I collected my stuff, headed home, planted the tulips, started laundry, made dinner of chicken Cordon Blu (frozen) and leftover green beans (reheated in the microwave oven), and made pearl couscous I recently purchased cheaply on Amazon. Not sure I like the pearl version, which is more like a noodle.
I watched a cute episode of Netflix’s Lucifer when the demon Maze heads to Canada. “They will just ‘polite’ them to death,” was the demon’s complaint. I was laughing through much of it. I am at the start of season three.
My shoes are almost dry. More laundry to dry. Dishes to put away. Everything hurts from a weekend of lifts, moving heavy wheelchairs, and planting tulips. I am going to need a weekend from my weekend!
Thanks for reading, and Happy Halloween 2022.
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