Today 9July2023

Sunday started with me resisting the 7:30AM alarm, and I lollygagged in bed until 8AM. I ordered a locally-made bagel-like product with Nov Lox to allow me to order smear for my NYC bagels. The product was good and delivered to the house. I consumed this with liberal coffee I made in my French Press.

I tried to write the blog for Saturday this morning but kept getting distracted. I kept working on my 500-word horror piece–just one more read-through and a few fixes, I kept telling myself. Time flies. Soon I have to rush.

My Apple panics. The hard drive (2T of expensive fast storage that came with the system back in 2020) seems to be faulting. The Apple TimeCapsle locks up, and it cannot locate the usual backup–time for me to panic! I hard shut down and rebooted the machine. Everything returns to normal (except the internal mic, which is still dead). A replacement Apple with 1T (I have only used 1/2 T) and a new M2 processor cost about $3,000; an upgrade to 14″ and other improvements cost $3,600. The warranty is good until April next year for my still working, I think it is still working, Apple–so I will wait a bit longer.

Finally, I finished a decent recap of Saturday, cleaned up, dressed, and boarded Air Volvo. Traffic was light on Sunday to Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie was just finishing lunch when I got there before 1PM. I had stopped by McDonald’s to get chicken parts for a quick lunch–I think I needed an antidote for that–never again.

Susie was happy to see me and seemed alert and happy today. She was ready to head out to the park. It was sunny in the high 70s (25C) (the morning clouds burned off). The park was full of kiddie birthday parties and folks playing volleyball and kiddie soccer. Everyone was happy, and burgers and hot dogs were being prepared. A nearly perfect day for this, and the nasty yellow jackets are not out yet, so food is safe, still, outside.

We called Leta on the shady bench near the cedars and redwoods. Leta, Susie’s mother, was happy to hear from us, and we chatted on my iPhone using FaceTime to see each other. Susie was much more present today and reacted to events in the park and Leta on the phone. Susie and I were both comfortable and enjoyed watching the folks for a while.

I moved Susie to the porch and called Barb, Susie’s sister, and we talked about Barb’s upcoming visit. I thought she was coming on the 14th, but she will be in on the 13th afternoon. I will make some minor changes to enable that. Barb will be getting a rental car and staying in the spare room in the house. I took time off, but Nike started another testing cycle simultaneously, so I might be needed.

After Barb rang off, we retired to Susie’s bedroom. Anassa, the weekend nursing aide, got Susie comfy in Susie’s bed. I put on Disney+, and we found Cinderella, the old animated movie, to watch with the singing mice and the Fairy Godmother singing “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo.” Susie was singing along and was feeling better, I think. Next, we played 1970s rock from Alexa (called “Echo” on our account) until 4PM–me nearing falling dead asleep.

I kissed Susie goodbye and headed out. Louis, the evening nurse aide, would check in on Susie and make dinner soon. On the way to Cory’s house, I stopped at McMenamins Oak Hills Brewpub and had my usual before Dungeons and Dragons quick dinner, soup, and an iced tea. Today, it was beef chili. Good. I did edit my 500-word horror story a few times there–almost perfect!

We played Dungeons and Dragons 5E at Cory’s house, where I play a 7th-level Paladin. We are coming to the end of the first storyline, and that means some desperate battles. We had a lot of folks down in the battles–As a paladin, I can heal and deliver lots of damage. I am also in plate armor and hard to hit, which is good in these battles. I was able to block some hits for my character and the elf warrior character that is my comrade-in-arms. Critical hits were flying tonight, and the damage was heavy. Still, it was fun, and we all had the spotlight here and there.

Here is the gaming table. We don’t usually use hexes for Dungeons and Dragons, but the map looks right. The wooden ship I built for us to use as a space jammer–I used transparent masts and sales to make it easier to use on a gaming table. Yes, we turned one of our characters into a giant ape. The pencil represents a ram we added ad hoc to the ship–it is held on with modeling clay.

After that, I returned to the Volvo Cave and wrote this blog. It is late. Thanks for reading.