Story 16Sept2023

This was my usual busy Saturday. I woke around 8ish and made instant low-sugar oatmeal adding some walnuts, dried cranberries, and a few slivers of butter to make it better. I heated water and then made French Press coffee from my supply of liberal coffee. I took all of this, ignoring the lonely-looking Immobile Schwinn in the living room, to the office and started writing a long blog. I could not resist quite a few asides, and Friday was a busy day, so it took a while to tell its story.

I finished writing, had breakfast, and ran a few minutes late. I turned on the water for a shower on the 1/2 bath off of the master bedroom, and I saw a strange leak on the plastic connector. I reached up and pulled on the handle, and the crack opened to 1/8 of an inch; warm water hit me, the ceiling, floor, and door, and even reached the bedroom floor. I quickly turned off the warm water, laughing the whole time. I was like a non-moving water ride! Wow!

 

Looking at the failure, the weight of the magnetic locking showerhead rested on this coupling, and in less than 16 months, it had aged and split. On examination of the loss, it seems that less than 1/4 inch of plastic held this heavy device to the metal pipe–it could not last. How sad to see something so valuable and lovely to use have an obvious failure point that could have been avoided. I am replacing it with a less enjoyable item that might survive longer.

After rushing to the other bathroom and showering, I returned to my 1/2 bath and finished the usual items. I also was using the towels to mop up the worst of it. The rest would dry on another clear, dry September day in Oregon. I was soon ready to board Air Volvo, adding to the cargo hold the board game Vindication, Evan’s fav.

The travel time to the hummingbird house was short, as there was no construction, accidents, or traffic to slow me down this Saturday. Susie was waiting for me in her recliner in the shared living room when I arrived at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Anassa loaded Susie in her wheelchair, and soon, we were headed to the park next door. Metzger Park was not busy, but more and older kids enjoyed the park on a weekend. As usual, dogs were ensuing, and their humans got some fresh air. Sadly, the park has decided to rip out the plantings around the community building, and an antique rose is gone today.

I will miss the rose bush. The base cane was inches thick, suggesting it had been transplanted from somewhere. It was scraggly and careworn, and I can understand removing it. I hope new plantings worthy of the sacrifice will come soon. With older rose bushes (not necessarily Old Roses), I find you have to cut them back to a few good canes, and soon they look great again. You must be careful to respect the graft; otherwise, you will suddenly find all you have is a pink rose, the rootstock. According to a story I heard, I have one rose here at the Volvo Cave that was transplanted from the previous owner’s mother’s house. It is a tea rose, I think, as it is lovely, but it can get black spot, showing it is an antique old-style grafted rose and likely older than me. Newer hybrid teas are more resilient to black spot and are often not grafted.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, on my iPhone using FaceTime to see each other. Today, we did not call Barb, Susie’s sister, as she was in Canada with her husband, Gordon, enjoying a joint birthday jaunt. Leta was well, and we had a pleasant chat. Susie and I were enjoying the clear skies. While one wasp did visit and was waved away, the wasps are primarily hunted for food (beetles, dropped food, spiders, and other insects). There has been a massive increase in wasps this year, and now the food is over-consumed, and the wasps, as usually happens to a predator when its numbers are too high, are less interested in attacking and more searching. Thus, I can wave them away now, and the hungry wasps move on. Eating outside now is not a good idea–the desperate wasps will come, but the park is relatively safe otherwise.

With the wasps busy searching for wasp lunch, I took Susie through the park and then on the roads: The long trip. We looked at the magnolia tree (not yet in bloom) and saw all the well-tended roses in the area (and a few left to the elements). Oregon is always full of roses and fruit trees–I let my apple tree’s fruit fall, and the squirrels, birds, and likely unseen raccoons and possums are enjoying the bounty this year. No wasps nests this year in my yard; I had to destroy one last year, but I have seen many wasps, and I noticed a reduction in large spiders this year in my backyard. No webs everywhere this year. Maybe it’s a good exchange.

Susie and I then traveled back to her room and watched Only Murders in the Building. Today, Susie was wide awake and looked happy to watch the show. Meryl Streep is in year three episodes, and that surprised Susie, who kept asking if that was Merl Streep. Susie was sad when I informed her we were headed out; Saturday is a couple-hour stay for me. I put on M.A.S.H. for her, which made her happy, but she was still sad to stay behind. It is always heartbreaking for me.

Having been gassed up ($4.85 a gallon!) and washed yesterday, Air Volvo traveled to Rogue Ales in Portland at SE 9th. There, Evan and I played three games of Vindication, the base game. We only added Pets from the large selection of add-ons for the game. We play with all the promo and various extra cards available over the years, plus all the treachery cards–I likely play one of the most complete copies of the board game Vindication. Strangely, I have seldom played more than a few add-ons and never the Guild version. I like the base game, and it fits better for my usual two-person games.

Evan one the first game by under ten points, a good close game without a clear winner. I was insanely lucky in the next two games.

Aside: I have described Vindication before. It is a game I helped design (just a little help) and recommended, even without all the cool add-ons. More information on the game is here.

I had two beers, one Dead Guy (their famous beer) and a sour (good on a warm-hot summer day). I parked across the street in the Rogue parking lot instead of on the streets. Bluebeard (a guy who does the multi-person bike beer crawls for groups), who literally dies his beard bright blue, was there and said hello. He was there with his usual group of tourists and wedding parties. I had a Hawaii Burger as I was hungry–yes, not quite the best choice for me, but it was so good.

After drinking a few glasses of water, I said goodbye to Evan. Air Volvo covered the few miles to Richard’s house. Dwellers of Eldervale board game was on the gaming table, something I have not played for years and I did not remember as very enjoyable. Today, we had a great time as Chris and I did not know how to play, and we did not feel crushed by experts (this happens sometimes when I am the fourth person and the only one who does not know the game). Richard beat us, with Chris not able to catch me. I built house after house, remembering that this was important. I also savaged Richard early by summoning my dragon and warrior early in the game. But Richard’s dragon had a special power to grab twice the resources, which defined his win. I surprised the other players by slaying anything in my way, including two impressive three-inch tall monster 3D figures with bases that growl (yes, somewhat over-the-top, even for a Kickstarter game). I played the fire goblins and role-played that. There are a lot of rules, but the usual worker placement, engine build, and goal-collecting style of most games. The combat was fun; I love to use a dragon!

We played next, as a shorter game, 51st State; this is a card game where you play cards into your tableau by paying various resources. You have to sequence your moves to best consume your limited post-apocalyptic resources. This slightly competitive card game has you collecting cards to play for help and/or points to win the game. I scored last as Richard nearly lapped me. I like Furnace card game better, and the theme I don’t care for–I would like happy hobbits or goblins with dragons or building industry. A ruined USA, after a breakdown of the country, is not a theme I would usually play. Still, it is a good game from 2016. If you can ignore the theme, it is a good card game and plays fast.

After that, I took Air Volvo home. After the tunnel (and the stupidly high on-ramp to a bridge), there was a five-car pile-up on Highway 26. This slowed the traffic for a while, but it only closed one lane, and everyone soon was zooming again at 50-60 mph (not the Michigan 75). I arrived home and made a sandwich to take my pills. I also received a new hat, a Homburg, to wear with my suit for the upcoming H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. I wanted something older-looking and black to go with the grey and dark suits.

After putting away the new hat, I then tried to sleep. I was itchy, likely from allergies and mosquito bites (they stay with me for a week or more), and I had to get up at 4:30 to take something and apply stuff to the bites. I managed to sleep after that.

Thanks for reading.