Author: alohawild

I rose at 6ish as I could not return to sleep, and it was a travel day. I had run everything but my PJs in the washer, wanting to avoid having dirty clothing at the house for nearly three weeks while I travel. I tossed that into the dryer and started on the blog with some instant coffee and a banana for breakfast. I had changed into clean PJs and clean sheets the night before. Those will be OK, as I used them only once.

I focused on finishing the blog and washed the few dishes I’d used when I was done. Just one cup of coffee. I published it after a few hours and talked to Deborah. Next, I showered with new towels (again, only used once) and dressed (with some of the clothing that was washed).

With the blog done, the extra laundry completed and put in my suitcase or being worn, and getting my suitcase in Air VW the Gray, aka Evie (the name Evie was used for EV in some of my text-to-English, and I liked it). I managed to jam the suitcase on the seat, leaving plenty of room for Deborah and Jeanne’s baggage and for Jeanne in First Class.

I then collected the trash from the house and put it in the bin, set the heat and AC to vacation mode until I return, and set the water heater to low. I placed my waterproof light coat and two hats in the EV (I would need them today). I arranged the items within easy reach so I could snack on them. With that done, I hit the road. It is Highway 5 until mid-California, when I head towards Modesto, not San Francisco, on Sunday.

I cut across Beaverton and Tigard to 5, then 5, until I stopped at Yrika, California, about 3:30. I do stop in Canyonville at the Seven Feathers Truck stop to charge, get a sandwich, and then continue. There was one bathroom break too.

The trip was a challenge as traffic was often moderate to heavy. I enjoy the trip and remember all the places I want to return to, as well as a few I would like to try. It always seems that Oregon just keeps going, and suddenly, there is the stateline. The steep declines up to 7% kept me busy dodging trucks.

Mount Shasta in CA.

In Yreka, after I checked in with a very helpful staff person who upgraded my room for $3 less than my price, no surprise to me, as I have done it in the past. She warned me that the pool room was hot because the thermostat had been splashed by some baseball team’s pool party and had stopped working. They are still waiting for parts and will put a box over it this time.

In my room, I immediately headed out again, found the charge station at Miner Station on Miner Street in Yreka Old Town, and spent 45 minutes charging for $22, bringing it from 45% to 100%. This charger was half as powerful as the last one. I walked through the town while I was waiting (thinking it was fifteen minutes). I found some places to eat, and an Italian place, Strings Italian Cafe, interested me most. Discovering I was stuck longer, I looked up the places, and a Thai place scored near me did well, as did the Italian place. A steakhouse with a 3.5 rating, a point lower, was my first choice, but its website, when you went to it, was up for sale, suggesting that there were no more.

I was disappointed that I missed out on a bookstore as it closed at 4.

With the charging finally done, I drove around town. Found a sign at the intersection of Miner and Gold Street. Yes, in Yreka, there are streets of gold, or at least one street named that way. I stopped at the Purple Dragon gaming store, bought a figure since I hate to leave without supporting my local gaming store, and had a nice chat with the staff at the craft and goodies store that shares the space. They recommended the Italian place.

I parked the car, headed into Strings Italian Cafe, and was not shocked by the excellent food for $50, but the service was slow, as it appeared the one waiter was running the place. Still, the food was good, and I had the combo with their stuffed mushrooms (ok), pasta (!), and a slice of lasagna, baked and stuffed in an onion-flavored pastry. It was excellent. The salad before dinner was good, though it had store-bought industrial croutons, and you used a cheese shaker to finish your Caesar salad, which was served with raisins and sunflower seeds (which were good).

I walked after dinner as my watch was harassing me about one more walk. I found that they had a park dedicated to local Native Americans, featuring a traditional wooden structure and a statue. I think Beaverton could use something like that. I took more photos and then let Evie take me back to the hotel.

 

There, I used the pool and planned my car adventures from Yreka to Fresno, a seven-hour trip. The drive from Fresno to John Wayne Airport takes four hours. I am the Uber driver for Deorah and Jeanne on Monday. They land at 11.

And it is time to finish this as it approaches 11 on Saturday. Blogs are written when I can, when in travel mode.

Thank you very much for reading.

 

It will be a short, not-so-interesting blog today, as this is more of a process than anything else.

I rose after 7 to a gray morning, but no rain. The weekend and start of the week in Oregon will be wet, according to the forecast. No need to ask Corwin to water the roses while I am away. At least for the first week.

I assemble my memories into a story and type that into WordPress’s Classic Editor, which has fewer issues (I was told years ago by one of their developers), while Grammarly finds the mistakes, and then I mostly ignore its hints for improving the text. I do this on-the-fly while I am typing. I am mostly asking the AI to find missing commas, missing plurals, and misspellings or incorrect word use. It suggests exchanging some words, for example, the previous sentence was written with ‘wrong’ and Grammarly suggested ‘incorrect,’ which is what I really meant. I might have spotted it, but I appreciate those changes. When it tries to rewrite my sentences, I look for a missing word, add it, and it then goes away. Something I have learned. Still, as Deborah reminds me, it still gets loose and mangles things once in a while. I suspect I OK’d a change when I meant to cancel it.

I also wrote a note to Mom Wild and got that in the mailbox before the morning deliveries. I had a list of items to do and added a few more. I completed the text and decorated it with some pictures. Coffee was made, and a banana consumed, my usual breakfast fare, and I made a bowl of cereal with milk.

I repurposed the milk bottle, a two-serving shelf-stable version, and filled it with liquid detergent, and sealed that in a zip-lock bag. Dryer sheets went into another bag. Ready to do laundry on the trip! Next, I sorted my bucket of coins that I keep on the counter. One bag for quarters, which I had a large supply of (from a previous run at the coin laundry), and another for other silver-colored US coinage. Pennies and non-US coins were returned to the bucket.

I found a 1951 ‘L’ Error Wheat Penny, which, depending on what you find on the Internet, is worth 3 cents or thousands (I suspect the lower amount). It was fun to be surprised and find this in the bucket. I have a vague memory of finding it and dropping it in the bucket for later, which was now. I put the coin aside in the office, as it is just fun to look at.

I published the finished blog, making it the current entry on the public website. Lunch was cold chicken and more potato salad. The last of the chicken is for Crowin to use (or toss later). I finally ran the dishwasher.

I took Air VW the Gray, fully charged, to the car wash again (sadly, not brushless) and cleaned the outside again. Next, I used the vacuum to clean up the inside. I had already wiped down the dashboard and other parts to remove dust and drips from various products. While I was not pleased with the look, it was far better. I returned to the house via the post office (picked up some new stamps).

Somewhere in the morning, before this, I had a shower, and talking to Deborah here and there through the morning and early afternoon, I finally called the colonoscopy people and waited nearly an hour on the phone. We finally agreed on a date in mid-August, and the scheduler laughed when I suggested Margarita-flavored prep (I suggested instead of lemon use the drink name, and you will not need to change anything but the label — more of a mental thing) or that our church needs to buy a six-pack of colonoscopies, as it seems someone is having one, or you know someone. The scheduler laughed when I told her I marked the prep day as a Party on my schedule.

While I was on hold, I put away the clean dishes, swooshed the toilets, and sprayed down the shower. Collected the laundry and ran it. I folded it, and previous loads, and much of it ended up in my suitcase. Packing was happening in earnest.

I then found my dermatological appointment on my schedule and moved it a week earlier, as my return date overlapped with it. I had decided to spend an extra day to see the Lassen Volcanic Monument on the way back to Oregon. More items from my list.

Corwin came by with Hank the Dog and watched an episode of Daredevil. I mopped the bathrooms and vacuumed after a quick pass of dusting. A rushed job, but it still seemed to help and lighten my mood when it was done. Shirts, pants, a swimsuit, shorts, all packed with spare shoes. Hiking boots I placed in the car with a light coat (I am crossing the passes and am always ready for events—traction devices are in the lower cargo area), plus I will need them at the volcanic park.

Dinner was out with Corwin (Hank had to stay in the house, and he was a good boy) at the local strip mall, where they had an excellent, if maybe too large, meal. I had a margarita (Corwin had given up drinking and weed and feels much better).

I returned home, cleaned up the office a bit, which was the last item on my list, and soon went to bed. I slept well and woke too early, but on a travel day, that is the usual.

Thanks for reading.

 

Thursday, I knew, would be a busy day, and I would have no time for packing or anything else. I woke and started my day by writing the usual blog entry and making coffee. I would drink three cups and leave the rest for tomorrow. It was another sunny morning that was clouded with marine effects later, but it was a warm day. There were a few sprinkles, but no return of our usual rains.

I started on the blog and tried to find my focus. Deborah called, and various church items, best not covered here, came forward, and that too took my time, and I did not finish the blog before I had to head toward lunch with Brad J and Scott W at our usual Thursday. I showered, and all that, and soon was in Air VW the Gray. I was in a dress shirt and a sweater vest. I put on another vest, green in color, black slip-on shoes, and a pride tie in the car. I had unloaded the cargo hold earlier, and all the games are now on the shelves, except for a few new American Civil War (ACW) wargames.

Brad J was already there when Scott and I entered, having met in the parking lot. We talked about travel and all the old Nike folks we had met of late. Scott and Brad had some advice for my trip, with Brad recommending the Getty Villa and Scott reminding me that LA traffic is a Thing. We all had the lunch special (1/2 a sandwich, side salad, and a cup of the soup of the day, something tomato) with Scott W and me taking a Hammerhead Beer and Brad J going for a zero-alcohol IPA. Lunch was pleasant, but Scott W passed on a walk after lunch; he had things to do.

I moved to the bar, ordered coffee, asked for a manager, finished the blog, and tried their cheesecake (OK, but not great). I scheduled the next Theology Pub, though I will be in California for that. I published the blog and saw I would be a few minutes late for Gaming with Doug’s group at 2.

I am the youngest, and there were three of us: Doug, Dave, and me. Doug put out a spread and made beef soup with veggies for dinner. There was also freshly-made sourdough bread. It was fun to play Finspan again, and we had a tight game with Dave making schools and wtih me adding high-value fish to my tableau. I lost to Dave by one point. We played Flip-7 for three games, and each one of us won.

After some soup and too much bread (Dave also brought zucchini bread), I headed out and drove to the church. There, I changed my sweater and shoes and put on a tie. I walked into a challenge.

The copier/printer was not working. The usual issue: toner. I soon located the supplies and installed them. Rebooted the copier/printer and moved to the next issue. The resources on the PDF specified a setting I did not have. Pastor Ken set the paper to plain, and I told the machine that I had added plain to tray one. Soon, we had it running on cardstock, which thankfully did not jam.

But there is more; these need to be cut; they are badges. We have a huge paper cutter (it is a church), and I cut the copies as they came out and then in sets. Only one mishap (one hand slides the paper on the other side of the guide, and the other pulls down the handle) as I leaned in, and gravity caused the handle to fall and hit me in my glasses. I was relieved that the blade was not involved.

Jeff and Z walked in as the blade handle hit me. They were concerned, and then Jeff laughed with me about the mistake. If you can laugh about it, you are taking things too seriously. I think Z smiles nervously, wondering what is wrong with us. Ken had lanyards for the badges, supplies in three colors, and I attached the correct ones to the colors and then gave them out. I had one.

The speaker, David Harrelson, gave his presentation, Indigenous Place Keeping: Learning from the Land, for just over an hour. We had about 44 folks there (including everyone). There were a few folks from some local native language classes who knew of or had heard of David. The presentation was interesting, and he quoted some of the geology I follow on YouTube. There is evidence of long-term human intervention from ash records recovered from lake cores. David shared that there has always been a Beaverton, as the native village was named after beavers and was West of the current downtown. He shared that fire was used to manage the land and that science, some historical documents, and the archaeological record show this. It was an interesting topic, and the Q&A went on for a while.

Folks and David lingered for about an hour, and there were plenty of cookies and light drinks. I headed out at about 9, then went to The 649 and had an Old Fashioned and some cheese fondue with bread, apples, and some sliced brats. I read the news and looked more at the Getty Villa, and just surfed.

It was after 11 when I packed up and headed home. There, I went to bed and soon slept. I woke a few times and then had a terrible asthma attack at 6. I could not breathe for a moment. Once I could, I took my emergency inhaler, and it cleared the issue. I should have taken last night.

The next speaker is Nicholas Kristof on Oct 1st. He is an award-winning journalist and has a Wikipedia Article.

Thanks for reading.

 

Going backward, just as something different, I was in bed after 11, decided not to read, and soon fell asleep. I woke with difficult dreams of work and travel (not forgotten, but close to a nightmare), and these dreams continued when I slept again, but without the harshness, and are also now forgotten. I woke early, rolled over, dreamed waking bright dreams, and rose about 7.

Before bed, I was at First United Methodist Church in Beaverton at 6 and waited until 6:30 for Dondrea and Z to show. Z agreed to play Concordia with the Roma board, a favorite and prefect for two players, and we included the add-in Forum. I learned the game long ago from Will and Peaches with Corwin with me. I remember Will checking whether the winner had more cards than anyone else. His theory was that the more cards you had, the more likely you would win. Today’s play reminded me of that.

My first act was to play the Senator Card and get the first two excellent cards. Z did not surprise me by doing the same action, and we both soon followed by building our shops (instead of trading houses) in Roma and moving our ships into the special trade on the Mediterranean Sea (ships are handled differently in this game and are for trade, not colonists, as in the usual play). At this point, our roles were set. I bought more and more cards, and Z built over and over. I expanded my colonists (also used as trade ships in this version), and Z rushed to fill the board. The cards multiply the impact of your building, but I was behind on building. Z was rushing to finish the game, but was hampered by not adding colonists, and at the mid-game, upgraded the cards Z used by pausing the rush to get more cards, and started to accelerate to Z’s usual dizzying speed of play. In a desperate move, I played two Architect Cards (one I had to acquire) close together to build four shops (my only Farmer and Metal shops); I still had five left. There, Z finished all the shops and ended the game, and I got one more colonist out.

The score count had Z ahead until we counted the experts’ cards, and there, as anyone who plays Concordia will tell you, I won with the Weaver Card by eight points. Until then, Z was far ahead. I managed a last-minute dive and catch.

It is always a pleasure to play against Z. I have to be highly efficient and flexible to win. Again, just barely scraped by and had bought more cards than Z. Z won the last time we played on the Roma board for two.

We play fast, running as fast as we think, with occasional pauses to think more as options become available. Next, Flip-7 was two full games for Z, with me going out too far while Z played with three cards most hands. We kept our scores on the calculator app on our respective iPhones. I played more conservatively on the last hand, as the choir broke up (we play during choir rehearsal) and was ahead when we ended, but it was a partial game. We all chatted for a while and then went our separate ways. I stopped by McDonald’s, got a hot fudge Sundae, returned home in Air VW the Gray, and watched Star Trek: DS9 episodes.

Moving back from the morning into the early afternoon, I headed out and drove into surprisingly heavy traffic as various municipalities began installing across Beaverton. I would not dare to question the wisdom of the local officials or the number of holes they have installed. Slow-moving traffic had me burning more time than I wanted to reach the Dollar Store–I have to pack and clean–and I bought some plasticware for my trip, but the paper bowls and napkins were not available. I crossed the Cedar Hills Mall parking lot, across the street, and stopped at Paris Begette for a sandwich, another California Turkey club. This time, they offered to cut it in half. I have to admit, I ate it all.

I enjoyed my visit to Winco. I got a few extra items because they were well-priced. I found my bowls in 35 packs and napkins. I acquired their chicken for $5.99 and some potato salad for dinner. Joan S. and I discussed the finer points of cheap rotisserie chicken; she recommends WinCo over Costco, and I agree. The salt and pepper seasoning works well for the Winco version; I had that for dinner with the last of the broccoli (preventing it from becoming else while I am away).

Somewhere in the evening, I swept and mopped the kitchen floor and did the dishes. During the day, Deborah and I looked at the Getty Center.

I rose at 7ish, found the coffee from yesterday, had it with a protein bar, and wrote the blog. Deborah called me to start our day together, always a pleasure.

Dear reader, please consider attending if you are in the area. From the press release:

BEAVERTON, Ore. — [May 18, 2026] — A new public forum dedicated to ideas, culture, and civic dialogue is coming to Beaverton with the launch of the Beaverton Lecture Series, a community-centered initiative designed to spark thoughtful conversation and deeper connection across the region. The series opens on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at 7:00 PM with the inaugural lecture, “Indigenous Place Keeping: Learning from the Land,” featuring cultural leader David Harrelson. The event will be held at The Historic Downtown Methodist Church, located next to the Beaverton City Library at 12555 SW 4th Street, Beaverton, OR 97005. Admission is free and open to the public. Harrelson, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the tribe’s Cultural Resources Department Manager, will explore the Indigenous practice of “keeping place” — understanding land not merely as physical space, but as a living network of relationships connecting people, plants, history, and community. “No matter where you live, you are on Indigenous land,” Harrelson says, underscoring the continuing relevance of Indigenous knowledge and stewardship.

With more than 16 years of experience in cultural resources and heritage preservation, Harrelson’s work spans ethnobotany, Indigenous foods, contact-era Pacific Northwest history, and Western Oregon Indigenous art. In addition to his leadership with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, he currently serves on the Oregon Arts Commission and previously served on the Oregon State Advisory Committee for Historic Preservation.

ABOUT BEAVERTON LECTURE SERIES
The Beaverton Lecture Series was created to provide an accessible and welcoming gathering space where residents can engage with important ideas shaping culture, history, identity, and civic life. Our hope is that this series becomes a trusted gathering point in Beaverton for learning, dialogue, and shared reflection.

HERE
What: Indigenous Place Keeping: Learning from the Land
Speaker: David Harrelson Date: Thursday, June 4, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Historic Downtown Methodist Church 12555 SW 4th Street, Beaverton, OR 97005
Admission: Free and open to the public

Here is more information: David Harrelson Press Release.docx – Google Docs

Thanks for reading and considering attending (if you are in the local area).

 

I rose to another California-like day. I don’t recognize the weather here in the Greater Beaverton area. My first year was a wet year, 1996, with record rains in November and cold below 10°F (-22°C). I ground the last of the locally roasted coffee beans for another pot. I skipped breakfast as I was distracted by many little tasks and made little progress on the blog. It was lovely to talk to Deborah as I started my morning. It is hard to wait until next Monday to see each other

I had about 300 words done when I had to hop into the shower. Even with an extra hour, our Tuesday morning game was delayed an hour this week. I still managed to run late and arrived 15 minutes late (with the post-Rush Hour traffic in Portland allowing me to catch up on some of the time. I did pass two wrecks on Tuesday and was dodging debris on the outbound bridge from a wreck more than 100 feet in the air. That must have been a mess.

We spent three hours playing ISS Vanguard, a Sci-Fi role-playing board game, setting up our mission, and having many long discussions about the rules and possibilities. Richard is trying to game the system and get extra benefits, something he likes to do in the cooperative games, and also to try all the options. This part of the game is all about the process and decisions that impact the play. You can think about all the briefings and ship management before the exciting away missions, like in Star Trek. We run a simulation of assembling our gear for our characters’ mission, run all the game processes that represent ship functions, meet virtually in the hangar, pack the landing ship, and start.

It goes all wrong. We abort and return to the ship, we exhaust our planned characters, and find ourselves flying the ship to something less dangerous (Richard wanted to stay in the mission, but James and I voted to abort). Interestingly, the abort allowed us to complete the bridge upgrades to travel to the next world.

Another landing party, with all the gear already selected, we managed to run the landing process quickly and without failure (we added the new Warning Systems to our lander, which saved us), and we have a mix of horror, The Expanse, and Star Trek play. In the play, we cause a horde of giant insect-like creatures to swarm the planet and destroy our lander. We are stranded! We had no supplies. We managed to find our way, and my Engineer character recovered our discoveries from the wreck of our lander. We managed to survive with half our crew injured (I managed to avoid that this time), though my character failed at climbing, nearly fell to her/his death, but was saved by Richard’s character.

It took seven hours (!) to complete the mission and perform the save. We will play again on my return. I had not planned for such a long day, so I drove home during the early rush hour and headed out to get some food. I decided on the Old Spaghetti Factory. I wanted a salad and something filling; I was very hungry. My waiter served me a nice salad, a loaf of fresh bread with garlic butter, and a huge plate of spaghetti (slightly overcooked, as you find in most restaurants that don’t make their own pasta). The sauce was good. The meatballs and sausage were familiar and worked for me. A finish, a caloric festival, was Spumoni ice cream.

Next, I reached home in Air VW the Gray (down to 69%), took a break, and then headed to Walgreens to discover I was reading last month’s text and that only one prescription was filled (while I write this, I got a note that they did not stock my inhaler and there will be a delay). It is one of the reasons I prefer mail-order Rx processes. They are based in warehouses and can usually fulfill any order.

Jeanne L sent me a book on Michigan. We are traveling together (Deborah, Jeane, and me) in July to revisit and visit various nautical sights and enjoy the outdoors in Michigan. I will try to read the manual before we headed out on that trip. Thanks, Jeanne L!

Back at the house, I watched the last of season two of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (no spoilers), and the last season starts on July 23. I talked to Deborah and said good night. It is good to start and end the day together.

The rest of the evening was little things around the house and starting to pack. I did. It was late when I did this, and I found some hotels for my trip back to Oregon from California, but I booked them wrong (I called the B&B, and they corrected the dates). Spending an extra day to see the Lassen Volcanic Park at Bidwell House. I plan to return to the house on 26June, Friday. I went to bed past midnight, after sending a note to the B&B about the mistake.

Dear reader, please consider attending if you are in the area. From the press release:

BEAVERTON, Ore. — [May 18, 2026] — A new public forum dedicated to ideas, culture, and civic dialogue is coming to Beaverton with the launch of the Beaverton Lecture Series, a community-centered initiative designed to spark thoughtful conversation and deeper connection across the region. The series opens on Thursday, June 4, 2026, at 7:00 PM with the inaugural lecture, “Indigenous Place Keeping: Learning from the Land,” featuring cultural leader David Harrelson. The event will be held at The Historic Downtown Methodist Church, located next to the Beaverton City Library at 12555 SW 4th Street, Beaverton, OR 97005. Admission is free and open to the public. Harrelson, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the tribe’s Cultural Resources Department Manager, will explore the Indigenous practice of “keeping place” — understanding land not merely as physical space, but as a living network of relationships connecting people, plants, history, and community. “No matter where you live, you are on Indigenous land,” Harrelson says, underscoring the continuing relevance of Indigenous knowledge and stewardship.

With more than 16 years of experience in cultural resources and heritage preservation, Harrelson’s work spans ethnobotany, Indigenous foods, contact-era Pacific Northwest history, and Western Oregon Indigenous art. In addition to his leadership with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, he currently serves on the Oregon Arts Commission and previously served on the Oregon State Advisory Committee for Historic Preservation.

ABOUT BEAVERTON LECTURE SERIES
The Beaverton Lecture Series was created to provide an accessible and welcoming gathering space where residents can engage with important ideas shaping culture, history, identity, and civic life. Our hope is that this series becomes a trusted gathering point in Beaverton for learning, dialogue, and shared reflection.

HERE
What: Indigenous Place Keeping: Learning from the Land
Speaker: David Harrelson Date: Thursday, June 4, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Historic Downtown Methodist Church 12555 SW 4th Street, Beaverton, OR 97005
Admission: Free and open to the public

Here is more information: David Harrelson Press Release.docx – Google Docs

Thanks for reading and considering attending (if you are in the local area).