Author: alohawild

Tuesday mornings are a rush as I have a game at Richard’s in Portland at 9:30. I rose before my alarm, turned it off, and rose before 7. I then waited for the coffee to start. I was programmed to start 7; I defeated the purpose of having a timed coffee by starting my day too early. With my trip on Thursday next week (just over a week away), I am being careful about baking and cooking. I am running out of bread, but do I make another loaf? Humm.

I started the blog and finished about 80% by 8:30, but it was time to shower, shave, and dress. I did not rush, and soon, I was appropriate for public consumption and got into Air VW the Gray with an 86% charge. I had not reset it to charge over 80%, so the charging all night did nothing but light some diode lights that the charging was done. Growl.

The trip into Portland was more usual with 35 mph speed on 26 inbound to Portland, and no sudden stops for me, though I saw smoke pouring out of the breaks for a large truck that some nut passed, changed into its lane, and then slammed their brakes. All this was done at low speeds and very short distances, which is very much something you only see in Portland.

I arrived at Richards a few minutes late but before James. It is Mansion of Madness 2nd Edition again. Richard and James had played this last week and failed. I picked, as usual, a spellcaster, and we returned to a cooperative (mostly, unless you go insane) board game based on Lovecraft’s mythos and, for these later made scenarios, horror films and books. My spell removed insanity, but also, if I failed a roll, it would hurt my character. And I spent most of the game missing my rolls. I did keep the other players in the game until the very end. We erred on the final conflict, a terrible monster rose, and my character was by bad luck to be right with the creature. My character was slain after taking terrible damage (on more failed rolls), and James and Richard could not finish the quest in time as we had erred. Next time!

I returned home in the EV in light traffic. I had purchased some cubed steaks, and Corwin was planned to be over at 2 for math lessons. I steamed asparagus and microwaved some potatoes. I chopped celery, carrots, and pickled beets for a large salad. I salvage my lettuce from ten days ago. I fried the steaks in the non-stick pan.

The pan was not hot enough, and the steaks were more cooked than fried. Next time, I will use the cast iron pan and get it smoking hot. I made pan gravy in the frying pan, adding butter. When I added water, I discovered the ants had found the corn starch, as the little guys floated to the top. I tossed the corn starch and the cornmeal next to it. I have not had ants in that cabinet before. Hmmm. I used flour instead.

My repast was excellent. Corwin was a no-show. I called, and he decided to put off the math; he is looking for a new apartment and cannot find the focus for pre-calculus now. I still offered him a late lunch or early dinner, and he would be over after donating plasma (another source of income).

I sorted the mail and put away the liberal coffee from Portland’s Equal Exchange warehouse. Today’s coffee was fair-traded but purchased at Safeway. I love the taste of liberalism in the morning, having drunk fair exchanged coffee nearly every morning since President Trump won his first election. We liberals need to remember to keep going. The world will someday find Justice with Compassion and the Love of Community. I see Hope at the bottom of every cup. It will work someday! Drink deep of liberal coffee!

While I was away, the lawn service has cleaned up the yard. It looks marvelous. In the spring, they come weekly on Tuesdays. I do the dishes and run the dishwasher. I have accumulated enough dirty items to run it full.

I watch more Andor on Disney+ and nod off. I am sleepy and nap in my chair. A text from Deborah wakes me. We have both been busy and have had only a short call and a few texts this Tuesday. Corwin is here at dinner time and reheats the food. Deborah calls while Corwin eats, and we chat in private and sometimes on speaker with us all chatting together. Deborah, on Eastern Time, is ready for bed (she rises early and works for a living), and we say good night. Corwin heads home after stacking his dishes. I board Air VW the Gray with a hat and my new Columbia light coat and head to The 649.

It is trivia night, and I find a table in the corner to hide. Crystal and Natalia are on today, with Crystal closing. I get a beer and tell them about my trip to LA with Deborah. They love the photos. Natalia loves to drive to California and shares how she travels there. She agrees that Northern California’s Lake Shasta and the volcano park are worth doing. She loved to camp there and had hiked the volcano vent paths.

The trivia is loud, and I did listen a few times, but mostly, I ignored it and wrote. Over the night, I reached my goal of 3,000 words for chapter one. The voicing is different than the first half of the chapter, and I may have to do a rewrite (I started aligning the voicing this morning), but still, the words and story are written and thus exist. I invent more of the history and magic of my fantasy world. I let my stream of consciousness build the world and its history while I direct the story to the conclusion. This chapter is positive and introductory. Others will introduce conflict, fear, and revelations. But, like my favorite mystery and fantasy writers, the main characters will be mostly unchanged. They (Brass and Mary) are the pillars I will decorate with the story.

The trivia contest goes on for hours, and I have a hummus plater with some pita bread and veggies. I need some food with the beer. I have a second beer, and then Crystal and I agree on coffee with cream and bread pudding. With dessert inside me, I wished Crystal, I was the last customer, a good night (they close at 11 on Tuesday).

I was soon home, and the EV, now set to recharge to 100%, was plugged in. Somehow, the cable had a knot in it! I untangled the first one, and it reached. I ignored the other one. I ignore the dishes and head to bed. After taking my meds, I put on my PJs (I remembered ordering more as I have a trip in a week from the online pharmacy) and found a book to read. I have a 1936 account by an American naval officer of the WW1 Battle of Jutland 1916. The author, Commander Holloway H. Frost, also wrote a secret account and analysis (I have a copy, declassified) for an intelligence briefing book for active American naval officers published in 1924. I am interested in reading what an American observer recorded. I did not know about Commander Frost until last year. His account has been overshadowed by the British and German accounts.

Aside: In the times before antibiotics, Commander Frost passed away young from an infection, and his colleagues and family wanted his writings published as a memorial. I am happy to get a copy from Abe Books.

So far, I like the book’s writing style. I am just at the beginning and Commander Frost’s retelling of the state of the Great War in 1916 (with maps!). The summary and words fit my understanding of the war at the point without the usual bashing of various countries or their peoples. In our time, you can almost see these pages as the script and maps for a YouTube video.

Even with the fascinating book, I was soon falling asleep. I turned off the light and soon drifted to dreams of my fantasy world and Jutland. No dreams were remembered. Thanks for reading!

 

The alarm at 7 woke me as I started a lazy Monday morning. Monday feels like Saturday for me. Retired, I have no work week to start, but most folks I know are working, which means no plans for me. It feels like Saturday, except there are no cartoons to watch. Instead, I find a breakfast of toast, coffee, and a banana. The coffee is ground from locally roasted beans. I am at the end of that. I need to acquire some liberal coffee! My order will arrive in a few days from Equal Exchange’s warehouse in Portland. There is nothing like a little liberal in the morning in your cup to remind you of Justice with Compassion and the Love of Community.

I started the blog, Deborah called, and we chatted for a while. It is good to start the morning with Deborah, and usually, we end her day with talking. I also updated Quicken with the downloaded transactions. I resisted doom scrolling (i.e., reading the news when you are a liberal).

The blog was over 1500 words and took most of the morning. I considered making lunch or having fast food, but decided that the last day of March, a wet but not messy day (for the Pacific Northwest) should end with something better. I headed out in Air VW the Gray with 70% something charge, good for local driving, and soon arrived at Stanford’s for lunch at the bar.

The old barrel-like stools at the bar were now comfy, tall, green chairs. Abril was my bartender. Her hair was split between black and manga blue. She also sported a nose ring with a diamond hanging just under her nose. She made me an Old Fashioned Stanford’s version. It was good, and I remembered Susie and I coming here often after some medical test or worse. Today, I was alone and drank her usual drink here.

The Chicken Dijon was on the special menu, and I wanted to try it. I make a chicken cutlet occasionally and wanted to try their version. The chicken was about the same as I can do, maybe a bit better (maybe). The potatoes were industrial-whipped potatoes that many folks like. I like mine chunky with the skins on with butter. I think it’s better. Their asparagus was steamed and grilled. It was good, and I only steamed mine. The drink and food sent the bill pretty high, but it was fun. I did have wet eyes as I remembered Susie and sipped her drink. I told Abrill about Susie as she saw my moist eyes.

Next was Best Buy with my $100 gift card received for buying The Machine and other appliances in my pocket. The choice for a coffee maker ran high. I did not look at the $3,000+ machines that would fit the new Willy Wonka movie! I found a plain one that did ground coffee (not espresso or using pods or built-in frother) for $99.99. I carried it up to the desk and gave the gift card back. The cashier all but rolled his eyes. Yes, there was one cent left.

Next, I headed to Cornell Farms and walked in and out with a $69 pomegranate tree to plant. I did not do more as I carried it to the checkout and could spend endless amounts of money there on plants, soils, and other hole requiring home improvements. I texted Corwin with another request for hole and plant installation. I pay $20 a planting; he needs the money, and I avoid testing my balance digging and crawling on the ground skills.

The plant is on the deck waiting for Corwin, and the shovel is in the ground where I want it planted. I have learned that it is best to be very specific, as there is no undo button. I reboarded the EV and headed to the gaming store but found nothing I needed there. I got some cash, putting the payment for hole and plant installation in the butter dish in the frig; yes, cold cash for Corwin.

Focaccia bread was tried again. I followed the recipe for using the bread machine and saw that the new bread flour was already half used up. I loaded the machine with the ingredients with some trepidation and started the machine. It dances! The dough is stiff, and the machine moves. I had spilled some water running tests on the new coffee maker (bravely set next to the bread machine), and the bread machine was dancing on the slippery counter. A towel placed under the machine prevents the dancing. No doomed focaccia bread this time!

I placed some bags of the beef stew I made a few weeks ago in a bowl in the sink with warm water. I did not know that the bags leaked (why?) and the stew was diluted. After squeezing out the water (using the same holes), I put it in a pan and reheated the slightly diluted stew.

When the bread dough was finished in the bread machine (set to ‘Dough’), I patted it out into a pan and let it rest, brushing it with olive oil and even more fresh rosemary. Once rested and starting to puff again, I popped it in the oven. I sprinkled some sea salt on it, but this was a bit bitter, and I will not do it again.

I ate reheated stew with warm focaccia bread while rewatching the first season of the Star Wars show Andor on Disney+. The new season is coming soon. After that, I wrote for a while, adding more to my story. I am trying to finish the first chapter at 3,000 words. I am at 2,500.

Lastly, I got out my stamp albums and mounted my new stamps. I managed to get a reasonable price on the first pictorials and US Scott # 120 proof version (see them here if you are interested). Proofs were printed on cardboard to show what the new stamps would look like (you see posters now)—they are perfect. I am slowly getting all the proofs for the 1869 US stamps. I also got a few that were just holes in my collection. Somehow, over the years, I miss a few stamps here and there. I managed to get some reasonable prices for the missing stamps. Now, those pages are finished.

I also continue my collection of special locally published stamps from the mid-late 1800s. In those days, local delivery was often not done. You must head to the post office or arrange for a second, local carrier to deliver your mail. Some of these locals sold their own stamps or stamped the letters. These are valuable and a fascinating collection choice (some locals pre-dated the US postal use of stamps in 1947). This area is flooded with forgeries (many more than 100 years old), and I collect the actual local carriers and the forgeries (and reprints). I have the books on identifying forgeries and real versions (and reprints that are between forgeries and the original).

Tired and ready to sleep, it was already approaching Tuesday. I climb into bed after getting my PJs on. I was soon asleep. Thanks for reading.

Seldom do you think of cosmic disaster when reaching for the bread flour, but today, I missed all the omens that my attempt to make focaccia bread was doomed. Earlier, my cookbooks on the counter had fallen over (they are usually against the wall, and that is usually enough to stop them from falling over). I put them back, shook my head, and ignored this sign. Omens! Later, my antique sugar bowl, set on the back of the stove, fell but landed safely on the counter. It is made of Vaseline glass and is slightly radioactive. Signs!

Aside: Corwin accidently broke the previous sugar bowl, which was also made of the same uranium glass. This loss sent us to ask the local recycling authority to learn what to do with ‘used’ uranium. Do you just trash it or put it in the glass recycling? Or do we need special handling? I figured radioactive trash would cause some reaction that might involve folks with guns and warrants. No, just trash. On Sunday, I was relieved not having to call the local authorities and check if any policies on radioactive waste were updated. Being a liberal in Oregon and asking government folks about nuclear products seemed unwise in the new climate (back to people with guns).

The morning seemed blessed, and I rose slowly, knowing I had time before church at 11 to write my blog and enjoy breakfast with coffee, toasted homemade bread, and a banana. It was the last one. Thus, I had planned to stop at the veggie place at TV Highway and 185th on the way back from church.

Deborah called me, and we chatted briefly as I had time. She had already done some teaching (she still has some students online). Today, we would talk in the morning and then late (for Deborah). It is always a pleasure to start and end my day (or her’s) together.

I spent all my spare time chatting, doom scrolling (what liberals like me call reading the current news, unavoidably soaked in politics), and writing the blog. I rushed into the shower and did the usual things to get ready for church. Today’s tie was the whale fluke tie that Deborah bought at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, to remind me of our whale watching and seeing orcas together.

Air VW the Gray was at 78% charge, which is good (about 1/3 of tank in gas engine range), and I boarded with my laptop. I might decide to have lunch out and write. Traffic was light, and I soon arrived at the church. The folks were still leaving the previous service. We rented the church to another church that met before us.

The service was the usual process. There was a tapping sound in the mics, and we checked that there was no electrical short in the huge amplifier for the organ. The organ is digital but connects to an old (like WW2 old) amp that takes enough power it could be used to weld. There was no smoke or smell (some of this old stuff is made to last forever when only used for a few hours a week). So no mouse or worse fell into the warm electronics (a repeated pulse can be an electrical fire). I reminded one of the younger folks NOT to use the fire extinguisher on an electrical fire unless they know it is safe for electrical fires (C02). Turning off the power and calling the fire department instead is best. None of that happened. It was a bad connector to a mic.

The songs were bright and happy. It is spring now (though often gray in the Pacific Northwest). The Greek scriptures of John’s Revelations were dark and some of the meanest stuff in the New Testament (at least, I think so): The Letter to the Church at Thyatira. Ken focused on the letter’s function and mostly ignored the darker parts of the text. He pointed out that the church must listen and correct its mistakes. He reviewed the connection of this letter to Old Testament commandments and made a good case that God often demands correction.

I must admit that I Googled the translation and looked at the underlying dark words while Ken spoke. I think it is incorrectly translated into English even in the New Revised Standard; it seems a modern usage and not appropriately sent in context. The reference in the text to Jezebel is, like most of Revelations (again, in my opinion), meant to create a mind-picture and not to be taken literally. The death of the offspring of sin is not meant to be killing, but the loss of faith and hope–this is how I taught this text before, and I think there is strong evidence for my direction (Jesus never says “Stone the sinners,” for example, but had dinner with them).

After the service, I gave Z the stuffed animal Deborah had sent her and a Paramount Studios portfolio. Dondrea got a pen from Battleship Iowa and a shot glass from The Olive Pit. Jack got a challenge coin from Battleship Iowa (and I finally remembered to return his memory stick). With that done, I headed out feeling off from too much coffee.

I stopped at the veggie store. They asked about my trip in the EV, which involved driving to LA and back. I told them it was interesting and enjoyable, a new way to do trips with stops for charging. I got two bags of veggies. I had tossed old veggies when I got home. I meant to eat them, but the trip with Deborah snuck up on me for cooking. Now restocked, I loaded the goodies into the cargo hold and returned to the now heavier traffic.

At home, I washed the mushrooms from the market and baked them. When they dried a bit, I added them to a hot pan with oil and stir-fried them. I added water twice to the pan and covered it to let the hot steam cook the fungus. I had not sliced the mushrooms, and the large whole caps looked excellent. I heated pasta sauce from The Olive Pit. I microwaved and then boiled three chicken thighs (bone and skin removed). Lastly, I salted and peppered the chicken and roasted it until it was done.

Pasta in salted water (I forgot to reserve a cup to add to the sauce) was next cooked (now that the mushrooms were put aside and a burner and pot were available). I steamed asparagus in a large pot with a metal strainer. Dinner was delicious. The kitchen looked like it had exploded.

Afterward, I did the dishes (I admit I returned for seconds; I had no lunch). I packed the leftovers in glass containers (thanks, Gene and Glenda, for those). I went back to writing my story and even read part of the story to Deborah (we tried to watch Matlock together, but our previous watch party setup did not work). Deborah, it was getting late, meaning we ended our Zoom meeting to sleep, and I started on the recipe for Focaccia. Doom soon followed.

I bought cucumbers, dill, and more garlic at the 185th Corner Market (the aforementioned veggie place). I heated vinegar, salt, and water until just boiling. I peeled a cucumber (wax on the skin) and sliced it to fit the pasta jar I had cleaned for this experiment. I was following Joshua Weissman: An Unapologetic Cookbook recipe for dill pickles. This is not canning, but simple frig pickles. I added dill, garlic, and peppercorns. I poured the hot liquid (there was some left over) into the jar and followed directions and when room tempature, but in the frig. I am hopeful.

I went outside and collected fresh rosemary in the rain. I did have to brush off a tiny slug that seemed to want the rosemary flowers. It is blooming.

I chopped garlic, used kitchen shears to cut the rosemary leaves into tiny bits, collected warm water, bread flour, salt, and yeast, and loaded the bread machine with all this goodness. I put it on the dough setting, and it started in. I did not notice how close the machine was to the edge of the counter, and I did not push it back to a safer location, which was a terrible omission.

I went back to writing. When I checked, the dough seemed heavy, but I was unconcerned. I continued to write.

There was a loud thud, followed a moment later by a loud crash, an explosion of glass, and an unseen electrical short. The ground fault protectors I put in the kitchen twenty-plus years ago prevented a test of how much power is needed to set off the electrical box breaker (see previous comments about fire extinguishers). The short was immediately shut off; I had to reset the plug.

The coffeemaker and glass pot were crushed on the floor. The electrical guts of the coffee maker were exposed. Thin glass was thrown across the floor and into the next room! I got the heavy metal dust pan from the garage. I made three passes with the broom until no more glass was shown. I carried the dust pan to the garbage outside each time, not wishing to risk it in a trash bag. I vacuumed the floor and carpet. I checked multiple times, and no glass is showing.

The coffeemaker joined the glass in the outside trash. I recovered the dough. But before I tossed it, I tested, and the bread machine restarted in the proper place (it is supposed to survive a short power failure and restart where it left off). But the would-be focaccia might be poisoned with glass, too, so I removed it, and it joined the rest of the items in the trash outside. My dreams of focaccia bread were unfulfilled.

A bit spooked, tired, and frustrated, I went to bed. I read Joshua Weissman: An Unapologetic Cookbook and decided I would not be stopped. I will finish my Focaccia and even some more items for this cookbook. With dreams of homemade ketchup, I turned off the light and slept until the morning.

 

 

Now that I am home and have handled all the laundry and bills, it is time to return to writing and drinking local products!

Air VW the Gray had me back at the house just before midnight. The drive proved I was in the Greater Portland Area, not California. The general traffic was just above the speed limit, with other pockets of drivers going 5 or more under for reasons that were not obvious. Then, a blur would pass on the right, dodge between cars, changing lanes and sliding by cars somehow going sideways at high speeds, then disappearing into an exit, going too fast to safely enter Portland’s streets, sort of a ghost rider of Portland’s highways.

I had dropped Kathleen off at her house outside of Portland to the northwest after we had met at Richard’s to play games. I retraced my trek back towards Beaverton and arrived safely—though haunted as I described, having spent only 10% of the charge. We had met at Richard’s for our usual Saturday night board game.

Lauren and Richard met us there, and Kathleen took the bus to get there. Tonight, we played another new board game, Autobahn (2022), that Richard has meant to get on the table for some time. The game is set in Germany and themed on Germany’s post-war and post-Cold War rebuilding and commerce.

The game is an efficiency race without engine building and a minimal scoring system. It is hard to score as it uses a strange election system and promotion system for scoring. This kind of game, without extra goals and scoring systems, is my favorite. Richard would beat my score, knowing a few more things than I did, but only by less than 15 points. Lauren and Kathleen tried to be generalists, which was a good strategy for an engine-building game or a game with various scoring systems, but this game was just a race, and their scores reflected this. You go with your strength when learning a new game.

The components did not fit together well. The map was busy and could have been 20% larger. The use of money was limited, but the cash generation was complex and required maintenance and calculations. Various superpowers could be earned but only provided small changes, usually only once. These were represented by small cardboard squares (cards with explanations would have been better). I spent the game upgrading and building roads and nearly took the game. While I like efficiency race games, this one seemed unfinished. I would play it again. I would like to see if I could do even better or if I like it. I try not to decide about a game that I only played once.

Before heading to Richards’s, I spent the afternoon at The Lucky Labrador in Portland’s Hawthorn area. I was happy to get parking in their lot instead of risking the EV on the streets. A backgammon tournament was ongoing (with a cash prize, I saw later when the winner was declared–a shy-looking woman), and the strange keyboard group was meeting. They had various old and/or decorative keyboards on display with cards describing the hardware and its owner. Mainly, folks were displaying their personal collection of keyboards, drinking beer, and having a good time. I have seen the group before.

I drank a few beers and ate a bowl of peanuts. I spent the afternoon writing my SciFi story in Scrivener. I managed to get a 1,700+ word total for the first chapter. I am looking for about 3,000 words for the first chapter. I am not sure how many chapters yet. I am still reading about how to compose more extended works. I usually finish between 500 and 8,000 words for a micro-story or a short story, and I have never tried 100,000 words!

I do not rewrite, but I add more descriptions (I am guilty of the software engineer’s proclivity in writing the minimum features for the product) and smooth the transitions (again, software engineers always have issues with interfacing). There is no deadline, and I want to build an image in the reader’s mind of the magic and main characters in the story. I have a general storyline in my mind, but I know the power (and risks) of stream-of-consciousness writing; I let the writing carry me along, edit out repeats, and fix mangled thoughts. When writing, I create some parts of the story, mythology, and magic system.

I spent the hours writing and drinking two beers. A group of folks were playing chess, and one game went on for over an hour. I peeked at it a few times and saw that black had started to win. The black finally exchanged out most of the pieces and overwhelmed the remaining pieces for white. I wrote, edited, and polished the story.

Before this, I woke up at around 7 a.m., found coffee (making it too weak again), made toast from the milk bread I made in the bread machine, and enjoyed a banana. I wrote the blog, doom-scrolled (reading the news as a liberal), and updated my transactions in Quicken. The last bills from my California trip are coming in, and my new bills for the upcoming Michigan trip (April 10-17) have started to appear.

With the blog done, I clean up, shower, shave, dress, etc., and soon board the VW, which is now at 100% charge, and head to Portland.

And that, dear reader, brings me full circle. Thanks for reading.

 

I am always worried about writing a boring story. Today, I will mainly cover mundane travels and unpacking. I hope you will, dear reader, forgive me if this story is unexciting.

(At the start of my drive, looking at Black Butte in California in Weed).

The day began with me trying to get back to sleep at 2ish. The room was in the same hotel I used on my way to Long Beach more than a week ago.  It was cold last time, so I started heating unit and now, as usual in hotels, the room was stuffy. I got up and turned off the heater/cooler unit and tried to sleep. While I probably nodded off a few times, I was up before my 6 alarm and felt I had little sleep. No matter, I was excited to be traveling home.

I showered, shaved, and all that. I put the few items I had gotten out back into my gym bag and was ready to reboard Air VW the Gray. My shoes felt odd on the carpet. This is a first-floor room and likely a poured cement floor; the patterned carpeting is cold. The flooring covers little bumps and is slightly uneven. Yikes!

Breakfast was industrial, and I am always surprised by the number of kids at these hotels. The little kids were experiencing information overload and running all over this food-filled wonderland. Other kids, usually older, were wary, only took cereal, and tried to be invisible in this stranger-filled kitchen. I smile, nod, and enjoy the chaos while eating industrial eggs, surprisingly good and not crunchy bacon, and coffee.

I checked out, and they offered me paper. I demurred and suggested an email. They did not have my email (despite this being an online reservation), and I said, ” Never mind, I will call if I have questions.” I had parked the EV with no cars next to hit. I was boxed in now. Ugh. Later, I would find a dent in the passenger-side back door. F**k! I have not had the VW for only a month or two and already have to door marks!

I added my few items back to Air VW the Gray, ensuring I left nothing behind when I left my room. Black Butte looked impressive but would soon be in my rear view as I was headed north this time. While I left after formal time for sunrise, I did see the sunrise over the hills and low mountains of my trek in Northern California. I love the drive and promise I will soon return in the summer or fall to explore; maybe this year.

There are six or more, and I lost track of passes, with Mount Ashland being over 4,100 feet, to climb and descend. The traffic at first was light, but soon I am packed in with other 70+ drivers passing trucks, flashing lights, and crawling the passes. It is uncomfortable driving, but my quick glimpses of the terrain put any postcard of mountains to shame. Wow! I never saw the stateline signs, and soon, I was in Oregon for more passes, most less than 2,000 feet, and hard driving.

I stopped at Seven Feather’s Truck Stop and charged the EV to 80%. I then purchased some bananas for a few bucks (why these were not included in the complimentary breakfast in California was a surprise to me) and found the restroom.

Southern Oregon is full of mountains and high hills, and the roads are busy and often twist in the passes. Deborah and I frequently talked when the driving was easy. We are still getting used to being separated by most of the USA again.

I stop at a few rest areas and reach the only charging location on my plan (the previous charging was a fortuitous discovery when looking for a rest area). I needed only to charge a few percent to be above 10% when reaching home, but I still did 80% since I was there. I backed into the only space and soon was charging. My free use of Electrify America is over, and I pay $7 for the charge (42 cents–the going rate–a unit for about $37 for a 10% to 100% charge). This is the same Dairy Queen I visited on my way to California. When I leave, topped-off, there is a line to get a charge, two cars deep.

I have done the rest of the drive through Oregon many times, and I often drive at 70+ and in high traffic. I saw the crazy lane changes that even California drivers eschewed. I was tempted to stop at Garden World, but I resisted. I hit the usual slow places and soon was in Beaverton and then home with more than 20% charge left. I unpacked the car. I saw the new dent and attempted to summon terrible fates for those that caused this insult to my EV.

My final payment for vacation is a day of laundry. The Machine was ready, and soon it was washing and drying my first of three large loads. The house needed to be aired out. I opened the doors and sprayed Febreze, and soon the house was feeling friendly and welcoming. My previous day’s stop at the Olive Pit goodies were unloaded and put in the frig and pantry. Four bottles of my favorite couscous sauce had arrived, and Corwin had put them in the house for me. They, too, were placed in the pantry.

I was going to cook a late lunch but found my enthusiasm lacking once the unpacking was done and laundry was started. The house was clean and ready for my return, and I was not prepared to mess it up. I also left the EV to change and ordered GrubHub and my favorite local Chinese-style food. I over-ordered and had dinner, too.

I put on Disney+ and tried some Star Wars brain cookies. Andor, again, started with episode 1 while I enjoyed too much food. Laundry was put away. I made milk bread (I use milk powder from King Arthur Flour Company) in my bread machine. I don’t buy bread anymore, but use the technology I have (an Amazon cheap but functional bread machine) and buy good ingredients (King Arthur Flour, but Oregon’s local products are good–I know Jack is saying that Bob’s Red Mill is excellent when he read that, and yes they are).

I am tired but not sleepy. I started the writing app, Scrivener, and added a few more paragraphs to my story. I continued the story by describing part of the magic system in my new fantasy world and the main characters. I managed a few more details and some revisions. I am nervous, as these are the first words that must be good.

I get sleepy after forty minutes of writing. I save it (it saves automatically) and head to another shower (going back to my Spring of washing off the pollen before getting in bed). I read my new magic book that I got in Seattle when traveling with Deborah, Dondrea, and Z at the fun magic store in the Pike Street Market. The introduction was fun, but the first trick was detailed enough to have me put the book down and sleep. I managed to only wake once to prove hydration.

Thanks for reading.