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I did not feel like sleeping the previous evening, and I did wake every couple of hours–no great sleep. I finally started to accept the day’s existence at 8ish. I rose and completely forgot to ride the bike and do my exercises. I did find the coffee and microwaved the unfinished coffee from yesterday, but it was a poor replacement for freshly made liberal coffee.

I then invested the whole morning in writing the story of the missing days from the blog–I can’t recall any breakfast. My allergies made me sneeze, and I was a bit stuffy, but I was generally comfortable writing the blog in the in-home office. It took nearly three hours to recall the four days and decorate the text with pictures from those days, with me checking the info on some of the photos to ensure they fit the days I was describing in the text. A few days blended together, but I managed to sort some of that out and created a self-consistent narrative. There were typos and wooden writing left after Grammarly had over-edited it–but it will do. I was tired and wanted to get on with my day.

With that done, I found some of the pasta and homemade veggie-thick sauce I made yesterday with shredded sweet Italian sausage and reheated it for lunch. I watched more of the original Swedish movie, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Extended Edition), while I ate lunch. I really like this version, and I am used to reading the text now, and the simple dialogue is obvious.

Next, I boarded Air Volvo, added the scarf I bought for Susie to the cargo hold, and then forgot it–Susie will get it on Saturday. I crossed Beaverton without issue and soon reached 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 waiting for me in her recliner in the shared living room. Jeniffer was surprised when I told her I had tickets for the 2:10 showing of Barbie at Bridgeport Regal Theaters. Susie was soon ready to leave and was now sporting a pink plaid shirt. Jennifer placed Susie in the co-pilot seat in Air Volvo, and soon we were flying down Highway 5 and were ten minutes early for the movie.

An overexposed shot in the theater. You can see the belt I use to move Susie–she does not come with handles.

At the parking lot, I unloaded Susie without pain. I had to slide the pillow under her as I forgot it the first time, but everything was fine after fixing it.

Susie and I shared a Diet Pepsi and popcorn (no butter) and soon enjoyed an endless stream of commercials and previews before the previews, which lasted for about ten minutes. The previews took another ten minutes. Finally, the film started, and it was funny, sweet, and ironic. Comedies falter for me, and this one did occasionally, but Margot Robbie, playing Barbie, pulled the film back up when it slipped with a smile, a good line, or acting. Or Kate McKinnon pulled the show back with some gag. Much better than I expected. Recommended.

After that, I wheeled Susie around the Bridgeport Mall but stayed outside. We called Leta (Barb, Susie’s sister, was not available) from Air Volvo and chatted for a while, our daily catch-up with Leta (Susie’s mother).

I managed to load Susie myself and then unload her at the hummingbird house. My shoulder did not get worse or even hurt much from it–excellent. Susie was sad for the day to end, but I was tired and returned to the Volvo Cave crossing Beaverton in moderate Friday traffic.

I stopped at Don Chilitos Mexican Grill for dinner and ordered shrimp and steak, recommended by the order taker, to-go. I stopped by Rainy Day Games, next door to the Mexican place, and found the add-on for Furnace, a new board game in my collection, and purchased it. I finally reached home and unloaded my goodies.

I finished the Swedish murder story while eating my excellent repast. I then took a break and napped after reading my Doctor Who comic, #2, which finally arrived from the UK. The new showrunner has started the storylines for fans with a comic book about the Assassin Doom until the show restarts in November 2023. So far, I like it, but like most comic books, I find them too short. I have the books delivered from the UK on their release date.

I then headed to Wildwood Taps to write the blog today (my third one in 24 hours). I decided I needed a beer to write a third time! JR, a former Nike IT colleague, supplied me with an excellent sample of a dark-brewed product.

Thanks for reading.

I have returned to writing the blog daily but took a break to see how it would feel without it. I found I had more time, but I soon felt more alone, but more importantly, I found I was updating Facebook instead of writing. I would prefer to own my own life and pictures and to provide context. My extra time seemed more of a function of not having to work every day. Nike is celebrating Rest and Recover Week and closed down for a week at WHQ and most locations (retail and logistic workers are allowed to schedule an alternative week).

So, in brief, the missing days…

Saturday 12Aug2023

This was my usual busy, if not maniac, Saturday. I worked on the radio project and puttered around at the house for the morning. I boarded Air Volvo, crossed Beaverton without issue, and I soon reached Susie’s place at noonish. Susie’s place is at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. We visited the park, I can barely remember this day, and called Leta and Barb (Susie’s mother and sister, respectively) on a three-way call and caught up. Next, Susie was sitting in her bed, and we watched TV (Only Murders in the Building, I think). I stayed until after 2PM with Susie falling asleep. I kissed her goodbye and boarded Air Volvo.

Next, I headed to Rogue in Portland and had a salad and a beer there; It was already past 2PM, and I was hungry. I had a salad with grilled salmon added–it was excellent salmon (not cage-grown Atlantic). Next, we got out the new game, Davy’s Jones Locker: Rise of the Kraken. This was the first time to play this, and it was rough going, but we liked it. This is a cooperative game where you spend the first half gaining superpowers for your pirate ship. Then you face the dreaded Kraken. There is a mechanism running the Kraken, and we tried to win. Evan lost his ship, but his crew swam to my ship and there fired extra guns–an exciting game mechanic. We likely missed more lousy news and finally slew the Kraken. It’s a fun game, and we will probably have it close after a few more plays. This is a new Kickstarter game, and I was happy with the small box size and the components.

Next, Air Volvo, after saying goodbye to Evan, to Portland and Richard’s place. There we played a game of Expeditions with four players. Richard corrected some play, and a few more things clicked for me, but I did come in last. Kathleen always seemed in my desired spot, and Richard took the game. It was Kathleen’s first game, and almost caught Richard. Shawn, too, almost caught him. We all agreed we liked this new game and would play it again without question.

On the way back, it was Naked Bike Ride Day in Portland, we did see a few naked and near-naked bike riders at various road crossings, but I managed to miss their main route this year. Yes, this year, I did not find myself in Air Volvo unexpectedly leading the parade like last year!

Nearly forgetting (I saw the photo I took), I drove by Aloha High School, and the sign suggested you could take an Advance Placement class there, but the word placement is misspelled.

Sunday 13Aug2023

Sunday was a quiet day. I reached Susie at 1ish after having lunch at the house. Reheated Jambalaya, which left me a bit uncomfortable in the afternoon. It was over 90F (32C), so we stayed in the hummingbird house. Jeniffer was the nurse aide (Anassa was ill), and she had Susie set in her bed in her bedroom. We watched more TV and just hung out until 4PM.

Monday 14Aug2023

Another quiet, boiling hot day! Again, I had lunch at the house. I spent the day with Susie in her room watching TV, more Only Murders in the Building. The show was getting interesting, and Susie did not nod off anymore. We switched to M.A.S.H. and then music for the rest of the afternoon. Soon, we both were nodding off. I headed home at 4:30ish.

I have dinner at The 649 Taphouse, a salad, and a snack of chips and salsa later. Their AC is working–I was there to check if the place would work for a game on Tuesday. I had turned mine off the AC at the Volvo Cave 4-9; PGE gave me a rebate of $6 for helping to reduce the power load on the grid.

Returning to the Volvo Cave, I managed to mount the face plate and speakers in the radio project using white glue so it could be broken out if needed. I was frustrated as the project was a rat’s nest of wires, and some were still breaking loose from their connections. I also found the microprocessor slower than I wanted; 8mhz is too slow. I looked at the super special Metro M4 Grand Central Python-loving board from Lady Ada in NYC (3.3V logic). While I can’t use Python (there are no drivers for my radio break out in Python, and I am not writing my own), the Grand is more than 10x faster than the Pro I am using and has a built-in memory card slot (and built-in real number handling which is software implemented in the Pro). I found the ones I already have and started testing them. While it eats more power, it would be an excellent replacement for the next project.

Aside: The world has changed while I have played with microcontrollers and one-board computers like the Raspberry Pi. I started in 16mhz (still slow) but with 5V logic (0V being zero and 5V being one), with about 1/3 of my boards still using this. But most items are now 3.3V with some tolerating  5V logic, and some painful devices wanted 5V power and 3.3V logic. Next, I had to solder all the headers five years ago, but fewer and fewer people can handle a soldering iron with skill, so now everything has headers for breadboarding or other plugs. Today, most controllers are offered only with preinstalled headers, especially the faster microcontrollers. Thus when I want to build something that has some resilience, I can’t get a microcontroller that I can hardwire into my device. I have found a set of Pro that is still offered without headers, and Lady Ada offers Grand without headers (and even charges less for that version–excellent).

Plus: Grand uses the Mega Arduino layout. This was the first super-powered version, with the Mega appearing in many 3D printers and various takes on CNC-like machines. Mega was great, but Grand is outstanding and comes with Python.

Tuesday 14Aug2023

Another 100F+ (38C) day, I arrived at Susie’s place at 12:30ish. Again, we do the usual set-up in Susie’s room and do the usual calls. Today we binge watch the Hulu show. This time Only Murders in the Building is exciting and does twist after twist; Nathan Lane nearly steals the show. This was another day locked into AC for Susie. I left at 5ish.

I stopped by the house but headed to The 649 and met Dondrea and Z there. They loved the place, and Z got a non-alcoholic drink while Dondrea did a cider. I had some beers. We got out Furnace, an engine-building board game with a bidding mechanism. Dondrea was at first overwhelmed by the new iconography and process but soon was enjoying the game. Worse, she won both games we played. Z and I have created a monster!

We had a lovely night–eating appetizers, including great nachos–and the place filled up, and the AC was stressed to keep up. After 9ish, we headed out. It was a good night.

Wednesday 15Aug2023

Another 100F+ day, and I arrived later at Susie’s. I had stopped by McDonald’s to get an excellent 1/4 Pounder with cheese. It took the fast-food people fifteen minutes to make the burger. In the world we now live in, sometimes you just have to wait. I also got a chocolate shake for Susie. I ate my slow-arriving lunch in Air Volvo while listening to the local public broadcasting news. More news on fire and water issues in Oregon.

I soon arrived with a partially melted shake for Susie, and Jeniffer set her in her bed, and we completed watching the first season of Only Murders in the Building. I was impressed with the story and that they managed to bring the show’s first scene back to the end of the first season. Susie was happy with it too. Susie was enjoying her shake too. I serve Ensure most days to Susie when I stay with her for the afternoon, but today it was a McDonald’s shake. I left Susie with a kiss after doing the usual things.

I was feeling depressed on Wednesday night from having to stay inside in the heat. I decided to visit the local art museum on Thursday to break free of that feeling. I cleaned up the house, and the regular chores seemed to brighten my mood.

Dinner was a microwaved large potato with a can of heated chili added to it with cheese and sour cream. I worked on my radio project but broke the baseboard and had to repair that with strips of wood and let the glue dry. I managed to fix all the issues even with the break, and the microcontroller seemed fast enough to work. I finished my latest read (recommended), Titanium Noir. I went to bed early and did sleep.

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Well, that is what I remember from the days. I did leave out the waiter with the costume failure and lots of bad driving I witnessed, and I did brake a few times into the turning lanes when my fellow drivers decided to stop without brake lights (!?).

Thanks for reading.

 

Yes, the blog returns after a short break.

Going backward, I just arrived home at half past midnight, safely in Air Volvo from Tigard. It was a bit of a challenging flight as I am not used to staying up late anymore. It is always funny when I am tired as I don’t recognize where I am, and then pop my mind, tired, puts it together, and I know where I am. It is best to be home before 1AM to be safe.

I decided tonight to catch one of the last shows of the latest Indiana Jones movie. I liked it last time and wanted to see it on the large screen again with all the sound. It was good again, I thought, and I laughed at many of the jokes. And I agree that “More ice cream is always good.”

The showing was at the Bridgeport Mall in Tigard, and I was sad to drive by Susie’s exit. I miss just deciding to do something, and Susie and I just did it, not something I can now do with Susie. But, we will head, I hope (my shoulder was pulled or something) I can lift here for a visit to the theater on Friday to the record-breaking movie Barbie.

Moving back, I made dinner of pasta and homemade pasta sauce, a garden veggie sauce, with good sweet Italian sausage. I picked up a Wholefoods last week. I wanted to cook the sausage before it went bad. I discovered I did not have a premade sauce in a bottle but had the ingredients. So I sliced and cooked onions with garlic and chopped celery. I added a can of whole cooked tomatoes that I then crushed (trying not to be sprayed by the juice). To that, I added generic Italian seasonings and tomato paste. I cooked the sausage in a frying pan until browned and added it to the sauce, and cooked that for an hour on med-low heat. I made the pasta I had, macaroni. I washed pasta with cold water to stop the cooking so it would not congeal into a blob of starch. I then scooped the pasta into a bowl, poured two or three helpings of sauce into that, and dropped some leftover ricotta cheese. Excellent.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the original Swedish version, was the show I watched while cooking and eating. It is a great version if you don’t mind reading the words. While I like the Hollywood version, the original is a kick and much darker; it is a much more human story. I recommend it.

Moving back further, I was in Portland. I left Susie’s early to see the Portland Art Museum (PAM), which I had not been to in years. I had heard I needed to see Guillermo Del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio show, and I wanted to see the regular collection. PAM is famous for its graphic arts collection. Unfortunately, the building is being rebuilt, and only the Toro show and the Impressionism to Modern Art collection were open.

The Toro show was terrific. It had the models and sets for the stop-action work for the film. The work was incredible to me, a model maker and figure painter. The amount of work and the attention to detail on the puppets, especially the clothing, just floored me. Some of the painting techniques are familiar to me, but the scale is nothing I work in. I enjoyed the displays and took a few pictures.

After that, I did the art by descending to the basement, taking the tunnel, and climbing back to the impressionists. As I climbed the stairs, I saw the familiar pond from Monet, blue with lily pads. All the favs were represented by a few paintings and some bronze sculptures. Van Gogh was represented by a small brown painting of a bull. I was missing Toulouse-Lautrec, but he is likely heavily represented in the graphic arts displays that are closed–too bad. It was a pretty collection, and the modern stuff seemed to be selected for its beauty, so I liked the selection, not knowing most of the later most American artists.

I purchased a membership as I liked what I saw and could return for the impressionists alone. I also found a book on the Toro show (on special) and a scarf that I think Susie will like (Pacific Northwest Nations design in red and black on wool).

Next, I stopped by South Park’s bar–A place Susie and I used to visit after symphonies in the nearby Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. The place has been remodeled (I learned that the art pieces are at the former wine bar director’s wine shop), and the menu is a bit less friendly, I thought. I managed to order an excellent red wine–but the bar no longer focuses on wine, I could see, and instead had the usual endless spirit collection. The bartender was not that helpful. I had to pick it without recommendation (I miss Will, the aforementioned wine bar director). I had their board of cheeses and some fish dip for their house-made crackers. The mains ranged from low thirties and up to $60+, but they still had fish and chips and a burger for a reasonable restaurant price. No special bar menu with special appetizers like olives or stuffed dates. Still, it was good, and the bartender, Matthew, ensured I was happy.

Next, I traveled across town with me, enjoying a small traffic snarl with a stalled car. Once through that, I soon pulled into the best parking spot (!) at Guardian Games. Madison, a gal I thought I remembered from previous visits, helped me a few times. I did not find the add-on for the board game Furance. They were out of stock. Madison checked for me, breaking her away from shelving hundreds of Warhammer figures in boxes. I suspect she was not too focused on that task as she also checked me out with an adventure book for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Role Playing Game (RPG): Green Messiah. Because I bought it there, they also sent me the matching PDF, a service for buying RPG stuff at Guardians (it does not cover 5E D&D).

Lamentation of the Flame Prince is a strange RPG based on the original version of D&D, often called OSRIC, but set on an alternative history Earth in the 1600s. Magic is unholy by definition and banned by the church, but it works much like in OSRIC. Cleric powers are through the church. I have yet to play it, but I have acquired the books as they interest me. Maybe someday I will get to try it. The books and system are from Finland and published in English.

Before all this traveling in Portland, I was at Susie’s in the morning, arriving before noon. The weather was overcast and humid. The 80Fs (27C) should not feel cool, but anything felt cold after three days of 100F+ (38C) days. Jeniffer popped Susie into her wheelchair from her recliner in the shared living room, and I soon pushed Susie into Metzger Park next door. Susie was happy to again be back to our park visits.

We called Leta and Barb (her mother and sister, respectively) on a three-way call via FaceTime. We had a lovely short chat as the sun surprised us, and it appeared and was baking us. We headed back, and Susie was surprised it was a quick visit, but today I wanted to see the PAM; I did not take Susie with me as I did not know what to expect, and I wanted to chance my hurt shoulder on a nearer location first. I kissed Susie goodbye, and she was OK with me leaving–I had spent the last three days staying with Susie until 4ish.

Before this, I started my day again, sleeping in until past 8AM. It is my mission to rest more this week. Nike is closed for a week for Rest and Recovery Week. I made an omelet for breakfast with three eggs and some already-cooked spicy sausage I usually use for Jambalya. I had that with liberal coffee made in my French Press, but as I was busy with laundry, dishes, and trying to research microprocessors, I only drank one cup of coffee. I boarded Air Volvo and headed to Susie’s after 11AM.

Well, that is full circle for Thursday. I will try to add a catch-up entry for the missing week. It is almost 2AM, but I wanted to finish the blog tonight. Some nights I just don’t feel like stopping even when my eyes droop, and I could just sleep on my keyboard. Some days just want to hold on, a good day.

Thanks for reading.

I took the day off, slept until 7:30, and woke to a day of clear skies and sun. Another day when climate change has moved us to Nothern California–every day a wonderful Golden State day here in the Beaver State. The fruit trees are loaded, and the roses (not just mine) bloom brightly, telling you you are in Oregon. We have also made it through five days without mandatory full-service gas without some Oregonian blowing up the gas station. For all these reasons, it seems like a different late summer.

I managed fifteen minutes on the non-moving bike (today, Saturday, my legs were tired, and I managed five). I made breakfast of a banana and yogurt with liberal coffee and ate that while writing the blog and getting caught up on my emails and the news. I was on vacation and left the Nike laptop out of the office, so I would not even look. Once the blog was published, I had to prepare the items for celebrating our 33rd Anniversary.

Susie loves carrot cake, especially my homemade version from King Arthur Flour’s recipe. I had baked the cake (with roasted walnuts) the night before in 9″ pans lined with rounds made of parchment (the pans and the paper were purchased from King Arthur Flour’s website during the pandemic). I did not remove the paper when I removed the cakes from the pan, and it was stuck a bit–next time, I will remove it when the cakes are warm. I placed the first round of cake on my Tupperware cake holder. I made the frosting in my mixer, having set out the butter and cream cheese soften. I then used my frosting knife and soon had a nice-looking two-layer cake ready.

Aside: I, like many folks, ordered baking supplies during the pandemic, and King Arthur Flour was my go-to. Now, I have to admit that after a week, I let my sourdough stuff move to the next life after learning how to care for it. Not something I am going to do. Somewhere in the blog history are the baking photos I sent out like the rest of us stir-crazed folks in the pandemic.

Once I had that done, I dressed and loaded up Air Volvo with the wedding photo album, Susie’s wedding hat (I found it in a closet), and the cake and another backup cake for anyone who avoids nuts, a small tort I found at Trader Joe’s. I stopped by our local party store and got some plates and matching napkins (silver and gold, as 33rd, is about 1/2 way between 25 and 50). I learned that the store, while it survived the pandemic, could not get helium and so lost its primary source of revenue (ballons) and is now closing. I will miss it. I stopped by Target and found some flowers to bring too. Soon, without loss to the cake, I arrived at 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 excited to get her party in the early afternoon. We looked at the hat and flipped through the wedding photos. We shared the cake, which everyone liked, and I helped Susie slowly eat the cake without choking. Everyone who wanted some cake had some; even Jennifer’s son, who thought it was a birthday party. Leta’s balloons arrived while the party was starting. Susie had a card for me which she even signed.

Jennifer loaded Susie into the co-pilot seat of Air Volvo, and I put the wheelchair in the cargo hold (in case we needed to get Susie out of Air Volvo), and then we headed out for a drive. We found the traffic, it being the Friday that Nike is closing for a week, and the roads were packed with folks leaving early and headed out for their vacations. I changed course, and we headed to the Columbia River using Cornelius Pass road to take the pass through the high hills near the river. Lots of curves and narrow roads. Soon we were on the road along the rivers and spotted the St. John Bridge (we were now on the Willamette River, a tributary to the Columbia). I had never crossed it, and we entered more traffic to use the bridge. It is not see-through, so I found it less scary. We drive through the town and found Cathedral Park. I have always wanted to visit the Park; the park is under the bridge, and the supports and towers remind you to have a classic cathedral. There is a safe beach (our rivers can be deadly).

Susie was uncomfortable, her bottom was sore from all the sitting, and she was exhausted from the party and the travel. I pointed Air Volvo back to the hummingbird house. We arrived there in thirty minutes, and Jennifer got Susie unloaded, and care was applied. Susie was soon lying down in her bed on her side. Susie and I watched another show, but Susie was soon sleeping. I woke her after nodding off, kissed her goodbye, and left after 5PM.

I arrived home without incident and made a complex jambalaya using a box for the rice and spices. I first cooked onions, garlic, canned peeled tomatoes, celery, and green pepper. I cut up some sausage and cooked that too. Once it started to stick to the pan, I added the rice and spices from the box mix. When that got sticky, I added enough boiling water from the electric kettle to cover it by more than an inch. It soon boiled, and I covered the mixture and set it on low. At 15 minutes, I added a bowl of frozen seafood from Trader Joe’s. After a total of thirty minutes and a stir, I had dinner.

I ate too many bowls. It was not spicy enough with all the extras–I will have to do some research. But it was good with a few bits of seafood and lots of cut bits of spicy sausages. I watched more animated Batman, which was quite good, and one was about an insurance scheme to bail out a billionaire who had spent too much on his casino. Seemed to echo the current times. Mark Hamill (Star Wars) voices the Joker and is terrific at it.

Next, I punched my new board game Davy Jones’ Locker: The Kraken Wakes. This means literally punching out the cardboard parts and putting everything in the box in some order. This game has trays and a chart to help you organize the game. A punched game is considered to be used, so if you are unsure about a game, it is best to sell it without opening and punching it. This game uses the new idea of supplying trays to hold all the components but also misses a bit. Instead of having a little tray for each player, the parts are separated into storage bins by part type, not by player; ugh! But this arrangement fits into the box and, as games go, this is a very compact box–so I think this is a wise choice. This is one of the smallest footprints for a five-person game I have seen.

Davy Jones’ Locker is a cooperative pirate game with the players preparing to face the Kraken in a battle to the death. There are also rules for your crew to survive and help another player should the Kraken sink you. You must swim to another player’s ship, or they can rescue you.

I am looking forward to trying it out.

This cooperative game fixes the issue in the board game Jaws. In the board game playing the shark is not that interesting. The human players have more actions and decide the direction of the game. The shark just tries to play hide and seek and then, in the final battle, tries to guess the players’ moves. This is more like Texas Holdem with a White Shark. It seems a more interesting game with an automated Kraken and everyone fighting.

After that, I went to bed early. I had trouble sleeping as I had drank some tea, and I had to prove that my kidney worked a few times. My shoulder also hurt, and I had to get some painkillers.

Thanks for reading. This is the last blog for a while. I will try a break and see how I feel.

I am writing this on Friday for Thursday, but I have limited time, so I will cover the exciting stuff. Thank you for reading, and sorry I did not write this yesterday, but I was tired and went to bed early.

So important things…

As reported on the stationary bike, I managed to simulate travel for over two miles for twelve minutes. I am riding the bike, so to speak, every morning and hope to break fifteen minutes this weekend. My retirement plans include financial and tax efficacy strategies and the Doc-suggested loss of ten pounds over six months or faster. This means exercising every day, and the AC and its air filters make the inside bike the best answer for my asthma. I am also changing my diet, but having the usual problem that I am a good cook–my food is delicious. Today, I managed to eat only 1 1/2 servings, which is an improvement. I also have less caloric snacks to help, such as dried mango and almonds from Equal Exchange.

That is right, you crazy right-wingers reading this (I love all my readers; I even understand the attraction of Trump–I really do); I am not only drinking liberal coffee but also investing in liberal and good-for-you snacks! Yes, I love my dried mango pieces.

The work at the shoe company was not interesting enough to share, and the details of how a globally known multinational corporation manages its world-leading software development are not something to share here.

We agreed to have a team lunch (and the local team members all made it), and our director, Rajani, surprised us all by buying everyone lunch. Thanks, Rajani. We next traveled to the new building we will occupy, according to the plan, on 5Sept2023. We looked at the new spaces, and, like most places on Nike’s WHQ campus, it was a bit cramped. I liked it. It will be nice to be in the WHQ even if our building is on the extreme edge and almost not in WHQ.

Next, I had to take some calls in my car and then do a call from the social room at the hummingbird house. Still, I managed to reach via Air Volvo, without incident, Susie’s 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. Once work was finished (but I did have to pull out my Nike laptop once and approve a security request), I spent the late afternoon with Susie. This included visiting the park and finding a bench. The park was busy with kids getting in that last park day (school starts in only a few weeks for most), and many dogs were taking their humans for healthy walks. Many dogs stopped by to look at Susie and me. Barb and Leta (Susie’s sister and mother) answered the three-way FaceTime call, and we chatted about daily events. It is always strangely reassuring to have a call about nothing–No medical emergencies or other disasters.

We returned, seeing the swallowtail butterflies today, to the hummingbird house. Jennifer set Susie in her bed, and we tried Only Murders in the Building on Hulu, now in its third season and highly rated. Susie was not that interested, but I was laughing through it. I returned the TV to M.A.S.H. and kissed Susie goodbye with a promise of cake, flowers, and a trip for our 33rd Wedding Anniversary on Friday.

Moving to the evening and back at the house, I made baked boneless and skinless chicken thighs dusted with salt, pepper, and Moroccan spices. I microwaved fresh green beans (before they fade) with almond slices, salt, and a dusting of garlic powder. I also made couscous with almond slices, dried cranberries, and some aging Garam Masala (long expired, but still smells nice). I watched while eating a few more animated Batman/Joker episodes and was still surprised at how good they are.

After that, I attended the Theology Pub via Zoom and finally connected after re-installing Zoom on my M1 Apple (the usual updates failed as the software requires multiple security overrides, not reassuring, to load). The discussion was about social programs and their value and the object of many to the same. Primarily a political debate, but we did recognize that many conservatives want to use non-government religious agencies to fill this need and to restrict government to minimal social impact. Thus, most folks realize there is a need in the USA for social services, but the process is vigorously debated.

After that, I shredded three cups of carrots, roasted 1.5 cups of walnuts, and assembled two 9″ round cake pans. I then followed King Arthur Flour’s recipe for carrot cake. Susie will get her favorite carrot cake, made fresh for her anniversary.

Thus I was tired and went to bed without writing this blog. I read for a few minutes, found myself dreaming about the book, and was asleep holding the Kindle in my hands. I rolled over twice and was ready to enter Morphious realms.

Thank you for reading. I will take a sabbatical from writing after I finish the Friday blog; thanks, MichelleV, for the better wording.