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I took the day off and decided to go with a low-stress day, so I did not rush all day. I was busy all day, but I was doing things I wanted or needed to do to feel safe.

The morning started with me not getting up at 6:15 but sleeping in beyond 8AM–something I never do. I then skipped reading my email and instead went to make breakfast. Today I had three poached eggs (which I failed to swirl enough and stuck to the bottom of the pan) and fried shredded potatoes I got from the German Deli in Metzger. I found some canned peaches already open in the frig. I made liberal, Fair Trade coffee. I had breakfast while re-watching the Doctor Who special: The Power of the Doctor. I managed to see 3/4 before I needed to move on to writing the blog and checking my email. I liked it better this time.

I ordered more Utterly Smooth, 20% Urea, for the care of nerve issues in my hands and feet. It seems to be working. I would recommend it. I also ordered replacement wheels for the dishwasher bottom rack, the second set I have ordered, as two have broken, and the bottom rack is hard to use now. It is cheaper than trying to replace the whole thing again.

I wrote a brief blog for Wednesday, got dressed, and hung up some laundry. I am trying to get all the washing done this weekend and even put it away. I also did some of the dishes. Soon, I was headed out in Air Volvo to have a biz lunch I decided to keep on my day off. So Scott and I had a pleasant lunch.

I drove by the old Baseline Belgiums today. The house that is on Baseline was being taken down. But, back in 1996, the area had huge Belgium horses in a field and a house and barn across Baseline Road with a sign that said Baselines Belgiums. For those who don’t know horses, a Belgium is a huge horse that pulls wagons and is best known in the USA as the horses that pulls the Budweiser wagon in TV commercials. Now the field is apartments, and the house is just a pile of wreckage–times change.

Next, I went to the hummingbird house, and Susie was waiting for me. She was in her recliner chair in the living room and was falling asleep. Jennifer moved Susie to her bed, and we set up the TV. Susie and I watched Lord of the Rings: Rings of Powers, one of the later episodes (I don’t recommend even watching the first four unless you really love obscure Tolkien Lore. We also called Susan’s mother, Leta, and we chatted for a while.

Soon, I was headed out to make my doctor’s appointment. I kissed Susie goodbye and took Air Volvo across Beaverton without issue except for the usual heavy later afternoon Beaverton traffic. Finally, I reached the doc and did the routine paperwork.

My blood pressure, A1C, and general health are good. The numbness in my feet is still surface-level–not profound. I have a physical therapy referral for the pain in my right leg. I will be doing all the blood and other tests to check some items–my kidney showed issues last time, but I was coming out of anemia, so it needs to be rechecked before actions would be taken–could be a fluke. I also have an ear, throat, and nose doctor referral for my hearing issues. I will need a diabetic eye check, also. Quite a list–glad I was not sick! I will try to overlap these tests with tests that Susie needs.

I got a flu shot and a Pneumovax shot, one in each arm. I believe vaccines are the cheapest way to avoid serious illness; you do not want Bacterial Pneumonia. The Pneumovax was a bit sharp, and my arm ached. The flu shot was painless and has no soreness.

While waiting for Mariah to pick a place, I headed to Beaverton Powell’s Books and found a new SciFi book highly recommended. Powell’s staff writes recommendations on cards and places them under the books. Thus, This Is How You Lose the Time War came to my attention. I have read just a few pages, and I already love it.

Next, I drove slowly (there was no choice in the heavy traffic to Portland) to have dinner with Mariah. We met a Hopworks in SouthEast Portland off of Powell. The beer was good and came in steins! This is another local brewery; Mariah is working through the local beer-making places. I had a good burger and thought the place was nice, but the parking sucked. I had to park in the dark and rain on the local streets.

We chatted about car buying and my story for my new adventure. She liked the story, thinking first about some SciFi I was writing.

It was late soon, and we headed out. I stopped by McDonald’s near the Volvo Cave and got a hot fudge sundae. Finally, I put all the recycling and trash out for Friday.

I am having chills and then feel overheated. Yes, I think the vax is working. I am falling asleep while writing.

Thanks for reading.

 

I took off Thursday and decided to write the blog today, but then I slept in and went slow. Trying to get some of that rest, I keep promising myself and others to do it. So I am now a bit rushed and will just do an outline for Wednesday.

I ate a bagel at 10PM (22Hr) and took my pills. I had written just a few more paragraphs in my Dungeons and Dragons adventure–just trying to do something every day. Before this, I was at First United Methodist Church, and we had a hooligan sitting on the church steps high and saying mean things about God. We managed to politely shoo him away, but we did find a used hypodermic outside on the steps.

I was at the church to play board games with my dangerous and wicked 11-year-old Zophia, who beat me again. Today’s game was The Lost Ruins of Arnak, the base game. This is one of the newer games that combines a strong theme with more contemporary gaming structures to create a fun and interesting game. The game has the worker placement and resource management style I like. It combines this with deck-building to control your turn and then a research track to apply your acquired resources. The theme, well used, is a 1920s Hollywood-style archeology movie. It plays well for two players and expands some options to accommodate three and four players–the game does not slow much with more players. It is a fav, and I have a blinged-out copy.

My friend Richard says this is a light game; I would say it is the entry-level to more complex games. It flows well, and I have seen turns run long at the end, as someone discovered all the means to play and take first place. But, on the other hand, I like all the options.

Zophia, her time at this game and with my help, beat me by ten points. Next time I will pay more attention!

Before this, I skipped dinner and worked at home for a while. Unfortunately, the fix for my laptop did not work–I think the laptop and network passwords are out-of-sync, and I will have to invest some time at the Performance Desk next week.

I left work, got lunch, and then I visited Susie at the hummingbird house; she had slept poorly for the last few days and was slightly off. We did call Susie’s mother, Leta, and chatted with her for a while. Susie is confused or is asleep when talking, and the staff is just helping late at night by getting her up for a bit and then putting her to bed again. Susie was tired and sleepy on Wednesday. She dropped her cup of Ensure, drinking three bottles a day, and Jennifer cleaned up the mess. Yes, there is no carpet in the place–just mop it up.

I spent the day working at the office; I worked on some more research and some planning meetings and discussions. I have also suggested a significant performance that is shocking to folks. I also have some other suggestions for forward-looking improvements to master data error tracking and logging. Time to do some architecture work–finally.

Travel today was without events, and I did the usual things in the morning. Cereal with milk and fresh banana plus liberal coffee. Lunch was a stupid choice of a burger at Carl’s Jr. that left me full and overwhelmed. Not again–only Western Burgers, if that.

Well, I am rushed again as I am going slow today and have to get a few things done before heading out to a lunch meeting I kept on my day off, then Susie, and then a new doctor. Mariah wants to meet for dinner in Portland. So have to get my day started.

Thank you for reading!

I am changing the name of these stories to Today as that makes more sense to me.

I am cold this evening and had reheated pizza and the rest of the chicken caesar salad for dinner. I watched a shipwreck finder show on Disney+ while eating dinner, but I thought it was terrible–so no name.

The day started with me waking twenty minutes before my alarm. I had just fallen asleep when it went off. I laugh when that happens (it is that or scream, “Nooooo,” and turn to dust like Dracula). The morning was rushed as it was a work-from-office day, and I quickly got my breakfast of cereal with milk and liberal coffee made in a French Press. I am trying to reduce my caffeine intake, so this coffee was all I had today as I did not get any of the free Starbucks coffee at work. However, I did take a coffee cup full of coffee to work to finish it.

I read my email and tried to get up-to-date on the news. I read the work emails and reviewed any updates in various Slack channels, which are starting to reproduce like mushrooms. Everyone wants you to watch their texts. I have to admit I created a new channel today too.

I was soon dressed and remembered the flowers I bought yesterday at Safeway for Susie. I reached work without incident in Air Volvo and was just ahead of the school buses. It is gray on gray with a bit of rain.

At my shared space, but always the same one, I was quickly researching and thinking about some new items we could be working on now. It was Tuesday, so the morning was full of Zoom meetings, but at least some were in conference rooms. Once that stopped, I headed to see Susie.

Susie was going slow (she had trouble sleeping last night) and was still eating breakfast when I arrived. I spent an hour with Susie and her eating breakfast. We briefly chatted with Susie’s mother, Leta, who was still at a church bible study in Lansing, Michigan. Susie loved the flowers, and she is getting serious about eating (she lost twenty pounds in the last four months), and there is a slight improvement already (she is also drinking Ensure–three bottles a day). Susie was finished, and I was out of time. She was sorry to see me leave, but I left with a kiss and a promise to return on Wednesday.

I stopped on the way back at Carl’s Jr. and had a guilty pleasure: A Western Burger. It is the last fast food I eat. After that, I returned to work and talked to some folks about some new ideas. It is time to start thinking about new cool things to do. I also did some reading and research on options.

I left work at about 4:30PM feeling tired again. I missed that afternoon coffee! I got home, plugged in my Nike laptop, and had a connection error. Puke! I went out to the kitchen and started making an early dinner.

After dinner and the show on shipwrecks, I returned and got my laptop to work when I remembered to hard plug it into my network. Yup, password sync issue–got me last time at the house. My laptop and network password are out of sync, which can be fixed by hard plugging into my network or using Nike’s network at the office. Wifi logins are not likely possible. That may explain some of the issues in MS Office. I will chat with the Performance Bar on Wednesday.

I spoke to Susie’s niece Emma. I sent her a copy of the Herbalist’s Primer book from a Kickstarter–I support many book projects and usually order a spare copy to give away. It is a Dungeons and Dragon book on the magical use of plants. She has not received it yet but is recovering from Covid-19, and the idea behind the book intrigued her. We talked about gaming things. Emma and I used to play chess, and she has played Dungeons and Dragons for years. I am glad she is getting better.

Thanks for reading.

 

Tonight, so far, I have one tricker-or-treater. I have my mad scientist look with my eyeball and lighted top hat. I managed to find a few decorations, one spooky–a yelling mini-skeleton that jumps up and shakes the cage, and a light that projects bats and a haunted house on the white paint of the Volvo Cave. I am happy to manage a bit of decoration, have candy ready, and being dressed up–it is a lot for me to pull off. Last year, Susie was in the hospital in New York City, and I had dinner with Kat at Tash and Jason’s place. Later I road back on the subways and had an exciting experience on Halloween in NYC.

I chatted with my neighbors for a while before the night fell. It was nice to just hang out a bit. I walked the street to see how many houses were giving out candy; most of the street was dark this year. Sad.

I watched a bad Vincent Price movie, The Twice-Told Tales–I have never seen the whole thing before. It is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s stories. I did this while waiting for tricker-treaters with the door open, so I could hear them. By the way, I never liked Hawthorne (yes, I will say it…he never got an ‘A’ from me), and the movie was not that good, but it fit the day.

I had a Papa Murphy’s take-and-bake pizza, a stuffed Chicago style. This, with a chicken caesar salad from Papa Murphy’s, is one of my favorites for dinner. I used to get a pizza and give out candy with Susie excited to see all the little kids in their costumes. I wanted to give out candy for the first time in years. Just one customer, but it is a start. I miss Susie tonight.

I picked up the pizza while sliding out to get some groceries on the way back from the hummingbird house. I was running out of soap, toilet paper, and other needed items. So I rushed through Safeway (only a few folks with masks–I did not wear one). Brittney Spears made my pizza with a cowgirl. Ms. Spears had a badge with her name on it at Papa Murphy’s!

Before this, I slipped out of work to head to Susie in Air Volvo. I crossed Beaverton without issue. Susie was ready for Halloween with her witch’s hat and Boo shirt on. We called Leta and Barb Wild, our mothers, and chatted a little. I had to head out after staying for a bit longer. We even went out on the porch, but it was too cold for Susie. Susie was sad that I was leaving but said it was OK and that she would be OK. It is heartbreaking when Susie asks to go with me, and I can’t make that work.

Before this and after, I followed along at work and worked on software ideas.

I was up at 7ish as it was a work-from-home day. I had cereal with milk for breakfast and a bagel-like local bread product with cream cheese and canned peaches. I knew it was a pizza night, so I kept breakfast and lunch light.

Thanks for reading.

I am tired and planted the tulips by digging two large holes between the rains today. It stopped raining about 5PM, so I got out the spade and dug in the softish hard clay that is the dirt here. I believe you could just make a pot out of it if you fired it. I planted my Woodenshoe Company (yes, not the other one) bulbs, and I am sure some squirrels are already planning a feast on this exotic dutch treat. But with some hope, I will get some nice ones next year.

I had to wash all the clay off my Air Force Ones, having recycled the old shoes I usually use for this, which are in the dryer forever. Unfortunately, the clay stuck to them like glue, and I had to use lots of water, soap, and a cleaning brush to get them back.

Starting from the beginning, I was up at 7AM and had breakfast cereal with milk and liberal coffee made in a French Press. I then wrote the long blog for Saturday. With Susie in the car for a long drive, Saturday was a busy day.

We went to church on Sunday, so I had to rush. The blog took, as happens, longer than I had planned, and I was late leaving, 9:45ish. I had on my tie and sweater for church. Oregon is a come-as-you-are state, and our new pastor is in a cotton shirt, jeans, and sandals. I learned Methodist on the East Coast and always feel that a white shirt and tie are the default choices for men.

The weather is still gray until June or July, with the light Oregon mist painting everything shiny and clean. The traffic was light and fits a Sunday morning. I was fifteen minutes late when I dared to cross Beaverton (skipping Old Town). Susie was dressed in yoga pants (from a pre-Covid Christmas from the Giessners) and a red plaid shirt which I then added (Susie was panicking she would be cold in church–she froze last week) a long warm sweater, and I had a winter-themed blanket for her in Air Volvo.

I managed the lift on my own and got Susie, with some of her help, into Air Volvo. The trip to Beaverton was fine. Anassa, the nurse aide on for today, told me that Susie was tired. So we were just a few minutes late for church. The church was warm (Dan told me they had set the heat to start at 6:30AM–it takes four hours to heat the sanctuary with those huge ceilings and only radiant heat along the walls). Susie was comfortable, and I was a bit warm.

The service worked; I felt it was our first genuine post-Covid service. It felt normal and ran well. The pastor’s sermon, Pastor Ken gave the sermon, was about the Sermon on the Mount. Ken said that Jesus was there to refocus and realign the historical Jewish folks not from the law but to better understand the law. Jesus wanted the focus on money and position to be replaced with a concern for the meek, poor, and undervalued people of the times. Jesus wanted us to throw away greed and power and find better ways to live.

The service was closed, with Howard playing a gothic organ piece. It was perfect. I recorded some of it and put it on Facebook.

As Anassa warned me, Susie was falling asleep (the sermon and music were good) and leaning to the right–the stroke devastated her side. Susie was having a rough day, and I have seen these before, so I was vigilant the whole time. If Susie is tired or sleepy, she leans to the right and will fall right out of bed, in a wheelchair, or right onto you. Attention is required to be safe.

Susie had a few sips of coffee and a few nibbles of some spice cake–likely the ubiquitous pumpkin or season spice. We called Susie’s mother while at the church as coffee hour was breaking. Leta, Susan’s mother, was happy to virtually join the church and was pleased to chat with the Weld-Martins too.

Next, I had to load her into the car, and she was eighty pounds of wet noodles, and her head flopped and bumped the padded interior of Air Volvo–that had not happened before. So I will watch out for that next time Susie is leaning to the right!

Aside: I have detected that Grammarly spell-checking is not working. Sorry if I miss something. Another software update, I believe. Later: I found the issue. They have a problem with updates. If I resave the document, the checks will work again. 

I managed to get Susie back to the hummingbird house without incident and managed to swing her out of the car with a bit of her help. Anassa was ready for Susie, and I left with a kiss, and Susie was headed to get some rest.

I drove, with care, through Old Town Beaverton, dodging Trick-or-Treaters as Beaverton was holding a less damp Halloween celebration on Sunday afternoon. It was sad that our church missed out and did not join in. I reached the food cart park near City Hall and got a waffle sandwich, their version of a Monte Carlo sandwich. I collected John Company, a new board game delivered yesterday and headed to Central Taps.

There was an event for the Chamber Music group in Beaverton, but they offered me a table anyway. I then ate my food and started learning the setup. Wehrlegig Games instructions, while well written, have few pictures and not the simple example setup you see with other games. It is a slugfest. I spent three hours learning what the components do, where they go, and how they function. I still have a few mystery pieces; I am not sure what they are used for. I am still reading through the rules tonight to understand better.

Central Taps had a massive load of pumpkins you could just carve and take. Like sixty uncarved pumpkins. They had lots of tools and tables to carve at. Really nice.

I spent the restful afternoon just trying to play an insanely detailed game. It has a solo version, but I was not ready to start that setup when I was learning the components. The metal coins really kick up the immersion in the game.

I had two excellent beers, a dark porter that was not too sweet and Red Zepplin, an amazing red ale. I watched a lot of pumpkin carving while I read the rules and understood what I had got in this new game: John Company.

I collected my stuff, headed home, planted the tulips, started laundry, made dinner of chicken Cordon Blu (frozen) and leftover green beans (reheated in the microwave oven), and made pearl couscous I recently purchased cheaply on Amazon. Not sure I like the pearl version, which is more like a noodle.

I watched a cute episode of Netflix’s Lucifer when the demon Maze heads to Canada. “They will just ‘polite’ them to death,” was the demon’s complaint. I was laughing through much of it. I am at the start of season three.

My shoes are almost dry. More laundry to dry. Dishes to put away. Everything hurts from a weekend of lifts, moving heavy wheelchairs, and planting tulips. I am going to need a weekend from my weekend!

Thanks for reading, and Happy Halloween 2022.