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I believe it is the vax side effects; I have been sleepy all day and rested a few times, which did not help much.

I was up at the hour when one believed one was insane to be up. I was in the shower before 6AM, had coffee, and headed out in Air Volvo to the mothership. Today was the original plan for servicing the car. A light on the tires changed my plans and caused me to have a service day last month, but today was the intense detailing (cleaning, polishing, and renewing). I do this once a year on my vehicles, so they always feel new. I only trade them in when I am unsure of the car. The previous XC60 I traded into, I did not like how it was handled, and the internal controls were old school. The current one is so nice; I paid it off, cleared the title, and plan to have it until I get the electric vehicle I want. The current direction is the Volkswagen ID.Buzz, with a name selected, The Van Electric, but I am waiting another year for them to appear in the USA market. I have to test drive them, and I could wait a year for the self-driving to become available.

Air Volvo is keeping its value; an offer of $32,000 for the car from Carvana suggests it will be valuable in the near future. I plan to keep Air Volvo for a while until ID.Buzz is a good option, or another Air Electric is discovered. I may retain a gasoline car for all the obvious reasons.

The dealership was not open ahead of time, and then I was directed back from the location of the service to Sarah at the Volvo Service desk a block away. She handled everything and apologized that I was not on her list for a loaner car. We agreed that I could just get a ride back as I was not expecting a loaner today.

I returned home after a nice Lyft ride. The driver was friendly, and we chatted. I was back in the home office by 7:20 and working from home. I did hours of Zoom calls missing only one in-person meeting.

I reheated some goulash for lunch and read a bit. I was suddenly tired again, and the pain in my right leg was quite uncomfortable, particularly when first standing up. I called out in distress a few times! I took more painkillers.

I spent the afternoon following along at work; no crises of the moment today. I rested a few times as I seemed to just become exhausted. I did pay my ticket to Beaverton with the lovely photo of my running a red light–I decided not to write anything and just accept the fine. Sarah called and sent a Lyft ride to get me. I was soon paying at Volvo for what seemed like a new car.

Next, I drove, not through Beaverton, to the hummingbird house. Susie had just laid down and was happy to see me. She was confused and kept saying something was wrong and that she was in the wrong room. She was also saying something was wrong with her. I think my being late and her not knowing why was the underlying issue.

I took Susie to the park; we did the big circle and the magnolia tree she loves. Susie talked to her mother on my iPhone, and we also called Rev. Anne Weld-Martin to chat. Susie was happy but still a bit confused.

Susie wanted me to take her home today, but she agreed to stay as she felt safe at the hummingbird house and liked it there. It is always heartbreaking to have this discussion, but today Susie accepts the logic, and she will continue to work to get better so she can someday ride in Air Volvo and at least visit her house.

I drove home, not crossing Beaverton, in the clean and nice-smelling Air Volvo. The pain is worse, and instead of making dinner, I stop at the Sushi place nearby and enjoy pulling little raw and cooked food on little dishes from the track. It is a fav.

I got home, rested, and then watched some more of the Netflicks Lucifer. Also rewatched the Power of the Rings episode and thought it the best so far. I like Lucifer, but it is very predictable.

I then wrote the blog while baking cookies. Yes, I need a cookie!

Thanks for reading.

The pain and exhaustion continue today. I sometimes call out from the pain when I stand; yes, it sucks. I was busy all day as Mariah had car issues, so I traveled from Susie in Tigard to Forest Grove, an hour trip, using TV highway. I managed that by only brushing Beaverton; I am still on Beaverton strike.

I started the morning late (for me); after 8, having woken a few times moved and went back to sleep. I finally got going and wrote the blog for Sunday. I was too tired last night to consider it. The morning was going better, except the painkillers (Advil and Tylenol) did not stop the pain. I got updates from Tracy from Physical Therapy that she would be early and had to rush lunch, pasta, and sausage left over from a few days ago. I went in a hurry in Air Volvo.

I beat Tracy by fifteen minutes, crossing Cooper’s Mountain and taking the non-Beaverton roads. I stayed primarily legal. We called Susie’s mother while we waited, and Susie and Leta had a friendly chat on my iPhone using FaceTime. I nearly fell asleep while they chatted. I am still tired.

Tracy arrived, and we took Susie into the activity room and did some standing. Tracy and I also measured Air Volvo. We must cross 50 inches of space to get Susie in Air Volvo. We will try to transfer Susie in and out of the Air Volvo soon. It is one of our goals that Susie and I can get Susie in/out of Air Volvo.

Aside: I just ordered a step stool and an exercise step that is wider and less likely to kick out. One may help.

Susie can stand with a belt on and with Tracy’s help, but we improving. She leans to the right and has trouble with the right leg–as expected.

We also looked at the rubber ban things and discussed the balloon game. All good. Tracy is looking for a standing frame for us and will supply excises for the rubber band things next time.

I then took Susie for a short visit to the park. The day was nearly a perfect summer (not fall) day in Oregon. Lots of little people and even tennis players. We chatted with the tennis folks as we had none for so long. They were new, and told them to come more often as we hope to see more use from the courts. The courts were primarily empty this summer.

Linda, my sister, had a bit of a challenge. She hit a softball into a post, and it bounced back and smashed her in the mouth–ouch! Then, mom Wild, Barbara, did not answer her phone this morning, and Linda panicked. I spoke to mom Wild on Sunday, but Linda recovering from the slam, did not and was worried. Barb had trouble with leg pain (I am sympathetic), slept in, and ignored the phone. Everything is fine.

After leaving Susie in Jennifer’s good hands with a kiss goodbye, I traveled from hummingbird house to Forest Grove and found Mariah, after missing her the first time, in the bar of the Black Dog (she had to call me to tell me to turn around). I had a beer and a mushroom (their Born Wild burger, of course) and chatted about cars with Mariah.

She could walk short distances in Forest Grove, so I headed home. However, I did stop by Jim’s Ice Cream for a snack. I then crawled into bed and slept from 4ish to 6ish.

I got up and had cheese and crackers while catching up on Rings of Powers, the first episode that felt more Lord of the Rings and not a slow knock-off of Peter Jackson. The story is accelerating and has put away the Lord of Maps we saw before. The House of Dragons was next, which went slow but mainly to set up the ten-year jump in the next episode. I liked it, but it seemed primarily filler. Finally, we say goodbye to the young actors, replaced with the older folks in episode 6. A strange move, I think, but let’s see how they do.

I cleared out the car that must be at the shop at 7AM tomorrow.

I then wrote the blog.

At the end of Sunday, I made a paid time off (PTO) request, blocked my work calendar, sent notes that I would miss two meetings, and went back to bed. My right leg was cramping, and standing on it was causing pain. I was tired and a bit loopy. The impact of the new vax and playing ballon with Susie. I was too tired to write this blog, and Monday would crash and burn if I tried to make it work. So PTO for Monday.

Returning to Sunday, I slept in until about 7:15 and started on breakfast and coffee. I had cereal with fresh banana slices. I then dried some items on the stove and unwittingly turned on a burner to near high. This destroyed my Chef’s Neverburn pan. It cannot be replaced as the company is gone. I was upset by mistake and that a small bump turned on a burner. I guess I should be happy that a fire did not break out, but still, it made me feel very silly, and the loss of one of my neatest pans upset me.

I spent the early morning writing the Saturday blog, which is always long as I try to fit a whole weekend into one day. I finished about 10AM and was not inclined to rush, be late for church, and risk another adventure with Beaverton’s policing cameras and officers. So I am on Beaverton strike (I will likely relent on Wednesday night to play games with Zophia).

I cleaned up and dressed. I did a few house tasks. I watched the church service online, and Dondrea gave an excellent sermon. She managed to mix her experience in water sports with scripture and baptism. I thought it was one of her best sermons yet.

Aside: I did join the Kickstarter project to support the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, 8-10Oct.

I got a text from Mariah, and we met for lunch at the Golden Vallery Brewery. There I had a Malbec wine to relax. Mariah was late, and then we both had steak salads. We mainly talked about her adventures trying to buy a home in Portland. Closing costs are exploding, and Mariah is stressed.

It was already 2PM (where did the time go); I then headed to see Susie at hummingbird house and skirting Beaverton. Susie was having a snack before I got there. When she finished, after once choking, I took her out to Metzger Park. The park had two sets of birthday parties and was busy on the cloudy but high 70Fs day. I was already fading, and we soon called Susie’s mother and chatted for a bit.

We returned to the house and played the ballon game/exercise. I throw the ballon, and Susie hits it back, primarily using her right hand. Susie did manage to hit me in the face once. That got a smile.

Evan stopped for a few minutes and joined the balloon game. One of us would recover the balloon, and the other would throw it. Susie loved the attention.

Soon it was approaching 4PM, so I stopped and kissed Susie goodbye. M.A.S.H. was playing one of Susie’s fav (and celebrating its 50th anniversary), so Susie was headed back to her recliner to watch some more.

I took the route over Cooper’s Mountain home, skipping most of Beaverton. I picked up a book as a gift for M@, our DM, and headed then to play Dungeons and Dragons at 5:30. Time passed very fast.

I was early and took a short nap; the pain and the exhaustion were piling on now. When M@ arrived, I gave the book to M@, a Kickstarter project: Giordano Bruno’s De Magia translated, and we entered Cory’s house to play. This game is played at Cory’s home as Cory lost his legs, and it is safer and easier to relocate there than try to get Cory into our houses to play. We were all there today and played more of The Wild Beyond the Witch LIght setting. We are near the end of the campaign. I have agreed to DM for a few sessions between games, and I am writing an adventure for that (I need to get going on that again). We started investigating the final part, and as usual, for a start, it was slow going, and we missed following a clue and nearly lost a character. We are being more attentive now.

I could barely stand and was exhausted when we finished near 9PM. We play for 3.5 hours Sunday nights, and I am not usually tired. You sit and talk.

I drove home with care and reached home, and, as I have already described, just collapsed in a heap.

Yes, I will be more careful and did get some rest on Monday. Thank you for reading!

 

 

The side effects of my re-mix of Covid-19 from Pfizer have been light, with just some joint pain. I am also tired, and my allergies are out-of-control, but I don’t think I can credit that to the vax. I did my usual pile-on for a Saturday and my new anti-Beaverton driving without any slow down from the vax.

I got a new photo ticket from Beaverton, which has made me avoid Beaverton. I was driving to avoid Beaverton on Saturday and returned to places like The 649 that are not in Beaverton. It may be childish, but I have had four driving tickets in my life and two in Beaverton in the last month. So I will avoid the problem and can skirt Beaverton to reach Susie. I will not be returning to 217; it is a mess, and folks are stressed-out driving in the construction there. My life is already stressed; I do not need more from Beaverton’s Finest.

At 7AM, after getting some sleep, I started my day. It was Saturday, so I was trying to not feel too rushed and managed to write the blog, have a bear claw and a banana, and enjoy liberal coffee via French Press without feeling like I was pushing it. I showered and dressed and soon loaded up Air Volvo. I had my computer and speaker in case Susie wanted a movie. I also, after years, put the board game Scythe in my car (leaving the airships and Fenris campaign add-ons behind). My friend Will used to say that you should always be ready to play Scythe and keep the game in the car. With the pandemic starting to wind down (in some ways), it is time to return to old habits.

I crossed Cooper’s Mountain and took Scholls Ferry Road to Tigard, skirting Beaverton. After the ticket, I am avoiding the mess that is Beaverton, with roads torn apart. The drive is lovely and full of curves and one tiny section of construction. You travel through the last of the farms in the area and see the new neighborhoods being built into the hills that were once orchards. It is hard to see the change, but it is the future–more urban.

I reached Susie after noticing the camera that photo ticketed me in Beaverton. I might have made a face at it. Returning to more adult behavior, Susie was in her recliner, having been up early that Saturday. She already had breakfast. We tried to call Susan’s mother, Leta, from the house, but Leta was having lunch at Panera’s in Lansing, Michigan, so we agreed to call back.

Susie was ready to head outside. It is already the fall season in Oregon, with cold nights and hot sun. You will shiver in the shade at 65F (18.3C) and bake in the sun. The park, Metzger Park, was full of kids and families. At least three different birthday parties were going, one with an impressive set of foot-tall plastic dinosaurs and a standee raptor for photos. The bunnies, squirrels, butterflies, and various birds seemed to hide from the rambunctious little people. Parents were everywhere trying to direct kids to the correct party. There were many toys set out, and kids were running to whatever looked good at the moment, never mind they are some stranger’s party. Chaos.

I found a bench in the sun, and we luxuriated in the sun like a pair of reptiles. We called Leta again, and this time she and Susie chatted for a while. I was just enjoying the sun and watching the various parents posses trying to find and route their children. Soon I heard Leta saying to me on the phone that Susie was falling asleep again; she was enjoying the sun and got sleepy. We said our goodbyes.

We headed in and started doing exercises for Susie. Susie has some rubber band-like things, and she pulls on them to help her arm strength. We did that for a while in Susie’s room. I then got out the ballon, just a normal one, and we then played a game. Susie hits the ballon only with her right hand. The left hand often overtakes the right, so I had the left hand hold the rubber band while the right played balloon. I would serve, and Susie would hit back, and I was often chasing the balloon.

We changed it up, and I would call out which hand, mostly the right, and Susie could only use that one to hit the balloon. That worked but with the left slipping in once in a while, which was OK. I tried to set up a TV show for Susie, but Susie would rather play balloon. We played (I took Advil later) for more than two hours. Susie loved to be a bit physical, and the ballon game really worked for her.

Evan showed, and Susie, after hours, was finally yawning and decided to stop. Evan and I said our goodbyes. I got a few kisses goodbye.

I took Scholls Ferry Road back to my area. The traffic in Beaverton, what a surprise, was terrible, with my left turn taking twenty minutes to finish with five light changes. I was soon safe and out of Beaverton without raising the crime rate. A bit later than I planned, I arrived at The 649 in Aloha, Oregon.

The 649 was the same, except they stopped serving water, and we soon had a tab with Steven and enjoyed an Octoberfest-styled beer and setting up the board game Scythe. We had not played this since Evan crushed me, and I had started painting some figures and needed examples from my game. I have played so much Scythe that I know the rules, but I had to remind Evan here and there, and we played a simple two-person game to remember the rules and the play–it had been two years! Originally, I planned to have some automatic factions in play to see how that played, but today we instead stayed to the basics to get the rules and feel of the game back.

Scythe is a recent modern game and a lighter 4X game. The focus is on building and exploiting with limited combat and exploration. Like most Kickstarter games, it has some good art and various upgrades. My copy is fully-blinged, and I have painted all the miniatures (including the mechs). When you play, you are one of the factions that start on the edge and move into the center. There is a Tesla (not the car) mythology to the game.  Steam-punk technology was made possible by Tesla’s unexplained blue power sources in the early 1900s, and World War 1 was avoided. The game is Euro-looking with elements of early twentieth-century posters. Ocean liners, Zeppelins, and battleships are replaced with Steam-punk mechs in the art.

Scythe involves collecting resources and using them to improve your capabilities. It also has a silly mechanism that only certain waterways can be crossed by different factions. Why rivers are so complex is never explained, and you have to just accept it. After the game was released, it was discovered that certain combinations in the game are impossible to beat and are now banned. I have glued a warning on the affected boards.

I did beat Evan, but by only nine points. I ended the game by completing all the required tasks, including beating Evan in combat twice (he beat me once) and managed to squeak by before he could use his superior setup on the board to force me back. We both played well with a close 50ish score.

I left The 649 after paying the bill (which included dinner) and headed to Portland, again avoiding Beaverton. The traffic was a bit slow, but I soon stopped by McDonald’s for a chocolate shake and fries (the Advil was not settling well) with thirty minutes to spare.

Richard made me coffee, a new request from me, and we started on the board game Rococo. Richard has taken on the challenge to play every game in his collection, and this was the last one and a fav he held back to the end. It is a resource management game with light engine building and a Kickstarter game. Thus, the components and art are of the highest quality with some 3-D and painted. The playing board is huge and full of colors.

This game eschews complex rules and levels of complexity for a smooth easy to understand turn closer to Concordia than Scythe. You collect cloth, thread, and lace to make dresses. You then put the dress on a noble for the balls, or you sell it for cash. You can hire staff, send staff to work for the royals for a significant payment, and collect resources. You buy decorations on the walls to get influence. It has my fav structure, a simple turn with hard decisions.

Kathleen and I had played once before. I was crushed, as usual, but managed to play every part of the game without errors. Being last on each turn at the start was a problem, and I learned to get the Queen’s favorite (cash and going first next time) was more important than it appeared. I also made many dresses and did not sell any, which was also an issue. Next time!

I would recommend the board game Rococo as it is an excellent game and fun to play. The theme worked, and the easy turns and long-term strategy were fun. The full version, with all the add-ons and 3D components with metal coins, is only about $150 online, so it is also one of the cheaper Kickstarter game buy-ins (usually running now $300+ to buy in with everything). We asked Richard to play it next week with more add-ons, Jewelry, and holiday gowns!

After that, drinking a bit more coffee, I headed out with Kathleen to her house in Milwaukee outside of Portland. I dropped her off and then drove home. Getting out of the way of many speeding cars on the late night drive out of Portland. I took 185th back, avoiding late-night Beaverton and 217!

I was home before midnight and went to bed, and fell asleep dreaming of making dresses and organizing my collections to be the most in each ballroom.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

Friday, I took most of the evening off, not writing the blog, and just watched the cable show Lucifer and made dinner. I made goulash for dinner. I defrosted some beef leg slices I bought on a whim at Basics grocery store. I then shopped up some garlic and salted and peppered the beef after patting it dry and frying it in oil in a pan. The garlic was unneeded as it just burned up in the heat. I added some to the goulash. I booked the beef leg slices until beginning to reach rare.

I had sliced onions, carrots in large pieces, sliced mashing potatoes, Hungarian sweet paprika, plus the rest of the spices and wine for the goulash in my low-temperature cooking pan. When the beef was starting to finish, I took it out of the pan and put it on a cutting board to cool and stop cooking. I then cut the meat off the bones and put the ones in the slow-cooking pot. The sliced beef was poured over the top, and I stirred as things started to cook at the bottom. I add more wine and later water.

The food was good, was short on salt–as is all my cooking, and could have used some hot spice to give it a slight kick, but it was good and old school. The bone marrow had gone into the goulash, and I tossed the bones. I had a few bowls and put the rest away for leftovers.

I watched some more of Lucifer–it is getting predictable. I am laughing still. I went to bed at 11ish. I got the mail which came late, and found a gift from Beaverton Police. Yes, there was a camera at that intersection. Some more to pay.

Before making dinner, I worked from home as this was Friday, and as usual, my email, texts, and Slack messages slowed after 2PM. So I started dinner at 3PM and did laundry as the pressure of work released. At 5:30, I finally closed the Nike laptop and turned it sideways–that was my drive home and the start of the weekend.

I had a complex afternoon, and I hope I managed not to have the Beaverton Police find new ways for me to pay, with stopping by Rite Aide to get my prescriptions and some lettuce to go with all the salad fixing I have, but no lettuce! I found the lettuce at the end of the produce section, which seems to be sorted by price at Basics. Eggs and milk are in the other furthest corner.

I had tried to have all my prescriptions turned to Optima mail-order 90-day supplies, but it appears that Rite Aid had filled them early, making a mess of this. I decided to move to this not cheaper (I pay the same co-pay multiplied by the extra dose) but more convenient delivery after learning that all my Rite Aid prescriptions are not filled locally but mailed from a central pharmacy in Washington state. Rite Aid thus, by filling early, prevents the move–more clever than I would expect from Rite Aid, which always seems to be behind. The POS pad was working at the store, the transaction was fast (I was used to waiting), and I was trying to keep up. I could tell that the person at the cash wrap station was proud that I was falling behind–the previous system really sucked.

We don’t want to give Rite Aide too many points, the store is still a wreck of half-done merchandising, and muddy prints on the floor show that the store is only cleaned at night. It feels like a tired old-school pharmacist trying to keep up with the new-fangled ways of the world, but I like it. I was sorry when my nearby store closed, but this one looks like it needs my business. So I will stay a bit longer.

After getting my prescriptions and lettuce, I drove towards home but first put in some gas in Air Volvo. Gas is down at the same Chevron another ten cents, and fill is about $83 now. For you folks who gasp at $4.89, remember we don’t add on sales tax, and Oregon has a high gas tax as we have NO sales tax. We are one of few states where you cannot pump your gas. So that is the full-service price. It rains a lot out here, and unlike Washington state (which is the reverse with no income tax but lots of consumption and user fees/taxes) would rather pay some to stand in the rain than do it ourselves.

The car windshield, still showing the bug hits from my trip to the coast, needed to be cleaned. So I did the now $15 car wash. It has not yet increased from inflation; it was $15 during the pandemic. Few of us were driving in 2020, but we were all happy to pay anything to have an excuse to drive in 2021 while locked in our cars!

I returned home and grabbed my passport holder with my vax card. I then jumped back into Air Volvo. I saw while coming home that Tektronix campus was doing free vax again–I bet they got the good stuff! I had spent an hour of my life trying to schedule on Rite Aid’s website, gave up, and had the next shot scheduled for 30Sept2022 at Wallgreens. But, if I could just show up and get this done, that would be a home run.

And that was what happened; the same crew that did my second booster was there from the south of the USA. So Yup, African Americans and Latinx folks filled the room, giving shots. Soon I was watching my 15-minute timer going after a friendly Latinx gal who had used my right arm for the shot, all Covid-19 goes in the right arm for all the obvious jokes, and I was done.

You can see the original shot was on April 9, 2021, and I remember how relieved I was to get it. Susie’s shot was the next day. I had split the days to learn the process and then to take Susie. (Yes, I have had the Shingles vax too). It was scary back then.

I drove home and went back to work as I described. But, I stopped at our Salt and Straw Handmade Ice Cream store, just a few minutes from the vax, and had ice cream.

The morning on Friday was a bit rushed. I was up at 7ish, dressed, and ready for a few meetings. I was meeting Rick from Physical Therapy at 10:15 at hummingbird house for a re-evaluation for Susie. So I rushed to be parked at 10:00 and then called into a meeting. Yes, I no longer touch my phone when in Beaverton while driving. The meeting at 10 was short as the issue was resolved and the meeting unnecessary. All my other meetings on Friday were also canceled (except for the first status meeting at 8:30) as folks must have been reminded of the No-Meetings Friday rule at the shoe company IT group.

Rick was there to discharge Susie. We had not reached the goal of having Susie be able to transfer. I was not happy. I offered to appeal the decision based on the fact that at least 1/3 of Susie’s visits were canceled due to her having Covid-19, and then she had to recover. I was surprised that Rick agreed with me, but he gave the usual answer that it was the Medicare decision. I then waited, and yes, he discovered that we are not using Medicare but insurance from my employer. We had three more weeks if he wanted to continue. Rick found himself back peddling and seemed relieved. That needs a song, Elton John’s big comeback song.

We set new goals, and Rick then got to work. We got out some rubber bands and discussed how to build strength in the next three weeks. We need to show progress, and he was going all-out to try. Better. Though we look the part, we are not 75+ but not even 60 yet and might be able to make this work.

Susie did stand, but she was pretty unstable. Susie was exhausted by the time we had finished. Jennifer will help with the arm exercises. Excellent.

We called Leta after all the physical and bureaucratic workouts, and Susie fell asleep talking to Leta! Yes, we had a busy morning. That means a song from the 1980s.

I was again unhappy with the ticket from Beaverton and will have to be extra-extra careful now.

Aside: While I sit in my office, a ruby-throated hummingbird visits the roses outside the window. I watch the squirrels, and the local cats patrol the backyard. It is so lovely to sit here and work.

Thanks for reading again. I will carefully drive across Beaverton this morning to see Susie, very carefully!