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I woke early and rolled over on Wednesday morning. I rose and discovered that I had not set up the coffee maker. Ugh! I washed out the coffee maker parts and refilled this and that, and soon, coffee was flowing. In the morning between her sessions, I heard from Deborah, who was at a work conference. I had no plans for Wednesday. I spent the morning reading, and my mind wandered to Dungeons and Dragons, making a figure to match my new character. I continued to write and published the blog.

Our next game is on May 18, and I am playing a sorcerer; I have never played one before. I decided to remember the game Deadlands with the spellcaster throwing cards. I was looking for a Weird West figure that shows a card thrower. I could not find one that fits. I can make it online, but it is almost $30. But for $9, I can get an STL file and print it myself. I will repair the 3D printers and see if I can produce it.

I also quickly wrote a card to Mom Wild to get it out before the mail is delivered. I am running out of cards. I try to send her a card every day except Sunday.

Next, I read more about the Conclave, but have not received a call. I have selected the name Unexpected the First. But so far, they have not called.

I did watch, finishing around 10, The Fisherman’s Shoes (1968), which is a dated movie but shows a Russian raised to hold The Keys. Then, with the world spiralling to Nuclear War as China is starving, the Holy Father steps in to save the world by pledging the wealth of the church to feed China and all who are hungry. Anthony Quinn and others make this seem believable, reminding me of Doctor Strangelove and Fail-Safe.

I got out the new Dungeons and Dragons 2024 books (now on a new version of D&D known as 2024) and followed the new process to create a first-level character. Species (formally race) and background now set the basic structure of your character, with class giving you the D&D power and capabilities that grow as your character advances in level. D&D 2024 has further powered down various spells, class features, and feats to prevent super-powered combinations that have haunted the recent versions. Folks would game the system and create combinations that smuthered the bad guys in damage. We will see if D&D 2024 avoids this.

Lunch was reheated chili and watching some more Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, but not much, as I wanted to get outside. Instead, I toured my roses, and some are now blooming.

China Rose.

Pink Moss (only blooms once).

Mister Lincoln starts up with its huge hybrid tea flowers.

I headed to Cornell Farms to look at plants and check how their pomegranate trees are doing. Mine still seems to be a stick with buds. They did not have any left from the group I purchased from, but they had smaller plans covered in leaves and even flowers. I am hopeful, but worried that only half of the plant is alive. But I can make that work if it grows.

That is their giant Monkey Puzzle tree behind me.

I resisted the foxglove, lavender, and other plants I have had before. When we first moved here, I grew a poison garden (now the roses cover that area). The rosemary and mint still grow after twenty-five years (how can it be so long!). I was tempted by more roses, as I have no yellow or white roses.

I did get a cookie and enjoyed the walk around twice. I stopped in the shop and spent money on nice, but costly cards, most with a plant theme. I would later send some cards to Deborah and Mom Wild for the early post.

I headed home in Air VW the Gray and made dinner. Dinner was baked and breaded chicken thighs with pasta and marinara sauce. Deborah and I talked on while I cooked and had dinner. We set some of our plans and dining choices at Disney. We will be there in about a month.

After that, I did the dishes; the kitchen looked like it had exploded. I made too much food and packed it away. I went to bed, put on my PJs, and read more D&D 2024. Soon, I was asleep and did not wake until just as sunrise started.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Tuesday mornings mean rushing to Portland to play a 9:30 board game at Richard’s. The alarm went off at 6:30, and I rolled over and woke up what felt like seconds later to a new alarm at 7. I rose and found the coffee pot full, having assembled the coffee the night before. I managed to write half the blog and talk to Deborah, who is at a work conference in Michigan, for a few minutes.

I was time-boxed, and I got in the shower at 8:15 and was soon ready to board Air VW the Gray. The night before, I had placed the board game Unsettled in the cargo hold. I had finished painting the figures and put them back in the box, and this was my first time playing with them. The traffic was slow through Beaverton and into Portland, and despite leaving ten minutes earlier, I was still ten minutes late.

This was a continuation scenario and tough. I can say I got frustrated once. Cooperative games can get hard when folks disagree and the challenges get hard, but we managed to finish. It took all morning and into the afternoon. Yes, intense. This is a moderate challenge!

Unsettled, the board game, has different planets, each unique. The game has base rules and components. The planet add-on, priced at $19, includes all the events, powers, and challenges. The base game comes with two planets (The newest Kickstarter supplied errata for these), and there are now nine additional ones (I am short two of the latest and the new action markers). For new gamers and those looking for a less stressful game, Pandemic (though the name sets all of us on edge) is a good cooperative game, and the variations are good. The Pandemic version, Rising Tides, is themed instead on stopping the break of dikes in Holland than stopping a virus spread, and it is fun, can be difficult, plays fast, and does not flash back to 2020.

I returned to the house in the EV about 1:30 and grabbed the ham bone and ham bits I put aside for soup (the rest of the ham, purchased after Easter for about $6, sliced and some chopped in bags frozen in the freezer) and started to boil the bone and lots of meat still on it. I watched the rest of the first Star Wars (“A New Hope,” and yes, I know it is not numbered one) while the hot water extracted the flavors from the bone and meat. I let this happen for about 45 minutes, some of it being a fast boil. Yes, I know I should have slowly simmered and added veggies to the stock and then filtered it. But I was hungry, and it was just a ham bone. I pulled the bone out, and the water was now flavored. I tried the boiled meat, and it was nearly flavorless. The night before, I poured out the split peas and checked them for stuff, nothing, and then washed them. I also took the ham bits, sliced them, and fried them in a pan, getting a brown on them. I should have browned them longer, but I was worried I would burn them (I was watching a movie simultaneously and was hungry), but they went in with the peas. I washed the non-stick pan with water and put the brown bits into the soup.

After forty minutes, the peas finally softened, and the soup was excellent, though plain. This was my first time making split pea and ham soup. I enjoyed it while watching the Death Star explode.

I packed away the soup (having a bowl and then a bit more) in bags and froze it for another meal. I suddenly remembered I forgot the blog and rushed to finish it and publish it late. I was meeting Corwin for dinner at 5:30; I rested and even nodded off into a deep siesta until 5ish. I rose and, with a few minutes free, toured my roses. Two bushes have flowered, the China Rose and a new rose. All the rest are a day or more from bursting into red and pinks. I have no whites or yellows yet.

Corwin arrived in his truck, and we boarded Air VW the Gray and soon arrived at Gyro House nearby. Corwin had the excellent Lamb Kabobs, and I had a ground lamb gyro. We had mixed baba ghanoush and hummus with hot bread out of the oven while we waited. Corwin ordered a Turkish coffee, and while tempting, it was 85F (29C) outside, and I did not need something hot to drink.

Returning home, Corwin headed out to give plasma for money. It was Tuesday, and Andor, the SciFi Star Wars show, dropped another three episodes, and I, as has become a habit on Tuesday nights, watched them back to back. It was excellent.

I read after that, and then I was soon in my PJs. I was asleep before I could roll over. I later woke in the same place at 4ish to prove hydration, which I did again at 6. I was well hydrated yesterday in the heat!

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

I rose after 7 and felt well and ready to face another week. Coffee, a pot of liberal joy, was waiting for me. I had assembled the coffee the night before from Fair Trade coffee. I toasted a NYC bagel (thanks, Joyce) and covered it with cream cheese. I had a banana with this.

I wrote the blog and sent a card to Mom Wild. I am trying to send a card or postcard to her at Brookdale, where she now resides in a facility. I doom scroll (read some news), updated my transactions in Quicken, and Deborah and I talked for a while. It is good to start and end our days with a text or a call. Deborah is in Michigan.

Dear readers, if you want to send a card to Mom Wild:

Brookdale Meridian Assisted Living
c/o: Barbara Wild, room A-9
5346 Marsh Rd.,
Haslett, MI 48840

Monday is my laundry day, and I washed the used towels and my clothing in one load. I set The Machine on Permanent Press (Dad always recommended that one), and it works best for me. The trick is to pull your pants and shirts out still warm and put them on hangers. The cloth material settles into shape when it cools. The new underwater packets appeared today. They are smaller, and I was happy to discover that the underwear fits better. I am finally replacing poorly fitting larger clothing. I ordered from Jockey’s website. Later, when I could not fall asleep, I ordered new dress shirts and a pair of pants, all in smaller sizes, from L.L. Bean.

After the blog was published, I returned to pieces from the board game Unsettled in the shape of four crew members and a robot named Luna. I had painted them with acrylics and then sealed the pieces with a gloss spray. I let that dry overnight.  I then got out my oil paints and a small brush. I mixed a solvent with the pure black and brushed it onto the figures to fill the cracks and lines to create a 3D effect by appealing like shadows. I had used Speed Paints that do the same thing, but not with black. Now the figures’ details really popped, and the robot, painted primarily white, looked more worn, but the lines were more pronounced, again looking more realistic. Previously, I would use ink, Dark Shade, directly on the acrylics, but often this would fade and settle by gravity, and not where I wanted it. Worse, it could not be wiped off like the oil over the shielding coat. The only recourse was to repaint the area. I must have painted some figures three times!

I let the oil paint dry and then later wiped most of the dark off of the Luna figure, getting the white back to bright. However, I left some dark stains to make the robot look more used. I filled a few cracks with black after whipping too hard. I dried off any still-wet oil paint on the crew member bases (it ran off the figure and puddled following gravity). This is the same system of painting used on naval models to get the rust and stains on the model, and filling in lines and cracks to make the model more realistic looking.

After the figures were dry, I finished them with the lightest flat coat spray. I use Mr. Clean products (expensive!). This must be thin, as it blocks some light, causing the colors to fade and the metallics to lose their shine. Even with care, I sometimes dry-brush some metal colors after this to restore their brightness—just a little, and the shine is back. These looked good as is; excellent.

With the figures done, I headed to Tapatio in Aloha for Cinco De Mayo. They were busy, with one waiter rushing here and there in a Mexican Soccer shirt. The food, as always, was excellent, and I had a large beer (from Mexico) to help celebrate this holiday, which was mainly created to sell drinks.

Before this, I had written a memo for an insurance company and sent them the information they needed to pay the last insurance payment for Susie’s passing. I assembled that with a death certificate and a return envelope. Soon, Leta should get the last payout that I know about. I still have about $25 in a mutual fund still in Susan’s name that wants a court document for me to inherit. I will try again to get them to change it to my ownership.

It was a lovely day, and I read for a bit before heading out to the Cinemark, where Joan S was meeting me. We decided to try the new Thunderbolts Marvel movie. We met about 5 and caught a movie still in previews. I had left my wallet at home, but my phone worked to pay. We got seats in the back of the theater just as the last previews finished.

While the movie was a bit predictable it was funny and managed to be entertaining. While it was not as good as other Marvel movies, this one worked and we enjoyed it. No spoilers other than it was OK and to stay to the end of the credits (the usual Marvel thing).

Joan headed home, but gave me an AAA magazine with articles on Iceland and a Columbia Employee Pass. I then stopped at the Zen Sushi place and had a snack for dinner. My lunch was large so I wanted a lighter dinner.

I returned home, read, and soon was resting. I eventually slept.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

I woke up on Sunday and felt happy and ready to face the day again. The gray depression is fading, if not gone. Organizing the house, getting the paper blob back into folders, updating Quicken by closing the quarter, and painting some figures seemed to work. I still get tired in the afternoon and/or the early evening and often nod off for a while, but then I wake and can keep going. I am back to being a morning person, and my energy drives me to write, do housework, and pay bills in the fresh sunlight (or Oregon’s grayish glow that replaces sunlight). I try to remember to get a card done for Mom Wild Monday-Saturday, before the mail person appears around 10, or sooner. I often write them, like I am writing this on Monday morning, while writing the blog, and then put on my robe and slippers and the card in the mailbox. My neighbors see me sometimes, make catcalls, and call back with good humor, “Retired!”

I was time-boxed, and Deborah called. We had a nice chat. Out of time (which was fine as I can complete the blog later), I showered, shaved, dressed, and headed out early to First United Methodist Church in Air VW the Gray. I was speaking on the New Member class I was asked to hold; I quickly sent out a plan for the class to various folks at the church. Z and I were also covering Theology Pub.

It is May 4th, “May the Force (Forth) Be with You” Day, and Pastor Ken wished everyone the Force, but it was clear he is not a true believer. He spoke about the same scripture I preached on, but he went on and focused on the part where Jesus calls Peter out. As you would imagine, I focused instead on the cooking and fishing part and barely mentioned the talking to Peter got. But Ken did concentrate on Jesus’ call to “feed my sheep.” Ken then called various folks to speak about some of our opportunities to help, including our food programs at the church, the Theology Pub, and my class. How our UMC was ‘feeding the sheep.” I went up with Z, who had written a short item and was on her phone. Z quickly discovered it is difficult to hold the tiny screen, read it, and look up. Z then just remembered what to say and soon finished without the phone. Z asked me to add some comments. I just noted the adult beverages in the picture of us in a Theology Meeting at a local place, and that the drinks help discuss complex subjects and keep one’s composure. And sometimes it is best to just sip the beverage rather than to speak. I next quickly covered the details of my class. Ken returned to the pulpit and preached about his difficulty living well while poverty crushed many.

We also had a guest singer and communion, and the service ran over. I helped with the offering and communion. Jack and I put the loose money and the giving stuffed in official envelopes found in the pews into the safe. There is a slot in the safe to put things in, so there is no need to open it. I then headed out and boarded the EV.

I drove home, grabbed my laptop, and returned to Beaverton and the Cedar Mills McMenamins. There, I got a beer, fish and chips, and made the reservation for Theology Pub! Done. I also finished the blog and got it published. The bartender, Rylan, was our waiter at Theology Pub before, and will be working on Thursday, so we might get him again. Excellent!

It was a lovely day, and I walked around my yard and looked at my roses. They are almost blooming. Rust on two bushes is not worse. The pomegranate is still just green buds instead of leaves. It is still more of a $60 stick than a small tree. I’m hopeful!

I started on my rush painting for the board game Unsettled. I don’t like to paint board game parts; the game is unavailable until the work is done. I might play on Tuesday morning, making it a rush. I tried to prime the figures in white but ran out of white. One piece is to be white, and I have to hand-paint the white now instead of using a spray. These are larger, so the brush strokes will show. Ugh!

(The round thing is the robot Luna. I have some of the white and the start on the eyes. The crew is all primed and their bases painted. You can see the M.A.S.H. figures behind them that I have not finished. The more miniature gray figures are the Pandemic figures I am also working on.)

I also resolved to dry the Speed Paints for the crew figures. These paints are a mix of inks and paint, so cover with darker shades in lower spots. I would have preferred white for this process, but I will deal with light gray. You sort of just slop the paint on. A near disaster as the orange shade bottle, they use a tear-drop to put control paint use (no little annoying bottles with caps), when the top blew out and doused my work space. I was not covered, nor were the figures splattered. Just a mess to clean up. Once orange was cleaned up and some was used on one crew figure, the rest was disposed of.

(The Speed Paint is now on the crew, and the helmets are painted. While they look more alive, they still look unrealistic. I will overpaint some of the details with other colors and then shade more with black lines to make the 3D look more realistic.)

I let the figures dry, and Luna, the robot in the game, I managed to make its ‘eyes’ look more real. I printed out other folks’ versions of painting the figures and used their ideas as a model for the colors and techniques I used on the game pieces, making Luna’s eyes look more real. I am not an artist, and layering colors with a brush is not in my skill set. I tried to copy the look. It’s not as good as the original, but it gets the feeling right. Better.

I painted a few details German grey and then added some silver and red to make some details pop. I used the German grey because it will still be shaded by a pure black. If I used black, the shading would not work. This is a scale thing. Black makes things disappear, while white alone makes it look 2D and not 3D on these smaller items. You have to lighten and darken to make it look more realistic.

Dinner was leftover Korean that I reheated. It was better the second time. I fell asleep in my chair in the living room while Star Wars played (it being May 4th). Deborah woke me when she called, and we chatted until she got sleepy. We try to start and end our days together by phone.

I spoke to Joan S, and we will try the new Marvel movie on Monday. I managed to get the gloss coat on the figures at 11:30 when I could not sleep. Earlier, I was reading and nodding off, put on my PJs, and slept. Something, forgotten now, woke me in my first moments of sleep, and I know it takes a while for me to sleep then. I got up and sprayed the figures with gloss. This makes them ready for oil paint shading. I like to do oils for shading after sealing the figures with a light dusting of gloss. I read more, fell back to sleep, and did not wake until 4ish to prove hydration.

Thank you for reading!

After midnight, I finished the day, telling this story going backwards, when the ibuprofen started to blunt the effects of the coffee I had at Richard’s and the excitement of winning a new game there. I got home after a busy, for late Saturday night, crossing over Portland and Beverton in Air VW the Gray. I was still excited and knew sleep would not come soon. I got the figures out of the board game Unsettled, washed them (unpainted plastic models can have mold release powder and paint will not stick then), waited for them to dry, and sprayed them with white primer, which ran out. I would do the last coat of grey primer on Sunday morning. I read a Canadian crime/mystery book until I nodded off with the Kindle in my hands. I woke once, around 4ish, to prove hydration.

Before this, I arrived at Richard’s house in moderate traffic in Portland and slow going in Beaverton early at 5:30. I was teaching and bringing today’s board game, Age of Steam: Deluxe, and started to set it up so we could start the teach when everyone arrived. Saturday night, Richard, Laura, and James were playing with me.

Richard had watched a video and corrected a few mistakes I made, and we took some time to understand track placement cost and goods refilling. With the game running, we followed the flow (I had copied the summary from the back of the rule book with a summary for each of us), and soon started.

This is an 18xx game with more abstracted elements than you find in more detailed 18xx games. Richard thought it was a train game and not an 18xx game. 18xx games simulate running a railroad with track building, stock market elements, cash management, and technology management (very abstracted in this game). Unlike the longer 18xx, this game has a timer that ends the game. They are known to be mean or even cutthroat.

The victory points are based on your income level, track finished and connected, minus stock issues. There are other random goals and rewards in some train games, but to improve repeatability, there are multiple maps instead. This is an efficiency race, and I am good at those, if it does not include special goal cards–it does not.

I ran to a part of the ‘Rust Bucket‘ map of the USA, far from the easier East, where Laura and Richard settled. James joined me in the plains with less money and did not build out. Chris and later Laura struggled with cash management. The game drains away cash fast, which is something I warned about in the teach. We did a few take-backs to help James and Laura. I slowly built while Richard, on the dense East of the USA, could keep building. James and Richard spent too much, in my opinion, to get First Player, an auction in this game.

I built out and continued to move goods and raise income. I spent deeply on track and connected all I could without conflict. I moved goods and soon pulled ahead, and I could not be caught, as only James could impact my rails. He finally started connecting to the city I had connected to, and I found I had to move other goods as he took the easy one.

The game is harsh, but James and Laura liked it and want to play again. Richard liked it less. I thought it played well and was easy to understand once we got it going. The strategy was hard.

Before this, I was at the house and will not invest too many words on how I got the papers into folders and my accounts in order on Quicken. I had not finished 2024 and decided to just stuff it in a file and move on. I did punch and file much of 2025. I have moved back into my office, and now the paper blob is away, and I feel much more confident. I think some of the depression was from not having the paper Blob under control. I will remember that and keep to my discipline of filing weekly. It is easy to just let the paper and accounts pile up. I did not notice that it affected my mood.

I also found time to paint one figure, which seemed to brighten my mood even more. I enjoy painting, and the figures are for the extended version of the board game Pandemic, which was part of a Kickstarter from years ago–I am finally painting them. They are 25mm scale, making them a bit small, but they are still usable in other games. I mix freely with 25-32mm scale, but still love the 28mm Dungeons and Dragons scale for figures. I picked the terrorist, which is seldom used. I figure it will be the least used, and I can get back to practice with it. The terrorist is part of the extension to the original game. It creates a competition between the agent and the other players working cooperatively to stop the pandemic simulation, the original game is based on, and the bad actor.

While Pandemic gets little love from gamers now, it was my first entry into these new-style board games, and I still enjoy playing it. I gave away my original copy as we were not playing it. I bought a used copy and recently added the extensions. It is still a great game, and I like playing it with new players.

I also tried a new place for lunch in the nearby strip mall: Hansik Town. This is a Korean-style place, and I had the chicken and added some rice. It was delicious and I had leftovers for Sunday Night dinner.

I started the morning at about 7:30 and found the coffee. I had slept well and was ready for a productive day.

Thanks for reading.