So Long, Duke Boys!
On the northeast corner of 112th Avenue and 18th Street, stands a rundown brown house with a dirt driveway and ramshackle garage. In the back is lots of empty land, mostly mud. Living in this house were a couple of young-adult-type boys/men who were usually out tinkering in the driveway or the garage on some hot-roddy type pickup truck or car. And if they weren't out there tinkering, the fruits of their labor could be seen in the driveway, the garage, or sitting in the back forty. PA affectionately dubbed them "the Duke boys," after Bo & Luke Duke of the Dukes of Hazzard. And after seeing a woman in skimpy shorts at the mailbox one time (a la Daisy Duke), we felt that the moniker really suited them. Even if we never saw them out playing in the mud bog, the condition of their trucks told us that they must have spent plenty of time out there. The trucks were usually covered in mud. Who needed to go to the backwoods when you had this nifty-neat mud bog in your very own back yard!
Yesterday we were on the way to PA's house with a bench that we had been keeping for her. As we waited at the light on the corner of 112th Avenue & 18th Street, PA noticed that the Duke house appeared to be empty, and no muddy trucks were in the driveway, the garage, or in the back forty. We figure this property is going up for sale soon, making way for some fancy-schmancy apartments or houses or something else in the name of "progress."
So long, Duke boys! We'll miss your muddy trucks and seeing you tinkering on them in your driveway. Where ever you have gone, I hope there are plenty of muddy roads and hills for you to play in!
*****
Take Two Aspirin and Call Me in the Morning
My right knee has been bothering me for several weeks now. It's been stiff, can't bend it very far, and if I forget to turn the bottom half of my body at the EXACT same time I turn the top off when I'm setting off to walk somewhere--the excruciating pain reminds me of my mistake. It's been a real chore to put on shoes and socks, my jeans, cut my toe nails (or "tony nails as one of my kids used to say when they were little); cross my legs, drive for very long (longer than 5 minutes). What's been a mystery is that at the same time, I have no problems or pain in walking if I'm careful not to make any sharp turns; standing doesn't make it hurt; I can operate the exercise machines at Curves relatively pain-free.
At the same time, DC has been having problems with his shoulder again. He saw the doctor a couple of years ago when it first bothered him, who promptly diagnosed it as "frozen shoulder," gave him some anti-inflammatory drugs and a set of exercises to do, and sent him on his way. The problem was cured then, but it's recurred recently so he's been doing the exercises again. Yesterday he decided we needed to buy some extra-strength Advil to see if that helped any. We've been out lately--since PA & Ezre have been gone we've seldom had a need for it. So, off to Walmart we went. Just before bed he took one. I decided I'd try it too, to see if it helped my knee feel any better. Voila! I was able to bend that knee way farther than I have been able to in quite a while, although I got carried away and was reminded I wasn't totally cured. The best part is--it's some 21 hours since I took that one little extra-strength Advil, and I'm still relatively pain free, can bend the knee, and I don't have to lay my jeans on the floor and shuffle my foot into the pants leg far enough that I can then bend down and pull it the rest of the way on. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm happy to know that taking another "ESA" will probably take care of it for a couple of days, if I need it in the future.
****
The House On This Page
I've been asked whose house this is at the top of my blog page. Well, it's the house I lived in when we lived in La Grande, until we moved to Portland when I was 7 years old. Sort of! I got to thinking recently that this house isn't what I remembered, but I knew it was my old house because one of the useless facts taking up space in my head is my old address in La Grande--1001 11th Street. And this house is on 11th Street, the house number matches, it's on the back side of Eastern Oregon University, the same house with the scary overgrown garden I remember being afraid of as a child (I was sure a lot of snakes lived there) is still kitty-corner some 50+ years later. Then just the other day I was going through a crate of pictures that were in Josephus Awrightus' old closet, and I came upon my *real* house! Definitely a LOT older-looking than this pretty yellow house, but it's the house of my memory. Since my scanner's not working too well, I may ask Heffalump to scan it for me and I'll make it my opening photo--more realistic for early 1950's than this charming home.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Potpouri pt. deux
Josephus Awrightus dropped by tonight, it's not his usual night, but he had the new Wolverine dvd he wanted to show his dad. He knew it would be too violent for me, but figured I'd be doing computer stuff anyway so tonight was an okay night to show it. I actually spent little time on the computer while he was showing it. Since both he and Pink Avenger were here for dinner, thought I'd better cook something. I made a pork chops & scalloped potatoes dish, salad and corn. When I wasn't cooking, I was with PA in my craft room (to be), as she looked through old pictures. She was looking for her 2nd grade class picture. Didn't find it, but found some other interesting stuff. The bylaws for the Masons that had belonged to her grandpa Allen was one thing--copyright 1949. Her dh has a bit of interest in Masons at the moment so she took it home for him to look at. Didn't even know we had it.
Got a new cell phone yesterday. When I got my first one 3 1/2 years ago, through Net 10, I paid $50 for the phone and 300 minutes air time. I spent $50 yesterday for a camera phone and another 300 minutes. Now if I could just figure out how to erase all my typos. I was texting PA and I had to scrap more potential messages than I care to think about because of so many typos. The letters show up a little slower than I'm used to. And some of my phone entries (names--not the numbers) look a little strange, too.
Last Saturday night DC & I went over to Portland to the Coconut Cafe, on Glisan and about 75th or 76th. One of Ardyth's friends from school was playing, and it sounded like fun. We haven't done anything like that in years. Good music, good food. Josh Nielson is the guy's name, his dream is to become a touring musician but he'll probably do something more mundane, like be a journalist, when he's done with school. We bought one of his CD's, too. As for the food, we had chicken empanadas. Yummy! Reminded us of the Pasties we used to buy at Hot Dog Alley up in Kent years ago. I've never had anything that remotely tasted like those in all the years since we moved back here, but this sure comes close.
Ezre has us on a diet-exercise regime. We haven't had any junk food all this week, but we are allowed one day where we can go off the diet. I'll weigh in at Curves next week, we'll see if one week shows any noticeable changes. I hope so, I've been very hungry most of the week. Tortilla chips and salsa aren't too bad for you, and that's what I've been snacking on most. I need the carbs--I can't do a low-carb diet. Exercise is part of the regime, my 3 visits to Curves plus a few walks should be enough. I'll keep you posted!
This "Tell us what you're reading, viewing or listening to" feature hasn't worked in a long time. Just so you know--I'm listening to my Myspace music--good stuff!
Got a new cell phone yesterday. When I got my first one 3 1/2 years ago, through Net 10, I paid $50 for the phone and 300 minutes air time. I spent $50 yesterday for a camera phone and another 300 minutes. Now if I could just figure out how to erase all my typos. I was texting PA and I had to scrap more potential messages than I care to think about because of so many typos. The letters show up a little slower than I'm used to. And some of my phone entries (names--not the numbers) look a little strange, too.
Last Saturday night DC & I went over to Portland to the Coconut Cafe, on Glisan and about 75th or 76th. One of Ardyth's friends from school was playing, and it sounded like fun. We haven't done anything like that in years. Good music, good food. Josh Nielson is the guy's name, his dream is to become a touring musician but he'll probably do something more mundane, like be a journalist, when he's done with school. We bought one of his CD's, too. As for the food, we had chicken empanadas. Yummy! Reminded us of the Pasties we used to buy at Hot Dog Alley up in Kent years ago. I've never had anything that remotely tasted like those in all the years since we moved back here, but this sure comes close.
Ezre has us on a diet-exercise regime. We haven't had any junk food all this week, but we are allowed one day where we can go off the diet. I'll weigh in at Curves next week, we'll see if one week shows any noticeable changes. I hope so, I've been very hungry most of the week. Tortilla chips and salsa aren't too bad for you, and that's what I've been snacking on most. I need the carbs--I can't do a low-carb diet. Exercise is part of the regime, my 3 visits to Curves plus a few walks should be enough. I'll keep you posted!
This "Tell us what you're reading, viewing or listening to" feature hasn't worked in a long time. Just so you know--I'm listening to my Myspace music--good stuff!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Swift Sunset
My birthday gift from my oldest daughter Ardyth is an "Activity of the Month." Each month she has decided on a specific activity for her and I to do. It's the gift that keeps on giving, and I'm looking forward to each month's activity.
For September, she took me to see a birding phenomenom (the red squiggly line tells me I've misspelled it, but spell check doesn't seem to be working) at my old grade school. Up until a few months ago, it had been many years since I had even driven by the old school--now I was going there for the second time in about 3 months.
Seems that much like the sparrows of San Jan Capistrano, every September a rather large flock of swifts nests in the chimney of Chapman Elementary School in Portland. I believe their web site mentioned counts as high as 10,000 swifts roosting in the chimney. I have no idea how they could count them, but since it's a count by the Audobon Society, I guess we'll take their word for it. This goes on for pretty much the whole month, after which I assume they fly south for the winter. I didn't see anything on the web site to tell me where they went after September.
About an hour before sunset, hundreds of people gather on the lawn of the school and on the lawn of Wallace Park, across the street from the school. Ardyth lives about 10 blocks from the school, so we decided we'd get our exercise for the day by walking. Good decision, since the area was packed with cars full of people coming to see this event. We sat on the corner of what would have been 26th Avenue, had the powers that be not decided to fill in the street between the school and the park many years ago, and Pettygrove St. Plenty of people were already in the park and on the school grounds, and many more arrived after we did. We watched for the birds, and we watched the people. After a while, we could see tiny little birds flying around the school and the chimney, although they kept flying away. When they returned, there were more of them. I still couldn't figure out how anyone could accurately keep count, but this continued for probably half an hour at least. It was getting darker, and we wondered if the birds would do their show while we could still see something.
Ardyth & I also wondered how the birds would get into the chimney. We couldn't see them just flying in without doing harm to themselves, but how else would they do it? When it was almost too dark to see anything, suddenly a swarm of the birds, in tornado-like formation, hovered over the chimney and sort of "swooped" in. People were oo-hing and ah-ing over the sight. In just a matter of minutes (or less) another group repeated the process. I didn't keep count of how many groups of birds made this trip into the chimney. People continued to ooh and ahh, and even applauded for the birds.
When it appeared that the show was over for the night, we picked up the blanket and proceeded to walk to Rose's on 23rd Ave. where we enjoyed a luscious dessert. The walk was nice, and we didn't have to fight the traffic to get home.
Thanks Ardyth, for a fun evening and a great way to start our "Activity of the Month" activity.
For more information on the "Swift Watch" as it is called, go here:
http://www.audubonportland.org/local-birding/swiftwatch
For September, she took me to see a birding phenomenom (the red squiggly line tells me I've misspelled it, but spell check doesn't seem to be working) at my old grade school. Up until a few months ago, it had been many years since I had even driven by the old school--now I was going there for the second time in about 3 months.
Seems that much like the sparrows of San Jan Capistrano, every September a rather large flock of swifts nests in the chimney of Chapman Elementary School in Portland. I believe their web site mentioned counts as high as 10,000 swifts roosting in the chimney. I have no idea how they could count them, but since it's a count by the Audobon Society, I guess we'll take their word for it. This goes on for pretty much the whole month, after which I assume they fly south for the winter. I didn't see anything on the web site to tell me where they went after September.
About an hour before sunset, hundreds of people gather on the lawn of the school and on the lawn of Wallace Park, across the street from the school. Ardyth lives about 10 blocks from the school, so we decided we'd get our exercise for the day by walking. Good decision, since the area was packed with cars full of people coming to see this event. We sat on the corner of what would have been 26th Avenue, had the powers that be not decided to fill in the street between the school and the park many years ago, and Pettygrove St. Plenty of people were already in the park and on the school grounds, and many more arrived after we did. We watched for the birds, and we watched the people. After a while, we could see tiny little birds flying around the school and the chimney, although they kept flying away. When they returned, there were more of them. I still couldn't figure out how anyone could accurately keep count, but this continued for probably half an hour at least. It was getting darker, and we wondered if the birds would do their show while we could still see something.
Ardyth & I also wondered how the birds would get into the chimney. We couldn't see them just flying in without doing harm to themselves, but how else would they do it? When it was almost too dark to see anything, suddenly a swarm of the birds, in tornado-like formation, hovered over the chimney and sort of "swooped" in. People were oo-hing and ah-ing over the sight. In just a matter of minutes (or less) another group repeated the process. I didn't keep count of how many groups of birds made this trip into the chimney. People continued to ooh and ahh, and even applauded for the birds.
When it appeared that the show was over for the night, we picked up the blanket and proceeded to walk to Rose's on 23rd Ave. where we enjoyed a luscious dessert. The walk was nice, and we didn't have to fight the traffic to get home.
Thanks Ardyth, for a fun evening and a great way to start our "Activity of the Month" activity.
For more information on the "Swift Watch" as it is called, go here:
http://www.audubonportland.org/local-birding/swiftwatch
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
A Little of This and That
I think my muse has left the building. I've had a difficult time this week coming up with anything new and exciting to blog about. But here goes nothing anyway.
Josephus Awrightus comes over most every Friday night for dinner and a nice visit. We look forward to his coming, he's a fun person to be around with his quirky sense of humor (quote from his 5th grade teacher). This past Friday was no different, except we got a bit of a surprise when he came through the door. He had gotten a hair cut. More like an Army buzz cut, his long curly locks were gone and in their place was a what we called in the "old" days, a butch hair cut. Seems his roommate's mother got a look at his hair fairly recently and told him she was coming over in a few days and give him a haircut. Now Josephus Awrightus tells us he wasn't really growing his hair for any purpose, but he just never got around to a haircut. Matt's mom was true to her word and his long hair is gone. I can't wait for it to get just a little bit longer, because I love his curls, and when it's just a little longer, his receding hairline isn't so obvious. I'm afraid most of the men in our family have that in common--retreating hair.
I realized that once again I have let Baseball season slip away from me, and haven't kept up with my favorite teams like I should. So I watched a game on Saturday since no one else was around to get annoyed. At last check, the Rockies were in a pretty good contention for the National League Wild Card spot in the playoffs, and since they were only about 3 games out of first place, could actually come out on top in their division. Mariners, however, probably won't make it. They're a long way out of first place, and not close for the Wild Card spot, either. Let's hope that if the Rockies make the playoffs, they do well, but don't choke when it counts like they did two years ago.
Sunday we traveled to Heffalump and family's coastal home for a visit, to go to church with them and deliver their #2 son's birthday present. Pink Avenger & her husband (still thinking of a good handle for him) came along for the ride. We had a good visit--Heffalump fed us well, the kids were a pleasure to be with, and I even snuck in a little nappy after church. After dinner we went for a walk along the river. We must have been quite a sight, 6 adults, 5 boys and a baby in a big jogging-type stroller strung out for a block or two. Most of the way we were hidden from public view, except for a blue heron, ducks and sea gulls. It was a lovely walk, and the rain which had been our nemesis throughout most of the day, managed to stay away as we walked.
Monday was Labor Day, and uneventful around our house. We kind of puttered a bit. I started re-organizing some of my genealogy files, found a couple of things I had been looking for which had been mis-filed in with census records or histories, or somewhere. I'm hoping more things will turn up as I make new file folders, go through the old ones, and make things easier to find. They weren't hard to find before, had I put them back where they belonged, but I often pulled records to use in a genealogy class I was teaching, so they are all over the place. Not for long, though.
Ezre's old room is becoming my craft room, and recently I decided on the "look" of my new digs. I'm going with a red, white and blue color scheme. The walls where the closet and windows reside will be painted a bright red, while the other two large walls will be painted white. The cutesy sunflower wallpaper border will be replaced with something reddish, hopefully a patriotic theme, just on the two white walls. We'll be moving the sewing table in from the laundry room and setting it below the window. I will make curtains for the room, in a red-white-blue color scheme. I have a new floor lamp, navy blue since they didn't have red, a new bookshelf, and other storage areas for all yarn, fabric, cross stitch thread and cloth, etc. Looking forward to the day it's done!
Josephus Awrightus comes over most every Friday night for dinner and a nice visit. We look forward to his coming, he's a fun person to be around with his quirky sense of humor (quote from his 5th grade teacher). This past Friday was no different, except we got a bit of a surprise when he came through the door. He had gotten a hair cut. More like an Army buzz cut, his long curly locks were gone and in their place was a what we called in the "old" days, a butch hair cut. Seems his roommate's mother got a look at his hair fairly recently and told him she was coming over in a few days and give him a haircut. Now Josephus Awrightus tells us he wasn't really growing his hair for any purpose, but he just never got around to a haircut. Matt's mom was true to her word and his long hair is gone. I can't wait for it to get just a little bit longer, because I love his curls, and when it's just a little longer, his receding hairline isn't so obvious. I'm afraid most of the men in our family have that in common--retreating hair.
I realized that once again I have let Baseball season slip away from me, and haven't kept up with my favorite teams like I should. So I watched a game on Saturday since no one else was around to get annoyed. At last check, the Rockies were in a pretty good contention for the National League Wild Card spot in the playoffs, and since they were only about 3 games out of first place, could actually come out on top in their division. Mariners, however, probably won't make it. They're a long way out of first place, and not close for the Wild Card spot, either. Let's hope that if the Rockies make the playoffs, they do well, but don't choke when it counts like they did two years ago.
Sunday we traveled to Heffalump and family's coastal home for a visit, to go to church with them and deliver their #2 son's birthday present. Pink Avenger & her husband (still thinking of a good handle for him) came along for the ride. We had a good visit--Heffalump fed us well, the kids were a pleasure to be with, and I even snuck in a little nappy after church. After dinner we went for a walk along the river. We must have been quite a sight, 6 adults, 5 boys and a baby in a big jogging-type stroller strung out for a block or two. Most of the way we were hidden from public view, except for a blue heron, ducks and sea gulls. It was a lovely walk, and the rain which had been our nemesis throughout most of the day, managed to stay away as we walked.
Monday was Labor Day, and uneventful around our house. We kind of puttered a bit. I started re-organizing some of my genealogy files, found a couple of things I had been looking for which had been mis-filed in with census records or histories, or somewhere. I'm hoping more things will turn up as I make new file folders, go through the old ones, and make things easier to find. They weren't hard to find before, had I put them back where they belonged, but I often pulled records to use in a genealogy class I was teaching, so they are all over the place. Not for long, though.
Ezre's old room is becoming my craft room, and recently I decided on the "look" of my new digs. I'm going with a red, white and blue color scheme. The walls where the closet and windows reside will be painted a bright red, while the other two large walls will be painted white. The cutesy sunflower wallpaper border will be replaced with something reddish, hopefully a patriotic theme, just on the two white walls. We'll be moving the sewing table in from the laundry room and setting it below the window. I will make curtains for the room, in a red-white-blue color scheme. I have a new floor lamp, navy blue since they didn't have red, a new bookshelf, and other storage areas for all yarn, fabric, cross stitch thread and cloth, etc. Looking forward to the day it's done!
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