Blue Skies, Black Clouds and Fog

          Driving to Roseburg yesterday seemed almost like driving into the Twilight Zone – sort of a slow strobe effect. 

Mist    

disappearing scenery  

blue skies  

inviting sign  

just kidding          

dark clouds          

is that smoke or rain?      

sunny blue sky above the dark clouds         

fog again    

cold bleakness     

inviting warmth     

all within a matter of minutes   

so surreal

This is just our neighborhood.  The change
was a lot more drastic going to Roseburg. 
Bluer sky and darker clouds.

Well That Seems Presumptuous of You

         Since they moved in Claire has just taken over where they put things and when it will get put away.  Biff just goes along with it.  They had invaded our  fridge with Ally’s medicine – even after they had hooked up their own.  After Richard and I returned home from Costco one day I took it upon myself to move the remainder of Ally’s medicine into their small fridge and told them that I needed our fridge for actual food.

Richard and I had to restack their items that they put in my brand new shed.  Exploded and unorganized.  It still is, but at least Richard was able to make some space for our things.  On the plus side we are finally able to get to the Christmas tree.  So kudos to them for that – I guess.  Still haven’t found a home for the fish tank which takes up so much room.  They don’t need to hang on to all that they brought with them.  Why did they bring it?  But I suppose we could say the same about all the stuff I have yet to sort through for myself.

The latest assumption was when Richard invited Biff to go and see some Marvel movie that I, of course, have no interest in.  Claire, upon hearing the invitation, asked if she could go or if it was just a boy thing.  Richard really didn’t mind taking her but made it clear that Ally would be staying home with me and would not be going to the movies with them.

I don’t know if Claire looks at me as incompetent – which I probably am when it comes to Ally.  I definitely do not have Claire’s gift of patience or her compassion towards Ally. Richard and I have raised our children – and we were old parents when we had Jaime.  Jaime was pretty perfect compared to most children and Ally is on a complete different end of the scale.  Richard and I are old – raised in an entirely different generation.  We don’t have the tolerance for  having to put up with Ally’s behavior behind closed doors.  Why would we want to subject ourselves to that?

Claire suggested that they take Ally to the movies and they could watch Gru in one theatre while the boys watched the Marvel movie in the other.  Ally would really like the experience  of being in the theatre.  Ally is spoiled.  Nevermind that the Marvel movie and Gru are two different lengths and would not start or end at the same time.  Richard did not give in.  Said Gru was available on our TV and Ally could watch it from the couch.

But you can’t experience theatre popcorn from the couch.  The TV is so much smaller.  Whip out the violins!  If giving Ally the theatre experience is really that important to you, then Claire and Biff need to set aside 30 – 50 dollars and take Ally to the movies themselves!  Wouldn’t it be more meaningful for them to “give” that gift to Ally instead of constantly “taking”.  Perhaps it’s an ADD thing.  Give them an inch and they want a mile. If you’re not going to allow us to discipline Ally as we see fit than don’t expect us to be present for any outburst that she may have.  And she will have them.  She has at least one meltdown a day.

 Biff and Richard ended up going to the movies by themselves.  I have heard Ally laugh.  I have seen her smile.  She had three meltdowns from the time I started this post and now posting.  I wish the weather had been more promising and I had gone to Ashland.  But Jaime did get some things accomplished and managed to enjoy herself.  So that's good.

A Hire Freeze?

         There has always been economic growth and layoffs, outrageous prices and cutting costs.  It was in 2008 when Shelly started a seasonal job at Target.  She worked on Black Friday and was laid off.  Are you kidding me?  What was the point?  2009 didn't offer the turnout that Target had expected.  Apparently it was the one day that would make or break the rest of Christmas line-up.  It broke.

        The following year Richard also landed a seasonal job with Target.  I reminded him about the experience that Shelly had had the year prior. Each had been hired for the Christmas rush.  He had only worked a week or two and Target realized that their numbers of sales were not even close to what it had been years before.  He was let go as were several others who had been hired to work the Christmas season.  That was weird.

        Hopefully Target has picked up since then.  Hopefully the pandemic didn't bring them down like so many others.  We don't have a Target in Douglas County.  I've been to Target only twice since living in Oregon.  The first was in Portland before we moved to Oregon.  The second (most recent) was in March of this year.  The Target was located in Layton, Utah.

        Several places still make the claim of needing help (and is actually quite obvious) and yet it doesn't appear that there have been a ton of people being hired.  Why is that?

God Said "No"

 Jaime said she would not have classes today

or tomorrow and

could I come get her?

but she would need to return on

Saturday as she has tickets

to see a play.

An hour and a half is not that far

But gas prices are outrageous.

Perhaps I could just spend a 

few nights in Ashland.

Richard said it was okay.  

We prayed about our decision.

John Mayer did not reveal a

promising forecast - though 

yesterday did seem more driveable

than it is currently.

I went and got my hair done yesterday

and was talking to my hair dresser

who also advised against driving down

with all those mountain passes to go through.

What mountains?  

I'm from Utah.  

Those are just hills.

Snow is/was in the hills.

It melts pretty quickly.

Too cold to snow.

But not too cold to freeze.

And it has rained.

I could slip on ice.

Or another car could slip

into me.

So many drivers seem to be

in a hurry.

I wouldn't be in a hurry.

I would be hitting every rest stop

between here and Ashland

the way I had hit

every rest stop between Myrtle

Creek and the Young Women's 

camp that was located outside of 

Eugene.  I made it there

Surely I could make it to Ashland.

But it was better weather when I had

retrieved Jaime from camp back in

2019 (here).  It was in June - before 

the outlandish weather that seemed 

to come along side the pandemic.

Both Jaime and I were looking forward

to the possibility of my coming for a visit.

The warning signs are there.

The answer was "No" 

at least this time around.

Mystic Skies, Heat and Snow

     You know it's hot when Richard is the one who suggests to open a window or turn on the fan.  Surprisingly I don't think I felt as warm as he did.  I was comfortable and in no hurry to leave the bed.  Perhaps 20 min or so had passed before I decided to get up and open the window at least a crack.  I also threw his pajama top over the vent - he must have been hot!

    This morning I noticed the box had been moved from the vent in the bathroom.  I will have to find something less bulky.  But as for now the window remains open.  True there is a chill - but I have put on a long sleeve shirt.  The scenery is so pretty outside

.

That Was an Incredible Surprise

 Each of us in the household have been sick - though Biff hasn't experienced what the rest of us have - and hopefully it may pass him completely.  Claire looks awful - which is how I imagined I must have looked.  I never felt as horrible as Richard sounds.  He did sound better last night than the night before.  Still not sleeping great - but at least it was not his cough that was keeping him up.

I always open the windows to let in the fresh air - also because I'm always hot.  When Richard comes to bed he always complains that it is cold.  Thus yesterday I made certain that the windows were shut, the fan was off and the vent wasn't covered.  I was still awake when he came to in the room.  We watched TV and I fell asleep.  

       It wasn't overly hot in our room this last night but I had tossed and turned for much of the night trying to adjust to the temperature as I could not decide weather I was hot or cold. It had rained all night. I was quite surprised to see the window was open this morning.  He said he opened it to let the moisture in.  It must have helped him.  It totally pleased me.

He’s NOT my Boyfriend!

               It’s weird how one’s mind works sometimes and what odd things might trigger memories that haven’t been considered for decades.  A movie title had come up in the grid that reminded me of an odd relationship with my next door neighbor sometime after his wife had passed.  Keep in mind that he was old.  I had gone out with his two oldest grandsons at one time or another.  There is no way I was looking for that kind of relationship with the grandfather!  Give me a break!

  

        Yet, for some reason, he seemed to feel the need to call me to suggest I might want to read a certain book or watch a certain movie.  I don’t know why he singled me out of all people – but would call a few times a week.  Each time my mom would answer she’d teasingly tell me it was my “boyfriend” on the phone.  Granted, he was a lonely old man (who was hard of hearing, I might add).  It still remains a mystery of why he had selected me. Or why he thought he knew me well enough to make suggestions based upon my personal preference. Weird.

It Was Nice While It Lasted

         Ever since they had moved into our house, Biff and Claire would sleep in until 10:00 or later.  Okay.  I get the exhaustion from traveling – but come on.  They did manage to make it up on time for the first Sunday meeting they were here.  That was the last time.

Three weeks later Ally was enrolled in the local school and then the family started getting up at 8:10 and out the door half an hour later.  Still dragged.  Still delayed.  But after Biff started his job in Roseburg, the family was up and out by 7:30.  Such a waist of gas going back and forth so that Claire could have the car.  Theoretically they could put Ally on the bus but choose not to.  So for an entire week Biff would drive the family to his work in Roseburg and Claire would take the car to the school, walk Char around and return to the house to sort and clean – pick Ally up from school (with Char) return to Roseburg.  They had a routine.  It was nice!

But after the Halloween party Ally got sick – they claim.  I don’t know.  I have been sick and now Richard is sick and it’s hard to know if Ally is really sick or not.  Richard and I are very certain that she has not felt as miserable as we.  Claire had her stay home from school on Monday but then allowed her to go trick-or-treating downtown.  Say what?  You are allowing your sick child to have candy?  Okay.  She’s been home for three days and Claire hopefully announced that maybe they could return Ally to school and then took her out for three hours last night though it was 34 degrees outside.  Seriously?  Needless to say Ally did not go to school today.  Meanwhile Richard sounds as though he is on his deathbed.  Thus far he has had tea to drink.

I’d like to see this entire household get better.  I would like to see our “guests” return to last week’s routine.  I would still prefer more distance – separate houses.  We already seem to be living separate lives.

Ward Trunk-or-Treat and Halloween Party

         Since we moved into the ward Jaime has suggested a ward trunk-or-treat.  Now that she is gone, the ward did their first trunk-or-treat this year.  The trunk-or-treat activity started at 5:00 followed by a party featuring a chili and corn bread cook off.  

It had a better turn out and a lot more participation than I had expected.  There were several contests for trunk décor, costume, and chili (to name a few) I was surprised that we had two costume winners in our household.  Ally took 1^st price for children 11 and under.  

Richard won 1^st place for over 12 category. 

Neither our trunk (which we had not expected anyway) nor chili won – but there were several chilis.  I don’t know who was supposed to test them all.  I think there were at least 20 and almost as many corn breads.

That Time of the Year

               After we returned home from the ward party on Saturday I could feel my throat starting to get sore.  I made the mistake of taking a lozenge and allowing it to sit under my tongue all night.  My teeth hurt the following morning – and I just got to the point where I am no longer pained by cold drinks or food.  Now I have to start all over again.

        I missed church on Sunday – turns out that Richard was the only one to leave the house.  Ally had a slight cough and I had heard that her throat was sore.  She didn’t act sick.  Not like I was sick.  Still, I don’t know why both mom and dad had to stay home with her.  But whatever.  My head throbbed.  It felt like the beginning of a sinus infection.

        Carolyn had asked if I would like to go get coffee with her and Dan on Friday but I told her I might still be sick (not even thinking about health the rest of my household.  Since the start of the pandemic Carolyn has been cautious about germs) and she suggested I get tested for COVID. 

        Yesterday I called the doctor’s office – still not impressed with the facility.  They referred me to Urgent care in Roseburg.  The Urgent and Care part seemed like an oxymoron.  I called the office in Roseburg, put on hold, and heard the recording three times before they hung up on me.  Richard finally decided that we would just drive up there.  I got tested for COVID which came out negative.  I was given a prescription for a Zee Pack and started taking that yesterday.

        In addition to my sinus infection I am also having a cough which has never been part of the infection.  This morning Richard also coughed.  Our brother-in-law just passed and Richard had planned to go to Arizona to show his support to his sister.  I thought I would go with him depending on how I feel, but with our current coughs I highly doubt that the airlines would allow either one of us on the plane – provided they are still taking the same precautions that they have in the last two years. 

        I would like for us to show our support but it may have to be at a later time.  Hopefully my head does not hurt so much tomorrow and I may express my thoughts about this year’s Halloween.

Love and Friendship Dash

             In 2019 I made a goal to write at least one dash a week and fulfilled that challenge.  I was quite pleased with how much got recorded – or at least what I thought I had posted.  Recently I looked at all the questions and realized I probably have not answered even half of them.  So I decided that maybe I would continue with that starting with Dash LF#6 How does your significant other let you know that you are loved?

       There are several things that Richard does to express his love.  He always tells me.  But he also provides for me.  He doesn’t make excuses about the weather, or his health or what have you.  If something needs to be done, he does it.  He will do it regardless of the weather, or if he is not feeling well – he’ll paint the house or the shed, move heavy items, plant and weed.  He always makes sure there is gas in the car.  That’s a pretty huge deal as I am absent minded and never even look to see where the gas gage needle is.

 

Things We Have In Common

 I still do not know Ally particularly well.  I see she shares her mismatched sock wearing with Jaime.  They also both love to dress up and think of Halloween as the greatest holiday ever.  And they both love stuffed animals and collect more than they know what to do with. Neither of them desire red sauce - they act as though it is poison.

I was surprised to learn that Ally and I actually have something in common.  We both Love the song “Happier” by Marshmallow.