Beneath the Wraps

                Roland has been wanting to move closer to the city - preferably Eugene.   I would like something closer to the Ocean - preferably not in Lane County.   So we went on a grand car trip up to Veneta (outside of Eugene) and stopped off at Dairy Queen as each of us were hungry.   Jenna and I were puzzled by the charter high school located at the shopping center.   Jenna thinks it would be great to go to an even smaller populated high school than she already does.                 From Veneta we drove toward Florence and continued on down highway 101 until after Reedsport and decided to head back home before we lost daylight completerly.   We did see a small town that we both liked and Jenna was especially pleased to learn the student body was less than 100.   But we won't move there. ...

            As a child I remember hearing idioms such as "a penny for your thoughts", "too big for your breeches", and "you can't go home again".   What????   I thought adults were such morons.   First of all, I was always certain that my thoughts were worth more than just a penny.   "breeches" was a term we hadn't used and so I had no idea what that was.   And "you can't go home again"?   Of course, you can.   In my childish mind, I took the phrase literally.   If I went to a neighbor's house, for instance, I was expected to come home.   Even as a college student I knew that I'd be going home again.   It wasn't until many decades later that I finally figured it out.             "Home" is not necessarily a residence and family.   The "home" referred to is the past.   It's not just time that has put the dista...

We got a new furnace and thermostat – which we haven’t totally figured out.   It was really cold yesterday morning.   Not a big problem for Jenna and me, but Roland needed warmer.   So he made a few adjustments and the air blasted and continued after he left. I put my hair into pigtails to keep it off my neck.   I keep it up during the summer because it is so thick and weighs like a fleece blanket in addition to the already blasting sun.   When Jenna and I left the house, my hair was still in pigtails.   I have worn it down when the morning air’s been cold.   But I didn’t bother taking the bands out of my hair, but secured my hat around them.   It was amazing how warm my ears felt.   I may just continue to do that. In addition to a new furnace, some new appliances were added to our house.   As we made room for all our new material things, items were moved, furniture rearranged and it looks like a tornado blew into ou...

            No, I am not getting paid to advertise.   For heating and air conditioning I had always used Gils.   Gil comes out and gets the job done and no need to call back because the system works and they don’t leave glitches.   They’re reasonably priced – inexpensive even.   But it’s just a father and his son.   They don’t finance.             We called Hartman when our furnace seemed to give out.   They had serviced our furnace before.   I hadn’t remembered, but it was Hartman’s paperwork tacked to our furnace that hadn’t been serviced since two years before we moved into the house.             As I was waiting for someone to pick up, I started playing with a switch on the side of the furnace.   Apparently it had been knocked into last time someone had been ...

Biff has always kept his body in great shape inside and out.   I wish I could say the same for his room.   I don’t have a picture of how it looked before I started cleaning.     These pictures truly represent half-way done.    Anyone who has been in Biff’s room can tell you that this is the cleanest it has looked from the day we moved in. Actually it was clean one other time.   I took a picture for evidence.   But somehow I have misplaced that evidence.   Doesn’t matter.   I told Jenna that when David moved out, she could move into his room.   Not that her room looks any better I had eight garbage bags FULL of Biff’s stuff (clothes mostly) I think three or four full of garbage.     And four loads of towels.   FOUR LOADS.   This is a fraction of what I washed         Jenna’s room was fine when we moved in four and a half ye...

Mom was at Alta Ridge and on hospice care.   It was a Friday. She passed on a Tuesday.   Her funeral was on a Saturday.   Harold’s daughter-in-law called me on a Friday.   Harold was still at Alta Ridge and on   hospice care.   He passed on a Tuesday.   His funeral services will be on Saturday. We don’t have reason for returning to the   facility anymore.   I hope that I will never have a reason to return.

          This post reflects stirred emotions that between October and mid December 2012           Poor mom.  For the most part we don’t know where she’s at.  The reality of her world is so far different from our own.           In her mind, she believes that while State Street was under construction, she and all the other residences in her neighborhood were evacuated.  The construction crew had asked them to move somewhere else.  Mom doesn’t remember where it is that she moved – but she is back – along with many of her neighbors.  For a while she wanted to make certain that everybody knows she’s back.  Now she wants to go back to wherever she thinks she lived before.  She doesn’t know the address though – but she says it’s a house.           She called Bill.  She always calls Bill’s cell phone when...

          I’m really not a kitchen person.  That would be my husband’s domain.  I thought I’d be happy with just a hot plate. I’m actually loathing our kitchen which consumes of more than just a hot plate.           First of all it was designed for tall thin people – neither of which I am – though I was thin at one time.  I obviously blew out – but was never up. When we first moved in I figured I could put the food away or I could put dishes away – but there is no way I could reach both areas.  As I seem to be the only one in the household who is capable of doing dishes, I chose to fill my reaching area with dishes.           I used to refer to it as a trailer kitchen – though I have been in much roomier trailer kitchens since we moved in.  My husband called it a Galley – though I believe there is more elbow room ...