Back from the Oregon trip

When learning that Marge and I were going on another trip, the obvious question from our friends was, where are you going? When we answered that our trip was to Oregon and parts of Washington they said, oh, do you have relatives there? None seemed very excited about our destination, neither was I until we began to learn a little about the state, which by the way is beautiful. Without question the state experiences a great deal of rain, but on the plus side contributes to its lush green beauty. Fir and pine trees were everywhere making it the Christmas tree capital of the world and insuring that we’ll not run out of lumber. In between delightful sunshiny weather it did rain nearly every day, but luckily for us it was always when we were on the bus. I was happy to hear that the trip included a visit to Mount St. Helens. I was anxious to see the recovery Nature had provided after the destruction 32 years ago. We all watched it on television, but in no way can you imagine the power of that blast and what it did to miles and miles of the surrounding landscape. Huge trees snapped off like matchsticks and entire valleys covered with mud and rubble. Miles away we saw an a-frame buried nearly up to its roof as a result. Plants and trees are once again flourishing and forests have been replanted by the Weyerhaeuser lumber company. St. Helens was spectacular, but was not the only visited mountain since a stop at Mt. Hood was also on the calendar. Here we visited Timberline Lodge at the foot of the mountain. It was quite strange to seen people climbing the mountain, trudging thru the snow and even watched people snowboarding and this in late June. This was not the last of snow sighting. We had a chance to see some rather substantial drifts at Crater Lake National Park where the get forty feet of snow a year. It even hailed a bit before we got back on the bus. Never thought, by any stretch of the imagination, would we do some of the things we did on this trip. Dune buggy ride in the Oregon Dunes (forty miles of sand dunes)….spectacular, a jet boat ride on the Rogue River, and even a dinner cruise down the Willamette River (fabulous beef tenderloin by the way). This trip turned out to be much, much more than expected, and to my misfortune left me almost nothing to bitch about, I would be remiss if I did not tell you about my one bad experience. On one of our days we traveled along the Oregon coast and made a lunch stop at a famous creamery where we could sample special sweet cheeses, ice cream and all the other goodies provided by this type of enterprise. Busy, busy place, but we decided to make an attempt at lunch, hopefully a quick one since we have a boarding time to meet for our bus departure. Well we decided to order one of my favorite, Mac and Cheese accompanied by a small salad. Thought this would be a quick one. Wrong, wrong, wrong. We waited and waited. Thirty minutes go went by and still no meal. Panic starting to set in as the time to get on the bus draws closer and closer. Marge goes over and convinces them of our plight and they manage to pack the meal up to go so we could take it on the bus. Let me tell you that I was treated to the absolute worst Mac and Cheese on the planet earth. Macaroni had just been boiled and what appeared to be a slightly cheese flavored warm milk poured over it. This was topped with a sprinkling (small) of disgusting shredded cheddar. Salad also sucked, wilted iceberg along with bitter old cucumber slices. Those of you who know me are well aware of this guy’s mood for the rest of that days ride. There is always a plus to the negatives. I at least now know that I can never get a worst meal for the rest of my life because I already experienced the ultimate disaster.

Progress Report

Well, the new filter’s been installed and the pool’s been opened. It didn’t take long before the chipmunks began their suicidal plunges into a chlorinated hell. I have no idea why they take the plunge. It’s bad enough ridding the pool of the usual accumulation of dead leaves, worms and other exciting goodies, but handling their funerals is even worse. Do I sound negative, you bet, I hate this part of the process, but I will admit that once the pool is rid of the debris and crystal clear, it’s nice and relaxing to sit by it with a cold one (along with my ever present salt shaker) and watch the hummingbirds enjoying their sugared water. Have to get this pool work completed this week since we’re going on a week long tour of Oregon’s highlights. Anyone that’s been there reports that except for frequent rain it’s a beautiful state. The trip does sound interesting and hopefully fun. I don’t use the word exciting because the trip organizers are intent on bringing us old timers home alive and kicking. Excitement is of a limited variety but the jet boat trip down the Rogue River might produce some required medical attention. Of course a new Mount St. Helens eruption would certainly create excitement. All kidding aside it will be interesting to see how Mother Nature has rebuilt the area after the eruption. Will give you a trip rundown in a future blog. By the way, squash and tomatoes doing nicely in my little gentleman’s garden……might even have to build a stand in front of the house to sell some off. Can only consume so much butternut squash soup.

Death of a golf game

I’ve been trying to come up with the proper words that will accurately describe my last two rounds of golf and came up with the following: atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable. After giving it a little more thought I decided that these words didn’t quite cover it. Replaying those rounds in my head provided me with the inspiration to come up with a few more: irritating, dreadful, indescribable, indefinable, awful, sore, odious, unnamable, execrable, horrifying, frightful, amazing, horrendous, severe, dreaded, dire, afflictive, flagitious, grievous, monstrous, ineffable, painful, detestable, awing, awed, wicked, dread(a), awe-inspiring, unspeakable, horrific, nasty, terrible, horrible, frightening, unutterable, awesome, fearsome, fearful, direful, untellable, and just plain ugly. Are you now sufficiently aware of the quality of my golf game? I’m not blind to the fact that with my advancing age and a body that needs a lot of help my game is bound to deteriorate. My real problem is that my memory has not gone as far downhill as my golf and I do remember when I actually played the game fairly well. Is it any wonder that golf has come way, way down on my list of things to do on a Saturday morning? Problem now is to find a decent substitute to keep me happy. Watching cartoons or working on the household to-do list are not viable options, going to need some help in this area. Oh well, I guess everything has something on the plus side. All the Saturday money I’ll be saving will help pay for the $1,000 cost of the four nineteen inch monster tires I put on the Enclave. I guess I will work on the to-do list. I’ve been ignoring things because we’ve had an on going question, should we or shouldn’t we sell the house and go into a one level condo, should we open the pool or fill it in and plant tomatoes (just kidding on the tomatoes). Too late now to fill the pool in so guess what, found out we needed a new filter. Only another $1,000. Well the tires answered the question on trading the car. No way now with the new tires. Now, close the pool, no way with the new filter. Questions all answered without even trying. And Marge surprised me by having someone stop and quote us on putting in central air in the house. Believe me, if the quote is as much as I think it will be and we do it, another question will be answered. Won’t be looking at anymore condos. I’ve accepted my fate and started to clean up the pool area, planted my little gentleman’s garden and resurrected the to-do list. Besides, that my daughter who is an extreme Hummingbird enthusiast, bought me a Hummingbird feeding ensemble for my birthday and now polices me like a Nazi storm trooper to make sure my unit is kept clean and filled with fresh sugar water. I really had little faith that those little guys would actually come and feed since weeks went by with absolutely no activity. But, lo and behold they’re at it all day long now. Interesting little creatures. These guys only drink cheap sugar water. The rest of the birds around the house will eat your wallet dry…..unbelievable little pigs. Can’t keep the feeders and suet cage full. One cake of suet per day. Will let you know about all the exciting things, yah right, that I come up with in place of golf.