Blogging?

My how things change.  A few months back I knew virtually nothing about blogging and now I'm hooked.  Oh sure, I had heard of it and knew it was a web log or journal or diary written by anyone who wanted to do one and read by anyone who wanted to take the time to do so.  I just couldn't figure out why the average person would want to do that. 

I figured it was more for people who wanted to voice their opinion on issues of the day, or politics, or for writers or businesses, etc.  I found it kind of odd that people would write about their day to day lives and even odder that someone who didn't know that person would want to read it.  What I didn't realize was how interactive it can be and how much I would enjoy "getting to know" people through their written words. 

There are so many different types of blogs and the serious and informative ones are certainly important and have their place, but the ones that I have come to enjoy the most are the ones written by everyday people who have a gift for telling stories of everyday life in such a way as to make you laugh, or nod in agreement or feel emotion of some kind because it's stuff you can relate to.  I've never been much of a writer, but I have thoroughly enjoyed setting up my page and learning lots of new stuff in the process and meeting lots of great people.  The bonus is it's making me write.  Because how can you have a blog and not write?

Willamette River Pictures

This is Portland from the Willamette River. The river divides Portland east and west and flows north and south. It is the only river in the USA to begin and end in one state. It starts in the Cascade mountains and ends at the Columbia River whose waters then flow to the Pacific Ocean. Of the navigable rivers that flow north and south it is the second largest in the world, the largest being the Nile in Egypt.

The Rundown

Saturday 8-19 - D and K leave to visit their kids in Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Big Bear and I are in charge of keeping an eye on their place, watering flowers and checking on Miss Kitty. She is an indoor/outdoor kitty who is used to being outside during the day, but will be kept indoors for the two weeks they are gone. They live on a very wooded 2.5 acres so leaving enough food and water out for two weeks is not an option (all kinds of critters would be up there eating it and it would be gone in a day). Besides the food issue, she has a wound on her side (probably another animal) so we wanted her in the house for safety and to keep an eye on the wound. Miss Kitty is a very skittish cat, but a very loving and gentle cat. She was a stray that somebody threw away as a kitten and it took D 6 months of feeding her on the deck before she allowed D to get close enough to pet her or let her into the house.

Sunday 8-20 - We make our first visit to water, etc. and Big Bear promptly lets Miss Kitty escape out the back door. There's no getting her back so we finish the watering and head home.

Monday 8-21 - Big Bear feels bad about Miss Kitty and stops by their place on his way home from work. He sees her but she won't come near him.

Tuesday 8-22 - I go over in the late afternoon and in addition to doing the watering I take my dinner and just sit around for awhile hoping she'll show up. She'll usually come to me, but I was there nearly 2 hours and never saw her.

Wednesday 8-23 - D calls and I do not want to answer the phone and tell her we lost Miss Kitty. She calls again and I answer and face the music. Big Bear gets home from work and is really stressing about it. I tell him stressing about it isn't going to do any good and we'll wait until evening to try again since that's more likely to be when she's used to coming in. We go over and I have Big Bear stay in the house so he doesn't frighten her and I go outside with a handful of food to see if I can find her. Well, what do you know, as I exit out the garage there she is. She scurries off and looks at me from a distance. I bend down and dribble some food out of my hand while gently calling her. She comes over to me to get petted and I scoop her up and head into the house. She was much more interested in the attention than the food. All is well and I call D to tell her.

Thursday 8-24 & Friday 8-25 - The weather is cooler and Miss Kitty inside so no need to go over until Saturday. Friday morning I went to my TOPS meeting and Friday afternoon Big Bear and I joined our son & DIL for a cruise down the Willamette River on an old sternwheeler followed by dinner at our local pub & grill. A very enjoyable afternoon. I was taking pictures like mad when suddenly the camera quit. Dagnabbit, the battery was dead and I hadn't brought the spare. Oh well, from then on it was just enjoy the ride.

Saturday 8-26 - Went over to D's place and did the watering and checked on Miss Kitty. I couldn't coax her out from under the bed. She obviously does not like being cooped up in the house all by herself, but I could tell she's been eating so will assume she's O.K.

August Roses

Name 5 things

Name 5 things in your freezer.

1. Corn


2. Chicken


3. Boneless Pork Chops


4. Strawberry fruit bars


5. Healthy Choice fudge bars

Name 5 things in your closet.

1. Shoes  (most of which need to be thrown out)


2. Clothes (most of which don't fit anymore)


3. Belts (will any of these ever see the light of day?)


4. Purses (why so many?)


5. Hats (haven't worn them in years, but maybe Someday)

Name 5 things on your desk.

1. Nikon D100 camera


2. Stacks of software CDs


3. Cell phone


4. Mess of papers


5. Empty glass

Name 5 things in your vehicle.

1. Towel (to cover hot leather seat)


2. Big blanket in the back for dogs


3. Plenty of CDs


4. Flashlight


5. Dairy Queen napkins

Name 5 things in your purse.

1. Maxalt for migraines


2. Postage stamps


3. Keys


4. Sunglasses


5. Handkerchief

O.K. Chris, if you haven't been tagged yet, you're it.  And how about you too, Bill?

Testify to Love by Avalon

These are the words to a song by the group Avalon. To hear the song click here and it will play as my home page loads.

Testify to Love - Avalon

All the colors of the rainbow
All the voices of the wind
Every dream that reaches out
That reaches out to find where love begins
Every word of every story
Every star in every sky
Every corner of creation lives to testify
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love
I'll be a witness in the silences when words are not enough
With every breath I take
I will give thanks to god above
For as long as I shall live
I will testify to love
From the mountains to the valleys
From the rivers to the sea
Every hand that reaches out
Every hand that reaches out to offer peace
Every simple act of mercy
Every step to kingdom come
All the hope in every heart will speak what love has done

Pipe dream

Here's an interesting entry from the book Why You Say It by Webb Garrison

Pipe Dream
Should you come up with a really novel idea or plan, chances are that those who first hear of it will pooh-pooh it as a "pipe dream."
In its earliest decades, the pipe dream was so far out that it seldom made contact with reality. That's because it was produced by opium, brought to England and Europe by merchants who penetrated the Orient and began peddling the stuff yielded by some kinds of poppies.
Pipe dreams influenced several notable literary figures, with Samuel T. Coleridge being high on the list. But by and large, fantasies produced by opium were that and nothing more.

Ah, the wonders of meds

August 19
It's 8:45 pm on Saturday and I feel like myself again. My wonderful, wacky, addicted to the computer, messy, happy self. It's wonderful when the meds actually work. When I woke up this morning the room still spun a bit, but the nausea was almost gone. I took pill #3 and by this afternoon the nausea was totally gone and when I took #4 at 8pm I was feeling totally normal (well, as normal as I get anyway). I know some of you have had vertigo before and mentioned that the episodes can come and go for awhile, but I'll just take them as they come, if they come.

Doctor, Doctor

Aug. 18
D came over this afternoon and took me into the doctor. He gave me two prescriptions for the nausea (one pill, one suppository). They both cause drowsiness, but hey - drowsy trumps nausea anyday. Yesterday was not pleasant and today only slightly better (probably because I didn't push it for fear of a repeat of the day before). It must have looked pretty ridiculous, me standing on the patio vomiting surrounded by 3 dogs staring at me and the puddle and between each retch me hollaring NO so they wouldn't eat it. Luckily they all three trust me and obey my firm no. I then herded them into the house and headed for the bed. Ranger didn't seem to think I should be lying down and proceeded to jump at the bed to get me up which by the third shake I certainly was. UP and into the bathroom for another round with nothing left on my stomach. At that point I ushered them back outside, cleaned up the you know what and went to bed. I didn't care what they dug up or chewed up in the yard. I sure hope I wake up tomorrow with this stuff gone.

Vertigo

I woke up this morning with vertigo! It is not fun! What causes this stuff? This is the first time I've had it bad enough to realize what it was. I now realize I've had mini versions of it most of my life, I just never put a name to it before. By that I mean I would feel dizzy or like stuff was moving when it wasn't, but it would only last a few seconds. I'd think "Wow, that was weird" and go on about my business (probably thought it was flashbacks to my hippie days).

I went to bed at 11:30pm last night (early for me) as I was going to meet with 2 other women this morning for a bible study on James which I was supposed to lead, but with the whole room spinning and feeling like I was about to vomit, I decided it was probably better I not be driving and I cancled it. Gee whiz, I just got done with a five day migraine yesterday, enough already! At least with the migraine I now have medication that allows me to function albeit a little groggy.

I woke up at 3:30am and got out of bed to go pee. The toilet is only a few steps away and I was groggy, but by the time I sat down I was thinking "Man I feel nauseated and dizzylike". I got back into bed and suddenly the whole room is spinning. I'm going "Whoa, this is weird. I hope it goes away by morning." At 5:30 I wake up enough to roll over and the whole room is spinning again! "OH NO, is this what they call vertigo?" At 7:30 I wake up for good and move my head just enough to see the clock and the numbers are moving so much I can't tell what time it is because - you guessed it - the room is still spinning! I layed there for a few minutes debating what to do and finally decided to get up and see what happens (I didn't like the idea of spending the whole day in bed if I didn't have to, afterall the computer would miss me). Well, lo and behold, standing upright and walking around was ok. That is until I took a shower and blow dryed my hair. Evidently I was moving my head too much in the process and suddenly I'm holding onto the counter and feeling like I'm going to throw up. I got dressed hoping it would pass quickly, but 20 minutes later I was still feeling like I was going to throw up and keeping my head still so the room wouldn't spin, so I called my friends and cancled the bible study.It's now 11:15am and I'm able to sit at the computer and type this, but I still don't feel good. Let's pray that this was a one time thing. I'd much rather go back to the 10 second 'wow that was weird' ones thank you. In honor of this post I used a font called Krazy Legs. Have a good day people. OOPS - to see the krazy leg font you'll have to go to my other blog.

Update: It's now 3:00pm and I still have it. I bent over to fill the dogs water bowl with the hose and almost fell over.

All About Me

Every once in awhile I will post something about me. Who I am, where I'm from, what's happened in my life, etc. Here is the first installment.

I was born and raised in the northeast section of Portland, Oregon. As any child does, I simply accepted where I was growing up without much thought or anything to compare it to. We lived in the city until I was 8 years old and then moved out "to the sticks" near the Columbia River where my parents were able to buy a house. It was small, but it was ours and the lot was large enough for a huge garden each summer. This gave me my first real, conscious comparison of living in a place that was a little different then what I was used to. We went from city sidewalks, paved streets and a large school to no sidewalks, gravel roads and a small school. From walking to school to taking a big yellow bus and from a classroom of 30+ to a class size of 20. I like both the city and the country and value both experiences.

There was a certain freedom and innocence to living out there in the late 50's & early 60's. Even though we were on the outskirts of Portland there was still a lot of wide open space with farms, bean fields and pasture and only a little bit of industrial and some scattered housing. The city busses didn't even come out that far. My grandparents bought my brother and I each a bike and we put many miles on them over the next few years. Although my father was very strict we had a certain amount of freedom to play and walk and ride our bikes around the area, in part because both our parents worked full time. I was a latch key kid before they had that term :-)

When I was 12 we drove to Oklahoma to visit my father's family and that drive gave me my first experience traveling through country that was very different from Oregon. Oh my, the water was terrible, some of the states were mile after mile of desert and sagebrush, others were mile after mile of hot windy prairie, what they called rivers looked like a creek to me and where were the mountains and trees? Of course, as I've gotten older I've realized that every area has a beauty of it's own, but as a 12 year old I was more than happy to get back to Oregon. I enjoyed visiting the relatives and seeing the sites along the way, but felt Nevada, Utah and Kansas left something to be desired. It didn't help that it was the end of August-first of September when we went.

At 16 my parents seperated and at 17 my mother, brother and I moved back into Portland near the high school I attended (there was no high school where we were so they bussed us into Portland). It was back to the city which as a teenager was great. I was now near my school and friends and could walk or take a bus wherever I wanted to go. My mother was having a hard time with me as we fought a lot and I was becoming very rebellious. I hated the seperation and impending divorce and blamed her for it. It took a while longer for my dad to fall off his pedestal. Now how did I get from talking about Oregon to talking about my parents? Enough of that for now, maybe more at a later time. By the way, there were 21 in my 8th grade graduating class and they bussed us to a high school of 2800 kids. There was no one I new in any of my classes my freshman year. Luckily I make friends pretty easily. There were 13 high schools in Portland in the 60's and they were all large. Had to educate all us baby boomers don't you know. Now they've closed some and combined some and they're still half the size they were back then. Meanwhile communities like the one I live in are expanding and the schools are bursting at the seams.

July 28 Ahh, How Wonderful...

Ahh, how wonderful to have our normal 70-75 degrees back. It's beautiful outside, blue sky, sunshine, 72 degrees and a slight breeze. Aren't you jealous?

I gave the program at our TOPS meeting this morning. It was an article I had printed off from somewhere entitled 7 Easy Steps To Weight Loss. The basic premise? EAT LESS! I made it a participatory exercise by having various members read the different paragraphs and points and then we discussed the information and our own experience, habits and attitudes.

The seven points were as follows, but of course much expanded upon:
1. Mini-meal is the operative word - Ideally, every time you eat, your plate should have some protein, a little fat and a little fibrous bulk to ensure that you feel full and satisfied. .......
2. Don't go overboard - You don't want to feel deprived at best, hungry at worst. .......
3. Eat delicious and well - Every diet regimen should permit the occasional treat and nice meal out. ........
4. Eat your calories, don't drink them - A can of Dr. Pepper soda contains 150 calories. .......
5. Exercise is the perfect partner - Your diet will be all the more successful if you combine it with regular exercise. ......
6. Make meals last - Yes, two Balance bars have only 360 calories, and also contain vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, fat and carbohydrates. But you can down these suckers in a matter of seconds. .......
7. Discover your food triggers - What makes you succumb to temptation? Do you turn to the pantry the instant you turn on the TV? .......

Well, you get the idea. It all comes down to being sensible with our choices in life. Not something I'm always terribly good at. I tend to leap before I look and go all or nothing. It's an art to truly enjoy life and go for the gusto while still being sensible about it. An art I have decided at this very moment to try and pursue. Of course some people missinterpret being sensible with not taking any risks. What's life without taking a few risks? BORING! Hmm, I do believe I have a whole 'nother topic going here.

There most certainly are different kinds of risks. When it comes to physical risk I am a true wimp. I'm not an athlete, I'm not terribly coordinated, I'm not strong and I have a very low threshold for pain. I am a big BABY when it comes to pain. In other words you will not see me bungee jumping or climbing Mt. Everest. You will however find me on any roller coaster available.

July 24 Ahhhhh.........cool water

Spending the day in D's pool yesterday was wonderful. Coming home at 10 pm to a house that was 88 inside was not. When I got up this morning it was down to 80...whoopee.

In keeping with the theme of HOT, here's an entry from the Why You Sat It book.

Hotbed
We include this term in everyday speech as a result of borrowing from practices of gardeners and farmers.
Long ago, it was discovered that seeds given a bit of protection will sprout earlier than those dropped into the ground without special attention. Even a thin cloth cover will raise the temperature of earth underneath it for several hours a day.
The earliest hotbeds were heated with fermenting manure and covered with glass---forerunners to today's greenhouses. They produced so abundantly that any institution or neighborhood yielding an abundant crop of like-minded persons took the name of the gardener's special seed plot.

July 23

Hot, Hot, Hot

Well, it certainly is hot, even for someone like me who loves the summer. I'll still take it over freezing though. I spent all of Friday afternoon and evening in D's pool. It's amazing how much cooler 104 feels when you're in the water . We'd float around in the water for quite awhile talking and relaxing, then sit on the deck in the shade having something to drink (and chatting). We had our books and I was crocheting while we talked, but it didn't take very long and we'd be so warm that back in the pool we'd go. I had closed the house up before I left in the morning, but even so it was 85 inside when I got home around 9 pm. By early morning it had only dropped to 81 . Without our normally cool evenings the house just doesn't have a chance to cool off.

Saturday I stayed home thinking I might get something done around the house. RIGHT! Even with some cloud cover the temp still got into the low 90's and the thought of sticking my hands in hot soapy water to do dishes was not the least appealing. After getting the garden and flowers watered I spent the day sitting on my butt playing games on the computer or watching movies with tall glasses of iced tea, water or coke next to me at all times.
This morning I got up to blue sky, bright sunshine and the thermomoter already over 80 (and it's on the patio in the shade). Needless to say I'm grabbing my swim suit and heading for D's.

July 21 Heat Wave

Even the Northwest is not immune from the heat wave that seems to be blanketing the entire country. It's been talked about on the news for days now and has definitelly arrived here in Oregon. It's 11:00 pm and still 80 degrees. The forcast for tomorrow is 102 degrees and 103 on Saturday and 98 on Sunday.
Believe me when I say that we do not have very many days like that around here and consequently have never felt a great need to put in air conditioning. After a few days of record high temps though it just doesn't cool down enough at night to get the house cool. The house just gets warmer and warmer whereas it would normally cool down to 65 at night.

Needless to say I will be spending lots of time in D's pool over the next 3 days or in my sons air conditioned house.

Everyone - Please be sure to drink lots of water and tea and stay as cool as possible. Sustained periods of really hot weather are not to be taken lightly and are especially hard on the very old, the very young and the ill. The normal amount of liquid that you would drink in a day is not near enough. You should probably triple it and make most of it water rather than pop and the like. And don't forget your pets. Make sure they have plenty of water and protection from the hot sun. I have a kids plastic wading pool for Sadie to play in.

Maybe one of these days my husband and I will actually have the money and get around to remodeling this aging little ranch house of ours.

My Garden

Here are the latest pictures of my garden. The cyclone fence makes for a great trellis for the morning glory. I was thrilled to discover that there was such a thing as an annual morning glory, not at all invasive like the stuff I remember my father yanking out when I was a kid. Our past two winters have been mild enough that this is actually its third summer. I originally planted a blue one too that was larger and looked like the morning glory I remember, but only the purple managed to winter over. I've included one of my favorite pictures from that first year. Next year I plan on planting more of it in a variety of colors.

Too Many People

Will people please stop moving to Oregon, or at least not to the Willamette Valley? And how about every one who moved here after 1970 pack up and move somewhere else. This is some of the best farm land there is and it's all being covered with houses, shopping malls, roads and freeways. I used to be able to travel anywhere during the day with almost no traffic at all. Now its bumper to bumper almost anytime of the day and any road you choose to take.

This little tirade was brought on by an article in Saturday's Oregonian which says to expect 1.25 million more people in the Portland Metro area in the coming years. It doesn't say exactly when this will occur, just that the numbers now say that the population increase expected in earlier estimates will be here 10 to 15 years sooner than originally thought. It goes on to say that this is equivalent to squeezing an additional 450,000 households, or two cities the size of present-day Portland, into a metropolitan area that is already 80 percent developed. I guess this is what comes of Portland being listed as one of the most liveable cities several years in a row. It won't be for long.

Grrrr. There's already too many people, and they're expecting more? I am really showing my age, I'm starting to sound like an old person, wanting the good old days back. Where's Tom McCall when you need him? He was the governor of Oregon back in the 70's. He used to say come and visit, but don't stay. We even had bumper stickers that showed a map with I-5 going around the state instead of through it. And those of us born here refer to ourselves as native oregonians.

Maybe I need to move to the Midwest. There's plenty of open space there, I know because I drove through mile after mile of it last summer. But I love Oregon. I was born here. I grew up here. It's green and the climate moderate. But then again, I could probably be happy most anywhere, I think.

Well, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. You all probably have similar feelings about your location or you figure the more the merrier. And even if we ourselves didn't move to a particular spot, somewhere up the line one of our relatives did.

Where Does It All End?

My goodness, there are just not enough hours in the day. I keep finding more and more spaces I would enjoy visiting and being the easily side tracked person that I am I find myself lost in reading/viewing and suddenly 2 hours have gone by and then I find it's been 3 or 4 or 5 days since I've been to some of my favorites. Am I going to have to put myself on a schedule? Do I have to make a list? Do I need to restrict myself to only the most recent entries? That'll be the day! I've never gotten along too well with lists and schedules (you know, that discipline thing). Maybe I'll give a calendar another try and actually get something done around the house ;o).

Don't Wait

A blog friend of mine on msn spaces had this on her site and I really liked it. I don't know if she wrote it or not.

Don't Wait

When there's a chance_____take it.

When there's a game_____play hard.

When there's a bridge_____cross it.

When there's an enemy_____stand guard.

When there's a tear_____let it run.

When there's a score_____cheer loud.

When there's a silence_____take time.

When there's a wave_____ride it.

When there's a song_____sing it.

When there's a fight_____stand up.

When there's a reason_____don't doubt.

When there's a cloud_____see heaven.

When there's a frost_____set fire.

When there's a flower_____see beauty.

When there's stairs_____move higher.

When there's a race_____push hard.

When there's a smile_____don't fade.

When there's a space______fill it.

When there's a star_____just stare.

When there's a moment_____don't lose it.

When there's a love_____hold tight.

When there's a past_____share it.

When there's a shadow_____cast a light.

When there's a way_____lead it.

When there's a grip_____hold on.

When there's a day_____start new.

When there's a life_____live on.