Dop House, Dogs, and my daughter

I went to Mel and Greyson's wednesday and helped? Greyson with procuring the finishing materials for the "palace completion". Just the roof, paint, tarpaper, hinge, etc was around $100. I think the design was great and should keep Ada very warm in the winter; but I secretly wonder if she won't weasel her way back into the house more often then not. I helped Melanie split and stack more wood the next night. I use a 2# hand sledge and a splitting wedge, made decent headway, but I sure am not the woodchopper I used to be.

I got stuck on I-5 South for over 2-3 hours on my return trip. There was at least one semi turned over blocking a lot of traffic and with the tow trucks, police, and other emergency vehicles it was a long time before I reached the rest area before Woodburn. At least south bound moved off and on. I noticed that I-5 N was totally stopped with traffic backup up almost to Salem.

I picked up Grandma Faraway's chair in Albany. It had been repaired (we hope) in Vancouver. They covered it in a plastic slipcover, but tore a hole in the plastic that you could put your fist thru and then slapped some wide, clear tape around the hole without being actually sure to cover the hole. I did not notice the hole until I pulled into Bi-Mart in Lebanon to check everything. They also refused to use any twine to tie the chair to the bed hooks and so I had to stop at Home Depot and ask for some of their twine. Janice was at Mom's and she helped me bring the chair in.

Charlie is an extra great riding companion. She observes everything from her fleece bed which I put on top of boxes in the back seat and then curls up and sleeps during any major drive.

If you should sleep at Greyson's do not sleep with the ever loveable Miles the Magnificient. At first he is sweet and acts like he will sleep, but then when you really are ready to sleep he starts throwing his entire body on your head, scratching your armpits, and finally resorting to biting your arm with the best of hisintentions.

2nd hand building

My coworker and I snuck off from work yesterday to visit the "rebuild-it center" in Hood River. They carry "gently used" building materials that are donated from people and sold at cheap prices. I bought a pack of shingles, flashing, 3 boards and two door handles for $10. They also had new windows and doors for half of retail price (around &250 for the large slider doors). Some of you may not find this of any interest, but it just the spot for dog house building supplies.

Melanie is blaming Charlie for all roughhousing

I (DAD) arrived at Melanie's house 20 minutes before Melanie showed up with groceries. During that time Charlie ran across to the neighbor's dogs and promptly got bit, yelped once, circled back for another try to make friends and then I caught up with her. Melanie put a shock collar on her and she decided that running back and forth barking at the chickens was not worth the sudden appearance of shocks to the neck.
I helped bring in groceries and Melanie made pizza and brought out beer. We ate quickly and then went outside to split and stack wood. Melanie was just complaining that Charlie was getting underfoot. I thought that she was killing the toy snake with zest. She is also challenging Ada for other toys.

I quess she has started pawing Ada's food dish so I will try and feed her again. The first time there were just too many distractions.

Miles is hanging out? with Charlie according to Mel. Greyson will not be home until after 9 so I will most likely go to bed at my usual time. After working on the dog house I am hoping there will not be anymore wood splitting and stacking ..... very tiring.

Mom's school pictures are on the dining room table and her picture was very, very nice.......pretty lady with smiling eyes. Well, Charlie is scratching the food dish so I will attempt to get her to eat and then outside. Love, Larry

Applesauce Day

So, not a word from the Porters about the Kah-Nee-Tah trip - I have to believe that means they were home early???

We went with the Rudds to the beach overnight. The weather was beautiful. Had a roomy place to stay, pinochle, walks on the beach, etc. Very nice.

Jennifer and I have set October 8 as Applesauce Day. If you would like to participate, you need to show up with apples and containers to put the finished sauce in. An ice chest would be a good idea as well unless you plan to can. I just freeze mine 'cause its easier and tastes just as good.

Dad is in Stevenson this evening helping finish off Ada's dog house before the rains set in. Dad noticed a big mess in the garage after Ada had been at our house. (The 3 dogs stayed all by themselves here while we went to the beach.) There was some implicit, although not verbalized, blaming of a certain visiting dog. However, this morning I noticed more stuffing ripped from the dog bed and Charlie standing over it looking quite triumphant. Perhaps Ada just showed her how to do it like Greta did the pop cans. By the way, we now keep the pop can box up high enough Charlie can't reach it.

Not much new at work. I am renewing my administrative license in another few months and it will be good for 5 years. So, this is a "last time" event. I'm beginning to watch for those.

XOXOXOXO
Mom

Getting a life

Today I went to Bible Study, then my AA meeting, then to the nursing home. I don't know if I'll fit in with this Church's Bible Study. They're awfully smiley, but we'll see.

Robin and I are reading, "The Pilot's Wife." It's a book I picked out since our last reader's digest story got a little boring and a lot slutty. i think Robin kind of liked that though. She said one of the male characters, "was a pig." I passed my background fingerprint check and am allowed more freedom throuhout the building. We visited Dorothy who said, "We'd better leave soon because they're going to put us in the wharehouse". She liked that we brought our cat, Sam. Sam purred, but didn't like traveling to and fro in his cage. Robin liked Sam, but didn't pet him, just clutched tight to her covers. India has gone with me two times now. She seems to handle the Dementia patients fairly well. She doesn't like the idea of me leaving Sam with them for any amount of time though. She says they'll scare him.

I've also signed up for Smart something, a reading program at the kids' school. That's only a few hours a week so I still have time to write.

India gets another rotten tooth pulled tomorrow, and Mother, I signed her up for speech! She will be able to work on her "Th" sound and tell you, "thankyou" properly. Christian and India will go to the orthodontist next Tuesday. Tuck gets his new glasses tomorrow and I'm waiting for Dreyers seasonal "pumpkin" icecream to hit the shelves .I found a great prairie costume, the bonnet and dress homemade, at the thrift shop. I also bought a stiff pair of handmade clogs for a buck to kind of give me an Amish feel to the outfit. I greeted Tim from work with my costume, saying, "Well, ello Olaf." Tuck said to quit talking funny or he wouldn't talk to me. I told him, "You go on child, milk da cow."


He doesn't appreciate me.

Lethal weapon

I went to my first JuJuTsu class last night. There were 4 kids there and two adults and the teacher. I had the nervous stomach before going but it turned out just fine. I learned some wrist rolls and some holds and some throws. They didn't have a waiver so I didn't have the "oppertunity" to get thrown myself. Next class I can move up to that. My hubby has school that night so he can't attend, however he wants me to teach him when I get home. I kind of like knowing how to beat him up however and may not show him the "submission holds". The class is quite a deal at $10/month for 14 hours of instruction. I felt a little out of place because I didn't have the whole robe getup that everyone else had. One of the guys said I could buy one if I get serious. I don't know how serious I will be but I still want the robe.

I can tell you that this would be the perfect sport for the Porter kids. They would love all the rolling around on the ground. It is basically what they already do, but with some rules and techniques thrown in. There is no punching or kicking so they don't get hurt as much.

What!!

All this writing I did and I got one lousy comment. That is all you are going to give me, one response. It's the lack of kids thing again, isn't it?

Weekend plans?

So I was wondering what everyone's weekend plans are. I am feeling a bit twitchy and restless these days myself.