THE HOLIDAY FOG

 Lately the fog has been formidable.   The other night I was visiting with friends in Oakland.    It was about 9 pm when I started my way home through dense fog.   Oakland is a small town with most of its streets going north and south and east and west.    My intended route home was to take a street west turn north on old highway 99, cross the Calapooya Creek bridge and take the Green Valley Road home.   At this time of night there is never any traffic on this route so it is considered a safe drive.    Driving west in Oakland I somehow missed seeing the stop sign where I would turn north on highway 99 and ended up on a dead end gravel road near the railroad tracks.    While turning around I had the fear of getting stuck not knowing what the ground was like off of this little gravel road.   Miraculously I made it to highway 99 and it took a half hour to finally get home through the dense fog.   When I arrived home I discovered my black cat was on the roof .  I had left the ladder up on the deck to apply moss killer and the cat had climbed it but would not come back down without my assistance.   After putting gloves on and climbing the ladder I grabbed the cat and got her down without a catastrophe.   Felt like a survivor at the end of this day. 

CHRISTMAS 2023

The holiday season can be a time of despair and loneliness for those of us without family close by and the loss of a loved one.   We think the sooner it's over the better off we will feel.    Then those Christmas cards and letters start arriving from friends and family members far and near telling of their joys and sorrows over the past year.  Some have suffered health problems or loss of a loved one also.    This makes me feel not so alone and the need to reach out.   We all are so wrapped up in our own worlds, fighting our own battles that we can't see through the fog of our own despair what our neighbors, friends and family members are going through.   Maybe if we all reached out to each other there would be more hope in the world and less hatred, anger, injustice and war.   Without hope there can be no peace.  

Merry Christmas!

A THANKFUL OLD MAN

This is a short version of a story I read and can relate to.  It happened during the Great Depression when money and food were scarce.   I don't know who the author is.

The old man and his dog sat by the fire in his cabin on a cold Thanksgiving night.   His wife had passed away recently and loneliness now filled most of his life.    He had lost his faith and did not give much thought to a Thanksgiving dinner.   He thought about baking some sweet potatoes with biscuits for dinner as he had some stored in his root cellar along with some onions and carrots.    There was a knock on his door.  It was the two neighbor boys asking to come in and get warm by the fire.   They told the old man he was invited over to their house for dinner if he could bring some of his sweet potatoes as they had very little food, except some chickens and greens.   He had the boys fill a bucket with the potatoes and they took off for home telling the old man he did not need to dress up as none of them would be.    The old man did put on a clean shirt on with his overalls, put a jacket and hat on before walking through the woods for about a mile to the neighbor's cabin.   When he entered the cabin there was the pleasant smell of food cooking.  During the dinner there was pleasant conversation and the boy's father reminded the old man they had not forgot how he helped them move some firewood a few months earlier.   The father also told the old man he was welcome to have some of their hen chickens as they could not afford to feed all of them.   The old man started home with a large gunny sack containing the hens as he made his way through the woods.   He got to thinking how he could sell some of the eggs in town for cash.   While walking on this clear cold night he looked up to see a full moon and became thankful for what he had as he started regaining some of his faith.  

BEING THANKFUL AT COSTCO

It was the day before Thanksgiving as I made my way through Costco in hopes of purchasing a pumpkin pie.  As I made my way through the crowd I could feel the holiday cheer with all the people trying to get through the aisles in hopes of filling their carts.   As I approached the pie coolers it was standing room only as a baker had a cart with trays of pies as he was trying to unload them into the cooler.  We all grabbed one making a dash for the checkout counters where the lines went back through the store aisles.  The person ahead of me must have had 500 items in his cart as I waited to pay for the pie.   Once outside I was thankful for surviving the ordeal and having the pie at a cost of $5.99, probably should have got two of them, but did not want to be greedy.  

Happy Thanksgiving! 

GRANDSON SAM AND HIS HALLOWEEN CANDY

 After collecting his Halloween candy from hitting the streets of his neighborhood, Sam became sick for a few days and did not have a desire to eat any of it, so his parents set it aside.    While Sam was recovering his parent sampled a few pieces of his candy thinking he would not notice what was missing when he felt better.   When Sam did feel better he asked for his candy and sure enough he noticed there was some missing pieces and asked where they were.  His mother had to confess.   Sam became a little upset and with a parental tone told his mother they should have asked him first before doing what they did.  Not bad for a four and a half year old-right?  

CHRISTMAS 2022

It's that time of year to be jolly, get into the holiday spirit and overlook family dysfunctions.   In my old age I feel more like scourge this time of year, but getting gifts for the grandchildren saves me from total despair.   One habit I have taken up over the years of living here is to take a picture of the Christmas tree standing in the middle of Oakland, and sending it out by email to family and friends in place of Christmas cards.  Sure saves on postage and a good way to get a response from old friends and distant relatives scattered across the country.   

  

   Merry Christmas from Oakland, Oregon!

A Valentine Story

 This event happened when we lived in Cottage Grove from 2000 to 2006.  Don't remember the exact year.  

While sitting in the pharmacy section of the Cottage Grove Bi-Mart, waiting for a prescription refill, I was in deep thought about the issues of the day.   I happened to look down the aisle and noticed a good looking woman browsing through items on the shelves.  Being a married man, guilt was my first reaction for looking, then I realized it was Celia, my wife.     

Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas 2020

 MERRY CHRISTMAS from the empty streets of Oakland and hopefully a better new year.

A Christmas Story

 This story I have shared over the years, so it might be a repeat for some.   At the time I was working for Jenny's and Company, a property management company in Eugene in the Fall of 1995 to make ends meet after leaving the Forest Service in the March of 1995.  

Merry Christmas!

It was the week before Christmas of 1995 as a co-worker and I were cleaning up a parking garage under an apartment building in Eugene.    There were three homeless men taking shelter there from the cold damp weather next to the dumpster and under the influence of some Christmas cheer.    It was customary for me to wear old work clothes for this job and there were days when I did not shave, this was one of those days.   As I approached the dumpster to empty a bucket of trash, one of the men informed me there was nothing of any value there since they had already looked.   Another man, with a quart of beer in his hand asked me where I was spending my nights since the mission was full.   Before I could answer, he offered me some refreshment and said I was welcome to spend nights in a storm drain where they stayed.   I tried to inform them that I was going south in a few days to be with family for the holidays.   Not really hearing me, one of them said it was not a good time of year to ride the freight trains because of the danger associated with cold weather.   With that, I thanked them for their advice and wished them well.  They wished me peace and warmth in my travels. 

Holiday Stress

 

                                                      HOLIDAY STRESS

 

Thinking back on family holidays brings one word to mind—STRESS!  There was the holiday traffic to contend with, meeting everybody’s expectations, and good old family friction.   Holidays for us usually centered on food and drink.  Two of the most memorable holiday events I can recall were when we had Christmas dinner at my mother’s parents’ house in southern California back in the 1950’s.   My grandmother had prepared her usual pot roast with all the side dishes.  My grandfather had a habit of partaking of a little drink in his garage before dinners.   He came into the house and sat at the head of the table and began cutting the pot roast.    The roast slipped off the platter onto the floor.  Like nothing had happened he stuck the carving fork into it and brought it back up on the table and continued cutting.   During all this he muttered out a word that I will not repeat here.   Being about 10 years of age I did not know what the word meant and asked my dad, who sitting next to me.  He said, “Never mind and be quiet”. 

The second event was later in life when we had Christmas at my first wife’s parent’s small farm near Lodi, California.  The kitchen was small and more than three people in there was a crowd.  The women were in a heated discussion on how to cook this and that.  My father-in-law looked at me and said, “Let’s go to the barn and leave them to it”.  In the barn he opened a bottle of Wild Turkey and all the stress went away instantly. 

The Christmas party at the Gold Beach Ranger Station 1981

 It was the Friday before the Christmas week and most employees were taking the next week or two off to be with family and friends.  That morning Earl, our supervisor with his office upstairs, told the three of us sale administrators in the downstairs office to come to his office at 4 pm, which was a half hour before quitting time.    At the end of the day we ventured up stairs where Earl proceeded to pull a bottle of Jack Daniel's from a deck drawer and we all had a drink or two from paper cups.   It didn't take long to get into the holiday spirit with that stuff.   At quitting time the rumor was that the party would continue in the upstairs office over the fire warehouse near the back of the compound.   At the time my wife, two young children and I lived in a government house on the station, so driving home was not a problem.  As we walked from our office building back to the warehouse we were feeling no pain and the festivities were well under way.   It was turning dark as some of our wives showed up to persuade some of us it was time to come home.   It was good my wife came to get me as I don't think I could have found my way in the dark.  It was the last Christmas party of this magnitude I remember on a ranger station.   Every Christmas party after that was family oriented minus the alcohol.  

Holiday Cheer at the Cottage Grove Post Office

 When I first moved to Cottage Grove in 1988 to work for the Forest Service, I rented a P.O. Box.  The Post Office was located up town at the corner of 5th Street and Washington Avenue, if I remember correctly.  The only available parking was on the streets.  It was a week or so before Christmas.   After work every day I would drive up town to pick up my mail before driving north of town where I rented a small house on Lynx Hollow Road.   This day there was a package slip in my box, so I got in line at the front deck to receive the package.   There may have been 3 or 4 people ahead of me.   I noticed only two people working, one at the front counter and a man in the back sorting mail.  There were packages of all sizes scattered down the aisles and piled on selves, it did not look very organized.   One of the men ahead of me in the line handed his package slip to the clerk.   The clerk spent a good part of 5 minutes walking through the aisles looking for the package with no success in finding it.  By this time there were a line of people going out the door onto the sidewalk.   The clerk returned to the counter and asked the man if he would come back later.  The man waiting for his package was stunned, including those of us standing nearby.    By the time I got to the counter the clerk did find my package.  He seemed  to be spaced out, maybe overworked or had been smoking something besides tobacco, who knows?   The other man in the back continued sorting mail in slow motion as if he was the only person there.   Wonder where the Postmaster was?   As I made my way out the door people were starting to lose the holiday spirit and the streets were filled with cars trying to find a place to park.  

Today there is a new Post Office in Cottage Grove, and it even has a parking lot.

Happy Holidays!

Mike

PS-- there will be more short holiday stories as they come to mind, some of these have been told before.  

Holiday Stress

 Thinking back on family holidays brings one word to mind—STRESS!  There was the holiday traffic to contend with, meeting everybody’s expectations, and good old family friction.   Holidays for us usually centered on food and drink.  Two of the most memorable holiday events I can recall were when we had Christmas dinner at my mother’s parents’ house in southern California back in the 1950’s.   My grandmother had prepared her usual pot roast with all the side dishes.  My grandfather had a habit of partaking of a little drink in his garage before dinners.   He came into the house and sat at the head of the table and began cutting the pot roast.    The roast slipped off the platter onto the floor.  Like nothing had happened he stuck the carving fork into it and brought it back up on the table and continued cutting.   During all this he muttered out a word that I will not repeat here.   Being about 10 years of age I did not know what the word meant and asked my dad, who sitting next to me.  He said, “Never mind and be quiet”.  

The second event was later in life when we had Christmas at my first wife’s parent’s small farm near Lodi, California.  The kitchen was small and more than three people in there was a crowd.  The women were in a heated discussion on how to cook this and that.  My father-in-law looked at me and said, “Let’s go to the barn and leave them to it”.  In the barn he opened a bottle of Wild Turkey and all the stress went away instantly.