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?  

MY DOG JACK

It was a late November afternoon in 1989 when I was about ready to leave work at the Cottage Grove Ranger District office and go home to a little house I rented on Lynx Hollow Road north of Cottage Grove.   No sooner than I started packing up my things to head out the door when a woman that worked on the road maintenance crew came up to me asking if I would take a puppy they picked up walking along a forest road where it was beginning to snow.   She knew I had just put my old family dog Corky to sleep because of health issues.   She said she could not take the dog because they already had some dogs.    So I went home with the little black puppy that looked more like a cub bear that I named Jack.

There was a storage room in the back of the house where I left Jack during the day with food, water and a partially opened window as I went off to work.   When I came home at night I let Jack out in the back yard and he had free range in the house at night.   One wall of the storage room had unpacked boxes of items from the house I sold in Gold Beach in 1988.   After a few weeks I noticed Jack was in a corner of the storage room as if something had been bothering him during the day.  One day I saw a wild cat jump in through the opened window and discovered she had a litter of kittens in one of the boxes.   Jack had become accustomed to this wild cat coming and going as she raised her kittens.   Later I discovered the after birth in the box where she had the litter.   The wild cat and her kittens left the house to live in the barn behind the house and roam the nearby fields for rats or other small varmints.   In 1991 I bought a house in south Eugene in order to allow my two children to live with me on a part-time basis while they were in high school and their mother was considering moving out of the area.   Jack was two years old and I constructed a fenced yard with a dog house where he stayed when I was working in Cottage Grove.  Over the next few years Jack went on many hikes, backpacking trips and in the Fall of 1997 went on a  cross country car trip with me to visit a sister living in Indiana.    When Celia and I bought a house in Cottage Grove and got married in 2000 Jack became part of the family.   Jack was susceptible to seizures and in 2005 we had to send him over the Rainbow Bridge due to failing health.  

      

FALL 2023

We are blessed with rain this week after a brutal hot dry summer.   It was last April when I received substantial rainfall for that month with 5.12 inches.   Since May 1 to date I have recorded only 2.19 inches.   Presently I'm 6.36 inches behind on annual rainfall of 42.31 inches.   

I always feel like a survivor after making it through the summer without getting burned out.   With the change in seasons comes the usual change in the daily chores and preparation for winter.   Yesterday I rolled up the many hoses around the house used to water plants and that provide water to the sprinklers on the roof  in case of a fire.   In the afternoon I cleaned out the chimney and today cleaned out the woodstove. The 500 gallon water tank that collects water from the shop roof was almost full so pumped that water up to the house tamk.   Only had to order two truck loads of water this summer.     

With El Nino in effect  there is a lower snowpack and lower rainfall predicted for the northwest.    Sometimes the opposite happens, like last year it was a La Nina and most the rain and snow went south into California when it was predicted to come to the northwest.    The Farmers Almanac predicts a hard winter.    I guess we will find out one way or the other.  

MY MORNING WALK

 After having my morning coffee and peanut butter on a English muffin I venture outside for my morning walk.   Five times around the driveway is about a mile or for a change in scenery I walk the road about my place.  Whenever the rain prevents walking outside, I will get on the thread mill and go a mile at 3 mph for a little over 20 minutes.   On real nice days I have gone around Fords Pond or walked down to Bachelor Creek at Mildred Kanipe Park. Walking is vital now to my sanity, health and gives me time to ponder life during this uncertain time.    

  

THE LAST DAY OF AUGUST 2023

Finally some rain on the last day of this dreaded month.   The only rainfall before today was during the thunderstorm on the night of the 24th with 0.15 of an inch.   This thunderstorm touched off many fires in  Douglas County, including the Tyee Ridge Complex of fires about 8 miles to the west of me.   The smoke from these fires has made the air quality unhealthy.  Even with the rain today there is still the smell of smoke.   I had the windows open this morning but had to close them as it seems the rain pushed the smoke into the house this afternoon.   Now the air purifier in running to clear out the smell from the house.   

What will September bring?  

CRICKETS AND THE WIND

August can be a real bummer of a month with hot dry weather, yellow jackets buzzing throughout the day and the threat of wildfires.   My biggest outdoor chore is watering plants and some have given up and died not so much for a lack of water, but just too hot.   Eating a hot dinner does not even appeal at the end of a hot day.  Sometimes a bowl of cereal is all that taste good.   After the sun has gone down and the cool evening air brings life back to my old body, I go outside and sit watching the wind blow through the trees with the sound of crickets bringing me comfort before retiring for the night.  

THE ICO"S OF AGING

The Issues, Concerns and Opportunities (ICO'S) of aging can be many, some good and some not so good.  Much depends on how well we took care of ourselves in our younger years, family history, the relationships we maintained over the years and the new relationships we develop.  

With old age and living alone comes a sense of freedom limited by health issues and financial means .  One big side effect of living alone is loneliness.  Over time one becomes stuck in their ways and the thought of finding another partner seems unfair, not practical and slowly fades away.   What Celia and I had together can not be replaced.   Over 20 plus years we grew together, respecting each others routine and accepting the lifestyle we both developed.   That does not disappear abruptly after her departing this world over two years ago, but over time somethings change and I get into my own rut.   Hard to imagine another woman putting up with me now at this stage of life.

Like Katherine Hepburn said, " men and women are not meant to live together, just occasionally visit."

THE PERPETUAL QUESTION WE WERE ASKED AS KIDS

What do you want to be when you grow up?   I remember being asked this question in my early years in grade school.   It seemed to be the first question an adult would ask when you first met them.   If you answered, " I don't know" they kind of frowned at you like something was wrong with you?   In my later years in grade school and high school my answer was, 'I want to be a farmer or do forestry work and that seem to satisfy them.   In my working years farming and forestry was actually what I did.  

If I had it to do over again I would say, "I don't want to grow up, just let me be a kid for now.  

GOING PAPERLESS

Today I opened up the envelope containing my insurance premium that arrived in the mail last week and is due in a few days.   I was going to write a check and mail it in the envelope provided along with the payment stub.   Well, there was no return envelope or payment stub, just a statement with instructions on how to pay online or by phone.   I tried both with no success.   Online it would not accept my credit card and by phone the automated voice wanted me to repeat everything until I got frustrated and hung up.   In the end I wrote a check and mailed to my insurance agent with a note expressing my frustrations and asking them to figure it out.   

FIRE SEASON 2023

The grass is starting to turn brown and my rainfall for May was only 0.84 of an inch when the average for May is 2.58 inches.   The NWS reports a little over an inch of rain in Roseburg for May.  That has to be a record low, while last May of 2022, I received 4.58 inches which must have been a record high.   This all leads up to the beginning of fire season starting June 9th.   Already there has been the smell of smoke at times either from the Canadian fires or a fire west of Eugene.   There is even a small fire in the Layng Creek drainage on the Cottage Grove Ranger District, which was considered the asbestos forest when I worked there from 1988 to 1995.   The last measurable rainfall I recorded was for May 11th and there is nothing in the seven day forecast.    What will this fire season be like and can we survive until the Fall rains? 

SECOND ANNIVERSARY

Today is the second anniversary of Celia leaving this world.   It still seems like yesterday.   In many ways she is still here in this house with all her decorations, furnishings, paintings and other things she cherished.    It still feels like home to me.    Family and friends are still my greatest support, especially friends who have also experienced the loss of a loved one.   They have given me much emotional support that I will always cherish.   One thing for sure, love never dies.  

HOT DAYS IN MAY

Had a high of 95 at my place yesterday and I'm sure I will beat that on this Mothers Day.   Falling behind on rainfall for May with only 0.84 of an inch so far.   Average for May is 2.58 inches and last year for May I received 4.58 inches.   Even April of last year with 5.92 inches was more than this April with 5.12 inches.   The average for April is 3.11 inches.   I did beat last years rainfall for March with 5.88 inches compared to 4.02 inches last year.   Average for March is 4.24 inches.   Another indicator of low rainfall this month is shorter grass as I'm in the process of cutting it as the heat and my old body permits.

With a strong El Nino forming in the Pacific this could be the Mother of all summers.  

Note:  Rainfall measurements are taken at my CoCoRaHS station OR-DG-22

Happy Mothers Day!

COUNTRY DOCTORS

 When I lived in Orleans in northwestern California from 1971 to 1977 the nearest doctor was 40 miles away in a medical clinic in Hoopa Valley on the Hoopa Indian Reservation.     

This doctor did it all from setting broken bones, stitching up cuts and digging bullets out of people.   If major surgery was required or the birthing of a child we had to drive 85 miles to the hospital in Eureka.  I do not remember any ambulance service.  If there was a medical emergency you were at the mercy of neighbors to provide first aid and get you to Hoopa.  Some vehicle accidents, usually caused by excessive drinking were fatal and it could be days before somebody noticed a vehicle down off the road near the Klamath River below the highway.   Those that survived had to crawl up to the highway in hopes somebody would stop and take them into Hoopa.  

When we lived in Gold Beach on the south coast of Oregon, there was one doctor for the town of about 1500 people.   He worked out of the hospital doing everything from emergencies to clinical work.   To see the doctor you just went to the hospital emergency room and waited your turn.   When I developed an  infection on the side of my waist that prevented me from keeping my pants up it was time to wait my turn in the emergency room.    Once I was called into the exam room the doctor had me lay down on a table where he proceeded to cut open the infection in order to drain it.   Afterwards he told the nurse to pour peroxide on it and bandage it up.   I was sent home with a prescription for antibiotics and instructions to soak in the bathtub daily with Epson salts.  During the cutting procedure I was not given any local anesthesia.  There was a water pipe on the wall adjacent to the table that I hung onto thinking I might break it while dealing with any pain.   It all reminded me of the wild west.  

THE OLD MAN AND HIS DOG

Recently I went to the Oregon coast to visit my daughter and her family near Waldport where they had rented a beach house.    One morning we went to Seal Rock beach at low tide to explore all the tide pools and the creatures that live there.   There is a moderately steep trail from the parking lot going down hill to the beach.   Once we made it down to the beach I looked back up the trail to see an older man with his small dog on a leash coming down behind us.   I would guess he was around 80 years of age and very attached to his dog as he waved at me.   I waved back as we went down to the exposed rocks covered with muscles and all types of barnacles.   I noticed the old man walking on the upper beach playing with his dog now off the leash running around freely.    About an half hour later he made his way slowly back up the trial with his dog and disappeared into the forest leading to the parking lot.   I wondered if he was traveling in a motorhome, or lived nearby and if he had any family?     Sadly I suspect that dog was his family.