August 1-August 15th

  Salem, Oregon
Saturday, August 16, 2008

 
Aug 1  A sunny day in Ohio-Charlie didn't get up till 9:30-Laundry is washing, he is getting caught up on 'stuff' and will head to the factories soon. Early evening Dar came to pick us up and take us to their new house lot. They have the basement and some foundation walls up. It's going to be a nice home in a nice location and they hope to be in by Thanksgiving. Then out to dinner with her at a nearby new sports bar called Barleycorn - good food and we enjoyed it as we finally realized it was almost 10:30 and we were still sitting there talking! She brought us home and off to bed-
 
Aug 2 Sat- Charlie off to Springfield for breakfast with the guys and later 4 of them off to play golf not getting home till after 6.
 
Aug 3 not much today-finally did some shopping in the morning and later in the afternoon Charlie went out flying-wanted to go alone since its been so long since he has flown. Finally got the hanger door working too.
 
Aug 4 Monday- I cleaned house this morning and hope it is this clean when I get back from Oregon! Talked with Carol and Suzie today. To the postoffice to mail some stuff and to the motorhome for my 'missing' shoes! In the afternoon Amanda (Charlies ex step granddaughter-did you follow that?!) came by to cut my hair- We did it outside on the muggy hot deck but better than hair all over in here. At 7 we - us, Chuck, Dana and Charlie3, Jim, Dar and Jimmie, Joe and Joey met at Frickers Sports bar in Moraine for dinner-here because this is where Amanda works when not at beauty school. Had a good time and didn't get home till after 9-both tired. Charlie said he hopes to catch up n sleep while I am gone!
 
Aug 5th- It had lightening and thundered most of the night and was still raining hard this morning and off an on till mid afternoon. Charlie left about noon, then I started packing and am almost ready to go. I actually have some space left over in my luggage! Just have to get the computer in the backpack. We had snacky supper, soup and 'stuff'!  Printed my boarding pass and ready to go.
 
6th- we were up and off early to Columbus to catch the plane-Charlie dropped me and all my bags, 2 plus a backpack at the Southwest door, we said our goodbye and I was off, to spend time waiting for my flight. Southwest now has a bench and table with computer hookups at the gate- very nice. An uneventful flight to Las Vegas, where looking down on the busy streets reminded me of our tragic time there in the spring! Had not thought of it in some time but seeing those streets just threw it back at me!  I had a 2 hour layover there and plane change. Carol and Wayne met me after baggage claim, then off for dinner-this was not the time of evening to drive back across Portland! Izzys pizza buffet was where Wayne had left his car so went there where we all overate! Wayne headed back to the coast and we drove to Carols in Sherwood where we caught up on things and finally to bed!
 
Aug 7th - A late start and finally out to do some shopping for our upcoming trip. We are just about ready and pared our big pile of clothing a bit-the overseas luggage weight limit is less that here! Just enjoyed the time together. We stopped at several garage sales on our way, and can't believe that we only spent 10 cents each! Another late night for us-
 
Aug 8 Friday- A slow morning and then we did go to Coldwater Creek to look at clothes-I get the catalogs and online specials and wanted to see how they fit-and I like them, bought some pants, and will look at the specials more closely now!  Later in the day we packed up my stuff and off to Woodburn where I will spend the night with Lee and Suzie. I always look forward to that!! We had a BLT for supper and later some berry and some apple pie. I am so far behind on my sleep that I think I was out when I hit the pillow!
 
Aug 9th- After breakfast and visiting they delivered me to Salem to Gary and Sharons. Around noon Sharon delivered me to West Salem where I will be house and cat sitting for Lana and Ed.  Turns out they live about a hundred feet from a cache Charlie and I did when he was here 2 years ago!  They laughed about being more interested in the cat care then the house care! Later they went out to dinner and I showered and dressed for my 50th Class reunion banquet that will be at the Santaim Golf Course near Stayton.  I am using Eds car-a 99 Subaru with 5-speed manual transmission. Been a while since I drove one but no problem. The banquet was great! Many of our classmates have gotten together in the last few years but there were quite a few that had never attended any event. Ralph did a terrific job and the evening went very well. Home about 11 to find my bed all made up on the futon.
 
Aug 10th-Sunday - Ed and Lana were up when I woke, we spent a couple of hours chatting, everyone showered, I left for the class picnic and they finished packing for a 2 week trip to the Cook Islands. The weather cooperated and we had a perfect picnic - a few that did not come last night showed up today - everyone just had such a good time re connecting - Not many visible health problems among us-there were a total of 46 classmates attending both or one event.  
We had a class of 58 graduating in 58, but still in touch with and invited anyone who attended any of the grades with us. There were 8 of us who started in 1st grade together and completed all 12 years. I think all were reluctant to leave, I know I was, and we planned on another picnic next year. Leaving I turned towards Salem and then turned back and headed east to my cousin Warren and wife Nanci's-they were home and I really enjoyed  my visit. They are next door to the house I grew up in and I may go back out - Warren thought I would like to meet them and see all the changes they have made. Then a stop in Aumsville to see Karlene and Ed - I had not had time last visit so made it a priority this trip - another fun visit, and on back to Salem with a stop to see Ken and Joan for a bit, another good visit. A stop at a grocery store and finally 'home' after 9. The house was dark and empty - Rudy the cat seemed happy to see me and after playing with him a bit I turned on the computer to 136 messages!! WOW-you guys have got to be more selective on what you send me-I will not be on this much now, and when gone to Italy will NOT have any computer access till I return. I seen to be getting about 80 messages a day (not including spam) and sure don't want to come home to 2000 messages!  I went to sleep with a cat on my legs and----
 
Aug 11th - woke to find him kneading my body, asking to eat breakfast! I think this will be a lazy day, at least this morning. I did not do anything but read and sleep and play with the cat today-I guess my body just needed to get caught back up-Tonight I feel rested -I did make a pot of soup today-and worked on a new blog to upload this diary too- Hope it works out.
 
Aug 12th- About noon I headed out and first stop was the PERS office. I had worked for the State of Oregon for about 9 months about 10 years ago and recently they informed me that I had a retirement plan with them-around $250 by now.  They gave me a stack of papers at least ¼ inch high to fill out to claim the money! Next stop was at Rita G -she was the lady that took care of my mom and I always enjoy a visit. Her mother is 96 and living with her! Then on to Don and Anita's - She was out so Don and I chatted till her return. Great time as always. I ended up staying for dinner, also very good, and left with jelly, canned salmon, frozen black and blue berries! Finally home by 9 pm and eventually will get to bed-this cat and I get along just great-it is the friendliest cat I have seen in a long time- just want to be rubbing against me all the time. As I type this he has laid down on the desk and draped his head over my wrist-inhibits typing just a bit!
 
Aug 13-Wed  I should be doing more out here- but really am just enjoying 'being' here. Into town for a few things today, no visiting, and back home to fix a low calorie dinner. Talked to Charlie and to Carol, fed the cat and went to bed!
 
Aug 14th-I had called Tom, my EX, yesterday and we talked again this morning. I went over about 10 to visit with him. His kidney transplant of 1991 failed a couple of years ago. He has been in hopes of another one but not to be. He has too many skin cancers and his B/P is far too low. He is back on Dialysis 3 times a week. He is in an electric wheelchair now and has a caregiver that conveniently lives next door. He was over 4 times while I was there, and seems to take good care of him. He has lost lots of weight and his legs are just skinny! He has some trouble talking- mumbles a lot, but we did have a nice talk - though nearly all of it was on his daughter Carla who died last year - he didn't seem to want to talk about our 2 sons!
 
Aug 15th  I guess my body needed another recovery day-I just could not get going today and since I had no definite plans just stayed home. It was in the high 90s outside today too, another reason for staying in. I did order some Euros for my trip. After calling Wells Fargo to order them I received a call back from them-wanting to verify-home in Ohio, Bank in AZ, want them delivered to a bank in Salem - not sure they were ever happy with my explanation. I baked cookies today for the Caching event on Sunday in Portland area. The cat and I headed to bed earlier than I have been and got a good night sleep. I will try to just update this new site whenever I can. Let me know if it is easy to navigate or any problems you have with it.   I have a squirrel feeder in the back yard-It is a corn on a rope with a spring in the rope- To eat they have to jump and cling to it  - making them several inches off the ground. Really fun to watch.