Vacation

Just rolled in last night from a week of vacation.
It might be a bit difficult for someone on the outside to discern the difference between being on vacation when you are retired. The difference is that if we were home I would feel like I OUGHT to be doing something, even if I am not, whereas if we are somewhere else it becomes moot, as I cannot do the stuff I would feel guilty about not doing, even if I was not doing it.
Three days at Cannon Beach Oregon, one of our favorite places. Very artsy craftsy, with some high end galleries. Not to mention the Driftwood Restaurant which has the best clam chowder anywhere (for you Seattleites, yes I believe it is better than Ivars).
Unfortunately a couple of days before we got there, a wind had blown ashore a zillion purple sail jellyfish. Once stranded onshore, they of course commenced to rot. The stench was pretty bad. Also unfortunately you could not get down below the tideline without walking through their rotting corpses. When we got back to the unit the shoes had to stay outside. Mrs A was in favor of burning them, but I sat outside and cleaned them with my Swiss army knife. But they didn't thing one of the uses for the knife was to clean rotting animal corpses out of the tread of your tennies.
Then on to Coberg Or to visit my cousins. Ginger and her husband Par were our hosts and Rick and his wife Robin were our cell mates, or fellow guests. A good time was had by all. but Rick and Robin had to leave a little early to take care of a domestic situation. (Damn kids anyway).
My first proposition: In nature, if you see a structure on an animal that seems disproportionate to it's function is for cooling. For example the ears on an elephant are much larger than necessary for hearing. Why are they so large? for cooling. Same with the frill of the frilled lizard etc. What structure does mankind have that is disproportionate to the other members of the animal kingdom?
The brain. I propose that the intent of the large cranium is to cool the blood. The more surface area it has, the better the job it does. Our brains are very wrinkled so as to add more surface area for cooling. So the brain is a cooling tower for the body. The fact that it also allows some of us to formulate rational thought is just a byproduct of its primary purpose of cooling. This secondary characteristic is not as prevalent in some people, whose brains seem to serve little more purpose than cooling the blood.
Second proposition: Sociologists have suggested that mankind was originally a nomadic society, who followed the seasons and animal migrations, and eventually settled down to agriculture to grow grain as a food source. It is my counter proposal that mankind settled down too grow grain, but for the purpose of making beer. The earliest Sumerian villages left evidence of having vessels specific to brewing beer. How long did it take for them to discover fermentation, and then design a specific vessel to use for fermentation? Hundreds of years? Thousands? They didn't really have to settle down to grow grain for the table, Grain could be found in season. But brewing beer would require facilities and a steady supply of grain. SO therefore beer is the foot of all civilization.
The third and last proposition is that a good marriage can be obtained by the frequent repetition of the following words; "I'm sorry dear, it's all my fault, I apologize."

Spring!

I  have neglected my blog as of late. My main excise s the weather. It has been too damned beautiful to sit inside on the computer.
I have been gardening. We have three 4' X 8' raise beds off of the patio. They were bereft of growing things when we moved in, so I planted Grandfather's onions in one and waited for spring. Well, spring is officially here, so in go radishes, lettuce, carrots and purple pod beans.
I bought and planted raspberry starts, I planted a "Fruit Salad" and a bush cherry. Then Lisa and Kieth brought over a bunch of stuff Two Bing cherries, a couple of "Five-in-one" apple trees.
The apple trees are cool. they have five varieties of apple on one rootstock. Then they had included four tomato starts, three cabbage starts, three broccoli plants and some flower bulbs an a couple of roses.
We split the flower bulbs 50/50. Half for the meadow, half for the flower gardens.
As I was planting there was something tattling around in the back of my head about Bings. Went on line to check, and yes Bing cherries require a pollinator. So I had to go in to town, and I found a Black Tartarian cherry at Home depot. Plants can be weird. A lot of plants are self pollinating, that is the blooms carry both male and female sex organs, so they can have reproduction all by themselves. Some species have male and female plants and require one of each to reproduce, and some, like Bing cherries require pollen from a different variety to produce.
In addition to the planting trees, I cut down a good sized alder tree and cut it into sections, getting it ready to turn into firewood. I have about half of it split and in the wood shed.
Unfortunately, I have had to take it a little easy, because I gave myself a bout of bursitis when pulling the maple stump out of the ground. So fay the treatment plan is: take a pain pill and keep on keepin'on. While that works out functionally, it doesn't do much for healing.
One of the common complaints here as far as gardening goes is the deer. All those succulent young green growing things are like a dinner table specifically set for the deer. As I mentioned to my buddy Dwight the other day when he commented that his money was on the deer "But I have automatic weapons" mind you the automatic weapon is a reproduction 1924 Thompson submachine gun that only shoots 6mm airsoft pellets, after a few ties of getting stung in the ass, I am sure that deer will get the idea. If thy don't I may have to step in up a notch.

Stumped

As I mentioned, I have been working at making a meadow full of wild flowers out in the woods.
I am taking the day off because it is raining out.
No, let's be completely honest here, I am taking the day off because I am sore and exhausted. The fact that it is raining is just the excuse I am using to take a day off.
It is coming along well, if slowly. The change in elevation is as much as five feet in places, so a lot of dirt needs to be moved around. Also that dirt is currently occupies by a jungle of ferns and salal with the occasional stump.
Most of the stumps are old and rotten. However there is the one......isn't there always the one?
It is a medium maple stump, a couple of feet in diameter, very twisted and gnarly. When I get it out, I am going to slab it out and turn it into furniture.
The key element of that plan is "getting it out".
To start with it is at the bottom of a hole or depression. The ground was five feet higher on one side than on the other. Then the root structure is convoluted. Layers of roots on top of layers of roots. Pick out a root and chop it is two only to find there us another root underneath that root, Uncover more of the root and chop it off further away from the stump to get it out of the way. Repeat.
I have finally gotten it to the point that, it I give it a good kick, it actually moves a little. Enough that I know I am close to getting it out.
The trouble is that I have chopped off all of the visible roots, and don't know of any additional roots to chop. I just need to go at it with mattock and shovel until I find the last remaining root (at least I pray there is only one move).
To add to the problem in the fact that in moving, I seem to have lost all my chains, rope, come-alongs and my chain hoist. The stump, when cut loose will probably go a couple hundred pounds. I think a trip to Harbor Freight is in the near future.
However, there is a can of black powder I just bough for my muzzle loaders.
Here, hold my beer and watch this.........

Next Winters Wood

Although we have a very good heat pump, we choose to heat the house with a wood stove. Electricity is expensive, and firewood is free as long as you don't mind the work.
Since we have 3 1/2 acres of woods, there is plenty of firewood for the stove, but it is in no condition to be burned.
When we got here, there was about a cord of firewood, aged and in the woodshed. (For you city slickers a cord is a stack of wood 4' X 4' x 8')
There were a couple of downed firs laying around, so I got a chainsaw and turned them into stovewood.
That was all dead stuff, and there were a couple of dead snags, so I also turned them into firewood. We ended up with about four cords of firewood in the woodshed. We are now down to about a cord and a half, which should work out about right, since the worst of winter is over.
So now is the time to start working on next years firewood, since it needs to dry and age for most of a year before it is seasoned properly.
I am working in an area to the northwest of the garage, which had a couple of downed trees, which have been processed, That pretty much opened up an area about40 feet in diameter, which is covered mostly in ferns and salal.
I decided it should be turned into a meadow. I felled a small maple and a fir that was about to fall down. When I get finished with them, I am going to go in and clear out the brush. Then for the good part.
I have gotten a bunch of wildflower seed mix, called "Meadow in a Can" which I will sprinkle throughout the area. It has like fifty varieties of flowers, so it ought to be beautiful. I just need to get out there and do the work to clear the brush and stumps out.
It will be a LOT of hard work, but if it lives up to my vision, it will be awesome.

1 3/4 thumbs up

I haven't posted much on here lately for a couple of reasons.
There has been a quite a bit going on, and also I chopped off the end of my left thumb.
While chopping off the end of my thumb is embarrassing, in the end it will be of no major importance.
I had started working on next winter's firewood. There was this rather spindly Maple in the area where I have been working. Eventually I want the area to be an open meadow. I have purchased a bunch of wildflower mix and want to seed it with wildflowers. So I cut down this maple, When I was breaking it down for firewood, I came across a piece that had this incredible beautiful grain.
I thought it was much too pretty to run through the fireplace, so I set it aside to make into something.
The pieces aren't real big, so it would have to be something small, like a jewelry box
I was slicing a piece down into 1/4" slabs to dry, when one piece got stuck in the saw. I reached over with my left hand to free it, and got my thumb a little too close.
Zing!
O shit!
Much blood.
I grabbed a paper towel and put compression on the wound. I didn't want to look at it, but did long enough to tuck things together and get them compressed. Carol was in town taking the dog to the Vet, so I was on my own.
I scratched out a very shaky not to tell her I was on my way to the ER, got in the truck and drove into Port Angeles (about 15 miles)
I called home and left a message. It seemed to be taking forever to get me admitted, and I was in a lot of pain, but eventually I get admitted, and they gave me a couple of shots of Lidocaine to numb up my thumb. Man was that a relief.
The Doc stitched together the chunks and they loaded me up with antibiotics and sent me home.
It has been healing very well, although it will take a quite a while for it to heal up completely. It has now been 10 days, and no signs of infection or anything.
I am still in a moderate amount of pain, but it is manageable. Not being able to do much of anything s, however, driving me nuts.
I put the Westphalia in the shop because the defroster fan motor was making noised like a garbage disposal. I looked into repairing it myself, but it is a bitch of a job. I had called around to get an estimate for the repair before we moved and the quote was over a thousand dollars. You have to tear the whole dash apart, and then the motor is in a box, which is spot welded together.
When driving into Port Angeles, we noticed a place on the right hand side of the road that had a bunch of Westies out in the parking lot, so I dropped in to get an estimate. They quoted my about $750, so I left the van there and they gave me a ride home. I hope to get it back today. I had them repair a couple of other things while they were at it, but the bill should end up under a grand.
I think when I get it back, I will see about betting the Z in for some repair work. I sure miss driving that car around..
For right now, I am spending a lot of time on the couch reading, since I can't do much. Maybe I'll dig out the card table and put together a jigsaw puzzle.
That's about as much excitement as I want right now.

A Counrty Christmas

This was our first Christmas in our new home out in the country.
On one hand we missed out on the Warren Family Christmas Eve Party, so I missed out on the opportunity to explain to my sibs why they are wrong about everything, not that they would listen anyway.
On the other hand three of our four children and one grand kid were here for a couple of days, and a good time was had by all.
The good thing about having a captive audience is that they pretty much have to listen to you.
My daughter Rose was MIA again. No phone call. nothing no card. Oh well, it is her choice to live the life she does and there really isn't anything I can do about it.
Mrs A and I's Christmas present to each other was a telephoto zoom lens for our Nikon camera.
The other day, we were out and about and went up the road towards the mountains. When we came back down thee was a herd of about 20 elk at the power lines right around the corner from the house. We went on home and grabbed the camera and went back to take some pictures, but even at full zoom, the elk are barely visible. There have been several other picture opportunities that haven't come out because the lens on the camera didn't "zoom" enough.
So we bought ourselves a 70-300 mm zoon lens for the camera. I also bought a camera backpack and a UV filter. Now we will be better prepared when the next opportunity presents itself.
There were three bull elk contesting for leadership and breeding rights. They were magnificent animals. A real sense of presence about them. When we got back from fetching the camera, we got out of the car and Mrs A took a couple of pictures, but they can't convey the essence of the Elk. I doubt this will be the last time we see the herd, so we are prepared for next time.
I have started on next winter's wood. There was a 2' diameter maple in a clearing out by where I have my stuff set up for splitting wood, so I dropped it and started cutting it into rounds, preparatory to splitting it into firewood. That is some hard wood. I had to stop and sharpen the chainsaw twice in the short time I was out there. The second tie, I decided to call it a day. Plenty of time to cart it out of the wood and split it.
The reason the maple was cut down was a part of my long term plan.
The area where it was growing is fairly open, and I want to turn it into a meadow with wildflowers, so the first step is to fall the trees, then grub out the bushes and ferns and level it out so I can seed it with wildflowers. A lot of work but it will be worth it when it is done. No hurry.
All in all it was a very nice Christmas.

Deferred Pleasure

This last year has been one of many changes, Retirement, selling the house I had lived in for the last twenty-five years, buying a house in Sequim and moving.
All positive things, but stressful nonetheless.
Much to my dismay, I recently found out that my favorite author, Ivan Doig had moved on to the big Ranch in the sky. I have enjoyed his writing for many years, and have always happily anticipated his next release. He had a way with words that resonated in me like few other authors ever had. Not to mention that the site of most of his tales occured in Montana which was just a hop skip and jump from my own Northern Idaho. I forst discovered his writing with "English Creek" and in my mind this coming-of-age story could have almost been my story in places. Jick could have almost been me, in attitude and action.
Mr. Doig published one last book before his passing "Last bus to Wisdom". It sits on the kitchen counter waiting for me to pick it up and get started. I have been deferring my pleasure for now, because no matter how much I will enjoy his way with the English Language, it is the last.
When it is done, the trip is over.
No more.
The final fling.
Starting it means the approach of the end of a wonderful journey through his world.
I have another book I am finshing before I start this one, because I want to give t my undivided attention.

A little Strange for Thanksgiving

The tradition has always been that one year we have Thanksgiving with the Warren side of the family, the other year with whoever, usually the in-laws.
This was supposed to be the Warren family Thanksgiving, but for the first time in sixty eight years it didn't happen.
I sold my house in Skyway, and moved out in the country to Sequim. Sequim is a small town on the Olympic Peninsula. It has the lowest average rainfall of any town west of the Cascades, as it is in the "rain shadow" of the Olympic Mountains. That comes to about 16 inches of rain a year s opposed to about 54 in the Seattle area. We love it here, but it is about a four hour trip for people coming from Renton. No one expressed any desire to come all the way out here to eat turkey.
My little brother Bill sold his place in Issaquah and bought a condo along the Puyallup River , which is really not big enough to hold the whole clan, which would be about 25 people. The only other one with really enough room is my brother Larry, but it would not be fair to expect him and his lovely wife Velma to host every year. My sister Patty is holding Christmas eve at her house, so she couldn't be expected to host both Holidays.
So there was no family Thanksgiving for the whole clan. We had a quiet small gathering with Mrs A and I, our daughter Lisa, her dude Kieth, her son Kayden. It was a nice laid back day with lots of good food and visiting. But I missed all my siblings and my mom and the noise and confusion.
I guess this marks the end of one tradition, and who knows where things go from here Vinnie is in the Army and in Texas for the next year, Nathan shares custody of Elliot, so a four hour trip out here is rather difficult to work in.
I have much to be thankful for this year. I retired from Boeing after 35 years, a challenging and honorable career. Sold my home of many years and bought my 3 1/2 acres of woods with a nice manufactured home on it, and walked in debt free. Carol and I have a wonderful laid back life, where we have everything we need.
So Happy Thanksgiving everyone, hope this finds you in fine fettle.

Next steps

When I retired and moved out here, I had some specific plans about my health. Less than a year go I was put on insulin for my diabetes. The reason behind this was that my creatinine levels were pretty steadily moving up (Bad), and the standard medicine for diabetes is metformin, which is a little hard on the kidneys. So I ended up on insulin as a result of a diagnosis of bad kidneys.
Then I recently had a major problem with a kidney stone the size of a grape, which was completely blocking all drainage from my left kidney. It was blasted with ultrasound and I pissed it all out. When my blood tests were done after the procedure, my cratinine level were about half what they were before. This makes sense since I now had two functioning kidneys.
This leads me to believe that my original diagnosis of stage four kidney disease is a bad diagnosis. What was happening was the stone was blocking the kidney from draining.
If I am not in stage four of kidney disease, then I probably can go back to taking metformin and get off of insulin. I suggested that to the doctor on Friday, and he said that it was probably all true. We are going to wait until I see the urologist in December to make sure of my kidney status before making changes. This has lots of implications to my diet, and medication.
For instance, I was instructed to never take NSAIDS which includes most OTC pain relievers. I have been pretty much stuck taking Percocet for my arthritis because of this. Perhaps this means I can take something else for my chronic pain.
As a result of the kidney diagnosis, they did a bunch of tests on my urine, Those test results are ll in question now. What was rue oh the blood tests is probably true oh the urine tests,  So I have retaken all the tests and I will learn the results on December 11th. So for now, I just know I am in much better shape than the doctors tried to convince me I was in.
Several time when all this stuff a year ago came down when the doc asked me how I was feeling, I told him I was doing great except for all the doctors telling me how sick I was. Little did I know how true that was.
So for now I have to be patient and see what develops. I know that the medication I am taking works, I just would prefer not to use an injectable.
So far the plan I made for coming out here is working well, just not by the path I had anticipated. By getting in better shape by working around here and controlling my diet to get off of insulin will probably happen, but better than I had anticipated.

Mo Betta

I got a call from the Urologist last night.
Things are better then I had thought. Having just gone through several trips to the emergency room, a hospital stay and a week of pissing gravel, I came out this end of the journey better than I went in.
Mt creatinine is way back down. I guess it helps when BOTH kidneys are working properly.
About a year ago My doctor at the time became concerned that my creatinine was creeping steadily upward, so he sent me to the Nephrologist (kidney doctor) and after an extensive series of tests he determined that I was going into stage four kidney disease.
About that time I retired, then I had to find an interim doc. We sold the house and moved to Sequim.
It has taken some time to get established with a new doc here, and it all came to a head when I had a large stone lodge in my left kidney. It was completely blocking off the drain for my left kidney.
Doctor Benson did a CAT scan and found the stone, brought me back in to pulverize the stone and is now doing follow-up. A blood draw and test was done last Friday, and the results came in yesterday.
The results were great. My creatinine levels were WAY down. They whole stage four kidney disease diagnosis was wrong. Yes I have kidney disease as a result of my diabetes, but not severe. The upshot is that I am a long ways from dialysis or kidney transplant. When my ceatinine was up over four, I was looking at eventual kidney failure. Now that is a remote possibility rather than an inevitability.
So all the anxiety and worry I have gone through about kidney failure were caused by a misdiagnosis. I was not undergoing kidney deterioration, I had a stone the size of a grape.
I am now undergoing some tests to determine why I am forming stones. Believe me, whatever the doctor recommends to avoide another megastone, I will do it.
Yesterday was 24 hour piss test. Pee in a jug for 24 hours. Mrs A has a bit of a problem with having a jug-o-pee in the fridge. She has trouble accepting the fact that urine is sterile, so it won't hurt you. Not that I am recommending keeping a jug-o-pee in the fridge, but it is not all that ookey.
I have to drop off the jug-o-pee at the lab this morning. Feels a little strange walking around with a jug-o-pee.

Pissin' Gravel

Literally. Or the closely related topic, Pissin' blood.
Right now I am doing both.
A week ago I all of the sudden developed severe back pains on my lower left side. As A person who has passed multiple kidney stones, I was pretty sure I knew what was going on. Except this was worse and didn't move at all.
So I went in to the walk-in clinic in Sequim. Their diagnosis was kidney infection, they gave me some antibiotics and sent me home. By Saturday, I was in no better shape, so I went back to the clinic, and they referred me to the Hospital in Sequim. After giving me some anti-nausea and pain medication they sent me to radiology for a CAT scan.
I had a stone the size of a grape that was completely blocking my left kidney. They did an operation to install a stent and kept me overnight for observation.
It was not a good night. There were a couple of psychotic patients, one on either side of me. The one lady was mean as a snake, attacking everyone who came near her verbally and some times physically. The other was an older gentleman in with pneumonia, He had no idea where he was or what was going on. But he yelled pretty much all night.
I asked the doctor if I was missing something.. Did they check my into the Psych ward for a reason? She laughed and said no, that this was the normal ward, they just happened to have a couple of disturbed people in at the moment. The one had been a patient for four months. The problem is that new laws forbid them from releasing the patient until they have some place to put them. Because the Federal Government has defunded the treatment of mentally ill people, no one takes them. Since this particular patient had a history of violence towards staff, no one would take her.
On a different tack on the same subject, take a look at his from a detached perspective. I have no skin in this game, just am making an observation. First the Reagan Administration defunds treatment of the mentally ill, dumping thousands of disturbed people out into the general population. Then gun violence and mass killing by mentally ill people rise sharply. Could it be that these things are interrelated? So if you want to trace the origins of the wave of mass killings, you can thank the Republicans. Better to blame them than blame the guns, which is a cop-out, We always had guns around, and you know what? Not a single one of them jumped down off of the rack and killed someone.This country desperately needs a system for dealing with the mentally ill. The problem with this is that if we effectively screen and treat the mentally ill, where are we going to get our politicians?
At any rate, after holding me overnight they sent me home, with an appointment to come back on Wednesday when the stone breaking machine was in town. Pretty neat. They bombard the stone with high frequency sound waves and it shatters the stone into little bitty pieces. Then over the next week or so, you piss out the pulverized stone pieces. You also piss blood, because pulverizing the stone is a lot like taking multiple kidney punches.
I have not been able to do much of anything for the past week, so I am going stir crazy. I have work to do but am supposed to take it easy until the Doc gives me permission.
I hope that today I can get out and repair the chipper.

On Track

I have sadly neglected this blog for some time now. I closed my eyes for a second, and suddenly it is October.
I have been busy working around the place. There is a lot that can be done, but it is a little overwhelming even thinking of trying to bring order to 3 1/2 acres of woods. A lot of it is brush, blowdowns, broken off limbs, and pretty much unusable as it is. Clearing out the limbs and blowdowns will take a long time. For now I am clearing trails so I can navigate through the underbrush without fighting.
Eventually I see a network of trails between small meadows amongst the trees. There are a lot of very nice mature Cedar trees interspersed with Fir, Alder and an occasional Maple. I want to clear a number of small clearings and plant them with wildflowers. They have a product called "Meadow in a Can" which is a mixture of wildflower seeds. Once you clear the ground, you just sprinkle the seeds and voila' you have 20 different kinds of wildflowers. I used it on a small scale before, but can't wait to see how it does semi-wild.
There is a lot of beauty bark on the yard near the house. Looks nice and inhibits the growth of weeds. The trees I was cutting and splitting for firewood were downed Fir of pretty good size. Had a lot of thick bark. Since the had been laying on the ground for some time, the bark came off pretty easy in the process of splitting it for firewood. I set it aside.
I decided to bite the bullet and get a chipper/shredder. I purchased a Brushmaster commercial grade model, which will handle anything up to 3". Bigger than that it is firewood, smaller it is beauty bark.
I managed to break it after one week. The pulley on the flywheel split in two. I have been waiting for the replacement for three weeks. In the meantime I have been taking the hatchet and cutting the bark into three inch wide strips so I can feed it into the chipper.
One of the reasons I bought the chipper is because they don't allow much in the way of outdoor burning. There has been a burn ban on since we moved in here and the local dump does not accept yard waste. With so much debris in the woods, the logical thing is to turn it into beauty bark.
My cousin, Ginger, her husband Pat, my cousin Rick and his wife Robyn came up from Oregon for a much too short visit. Wouldn't you know it, the day they were supposed to show up, the water failed. We are on a well, and we just suddenly had no water. We had to call the plumbing service. We chose Brother's Plumbing because they had surveyed the well when we bought the place. At first they thought it was burned out points on the float of the holding tank. but when they replaced them, still no go.
They had to pull the pump, which was at the end of 170 feet of galvanized pipe. That meant the boom truck, and a helper. It was interesting watching them pull the pipe sections and get to the pump. Of course the pump was shot. The bill was just under two grand. Oh well the pump was 20 years old, and now we should be good for another 20 years.
We warned the relatives that we were in the middle of a well crisis, but they came anyway. By the time they got here the plumbers were almost through, But when they got through, what was coming out of the taps was not fit for human consumption. The water in the toilets was of course, grody, so Ginger had to take a picture and post it on the internet.
The water still has a slight chemical taste, but not too bad. My well water is still better than city water.
The weather has been spectacular. The days have been sunny with the temperatures approaching 70, cooling off at night to the high 40s, low 50s. I have been setting the fire before I go to bed, so all Carol has to do in the norning is drop a match and add a log once it gets going. Electricity is expensive and wood is free.
The fall mushroons have sterted showing up. Lisa found a Shaggy Mane on the edge of the lawn, I found a bunch of Boletus Edulis in the yard, which I dries, and when we were on a hike the other day we came across a bunch of Agaricus Arvensis. Good stuff.
Now that i have in the winter wood, and the weather is cooling off, I will havemore "inside time" so I will try to be more regular about posting on this blog.

Makin' Wood

Get yer mind out of the gutter, that is not a sexual reference.
I got a Stihl chainsaw for my birthday. We have 3 1/2 acres of mostly woods. There are a number of trees down that need to be turned into firewood. And several more that are standing but dead. The previous owner left about a cord of cut, split and stacked firewood in a wood shed.
I figured I need to cut, split and stack at least another cord to feed the wood stove.
We have a heat pump, but electricity is expensive, and the wood is free (if you don't count the cost of the chain saw).
I have cut and split a lot of wood in my life, but it had been a quite a while since I ran a chain saw. The still start and run the same as they used to.
The first log I tackled was a downed fir about 2 1/2 feet in diameter. The chain saw has an 18" bar, so it was a double cut to start and get the root ball off of the tree. Worked just like I knew what I was doing. I cut a half dozen rounds, muscled them out of the woods, split them and put them in the wood shed. No big deal.
You know what happens when you get cocky. Fate smacks you down.
I forgot to refill the chain oiler. Next this you know the saw is straining, and not making much progress. Then it started smoking.
I turned it off, and let it cool. When It had cooled off, it would not restart. I noticed that the chain needed tightening. But the chain tightener wouldn't work, and the chain wouldn't move.
So I go in the shop and start tearing it apart. By that time I had realized that I had run it out of chain oil and overheated it.
When I pulled off the side case, I saw that the clutch bell had gotten so hot it had melted the case. When I shut it off, the plastic hardened, and the clutch bell wouldn't move.
No biggie. I just took a small pick and broke loose the bell, removed it and cleaned up the case. I was putting it back together and decided to make sure it ran. I started it up, and saw a retainer fall off and bounce across the shop floor. I managed to find it, but could not find the retainer clip.
I ended up having to make a trip into Port Angeles for the part. I took the saw and parts with me just to make sure I got the right part. Good thing I did, because I had also lost a couple of extra parts.
The total bill including a chain file was $15, so not bad.
Brought it home and put it together. First thing I did was put the chain on backwards. DUH!
Reassembled everything and went out and cut a couple of rounds. After the second one, it wasn't cutting well. The chain was not sharp any longer. On the last round, I got a little too deep and hit the ground. Chain saws really, really don't like to cut dirt. No surprise there.
So the saw is in my shop with me new chain file. It will be ready to go when I get back from the Doc's tomorrow.

Medical Run Around

When I retired from Boeing, they no longer provided coverage through Group Health, so I had to go find a new provider.
I am 67, so I get Medicare, and Boeing provides part D coverage through Aetna, so coverage hasn't been too much of a problem. The problem is that we were selling our house and moving, so I needed to find a temporary doctor, which I did. It was a hassle because I am a long term Percocet user. I have stage four kidney disease, so taking over the counter NSAIDS is not an option.
I have been in several rear end car accidents, and also have a sports injury in my neck, all of which combine to keep me in constant pain.
I don't have a problem abusing Percocet. I have been taking it fir about  six years, and don't use any more now than when it was originally prescribed. I use one or two a day. Usually one.
Enter the damn politicians. Because of the politicians, you cannot get a prescription for more than a month at a time. Not only that they don't allow refills. You have to get a physical piece of paper each time.
Once we got settled here in Sequim, I set about establishing a Medical Provider.
Not an easy thing. It took five weeks to get my first appointment. Since I am an insulin dependant diabetic, it is a priority that establish a Medical Provider.
I accomplished that, but the Medical provider will not prescribe opioid. I was referred to a pain clinic that is an hour away. I can't get in until next Wednesday, a week away. I have four pills left.
This is not good. I will probably go through withdrawal. I am trying to hold off using any of the remaining pills. Maybe if I take one tomorrow and one every other day I will be OK. Still not sure if I will be able to sleep at night.
I have been eating a half of a peanut butter cannabis cookie at night to help me sleep. Maybe if I up my intake...
And maybe if I stay stoned I won't go through withdrawal.

Settling In

Tomorrow we will have been here three weeks.
We have almost dug ourselves out from under the enormous pile of possessions we moved from our former home. Not quite, but close enough that we have slowed down a little.
The Jensen Healey is in the garage, and with maybe another days work, I think I will be able to ease the Z into the other slot. But who knows which day. I am in no hurry.
We took the day off today. We jumped in the truck and went down to the Dungeness Spit for a hike. It has been several weeks since we hiked. Amazing how quickly things go soft. The hike from the trail head to the tip of the spit is a litle over five miles, so that would have made it eleven miles round trip.
A little too ambitious for first time out.
So we walked about half the way out and then back.
We saw a lot of shore birds. We saw an eagle perched on a piling eating a fish, and we saw several harbor seals. It was partly cloudy, temperature in the upper 60s, so perfect for a hike.
As a reward we stopped at the Black Bear Cafe for lunch. They were all out of Pie! So I was forced to eat a generous portion of huckleberry ice cream. O the Humanity!
Several people have told me that in the fall, our area is frequented by cougar and bear coming down out of the hills, so I went in search of a gun. I had pretty much settled on a lever action 30 - 30, but not on which model. When we went into town, there was a Winchester model 94 on consignment. It was a 1981 build, before Winchester farmed out all the manufacturing to subcontractors. Book value $300 - 500. It was in near perfect condition, with one bad spot in the bluing about the size of a pin head. Marked down to $375. I bought it on the spot. I still need to get out and sight it in, something I will probably do next week.
We still have lots of exploring to do.
I have been picking wild trailing blackberries every night. I noticed a couple of runners next to the mailbox, and once I started looking for then, a few more here and there. I generally get a couple of ounces every day. By the time the season is over, I should have enough to make a nice big batch of sugar free blackberry jam.
Speaking of which, it is time to go pick berries

Home in the Woods

It has all been worth the effort and confusion and stress.
I wake up in the morning to the sounds of the birds and maybe the wind in the trees. No sirens, no cars with booming stereos. No noisy neighbors. No police. No jets.
The property is 3 1/2 acres of mostly cedar, good size trees. Pretty heavy undergrowth. All slightly uphill from the road. We are about 100 yards from the end of the pavement, and the end of the county road.
All my adult life I have worked for exactly this. No alarm clock, no timetables
Not that I have nothing to do.
First of all, there is the task of digging out from under the mountain of stuff. The house is a little smaller than the other house. 1720 sq ft vs 1760 sq ft. but on the other hand it has a two car garage and shop, so I figure it is a wash. That doesn't mean everything moves straight across. The floor plans are completely different, so things need to move around.
As of right now the sports cars are parked in the driveway because the garage is full of stuff. A lot of it just has to be organized and stowed away before I can make room for the Z and the Jensen.
It will take a couple of weeks to get organized so I can start to work on the cars. I think the easiest thing to do will be to tear the front end of the engine apart and redo the timing.
Once that is done the I can start tearing the Jensen apart. I had it stripped down to bare metal and painted a couple of years ago. Unfortunately the gut that painted it did not have a water trap on the line of his compressor, so tiny drops of water were deposited under the paint, which are now showing as rust heads. I need to strip the whole thing down to bare metal and start over.
I think I will tear it all the way down and do a nut and bolt restoration as long as I am at it.
Then there is the whole thing with three and a half acres to work on.
All in my own time.

Ten Days Out

Closing on our house is June 22nd.
Closing on the new house in Sequim is June 22nd.
The movers will be here on June 22nd
The car transport people will be here on June 22nd
Then there's all the other stuff. Have the electricity turned off, get the water shut off. Ger the cable TV and computer line.  shut down, Go to the Post Office and put in a change of address. Garbage service.
I don't want to be a growed up any more.

Memorial Day 2015

On a December morning about two weeks before Christmas, mu Uncle Steve went to the closet and got out his 30.06 hunting rifle, say down in his chair, put the muzzle in his mouth and pulled the trigger with his toe.
He left behind an ugly mess of brains and blood on the wall behind him.
He also left behind a wife and six kids.
Uncle Steve had been shot through the jaw on d-day in Normandy. It took away a good bit of his jawbone ans some of his tongue. The managed to reconstruct his jawbone and give him dentures for his mossing teeth, but he was never a complete person afterwards.
Afterwards he was never the same. He dragged his wife and kids all over the west coast of the U.S., never settled in one place for long. More than his jawbone was shattered on that June morning.
So this is dedicated to the forgotten casuaties of war. The ones who gave their lives for their country, maybe not on the battlefield, but nonetheless because of it.
Here's to the broken men that come back from war, but never return home, who struggle with their experiences and never quite heal. To those who, in the stillness of the night contemplate the cold round circle, the blue barrel or the bottle of pills.
They died for your freedom just as surely as if they had died on the battlefield.

Once more into the breach Horatio!

We have another offer on the house.
It isn't anything spectacular, but it will meet my needs.
My goal in all this is to get enough to pay cash for the place on Johnson Creek road in Sequim,
This offer meets my criteria. Barely.
By the time I pay closing costs and pay the movers, we will have used up most of our available cash.
We will have to play it pretty cautious for the next couple of months.
The only hurdle left for us is to get through the home inspection. I know there are still some minor things to be done, but I have addressed all of the major things. The only thing of any consequence is that the stone fascia on part of the front of the house needs to be replaced. I was concerned about the cost, since I had no idea if it would cost a couple of hundred to fix, or God knows how much to replace.
I had a contractor over to give me an estimate, and he gave me a verbal estimate of $900 to replace the whole fascia. He was not sure when he could get to it, but figured around the middle of June. The only problem is that closing is June 16th.
Nothing like cutting it close.
The prior offer never felt right to me. And I couldn't stand their Agent. This time it just feels right.
Hopefully we will be moving in a month.

Three weeks later

Still a lot of activity on the house.
We actually had an offer, which we accepted. It got as far as the home inspection, when the people backed out.
The major point of contention was that there is a Zinsco circuit breaker panel in the master bedroom. Zinsco is an older design, and is no longer made. There have been reports of fires from malfunctioning panels. Bit there has never been a recall and they are not an imminent danger. I have always known it would be brought up at the time of inspection, but figured I would throw in replacing the panel as an incentive. Well, it never got as far as the negotiation. The people just walked off.
I am a little bit pissed that they wasted my time.
I am still on the hook to buy the house in Sequim, but the option runs out at the end of the month. We would hate to lose the option on the property, but it would not be the end of the world if we do.
Three showings yesterday, two today.
Hope things proceed with a sale.

One week In

The house has been on the market for a week now.
We have had ten showings. No offers.
No negatives about the price, a few about the floor plan.
I always knew it would be a little difficult to sell this place. The floor plan is unusual, with all the bedrooms on the top floor and the only access via a spiral staircase. The washer and drier in the basement. All in all it makes for a lot of stairs. It never bothered my, but several of the people who have looked at the house were heavy enough that the stairs could be a challenge.
The general feedback was that they like the location, don't like the floor plan.
When someone wants to show the place we have been going to Shari's for a slice of pie. Not real good for my diabetic diet, but we have also been doing a quite a bit of hiking, so it balances out, more or less.
Wish someone would at least make an offer.
Oh well, it has only been a week.

On the Market

Our house is now on the market. It has taken four months and about twenty grand to get it all gussied up for the sale.
The Ad had been up for about two hours when we got our first call for a showing. And the good pictures are not on the ad yet.
I think the price location and timing are spot on, so we will see.
We also signed papers on the house in Sequim with a contingency agreement today.
When it came time to sign the Real Estate agreement, it kinda shocked us how much we have to shell out to various and sundry people. It's like everyone is standing in line with their hands out.
I am not greedy or anything. Money has never been my primary motivation. I am not out to extract every possible dollar out of the sale of my house. I want to get enough to get enough cash that we can pay cash for the new place, pay for someone to move us, buy a few new things and get settled in.
This has been a good house to raise a family in, a good location and a quiet neighborhood, but I am looking forward to the quiet of the country, with no neighbors in sight.

SOOOOO Close

The Contractors completed the remodel on the bedroom in the basement yesterday, That left a couple of things for me to take care of.
Paint. I have a gallon of mauve paint that has been waiting around for a wall, so today I painted the walls. Tomorrow I will do the trim. I have some of this rich brown that will compliment the walls very nicely.
I need to install some window surround wood to close out the window openings. I have it cut and ready to go, but need to paint the trim before I install it. Then the only things left to do are get a carpet installed and put in the blinds.
Then the house will finally be ready to put on the market.
It has been a heck of a journey.
We have our eye on a place in Sequim. Couple of acres three bedroom two bath 1760 sq ft with a detached garage and shop. Exactly what we are looking for.
Then would come the nightmare they call moving.

House Hunting

We have been tossing around different destinations for a quite a while, and pretty well decided on the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Sequim, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Coupeville, La Conner.
So last weekend we headed out for Sequim. Neither one of us had ever spent any time in the area, so we kinda wanted to get a feel for the area and look at a few homes.
The weather was outstanding, with blue skies and mild temperatures. We had been perusing the house for sale adds, and lined up a half a dozen places to look at.
Most of them were not what we were looking for.
One was pretty much what we want, but was located WAY out on Hiway 12. The one I liked the best was located not far from town on 3,2 acres out in the woods. I loved it, but Mrs A wanted it to be more out in the open. I told her if we owned the property we could remove some of the brush and trees to open it up. It only has a two car garage, but that is twice the garage I have now, so it would do. With a little budgeting and a bunch of work I could probably get a shop put on the property. The building kit would be about ten grand, and I suppose local labor would double that.
Today there was another property showed up on the market, with an existing four car garage and shop. Looks promising.
My brother Bill just put his house up for sale, and it sold the day he listed it, so the market is pretty hot right now. If I can just get this place finished up and on the market, we may be moving soon.

Next steps

This selling your house and moving is a pain in the ass.
Admittedly I had let projects around here slide. Something about working six days a week, with the added benefit of being in my mid sixties is not conducive to anything getting accomplished around the house.
We had the real estate agent over the other day to discuss strategy.
There are a couple of very different strategies when putting your house on the market. The prevalent theory currently is that you want to empty your house out and put everything you don't immediately need into storage. This "opens up" the rooms and makes the house look bigger. It allows the prospective buyer to mentally place their furniture in the rooms without distraction. The thought is that if you have a bunch of stuff in the house, people will spend their time looking at your stuff and not your house.
The second school of thought is "Staging" your house. It is similar to the first, but leaves just enough stuff in the house to suggest how nice the house can be with the studied placement of a small amount of furniture in a tastefully created presentation.
While I agree that is is best to remove the majority of your possessions out of the house, I agree with the idea of staging the house for a couple of reasons. I think a few tastefully placed possessions add to the appeal of the house, and makes it more comfortable to live in while it is up for sale.
Mrs A on the other hand would empty the house of everything. As I told her the other day "You would empty the house of everything except one chair, and we would have to take turns sitting in it!"
Needless to say, this remark was counterproductive.
I have arranged for the moving and storage company to come and pick up the majority of our possessions and move them into storage next Tuesday. They will hold them until we have procured our new residence, when they will pick up the rest and move them to our new home. This isn't cheap, but I an getting a little old to be moving furniture.
Then comes step two of the plan.
The contractor comes in and finishes off the spare room in the basement. I have worked on this room off and on for several years. Pit in a vapor barrier and framing, with a sub floor. Insulated the walls, added wiring and lights, put up drywall and painted it. It still needs a ceiling installed and trim and some sheet rock done. Finishing the room out will add about 300 sq ft to the livable space of the house, bumping it up over 2.000 sq ft, making it 4 bedrooms instead of three with a corresponding rise in price.
The investment with be worth it, since it is so close to being done.
As soon as the contractor is finished, the house goes on the market.
We have several properties in mind in the Sequim/Port Angeles area that meet out requirements.
Maybe after this is all over I will be able to slow down and enjoy this retirement stuff.
NAH
What fun would that be.

Getting closer

I have been working my ass off getting the house ready for going on the market.
Very seldom does a day go by when I don't work on some project. The two biggest projects were the deck and rhe wiring. Both are done now. I just finished lag bolting the railing posts today.
We had a real estate agent over on Friday to get down to the business of marketing the house. We needed to take an impartial look at how much we can get for the house, with the intent of buying something in Sequim for cash, I want to walk in owning the new place outright, no mortgage. So far everything looks like it is working out.
We are going to move most of our belongings into storage, leaving just enough stuff to live with. A guy is coming over on Tuesday to give us an estimate on how much to move and store our stuff, and then deliver it to our new house.
Part of the reason for moving the stuff out, is that we have a big spare room in the basement that is currently stuffed with our packed possessions. The room is partly finished. I have built up a sub floor with the intention of installing carpet or pergo. But first we have to get the room empty. Then I can finish levelling the sub floor and laying flooring. I am getting an estimate from a contractor for putting up the ceiling. This would put the total living space of the house just over 2,000 sq ft, and push the price over the $300,000 range.
There is a pretty hot market in my area, and not a lot available, so it looks to be a pretty good sellers market.
If everything goes according to plan, we could be moving in less than a month.
I'm starting to get excited.

Deck Renovation

We are pretty well done with the deck renovation. All new structure and underpinning, but the decking handrails and balusters are the same ones that were on before.
I still need to secure the bottoms of the balusters, and there is a five foot section of handrail that needs to be replaced and the balusters attached.
When I finish up with the deck, we need to get the house ready to sell. We have been packing everything up in totes and stashing the totes in the basement. I know that the real estate agent would like us to pretty much empty the place out for showing, but I really don't want to rent storage and move everything a couple of more times.
Oh well, we'll do what we need to do.
One of these days I'll be able to devote more time to doing the things I WANT to do. So far, retirement is more work that I anticipated.
We are still looking to move to somewhere in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains. Sequim, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, La Conner. We have seen several things we like, but until we know what we can get for our house. Realistically I hope to get $275,000 for our place, and we have seen several places that meet our needs in the $250,000 to $260,000 range. We just hope they are still there when we are ready.

Delapidated

We are going to put our house up for sale, and there are some things we need to do to help with that.
The major undertaking is the deck. 420 sq.ft. of deck. I put it in about 10 years ago, and it has deteriorated some, so I am having it rebuilt. I spent the last three days tearing the old stuff loose.
My body is telling me that I am not used to doing that much physical labor.
This retirement stuff is a lot more work than I anticipated.
If things go right, the house should go on the market in a couple of weeks.
Then the crazy begins for real.

Molly, the Road Dog

Back when Mrs A and I first got together, she wanted a little dog she could mother. Mainly because I wouldn't let her fuss over me. I have never been a fan of little dogs, but it was something she needed.
So we found a Shi Tzu that we bought.
I chose her because she had a sweet mellow personality.
Shortly after we met her, we hooked up with Morning Light, a Christian Rock band. They specialized in performing in detention facilities, primarily youth facilities. The band members and most of the crew were recovering alcoholics and drug users We really believed that they were delivering the right message to the right people at the right time. Although it meant long days of hard work, we became Road Crew for the band, and Molly became a Road Dog.
She loved going places and being around all the people and going places. She was a comfort to the incarcerated.
After being an only dog for seven years, Mrs A found another pup in need of a home, and we bought Monk, a Brussels Griffon. When we brought him home, molly retired to the upstairs bedroom and refused to come down. She would come to the head of the stairs and let us know when she needed to go out. But we had to carry her through the living room to the back porch. She would not deign to set foot on the main floor.
This went on for several weeks. Finally she would come down the stairs, jump over to the chair, then to the couch, but would not touch the floor.
Eventually she mostly got over shock of having to share her time with her brother, but she always let him know that SHE was the top dog.
She turned 12 this fall, and started slowing down. She had bad kidneys. Some times her front end and back end didn't always track properly. She moved less and less.
She had visibly weakened and turned frail. Her favorite place was curled up on a blanket by my left foot. She really did not like being held, but was content to be near.
Tuesday, she collapsed on the kitchen floor, and didn't want to move. Her spine was hunched, and she was obviously in pain.
We called the Vet and told her we were bringing Molly in to be put down. As I type this, tears are welling up in my eyes. We rook her in. I carried her while Mrs A drove. Her breathing was labored and she would occasionally whine and shudder.
So She has now gone on her final road trip.
I'm going to miss her. She was a sweet little dog who loved everyone she ever met, and provided us with many hours of joy and companionship.
Pets come into our lives, and bring us many hours of joy. The downside is they are short lived and remind us how fleeting and fragile the things we value really are.
So long to my good and faithful companion.

Spiral staircase.

The only access between the main floor and upstairs in this house is a spiral staircase. It is something that immediately catches peoples eye, a distinguishing feature.
As with about everything else in this house, it is poorly designed and constructed. The main problem in that the balusters are too far apart. Per building code, there cannot be an opening larger that 4" between balusters. There are only 2 per step. There should be 4. That being said, the slate in blank as far as how I go about filling the space.
I have spent some time looking on line and sometime wandering around Home Depot and Lowe's looking for an inspiration. Something that will look classy and do the job. So I have considered everything from wood doweling to custom hand wrought iron. Price anywhere from a couple of hundred to five hundred or more.
Time to sit down with pencil and paper and do some doodling.

Electrical Upgrade

I bit the bullet today, and called in an Electrical Contractor to bring the wiring on the house up to date. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, going over what I knew, what I figured needed to be done.
When I got up this morning, my mind was made up to at least replace the outlets close to the sinks. As a safety precaution, the modern code demands GFCI outlets (Ground Fault Interruption Certified) near water sources. As long as the Electricians were here, I had them update all of the old two prong outlets to modern standards. The bill was just short of $1500.00. Money well spent to have the pros do the work.
For the first time since I bought this house, I feel it is good electrically. By the rime I get through the place will be so sound, I probably won't want to move.
The only other thing I am fretting about is the deck. It is mostly OK, but there are a few things that need to be addressed. The joists are on 16 inch centers, except it seems I got a couple of them too far apart. So Someone will need to slide an additional joist in between the existing joists. Also I need to secure the deck to the house with lag bolts, where it is currently just nailed. And a few other minor things.
I feel a lot better now that the electrical stuff is taken care of. We might actually get through this.

Inspection

No secret we want to move. Mt main project since leaving work has been to get the house in shape to sell. So I have done a few things. Drywall and paint. Sorting and taking stuff to the dump.
In anticipation of putting the house up for sale, we called a home inspection service, just to make sure their are no giant problems.
For the most part, it is exactly as I anticipated. No splash blocks for the down spouts, missing a couple of corner flashing pieces. New smoke/Carbon monoxide detectors. Lots of "recommendations" that are not requirements. Some of the stuff is absolute bullcrap. The circular staircase, the openings between the supports are not supposed to be further apart than 4". hey, that's the way it is made. I'll probably have to come up with something creative.
I need to hire an electrician to do some work. There are things that need to be done. The outlets in the bathrooms are not GFCI outlets. Same with the outlet by the sink in the kitchen. A quite a bit of the wiring is old, two prong outlets.They need to be updated, but I will not be stampeded into rewiring the whole house.
There are a few plumbing minor things that need to be fixed. Drain for the sink in the upstairs, drain for the tub downstairs.
Lots of stuff wrong with the deck. I will need to hire a contractor to make sure It all gets done to spec. All told I guess we are talking a couple of thousand bucks. Not bad all in all.

Drywall

There are a couple of things I really don't like about doing drywall.
First of all, the sheets are awkward. You have to be careful moving it around because the sheets are rather fragile. I have broken more than one sheet moving them around by myself.
The good thing is it is relatively inexpensive.
Putting up drywall is not rocket science. The spackle work is annoying. Again not rocket science. Spackle, sand, repeat until flat. Every little flaw will become apparent when you put on the paint. It takes patience to get it right. The spackle has to dry between coats, Fine with me, I am not in any hurry. I should finish up and be ready for paint tomorrow.
When I get finished with the hallway, it will be back to the basement.

Project One

We are getting the hose ready to sell, so there are a lot of little things that need to be done.
First I needed to figure out how to go about fixing something.
A good example is the hallway between the living room and the music room. The house was extensively remodeled in the 70s. The quality of the work is terrible. Halfway down the hallway there used to be a doorway, which was filled in by throwing a sheet of drywall up. You can still see the outline and dimensions of the doorway. The wall is not flat by any measure.
So as is usual with this house, I will have to undo what was done before I can fix the wall. So I spent the day tearing out the old drywall.
Since I only have a small pickup, I needed o build a rack so I could lay the new drywall down on the bed of the truck. Now I can go down to the Hardware Store and get the drywall. Then I have some drywall to do in the basement, which got interrupted because of a leaky pipe. The leak is fixed so after I get the drywall in the hallway hung, that's next.
Then I have to figure out what I'm going to do about the ceiling of the stairwell going downstairs.Just stay focused and keep marching forward.

New year

The calendar has turned another page, which means something to someone somewhere. Not around here. Just another day. Ain't retirement grand.
I no longer wake up to an alarm clock. What day of the week it is matters very little any more. Sunday is still Football, but that;s about the only relevant thing now.
I try to accomplish something every day. That isn't too difficult, as I have a lot of things going on. I have put off cleaning the basement for over twenty years, so it takes some time to get into what I need to keep, what goes to the dump. I had a reason for keeping everything down there, but I need to take a reasonable reassessment of whether I will get around to using that particular thing in the next six months while fixing up the house for sale.
Today I finished harvesting my three pot plants, separating the bud from the leaf, getting it bagged up for storage. I ended up with about three OZ of bud, maybe a half a pound of shake. Since I only use it to help me sleep, that ought to be enough to last a quite a while. First time I have raised weed from seed. The harvest was a little disappointing, but then I didn't do anything to enhance the crop. Plant it, sit it ina sunny spot, water it. It has been sampled and passed the ultimate test: my standards.
Rounded up a truckload of crap from the basement, but haven't taken it to the dump.
Talked with the retirement Specialist at Boeing today, and she was very helpful. Things are on course. I need to send them some documents, but no delays are expected.
My blod sugar is finally coming down. I was pretty upset when they put me on insulin, and it wasn't working at bringing my blood sugar down. After a week, I finally got up this morning and it was 86, right where it should be,
Need to figure out what I am going to use to cover some walls. need to do some drywall, need to do some tape and spackle, but things are proceeding according to plan.
Well, there was that one unexpected complication today. I was down looking things over to put up some dry wall when I noticed one of the drain pipes from the bathroom was leaking. No big deal, but a distraction as it needed to be taken care of before anything else. Got to be flexible.

The Sound of Nothing

That's is what I wake to in the morning now. Beautiful quiet.
No alarm clock or buzzer or sense of urgency. Just the consideration of whether I am ready to get out of bed,
Not that things aren't busy. Friday was my last day at work. Saturday I wandered downstairs about 8:00 and had a leisurely breakfast, then the morning sorting of all the crap from Boeing. Then after lunch, tear the pellet stove apart to do some diagnostics to figure out why it won't start. Located the technical manual and started trouble shooting. Jump the start switch. Does it start? No jump the auger speed switch. does the auger motor start. No that means the auger motor is bad. Yes, then the speed switch is bad. Auger is turning, so Go on line and order a new speed switch. Put everything back together.
Sunday is a get together with my daughter's kids ans Amelia and the guardians. At Chuck E Cheese. Good Lord I hate that place. It s a test of my love for my grand kids that we show up. But as two of them are travelling out of state it will be the only chance I get too see them for the Holidays. I find out that R is giving up her twp kids for adoption. The guardians are overjoyed, but it tears mu heart apart to see it. It is probably the best thing for the kids, but it still hurts. R is also pregnant with a third, and it is due in Christmas day. She has managed to make it through rehab, but this is not her first rodeo, and she has chosen a rough horse. Time will tell. God I hate it when I weep in public.
Got back in time to see the Seahawks game. The game was going slowly and the Cardinals scored with a field goal. Something was wrong.
I realized I was not wearing my Seahawks hoodie! Quick, I ran upstairs and put it on, and come into the room. One play 80 yards, touchdown! and what a touchdown Marshan Lynch going all "Beast Mode", breaking tackles. One of the best runs EVER. Then later Russel Wilson faking a defender right off his feet. What a game.
Monday we hit the road and went to West Port Winery and bought a half a dozen bottles of various wines fir gifts, then down the road to Bay City Sausage. The were just pulling the Cranberry Smoked Sausage out of the smoker. Had to buy 12 feet of it, then down to Twin Harbors State Park for a Nice walk on the beach with the4 pups. It was a marvelous warm day, and the tide was VERY high. The waves cased us up on the dunes a couple of times.
Today I had an appointment with the diabetic nurse. Sixteen and a half years after being diagnosed with type two diabetes, I am going on Insulin. This is not so much from my diabetes getting worse, as it is from taking Metformin for all these years, It is hard on my kidneys, but had been doing a great job of controlling my blood sugar. Oh well. shooting some insulin once a day is no big deal.
Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and the Warren gathering of the clan.
Then Christmas day and more gathering.
Aome day I am going to have a day off
This retirement stuff is exhausting.

The next Step

Well, I pulled the plug today. Turned it my laptop, gave back my Company cell phone and my planning bug.
I am not officially retired yet. I am on vacation until January 22nd.
The reason is that the 21st is my 35th anniversary, and it has been my goal for a long time to make it to 35.
So  I signed out and went home at lunch. The clouds parted and the sun came out.
I have been feeling a little overwhelmed, what with applying for social security Medicare, and my pension. Way too much crap, but that's what it takes.
So I came home and took a nap. Things always look better after a nap.
The vehicle tabs had expired on my truck, so I had sent off for the tabs, but I had to get new plates as well, because the State of Washington employs convicts to make the plates. Who says there is no slavery in the good old USA.
I got the plates and a screwdriver.
WHen I got the plates out, I saw that the Registration needed to be signed, so I started looking for a pen. I have all the junk I brought home from work scattered around my chair for sorting. My leather folder was there. No pen, but when I opened it I saw a piece of paper that needed Carol's signature. I set it aside, but I saw my boring meeting doodle. This is not just any doodle. This is an elaborate scene of a Viking in full armor with a drawn sword, castle in the background., slain dragon draped over the wall, covering an entire 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper. So I had to show it to Carol, along with a couple other humorous things.
By then a half an hour has gone by and I still haven't gotten any closer to getting the new plates on the truck.
Finally found a pen and got Carol to put her ssn on the form, and signed the registration. I got plates on the truck.
It's gonna be a long retirement.

Things Move Along

I now have 11 days left before I retire.
I have already applied for Social security and Medicare.
I am most of the way through the process of getting my pension from Boeing worked out. Friday Dec 19th will be my last day of work, but then I will go on vacation before I retire.
January 22nd is the 35th anniversary of my employment at Boeing, so on the 23rd I will retire. As with any long journey, there have been many ups and downs, triumphs and failures, but for the most part it has been a satisfying trek. It is honorable, honest, challenging work.
I am getting out just in time.
The company I joined and worked for all of these years is dying. Gone is the sense of family. Gone is the atmosphere of creativity and innovation. Gone is the inspirational leadership and charisma.
The most innovative, industry leading company has been bought out by the bean counters and accountants, and it has become increasingly obvious to even the casual observer that profit above all else has become the mantra of our upper management.
Any so called new programs have been driven, not by by innovation but as a knee jerk reaction to moves by the competition.  The 787 program was a reaction to Airbus creating the super-jumbo. The business plan was concocted by a band of accountants over the objections of of the Engineers and Production people. The results of that plan, driven by greed and ignorance brought a grand company to its knees, and everything that has happened since has been the result of management refusing to back away, justifying every action in pursuit of profit.
For now, with a captive work force, the plan will succeed. Unfortunately for Boeing, a large proportion of their employees are like me, at the end of their employment cycle. An enormous asset will be leaving the company within the next few years, but mqnqgement seems to be ignorant of the dumbing down of the work force. They have repeatedly demonstrated a disdain for the work force.
The newest 737 derivative, the MAX is a direct knee jerk reaction to the Airbus NEO.
Don't expect any innovation or risk taking from Boeing. Gone are the visionaries that gave us the 707, the first really  successful commercial jet program.
Gone is the innovation that rolled out "The Queen of the Skies", the 747. Back then the company was run by risk takers, visionaries, and innovators.
RIP a once proud and inspirational company.

Perplexion

Noun: The state of not understanding what just happened.
A relatively normal state for me.
I really don't know what to make of the mid-term elections.
On one hand,the GOP won a lot of critical races, which sends a pretty clear signal about the political climate. Or does it?
On the other hand the Initiatives to legalize Pot were passes in three states and the District of Columbia. Now there's a mixed bag. Consumption of weed is against Federal Law on one hand, but on the other it is legal in the Nations Capitol. Now that's downright schizo.
Environmental issues did well in general, while electing a non or anti environmental Government. I have no idea how to interpret that.
The Democrats had ample economic information and statistics to build a strong platform, but it was like they were ashamed of the success. I mean unemployment is at an eight year low, the stock market is recovered, new jobs are on the rise. Pollsters said that the Economy was the number one issue in the mid-terms, and the Dems all turned away from all that. It makes me might suspicious.
So here's a theory: The GOP has been handed the torch, but they have been so hampered by internal bickering that they can't agree on anything. The Dems GAVE THE ELECTION AWAY. It was done on purpose.They knew that if they gave majority leadership to the GOP and they do nothing with it, the voting populace will be thoroughly disgusted with them by 2016, thereby clearing the way for a DEM victory in the Presidential race.
Lost the battle
won the war.

The Chicken Little School of Crisis Management

There is a theory of Political Philosophy that says that the Government has to keep the populace is a constant state of panic to make them more pliable. Part of me believes this is true, not only that the government uses scare tactics to keep people under control. but will create the crisis in the first place.

Consider the logic of the current Ebola "Crisis".

First off, let's recognize that there is a very real crisis if you are in western Africa. Ebola is a very nasty bug, and highly contagious. There have been several outbreaks in the past, and there will no doubt be more in the future. The current outbreak is the worst we have ever seen, and needs to be monitored closely.

But the amount of panic and vitriol being spewed from the news sources is utterly ridiculous.

The quiz is very short.

Have you come into contact with the bodily fluids of someone who has Ebola? No? Sit down and suty up. Yes? Immediately take yourself to a treatment facility for testing. That's it.

Save the panic and doom crying for something that is of real consequence. More people will die from the yearly bout of flue in the United States than have perished from Ebola WORLD WIDE.

How many people have died from Ebola in the U.S.? ONE. More people have died from being struck by lightning. Certainly a lot more have been killed by Police.

The Center for Disease Control has been struggling to react fast enough to satisfy certain political factions. These same factions defunded the CDC. Well, maybe the Surgeon General should step up and take a leadership role in this time of crisis.

What's that? There is no Surgeon General? Why? Because those same political pundits won't approve the appointment of a Surgeon general because he considers death and injury from gunshot wounds a health issue.

So what is the answer for this crisis?

Blame it on Obama.

That is the answer for everything.

I have yet to understand the logic of that, but then the whole thing makes absolutely no sense to me.

Meanwhile I'll be in my blanket fort with my tin foil hat on to prevent aliens from beaming information into my head.

The Incident

75 days to retirement. If I stick to the plan. Being a very goal oriented person, I will stick to my plan until the end usually, sometimes even when it makes very little sense.
Even though some people think it is impossible, I find that I give less of a SH*T every day. Take the fact that I plan on retiring on Jan 23rd 2015. Why that day? Because it is the 35th anniversary of my joining the Company.
But lately there have been some things that make me question my judgement.
When you do the math, the bottom line comes down to this: If I were to retire today, the difference between what I make by working and what I will get when retired works out to $4.00 an hour. Not a lot of money for the amount of crap I put up with. So when people ask how long until I retire I tell the "One day, I just don't  know which one."
On Friday I had just signed off and was on my way out of the building. I had seen a notice that the main door would be closed off as of 3:00 Friday afternoon. I have a very strong streak of curiosity, so I cut through the Wing Line to see what they were doing.
A voice comes up behind me. "You cant go that way, they have it closed off" I already knew that, so I just kept on walking. Again, louder, more insistent "YOU CAN"T GO THAT WAY, THEY HAVE IT SHUT OFF." Running sounds behind me.
Same thing right next to me. "And you don't have safety glasses on." I was wearing my Washington State approved shatter proof plastic lens glasses, so I tapped them with my forefinger. "WELL, THEY DON'T HAVE SIDE SHIELDS. YOU HAVE TO HAVE SIDE SHIELDS." The fat little half bald dude was yelling at me.
I don't always respond in the best way I could, so I turned to him, looked him up and down and asked "Who the hell are you?"
He refused to give me a strainght answer, but made a smart all comment. Which pissed me off. He continued to yell at me, so I decided the most reasonable course of action was to walk off. He followed behind me threatening me and yapping like a little ankle biter dog.
I walked off.
When I got out of the building, and was walking towards my truck, here he comes running out of the building with a gal .
"THAT'S HIM! THAT'S THE GUY!"
 I turn to them and she walks up to me ans says "Those are not Boeing approved safety glasses, and we can't have people dropping the "F" bomb on our managers.
I told her (looking around me with a puzzled look) "I don't seem to be in a Boeing building, so there is no requirement for me to wear safety glasses. I am not on the clock, but on my own time, and I am on my way home, Please leave me alone."
The little fat f&)k started yelling at me and threatening me. The gal was a HR rep so she knew he way outside of the rules, so she told him to calm down, but he went on, "I'm gonna get you, I'll see you in HR on Monday, Who's your Manager. I ignored him and moved off. The HR rep got him under control.
I had to work both days on the weekend, and it was pretty quiet, so I wrote an e-mail to my manager and my HR rep, explaining the incident in detail, and including the fact that I had no idea he was a manager. Nothing in his manner ot behavior suggested in any way he was management. For all I knew he was a janitor with delusions of grandeur. I also pointed out that if this matter was pursued, I would have solid grounds for filing a "Creating a hostile working environment" lawsuit.
At any rate, I had Monday off, but I never told the little fat dude or the HR gal, so they could search all day on Monday and they would never find me.
On Tuesday when I left for work I told my wife "Today may be my last day. If things don't go my way, I will retire on the spot"
When I got to work, there on my desk was a box of safety glasses with side shields. I found this highly amusing.
But that was the only indication that I had that anything ever happened.
I actually as a part of my explanation started off with the fact that I was guilty of not wearing side shields.
So now I am back to the original plan
75 days.

Indeed!

Yesterdays mail brought the fruition of many years of work. The deed to my house, all signed and notarized was delivered to my mailbox. The culmination of about thirty-five years of payments.
If you stay the course and keep on truckin' you can reach your goal. Of course there are those that say it is foolish to tie up all your money in a house when you can cash it in and do whatever you want.
The idea of having my own home all paid off has a greater value than anything that money can buy.
Having achieved one of life's major goals, I now set me sights on the next goal: Retirement.
I have about three months left before I walk away from work. Who knows. it may be less. The target is to make it to DEC 19th and then go on vacation, never to return, except to sign my final papers.
I have a bunch of vacation saved up, sp I will go on vacation until January 23rd which is the 35th anniversary of my employment at Boeing. It is a goal that in reality means nothing, just a date. But I am a person who is very goal oriented, so I have set that goal.
That doesn't mean I can't change my mind between now and then.
I am one bad day away from walking.
It is very empowering to know I don't have to take any crap from anyone. It also gets me in trouble. Things come out of my mouth that I never would have said before, because I basically just don't give a shit any more.


WooHoo!

Yesterday I made my final mortgage payment. A day I didn't ever think would actually get here. I have refinanced my home three times because of a divorce, and twice to take advantage of lower interest rates.
O took out a Home Equity loan to  fix the roof, and do a bunch of other stuff. All paid off.
At the moment I owe about $350 in various bills. which will be paid in full next payday.
I will be debt free.
Retirement now becomes a real possibility rather than a remote concept.
It's kinda scary as well as exciting.
Now I need to start getting the house in shape to sell once I retire.
Sell the house and move to the country.
Buy a place with some elbow room and a proper shop.
Much excitement awaits.

A Nice little Hike

The two pictures are of Twin Falls, wa. This is the lower falls. It is about 150 feet tall, really spectacular in real life. And the two pictures are approximately in the right positions to show the whole falls.

The hike isn't too bad. About a half a mile from the parking lot to the trailhead, then a mile down to the falls by a switchback trail. The last quarter of a mile is so steep that they have put in stairs.

The hike back up is at least twice as long as the hike down. The dogs needed to stop several times to catch their breaths. After all, they have to take four steps to my one. All I can say is that I made it. That and my legs aren't too sore from the hike.

We need to get out and do this more often.

What a wonderful day.

Too Busy

As the saying goes "I'll sleep when I'm Dead."
I had the dubious privilege of working both days last weekend. So I didn't have much time to accomplish anything at home.
The Z will start, but runs real rough and then dies. I'm not sure what the problem is. I think it is probably a vacuum leak somewhere, but I haven't tracked it down yet. I am waiting for a couple of parts to come in before I get focused pon figuring it out. Upper and Lower Radiator hoses, thermostat and gasket. Should be in in time for me to finish putting it back together this weekend. Now if I can just figure out how come it is idling  so rough.
Last weekend we went to see Marcia Ball at Jazz Alley. She was a lot of fun. I love that whole boogie woogie piano blues thing, and she does it the best. Jazz Alley isn't exactly the kind of place where you get up and dance in the aisles, but the crowd was on its feet and dancing. A lot of fun.
Next weekend is Keiko Matsui, who I really like. Best jazz/new age keyboardist in the world as far as I am concerned. I have several of her CDs and play them regularly. Should be a very nice evening.
On an entirely different subject, the balance on my mortgage is $3100. So this retirement stuff is getting real. I am a little uncomfortable with the concept of not working, but will make sure I have enough projects to keep me busy and out of the hair of She Who Must Not Be Named.

Did you hear that?

A rumble in the distance, a low roaring sound. An almost smooth braaap?
The Z has stirred to life again. Not well, but it does run.
I got far enough that I decided before I went any further, I should try getting it to run. It currently does not have a radiator, is missing hoses and has a hole in the exhaust manifold where the EGR tube should be. None of those things should keep it from starting.
You wouldn't want to run it for any length of time with no radiator, and the lack of an EGR tube will make it run like crap, but run it should.
And run it did. Not for long, but just enough to let me know nothing catastrophic is wrong. The EGR fitting on the exhaust manifold is stuck tight. I put a box end wrench on it after soaking it in rust buster, and reeefed on it with a pinch bar, to no avail. All I did was round off the corners of the fitting.
Time for drastic measures. Blow torch? Impact gun and air chisel? Special socket for removing bolts with the corners rounded off?
It's a good thing I don't have access to a cutting torch.

Last Fishing Trip

Uncle Fred was my fishing partner for about 40 years. He was the one who taught me how to catch trout in the high country streams in Northern Idaho.
Every time I saw him later in life, the conversation would inevitably turn to fishing, usually to one particular fishing trip.
At the time the limit was 15 trout per person per day. We came back with 30 trout and one whitefish. Since I caught the whitefish I was declared the winner of our informal competition. Since there was a whole house full of people, the catch provided a meal for the whole family. And the fish were all substantial. The smallest was about 10 inches, the largest 18 inches. I have never seen a better looking string of fish.
Last year he passed away of cancer. I visited him in the hospital, and he made a special request of me "Would you do me a favor?"
"Sure Uncle Fred, you just ask".
Take me fishing one last time."
"You got it."
We had a meeting of the clan in Sandpoint, Idaho last week, and my cousin Ginger brought his ashes. I had told her my intentions to scatter his ashes along our favorite stretch of fishing water.
On Sunday I set off alone for Deep Creek with his ashes. It is hard to catch fish this time of year. The water is warm and the level low, so what fish there are are laying in the bottom of the holes, under logs and are inactive. If you want to catch fish you need to get your spinner and worm right down where they live. It means you will get snagged a lot and have to wade in to work the hook loose from wherever you have it snagged, but if you want to catch fish, that's the way you have to do it.
I had made my brag. I was told there were no fish in that stretch of creek. I told the family that I was going fishing, and I would catch fish.
The fishing was slow. A few little bait thieves here and there but nothing worth pursuing, so I fished along and scattered ashes as I went. I thought I was going to get skunked.
 I set Uncle Fred's ashes on the bank of the stream, and told him "Uncle Fred, I'm doing my part of this. I am carrying you down the stream and scattering your ashes as I go. It's time you got in the game here and encouraged a fish to bite. I'm doing catch and release, so it won't deplete the stock, so go do something."
I'm not claiming any supernatural intervention or anything. but shortly thereafter I caught a beautiful 10" brook trout. Bright sparkling in the sun, colorful and firm. I went to take a picture with y cell phone, but the phone was dead.
Shortly after that I tied into a big trout. Probably would have gone 18 inches. He dived into the roots of a stump, wrapped the line around a root and broke off my spinner.
Uncle Fred would have loved it, me going home with one fish caught and "The one that got away."
So long Uncle Fred. There will be other streams and other fishing trips, but I will probably never fish that section of stream again.

Vacation

A guy could get used to this vacation stuff. Or as I like to put it, practicing for retirement. The only real problem is that I still have a sense of urgency because I only have so much time to accomplish a lot of stuff.
So yesterday I slowed down.
The only thing I accomplished was to make a batch of home made applesauce. Nothing like a fresh warm batch of applesauce with a little cinnamon.
I am slowly working on the basement. There was a patch of black mold on the drywall in the basement, so I had to tear a section drywall out. The spare room was a mess, so I had to rearrange everything. In order to move something, you have to have a place to put it.
The drywall was behind an old hide-a-bed sofa that needed to go to the dump. But since it was too big to fit in the truck, first it had to be torn apart, which took most of the day. I still need to finish cleaning up and make a trip to the dump, buy the new drywall, install it, Spackle it and paint it.
Oh, and I still want to get the Z finished and ready to drive.
Oh, and I have a family reunion for four days in Idaho.
Today the powers that be (She who shall not be named) insists I take a day off. We are going to go see Maleficent and then go to dinner. Probably at the Wild Fin.
That leaves me two days to get the Z running. I can do it in two days, if everything goes right.
But when has everything ever gone according to plan?

The End of Civilization as we know it

Yesterday, pot went on sale legally for recreational purposes here in Latteland. For all the hype and stern warnings by concerned conservatives, life as we know it did not come to an end. A 65 year old Grannie was the first person in the state to make a legal over-the-counter purchase, and although she had a little trouble making change, she did not morph into a deranged crazed killer.

The lines were not all that long, and I heard of no line jumping or riots. The crowd seemed quiet, and, well, normal.

In other news a 20 something young cereal killer ate a whole box of chocolate Cheerios.

A couple of hipsters became addicted to blo-pops. They were heard to say "O wow it starts out like hard candy, and then all the sudden you realize you are, like chewing gum. Like when did that happen?"

Energized housewives were seen placidly cleaning house, although they tended to get distracted. "hey look how the light refracts through this cut glass vase! It makes little rainbows!"

There were noticeable fewer road rage incidents, because people went home and tried out their new purchases, and then responsibly stayed home to watch the sprinkler.

Domestic violence reports took a decline, but no one is sure why. maybe the usual participants just couldn't get up the energy to give a hoot.

On the other hand, close call pedestrian/car incidents were on the rise as people stopped in the middle of the street to watch the street lights change.

And so it goes.

July?

How did it get to be July already?
Last time I checked it was early June, then BAM, July.
I stall haven't gotten the Z back together, but that's OK I am in no tearing hurry, just want to get it on the road before the Summer is over.
Spent all day Sunday getting the timing chain on, the cam re timed, the oil pump on, the timing chain cover back on.
I checked the timing mark and everything was right on, So I can proceed with no fear. I took a bog box end wrench and turned the engine over very carefully and there is no interference in the engine. Now the only thing left as far a s timing goes is to get the distributor lined up. Since the drive is by slot and key you can only be in or 180 degrees out. Since I didn't turn the crank or cam when it was apart, should be fine as long as the rotor is pointed at number one piston when the timing is at top dead center.
I am putting everything back together with stainless steel allen headed bolts, except for a couple of places where you can't get to the bolt heads.
Next comes the water pump, then a couple of water inlets, then the exhaust manifold.
Then the intake,  distributor, wiring, and valve cover.
Gas pedal linkage and gas/vacuum lines.
Whew, I'm tired already.

Back on Track

The timing chain cover just came in for the Z. Degreased and bead blasted, it bears little resemblance on the surface to the beat up grimy one I took off of the car. Now I can begin putting things back together.
I also got in all the nuts and bolts to put everything back together, ad well as a new crank seal and gasket set. By the time I get through getting it all back together it will have cost me about $250 to replace the head gasket. A lot more than I figured. It will be sooooo nice when I get it running again and can drive it.
On another front, there has been a lot of e-mail traffic back and forth between myself, my cousin Ginger, and my newly found cousins.
We have also connected on Facebook. I don't care that much for facebook, but it has been good for reacquainting with long lost family and friends.
One of the things that came out of this all was that two of my cousins are going to be coming to the meeting of the clan in Sandpoint this summer. Ben, who lives in Florida is going to fly up to Spokane, where he will meet up with his sister Ursula, and they will come together.
I have ordered three additional copies of "Candles of the Lord" from the Ursuline sisters in Kentucky. They should be arriving next week. I think my one cousin that lives in Spanaway is going to come over and get her copy. The ones for Ginger and Ben I will probably hang on to until the Meeting of the Cousins in Sandpoint.
It has been an interesting couple of weeks.

Family

When I was 13 my Uncle George passed away from brain cancer. He was still fairly young, and left behind a wife and a bunch of kids.
Their mother, my Aunt Marge was barely functional. The State took her kids away for a couple of years, but eventually she got them back. To me, they just fell off the edge of the Earth. I never heard from her or them again. Always in the back of my mind was the fact that I had a bunch of family out there somewhere.
Last year I set out to verify some things about my family's time in the Four Corners area of the southwest. AMy dad and all of my Aunts and Uncles were born in the town of Waterflow New Mexico. I was told that my grandfather was the farm manager for a Catholic School, so I set out to find out something about the School.
I googled Catholic School New Mexico and got the Sacred Heart Academy. There was a picture of the schoolchildren in 1938. Two of them were my father and my Uncle George. There was a contact number which led me to the book "Candles of the Lord" which is the history of Waterflow and the Sacred Heart Academy, which mentions all of the Warren family members,
Shortly after I started, I got an e-mail from my cousin Ginger. She had been contacted by a Dale Warren of Kentucky, who was in search of a male member of our family to get DNA tested. Since I was headed down that path already I agreed to be tested.
Turned out we are not closely related to any of the established Warren lines, which was a big disappointment. We are not related to dale, but Dale is related to Terry Warren, who was our Uncle Ben's godfather. Small world.
AT any rate I was trying to get beyond Charles Warren, but was having a lot of troub le. Mainly because the name is spelled a lot of different ways. Warren, Worren Waring Warring etc.
I took a trial membership in Ancestry,com, and already belong to Myheritage,com. WHile doing some research of family trees containing information on Charles, I came across a family tree that contained a bunch of information about Charles' ancestry, so I contacted the owner of the family tree.
Mariam told me that a lot of the Warren Family information was given to her by Ben and Laura Warren. Ben was the son of my Uncle George.
I last saw him in 1961.
I asked if I could get their e-mail address, and was given it and told that they had been searching for Warren Family relatives for years.
We have connected. We shared e-mails addresses and someone set up a group mailbox. We all connected on facebook and had a great time meeting and greeting yesterday. I sense the beginning of a long term relationship.
Besides this, I got the front end of the engine of the Z torn apart so I could fix the timing. It was two steps forward and one step back. I got everything torn apart, gor the timing sprocket back on and the tensioner back in place. Unfortunately I dropped the timing case and a corner of it broke off. Al least things are noe going back together rather than coming apart.