Good Night Sweetheart

There is a time for every season and this is a sad time. My lovely wife of 53 years is dying of Cancer.  She has asked that no heroic measures be taken as she thinks it would be rude to put off your death when God calls.  So, we sit by her hospital bed in the living room and watch her struggle for breath.  It is agonizing for us, and I'm sure, agonizing for her as well.  She will not go gentle into the night.  I may have screwed that quote up since I'm not thinking too clearly right now.  This is a good space to put down my thoughts since I don't know who reads it, probably no one since I haven't posted in over a year.  Nonetheless, I will miss her, she has been a part of my soul since we met in high school 55 years ago.  Ours has been a good life and there are no regrets for any of it.  We have traveled a long road together and shared much of our lives with each other.  I suppose there are hundreds or even thousands of guys in the same boat tonight, I wish them the best, we each have to do this alone even if we are surrounded by family and friends.  Good night sweetheart,  sleep well, may the angels watch over you.

Can't Stay Away

I last wrote on March of last year. I had found Facebook and decided I didn't have time to follow FB and keep up my blog and besides I had run out of things to say. Things have not changed much, I have lots to say but I 'm not sure it will do any good to say them. I still think that the radicals in politics and the self-serving lobbyists are rapidly destroying our country. It seems to me that too many people are willing to let it ride and just get on with their lives and that depresses me because I often feel the same way. I have reached my three score and ten and I'm pretty that I will predecease our country, but I do have children and grandchildren and I long for something better for them. We hear it on all sides, crap that ranges from outright lies to half-truths used to try to convince us to buy into their point of view. And, no one challenges it except bloggers crying in the wilderness of the ionosphere. Example: "Citizens owning guns makes for a safer community." Bullshit! Countries with strict gun control laws are safer places to live than the US by ANY measure. "Health care in the US the best in the world." Again, Bullshit! The US is far down the list on any measure of health care statistics EXCEPT for the amount of money spent on health care. We are being fed manure and kept in the dark like a bunch of mushrooms, and we wallow in it and don't complain because we are warm and cozy in it. Problem is, we will soon be uprooted and fed to the pigs.

nuff said, be back someday.

Blog Time

I haven't written in quite a while. The news has been so damned depressing lately that I haven't felt like commenting on it. Our country has become so polarized that I fear for its existence. The art of compromise has vanished and it seems to have become my way or no way. There has to be a middle ground. I'm not just talking politics, this disconnect has crept into our religion, our economics, our relationships. It just sickens me! The stupid bigoted unfeeling conservatives are about to ruin the country.

War

I'm getting a little disgusted with some members of Congress, especially the Democrats who are complaining about President Obama's decisions on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Where were they when George W Bush took us into wars in those places? They were all gung ho and ready to support King George II in his "war on terrorism". Few in either house voted against anything to do with the wars, and they certainly didn't demand an exit strategy! If they had read any of the reasoning against going into Baghdad and removing Saddam during the First Gulf War, they would have realized that invading Iraq was a fool's errand. And, indeed it was. The whole of the Middle East is destabilized and any major withdrawal from Iraq will probably mean an invasion by Iran and a Civil War. As far as Afghanistan is concerned, all we needed to do was look at the Soviet Union's debacle in the 80's. If we didn't want to be stuck in Afghanistan forever, we should have stayed out. The CIA could have taken out bin Laudin in a swift surgical strike. We never did get him and now we have helped destabilize Pakistan and are fighting the same folks the Soviets fought! The problems and enormous and can't be solved with simplistic actions. Wake up Congress! Become part of the solution and not part of the problem.

More Football

Tonight the University of Oregon will play Oregon State University in the "Civil War" football game. For the first time in the 107 year history of the game the winner will be the PAC-10 Champion and play in the Rose Bowl. For years, college football in Oregon has been a step-child in the PAC-10, the state has far fewer people than California, or Arizona and, yes, an even smaller population than Washington. This, and the fact that both schools are in relatively small communities, puts them at a disadvantage in recruiting. However, in the past 10 to 15 years, new scholarship rules and some wealthy alumni have helped narrow that gap. The Oregon schools are now competitive and like the long suffering Chicago Cubs fans we supporters are having a good time knowing that our teams have a chance at a big time bowl game.

I am a University of Oregon fan, but I am reveling in the fact that winner of the "Civil War" will be playing in Pasadena on New Years. Go Ducks! Good luck Beavers.

Football

I am a football fan, High School and College football that is. I love the Oregon Ducks as any alum should and I bleed Black and White for The Vale High School Vikings as anyone who taught there for 44 years should. Yesterday the Vikings played Rainer High School in a 3A State Championship Semi-final game. The game was played in Bend, 5 hours away and I was unable to attend, but I listened to the game on the radio. Vale played very well and after falling behind early, quickly came back to lead 7 - 6 in the first quarter. They led the rest of the game, up 21-6 at half time. Rainer came back and narrowed the score, but each time Vale answered with another score. Then, the unthinkable happened, with only seconds left in the game Rainer tied the score at 28 - 28 and the game went into overtime. The Vikings scored on their possession and went ahead 35 - 28. Then it was Rainer's turn to try to score from the 25 yard line. Vale held them for 3 downs and with 4th down and 2 Rainer went for a pass play and the defense stopped the quarterback and had him in their grasp when he threw the ball. It was caught in the end zone for a touchdown and Rainer went on to score a 2 point conversion. Rainer wins and advances to the Championship game against Amity. Jubilation for Rainer, heartbreak for Vale. That's football, and that's why I love it. Kudos for both teams, great football.

Winter Travel

We went to Canyon City this past Sunday for services at St. Thomas. We woke up to blowing and drifting snow and I knew we were in for a fun ride. Going up Highway 26 on any day is an adventure since it is so lightly traveled once you get past Brogan, 25 miles northwest of Vale. The main highway is US 20 that goes to Burns and then on to Bend and Eugene. It is the main east-west highway across the center of Oregon and gets lots of traffic. US 26 goes east to west as well but is not as good a road especially in the winter. When it snows on Sunday morning it takes a while for the crews to get to 26 because 20 is the priority. Consequently, early Sunday morning trips up US 26 can be an adventure. When we left town at 8 am there was an inch or two of snow on the road and as we went along it got deeper until it was 4 to 5 inches deep. Fortunately, it wasn't too slick for the studded snow tires, but I could see that Jean was getting a little nervous. Never fear, I told her, we'll get to plowed road pretty soon. Sure enough, we met the snowplow in Cow Valley (7 miles past Brogan). From there on, the roads were ok, still snow packed but well sanded and plowed. On the way back, 3 hours later, most of the snow had melted off and the roads were great. Winter travel in Eastern Oregon can be very interesting.

Water Heaters

Last night after we got home from shopping, Jean was doing the dishes when she discovered that we had no hot water. Since that is usually the signal for a flood in the guest room, I got up from my chair and went to the utility room to check. Sure enough, there was water on the floor of the utility room. On further investigation I discovered that the water came from a leak in the outflow pipe at the top of the water heater. Good news! the tank had not sprung a leak. I turned off the power to the heater and put some towels down to catch the water and went to bed. This morning I removed the leaking flex pipe and replaced it with a new one from Olson's Hardware, reset the breaker switch and turned on the power. Hot water! Huzzah! We dodged a bullet, instead of a $300+ water heater we only needed a $15 flex pipe.

I am beginning to understand better my neighbor Paul's frustration as he neared his last days. He had been a handyman all his life and near the end he was unable to do those simple repair jobs. The cost of hiring the job done is exorbitant and the loss of the ability to do it had to be painful. I found it harder to do this job because I have trouble holding on to the wrenches. When you have no feeling in your hands it's difficult to tell when you have a good grip on the tool and if it is aligned correctly. Had I been unable to do this job we would have been without hot water for at least a day or more. Getting a plumber to come to Vale is no easy task in itself and they charge $60/hr for travel time and there's no telling what the charge for the repair would have been. Thanks be to God that I can still do the fixing around here.

Weather Report

It's snowing! While October snowfall is not unknown here in Eastern Oregon, it is uncommon and deserving of comment. It won't stick, the air temperature is 40 degrees and the ground isn't frozen. It is pretty, the snowflakes drifting down are always magical. The earliest snow that I remember was the year it snowed for the opening of Pheasant season in mid-October. We hunted in 3 inches of wet snow that year, and we have had a few snowy Halloweens as well. However, the usual pattern is for snow at Thanksgiving and it sticks. Sometimes we have snow on the ground from Thanksgiving until mid-March. Sometimes, especially lately, we have no snow at all. All of which brings up the idea of Global Warming. I read the other day that interest in Global Warming is waning, I'm not sure why. All of the evidence points towards cataclysmic results if Global Warming is not reversed, yet people are still disputing the reality. I'm sure that I'll hear some yo-yo use today's snowfall as evidence that Global Warming is a myth. They'll say something like, "so much for Global Warming". I'm not concerned for myself, but I am for my children and especially my grandchildren.

Tamarack Colors

We went to Canyon City today for a service at St. Thomas. It was a great day for a drive, the Aspen trees are in their best fall colors and the Tamarack trees have turned as well. For those who aren't familiar with Tamarack or Western Larch, they are evergreen trees that lose their needles in the Fall. Like deciduous trees, they turn color, in this case a bright yellow gold, before their needles fall. In the spring the needles grow back in a light green and turn a darker green as the summer progresses. They are quite striking, so we took some pictures. I love digital cameras.

GPS

I got a GPS system for my birthday. Actually I saved a number of Amazon.com gift cards a bought a Magellan Maestro. I can't wait to use it. We aren't doing much traveling right now so I will have to try it out on my well known route to Canyon City. At least I will know if it is working right since I Already know where I'm going. It could come in handy next spring when we help Cathy and Pam move back to Oregon.

On another note, I see that some of the Dem Senators are balking on a government option on health care. We should do all in our power to defeat anyone who opposes meaning health care reform. If we could get them out of the drug companies and health care insurance companies pockets maybe we could get something going.

Nostalgia Again

This past weekend Jean and I attended our Diocesan Convention in Klamath Falls in South Central Oregon. Our trip to Klamath Falls took us through Christmas Valley in Northern Lake County which brought back a flood of memories. In August of 1951 my grand parents, my father, my brother Bruce and I took a Saturday drive into the High Desert east of Bend to scout for antelope. My grandfather had drawn a tag for antelope and he thought it would be a good idea to scout the desert to find a good place to hunt. We turned south off Highway 20 and went through the Lost Forest and continued south. We did spot some antelope and paced them at about 45 mph down the dirt track road we were on. That proved to be a mistake because as we bounced down that dusty desert road we hit a rock which punctured the oil pan of the car. Fortunately, Granddad noticed the loss of oil pressure and stopped before any damage was done to his nearly new Plymouth. However, we were stranded on the high desert of Eastern Oregon with little chance of rescue by a passerby. We had seen nobody on our travels after we turned off Highway 20. My Mom and my brother Emery knew we were on the desert, but had no idea of exactly where. The high desert of Eastern Oregon is all over 4500 feet in elevation and covers an area of over 1000 square miles. We assessed our situation and it didn't look good; we had eaten our lunch and little was left, the same was true for water. There was a windmill visible about 3 miles away so Bruce and I and Granddad decided to walk to it in hopes there was a ranch there. My Dad, who had only one leg, and Granny would stay with the car in case somebody came by. We hiked to the windmill and found only stock tanks filled with green smelly water which Granddad drank but Bruce and I refused. A sign labeled the spot as Buffalo Wells. On the same sign post was a sign pointing east saying "Wagontire 32 miles" and one pointing west saying "Silverlake 36 miles and beneath that one saying "Lake 7 miles". There were no fresh tire tracks on the dirt road, but we opted for Lake hoping there would be a service station available. As we trudged up the road every hill had us expecting a car or the town of Lake. We finally came to a sign pointing south saying "Matlack Ranch 1 mile" and decided that he ranch would be the best option. We got to the ranch and were greeted by the friendly ranchers who told us they had moved into the empty ranch the previous day! The water from the pitcher pump smelled just like the Buffalo Wells water, but it tasted wonderful. The ranchers took their truck out and towed the car into the ranch and fashioned a plug for the oil pan. They fed us, filled the car with oil, gave us 5 gallons of oil and sent us on our way. During dinner they told us it was good that we didn't go to Lake because is was just a dry lake bed, they were the only ranch in the area. Granddad drove us to Bend at a breakneck speed, pausing only long enough to put more oil in the car when the oil pressure went down. We made it home safely with no damage to the car much to the relief of all.

All those memories came rushing back as we drove through Christmas Valley, the town built on the dry lake bed once known as Lake. Now there is a real town with electricity, paved roads and a golf course. I stopped and took a picture of the power line that transformed the desert into an oasis. There's been a real change in the last 50 years.

Global Warming

Today is Blog Action Day and 1000's of bloggers are writing about Global Warming. Much like the Y2K crisis, Global Warming has been slow to pick up concern about the threat to life here on Earth. However, unlike Y2K, Global Warming is not a problem that can be solved with last minute action by dedicated workers working overtime to fix things. We must start now to do all that we can to slow global warming until a long term solution can be found. Despite the naysayers with their junk science and the "know nothings" who look at a cold winter and say the problem is non-existent, Global Warming is a fact and can only accelerate without intervention. One only has to look at the retreating glaciers and the melting polar ice caps to realize that Global Warming is real. The question should not be; "Is man the cause of Global Warming?" but rather; "What can we do to slow or reverse the trend?" I urge everyone to take up the crusade.

Diocesean Convention

The Episcopal Diocese of Eastern Oregon had its 39th annual convention this past weekend in Klamath Falls. K Falls is a 350 mile drive from home so it was really a flying trip for us especially with the time change. We left before noon on Friday and arrived in K Falls at 5 pm with only a stop for lunch in Burns. Skipped Eucharist on Sunday and left around 11 am. Arrived home at 6 pm. We spent a lot of time in the car for about 8 hours of convention time. Nonetheless, it was a great convention. In Jean's words, the energy has shifted 180 degrees. Our new Provisional Bishop, Nedi Rivera, is a wonderful addition for us. she hasn't formed a lot of plans for us, which is good after 7 years of a control freak for a bishop. I sense good things to come, I think she's ready to work with us in forming a vision of our reclaimed diocese. We might even go back to our vision before the train wreck of the past 7 years. I almost ran for Council, but my 70th birthday on Saturday convinced me to let some of the young turks have a go at it. At any rate, I think we're on the right track again.

Rural vs Urban Culture

We watched Oregon Field Guide on OPB this evening and they devoted the entire half hour to a program that puts middle school students from the Portland area on ranches in the John Day Valley. The program was started in response to the students' speaking out in favor of wolf re-introduction into Eastern Oregon. It seems that the ranchers in Eastern Oregon felt that the kids had been brainwashed by environmentalists and they wanted a chance to let the kids see their side of things. It was an interesting program, the kids spend a week living with a ranching family doing all the things done on a ranch in February. The kids worked right alongside the rancher, helping with feeding, calving, vaccinating, and all then 101 other things that go on at a working cattle ranch. The kids seemed to enjoy it and gain a better understanding of where their food comes from. The kids were pretty wise, pointing out that there was little or no recycling in the area, something one girl called, "a slap in mother nature's face". I'm sure that they could teach the folks in the John Day Valley a thing or two. After all, we're all in this thing together.

The one thing that I didn't see was any explanation of the ranchers' hatred of wolves. Wolf predation is an economic blow to the livestock grower, but The Department of Fish and Wildlife reimburses ranchers for losses to wolf predation. In Yellowstone Park the wolf population has helped make a stronger big game population mainly by reducing the number of sick and weak animals and forcing them to move around the area more. Biologists are finally beginning to see that a diverse wildlife population is necessary for a healthy ecology.

I did see my friend Dennis on the show. He spoke very intelligently (unlike some others on the show) about the need for understanding and working together. That always works better than screaming epithets at people who differ with you.

National Parks

We have been watching The National Parks on PBS every night, what a great series. The photography is outstanding and the show is really informative. I have been especially interested in the work needed to protect the parks. It is really unbelievable how people cannot see the need to preserve these places of wonder. I can understand the emphasis on Yosemite although Grand Canyon is, in my opinion, the most spectacular place in the country. I don't have any Grand Canyon pictures on my computer, so you will have to put up with Yosemite.

Auto Repairs

I was sitting in my pickup in the Grocery Store parking lot yesterday waiting for incoming traffic to clear so I could pull out of the lot when I was unceremoniously hit by a much bigger pickup. He was still in his parking slot and I was behind him in the exit lane and unfortunately he did not look in his mirror when he choose to back out. He did not hit me very hard and at first I was inclined to let it go, but he insisted that he would make it right, so I contacted my insurance agent. She had me go to the local body shop and get a estimate so she could start the process. I knew that the repair costs would be much more than I anticipated, but I almost dropped my teeth when I got the estimate; $2300. The whole side of the bed will have to be replaced and it alone costs nearly $1000. We had considered changing our deductible amount but this little incident has convinced us that we should keep it at its present amount. Fortunately, the deductible does not apply in this case but any ding will probably cost $500 or more to repair. Now, if we can get the peeling clear coat fixed the PU will look good again.

Pictures

This is near Elgin, Oregon in NE Oregon.


This is just a short little blurb about the pictures I post. They are very small in the blog and hard to see, however, if you click on the picture with your mouse you will get the full sized picture. When I post pictures I always use the small image but I'm going to play with the sizing and you can play with the sizing on your end. This is sweet Sophia our cat.

Lies

A friend of mine used to say; "a good lie, well told and stuck too, is better than the truth any day." Strangely, he is a conservative Republican. I think they must have secret schools where they teach that kind of crap. The more outrageous the lie the more they push it. (see Sara Palin and death councils) It is also a good idea to run out the race card, after all the non-whites are the cause of all the problems facing the US today. eg; the financial crisis was not caused by money hungry blood sucking banks, but by illegal immigrants taking all the jobs AND drawing Social Security and Welfare. Same with Health care, ...