Shades of Summer

Today, I thought I'd share just a few shots of our summer.  I haven't carried my camera with me much, only my cell phone, so most pix are from that, and unedited.  "Summer" was short this year from a school standpoint; barely over two months.  Nick started back on the 11th, and today he started his very first, paying job.  He's a bus boy/cleaner at a local franchise of a nationally (?) known restaurant. 

Smoke & fire.

Shortly before leaving to head north, we had a fire not so far away.  Smoke could be seen from our back yard. There was another very bad fire a bit further away while we were gone. 

Lake near Shasta

From a bridge while Nick was driving; this being up in the Mt. Shasta area.  For late July/early August, despite being "in a drought", the lake level is much higher than in recent years.  My personal thoughts, but no proof to back it up, are that the pictures frequently shown via social media of this area with barely any water in it are somewhat staged.  The lake is, I believe, a man-made lake having been created by use of a dam.  There has been a major interstate bridge being built at this location for the last several years.  To work on / create the footings and base structure, water needs to be low or non-existent.  To me, that's a convenient opportunity for certain special interest groups to make their points on water shortages, global warming, what-have-you.  I'm leaning on the side that a great amount of water was drained from this lake to accommodate the construction of the new bridge and now that it's almost finished, and with a good snowfall this past winter, the water level is back to "normal".  It's even higher than levels of decades ago when I've traveled through here at this time of year.

Bright tanker trucks

This has fascinated me for the past several years with my trips to Oregon.  I love these shiny, brightly colored tanker trucks.  I've wanted to get a photo of them since I first saw them but there's no convenient place to pull over to get a shot.  On this day, Nick was driving and traffic for some reason was very slow.  This is around the Black Butte area of Shasta, just north I think. Please excuse the intrusive antenna running right through the middle of the pic - I was just happy to be able to get the picture!

  Nick in the aircraft.

We were in Tillamook one day, my aunt, Nick and I.  This is the inside of this 'guppy' Erickson crane aircraft that's sitting there at the Air Museum.  The building that currently houses the museum (which will be moved to Madras, OR within the next year) was built during WWII as a blimp hangar.  There were two such buildings, but one burned in 1992.

The exterior of that aircraft - 'guppy' face, lol.

The Tillamook Cheese Factory

When I was growing up, a field trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory took place during my elementary years.  I'm not sure why I wasn't on that trip, but I wasn't and I was always curious about it.  In the past couple years, I've been there just for the ice cream, but this year with Nick along, I wanted to see what was there.  They now have a self-guided tour with huge windows that look down on the factory processes and kiosks that have photos and explanations.  This image shows giganto blocks of cheese rumbling in along a conveyor belt to where the woman is (just left of center).  She is manning a station where the cheese, as it moves left, passes through cutting "wires" and after that, she then pushes the block away from her which causes the block to go through another set of wires thus creating rectangular blocks of cheese, I'm guessing 2 - 4 pound blocks after cutting and she places those separately onto the curving conveyor belt that goes to the next step.  The trimmings go into the bin on the cart to her left, which when full is placed onto the conveyor shown towards the bottom of the image.  I didn't read the kiosk info so I don't know what happens to those trimmings.  Maybe pet food or dried and shredded/ground to powder?  Another window area looked down upon the smaller blocks going into the plastic wrappers.  This particular cheese wasn't being encased in the more well-known orange Tillamook Cheese wrapper though.

Classmates

My graduating class of 1971 had it's 45-year picnic reunion.  My sister is on the right in the hot pink, and the gent on the left in black, was my high school sweetheart.  His hair is longer than mine!  The lady barely visible behind him in white, is the home-town gal who keeps us all together and has for the last 45 years.  We have a picnic gathering on every 5-year anniversary, and a bigger event held over three days on our 10-year level anniversaries.  I've missed a few over the years.  One of the classmates and her husband, own the property the picnic is held on and it is a wonderful, park-like setting next to a creek with some well-planned features - it's their own private 'park' they've created and I'm thankful they welcome the whole class (or those who actually attend) for the reunions.  Being a small town, our graduating class only had around 70 students.  We've lost eight or nine of the guys already and that of course, is very sad.  Others, though they live within just 20 miles, have never shown up for a reunion.  That too is very sad.  We had a wonderful time.  One of the classmates, and the old boyfriend - his best friend, even during school years, would run Dory fishing boats out of Pacific City as commercial fishermen.  They had gone out on the two days prior to the reunion and caught crab and other fish, bringing both as their food contribution.  The crab was cooked and cleaned.  Towards the end of the day, he told us he didn't want to take any of it home with him, and had brought gallon-size zip-top bags for anyone to take home any amount of crab they wished.  My sister and I filled three bags, still leaving a LOT (we nearly the last to leave), to take back to my aunt's where we stayed.  My aunt, and Nick, were in 7th Heaven that night enjoying the crab.  In fact, we enjoyed it for several more days!

My dad.

 Nick and I visited my dad.  He'd had his back surgery in May.  I didn't think he looked as well this time as he had in April.  He's very unhappy.  As I knew beforehand and tried to tell him, his plans in moving to this location didn't go as he thought they would.  He is wanting to move back to the town where he and my Mom lived, but now has no place to go, and probably can't afford to move back if he could even find a rental apartment.  He should not live alone regardless of his thoughts that he can care for himself (he can't).  Medically, he's a non-compliant patient, so his back is not healing as well as it should...and he's 83.

Nick the mad painter.

OK, well Nick wasn't mad, but he does look a bit devious in this image.  When my uncle had deteriorated to the point he could no longer maneuver the stairs, my aunt had their bedroom moved down to the guest room.  Now that he's gone, she wants to be back upstairs, but wanted to clean, paint, and refloor beforehand.  The younger set were given the task (with some $$ incentives) to repaint.  They had a blast.  My aunt supervised, and I peaked in now and then.  The blue is now a very soft yellow.

Oops!

Even Bo got in on the act.  He had his own "brush".  Well, sort of, he likes to wag his tail - even against the freshly painted wall.  This black lab was trying to bring out his golden retriever genes.  He weighs 125 pounds.  His full sister is golden retriever in appearance and only weighs about 75 pounds.  They get to play together frequently as she lives right next door with my cousin and family, and the respective fenced back yards have a connecting gate.  

Stewy

My cousin's son has been in 4-H for several years.  He had a pretty mellow sheep this year.  Stewy was a market lamb destined for 'the table'.  This was at the Yamhill County Fair.  In this class, he placed last because he hadn't cleaned the shavings off his sheep's belly and legs.  It was a showmanship class.  He was in another class in which he received a blue ribbon.  While there, I wandered over to the horse barns and took in the familiar (and missed) smells of horses, leather and manure.  I got to pet many a soft equine muzzle and became quite melancholy.  I had horses in my childhood, and showed at this very fair while in 4-H.  When you go to the fair to view the animal shows, one goes early and only pays parking and leaves when the show is over.  The second day of showing, I chose to drive separately as I wanted to take in some of the horse shows and my aunt planned to leave right after the sheep show.  I sat in the bleachers of the arena and reminisced with great joy of my own years there.  Before that though, as we walked up to the sheep arena, there was a lady holding a beautiful saddled Arabian.  I walked up and conversed with her.  She allowed me to get more of my 'horse fix' by petting him and even hugging his neck.  Nothing like the feel and smell of a horse.  No, I didn't ask to ride - though it was tempting.  It's been 10 years or more since I've been on the back of a horse.

Is that an eruption?

We had a traffic construction stop at a good place for a shot of Mt. Shasta.  The clouds make it look like she's erupting.

Nick showing off his work cap.

Nick needs a hair cut.  That poufy hair looks cute under that cap.

Dressed for work.

About 40 minutes before he had to start work.  His 'uniform' as required.  Just one more step of realizing that my baby will eventually be out and on his own.  Makes me sad.  In the meantime, he has another year of school, and maybe he'll even stay here with us as he looks into his college years.  He wants to take a year off.  I'm recommending he doesn't for a number of reasons.  Even if he continues with only one or two classes a semester, it'll be easier than taking that year off entirely, for him to return when he decides his career direction. 

Drawing Near...or not

From James 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 

This is clearly an admonition for me today.  All the while I was at church this morning, I could not keep my heart, mind and soul focused on worship to the Lord.  I was all over the place.  

I likewise had a restless night of sleep after receiving a letter from my dad yesterday.  I might say, it's the very first ever letter I've received from him.  Initially, I was really excited.  But then I opened it.  He asked me to send the titles to his vehicles, something I've intended to do but haven't been sure just to whom I should send them (remember, he has dementia, lives at the home of an ex-wife, and his brother took over power of attorney) and he included two stamps to cover postage.  I don't want his stamps.  I will return them.  This is the letter he sent:  

I covered names in the letter since I don't use real names here.  It's hard to read his writing - he's semi-literate which I think involved an undiagnosed learning disorder in his youth.  The content is what I am troubled over even though I know that much of it is because he has dementia.  I've had so many "retaliatory" letters composed in my mind since yesterday, but will not write them.  One day, he will kneel before the Lord, and he'll know what's true and what's not, but sadly, he doesn't know the Lord and has no relationship with Him and doesn't know what's true anymore. 

You may be wondering what's so bad about this letter - the history, the conversations and stories since my mom died, the implied accusation(s) based on falsehoods from my estranged brother, but mostly from my dad's own warped, confused memory of events which include complete fabrications.  This letter hurts my heart to the core.  And, it's what isn't there.  There's no father-daughter relationship there.  I don't know that he's capable of such, and yet, for my entire life, I suppose I've yearned for the type of father (and mother) depicted in movies and TV from the era in which I was a child.  You know, the Cleavers, or Ozzie & Harriet, the Waltons, Lassie, all those where parents, while firm, were loving and encouraging.  Zip, nada, never happened and never will.  Which has led me to really ask God, who I believe places us in our respective families, why? what am I suppose to do with this? how is this to bring you glory? how is any of this 'for good'?  I see a family so divided, so unattached to each other, so bitter, so filled with resentment, and I want to do nothing but run from them and be cut off from them.

So all of that to explain my distractions during a time I should have been worshiping and learning.  I fussed about Nick being so annoyed by fragrances (something sickeningly sweet that smells like burnt marshmallows and an 'old man's' cologne) that he got up and sat on a bench outside; watching a young black man with absolutely beautiful dark skin sitting next to his mom(?) of lighter skin with reddish hair-fighting against dozing off and eventually getting up and also leaving; noticing another young man a few pews ahead of him who was either 7' tall or extremely long-waisted as the top of his shoulders was level with the top of the heads of all others - his head stuck out like a sore thumb, attendees who got up later to return-presumably a restroom break and thinking maybe I should go, or maybe it was just that I was freezing that made me feel like I should go too, others who had tablets that flickered every time they caught the overhead lights, the bright glare that came in every time an outer door was opened, and noticing that I really need to trim my toenails - very noticeable as the too-long nails were digging into the toes next to them since I haven't worn solid shoes in awhile, and the guy in front of me...no one in front of him, so why was he moving all over the place? Every time I moved to see the pastor clearly, he'd move so that I couldn't see him...it was only he and his wife in the short pew in front of me.  Marty was thinking he'd done something wrong and I was trying to move away from him :/   There you have it, the story of my distractions.  

It seemed I couldn't draw near if I tried.  I'm sure glad He doesn't give up on me, because I can be a real mess.  This probably wasn't the 'double-mindedness' spoken of in this verse, but I certainly wasn't single-minded this morning.
  

Fighting the Grouchies

I'm feeling the grouchies today.  I'm sure it's in large part having stayed up until midnight  playing Lego Lord of The Rings on XBox!  It was a busy week of house cleaning (and hardly making a dent - at least to my preferences - but as I like to say 'some done is better than none done!'...and there's SO much to do.  Overall, I'm years behind in the deep cleaning arena, all the way back to when we first had the A/C installed and the dust that was everywhere afterward.  Then there was the remodel of two bathrooms.  Add illness and injuries, and most recently, my 18 months of back and forth travel helping my dad.  

And on that note, my dad's phone was found, I've been able to reach him once, he has called me once, the uncle has not stayed in touch whether by phone or by email :/ and a funny thing happened yesterday.  My dad's bank, but the branch in my uncle's small town, called to say that though a new power of attorney had been submitted, I had not signed to remove mine, and they were going to send forms for me to sign relinquishing POA.  At that time, the representative was still able to give me the balances of my dad's accounts, and it was very interesting.  I will preface this with...the 'missing' funds could have been set up in a separate account in order to gain a larger interest rate (like that makes any difference in today's economy), but my suspicions grow considering my uncle hasn't bothered to request any records be sent to him let alone my dad's checkbook.  I imagine the checkbook was replaced with checks bearing the new address, so that could be a non-issue.   Today, I got another call from the same bank lady, saying it wasn't necessary for me to sign the documents after all, as the change was requested by my dad.  I had told her yesterday that he has dementia.  

I had tried to call my dad yesterday, but again could not reach him.  I intend to make copies of some of the documents, some to send to my dad's tax man, and some to send to my uncle and will send the latter requiring my uncle's signature.  Perhaps my expectations of others' behaviors are too high.  

Another grouchie-inducer, there are ANTS in my sewing room.  I'm not sure what they're eating (well, right now they're eating "Terro" ant bait, lol) but this is the first we've had ants in the house since the last time I used the bait, back around the first of the year I think, and I've not spent much time in there in two months.  As long as the ants are in there, I will not be.  Last time it took about three days for them to eat through the Terro and disappear.  It doesn't matter, my sewing machine needs to go to the hospital and I've been in no hurry to get it there.  My car also needs to go to the auto spa for an oil change and check-up, but again, no hurry to get it there.  I've hardly left the house except to re-stock my pantry, go to church, go to a doctor appointment, have breakfast at IHOP with a friend, attend a memorial service, and dinner at an Asian buffet with Nick and Marty - was not happy with finding a hair in the Kimchi there, but otherwise the food was good.

If I can find my camera - might have been hauled off by the ants! - I'll try to get a quilty post done for Sunday over on WOT.  I did buy a little bit of fabric while in Oregon during those 6.5 weeks, and need to do a stash report!  The fabric still needs to be washed as well.  

And one last thing contributing to my grouchies today, since I was rather non-energetic, I thought I'd set the timer (all good intention) for an hour and continue playing XBox L-LOTR.  I played for a little over a half-hour, finishing a level, saved it, started another level, and it froze.  The XBox itself froze up, so I went to it and powered it down, powered it up, the tray opened, I took the disc out to check for any dust or prints and before I could put it back in, the tray closed.  Permanently.  It.will.not.reopen!  Grrrr.   So I will have to wait until Nick gets home from school and see if he knows how to get it to work again.  I seem to recall this may have happened once before years ago and he had to take something apart and reconnect a spring, but I could be imagining that.  

Maybe God is telling me it's time to re-focus on Him today!  He IS still in control, and will always be.  So, grouchies! BE GONE! and Lord, thank for today, grouchies or not!

Duck, Duck, Duck

Yeah, I'm watching the Ducks womp Washington.  While I did not attend either school, I am rooting for the Ducks of course, after all, I am a Duck Out Of Water!

And speaking of Ducks, yes, I am here in the wet land again, and hooray, it has been wet off and on.  I've enjoyed that part.  I will most likely be here for another three weeks, maybe more.

My dad had a medical procedure on Wednesday - nothing requiring recuperation time, and it went well and so far nothing appears to be amiss but full results won't be in for about a week.  The very next day we drove over to the hospital where he will, finally be having the surgery on his cervical spine to remedy his previous surgery in the same location, for his pre-op.  I hope he quits complaining after this, but that's highly unlikely.  At his age, it seems he's constantly complaining of some ailment including his inability to regain the 20-25 pounds he's lost this past year, and that he no longer has the muscle mass of a 30-year old.  It's tough to be 81!

I'm hoping to take part in Bonnie Hunter's annual Quiltville Mystery Quilt again this year [watch for any updates at my quilt blog Webs of Thread, if I have any].  At the very least I will be following other bloggers' progress while I print out each week's instructions.  I've already picked up the paint chips from Lowe's and was surprised to see that the yellow one wasn't quite as yellow as my computer monitor made it appear.  I may be stretched to shop my stash for this one, not to mention my not being home, so may end up with some additions to my stash numbers again - oh darn! right?

With this trip north, I brought a box of genealogy to work on in my spare time and I have an embroidery project I can work on too.

Those of you who do, please keep praying for me in all areas as I continue to help my dad, rub elbows with family, and am so very far from my husband, son, and church though all are accessible via the internet.  Oh, and include my dad with his surgery which is for this Thursday, and that he'd be a "nice" patient - his reputation is one of non-compliance, impatience, hostility and a whole lot of 'language'.