Happy Thanksgiving!

This will be short, as I am exhaustipated.

We had my family over for the big T-day and the food was excellent. We made too much (That should read Cora made too much, but occasionally I carried something to the table or handed her a utensil, so I am totally taking some credit!). We are both stuffed and tired. My niece and nephews were all over the house. Never in one spot for more than a few seconds. It was great catching up with my Sister and Bro-in-Law. The latter took my computer and proceeded to administer last rights. He did mange to dig some malware off that my usual program was apparently overlooking. That's why he is a genius! It is acting better, but I am still going to attempt to take advantage of the Black Friday deals and get something better. Actually, his ministrations may make it possible for me to get stuff off this computer that previously was not possible!

My computer currently operates with 512MB memory(RAM) and 40GB of hard drive. The ones that are bottom wrung out there today have 3GB memory (RAM) and between 160 and 250GB of hard drive! Their processors doubtlessly make mine look like a chariot does next to a jet fighter. I thought about netbook, but I want the capability of running CDs, DVDs and burning the same. I hope I can get lucky!

Since this is Thanksgiving, and I rarely say so specifically, I am thankful that I have such a great family, so many great friends, and such a wonderful wife! Thanks you folks for following my blog and being a part of my life!

OK, that's enough mushiness. Go eat some leftovers!

Gifts, Please, and Keep 'Em Coming!

So Christmas with the FAMILY! Here are some photos which I will let do the talking for me.

Here is a niece and nephew with their grandpa...or Papa

This is Emma with Grandma.

My newest nephew! David! Isn't he the cutest? Tell me you wouldn't just hug this kid as hard as you could?

Emma models the outfit Cora picked out for her. I think she is destined for Vogue...

Eli, looking like having a picture taken is maybe not on his top ten list of things to do on Christmas Eve...

Emma discovering one of her presents.

Eli and his Thomas the Train!

Grandparents and Grandkids...

Dad helping his kids...

Mom and Daughter discussing the attributes of this gift.

Me, to prove I was there.

Cora was, too.

David again, he is the cutest!

It was great! I got some great gifts, but most of all I spent time with family! I enjoyed it! I hope you get some good time with your family, too! That's what the holiday is for asfar s I am concerned! Family!

Blueprint to Happiness

So, I have been working maintenance the last two days. Not really hard work, I have just been organizing the blueprints...the district has A LOT of blueprints. Every building, and some that have gone. And you would not believe HOW DAMNED MANY BLUEPRINTS THERE ARE!! Apparently it is tradition to remodel the schools every 20 to 30 years, that is when they don't build new ones. This district has been around for about 80 years...each time there is a remodel they have 7-10 blueprint sets, if not more. Plus numerous drawings and drafts. Lets just say there are tons of prints and drawings for me to organize.

I've found some really neat ones. I found the orignial prints to the old HS from 1934. I found a few from 1935, 1948, and 1954. My favorite was found at the end of the day...they were from 1927! The grade school from around here. It was really neat seeing the detail work the architects expected of the craftsmen. I have been re-rubber-banding the newer ones and trying to label them all with school, type of print, and date. The old ones get wrapped in some paper to protect them as best as I can...I never thought much of blueprints, but there was A LOT of work tht went into them! I am amazed. It has been educational, too. Since now, just looking at the plans I am becoming familiar with the ways the schools changed through the years...what additions came first and what the schools looked like. I thought I was almost done this morning, until I walked around the corner and found BOXES more. Oh, well. It isn't bad work. I actually enjoy going through old papers and stuff...So, it is not really work, but a certain kind of happiness for me!

I took my lunch at 7:45am this morning. I called around to some stores to see if the "Socks" I wanted to get Cora were in. They said there were three socks! I told them I would be right there. Needless to say I got Cora's special socks today! As I was walking out two others had bought the other two...uh, socks. I am so hppy I ws able to find the socks she has wanted...She will be so happy!

Tomorrow, we spend Christmas Eve with my family. I hope for some cool gifts!!! Wish me luck!

Hey, Thanks!

Thanksgiving.

It's one of my favorite holidays. No, that's incorrect. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Yeah, I love gorging myself and I love good food (more than I should, I fear, especially given my desire to avoid exercise). Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for different reasons than that, though. I think I narrowed it down a few years ago. It's because Thanksgiving brings up all of those very old memories and is a time we set aside for family.

Admittedly, these past few years, many of our Thanksgivings have been spent mainly with my in-laws, but that is how things have turned out, and let's just be honest, I consider them just as much family as I do anyone else. Thanksgiving is the day we get to spend with our loved ones and, even if we don't come out and say it, we know that we are loved.

I remember the Thanksgivings spent in my youth with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. My dad's mother was never, now that I trully appreciate cooking I know this, a very good cook. At least, not when I was a kid. I did not know any better then, but I do now, and having had her cooking, appreciate good food even more. Do not get me wrong, My Grandma H. was a great lady, with a soft spot for me, and I for her, but her cooking was halfhearted by the time I was of an age to remember it clearly.

My other Grandma, though...well, lets just say she was a very good cook. I can't get into the semantics and the differences in kitchens or cooking techniques, because I was a boy and, quite honestly, did not spend more than the required time in the kitchen to gulp down the turkey and rush off to play with the cousins...as soon as I was permitted, in any case. The Turkey was always great, but, I think it was Grandma's Turkey Gravy that made Thanksgiving Dinner SOOOO good.

Beyond the cooking, though, there was relaxation and family. After every dinner, there was a period where the triptofan kicked in and everyone just sort of laid about the house wherever there was room. I like that lounging part.

And, as for family? At my Grandma H.'s the grown-ups sat around and talked and we kids did not get out for awhile. Still, there was inevitably going to be a wrestling match between my dad and my uncle or one of the others...my dad's chest hair seemed to always come out the loser...ok, TMI.

At my Grandma C.'s, the kids could go out in the acre of evergreens that my grandfather had planted. He had passed away in 1976, and so any plans he had for them were long gone. Still, it made a great playground for playing army or hide-and-seek or any other games we came up with. Sometimes, I would just go out and try and imagine my Grandad alive.

I think the strongest memories I have of Thanksgiving, though, are after my Grandma H. had passed and just before we lost my Grandma C. My mom's sister and her husband had bought a place in Cle Elum...up in the Cascades. It was a three or four bedroom house that they got as a place to get away from the hassles of Seattle...or that's what the story was. It was old, a veterinarian had originally owned it. I was driving and had my own car. I also had my camera, a Pentax P3N SLR.

It was, as it turned out, the final Thanksgiving we would have with my Grandma C. Just about all of the local family was there. When it got too hot in the house, or just too crowded, we could go for walks, or for me, I could sometimes go for a short exploratory drive. I took my camera. I now wish I had been more generous with film and had taken more of the family, but at that age you simply know that family members have always been there and they always will. I still have warm memories of a simply furnished home with, then new (to us), halogen lighting. We then might play games, usually Uno. Ahh, what memories can do.

So, Thanksgiving. I want to give my thanks for my family, both on my side and my wife's. I am always glad to see my niece and nephews. I think know they are the best kids around. I am glad that my sister and her husband, Scott, are nearby, and doubly glad they like the GPS as much as I do...if not more. I am glad that my parents remain, by and large, healthy and alive. I am glad that I have gotten the chance to become as close as I am with my Father-in-Law and Mother-in-Law, they are really great people who seem to accept me for what I am (A wonderful guy, if there is any doubt out there). I am thankful that I can consider my sister-in-law and her husband, Ryan, friends. I am thankful for my other Sis-in-Law and Brother-in-Law, too. I am also thankful that I have been able to call Cora's Grandmother my own, too. It's always good to have a grandmother around, not only are they useful, but they are always good for a hug, too!

Mostly, though, I am thankful that I have been able to spend so many Thanksgivings with Cora. I doubt I could love anyone as much as I do her.

I have a job that I enjoy. Friends and family (mostly family who double as friends). Good food and fine pets. So, yeah, I have much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Notable Notary Nemeses

I'm not noted for patience, Cora nevertheless notified me that I needed a notary. "NO!" I said. "Not now! You're not nice, and I never needed a nasty, nerdy notary before."

Ok, I am out of N words. She really did set me to finding a notary. It REALLY was not fun. Actually my search began yesterday. I finlly found notary that answered the phone. However, after Ihad told her the situation, she said, "Could you speak slower and enunciate?" So, I did. and finally, I was sure she had understood me, but I asked her to repeat what I had told her. She said, "What was your name? Tim?" Finally, she got it right. Then she told me, "I'll try to be on time..." That did not bolster my confidence in her.

This morning, I was thinking of telling her not to come, but though, maybe I should give her a chance and see if she still plns on coming. I called. She said, "What?" (none too clearly, either) I asked if this was the right place, said her name twice. Finally, she said, yes. I told her who I was, reminded her I had spoken to her yesterday, and asked was she still coming this afternoon? She said, "you need speak slower and enunciate." I thought, jeezwomanIthoughtIwasspeakingslowly!! I repeated what I had first said, including my name twice, ONE-WORD-AT-A-TIME. She said, What was your name? JIM!!! This made my decision complete. I said, "The appointment is cancelled." There was no guaranteeing she could find the place, anyway.

I spent an hour or so hunting down a notary. Each time, I hit a dead end. I finally did find a notary. She has also adopted and offered to do it for free. Unfortunately, she could not do it today. I called the psychologist and asked if we could do it tomorrow. He is leaving town tomorrow. So, he doesn't have an opening to sign our reports until next Friday. Isn't that about par for the course? So, yeah, not necessarilly fond of Notaries. Well, not any more than I like Psychologists.

I cleaned house today. My sister is planning to visit on Saturday. I was instructed to make the house ready for kids. I did. It looks good. Now, I am ready to see my neice and nephews!

I went for a walk and noticed the wind was blowing and it did not feel one little bit like summer...it felt like FALL. I should have known, the Hop Farmers have begun harvesting. Monday, the 25th, I saw the first truck full of hops and since then I have been getting little whiffs of hop. hhh, even though I hate autumn, I do like the smells that accompany it. Soon, we will be getting the smells of harvesting grapes, too. When I was growing up you could also get the scent of peppermint being harvested...not so much here, 30 miles away.

Here is a picture of me and Aunt Karen. She is Cora's crazy aunt...we still love her though. This picture was tken back in July. Because I had visited the airshow, her picture did not have priority...here it is now.

So, You Want To Be On My Blog?(updated)

This blog was originally titled "Bo Re Gard, He Was A Good Dog," but I wandered upon this a picture of Carrie, my sister. Last week, I posted a picture of my brother-in-law (her husband) because he made a face in front of my camera. This week, my sister, armed with that knowledge and fully cognizant of my blogging tendancies, made this lovely face. I think she is putting on display, for the world to see, her innate seriousness and maturity. Love ya, Sister C! And I would have kept it, but it was not as flattering as it could have been. Instead, I submit this photo, entitled "Siblings." It had to be about 1984 or 1985.

So, Cora and I worked on the house yesterday. Then we went to town to get some chips and went down to the Father’s Day bash my sister was throwing. It was fun. Dinner was great, even if she looked at me with pleading eyes and motioned toward the barbeque…I am just glad the burgers turned out like they did, since the first few tried to fall apart! The rest of dinner was great! There was a potato salad, baked beans, another salad or two and plenty of chips. Coupled with family, it made for a good dinner.

Here is a shot of Cora and I...kind of a fun picture.

Then my sister, in her devious ways, concocted a game we could all play. The point was to guess who said what. She would ask a question, then we would all answer on our sheet of paper. Then we would all hand them back to her, where she would ask one person to guess who said which answer. It was really kind of fun. The last question, since she asked me to help, was chosen by me. If you could chose a different name, what would it be? The responses were funny, but the best were “Lee Roy,” “Bo Re Gard, he was a good dog,” "Francoise Prelitea," and then mine, of course, was a bit long: “Sir Reginald Wilson Spencer, Earl of London.” (Sounded like a fun to me) It took a while for everyone to warm up to the game, but it was really fun. What would you like to talk to a large audience about? “Nuclear Physics,” “Squirrel Taxidermy,” and “Coin Collecting.” If you can’t guess that mine was Squirrel Taxidermy, then you don’t get a prize.

Here are two of the Fathers on display.

My sister and the kids made me a Father's Day card, since, officially, we are expecting...aren't they sweet?

Here you can see my Dad attempting to entertain a four year old.