Home sweet home

Hawaii is just a memory now; a good memory filled with laughter.

I was remiss for not wishing my two sisters a happy birthday on here, but they were the reason for our family expedition to Hawaii. Okay, one of the birthday sisters lives on the Big Island, and it is a bit friendlier of a place to visit that Minnesota, so Kona it was!

Hard to believe these two beautiful women are related to me, but they are! (Okay, the photo ain't great, but it was by far the best picture I took of them)

My Christmas Cactus was quite happy to see me.

I sat down with him and tried to explain that he was a little late, his season had passed. Then I glanced out the window and saw his view. Yes, it does look a little like Christmas. Bloom on, little buddy!

“And the current forecast?”, you ask. They (whoever ‘they’ are) are predicting between 25 and 41 inches of fresh snow over the next week!

Yee Haw!!! Here we go again!!!

Excuse me

How can you make a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day and omit the six million Jews who were systematically massacred?

Sitting at PDX

On my way to Hawai'i!

(There is suppose to be a picture of me sipping a mimosa in this space.
Let's blame slow internet at PDX for it not appearing.)

A fragile feeling.

I did have the luxury of suffering no losses for the last two and a half years. I guess what is kind of cheerless is that I find that a comfort. What a stroke of luck that no member of my family has passed in that long of time. I am such a fortunate guy!

It begs the question, “How much more can I lose before I lose my mind?”

Frankly, there ain’t much mind left to lose. Most of it got fried in a drug induced fire that was called the 1980s. It is odd that I have any memory of that decade. But what little mind I have left is fragile tonight.

Max is running around the house, screaming like a banshee. He knows his brother is gone. And he knows what I have done. He actually is starting to show me some respect. (I kid. If my throat is slashed in the night tonight, check for dried blood on his cuticles. And check carefully! Max is as abusive as ever.)

Unless he wants a good petting!

And me? I’ve been looking at pictures of this amazing cat who shared a home with me.

À ta prochaine vie, mon cher ami!!! Je t'aime!!!!

Tomás no más.

Tommy is gone. I ache, but I think I made the right decision.

Max is very clingy. He knows. He ain't no dummy!

Photos of winter

 Perhaps you understand the need for P.O. Box 97 now!

 Looking down the drive and the turn uphill.

The glacier coming off my roof!

                                               

Okay, I tried to do a selfie of me showing how high the piles of snow are. I didn't do very good, this is the best! If you look carefully at this picture, you can see the berm just over my shoulder, which is about the true height!

Happy Birthday, Betty!

95 and still going strong!

I think the world could use a couple more Bettys!

The snow has stopped!

I took this picture this morning. It is hard to see, but there are two lumps where my vehicles should be.

ODOT says 42" on the ground. Let's go with their number, as it is close to what I guessed, and they probably have a good idea what they are doing!

It is officially a real winter!

But first, some happy construction pictures:

My new upstairs closet with the texturing done on the walls and the ceiling! This is at the top of the stairwell. Feel privileged, few people get to see my closet! I may have left it years ago, but I am still highly protective!

And my beautiful new front door, with sheetrocking done!

And of course, the weather! I estimate that I have about 3' of snow on the ground. It is a rough estimate, as anyplace that is not effected by snow removal (shoveling or plowing) and is not in the shadow of a structure or tree that would cause snow levels to be hindered or enhanced, is inconvenient (read: impossible) for me to get to!

And NOAA is predicting another 10-15 inches before this episode is done!

And Tom continues to do well. He is on my lap and purring as we speak!

Well, it has finally warmed up a little.

It was 6 below zero when I woke up…. but thankfully it has warmed up to 16°. Just about put on my bikini and lay in the front yard, soaking up the rays! But the League of Decency has warned me about that before. It seems I offend travelers on Highway 35. And ODOT is afraid I will cause an accident as drivers scream and cover their eyes. And the Chamber of Commerce is worried that I might hurt tourism in the valley.

So I didn’t. I bowed to societal pressures. I am ashamed by my timidity!

But big news! As many of you know, my mailbox was crushed and buried by the snow plows on the highway. I last had mail service on the 17^th of December. So, I have a new address. Yes, I went into Odell and rented a Post Office Box.

So, I can now be contacted at:

P.O. Box 97

Odell, OR  97044

Sounds classy, don’t it?

I imagine there will be heavy competition to see who is the first to send me a card at my new home!

And a Tommy update:

Tommy at his favorite new feeding post.

Tom is doing much better. Okay, he is not a young, spry cat again, but he is eating more, getting around better and generally more catlike,

Except, he is now following me around like a puppy dog!

It’s a miracle!!!

The Star Trek transporter has finally been perfected. I went to bed last night in the Upper Hood River Valley. I awoke this morning in Siberia! It is -4°F. I will translate for those of you who work in Celsius. It is friggin' cold!!!

Oh, and I checked the forecast. Between this Saturday and next Friday (let’s call it a week) if is predicted that we will get between 30” and 49” of snow! It starts out with between 8” to 12” of snow on Saturday, and just keeps snowing and snowing and snowing. I know for you Valdezians (or Valdezites… whatever you residents and former residents of Valdez call yourselves) this is child’s play, but this is turning into a real winter for me!

Yee Haw!!! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. But, let it warm up about 30°, if you don't mind!

The view that greeted me this morning out the piano room window!