New Year, New Fears

 A day we have all been dreading, Inauguration Day in this shithole country.  Well, half of us have been dreading it and literally ALL of my friends and virtually all of my family.  I'm sure there are some fools in the family even if they are keeping it quiet.

But, we can't let the bastards win.  My friend, 8, posted about the importance of kindness and she is absolutely right.  Besides organizing and reaching out to those most severely impacted by the incoming administration, spreading kindness can only help.  

Oh, me?  I have spent the last week taking care of a friend who surgery.  That seems to be my retirement occupation.  Unpaid occupation.  But, I am very grateful to have good friends and if I can help them in their time of need, then I am lucky to be able to do so.  It's another tally on the kindness spectrum.

I am worried about the next four years.  I won't let the incoming bastards destroy my life, but I am worried.  We will have a lot to do when their term ends.  In the meantime, we've got to hold to our beliefs and stay strong for each other.  

Hang in there, friends!

Progress Report

 Things are going well down here in SoCal.  Lisa continues to heal.  She is gaining in mobility and oxygen capacity.  She's moving better.  Her kidney is working like a champ.  Dialysis is very hard on the body so there is a long recovery period from that in addition to the recovery from major surgery.  

We are now back in Long Beach.  Her in-person appointments have decreased from four per week to just one.  We will drive down to San Diego on Monday, stop at the lab for a blood draw and urine test, and then wait several hours for the clinic appointment.  After that, it's back to the LBC.  I will driver her down two times and then she'll be on her own.  Fingers crossed!  Actually, she might enlist the help of her neighbor for a while.  The hard part is that she can't eat before the blood draw.  A two hour drive on an empty stomach first thing in the morning (or longer, depending on traffic), is not something to look forward to with delight.  Still, it beats living in a hotel.

I'll be returning home on the 12th.  I cannot wait!  I don't like being away from home for long periods of time (especially this long!)  And, honestly, no matter how great the friendship, 6 weeks makes it wear thin.  We've had a small handful of spats but gotten over them quickly.  Still, for someone who lives alone and isn't the most social of individuals, it is taxing.  But, it's almost over.  I can see the finish line from here.  Wish me luck!

On Duty

 It has finally happened!  Lisa got her kidney!

We are in San Diego as she had the transplant at UCSD.  We will be here for 6 weeks.  Yes, six long weeks of labs and clinic appointments and all sorts of mind-bending health regimens.  The medication routine is daunting, to say the least.  But, while we feel completely at sea this week, my hope is that we manage to get to a point where the routine becomes just that, routine.  In 6 weeks, if all goes well, she will be reduced to once a month appointments and will be able to return home to Long Beach.  At that point I will be able to return home to Portland.  

We are so grateful to the 30 year old IV drug user who signed an organ donor card.  It doesn't matter that they had Hepatitis C, because that is now curable.  But, the gift of an organ is a profound thing.  It will literally change Lisa's life.  She has been on dialysis for six years and in ever-worsening health.  Last year was touch and go for her survival.  This gift of a kidney will allow her to live again, rather than just survive and hang on.  I definitely tear up thinking about the immensity of the gift.

We are staying in a hotel a few miles from the hospital.  She was discharged yesterday and is still in considerable pain.  Fingers crossed that she heals quickly!  (Fingers also crossed that we don't drive each other crazy in the meantime!)

My friend Katy is keeping Pierre for the duration.  What a huge mitzvah that is!  She doesn't currently have a pet and misses having a cat around the house.  Happily, Pierre likes her and tolerates her grandchildren.  It's working out well so far.  Thank you so much Katy!

My neighbor is watching the house, bringing in the mail, watering the plants, and that sort of thing.  What would I do without good friends and neighbors?  These personal connections are essential!

I've got to post this and get going.  There are medical things to take care of...  yuck!

Cheers, women!

No Good Deed

 Hey Women,

I hope you are all alive and vaccinated and still wearing your masks.  Yes, I am all those things and I'm not going to pussyfoot around and pretend that it's ok to be otherwise.  Tired of it!  Yet, despite being tired of it, the virus is still here.  But, enough of that.  Moving on.

So, I just got back from another stint down at my friend's ranch.  Let me tell you about it.

First of all, my two besties and my daughter and I had planned a get together for July of 2020.  Obviously that was postponed.  But, now that we were all vaccinated we decided that it was time for our weekend meet up.  We can't do more than a weekend because Lisa needs dialysis 3 times per week, but a weekend was better than nothing and we were ready for some fun.

The Kid and I drove down to the Bay Area of California together.  Honestly, that was one of the highlights of the trip.  Ten hours in the car with my favorite person in the world!  She lives outside of Seattle, which isn't far from Portland, but we haven't seen each other much in the last 18 months.  Obvs.  So, the weekend started off very well.  She's an excellent travel companion.

We stayed with our friend KA for one night and then went to Capitola for a night at a B&B.  Great fun. Just being together with people that you love is a balm for the soul. We drove up the coast from Capitola to Half Moon Bay and it was glorious.  The fog was hanging over the ocean and it was cool and breezy.  The scenery is that of my childhood and the scents took me back.  Trips to the beach, camping in the woods, eating at quirky coastal restaurants.  It all came flooding back.

We spent another night at KA's house and then Lisa and the Kid had to fly home.  My plan had been to spend the second half of the week at the ranch, visiting the rancher and helping out with chores.  So much for planning, right?

During my weekend with the besties, I got a text from the rancher's friend that she was in the hospital. She's had various health issues over the years so it's not the first time she's landed in the ER.  This sounded like a bowel obstruction.  She's been having increasing difficulty eating and keeping food down but, like so many of us, she hates going to the doctor.

They diagnosed her with constipation and sent her home with laxatives.  As if she hadn't already tried that on her own.  The next day she was back at the hospital and this time was admitted and taken to surgery.  She has some sort of fibrous growth in part of her GI tract.  The surgeon tried removing it laparoscopically and ended up perforating her bowel.  Now she had an abdominal infection, pneumonia, and still a blocked pipe.  She's still in the hospital, two weeks later.  She's just graduated to semi-solid food and while she's keeping it down, nothing is coming out the other end.

Meanwhile, until I arrived at the ranch, a group of her local friends were taking turns feeding the 200 sheep.  I told them to stand down while I was there and they could draw up a new schedule when I had to return home.  I asked my pet sitter how long she could take care of my fine feline and she gave me an extra ten days or so.

So, I'm at the ranch, holding down the fort, wrestling bales of hay and endlessly refilling water troughs in temperatures over 100f.  That's ok.  I knew what I was in for and while I was tired and sore and sweaty I felt good about helping my friend.  

We've been friends for 50 years.  That's a long time. I know all her exes.  I know her whole family.  I've visited her mom in the care home.  I've spent weeks at the ranch helping out.  

Remember a few years ago when I went down and cleaned out the back room?  The hoard of vermin infested rubbish that I spent a couple of weeks sorting through and hauling to the dump trailer?  Remember how grateful she was that it was finally dealt with?  Turns out there's another chapter to that story.  

After I returned home, she and her friend took the load to the dump.  But, they didn't just dump it and go home.  They went through the entire load, opening up trash bags and sifting through boxes to make sure that I didn't throw away anything good.  They pulled out a 40 year old vacuum cleaner and the helper took it home.  Never mind that the rancher has three vacuums - that ancient, heavy, filthy one STILL WORKED!  Then, they tore the lining out of some suitcases and discovered that some dollar bills had been hidden inside.  OMG, SHE'S THROWING AWAY MONEY!

I don't know what all they pulled from the trailer and I don't want to know.  

I texted her not long after I arrived at the ranch to ask where the key to her bedroom was.  There was clean laundry to put away and I was trying to straighten up the living room.  She sent a text to her friend, who happened to be at the house with me at the time, saying 'Don't let her in my room!  I don't want her going through my stuff and throwing it out!'

Well, clearly I had underestimated her hoarding.  I had thought that the hoard in the backroom (and in the mom's room) was all the mom's doing.  Not so.  The hoarding appears to be a generational behavior.  She also hoards food.  Not in the way that you see on tv horror shows, she's not walking on a foot deep layer of spoiled food.  But, she shops at Costco and other bulk purchase places and buys like she's going to be under siege.  When I got to the house, there were boxes and bags of food to put away that were just piled on the kitchen floor.  I did a little purge of the pantry and threw away stuff that was clearly unhealthy to eat.  Rearranged a little in order to get the new groceries in.  I mean, does a household of one person 'need' 50 cans of beans?  There were 20 bags of chips in the house.  Cases of stuff, boxes full of stuff.  

When she sent that text saying to keep me out of her room, that hurt me.  I've only ever done work at the ranch that I was asked to do, asked to help out with.  She wanted the back room cleaned out.  Her mom's room was four feet deep everywhere except for a little square of space between the door and the bed.  It's useable now.  Oh, and the back room?  Not quite the disaster zone it had been previously but it is filling fast.

The real kick in the teeth is that she has told her ranch hand friend, her vet friend, and some young woman who just started working for her on an occasional basis that I had thrown away good stuff, that I was ruining things, that I had forced her to throw away valuable belongings and that I would try to keep doing it.  A lifetime friendship is what is being thrown away, and not by me.

I'm sorry to say that I called her in the hospital and told her that I was upset and that she had hurt me by saying these things.  I told her that I had never felt so unwelcome at anyone's home and especially hers. She said, 'I don't know what the ranch hand has told you but I...' and I said, no, don't blame him.  He's just telling the truth.  Plus, you've said these things to the vet and the youngster.  You've thrown me under the bus.  

I apologized for bringing it up while she was ill and in the hospital.  I said that we would talk about it when she got out and was feeling better.  

I went to see her at the hospital the next day and took the quilt that I had made for her.  She was apathetic about it.  I said, well, I usually get a more enthusiastic response when I give someone a handmade quilt, but I understand that you are sick.  I took it back to the house and left it on her bed.  (Because, yes, I did get the key to the bedroom, I did put her clean laundry in there, and no, I did not touch anything in her room, which has a pathway from the door to the bed.)

So, it's true what they say: No good deed goes unpunished.  I'm still angry and hurt but I'm gaining a little perspective.  I most certainly will not help her with cleaning out her hoard again.  And, I likely won't go back down to help with the sheep.  There are a lot of related issues that I haven't reported here but the bottom line for me is that I need to draw a boundary and enforce it.  I've been a good friend over the decades and in recent years I never counted the lack of reciprocity or the one-sided nature of our exchanges.  I mean, when your friend needs help, you help them, right?  I certainly wasn't keeping score.  But, then when they shit on you, you call a halt to the interaction.  

Now I am home and resting.  My body is aching from the back breaking work but my muscles are starting to ease up.  I'm still waking up at 5:00 am but hope to get to a more normal retired person schedule eventually.  I think I'll go take a walk and let the breeze carry some of my angst away.  Thanks for reading, women!

Friends Outdoors

 Hello Women!

My friend Angela invited me over this last weekend to test out her new outdoor socializing set up.  It was a chilly and windy day here in the Rose City.  We have gotten together at her place a couple of times during the pandemic.  Outside, under the awning, spread apart by well over 6 feet.  A couple of times I have gone over for a game of dice and we sit on diagonally opposite corners of her patio table.  It feels reasonably safe, I hope we are not disillusioned!  

So, Saturday.  The temperature was in the low 40's and the wind was gusting heartily.  I know that those of you from the Great White North would scoff at these conditions, but we are delicate flowers!  I bundled up for outdoor weather which meant adding more layers to my indoor bundlage.  Long sleeve t-shirt, hoodie, puffy coat, scarf, hat.  (My indoor layers are the same minus the scarf and puffy coat.)  Jeans, thick socks, shoes.  I didn't put on any long johns this time but I might in the future.

Angela has purchased a table top outdoor heather (infrared, not propane) and it served well to keep our face and hands warm.  She also purchased a heater to go under the table to keep the legs warm.  In addition, she bought a pair of heated throw blankets.  It's a lot of gear, but it worked!  We also cups of hot tea which warm the insides and the hands.  We were able to sit comfortably outside for a couple of hours.  We sat and talked and played two rounds of farkle.  Good to know that we can still safely get together despite the virus and the weather.  At least, until the weather gets significantly worse... which it will!  This is more of a fall and spring accommodation.  

I hope you are all finding ways to connect with friends or far-flung family.  I tend to be something of a hermit anyway, but there's a difference between choosing to be alone and not having the choice.

Cheers, m'dears!

Home and Away

 Hello Women,

I was home for a couple of weeks but now I'm back in SoCal.  Lisa is getting better but still not able to manage some daily living tasks.  I devoutly hope that she recovers enough in the next 3 weeks that I will be able to go home and not turn right back around.  

While I was home, we had a very scary interlude with forest fire.  Ugh, the city was filled with acrid smoke that stuck around for far too long.  The fires were too close for comfort.  My cousin's daughter, son-in-law, three kids, two dogs and a cat were evacuated and moved in with the cousin.  Nice that they had a place to go but scary!

My poor state and beautiful forests!  So much destruction, so much death and despair.  Some people have lost everything and we have all lost a precious treasure.  Same story in California.  It's horrible.  

Oregon is getting some rain, which is so desperately needed.  California hasn't gotten a drop. It all feels so dire.  But, the whole country, indeed, the whole world, feels so dire right now.  This downward slide is getting steeper.  Is this how it all ends?  In firestorms and flooding, under the control of dictators and fascists?  What a terrible thought.

I'm struggling to find the good these days.  My country is a toxic mess.  The pandemic runs rampant here, virtually unrestrained.  I won't mention politics because ... it's beyond bad.  I'm sorry that this sounds depressing.  It is depressing.

I guess I'll just have to consider myself lucky to be able to spend time with my lifelong pal.  No, it's not quality time, but it's a lot of hanging out together and I'll count that as a plus.

Greetings from the Sick Bay

 Hello Women,

If you were hoping for a post about the continued uprising in the Rose City, I'm sorry to disappoint.  Ok, I will say that things got really tense for a while there but it seems 1% better now that the goons are staying on federal property and not assaulting citizens.  It's still a shitshow, though.

Meanwhile, I am back in Southern California.  My friend is quite, quite ill and I came down to take care of her.  No, it's not Covid, thank the Goddess.  She has been tested, so that's a tiny relief.

As you may recall, Lisa has end stage renal disease.  She gets dialysis 3 times per week.  Over the course of the last few weeks she has had a total of five surgeries or procedures to work on the arm that gets the needle.  It's a lot of surgery for someone who is in poor health.  

Her sister was staying with her while she was so ill but they don't get along well in the first place and things were getting pretty testy, I gather.  Lisa texted me and asked if I could come down and help her.  So, of course, I hopped on a plane and here I am.

So, the plane ride was the first thing to be concerned about.  I wore two masks and nitrile gloves.  I wasn't the only one in gloves, by the way.  The airline kindly kept the numbers low and all middle seats were left empty unless you were traveling as a group.  Nice.  On the downside, they have reduced the number of flights between our cities and none were non-stop.  Had to spend an hour and a half cooling my heels in the Oakland airport.  

Got down here to find Lisa quite sick, quite tired, and quite angry.  Fortunately her sister left immediately.  I'm really glad because I might not have been able to hold back my fury.  She was complaining about how dirty the house was but never picked up a broom, or a mop or dust cloth.  Never cleaned the toilet.  Didn't strip the bed she had been sleeping on when she left.  Worst of all, she left Lisa sleeping on bloody sheets.  I mean.  It raises my blood pressure just thinking about it.  I'm super angry with that narcissistic, callous, arrogant bitch.  But, enough of that.

So, I started in.  Stripped both beds, scrubbed the blood stained sheets.  Swept and mopped and wiped down counters and surfaces, cleaned the stove.  Lisa can't physically do these things right now so of course her house is messy.  For Fucks Sake!

The real issue for me, though, is the bandage changing.  If you remember back to when T had her cancer surgery, I had to change her dressings and empty the drainage bags (or whatever they're called). I have an aversion to blood and bodily fluids (to the point of passing out at times) so this is a real challenge for me.  It's definitely not my strong suit!  But, as before, I have managed.  I haven't passed out or puked once, but it's been touch and go a couple of times.

Once Lisa got somewhat sorted out, she started to get better.  Tiny bit more energy, able to eat a bit more, able to move her bowels.  You know, baby steps.  The problem was that the incision in her arm has not stopped bleeding.  I've been changing dressings several times a day.  I've been changing her sheets every day and washing the blood out of them and out of her clothing.  

Her labs showed a blood infection and she had an IV antibiotic drip in the hospital, and has gotten IV antibiotics at dialysis every other day.  Apparently it hasn't been enough.  She called her surgeon for an urgent consultation this morning and he took one look at it and readmitted her to the hospital.  She's there now.

I feel terrible for her.  She's scared and sick and exhausted and is afraid that this is going to kill her.  I have bolstered her spirits the best that I can but how much good does that do?  I can't sit with her in the hospital, hell, I can't even sit in the lobby.  I hope she will be discharged tomorrow but I'll just have to wait and see.  I feel like I have let her down, failed her in some way.  I thought she was getting better but she's definitely taken a couple of steps back.  It's discouraging.

Of course, I know that I'm not responsible for her health.  But, I thought that with consistent, supportive care she would rebound and get back to her previous level of health.  Well, I still hope that is true.  She'll need the same care that I've been giving her when she gets home.  

I've been here for a week and my plan was to stay for two weeks.  That's how long I could get my cat sitter.  Sara's got another job lined up.  My daughter said that she would go stay at my house for a week and take care of Pierre.  She works from home these days so she can do that at my home too.  That'll give me an additional week.  After that, our other friend KA said that she would come down and render aid and assistance.  We'll see how it all goes.

I guess I just needed to write it out of my system.  Thanks for reading.  I'm tired and heading for bed.

Almost Spring

Hello Women!

I saw a draft in here that said Winter Greetings but there was not a single word written.  Oops.  So, jump ahead to nearly Spring, I guess...

I have recently returned from points south as part of my ongoing 'friend helper' project.  This time I went to Southern California to clean out Lisa's garage.  Wow.  So much stuff!  It was different stuff this time, though.  My friend Lisa is a retired teacher.  She taught English as a Second Language (both here and in Spain), English Literature, and Drama.  And some other stuff, but mostly those three subjects.  She had so much saved paper!  Lessons and worksheets and study guides and handouts, etc, etc.  All recycled.  Nobody wants the hard copy anymore!  She started teaching before everything was available on line and teachers carefully stored their master copies of everything.  It was a LOT of paper.  And, you just can't give it away - there are no takers.  Fortunately, paper is easily recycled.

Another thing she had in vast quantities was costumes.  Her former high school was remodeling the theater and had no room to store the costumes.  Most of these had been made or sourced by Lisa, and at her own expense (of course).  She donated some to a local community theater and some to the thrift store.  (Aside: while they are remodeling the theater, they have also cut Drama out of the schedule and who knows when it will return. So frustrating!)  Also boxes of props and stage makeup and all sorts of drama-related things.  Boxes of hats.  Crates of art materials.  Stuff.

Her third big space consumer was linens.  Holy Bed Sheets, Batman!  I made her go through them with me and was able to decrease the number of sheet sets that she kept to ONLY 15!!!!  (I also emptied and organized the linen closet in order to get it all sorted out.)  Fifteen sheet sets is excessive, but it's half what it was.  Throw in the 6 - 8 duvet covers and spare blankets and, well, yes, it all takes up a lot of room.  It was a lot of work and a lot of laundry.  But, we got it done!

I was in SoCal for about 2 weeks.  While I was there, the temperature shot up to the upper 80's.  What the actual fork!  87 degrees Fahrenheit in February.  It's bullshirt!  The weather is broken.  We have broken it. 

I had a good time hanging out with my pal, despite the slog and the weather.  We didn't do much in the way of extracurricular excursions since the task at hand was so large, but we did go out to see a wonderful community theater production of Guys and Dolls.  Really well done!  It was at the Gem Theater in Garden Grove, if I remember correctly. 

Another fun highlight was our mutual friend Tania met us for lunch one day.  We all went to high school together.  She has had a rough time this past year.  One of her replacement hips became infected, broke, had to be replaced.  Then the replacement went septic.  She has a second replacement now and has just graduated to walking without a cane but she is definitely a little unsteady on her feet.  But, she got herself out of the house and across town, so big props to her.  It was good to see her!

On my way back north, I stopped at the Ranch to help out for a week.  I had a specific project that I wanted to accomplish but I will have to tackle it later.  Tam is having the house repiped and everything was torn up.  The project I wanted to do was to set up shelving in the back room and get all of her veterinary supplies out of the living room.  But, there was too much stuff piled up in the back room and I didn't have the stamina to tackle the whole thing.  Perhaps I'll go down in the late spring and get that done.

The baby lambs were adorable but I didn't take any pictures this time.  I should have because these ones are ridiculously cute.  Her neighbor has given her a pair of black and white rams (her other rams are white) and the huge variety of white, black, and black&white lambs is glorious.  One ewe had triplets and had one of each, lol.  They are cute little buggers but a lot of work.  I spent most of the week feeding, shoveling, raking and generally wearing myself out.  I'm trying to get her to see reason and decrease the number of market lambs she raises.  It's too much for a single, older, half-crippled woman to keep up with year after year.  I want her to diversify into wool-bearing sheep.  The product is the fiber rather than meat so all you have to do is keep them alive and shear the wool off.  Which is done by a professional, by the way.  It would be a lot less work for her.  She's stubborn, though. 

So, that was my late winter excursion.  Some people go to the beach or the desert, I go clean out garages.  Lol.  Basically, though, I went from Winter to Summer to Spring and home to Winter.  It's still chilly here in the PNW.  And, now my internal thermostat is all messed up!  As I'm writing this, I have on my silk longjohns under my jeans, socks and slippers, long sleeve t-shirt under a hoodie, the hood UP and a scarf around my neck.  In a little bit I'm going to put on my puffy and walk to the Library.  That'll warm me up!

I hope you are all healthy and reasonably happy and surviving the season.  I'll not say anything about the state of the world or nation because it's all just too forking much...

Cheers, m'dears!
E

Back and Resting

I know, it should be 'back and ready' but I'm not quite there yet!  I've been back for a week but let me tell you, the first few days I could do little more than get out of bed and drink coffee.  I'm recovering, though, and will soon resume being my productive self.  Ugh.

So, mission accomplished down in Cali.  The room is restored to functionality.  The closet is usable, there is nothing under the bed, the four (yes, 4) dressers contain just a few needful things.  It's now possible to sit in the rocking chair - and rock, if so desired! 

There is still a bunch of stuff to be gone through, but that is the task of the adult children.  So, in other words, nothing will happen.  Stasis.  Still, it's a functional stasis, so there's that. 

I made some interesting discoveries while sorting through stuff.

First, I will say that I have known this family since childhood.  I've been friends with the daughter and son for nearly 50 years.  Friends with the mom, too.  The dad was usually away as he was a marine engineer and worked at sea.

So, when I cleaned out the back room I felt a keen regret for the life the mom wanted to have.  It seemed to me that she would have been happy being a ranch wife rather than a rancher.  She loved crafts.  She was an expert seamstress, she knitted, crocheted, made stuff out of wood, plastic, found materials, etc (I found more than one box full of pine cones, for example).  For a while she had a craft business - I found plenty of her old records of purchases and sales.  Of course, she made no money doing that.  But, I think she enjoyed it.

I formed that opinion based on the evidence in the back room.  When I got to the bedroom, I had other evidence to consider.

The woman threw nothing away.  Every letter, every card, every receipt, you name it, it was squirreled away in her bedroom.  Most of it was very pedestrian and ordinary.  I kept the letters the kids had written to her, and the letters the dad had written from sea.  I think the kids might like to look through those at some point, but maybe not.  That's up to them.

I found some other letters too.  I found a series of anonymous letters accusing the mom of breaking up someone's marriage.  It was a bit of a shocker!  It was virulent and threatening.  The letters were full of things like: We know where you were last night; we're watching you; you won't get away with this; etc.  I have to say that I didn't expect something like that but when I put it together with some other info, I had a more... nuanced understanding of the mom. 

I wasn't sure what to do with those letters.  The rancher and her mom already have a rather strained relationship and I certainly don't want to add to it.  But, I didn't think it was up to me to dispose of them.  So, I put them together and tucked them under some stuff in one of the dresser drawers.  It'll be quite a while before anyone looks in there and I can probably retrieve them unread if I change my mind.  It's all water under the bridge at this point and I'm not sure what it would serve to bring them to light.  I just don't know which way to go on that one.

Oh, how I wish my mom was alive!  I really wanted to ask her about their mom and what she knew back in the day.  I'm sure she could have provided some context.  Maybe I'll ask my mom's best friend.  Janet might know, but I don't think she spent any time with the woman back then.  Still, we grew up in a small town and everyone usually knows everyone else's business in a small town.

But, why?  What the hell difference does it make at this point?  None whatsoever.  Just curiosity, I guess.  It doesn't change the way I feel about the old gal, or change how I interact with her.  I guess I see her with more layers now, not just the surface that she presents to the world.  Although, given that she is in the depths of dementia, there is not even much of a surface layer any more. 

What do you think, wise women?  Should I consign the letters to the fire? 

What's up, plus a little backstory

Hello Friends!

Let's see, it's June, just past the Summer Solstice.  Are you having long, beautiful summer evenings where you are?  Or, do you live in the Southern Hemisphere and have winter beating you down?  OR, are you in the upper to mid-Atlantic states and have unending rain combined with warm temperatures resulting in paralyzing humidity?  Or something else...

I keep looking at the weather in my hometown and it looks perfect.  Mid 70's, cloudy with showers... that's how I like it.  Unfortunately, I have to look in the newspaper as I am not currently in residence.  I am down in that hellhole known as California, specifically the Sacramento Valley.  Well, the Sierra foothills, if you want to be specific, but the effect is the same. 

It's overly warm here.

What am I doing here, you ask?  Well, I came down to help my friend, the Rancher.  Her mom is currently residing in an assisted living place and I volunteered to come and help get a grip on the house.  Her mom is a hoarder, or at the least, someone who never threw anything away.

Here's the backstory:
I came down here back in March (meant to blog about that trip but was so exhausted I never got around to it) in order to clear out the 'back room' of the house.  It's a room that had been added on to their tiny house long before they bought it.  It was poorly constructed but it was put to use as a storage room.  I know what you are thinking and you are absolutely right.  A hoarder with a back room is trouble in the making!  Well, that is the truth.  The back room was so packed with stuff that one literally could not set foot inside.  The mess came up to the doorway.

So, I set to work.  There were layers to the hoard and it was a little like archaeology.  On the top was the worst layer, the layer where people had recently just tossed stuff into the room from the doorway and walked away.  The perimeter and the deeper layers were well organized and packed for storage.  But, the Rancher's aunt had died recently and loads of her stuff was superimposed over the existing hoard.  I could see the difference between the recent stuff and the original stuff.

It didn't make much of a difference.  Old useless crap is old and useless no matter how long it  has been sitting in a back room.  I'm a good sorter and I divvied things up into useful groupings.  Trash, keep, donate, etc. I was lucky enough to find an outfit that did art outreach and accepted many boxes of art supplies.

All in all, I ended up moving a LITERAL ton of material out of the back room.  The Rancher has a dump trailer (cue heavenly music) and I filled it up.  When she took it to the dump, the weight was 2,144 pounds.  Reader, I carried every ounce of that ton!

It wasn't the most fun of visits and I worked my ass off, but it was very satisfying to clear out that room and send so much garbage to the dump.  It wasn't all trash and I worked very hard to redirect useful things to appropriate destinations.  But, seriously, the woman never threw away a jar.  Not just canning jars, but all jars were washed out and stored on shelves, in boxes, in bags, etc.  Every mayonnaise jar, peanut butter jar, pickle jar, everything.  All washed and put in the back room.   That wasn't the worst of it, just an example.

So, yeah, I came here and cleaned up a big mess, but it was only the first mess.  Now, I am back and cleaning out the mom's bedroom.  Here's how the room was: you opened the door and stepped in the room.  The bed was about 4 or 5 feet into the room, bedside table on the left, door to the closet on the right.  That was literally the only open floor space in the room.  In order to make the bed you had to lie on it, or roll over it and try to squeeze your feet into the piles of stuff on the far side of the bed.  It was impossible and a damned fire hazard.

I've been here since late Wednesday, so I've had three days so far to get a grip on it.  It is now possible to walk around to the far side of the bed!  I have sent a large bag of small clothes home with one of the ranch hands (he has a whole passel of kids to clothe), I have a big stack of boxes and bags to go to the donation place (Goodwill, or whomever), and I have been filling up the trailer again.  There won't be nearly as much stuff this time around, but I need to go through it carefully.  There is an unbelievable amount of paperwork.  For one thing, the woman never threw away a piece of paper.  There are receipts and notes and greeting cards dating back to the 1950's.  I'll have plenty of interesting things for the Rancher and her brother to sort through and make decisions about, but the big bulk of it is going out.  I've found so many brand new, tags-still-on, unworn articles of clothing!  I've got a stack to take to the Mom's new home (well, after I wash it all), and it includes shoes and slippers and shirts and pants and shorts, and, and, and...  But, the bigger stacks are things that are no longer of use here but might be worth someone else's while.  I mean, she'll never wear these 20 coats again but someone else might.  I've saved her out a couple that she can wear. 

My next step is to gather up the donation items and start taking loads to drop off.  That will be satisfying.  In the meantime, I'm plugging away at it, reducing the mess bit by bit, bag by bag, box by box.  It's slow going but I'm making progress.  My back is killing me, though. 

If this post is rambling and unintelligible, I apologize.  I'm tired and need to lie on the floor for a few minutes.  Do a few gentle stretches.  Relax and breathe non-dusty air...

I'll make another dent in it tomorrow.
Cheers!

July 2018

Well, well.  I have now been retired for one year.  Ok, it was a year yesterday but today is still early.  How's it been going, you ask?  Let me tell you...

Home front: mostly good!  I made a giant list a year ago and I have diligently chipped away at it.  It is about 3/4 completed.  Of course, some of the list items can never be crossed off, like weeding the yard.  And, some have now come round again, like powerwashing the deck.  But, I knocked some big tasks off that I don't have to do again and that is satisfying.

• The stairs - pulled up the ancient and disgusting carpet, sanded and painted, added a handrail
• The plastic greenhouse - dismantled and recycled
• The catio - dismantled and repurposed or recycled most of the materials
• Painted the eaves of the sun porch

There are more projects.  Some are partially complete so they don't get to be crossed off yet.  But, I'm making progress on lots of things and that feels really good!

One of my projects that will be ongoing for quite some time is the basement clean up.  I have stuck to my plan of getting a minimum of one box dealt with every two weeks.  The two week time frame is the trash pick up schedule.  Every time the trash is collected there has been stuff from the basement in it.  Every time!  Progress is slow but steady and I can see the difference.  Sometimes there were multiple boxes or bags dealt with, one day I got rid of five boxes!  Still loads of crap to go through, but it's happening.

Friend front: mostly good!  I have remained friends with T, and I'm glad about that.  I got to meet two of my blog friends, super good!  I have seen my two besties a couple of times during this year and that has been great.  I'm going down to So Cal in a week to spend some quality time with one of them.  The rancher continues to be a concern.  Not as a friend, of course, but as an obligation.  Her situation isn't good and there's only so much I can do for her.  I can't fix her life, that's up to her.  I have to keep reminding myself of that.  

In case you were wondering, I found a new (better) housesitter.  She's a friend from my martial art training days.  She has stayed twice and not adopted a puppy either time!  Big points there!  Lol.  Pierre has been well cared for and the garden has been watered so... yes, Sara is the one.

Other, less tangible things from this year of retirement: my stress level is way down.  I didn't have a particularly stressful job, but just getting there, being there, doing the work, having deadlines, being away from home all day... these things take their toll.  Now, there are times when I check my phone to be certain which day of the week it is.  That's a huge improvement in quality of life!  

Another thing is the increased ability to say Yes or No.  To requests, to people, to situations, to suggestions.  Saying Yes because I have time, and saying No because I don’t want to.  I like it.

****

Well, that was written on July 1 and not posted.  Today is July 31 and by golly it will be posted!

Since then, I have been to Long Beach (CA) for a week and a half.  Did some projects with/for Lisa.  We had a good time, as we always do when we get together.  On the final couple of days of my trip, our other buddy, KA, joined us.  It was a somewhat impromptu get together.  She was in SoCal for a family birthday and came to Lisa’s afterward, and spent the night.  We had a lovely grilled salmon and sat up talking until late.  Very enjoyable.

Tomorrow I am giving a presentation in a self defense class.  I haven’t taught the class all summer as I have been out of town so much.  I’m trying to ease out of that work because it is so draining.  It’s important work.  I want the youngsters to step up and teach more of it though.  Of the frequent teachers over half of us are retirement age. 

Also tomorrow my best neighbors are going to NYC to visit their son.  That means that I get to have their dog for a few days.  Yay!  I love Angus, he’s a great little dog.  I also have chicken duty and garden watering to take care of.  Those fresh eggs are delicious. 

Speaking of delicious, a couple of days ago I put a pair of fried eggs on top of a pair of tamales.  Wow!  Why have I never done that before?!?  If you are a tamale fan, give it a try.  It was good! 

Ok, I’d better wind this up.  I have stuff to do and I don’t want to get distracted for another month. 

Thanks for reading, friends!

June So Soon

12 June 2018

The arborists are here.  They are doing a fine pruning on the Japanese Maple, and a pruning and height/girth reduction on the Rhododendron.  They seem like careful, attentive tree huggers, so that’s all to the good.  I’m trusting them with my plant family!

I am sitting in the dining room which has a wall of windows looking right into the rhodie, and surveys all of the front yard.  They are in the tree!  They are in the giant, strong shrub!  Light weight young men, all three.  I do hope they are careful.

Well, since it’s been a while, how about if I catch you up on the doings over here?

Chicago trip: check.  I had a darned good time!  Awesomeness Factor of 15/10 for meeting friends.  Comfort Index of staying in a hostel next to the El 5/10 (and that’s generous!)  The trip did not turn out at all as was advertised.  We were going to be planting shore grasses along Lake Michigan and we ended up planting native trees and shrubs in a reclaimed woodland.  Close enough.  Because of the change of plans we had more time to see downtown Chicago.  It is a dynamic city! 

The real reason I went was to meet my friend 8.  And my other friend, MG.  They were so much more amazing in real life!  These are the people about whom you would say, I wish they were my neighbors!  I am happy that I was able to meet two awesome women and can call them friends.  People, if you know them online, I can attest that they are as they present themselves.  (But they are much more than that, too.)  This is when the internet is a positive thing.  Thank you, Internet Kismet, for finding me some kickass women friends!

I flew home from Chicago on a beautiful blue sky day.  We flew over the forests and mountains and rivers of my country.  The mighty Columbia, Mt Hood gleaming in the sun, the chain of snow-capped volcanoes marching north – St Helens, Adams, all the way to Mt Rainier outside Seattle.  I saw sad brown swaths of burned timberland lining the south side of the Gorge.  The Eagle Creek fire did so much damage, and so much of it is visible to a large population.  We had a much, much bigger and more devastating fire in southern Oregon last summer but it was in a more remote area, affecting far fewer people.   We of the short attention spans will forget the bigger one.

I had my daughter down for a weekend visit after I returned from Chicago.  She’s got a houseful right now and has enjoyed getting away.  Her two in-laws will be moving out this summer, maybe this month.  She’ll be ecstatic!

I played a 9-hole round of golf with T a couple weeks ago.  My second time golfing ever.  It was a pleasant morning walking around and swinging a stick at a ball.  Fortunately we don’t keep score or even care, often hitting 4 or 5 balls from the tee until we get one we like.  It’s supposed to be fun, right?

Most recently, I traveled down to California.  I flew to the Bay Area to meet up with my friend KA.  I was delivering a quilt to her second granddaughter.  We had a great time with the kids and the parents.  Played for a little bit, went out to dinner (very early!), and then left the little family and went to KA’s and drank some wine.  Lol.  We left the next morning for the ranch.

I had been talking to KA some weeks ago about getting back to the ranch and trying to get some projects back on track.  I asked her if she would consider coming with me and helping with the paperwork nightmare in the dining room.  KA is a paperwork professional, being a tax preparer.  She actually likes that kind of thing.  She readily agreed, I’m happy to say.  My friends are awesome people!

So, she and I drove out there Thursday.  Arrived in the late afternoon, just in time for chores.  Ha!  The rancher’s mom is in the throes of dementia, remember, but she fell in love with KA.  Not surprising, really.  KA is great with old people.  Well, with all people, really.  She took care of both of her parents through their long declines. 

KA stayed for 3 days and got a lot of sorting done.  She plans to return in another week to do more. 

I stayed for another week plus.  Lots of chores, but also some progress on some of the bigger projects.  We emptied out a rented storage locker and brought the junk back to the ranch.  The next time I’m there I will be sorting into donate, trash and keep.  And then going to the dump.  I hope to make several dump runs next time.  I think I have gotten the electrical repair at the barn project back in motion.  At least it is a couple steps forward. 

Went to a doctor’s appointment with my friend.  She’s now scheduled for an MRI this month, so that project is moving forward as well.

The rancher has also made some progress at reducing the size of the flock.  She sent a dozen of the oldest ewes and the oldest ram to market while I was there, and 20 lambs to market the day after I left.  There are still hundreds, don’t get me wrong, but it’s going in the right direction.  She also met a gal who might be interested in buying 20 or so of her Tunis sheep.  She is trying to diversify her flock.  Good!  Take these!  They’re good sheep!  (Actually, the Tunis are the best looking, imo, they have reddish brown heads and legs with white fleece.  The gingers, lol.)

Meanwhile, back at my house, everything is fine.  Pierre is alive, the house is undamaged; well done, Sara.  I need to get back to the yardwork, for sure.  I did a massive amount of weeding before I left but…  yeah, back at it.  I’m not sure if I’ll get anything vegetable-like in the garden or not this year.  I wouldn’t mind a sprawling butternut squash.  It’s late, but it should be ok.

I picked, washed, chopped and froze two large bags of rhubarb from the garden before I left.  Waiting for the blueberries to ripen and then bring on the Blubarb Jam!  I need to get back to the Farmer’s Markets to see where we are with the stone fruits.  Too early yet for apricots or peaches, berries are in season right now.

I think that’s the catch up.  I am so glad to be home.  I’m so appreciative of the quiet of my small household.  And the relative quiet of my urban neighborhood.  I need some time to decompress and reorient myself to my life.  I have been putting my own stuff on the backburner and I need to get my focus back.  There are still stories to be edited, stories to be finished, and many more stories to be written. 

Have a lovely day, friends, and thanks for reading along. 

Home Alone, Part Three

Ok, where did I leave off on my travelogue?  We went to Ketchikan and Juneau, so Skagway is next.

The town of Skagway felt much more authentic to me.  A tourist town, to be sure, but I could picture it without the throngs, just the residents going about their business. A small town with a port, and a profitable season when everyone makes their yearly income.  We walked on some back streets and it had a familiarity to it, it felt like other small western towns that I have lived in.  Just a lot busier when a ship is in.  Or three of the behemoths.

So, let's do a head count.  Me, Carolyn and Donna (the Irish girls) are all still healthy and uninjured.  Lisa (dialysis pt) is ill and the fever of yesterday has turned into bad bowels today, plus she is just weak, so she's not going on the excursion.  KA wants to go but waffles about whether or not she can manage with the knee bandaged and using a cane.  There would be a walk to the train station. 

The excursion was a train ride up the mountains.  Wow.  If any of you are train enthusiasts, you should look it up.  The train itself was cool.  If you are a history buff, wow.  The White Pass has a vivid history from the Gold Rush, and Skagway was quite the place.  Before the railroad was put in, supplies were carried up a trail, literally a trail - a footpath, through the mountains on the way to the gold fields.  The international boundary is at the top of the pass and the Mounties wouldn't let anyone in unless they had a complete set of supplies, as listed by them.  It was a ton, in fact, of supplies.  And people carried this ton of supplies in backpacks and on horses up the path to the checkpoint and thence onward.  Well, it took many trips to get it all up, and thievery was the mode of the day so people had to work together to protect their stuff at both spots while ferrying it inland. 

Well, it's an amazing and bizarre and horrible history, if you like to read about that kind of thing.

The town is like any in southeast Alaska, perched on the edge of the water with mountains towering behind.  Even though it was August, it felt like autumn was just around the corner.  But, the weather was perfect - crisp clean air, bright sun with some warmth, passing clouds, temperature around 68 or 70f.  Somehow I managed to avoid taking any pictures of the town.  You'll have to Google that if you are interested.  :-)

But, I took quite a few along the train ride.  Here's a selection.

These are the mountains at the edge of the town.  It pretty much goes straight up in every direction.
There is a river, the Skagway River natch, that has a pretty good volume of water but is unnavigable by even kayak, canoe or raft.  It's simply too steep and rocky and bouldery and full of scary churning water pits.  It's straight down from the train here.

Sorry.  Extremely poor photo quality.

Here is the Trail of 98, where perished many humans and horses.  Look how small it is!  It's like a goat track!

The trail closed when the train went in.  There are a couple of groups interested in reopening the trail as a hiking trail.  I'm surprised it hasn't been reopened already.  Serious hiking, though, not a stroll.

Here is an older, abandoned train bridge.  The route was moved up this canyon and a new bridge built.  Presumably safer.  Lol.

And, here's the top!  The top of the White Pass!

From here, prospectors continued to the gold fields, crossing that little dogleg of British Columbia and into the Yukon Territory.  This is the Mounties' station at the border.  Four of them lived there!  In that wee cabin!  (I'm thinking Brokeback Mountain, you?) 

The flags here at the international boundary are the two national flags each on their side of the line, and the flags of Alaska, British Columbia and Yukon Territory in the middle.  Nice of them to include the Yukon, I think, even though the boundary is in BC.  But, that's Canada -- just being nice.

The train ride was spectacular, really beautiful, and a fun way to see a lot of the mountains.  Look across at this mountain.  That's another train ahead of us on the line. 

Amazing.

When we got back to the town, we bought some souvenirs and whatnot and got a coffee.  The Irish girls were going to walk up the river and see the salmon.  I was headed back to check on the sick bay.  The way back included crossing a creek that was absolutely teeming with salmon.  There was a little rocky section that they were jumping over and then up, up, up the stream.  There was no stretch of water without several fish in it.  Sorry, I couldn't get a picture... the dappled light, the reflection on the water, the silvery fish.  No.  No photo.

I got back to the room, and only Lisa was there.  KA had managed to get herself out, but had missed the train.  Turns out that she found a bus excursion that went up the 'new' highway and into Carcross, YT.  She was quite chuffed with herself! 

The next day was all at sea.  I'm pretty sure nothing dramatic happened.

Our last port of call was Victoria, BC.  We ALL made it off the ship!  We took a shuttle into downtown and had drinks at the Empress.  Not tea, mind you, but drinks in the bar.  It was absolutely lovely.  There was a young woman playing the guitar and singing - lovely voice and the perfect volume.  Not too loud.  The service was impeccable.  Here's KA's gin and tonic:

So pretty!  And, healthy with that wedge of grapefruit!  Lol.

We walked around, went in some shops, listened to some buskers, relaxed.  It was nice!  When evening began to fall, Lisa, KA and I headed back.  The Irish Girls wanted to check out some night life.  When we got back to the ship, we had to show our passport to get on the dock.  KA and I asked if we could get our passports stamped.  You have to insist these days!  The guy at the desk quizzed us.  He made KA list at least 3 provinces and I had to name a famous Canadian.  We insisted that the quiz wasn't hard enough!  (For the record, I started with kd lang, since she lives in Portland. Nice tie in, I thought.)

Our final dinner on the ship.

We docked the next morning in Seattle.  Spent one more night together before the Irish Girls were headed back to Canada and then home.

Here we are wearing our team shirts.  Just for fun!

This concludes the cruise ship portion of the travelogue.  There was a little more argy-bargy, in fact, but I'll save that for another time, shall I?

Cheers!

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

Hey there!  Long time no read!  How is everyone?  I haven't had a chance yet to catch up on all of your blogs so...  yes, woefully out of date. 

I've spent the last three weeks at my friend's sheep ranch in central California.  It's in the Sierra foothills, which sounds picturesque and idyllic, doesn't it?  And, while the golden rolling hills and majestic oak groves are certainly beautiful, the place is like an oven.  Her ranch is not high enough into the foothills to have the cool mountain air moderate the valley temperatures.  Fortunately, I missed the triple digit temps, but when the mercury hits the high 90's, it's just plain hot.  I spent some time cowering in any shade I could find, even the slender shadow of a fence post if that was the only thing available.  I am such a wimp!  I just can't take the high temps.

Tam had some projects that she was hoping I could help with.  We only got started on one by the time I had to return home.  I felt like I failed her, but she is totally energized and says that my visit was the best thing to happen in a long while.  She is moving ahead strongly with all sorts of plans.  Good!  Maybe I was just the catalyst.  I know that what I really brought her was someone to talk with, a friendly sounding board, someone to do chores with and lighten the load a little... small, in my eyes, but apparently enough that she felt like she had a break.

Make no mistake, friends, there was no break!  Ranch life is unrelenting hard work.  No, we were not riding around on horses rounding up the herd (although I have lived that life as well.)  We were feeding hay (and grain and pellets), moving sheep from corral to pasture, weighing the ones that are going to market, trimming hooves, applying bug juice, deworming, all the thousands of things that go on daily.  Mostly feeding.  She feeds a little under a ton of hay per day.  Each and every bale moved by a middle-aged woman with back problems!  Plus, there are no days off.  The animals have to be fed twice a day regardless of the calendar.  I'm only telling you this because so many people have unrealistic ideas about ranch life.  The reality is hot, dusty, fly-ridden days that extended way past the time regular folks are at home having dinner and are going to bed. 

My main purpose in spending time down there was to be supportive of my friend.  This I did accomplish!  Another purpose was to see how she felt about a change in her life.  Her mom has dementia (and a hoarding problem) and can no longer run the ranch.  Truth be told, she never ran it well.  Tam has given up her career as a regulatory veterinarian to come home and take care of it all.  But, maybe she doesn't want to do that any more.  I wanted to give her the chance to think about doing something else.  She had been contemplating selling the place, and is giving more thought to that.  Not that I want to be responsible for encouraging someone to give up their way of life, but this life is killing my friend.  She can't do it alone and no one wants to work in agriculture.  It's very hard to find ranch help now.  Am I being political?  Only a little.  Mostly just reporting the reality.

So, now I'm home in the cool, damp PNW.  I was in that oven just long enough for my internal thermostat to start to reset, so when I got home I felt quite chilly!  Well, it's definitely Autumn here and Summer is still holding on to the south.  I've had to crank up the furnace, and I was wearing a hat and scarf in the house the other night!  Brr...  Come on, body, recalibrate to the Pacific Northwest! 

Did I tell you about my housesitter?  No?  I had asked a friend of T's if she would stay at my place while I was out of town.  She is currently between places and staying with her sister, so it sounded like a good fit.  She said she would, and I thought I was set.  Then, about 3 days before I was to leave, she posted on FB that she was moving to So Cal that weekend!  I was at T's house at the time and I said, wait a minute she was going to housesit for me!  T texted her and asked and the friend said that she had never committed to house/pet sitting for me.  Bullshit!  I would have been searching for someone if I thought that.  Crap!  So, I had to scramble.  I asked a friend of mine who I often dog sit for if she could step in.  It's a big ask - 3 weeks is a long stay.  But, this friend lives in a one bedroom apartment with her two adult sons so I thought it might be nice for her to bring her dog and stay here.  She said she could.  She came, she brought her dog, all was well.  And then, while I was in Cali, she texted me and said that she got a puppy.  A puppy.  At my house.  Ummm...  WHAT?!?  Who does that?  Who brings a puppy into someone else's house?  Apparently Patty does that.  Holy Hey Zeus!  The house was 'febreezed' but not clean when I got home.  Which, whatever.  I'd be cleaning it anyway, but just knowing that my entire house had been piddled on was irritating.  But, the house was still standing and the cat was alive, so what am I complaining about, right?  Still...

Anyway, I'm back.  I'll be making an effort to catch up on your blogs, but it might take a little time.  Oh, and I never finished my travelogue!  I'll put it on the list.

Cheers, women!

Home Alone, Part Two

Juneau, state capitol of Alaska.  It’s a very small ‘city’.  Really more of a town, to be honest.  There are a few larger buildings, multistory office buildings and governmental offices, but most of the town is quite small.  It’s perched on the edge of the water and the water is the main highway.  Like most of the Alaskan coast, the mountains tower over everything providing a lush, steep, dark green backdrop. 

On the evening before arriving at Juneau, we had been on our way to the ship theater when KA caught the toe of her shoe on a raised threshold.  She fell, hard, on her left knee.   Thankfully, nothing was broken (yes, they have x-ray on cruise ships!) but it was badly injured.  Her knee swelled up to the size of a cantaloupe.  The crew member at the theater called for a wheelchair and we got her up and into the chair and headed to the infirmary.  The nurses looked at me and said, ‘What are you doing back here?’  I was starting to feel like Jessica Fletcher – only not as deadly.

We had booked an excursion to the Mendenhall glacier for the Juneau port of call.  It was a bus tour of the town, a self guided walk around the state park, and then a salmon dinner.  Lisa had developed a fever and felt horrible so there was no way she was going.  And now, KA was flat on her back with her leg elevated, wrapped and iced.  No way she was going, either.

So, Carolyn and Donna, the ‘Irish girls’, and I went on the tour.  It was amazing!  The tour of the town takes very little time, lol.  We had a voluble Texan for a tour guide, and she gave us more information than we needed on the cost of food, clothing, and other necessities in Juneau, Alaska.  She went on and on about the lack of fast food, the absence of clothing stores, the fact that everything is shut by 9pm.  I might have preferred a guide with more information about the natural beauty of the area, or the cultural background of the peoples, but you get what you get.  The Irish girls were amused and Donna can do a pretty good Texas accent now.

I thought that the Mendenhall glacier tour was actually a tour of the glacier itself.  As in, walking on it.  Unfortunately, no.  We were dropped off at the Park and told where our bus would pick us up.  So, the three of us walked out to the view point and took some pictures and skedaddled.  The thing is, it was so very crowded.  It was teeming, swarming, packed with tourists.  It is my least favorite way of visiting a state park, I say that for sure.  I get that yes, I was one of those tourists.  And that these parks and these communities rely on tourism to exist.  And that, it being chilly Alaska, there’s a lot more tourists in the summer.  Yes, I understand and appreciate all of that.  But, I wasn’t able to enjoy that part.  The visitor center was like sardines, so we didn’t even go in.  The walk out to the view point was more crowded than a city sidewalk.  There was a hike to the waterfall, and it was a little less crowded but it didn’t get you to the glacier and we decided to skip it. 

We were moseying back to the bus area when we came across another section of the park.  Since we had plenty of time, we followed the path.  It led to a raised walkway over a creek and out to the wetland downstream from the glacier.  There were fir trees and willows and alders, a nice boreal mix.  The creek was full of salmon!  Red sockeye salmon swimming, thrashing, spawning and dying.  We got a little excited by that!  But, that was nothing, for around the next bend on the walkway we saw brown bear cubs in a tree!  Wow! 

There were probably only about 100 people all spread out along the walkway where you could see the bear cubs.  But, there were also 4 park rangers answering questions and shushing people.  Because at the foot of the tree was the cubs’ mother, taking a nap after eating her fill of salmon.  I am so grateful to have seen this!

I strolled further down the walkway and watched some field biologists recording data from some device or another and spent an idle few minutes speculating about going back to work in that field.  Also saw an egret make an ungainly leap into the sky, no doubt weighed down by a craw full of fish!

When we had marveled at the bears to our hearts content, we made our way back to the bus and headed back to town.

Our salmon dinner was at a restaurant at the top of a mountain.  It is so steep that you get there by riding an aerial tram.  It felt like it was going straight up!  The view was incredible, of course, with the islands and the meandering waterways, the mountains plunging into the sea, the dense forests a dark green backdrop to the shining silver water.  Words can’t do it justice.

We returned to the ship before dark.  I checked on my friends and they hadn’t killed each other so that was good.

Next up: Skagway

Home Alone, Part One

Well, my dears, it didn't go as expected.

Expectations are tricky things.  There were five of us, each with a picture in her mind of how the trip would be.  I'm absolutely certain that no one's expectations were met.

The good things: I didn't get seasick for even a minute.  I would have had we been in a room lower down, where two of our friends' quarters were.  Their room was on the third level (deck, I guess), and the window looked right out on the swirling sea.  I could not look at it without feeling queasy.  So, I avoided the seasickness by being up above the sea.  Hooray for deck 8!

Also, the ship didn't sink, or lose power, or suffer any other mechanical problem.  And, happily, not a one of us came down with a norovirus.  So, I'm chalking all of those things up in the Win column.  We need that.

What really went down?  How much time do you have?

Lisa (she of the kidney disease) started out the trip sick.  She had been sick for a week or so before the trip started.  Sick enough that she wasn't sure she would be able to go.  She tends to anemia anyway, and her red cell count had been alarmingly low.  She was given iron and some other medical things that I don't remember the details of right now.  Her doctor decided that she was well enough to go and I'm not sure that was the right decision.  But, it takes a lot of time to plan a trip for someone who needs dialysis and she didn't want to cancel.  Plus, the rest of us had long since bought our tickets as well and we couldn't all cancel.  Especially the Irish girls, coming all that way.

We started the trip in Seattle, and Lisa had to get herself from the airport to the hotel.  Easy peasy for someone in normal health, but difficult for someone with health challenges.  Just rolling her bag (ie: enormous suitcase) from the baggage carousel to the ride-share curb was more than she could handle.  She made it to the hotel and then had to sit and wait for the rest of us.  Time to catch her breath.

KA had driven up from California and spent the night before at my house.  Part of coordinating our arrivals in Seattle was parking KA's car at my daughter's house.  We did that in the late afternoon and Zoe and Rob gave us a ride back into Seattle (thanks, kids!).  Met up with Lisa there.  In an hour or so the Irish girls were there too, and we all thought 'Let the Vacation Begin!'

Lisa, KA and I shared a room.  It was supposed to have two queen beds, but honestly, they were the size of doubles - is that a hotel thing, smaller beds than at home?  Are there different mattress sizes for hotel beds?  KA is a substantial woman and needs that much space to herself.  Lisa and I took one bed and KA the other.  Much tossing and turning ensued.  Because Lisa's arm often aches from the dialysis, she typically sleeps with her arms perpendicular to her torso.  That doesn't leave a lot of space in a bed.  At some point during the night I got up, gathered up the spare pillows, found a bathrobe and made my self a pillow bed in the corner on the floor.  I felt like a house elf, crouched under the fireplace.

We had a nice breakfast (oh, stayed at the Edgewater, which is famous for everyone in the world staying there, including the Beatles, and correspondingly priced) and then got a shuttle to the cruise ship pier.  

We arrived at the pier and the first order of business was to get Lisa a wheelchair.  She could only walk (slowly) about 25 to 30 feet without stopping to catch her breath.  There was a whole lot of, 'No, no, you go on, I'll catch up.'  Which is basically bullshit.  We had to stick together!

Now, here's a bonus: KA spent a whole lot of her youth, adolescence, young adulthood and middle age traveling with her wheelchair bound mother.  So, she is an expert at seeking out ADA accommodations.  So, we get Lisa into the 'assistance' line, which means that we all get in that line.

Finally got through that process and on board the enormous vessel.  A nice crew member wheeled Lisa to our stateroom, with KA and I trotting along behind.  

KA had upgraded our room to one with a balcony.  Thank the Merciful Heavens that she did so!  Three women, all used to living alone, crammed in one room... recipe for disaster.  Having a balcony gave us an entire extra room, spatially and visually, and we needed that.  That it was outside was a bonus.

As soon as we got aboard, Lisa asked me to take her to the infirmary.  We had kept the wheelchair that the crew member had used and I wheeled her down to deck 2.  She was short of breath and had chest pain, the classic combo, but it wasn't a cardiac issue.  The chest pain was muscular, from wrangling her giant bag, and the shortness of breath was because she was anemic and retaining fluid.  The nurses and doctor were great and we left reassured.  

Of course, Lisa and I had missed the pulling away, or whatever the term is, the setting sail, the leaving of land.  When we finished in the infirmary and made it to the open deck, the ship was among the San Juan Islands.  

The scenery was gorgeous, of course.  Sitting and watching the landscape unfold is possibly the best thing about being on a cruise.  

Lisa had dialysis the next day.  Boy, was it bare bones!  It was in the bowels of the ship (next to the infirmary, but considerably smaller) and had just enough room for two beds, two machines and literally nothing else.  The 'office' was a storage closet stacked to the ceiling with supplies.  For what they charge, there should have been a tiny bit more comfort.

We were doing pretty well at this point.  Our first stop was Ketchikan.  

The cruise line we were on had a amenity that I really appreciated.  A cultural historian gave a presentation on every port of call.  She covered the Native history as well as the White/Gold rush history.  It added a very nice texture to the shore trip.

We didn't have a tour scheduled for Ketchikan but got off to explore the town.  A very nice crew member pushed Lisa up the long gangplank to the pier.  We moseyed along, bumping over the sections of wooden sidewalks, looking in shops and admiring the scenery.  There were lots of totem poles.  Miss Amanda, the cultural historian, had given us the basics of totem interpretation and we enjoyed piecing together a story of each one.  

We bought some souvenirs and some snacks (regular size box of Cheez-Its = $6.99!) and returned to the ship.

The next day, we had an absolutely magical experience.  We sailed up the Tracy Arm to the face of a glacier.  It was an experience I will never forget.  We started spotting ice in the water in the morning.  Yes, that did make me a little nervous!  I mean, come on... Titanic, amiright?

As we neared the glacier, the chunks of ice got both bigger and smaller, but much more frequent.  There were big chunks with smaller chunks perched on top of them.  There was a slurry of broken ice all through the water.  When we got as far up the arm as we were going to, the ship did a complete turn.  The sound was amazing.  All the ice crickling and crackling against the hull of the ship made an eerie sound.  The colors were also amazing.  The ice was many shades of white, sometimes streaked with brown, but the blue!  The blue ice, seen in cracks and crevices of the floaters, that was astounding.  The deeper the crevice, the deeper the color blue.  We were standing on the balcony with our mouths hanging open.  

Next up: Day 3 and Juneau.

August 1st

We went camping last weekend, just a 2 nighter on the northern edge of the greater metro area.  It was fun to get the trailer out.  T has decided that she wants the trailer in a covered storage place, so she rented one and we parked Vivian there on Sunday.  It gave me a pang to leave her there! She is quite the presence in the driveway, and utterly charming.  I'll miss her.

I have a busy two weeks coming up.  My buddies and I go on this cruise dealio on Friday.  I might have mentioned that I am uncomfortable with everything about a cruise.  Nothing about it appeals to me!  Claustrophobia, seasickness, germ-riddled environment, etc.  On the up side, though, is time spent with my friends!  It will balance.  After the cruise, we are going to visit Zoe and her husband for 3 days.  Sorry you guys!  Then we are going to Port Townsend for 3 days to visit Lisa's sister.  Thankfully, we will be staying in a hotel.  The sister's house is undergoing an extensive remodeling project.

In the meantime, my friend KA is driving up from Cali tomorrow morning.  She'll spend the night here and then we'll drive up to Seattle on Thursday.  So, I've got her for one night and then my neighbor son who will be cat/housesitting for me.  I've been super busy getting the house ready to have multiple guests and for an extended duration.  It's a week long cruise, but then we have a second week of visiting around.  I hope Pierre won't be too mad!  Good think he likes Gavin.

Just to make things a little more urgent, we are expecting a heatwave this week.  The predicted high on Wednesday is 106!!!  Ridiculous!  I've been busy covering all the windows.  The house is like a dark cave, but it's a cool cave.  I have a second window a/c unit that was just sitting on the floor in a closet, so I installed that in the guest room.  I don't want my houseguests to suffer!  There's nothing for downstairs but fans.  A couple of big fans is usually all we need to keep a house cool here.  Sigh.  Climate change, what?!?

Wish me luck on the ocean-going adventure!  Makes me a little queasy to think of it...

Cheers,
E