ANNUAL 2024

 

ANNUAL 2024

January 1, 2024.  I slept through all of the excitement.   Missed the fireworks, did not hear the dog barking and especially missed Gale and Patty's house fire.  Did not hear fire engine or cop cars arrive.  I hope my snoring did not disturb anyone.  Apparently they woke to the smoke alarm, went to the kitchen and flames were leaping from the stove due to a mitten caught fire. They called it in.  They managed to keep the firemen from using hoses.  They got it knocked down.  The next week the Servipro people showed up and stayed there for nearly two weeks.  The last couple of days they developed sewage problem in the basement and the rooter folks came a couple of day. At one point I saw them checking water mains on the block.  Um, Happy New Years?

For the very first time, I recycled plastic bottles.  Oregon pays ten cents per bottle and Tim has been boarding them in the attic.  So we took in eight bags to McKays and were paid $38.40. That day we ran away to Bandon to get exercise for Itsky.  We stopped to get gas. Cash came to eighteen dollars. Gave the kid a twenty an told him to keep the change.  He was shocked and dug up a doggy bone for Itsky.  I sat in the car and admired water crashing over the jetty.  Then we went to the Cranberry Candy Factory.  Had a nice soft free cookie.  The cookies I bought were NOT the Italian Wedding Cookies that I really wanted.  Next we stopped at Facerock for squaky cheese.  Nope, NOT squeaky.  Saw a hack on Facebook. Nuke then for fifteen seconds, squeak is back, have not had a chance to try them since.

We switched from Direct TV to Spectum.  The hand held lets to say, “CBS” etc. I have not been able to   figure out how to view my recorded programs. And they do not have NHK or Grand Sumo.  But I have the app on my Kindle.  The tech was able to make the lady shut up who very helpfully read the screen.  Everyonce in a while it times out. And we had the tech set it up so we could not accidentally order another streaming service.  Happy so far.

We had a severe ice storm and Eugene got two inches of ice and we lost Spectrum for two days.  Sigh.

2024 owies:

Couple of weeks ago, I turned wrong at Davita and the needle went through the wall and extravasated and hurt a lot until they got the machine turned off Apparently, owie, owie, owie get their attention. I got off two hours early and lots of swelling in right forearm.  Applied Vicks Vaporub which worked well still a bit swollen but is recorbing.

Then a few days later, I got a can of beans out of the very large drawer right by the sink.  Turned around to shut the door with my foot.  Um I was wearing nice wool socks with zero traction.  Boom, fell on right hip. Took two people to get me up and mobile. That swelling is just now going down.  

As a result of that, it was decreed that all of the canned goods would be transferred to the pantry.  Now the drawer has all of my canning jars and rings.  Also, happily while moving all of this stuff found four jars of green tomato pickles  Yay!

Then started to transfer cans from below the microwave. Found about fifteen very old bulging cans of mandarin oranges.  They will get tosses.

I forgot to mention that for our 29th annivrsary, we all went to Cozy Kitchen in Myrtle Point.  We met a friend of Tim from his meeting and had a lovely chat.  I had hashbrown, and slice of lemon merangue pie.  Yum.  

I have new provider that saves me over fifty dollars per month and has dental.

Phil and Jodi came to visit and figure out why PC is not talking to printer.  It was not until a couple of weeks later that he marched me through the process of removing the printer driver and reinstalling printer driver.  It now prints!! Took them to lunch at Corner Bar and Grill

Speaking of which the bar is having a Valentines Dinner consisting of prime rib, garlic shrimp, all kinds of  sids including mushroom risotto, double baked potatoes, dessert is cheesecake with strawberry sauce. Seventy dollars for two and romantic music for dancing.  Lovely.  I talked with Mrs. Boat a couple weeks after the event.  It went very well, sold out. She had to turn away a lot of people including her husbands boss.  He had volunteered to wash dishes and one of the serves did not come so he learned to plate, Easy on the green beans.  There was cheesecake left over and everyone got a piece.  There was left over rice but not much of anything else.  If she does this next year, I will go alone if I have to.  Yummy!

Things I have cooked so far.  I made steak enchilada.  This is a wonderful recipe I first tasted in circa 1965 when I lived in Petaluma with Carl and Robin.  Cubed steak, large can of green enhilada sauce, Ancho chiles, rehydrate, can of chopped green chiles.  Large tortillas, Chopped scalions, Cilantro, shredded Mexican cheese.  Sour cream if you wish.  Saute the steak until barely done, add green enchilada sauce, Ancho chiles, green chiles, medium heat twenty minutes.  Dredge tortillas in pan put half cup ingredients add cheese, stack as high as you wish, top with more ingredients from pan, then Mexican cheese, then sour cream.  Yummmy!
    My version, I could not find Ancho chiles but everything tasted wonderful. I have at least three cups of steak and a whole pkg of tortillas.  Sweet!

I  made peanut butter pie, with eight ounces cream cheese, cup of brown sugar, two tbsp vanilla, mix well, pour into blind baked pie crust.  Chill in fridge two hours, slice and serve.  I liked it but will not make it again, I like other pies better such as pumpkin and lemon meringue pie.

Today I sauted mushrooms, I had planned on making quiche but only had one pie crust.  So I sauted onions for twenty minutes then added mushrooms for another ten minutes.  Turned off pan and added garlic and Very Teriyaki sauce.  Not terrible.

Also made hamburgers with green tomato pickles. That went very well.

I saw a Facebook thing that had a two ingredient cake, one can crushed piny oles  eapple, one box Angel food  mix.  Put crushed pineapple in large glass cake pan,  Add box of Angel food cake mix.  Stir together until well mixed, Bake 35 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Delish!!

Today I made fruit cocktail cake.  I learned this recipe in the 1960s from a lady from Taiwan.  Put one can fruit cocktail, two eggs, two cups Bisquik, one tsp vanilla mix well, I put mine in a pie plate. Cook 35 minutes at 350F.
Cool.  Put pkg lemon jello, add water, bring to boil.  Allow to cool.  Put many holes in cake with toothpick or fork.  Pour lemon jello over cake.  Cool and eat. After eating this one, I recommend cooling cake for at least one hour, let it get good and dried out. That way the lemon will taste more prominent. The lady taught me to look for rice buckets  which are finger prints that are concentric rings and are considered very lucky.  I have none, figures.

Hair do.  I have settled on dapple gray hair.  My haidresser really likes it. She is going to call it Dappleoosa and will offer it to another client of hers. Yay!

Recently diagnosed with osteoporosis.   Dr. Holland has prescribed Prolia injection every six months. Online is 1700 dollars.  Must find out copay if it is rediculous, I will respectfully decline.  More calcium maybe. Further investigation reveals that Prolia costs five thousand dollars, Regence says coopay is between zero and twentypercent.  No thanks, pretty sure Big Blue is encouraging patients to decide against a possible thousand dollar copay.  I will add magnesium to my daily pill regimen to encourage absorption of calcium

Also husband is worried about my memory.  Doc did mental acuity and referred me to Coos Bay.  Bottom line, adult proof house, remove trip hazards, leave notes as reminders.  It's all good.  Got an extra flu shot.

Husband had colonscopy that shows diverticulosis, small adjustment to diet, no seeds.  Add yogurt.  We win!!

I have switched to Dutch Brothers for iced mocha and lemon poppy muffin top.  Yum.

Since oral calcium does not absorb into bone well, getting opinion about megnesium from Dr. Qaddi (pronounced cutter). Dr. Q says dialysis machines test for magnesium, if needed adds, if too much removes. Kewl!

Neighbor lady gave us two dozen eggs.  Must make quiche.  Carolyn has been taking over veggies and bread to her. So we will be saving egg cartons for her.  Sweet!

Neighbos across the street, fell down the steps, hit her head, transferredq to River Bend for C5/6 fracture and surgery.  She will transfer to neuro PT and the need one of those stair elevators.  Too spendy to move and housing is largely unavailable. 

Because of Itsky I have learned how to make doggie treats. Recipe is four cups oats, one cup Bisquick, two cups peanut butter, eight ounces parmesan.
One cup chicken stock, I used Better Than Bullion in one cup of hot water. Mix well. Spread on two large pizza pans, dock with fork, preslice.  Bake at 350 degrees for sixty minutes.  Cool, store in ziplock bags for freezer.  He loves them. 

Let us get caught up with medical issues.  Three weeks ago, hubby had colonscope.  He has diverticulosis.  Small change in diet.  Also very happy with prunes etc.

I was diagnosed with osteoporosis.  Doc recommended twice yearly infusions of Prolia.  I look on line it was 1700.  Called hospital.  They called back to say there was a six month charge of 5k.  Regence says copay is zero to twenty percent.  That is 1000 dollars.  No thank you.  I take calcium and I do not take magnesium because dialysis machine takes out if too much, adds if too little.  Yay me!!

This past Saturday, I woke at 2:30 am with left lower quadrant pain could be Meckels or diverticulitis.  Went to Davita, a nurse palpated and said I was firm I was to go to BAH ER after the session.  Hubby picked me up and took me to BAH.  CT with contrast said diverticulitis.  So am on Amoxillin, doing well.

Talked to Aunt Wanda yesterday.  She asked me if I know where the name Charlie came from?  Turns out Grandpa Berglunds first name is Carl Maurice or Morris.  How  about them apples.  I will tell Charlies he was not actually named after two gr\eat grandpas named Charles.

7-8-24 Sad day at home.  Our nine year old cat, Charlie has not eaten in one week nor drank in three days. We took him to the local Vet.  They were very kind and agreed that he no longer need to suffer.  Cost about $350 and I am very sure that God has made room for a middle aged gentleman cat in Heaven.  In summation, we have had Bradford a shortailed Siamese Ma whom were adopted in Barrow. The other two lived long lives, one lived nineteen year.  Charlie was the last.  We agreed no more Kitties.  Sigh. Also Tim called the new animal hospital in Coos Bay.  There phone says, If you wish to incur a bill from1200 to 1800 dollars please press one.  Um, no thank

I reminded myself to write my recipe for meatloaf.  A friend at Davita, Mrs, Martini, gave me a great tip.  Use a box of Stove Top stuffing.  I have tried i both ways.  Best way is to follow the instructions, boil water, add butter, add box of stuffing mix, stir.  Put on lid.  Turn of burner.  Wait five minutes, fluff with ford.  In a large bowl, put in olives, chopped onion, garlic.  Add the stuffing, add the ground beef.  Mix well, put potato slices in nine by thirteen dish.  Add mix.  Bake 350 for 60 minutes.  Wunnerful!!!

Memorable Christmas Gifts.  When Richard and I were in the first and second grades we lived in Boise.  We went to school at Boise Junior College. They had a teaching school.   We walked across a very broad street with long lights.  The previous year we were in Baker, Oregon.  We um borrowedChristmas every kids bike we could.  Richard was too short to sit atop the boys bike, so he stuck one leg through on the bottom and rode slanted to the left and did very well.  None of the training wheels nonsense of a dotting parent giving us a push.  That Christmas we got bikes.  Woke up at three told to get back to bed.  Rode all day long, very sore the next day.

When I was a freshman in highschool in Emmett.  I received a wig hat for  .  It was white, had hair about four inches long.  I could put curlers in it, spray hairspray I loved it.  I wore it to school constantly.  One day I was in study hall, reading.  The Gratton boys stopped by and they put the GOR in gorgeous, dark, football, sigh.  One of them patted me on the head and that was the end of the wighat.  .

I have been enjoying the Olympics so much.  All of the KVAL questions of the day have been Olympics related.  I have ordered an Ebook about the 1908 Olympics in London.  The games were originally scheduled for Naples, Italy. In 1906 Vesuvius erupted killing over 6,000 people and destroying much of Naples.  England was having a World Fair.  So the games were tranferred there.  1908 they had tug of war, tall pommel jump and dueling pistol with wax bullets 

Sister in law moved out after eight months.   No \idea where but still in Oregon.

Husband and I went to Hilltop House for my birthday on the sixth.  We had halibut, baked potato, veggies, salad, soup Italian Wedding.  I drank lemonade with strawberries.  Dessert was coffee and carrot cake. Yum!! The halibut serving was a bit sparse but delicious.  I took home half of the carrot cake.  It was a bit spendy but we only go on very special days  

I have to get a fistulagram on Monday.  Then I must see the original surgeon in Riverbend who put in the original fistula.  The reason being that I have developed two very large bumps which I thought was scar tissue. But the docs want to have that removed because the tissue is so thin that it may easily rupture and bleed and gush and stuff. This will require two visits to Eugene. One we will probably overnight near Outback and IHOP.   Yummy!!! 

Yesterday, I made broccoli and cauliflower casserole.   One head of cauliflower, two stalks of broccoli, cut into mouth side bits.  Add six eggs, Eight ounces sour cream, one cup milk, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, one cup macaroni, one cube butter, eight ounces Parm, one cup cheddar, mix well, top with bread crumbs, bake at 350 for one hour.  Not bad. 

SIL contacted Yoncalla folk to ask if they had room for her and pets.  Nope. Later heard she rehoused Itsky in Wisconscin, which will help.

This Sunday was the third Sunday where we had to take the wash to the local laundromat.  Called Archies Repair who came and found that the water sensor was not the culprit but the master control board.  He is coming later today to install.  That will cost three hundre fifty.   Hope that fixes it and we do not want to buy a new washer.

We have a white rabbit with black ears who occasionally munches the front lawn.  Cute.  Hope the coyotes don't get it.

Have a new provider for Medigap.  Wellcare.  Thought it would cost 77 dollars per month.  Got letter. Monthly fee is zero dollars and perhaps there will be additional things. Ad on TV said possible debit card for OTC purchases.  Yay.  If theyl do not reup for 26, no idea what next. 
Last week got to live through a live emergency. I was at Davita and a little before 11 am all out phones lit up. Tsunami warning hitting Charleston in 30 minutes.  Davita is a designated safe zone so we stayed put.  Left the radio going home in case there were any further news flashes.  All quiet. If the 7.0 quake had occurred on the Cascadia then we would be in big trouble.  As it is, were are overdue to the Cascadia. Oy.  Our house is about eighty feet above sea level and twenty miles inland, so pretty safe from damage.  We do have a goodly store of food and water on hand.  

I learned to make a nifty two ingredient cake.  Take crushed pineapple and angel food cake mix, put in 9 x 13 casserole dish, mix well, bake at 350 for one hour.  Lovely and moist.

So doing Christmas cards today.  Not including this in any but one for Aunt Wanda.  All others see Feshuganah.blogspot.com or my Yahoo page. Friend me.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!  Ducks won the Big Ten thing, beat the Nitney Lions 45 to 37, First time EVER!!

COOKING ADVENTURES

COOKING ADVENTURES:

Let me try to do this chronologically  The first word I remember saying was breakfast Food and I have had love love relationship ever since.

Mom had a recipe for the 1963 Pilsbury bake off winner called Hungry Boys casserole.  The mixture was beef fried with garbanzo, red bean and lisma beans, tomatoe sauce, onion, etc. The recipe called for bisquits filled with the meat mixture, green olives and sliced olives. She only made the biscuits once.  I adapted the recipe to use peel and stick bisquits which worked very well. Still a good dish.

Every once in a while Dad would buy a steer at the auction and have it butchered.  They loved fried calf brains.  Have some! Uh, no it tastes like nothing I ever wanted to taste again.  
 
The first dish my grandma Horn made was pumpkin pie.e  She had a gooseberry bush growing on her property.  I would beg her to make me a pie.  I picked the berries and she shuddea red to make the very sour pie.  I was a grown woman before I ever had a ripe gooseberry pie, it was stunning.

Her green tomato pickles were my favorite, I have made several batches.  Best way to eat them is on a grilled bun, a patty, Mayo and pickles.  Yummy! 

One time I was staying at her trailer, she was visiting with Aunt Wilma in Colorado.  I had a recipe for two diffeent pumpkin pies.  I cut up the pumpkin and boiled it.  Then mixed in sugar, eggs, and for some demented reason used both recipes for the spices.  I could not make a crust so I baked it as a pudding.  The spices were  VERY  strong.  Did not attempt to do that again. 

When I was in the Brownie Scouts I got a recipe for chocolate mayonnaise cake.  It does not use eggs.  Do not keep it in the fridge, get very tough, does not need icing. The summer my sisters spent with us, I made chicken hearts and rice. That did not go over well. Probably went into their childhood torture food list.  

When Charlie and I were living at the ranch I wanted to make lunch and I had ingredients for BLT, except I had no bread.  I did have tortilla shells.   So I fried the bacon, dragged the shells through the bacon grease, put on bacon, tomatoe, lettuce and mayo.  It was delicious and I have made it occasionally since. One time, Uncle Tony gave me several duck eggs.  I looked for recipes in the White House cook book and found a recipe for custard.  It was the silkiest smoothest duck egg custard I ever had.  

I decided to try Saurbraten using venison. The recipe called for marinating the venison in a vinegar mix for three days.  The results were a disgusting gray  fish like mess. Any mention of a recipe containing vinegar usuall brought on gagging.

There was an old apple tree growing on one of the Italian farms, cooked into the best apple sauce, I hope someone had preserved this heritage apple.
 

A few years after Charlie and I moved back to Emmett, I wanted to make banana bread. I did not have flour, so I used Malt-O-Meal. The results were flat rubbery bits, called them banana slabs. Tasted ok but were very weird. Did not try that again. I have made mincemeat using venison, that turned out well if you like mincemeat. I am a nontaster, I should like liver. Mom's recipe was liver and onions. The onions were wonderful but the liver was tougher than whang leather, what ever that is. One time we had fresh buck chops and venison liver for breakfast. The liver was fried in bacon grease and it was a bit pink in the middle was delicious. Cannot remember any other disasters, do let me know if I forgot. R 

GO TO SCHOOL

I remember the first day of school.  We were living on Clover Lane in Boise.  Dad took me. By the time I was picked up that afternoon, we found I was enrolled in another school that that required a bus trip.  My first grade teacher was named Mrs. Smith.  My second grade teacher was also Mrs. Smith.  It was hard to remember to call her teacher rather than Mom.  I do remember being given a test on writing numbers one to nine.  I asked a class mFranceate how to make a six.  I new my numbers, I had never written them. 

To digress for a moment, one of the nurses in surgery at WKMH had a little girl who was starting first grade in the Fall. All summer, Frances took her shopping, got her new clothes, shoes, school supplies.  On the appointed day she got her little girl up, dressed and off to school.  She asked her what school was like, it was ok,  The next morning Frances got her up for school and the little girl gasped, "What, again!?" 

Back to my first grade.  We had to walk past a yard full of barking German Shepherds, we could walk to another pickup.  One time, as I was walking toward the front of the school bus, a little boy jumped up and kissed me on the cheek.  I was very confused.  But I was consoled by the fact that a butterfly landed on my dress.  When I got home I would take off my dress and change.  I wore the same dress for a week.  Also at this time I joined the Brownie Scouts.  I got the recipe for chocolate mayonaaise cake during that time.  

The next school I attended was in New Plymouth or Payette, not sure which.  We lived on a farm just east of there and Mom drove us to school.  The school building was a two story brick with fancy fire escape slides, never got to do down them.  

We moved a lot but the only other place I went to school was American Falls.  I loved reading anything but I was terrible at numbers.  One test was where you had to place clock hands in the correct position, I got them all backwards.  We moved some more and finally settled in Emmett, Idaho.  We went to Wardwell school, it was three stories tall, the third floor had been condemned at that time and never got to slide down the fancy fire escape slides.  The lunch room was in the basement.  Fourth grade was where we all learned cursive, lots of drawn tornadoes, loops etc.  Also field trips to the saw mill and State Capitol, which is an exact copy the nations capital only one third size, very impressive. Fifth grade, I went to Parkview where I eventually graduated eighth grade after learning the eight parts of speech.   Both Richard and I worked in the lunch room for free meals.  I left class a little early to walk to Wardwell.  The food was ok as I remember, nothing exotic like balogna boats.  Never had the pleasure.  Fifth grade was taught by Alice Brownsfield.  Would read to us for half an hour after we came in from lunch time. I remember Black Beauty and Beautiful Joe.  She also taught art.  I learned how to construct perspective.  Very informative.  There may have been a little Jack London thrown in but I do not rememnber.  Six grade was right next door, again Mrs. Smith.  She had a big old windup phonograph and we listened to old Vaudeville skits and Barney Google, with the goo goo googly eyes. It was then that Mrs Smith put me in the front row because I was squinting.  I needed glasses.  After obtaining the glasses, I was thrilled to be able to see beyond the end of my eyes.  Seventh grade meant we had a home room and all other classes were conducted in other rooms.  I remember read a poem called the Childrens Hour when the bell rang and all the children began walking to different class rooms.  Eight grade was torture because of math glass, I had to repeat it.  Corporal punishment consisted of a circle drawn on the blackboard and a culprits nose stuck with in the circle.  

Eighth graduation was held at the highschool.  Mom made me a cool cotton dress white with black polkadots.  I loved it and wish I still had it.  It was then that I realized that I was taller than my father.  He was a wonderfully funny man.  

Freshman year was the year of the wig hat and humilation from the beautiful Gratton boys in Study Hall.  One of them patted me on the head, that was the end of the wig hat.  

Algebra and Geometry were a relief, it was like telling a story with numbers.  I did well with Geometry because I typed all the theorems and used red and blue ink.  Miss Primativa Perez from the Phillipines scolded us because we were so lazy.  

It was that year on November that Kennedy was assassinated.  A very long four day weekend with constant coverage.  I went to Church on Sunday and Jack Ruby had assasinated Oswald by the time we got home.  

Graduated highschool 50 of 150.  I was paired with a very popular boy to march into the auditorium.  He was gorgeous and if looks could have killed I would have been smoking.  I

 forgot about the half year I attended school in Riggins, Idaho.  They had an art class and my typing was done to music.  Weird. I became aware of a beautiful Senior couple. She was blond and he was dark.  The first time I saw him, I thought I was having a heart attack, my heart was pounding and I was afraid I would faint.  He was the prettiest young man I had ever seen.  

We went by bus.  We also attended Church School, all of us, me and my three sisters and both boys. One of the teachers thought I was the girls Mother.  As if.  It was only one week.  

We had no TV reception so we played Nertz or played in the creek in the backwhere there were otters. It was quite magical.  

No more school until I moved back to Idaho after my divorce. I went to BSU for medical records.  Made the Deans list, took the national test and worked in Emmett the twelve years.  

After I moved to Barrow, I decided to take a culture pill at the local Ilisagvik College.  My class was film and literature.  We watched the most recent Frankenstein.  We were challenged to write a sequel.  Mine was called Big Man and I have mentioned it before. 

We were also given the book Love In The Time of Cholera.  It was only six chapters but they were thick ones.  As I was reading the book, something started to bother me in fact it bothered me so much I started paging backwards.  Eventually I found an identical paragraph, word for word.  I was intrigued. I was told to write to Marquez and ask if this was a one time Easter Egg.  I did so but never heard from him.  I never read any of his other books to see if there were other easter eggs so.  I have self educated on many things but mostly fiction etc.  I would love to study language but am far too lazy to be any good at such an effort.

BECOMING A WOMAN

 It has been several decades since, but when we lived on Pine Creek, Dad was working on the Hells Canyon Dam project, Mom decided that I needed to be informed on what was to come. She gave me a pamphlet and told me to read it.  Ok.  When I was finished, she asked me what I thought.  I just shrugged, I was eager to go back outside and play with everyone else.  I pretty much forgot all about it.  In middleschool, all the girls had to go watch a film in Health Class.  Again I failed to understand any of it.  Did not ask my girlfriends what it was all about. I was eager to go check out a book from the study hall library and lose myself in tales about teenagers and horses.  I do remember reading the directions on a box of Kotex and while it said the pad could not be seen.  I thought the pad went across the stomach and thought it would be a dead giveaway to lumpiness.  Eventually, I got my first period.  I hollered at Mom who came into the bathroom and showed me where the pad actually went and how to hook front and back with the little elastic belt.  No big deal.  Had a couple of crampy periods but over all went well.  Learned to check for leaks before leaving the house, etc.  Still did not realize that Mom was also experiencing the joys of woman hood.  Could have been a bonding moment.  Later on, I learned all about Tampax and I did not feel that I benefited all that much from the experience.  My girlfriend, Judy, did not remove the cardboard outer cover and found it to be painful.  Oy!  In the mid sixties and later, I was on birth control pills.  I adored knowing exactly what Wednesday when I would get my very light period. That nonsense went on until 2005-6 when menopause occurred.  Yay! Never had a hot flash or cold flash.   Just stopped, Hooray me!!!  If I had ever had a daughter I hope I would have informed her and talked with her to say it would be all right.  The one time I complained to mom, she just said it was the nature of the beast.  Thank you so much. And perhaps injected a bit of humor.  I wonder if there are tasteful yet amusing jokes about menarche.   One day when I was a senior, I came in and Mom had the sewing machine set up.  I looked at the pattern and it was a maternity smock.  I asked her who that was for and she grunted ME.  I did not say anything but I should have hugged her and said, you will  love this baby, he will keep you young running around after him.  If you are worried that I might be thought to be pregnant and going to live in California. well you just march that  belly all over town to show them what is what. 

HALLOWEEN

 Halloween:  As a child, most of the treats pwere homemade.  The best were popcorn balls, sweet and tangy with melted marshmallow and apple cider vinegar. The candy was usually fudge, divinity and peanut brittle.  The candy sometimes disappeared to reappear at Christmas.  

Halloween is a big deal in Barrow, Alaska.   Someone from housing would come around and unlock the doors to all the twelve plexes. Then the hoards would descend.  Candy was usually gone fairly early.  No one wore costumes except the kids living in the building.  

One time, I wore a pair of wings at work and promised to grant one wish that involved leaving medical records immediately.  The trick or treaters in the villages did not want to miss out, so they divided themselves in half and took turns to go out and get treats. Trick or treat is pretty quiet here in town, we were among the 25% 

of adults who prestend were are not at home.  The town does have trick or trunk and the school and churches have activities as well as haunted houses.  There is a pumpkin patch across the river in Coos Bay where you can get your fill. I do not know if anyone had made a corn maze.  

I went on a hayride as a teenager sponsored by the First Christian Church.  I remember getting a very painful leg cramp and needed help to finish getting into the ride.  

We did not have to get our treats x-rayed when stupid people put razor bladed in apples etc.  We never wore costumes as kids, we were lucky we got to carry paper bags for the loot.  

O BOTHER

A couple of inconvenient happenings. On Sunday, the washer would not wash.  I called Charlie and gave him the error code E1F3, which meant to him that the water pressure sensor was out.  

I called the local repair guy but his mailbox is full and I cannot leave a message and I will not text being boomer technophobe.  

This morning husband drove Honda to hospital lab and could not get it started to come.  He took a jumper and got it started.   We drove the buggy to the hospital and got the car to Les Schwab.  

Then we drove by Archies Repair and got an addition phone number and I will call later on.  Not sure what lunch will consist of but I made a hotcake, bacon, tea and pills breaky.  Yay! 

SANDWICHES

Let us start at the vry beginning.   John Montague the fourth Earl of Sandwich loved playing whist so much that he did not want to leave the table for a meal in the dining room.  He had a servant put meat between two slices of bread so that he could continue playing.  I hope the meat was nice and juicy held in a linen napkin.  I am sure the mayo, mustard, pickles, lettuce and tomato came later.  Captain Cook also named the Hawaiian Islands after the Earl.  

When Richard and I were kids, we stayed at Grandma Berglunds house.  We were picking fruit at a nearby orchard.  Grandma B made sandwiche for us.  We stopped picking about nine am and discovered that the sandwiches consisted of bread, may and sliced spring onions.   

Then when Dad was working on the Hells Canyon Dam, we lived on Pine Creek.  Mom made peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches.  We called it grease sandwiches because it resembled such,  Mom gave us Pepsi to drink.  If you got it just right you could peel of the mixture from the room of your mouth.  

My favorite sandwich became a hot Pastrami with mayo and dill pickle spear.  There was a deli near Fairchild and I loved to stop in Sparks for the Pastrami there.  

One time Mom and I stopped in eastern Idaho close to where the Hole In The Wall Gang hid.  It was late, they had pastrami and I ordered one.  Turned out to be a fried ham sandwich but I was hungry at ate i as well.  

I really enjoy Reuben sandwichest; there are a couple of variation, Corned beef with Russian and Pastrami with Thousand Island and the usual Swiss cheese, saurkraut on rye. Then grilled.  I like to visit a place down town.  I orered a Reuben and she told me the following story.  When she worked at another place a few years ago the special was Reubens.  A group of five came in, four men one woman.  They all ordered Reubens.  Sorry, all out of Pastrami.  She had thin sliced ham, would they like that instead.  Oh, she made the ham reubens and set them out.  The woman, Karen, started complaining that the ham was too salty, she didn't want hers grilled, it went on an on.  Finaly my friend snapped, "I hate you, Karen!"  There after whenever the men came in, they would order the I Hate You Karen sandwich.  

I forgot about the happy accident BLTT I made when Charlie and I lived on the ranch.  One day I started to make lunch and I did  not have bread.  I did have tortillas.  So I fried bacon, dragged the tortillas through the bacon grease.  Added tomatoes, lettuce an mayo to it and it makes a nifty BLT.  Yummy!!!

A COUPLE THINGS

CULTURE PILL:

When I lived in Barrow, Alaska, the local college would offer free course.  I took on about literature.  The instructure lived in my building, I gave a small old book written by Daniel Defoe titled, "Travels with a Donkey".  I am certain he invented an early version of the sleeping bag.  

When I lived in Barrow AK, the local college offered free classes.  The instructor lived in my building.  I gave him a little old book by Daniel Defoe titled Travel with a Donkey.  I am pretty sure he invented an early version of a sleeping bag.

At any rate, the class was local and very interesting.  We first watched he original Frankenstein.  We also watched a later edition starring Robert DeNiro as the monster. At the end of the class we were challenged to write any we liked about Frankenstein. I wrote a sequel titled "Big Man.  The book ended in the Arctic, seen as an exotic local circa 1812.  The ship burned however Frankenstein escaped to an ice floe.  He used the salt water to heal his burns and ate what he could catch from the sea.  A party of Eskimo hunters found him and decided to take him home with them.  He recovered and soon learned Inupiaq and shared meat.  He once drove off a polar bear with his roar.  Eventually they returned to Utkiagvik (Barrow).   No one minded his scars, many hunters were worse off.  The children loved him for he was very tall.  He married and named the first five children after his victims back home.  After that his wife named the rest of the children.  His leather notebook labeled Victor Frankenstein still exists where it can be found in the local library. 

Then we were introduced to Latin American authors.  We read "Love in the Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  It has six chapters and is about a courtship between two young people.  As I read it in the fifth chapter one of the paragraph sounded very familiar.  I started looking backwards.  I finally found a duplicate paragraph in the second chapter.  The paragraph was identical.  They were on a steamer along the river, it described the surroundings perfectly, the sounds, the smells.  I was puzzled.  The teacher suggested I write a letter to Marquez,  I did so,English and Spanish.  I never heard from him.  I have often wondered if he wrote other Easter Eggs in other books but I have never read them.  Has anyone else read them and if so did you find any Easter Eggs ?  

Then we read a short story titled "The Third Bank".  It was about a grieving woman asking the local Priest to find her husband.  He was astounded.  She reported that he left in a single person boat.  She begged the priest to bring home.  The priest told her that it was impossible.  We were supposed to figure out what really happened.  Someone suggest that the man's one person boat was actually a coffin and he was dead and could not return.  

My friend, Patrick Pendleton participated in a murder solving thing, He had a lot of fun.

COUNTING

 Numbers and I have always had a love hate relationshiop.  I had to repeat eighth grade general math.  Ugh.  I remember knowing my numbers as a child, my Aunt Ollie had me ask Central for three numbers but I kept reading the numbers on the dial.  In the first grade, we had a test write out number one through ten.  I remember asking a classmate how to make a six.  Later on when learning to read a clock, I always got them backwards.  The only times I performed well at math was algebra felt like telling a story only with numbers.  I got a good solid B for Geometry because I typed up the theorems using blue and red ink. As far as checking accounts are concerned, always remember the bank decucts before it credits, therefore you may NOT have enoiugh money in the bank to cover that thrice bounced check.  Um hmmm. Fortunately, Kindle does math like a genius.  Thanks Alexa. 

BUS RIDES

 Bus Rides I have taken.  When I was little Dad was working in eastern Oregon.  For some reason Mom needed to return to Emmett.  I think she may have been pregnant with Richard.  So Dad put us on a Bus to Ontario.  I remember smelling the very strong smell of onions.  Moms parents probably pickes us up in Ontario.  I do not remember if we took the bus back. Dad probably came and got us.  

During school there were lots of bus rides.  One of the more memorable one was the bus driver pulled over so we could listen to one of the Freedom Seven flights.  The other more memorable one was to attend the 1965 A1 basketball championship in Pocatello, we won and I screamed myself hoarse.  Lots of fun. 

Next was a bus rideMare Island To Reno, Nevada.  I was to meet Sue my first roommate.  The ride was memorable in that a drunk couple got on, got drunker, argued and were kicked off the bus somewhere along the highway. Got to Reno an met a handsome cousin of hers who had hemophila and took factor 8.  

The next bus ride was the summer I moved to Petalum.  I took the bus from Petaluma to Santa Rose to enroll in the college.  I was not working yet so did not attend.  I wish I had after I started working.  

After I married I was asked to be escort on Vickies senior trip.   We went to Disneyland although it was not long after the big quake.  We saw freeways knocked down. The driver got us there and back and did a very good job.  I had forgotten that there were very few places to sit down in Disneyland.  

The last bus ride was when I decided to go back to Idaho.  I borrowed two hundred dollars from Tony and gave them a beautiful seascape.  The bus ride was uneventful I cauhgt the Grayhound in Philo and rode it to Novato.  Over all the buses seem to attract odd folk.  But an inexpensive way of travel.

MEMORIAL DAY

 Today, I was thinking of all my relatives who served. Great Uncle Al served in the Coast Guard.  His brother Isaac was in the Army.  He got the flu around 1918 and died.  They are both buried in St. Cloud, Minnesotta.  Charlie Berglund did not serve during WWI or WWII.  He stayed at home, farmed and raised his family.

My father served at a Volunteer and was in Alaska, Kodiak and Matanuska valley.  My Uncle Carl was in the Air Force and served in Japan. Uncle Paul was in the Air Force.  My first husband, Mike, was in the Army in Viet Nam and discharged with schrapnel and a Purple Heart.  My present husband, Tim, served in the Air Force and was mainly in Texas.

My Mother's brother, Tater, was in the Army and served in Europe.  He was wounded and recovered in England and hated English food. He helpe free POW camps.   Grandma Horn showed me the telegrams from the Army and his Purple Heart. 

My husbands Father, Vester, joined the Army in 1943, he served in Hawaii as a medical corpman, which is a close as a Seventh Day Adventist can get to being a military objector. He spent some time in the brig for refusing to pick up cigarette butts on Sabbath.

My brothers, Richard and Phil both served in the Navy.  Richard spent two terms in Viet Nam; once on a gun boat in the Mekong and a second one as a Dog robber.  He loved the sheer chicanery of that job.  Richard stayed in twenty years.  Phillip was in about fifteen years.  He worked on Raytheon equipment then and when he left the Navy he worked for Raytheon and traveled to Spain and Italy. 

Gentlemen, thank you for your service.

OWIES 2024

Well, I have learned a couple of things due to recent events.

Last Tuesday, I turned wrong at Davita and extravasated.  The needle punched into tissue and was very ouchie until the maching was turned off. Got immediate swelling of right forearm.  I was taken off about two hours early.  So Vicks Vapor rub applied to bruise works surprisingly well. Heparin will be held until this coming Thursday.  Now it only itches and is UGLY!

Then last Wednesday, I got a can of beans out of the large drawer.  I turned backward to it to push it shut.  My lovely wool socks were no good.  Gravity won, I crashed my right hip on the edge of the drawer.  Tim and Carolyn got me up.  Plans were made to empty that large drawer and put goods in pantry. I now have left over quart jars and lids are now stored in that drawer.  I have to add several more canned goods to the pantry from the cupboards below the microwave.  Yay!!!

Also Phil called today to march me one more time to replace printer driver. Viola!! It now prints, Now I can blog and print to my hearts desire.  It is a good day Thaank you brother !!!