The Army on Fudgesicles

While driving from Clackamas and ODFW up to Scenic Beach in Washington we encountered a huge traffic jam in the Nisqually Basin about 15 or 20 miles south of Tacoma. Traffic moved in all three lanes, but it was just at a creep and the right hand lane was the creepinest (or something like that). We were in the center lane and very slowly overtaking and passing all the trucks in the right hand lane. It was a very nice warm day and we had just had a fudgesicle, because we like them, and because we could being that its just a short walk back to the galley and the freezer. So we came up on a camouflaged tanker truck which turns out to be Army and Kat jumps up runs back to the freezer and grabs a couple of fudgesicles, runs back up front, leans out the window, and asks the two soldiers if they would like one. You should have seen the eyes of the driver. I guess it was the fudgesicles, but then Kat is pretty impressive leaning out of a window. Anyway he was surprised and delighted and I could see he really enjoyed it. So he took a bite and nodded his head to me as we drove by. We really enjoyed it too.

Passport and Bear baiting too

Bear baiting country and opening one of many gates to get to private or public forest land. And Kyle on the mound.

Clackamas and Oregon Dept of Fish and Wildlife hadn’t changed much since the last time we volunteered here in ‘07’. We were here in the spring and fall of that year. The later period when I was having my prostate fixed. We did the Passport to fishing program again and I did some Bear baiting. You can read about them in the May and June 2007 entries so I won’t go into lots of detail. Suffice to say we had a good time doing it again and seeing family and friends while we were here.

My kids are doing well as are the grandkids. Wendy and Ryan are busy with work and activities. Activities being kids sports. Chelsea is into everything, softball, soccer, and track, Megan just does basketball for now, and Kyle is just baseball. All of that is subject to change depending on season. But for now it takes two cars and parents just to get the kids to separate venues, and sometimes that’s not enough. They need help from friends. Fortunately friends are doing the same thing, although with a lesser number of kids. I got to see a few events and was duly impressed, if a little prejudice. Kyle is a darn good pitcher and Chelsea doesn’t seem to be replaceable at shortstop. She plays excellent defense. Though they’re both in a hitting slump right now. Chelsea plays indoor soccer in a mixed boys and girls league. I watched her team, with one boy, play an all boys team. Apparently there was no mix this day. The mixed thing is new and strange to me. Not something I grew up with or have seen before. But the girls were out there banging around just as much as the boys. And on this day they banged it around good enough to beat the boys. Incredible! It didn’t seem to be a big deal either. Just all in a days work. I asked Chelsea about that right after the game and she just gave a knowing little grin. So it must have been pretty good. I guess I am still a product of my time because for me it was and is a big deal. And fun to watch! And then I come to Megan. Like I said, Kyle and Chelsea are good, Chelsea probably more so for her diversity and speed, and she’s the oldest where ability can really start to show, but Megan was truly impressive playing basketball. The kid can do it all. The game I saw was very lopsided; to the point that the coach turned off the scoreboard. Megan had to have 20 some points in a 60 (?) point game and all in the flow of the offense. No ball hogging! So you can tell I was keeping score and probably the kids were too. It may have been the PC thing to do; turning off the scoreboard, but they don’t do that in real life. Maybe that’s a whole different posting? Anyway Megan was really, really good! The quiet one!

Heidi is well and fighting the grass and weeds on their property. She just bought one of those walk behind brush cutters to get ‘er done! I didn’t see it in action but she needs it. When she’s not working and whacking she’s spoiling here nieces and nephew. Aunt Heidi spends way too much on them. Her sister is not complaining. Heidi and I went fishing one time. She wanted me to take her because she forgot how it went lot’s of years ago when I was taking her. It didn’t take long though and I expect she’ll be taking the kids sometime real soon. I helped her pick out rods and reels for them. Like I said, she spoils them real well.

And we did Passport and Bear baiting too.

"Shit in Shoe"

Above. The almost finished and unpainted Peg Leg (click for a better view)

After a few hundred miles of bad California road (maybe it was less, but it seemed like a long way) we got to Winters CA and Lake Solano Park. Toni is working/hosting there and it was clearly a destination.

Peacocks and hens loved to stop by and eat Jade's cat food.

Because we do what we do and the weather is what it is where we do it, I/we almost always wear Crocs brand sandals. The ones made of rubber or plastic or composition or whatever it is that have holes around the edges and on top. The day I’m talking about was no exception. Except that this day we had moved the RV from one spot to a spot closer to Toni which had full hook-ups. The first site had no sewer hook-up so we had full gray and black water tanks and I was in the process of hooking up and dumping. Kat and Toni were kind of helping or were at least there and standing around when somehow I filled my shoe with sewage. Almost immediately I became Chief ‘Shit in Shoe’. At least it was warm. The weather too! And I guess the good news was that they were Crocs and I was next to the water hose. Not a big deal I guess but it was kind of funny. Fortunately it didn’t stick! Neither the shit or the title.

We had a good visit and got to see Toni’s new trailer. Very nice! The girls did some power shopping a couple of days while I stayed home and carved. I did a pretty neat walking stick for Toni and tried some painting for the first time. I have mixed feelings about painting. What I did turned out OK I guess, but I’m afraid to do my better stuff and ruin it. I’ll practice painting on practice carvings. That’s what I’ve done so far. Maybe I’ll develop more courage down the road?

Beth and Libby

Prescott was not far down the road from Zane Grey and we stopped there to see Kat’s step-daughter, Beth. We even caught her working! Just kind of kidding. We just happened to know where she worked and went there first. If you know Beth you know she was giggling and blathering when we came in (see the picture. She's on the left), and then the volume was turned up a little while she and Kat got in some hellos and hugs. And me too! After that it was off to do Beth’s second favorite thing after talking; eating. Beth can’t weigh 90 lbs but she eats like there is going to be a ban on it tomorrow. So we took her to the buffet at Golden Corral where she was pretty much in ‘hog heaven’. In between buffets the girls went shopping and Kat and I saw a little of Prescott but we didn’t stay too long. Miles to go, still people to see, and too cold in Prescott to stay longer. But it was good to see Beth.

Fortunately our next stop was Buckskin Mountain state park on the Colorado river where it was nice and warm. We’ve stayed here before, we even spent a Christmas at Buckskin. For future reference we need to remember that April is not as good as December. Too many boaters and vacationers this time of year. I think next year we’ll stay a little longer in Texas and miss some of the ‘spring break’ mess we’ve encountered all along the way this time. “Live and learn!” But it was warm! We be missing that RGV weather!

In Fresno we stopped and did some driveway camping at Libby’s, our good RV’ing friend who we met while volunteering at Oregon Fish and Wildlife. We have been trying to get together as volunteers again somewhere, but to date it hasn’t worked out. But we’ll get it done! We didn’t do anything exciting in Fresno but that’s the good news. Just a few peaceful days passing the time with a good friend with common interests. A good thing!

Left Turn Kat!

Pictures. 1.This is a tight fit that Kat walked us thru along Hwy 152. It sure felt a lot tighter than it looks here 2. After a night of snow in Springerville. 3. And Roberta and Caroline at Zane Grey. I want to carve one of these Totems. They are hallowed out and made into rattles.

We finally pulled ourselves away and got out of Bentsen Grove. Lots of hugs and goodbyes. Not so bad though, we will be coming back. I mean it’s not like we’re leaving forever and saying goodbye to good friends we’ll never see again. But it is a great place because of all the nice folks we met and things we have done and it was a little hard to leave. OK! Enough of that, you get the picture. Wait a minute! One final note. I did do the last two Senior Ambassador performances. The first of those was notable because I forgot my glasses and had to fake a whole bunch. You’ll recall I was having some trouble with my parts and not being able to see the music was………. Well, that was a real challenge to say the least. But it’s a big group and nobody really knew ‘cept of course me. Our last performance was at Bentsen Grove and it went pretty well. Very well according to Kat, the wives, and friends. So I’m looking forward to next year and a few practices before we start. Maybe I can learn what I’m really supposed to be doing?

So we headed out! The plan was to spend some time in Texas State Parks and use our discount coupons and see some more of Texas. We soon found out that we were in trouble. It’s was Spring Break. Not only were the parks mostly full, they were full of little young people. Yuk! So it was Left Turn Kat! We changed direction from north to west and headed to New Mexico. We went thru Roswell and Alamogordo, saw the White Sands, and then into the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona. Mostly across Hwy 152 . As it turned out, it was a great decision. No little people, or any people for that matter. Almost no traffic and the scenery was just great. We got into some snow in Springerville NM. Fortunately we got into a campground just before the &^#@ hit the roads. By morning everything was frozen and covered with snow. It thawed enough to get out late, but we made it. What a mess though, we drove thru enough slush mixed with New Mexico dirt to last me a long time. After a short stop at Meteor Crater RV Park (one of our favorites) we went to Zane Grey RV Park in Camp Verde AZ. It had come highly recommended by some RV friends and we wanted to ‘check it out’. It was great! First, it was immaculate, landscaped, clean and neat. Second, they allowed me to wash both the RV and car. Most places don’t! Then they had a woodcarving group who invited me to join them, and I did. And lastly (kind’a lost count there huh?) they had a really good mobile RV repair guy in the area. Which was good because we had to replace our toilet and he took care of it, insurance and all. And if you had to lose the use of the facility for a night (we did) this was the place to do it. We happened to be parked very near the rest rooms. And now we even have a bigger better Throne (got the upgrade). So we put this high on our list of places to spend some time. And it was more of a long term (like a month) kind of place. We made lots of friends right away and we will go back.

Oregon Potluck

We just recently had our 3rd street party which was a Potluck held over at the West Side rec room. There are 43 units on Third St and only 4 or 5 didn’t sign up. So we figured there were 70 some folks at the Potluck. The consensus was that the 3rd St party was better than Christmas. We made scalloped potatoes and Cole slaw. It’s the time for everyone to start having parties because it’s about time for people to start pulling out and heading home. They’ll be lots of folks leaving at the end of February and in April it will get downright empty. So right now the halls and rooms are busy with street and state parties. There are large contingents from Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Canada. There is no Oregon contingent here although we did meet one couple from Bend who were here for a while and our neighbors lived in Oregon for several years but claim Alabama as home. Kat and I were thinking of having an Oregon party. All we needed was two chairs and a TV tray. But it was cancelled do to ‘lack of interest’. Just two nights ago the woodcarving group, the Easy Bleeders, went out to eat at Ponchos. I think we had 20 people at that.

So the activities and fun continue. Kat is really doing well with knitting and crocheting, mostly crocheting I think? She doing hats and an afghan and I mentioned my Pickle Ball paddle cover. I have learned most of what I need to learn to carve faces. Now all I need is a couple of years practice. We’ve had such an enjoyable time we have signed up for a spot for next year. Maybe by then I’ll have my knees fixed well enough to play Pickle Ball. I almost forgot to mention that I did join the Senior Ambassadors choir. I think I mentioned that I might do that? Maybe not? AnywayI had my first concert last night and it went OK. It’s more involved than I thought and I only had two practices, so I got a little confused in spots because we sing parts and I got lost. But you just fake it and nobody really knows. We must have had close to 40 guys last night, who range in age form 63 to 85 I think? It was fun, now that I have that first one under my belt.

The weather is just great even though this has been a pretty cool winter down here too. So they say anyway. Winter is over though. It came and went two or three Tuesdays ago. It got down to a little below 40 and we only had a high of 58! But it’s over now and we’re back in shorts. I had a tough time wearing big boy pants for a couple of days. It was just painful.

Health Care

A few months ago a friend suggested I might be eligible for VA benefits based on my prostate cancer and time in Vietnam. It turns out he was correct. I filed a claim and was approved for VA medical benefits because of my exposure to Agent Orange. Agent Orange has been linked to a number of illnesses among Vietnam veterans, one of which is prostate cancer. It was pretty much cut and dry, if you were in Vietnam and if you have prostate cancer you qualify. We went to the McAllen VA medical center with my medical records and Army discharge papers showing service in Vietnam and I walked out with VA medical coverage.

I wasn’t about to turn it down. So I got a check-up and labs and all of that. At the time I went in there was “money available” for cataract surgery. I was checked by a contract doctor and I thought, approved for cataract surgery. I had the pre-surgery physical and everything, but then for some reason it was canceled. I’m going to check on it but in the mean time I’d like to think that maybe somebody at the VA is looking out for some of your tax dollars. I do have a cataract as determined by my previous health care provider, but only in the right eye and at last check not ready for surgery. I think maybe the contract doctor down here was a little too liberal in his diagnosis and maybe a little greedy. Anyway it’s off. No cataract removal at this time. Now we have to go to Mexico and get some new glasses.

Anyway the VA medical is good to have but it gets kind of confusing as to what to use. I have VA, Blue Cross and Medicare now. We just switched to Blue Cross from Kaiser in Portland and don’t have doctors here yet although Kat has an appointment upcoming. I’ll get it all sorted out sometime maybe. But I have options. I went in recently and had an X-ray on my knee. Now I’m waiting to hear from a contract orthopedist ( ? knee Dr.). I hope we don’t get stuck here too long waiting though? We're both getting kind of itchy to leave.