Aberrant Prose

Spring Break Garbage Can Madness

Robert and I woke at one o’clock this morning to a clatter in the road—actually more like the sound of thundering wheels pounding on pavement. I thought it was thunder. Dakota and Paris bolted out of bed and headed to the door to furiously bark at the racket. Robert too reluctantly got up to see what the ruckus was about. Although too dark to see anything he had a pretty good idea.

On our drive to the park for our daily walk we immediately saw one of our garbage cans missing. No surprise. Six houses down the road we spotted it tipped over on its side having burped its contents all over the road. Ours wasn’t the only one rolled off during the night. Others were tipped and tilted pell-mell, their contents also spewed on the road and in neighbors’ yards.

Back from our walk Robert dropped me off to rescue our can and to pick up all of our trash: pieces of junk mail, empty toilet paper rolls, asparagus stems, tissues, dirty paper towels, dental floss, empty food containers, grimy lids, yucky cans. Just as I finished this unpleasant task and headed back home pulling our can behind me the garbage truck came barreling down the road. I stopped and faced our garbage can toward the road hoping the truck would stop to pick it up and empty it. When the truck reached me the driver stopped and leaned out of his seat toward me as if to tell me he wasn’t about to pick it up because how was he to know I was a legitimate garbage customer.

Instead he told me he was out on the road at six this morning and there was trash scattered up and down the road, it was everywhere and it was a mess! He continued to tell me how every year during spring break this same thing happens. “EVERY year,” he lamented. Neither of us had any idea how it had all gotten picked up. I am guessing commuters were up early to face garbage detail, an unpleasant disruption, before heading into the city. The truck driver then kindly picked up my garbage can and emptied it into his truck.

Picking up garbage on the road early in the morning in 35 degree weather risking my life as cars zipped by within inches was certainly not an ideal way to start my day.

Facebook bitten

Just a few days after writing my last blog I became a facebook user (thanks to Kathy). This may well be why I am not blogging as often now. That and my continuing battle with piriformis syndrome. It is hard for me to write a lot when I can’t sit at my computer for very long.

I admit I am quite addicted to facebook. It’s easy to get drawn into it between activities. While I am waiting for a job to print, or a file to upload, an email to be answered, a phone call to be returned, I jump over to facebook to read what people have just posted and for entertainment.

When I first joined I didn’t expect I would get into or be interested in all the games and questionnaires associated with facebook. Now I am sending Easter eggs, cultivating a farm, discovering Olivia is the name I should have been given, Redding is the town where I ought to live (unless I move out of state then it is Seattle), the breed of dog that best describes me is a Cattle Dog (!), and my real age is 46.

Of course what I like about facebook is how little writing is required, just snippets to share what is going on in my life.

Better yet I enjoy seeing the photos people post and discovering what is going on in their lives. I found out a niece of mine has a dozen horses, another niece is now a doctor, yet another niece just got a new puppy, my sister graduated from Clatsop Community College, a first cousin of mine now has a new job and her husband went skydiving on his birthday.

Another nice aspect of facebook is there is no wading through a lot of spam associated with email. Plus attachments don’t bog down incoming email. Messages, photos and videos can be shared by posting them directly on facebook. And sharing with lots of people doesn’t mean sending lots of emails (good for not bogging down the internet especially when there are attachments involved). Best of all people respond! Often when I email people they don’t (most likely because my email gets blocked by a spam filter).

After a month and a half I am still enjoying the facebook connection, which leads me to wonder: Have I now moved from blogging to facebooking? And what’s next? Twittering?

Looking back, looking forward

Forty-five days into the New Year and at last—here is my look back on 2008, a summary of what our year was like, what we did, where we went, experiences we had and all that jazz. This is also a look into what the future holds, even beyond 2009.

Considering Kathy and Tim live over 400 miles away, we were able to see a lot of them and their little ones, Rylan and Aubrey, in 2008.

After Kathy and Tim’s announcement Christmas of 2007 to tell us a little girl was on the way, Robert and I began to make plans to head to Southern California to help convert their office into a nursery for Aubrey’s arrival. We made our trip late February, early March. While Robert and Tim converted the office by building a wall, a closet and adding a door, Kathy, Rylan and I worked on perfecting butterflies and dragonflies to paint on the walls of the new nursery.

Our trip wasn’t just about the nursery. Before the remodel we rendezvoused with the Pines to spend a few days in the mountains at their cabin. Robert and Tim skied three days. I skied one day. That was enough for me.

In May Robert and I returned to Southern California to welcome Aubrey into the world. We saw and held her within hours of her arrival!

Aubrey was a much easier baby right from the start. Of course we were all more relaxed this second time around. Kathy and Tim were not nearly as weary as they were when Rylan arrived.

We stayed a week to help. We also dedicated one full day to enjoy Knott’s Berry Farm with Rylan. Another day we took him on a shopping trip for Matchbox cars then treated him (and us) to ice cream.

The next time we saw the Pines was in July. They drove up to meet us at Chris’ house which worked out to be a convenient rendezvous in that we rented an RV in the Sacramento area. We left our cars at Chris’ then drove the RV up to Oregon, camping along the way. Our destination was the Ellingson Ranch in Mapleton where the 2008 annual PEAR* Affair was hosted by the Ellingsons. The Ellingson event was in honor of 100 years the ranch has been in the family.

What a gala event that reunion turned out to be! There were five days of games and outings galore and meals served in a huge pole barn. There was Contra dancing and a day of canoeing and boating on a lake. Over 130 people attended!

The RV worked out very nicely. The Pines basically used it for their home base once we arrived at the Ranch. There were even hook-ups available! Robert and I put up a tent nearby to use as our home base. Both Sadie (the Pines’ dog) and Paris (our dog) had an absolute grand time running all over the acres of field nestled in the midst of deep, green forest. Dakota, our younger dog, missed out on all the fun. We chose to leave her in California at Chris’ house.

In October Kathy hopped on a plane with Rylan and Aubrey to fly to Napa to spend a week relaxing in the country. What a special treat for us! Kathy too, it was an opportunity for her to unwind while she enjoyed extra hands to take care of and entertain her little ones.

For Thanksgiving, Robert, Chris, and I drove south to spend a few days with the Pines. Paris and Dakota stayed in a kennel. Chris’ dog, Seven, enjoyed coming along to play with Sadie. Taking his car, Chris drove the entire way down and back—very much appreciated by Robert and I! Tim and Kathy fixed a special Thanksgiving dinner for all of us. Before heading home we helped Tim, Kathy, and Rylan put up their outdoor Christmas lights and decorations.

In December all the Pines (including Sadie) drove up to Northern California to spend a week at our house to celebrate Christmas. Nothing compares to having little ones around in the midst of Christmastime cheer.

Of course our year wasn’t just about seeing our kids and grandkids.

In March and April Robert built an agility course in our field.

In June there was a baby shower for Gary’s wife, Fely. Gary (Robert’s brother) and Fely welcomed a real cutie, Briana, into the world on August 7, 2008. Briana is Robert’s Mom’s 7th grandchild, born 18 years after her 6th grandchild!

On the Fourth of July we enjoyed Chris’ annual barbecue and fireworks show at his house.

In August we had a pool party. This is noteworthy because it had been two years since our last one.

In September I hopped on a plane to fly north to celebrate my Mom’s 80th birthday. There were Kewpie decorations to make, party items and food to shop for, special photos to organize for display, tea pots and cups to unpack, silver to polish, a cake to pick up—all resulting in a very delightful birthday party at the Sons of Norway hall reserved ahead of time by my Mom. My sisters, Donna and Bonnie, showed up early to bring a variety of special dishes, flowers for centerpieces and to help with setup. Bonnie’s daughter, Nissa, and her husband, Tristan, also were a big help decorating the hall for the party!

In October Chris built a shed in his yard with Robert’s help.

And that is pretty much how 2008 played out.

Looking ahead to 2009: we will be downsizing our business giving us more time to enjoy our family. I will be drawing social security. I will write more, sew more, and walk more.

Looking beyond 2009, after we have totally disbanded our business, I visualize missions overseas, illustrating children’s’ books, volunteering in schools, competing in agility and rally trials, going on cruises, writing books, running long distance foot races, and/or teaching computer graphics—and of course spending lots of time with our kids and grandkids.

*PEAR: Puckett Ellingson Annual Reunion aka Puckett Ellingson And Relations

Paris turned 5 today

Not only did Paris turn five today, so did Chris’ dog, Seven.

Having a five-year-old dog is very nice—so settled, so obedient—no wild and crazy, no getting into stuff all the time. When we leave shoes on the floor she totally ignores them. This is so different than her younger days—grabbing stray shoes and running around the house egging us on with her “catch me if you can” look.

I really discovered how nice it is to have a mature, obedient dog when I signed Paris up for rally class. I had to take her out of agility (temporarily) because my physical therapist told me not to do any running for at least two months. So, I decided to put her in rally this session. Turns out all that agility training (3 years’ worth) has made her an excellent rally dog. The very first course we ran the teacher said, “Oh my goodness! Paris is ready for competition!” Paris made it look so easy; she even did better than the one advanced dog in the class! Of course it helped I have had Dakota in rally (three sessions now) so I am pretty familiar with rally stations.

Up until Paris’ debut, I thought Dakota was doing really well considering she is only two (and the teacher agreed). Now after seeing how Paris has taken to rally Dakota seems very newbie to me.

I plan to enter Paris in a trial in Petaluma in March. By then I should be physically ready. By then I should be able to remember to follow the rally signs correctly i.e., to NOT turn left when directed to turn right. One thing for sure, if we don’t qualify it won’t be because Paris didn’t do it right!

Kids ’n cards

This is a fun time of year—time to throw my imagination into gear and come up with a design for our Christmas card.

I have made our Christmas cards since 1971 and over the years, have come up with lots of different ideas. Many of my favorites are from 1971 to 1986 starring Chris and Kathy.

I didn’t always just sit them down and take their picture. Oh no. I had them climbing into a mailbox, hanging from a fireplace, riding in a hot air balloon, standing in a cloud, laying in straw and standing in a chimney.

Did they really enjoy this parade of silliness? How much coercing and bribing did I have to go through to gain their cooperation? Well guess what? I found the cards and it really does look like, for the most part, they had as much fun posing for the cards as I did creating them. Take a look.

Short takes 3

Book benefits

Kathy shares books from her book club with me. Right now I am reading a book she brought up in October titled The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. I have to admit it has been a tough read for me (very politically orientated) yet I can’t put it down because of who wrote it. The optimum way to enjoy Obama’s extraordinary prose is with a cup of coffee, this wakes my brain up to better absorb all he has to say and he has a lot to say! Obama is a very inspirational, impressive writer!

Skyping

Yesterday using my new laptop, with its built-in webcam, Robert and I visited the Pines using Skype. So much easier than what we used to do: pull out our camcorder, secure it to the top of our tripod, power up the Mac Mini to use iChat, pull out the remote keyboard and mouse…

We were able to watch Rylan work in an activity book while we talked with Kathy, then later watch him ride his bike on the sidewalk with his friend, Kena. Kathy just carried her laptop with her built-in webcam outside! Aubrey joined the conference after deciding she didn’t want to nap. Much to our delight she bounced around on Kathy’s lap, giggling and smiling during our videoconference.




Bill Cosby live

Last night we were treated to the comedic act of Bill Cosby only thirty minutes from our house! We purchased tickets for this event months ago thus giving us great seats, sixth row, center. Cosby told very funny stories from his younger days and made humorous references to his age and what being 71 translates to in his life. When he appeared on stage everyone stood up and applauded. When he finished his act he received a standing ovation. What an enjoyable night he gave us!




Journal for all time, all ways

With my new laptop come new discoveries. I just discovered how easy it is to save all my journal entries to Rich Text (an entire year or an entire month or an entire week, whatever I select) from Apple’s Mail program. From there I can open them in Text Edit and save as PDFs or as HTML or as Word documents!

I write daily entries, which I email to myself to go into a specially designated directory. This automatically saves each entry on our server. I like to post my journal online so I can get to it from anywhere. This also gives me another layer of backup. I like being able to look up facts and details at any given time like where we had dinner out on a certain day, the name of a flower we planted in our yard, what day Dakota fell in the pool, when I read a specific book…

Previously I saved my entire journal directory to my desktop then posted that file online. Once online all I got was a cryptic mess with no way to search all of them at once since each daily entry had to be opened separately. Since the new mail program doesn’t let me save it in this way anymore I had to figure something else out. Now I put all my entries for one year into one PDF document and can now search an entire year in one sweep!

This newly discovered option has me more willing to take on the challenge of transposing Albert Osborn’s journals, something I have been reluctant to do not knowing what format would survive the evolution of changing technology. I can now post his diaries online without fear of having to retype it all to accommodate future formats Once posted, the rest of the family can access and read them.

Wishzilla.com

Wishzilla.com is a website everyone must check out. It is Chris’ brainchild and recently has gone through an amazing transformation. It is a site that has morphed into something even more useful and intuitive than its predecessor, “the gift box,” an eloquent gift-shopping site like no other.

Unlike other gift shopping sites, which are basically just registries, Wishzilla.com allows people to shop for precisely what a person wants without them even knowing exactly what it is they will receive. People sign up as a group (or a family). Each person lists all the gifts they want (aka wishes) filling out details such as size, color, cost, and where to buy. Others check their list and lock what they want to buy them without them being able to see what is locked. Images and links to websites can easily be incorporated. There is even a cool feature wherein if a user finds a gift they want on a website, while on the website, they can click on a bookmarklet aka Magic Wish Getter to instantly add it to their wish list!

Short takes 2

A Happy Birthday to Chris!

Chris turned 38 today. As has become tradition every year, Robert and I took him out for pizza last night to celebrate. We gave him a robot made of sparkplugs, odds and ends, nuts and bolts. He bought himself an iPhone.

Foghead

I collect KFOG’s Live From the Archives CDs. Early this morning I headed to Peet’s in Napa in the rain and the fog to buy my 11th one: Live From the Archives Fifteen. My collection might actually be worth something if I had started with CD number one. I collect these CDs because I have this idea I need them for inspiration. Not for the music. Someday I am going to design a cover to enter KFOG’s annual CD cover design contest.

Things with wings

For Halloween this year Rylan decided he wanted to be a flying dragon. Kathy decided Aubrey would make a cute butterfly. Between their darling costumes and the Halloween prints I used to make a matching dress and shirt they had a boo-tiful time.

Shutdown, fire up

I now have a new laptop. Up until yesterday Robert has been busy loading software and transferring files from Oliver, the old laptop to Tortoise, the new one. Just as he was transferring the last of my files (my latest photos) Oliver’s hard disk stopped working! Thank goodness I have uploaded almost all of my photos to KodakGallery.com. For a minimum fee of $25 a year I can store as many as I want and retrieve them (at the full 3504 pixels x 2336 pixels) anytime I want. The time to retrieve may have just arrived.

The really sad thing is that if Oliver’s hard drive really has crashed for good Robert won’t be inheriting my old laptop as was the plan. He will have to continue to bumble along on Gypsy, our seven-year-old laptop.

Shed project part two

Another day of work on Chris’ shed still wasn’t enough. With predictions of rain arriving today Robert headed up to Chris’ yesterday to help him put up trusses, nail the roof plywood in place and to shingle.

Although not totally completed, the shed is now essentially ready for rain. This would not have happened if Chris hadn’t built all the trusses, paneled the last wall, framed the two doors, and installed the window after we were there a week and a half ago.

Two doors to build, the rest of the shingling and finish work and the shed will be done. So what do you think, another day?

Short takes

GSP dunking

For the first time ever since having our two German Shorthaired Pointers, Dakota fell in the pool! I am pretty sure she must have been chasing a cat, it was dark outside, she was barking her head off, she lost track of where she was… She was in and out of the pool in an instant. One moment she was barking and the next moment, totally wet head to toe, she wanted inside for refuge. With all the water near the steps she obviously had no trouble figuring out how to quickly get out.

Bug trade off

Tim, Kathy, Rylan and Aubrey are constantly catching colds, one is getting over one, another is in the middle of one or another has just caught one (you know how it is with day care and preschool). Therefore it was really no surprise when Kathy, Rylan and Aubrey came to visit last week all three of them were sick. Robert caught one of their colds the day before they left. I came down with a cold the day after they left. If we caught two different colds will we be trading colds and be sick for the next couple of weeks? No matter. Having them here is way worth the trade off.
Laptop dance

Robert has been watching and tracking and researching Apple laptops for quite a while now. Just as he was about to buy a new one (to replace mine), we were short on cash or there was the promise of new updates around the corner. With the newest update Apple made to their laptops and the 2008 tax write off opportunity coming to an end Robert decided to make a move. He came close to buying the latest 17-inch but couldn’t really warrant the extra cost of a brand new one. In the end he ordered an older model saving us 33%. We may be giving up extra hard disk storage, a rapped up trackpad, a faster drive, and higher resolution but our laptop will still come with 4 Gigs of memory, 160 Gigs of storage, a magnetic DC connector AND best of all a built-in webcam!

Boo apparel

After playing hooky from work this week to do some sewing I shipped special Halloween edition outfits off to Rylan and Aubrey today. No, not costumes—just some cute clothes made with fabric decorated in ghosts, owls, moons, pumpkins, stars and the words Happy Halloween. I had high expectations to have them completed for Kathy to take home when she was here. My clients had other ideas. At least I did have the dress far enough along to get a picture of Aubrey in it. Since Kathy and the kids left I made Aubrey a matching hat and some pantaloons to wear under the dress (sewn to a pretty yellow knit top) and I made Rylan a shirt in the same print as Aubrey's dress plus a pair of solid blue shorts. (Thank you Jean for the blue fabric from your own personal warehouse!)

Surprise! A toy cabinet!

When Kathy, Rylan and Aubrey came to visit us (they flew home just this morning), there was something new in our living room. Something I have been wanting to blog about but with Robert wanting it to be a total surprise I held off doing so until now.

When Rylan was old enough we pulled out old Play Family Fisher-Price Toys from the barn; toys from Chris and Kathy’s childhood. He loved them so much we decided to keep them in the house. Every time Rylan left we ended up piling them haphazardly on a coffee table next to our living room half wall. I came up with building a toy cabinet. About a month or so ago Robert decided he needed a new project and was ready to build it.

I seized the moment and quickly drew up a very rough sketch for a 6-foot x 2-foot toy cabinet. For the top I sketched in side rails to keep marbles and small things from falling off the edge and a back panel for inserting flat squares of wood with letters and pictures on them. I was sure he would nix my ideas. He went along with the back panel even knowing what a challenge it would be to make slots for each square. However, instead of hand cutting flat squares of wood (a very arduous task) he came up with using leftover tiles from when we tiled our kitchen counters in 1985. He then talked me into using half rounds instead of railing (he told me railing would be ridiculous to try to build on such a small scale). On top of that he came up with using our laser printer to create the letters and pictures instead of me laboriously hand painting each tile. The letters and pictures were printed onto clear adhesive in a dark green to match the cabinet and then adhered to each tile. The tiles turned out absolutely awesome! We used the same technique to decorate the knobs on the doors and drawers. I came up with adding wheels to roll the cabinet into the middle of the living room to allow for more playing room.

Between Robert’s ideas and mine, the toy cabinet turned out to be one very nice addition to our living room and is perfect storage for blocks, marbles, cars, and Play Family toys. We added the last touches the day before Kathy, Rylan and Aubrey's visit. Although it was late at night when they arrived, Rylan immediately noticed it and had to check it out. Kathy was duly impressed. The next morning Rylan quickly climbed right up on top of the cabinet (it had not even occurred to me he would do this) and started playing with the marbles and chutes. He was impressed how the marbles did not roll off onto the floor. It did not take him long to also figure out the half wall made a good seat while playing.