Snowfall & etc

We had a surprise snowfall this afternoon . . . it caught everybody by complete surprise. We got about an inch of snow over the course of a few hours – just enough to cover everything and build small snowmen out of. It has stopped snowing, but it is cold enough that the snow will stick around at least through morning.

Not long after the snow started, we went to see 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs' at the second-run Regal Cinemas by Vancouver Mall. Alex has read the book, and he loved the movie; he says it was exactly like the book. Although there were several good gags, I was a little disappointed in the film.

After the movie we went to Grandma Kennedy's house where Alex played in the snow with Madeline and Everett. We then went grocery shopping, got a couple Red Box movies, and headed home.

We cooked spaghetti with homemade meatballs then retired to our bedrooms to watch the Red Box movies. Alex watched 'The Bee Movie' again. I believe he saw the movie in the theater, and has seen it since, but he does not seem to be bothered by re-watching movies.

Tiffany and I watched 'Julie & Julia'. Before watching, I already had a chip on my shoulder about this movie because I absolutely detest Meryl Streep. I can't really say why. It could be her activism. I am annoyed with entertainers who are also activists; Meryl Streep's activism, however, is not as political as some, and she does support some great causes. Perhaps it is just my perception of her as a snooty snob.

Despite this thing I have against Meryl Streep, she is an incredible actress, and in this film her portrayal of Julia Child was wonderful. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the film. It is the telling of two independent true stories – the first is the story of Julia Child learning to cook French food in post-war Paris, then writing her now-famous book. The second story is of Julie Powell, who cooked all 524 of Julia Child's recipes in one year and blogged about it. I can't put my finger on why I liked it so well, except that it does combine several of my favorite things . . . history, cooking, writing, food, eating, and – oh – did I say food?

I think Tiffany fell asleep a couple times during the movie.

Jake is enjoying another rare night indoors tonight. It's really not too cold for him out there, but he did look pitiful in the snow, begging to come in. Maybe I'm getting soft. Maybe he's just getting old. Anyway, he's warm.

Lost Arrow

Oh, I'm a baaa-aad father!

Alex received a bow and arrow set from Santa Claus for Christmas.  It is a youth-sized bow, but it is compound.  It can put a hole through both sides of a plastic bucket from 20 yards.  I have lectured Alex about not loosing any arrows because if he looses an arrow, it means he was shooting it somewhere he shouldn't have.  In fact, his only targets have been items placed on our berm (giving his target a huge backdrop).

A few minutes ago, I decided to shoot a quiver of arrows before bed.  I shot six arrows at a plastic bucket on the berm, and put one of the arrows through the bucket.  Another four arrows were buried in the ground within a foot of the bucket.  The sixth arrow, however, could not be found.  When I shot it, I heard it glance off the frozen ground and go further up the berm, into the shadows.  In the dark, I was not able to find it.

I had better make sure that I am up before Alex in the morning, and that I find that arrow at first light!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I just finished baking for the cookie exchange tomorrow. Tiffany made several dozen chocolate-covered peanut butter balls, and I made five dozen giant chocolate chip cookies. This recipe makes about one dozen 6-inch cookies. Because they are so big, I could only bake four cookies at a time in the regular oven and two cookies at a time in the toaster oven.

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely

Alex’s 500 Piece Puzzle

Alex finished his first 500 piece puzzle tonight. We did a 100 piece puzzle a couple days ago, and Alex seemed to enjoy it . . . actually, I think he just enjoyed all of us doing something quietly in front of the fire together.

We stopped by Michael's to buy a 300 piece puzzle Thursday after school, but he liked the picture on this 500 piece puzzle better.

It took us two evenings to complete, and by the end, he was ready to be done with it . . . I think he's not going to want to do 500 pieces again for a while.

Alex’s Lost Tooth

Alex lost a tooth last night in bed. He is upset that he put it under his pillow in the middle of the night, but he didn't get money. The tooth fairy must have already made her rounds when he lost it.

Library Opening and Christmas Concert

When Tiffany and I picked Alex up from school today, we went straight to the new Cascade Park Library, next door to the Firstenburg Center, where they had their grand opening from 4 to 8. Tiffany and Alex were among the first few people in the building when they opened the doors; I was parking the car, so I was 5 minutes later.

We spent 20 minutes wandering through the library. It is a large, very open space with dozens of internet terminals, very nice reading areas (including one with very comfy chairs in front of a fireplace, looking out a window at a small wooded alcove). The library has self-checkout; I am not sure how this works, but it appears to be something similar to the self-checkout lines in the grocery stores. Today the library is well-stocked, with many of the books being brand-new. It is obvious that much time and effort went into staging.

One thing the library does not have is adequate parking.  Of course, parking was a nightmare for the grand opening.  It shares the Firstenburg Center parking lot, and no additional parking capacity was added with the addition of the library.  The Firstenburg parking lot has always had a questionable capacity, so I fear that the addition of the library may be too much for the lot to handle.

We saw Mayor Royce Pollard, who was going to give a speech sometime around 5:00, but Alex was too shy to approach him and shake his hand. Instead, we settled for just seeing him from 20 feet away.

Finally, we decided that we did not want to stick around for the speeches, refreshments, and entertainment so we left about 4:30.

After eating dinner, we were off again to the Battle Ground Community Band's final Christmas concert, at The Quarry Senior Living. We had a fair-sized audience and played well. Alex was well-behaved, possibly because he brought his Nintendo DS.

Inner tubing at Aubrey Watzek Lodge

On Sunday Alex and I went to the Aubrey Watzek Boy Scout lodge on Mt Hood to go inner tubing. We met Aunt Melissa, Uncle Steve, Hailey, and Hayden. Tiffany didn't go because she was nervous about not being able to make it to the lodge; it turns out she was right.  The trek from the parking lot to the lodge would have been taxing on her even when she has her full strength - since she is still recovering from her last broken leg, she would not have been able to make it.

We were planning on leaving home at 7:30 in order to get to the lodge at 9:00. We had a late night last night and ended up getting much more sleep than planned. After eating breakfast, packing changes of clothes and food (Alex had to take a thermos full of hot chocolate), and just a generally hectic time of preparing, we left home about 10:00. We made several stops along the way. First we had to get gas. Next, we stopped at Wal-Mart to get Alex some snow boots. We stopped at Fred Meyer in Sandy to get a Sno-Park permit; they didn't have them, so we stopped at a gas station to get a Sno-Park permit, coffee, and candy bars. The last 10 miles of driving was on packed snow, and the last 4 miles (on Highway 35) had signs saying chains are required. We had four studded tires on the van and were doing just fine, so I didn't put chains on. This was upsetting Alex; I'm not sure whether he was nervous about getting a ticket or about having an accident. (Just after seeing the first little bit of snow outside of Sandy, Alex had quizzed me about all the things that make our van good in snow . . . studded tires, front wheel drive, ABS, equal weight front and rear, etc. . . . and he wanted to know how each and every feature helped in the snow.  I think he was nervous.)  With all of these stops, we pulled into the Aubrey Watzek parking lot about 12:30.

From the parking lot, we hiked 200 yards into the woods. There really weren't any obvious signs of a permanent path, but there was a trail where a sled had been pulled through the snow; we followed the sled tracks. When we finally came upon the lodge, we were amazed. The lodge is a fairly rustic building on the edge of a hillside clearing. A long inner tube run down the hill was populated by about a dozen people. We went inside to warm up.

The inside of the lodge was very warm, and had a rustic oaken aroma, either from the wood-burning furnace in the basement or from the wooden structure itself. There is a large lobby with a huge fireplace, couches, and tables. There are also four dormitories on lofts overlooking the lobby. Each dormitory sleeps 30 people on triple-stacked wooden bunks with 2 inch pads. There is a bathroom and a large kitchen in each dormitory. The kitchen is stocked with basic cooking implements, from forks and spoons to large stock pots. There was an urn of hot water and a gallon-sized can of powdered cocoa waiting for us in our dorm. The window in the kitchen overlooks the sledding hill, so you can sit at the table and see everything that is going on in the snow below, all while sipping coffee or hot chocolate in the warmth of the lodge. On this particular day, there were only about two dozen people at the lodge.

We wasted very little time putting down our loads and getting out on the snow. Aunt Melissa, Uncle Steve, Hailey, and Hayden were already waiting for us.

Alex took an inner tube half-way up the hill and sat to watch the action for quite a while. I coaxed him to slide down, but he wasn't quite ready. He said he would do it later, but just wanted to watch for a while. After 5 minutes of coaxing, he finally took the plunge.

Throughout the day, Alex only slid down the hill about half a dozen times. He spent most of the day digging holes in the snow and building walls. He went in the lodge a couple times to drink hot chocolate, but then went right back out. He had a blast. Hailey was quite a daredevil, sliding down the hill from farther up than most of the adults would start . . . even Hayden seemed to enjoy sliding. Steve was carrying him on the tube, and he would cry when the ride was over, then point up the hill as if asking to go again.

At 3:30, Alex finally came in the lodge for the final time to eat and pack up to go. We heated up some of the SpaghettiOs that we had packed in – they were about the best SpaghettiOs I have ever eaten. The lodge closed at 4:00, and we were heading out the door right at 4:00.

On the way back to the van, I slipped in the snow and fell. I was carrying a grocery bag full of clothes and food, and a cup of hot coffee. Neither spilled.

The drive home was uneventful. Because it was just Alex and I, we decided to detour to Powell's Books to pick Alex up another Star Wars book. He has read all of his Star Wars books many times, but he says he doesn't like any of the other Star Wars books he has seen in the bookstores. He was amazed at how many Star Wars books they have at Powell's, and easily found one he was interested in.

We arrived home at 7:00, just in time to eat dinner and go to bed.

It was a great day; the only thing that would have made it better is if Tiffany would have been able to enjoy it with us.

Santa Claus

Yesterday, Alex visited Santa at the Belmont Firehouse Museum. Santa was really great – he addressed Alex by name as soon as he came around the corner, helping to dispel any notion Alex may have had about this not being the REAL Santa Claus. The firefighter garb didn't seem to bother Alex at all.

Alex asked for an electric scooter. When pressed for another choice, Alex couldn't think of anything else he wanted. Santa said that if Alex wouldn't tell him, he'd get a CHICKEN . . . to which Alex responded that he already had two, and more would be just fine.

After Alex got off Santa's lap, he said that he wanted a Transformer Construction Devastator. This is the large robot at the end of Transformers 2 that is made up of 6 other robots. It is insanely expensive, and must be a nightmare to transform. Nonetheless, I think Santa heard Alex talking about it . . . I believe I saw him taking notes.

Alex’s Martial Arts Graduation

Last night, Alex graduated to Yellow Belt in his Martial Arts class (Karate and Kick Boxing). He is extremely proud.

Grandpa and Grandma Kennedy and Grandpa and Grandma Wiser all went to see the graduation, along with Tiffany and I; it was held in the Evergreen High School Auditorium, and was packed. Along with about 10 other students, Alex performed several Karate and Kick Boxing moves and combinations in front of several hundred people.

MMD Support Group Christmas Party

Tonight we went to the MMD Support Group Christmas Party. It was a pretty big turnout – I would guess about 25 people. The party was at a home on the north shore of Jantzen Beach Island, and the Christmas Ships paraded by during the party.

Alex was pretty bored, but didn't act too bad, all considered. We went straight to the party from school (after Chess club, which he isn't too enamored with, anyway); then, the party was mostly an adult event, and there was no room in the house for the few children present to run around. On top of it all, we had already warned Alex that many people there have Myotonic Dystrophy, so they either walk with a cane, or have trouble standing or walking, and so are prone to falling when children bump into them.

We watched the Christmas ships – me and the children from the deck overlooking the water, and most of the other adults from the bay windows directly behind us (it was about 20 degrees outside).

New Oven was a Bargain!

Tomorrow will be two weeks since we got the free oven from Craigslist. We have been using it quite a bit, and have not had any trouble with it since I cleaned it.

I think we ended up getting a bargain.

Clark County Walk and Knock

This morning Alex and I, along with many others from his Cub Scout Pack 545, volunteered with the Clark County Walk and Knock. We spent about 2 hours going door to door, asking for food donations for the Clark County Food Bank. I was actually surprised by how much food we got.

Larch Mountain Climb

This morning after dropping Alex off at school, I climbed Larch Mountain, a 3500 foot summit in East Clark County.

I had talked to Alex about doing this, and was planning on just driving around the area to see how close you can drive to the summit. I found that the closest point you can drive to is a mile and a half away, and 800 feet below. I parked the truck and, since I was THIS close, decided to hoof it.

The walk took 45 minutes. It was 1 ½ miles, with an 800 foot elevation gain. Most of it was through a clear cut, offering magnificent views of both Vancouver and Camas (and beyond!) Higher up, however, I walked into the trees and also into the clouds, so by the time I summited, the view was gone. The last ¼ mile was through snow.

At the top of the mountain, I came around a bend onto the summit, and there before me were two giant radio towers. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had endured this strenuous hike in near-freezing temperatures, and instead of a territorial view, I got radio towers. Quite anti-climatical.

I had begun driving toward Larch Mountain at 10:00 this morning; I parked the truck at 11:20; I summited at exactly noon. By 12:40, I was back in the truck. It was a cold, dry day, but once I got into the clouds, it was much colder, and the summit was fairly windy.

When I got back to the truck, my fingers had begun loosing feeling, and I was ready to just sit with the heater on for a few minutes.

As an aside, as soon as I turned the first corner on the walk, I began wondering whether I had left the truck lights on. All the way up and back, I was thinking I would probably come back to a dead battery. It's a manual, though, and was parked on the top of a mountain. I figured I could pop the clutch. Thankfully, I had turned the lights off, and the truck started right up.

Oregon Zoo – Three Visits in One Weekend!

We had a great time this weekend visiting the zoo three times!

Friday we went to our only Black Friday shopping event; the Reser's Outlet store was having great sales, so we went out there. They had food for $2 a case, and we spent $56! We bought 5 or 6 cases of food, but also a large jar of Big Daddy pickled sausages, and a large tube of pepperoni sticks.

After the Reser's Outlet, we stopped by the zoo to watch the Bobcats enjoy a papier-mâché Thanksgiving Turkey. These turkeys are given to certain animals throughout the weekend as enrichment, and are filled with treats. We waited for 30 minutes, and the zookeepers never showed up; finally, we went home disappointed.

Saturday evening, we returned for the Zoo Lights. We brought Alex Wiser with us. The Zoo Lights were . . . well, Alex, Alex, and Tiffany loved them, anyway. I thought they were pretty much like they've always been, but perhaps just a little less. Parking was predictably atrocious. In the past, there has been entertainment (musical entertainment, puppet shows in the Elephant museum, etc); there was none of that. In the past, we have waited in line for up to an hour for the train; this year, the line was approximately twice as long as it has been before, snaking almost all the way to the Penguin exhibit. Thankfully, we were able to talk the kids out of riding the train. The best thing about the lights is that it was not quite as cold as past Zoo Light events. We were still bundled up; Tiffany froze so much that she could neither walk nor talk, but she does that easily.

Alex Wiser spent the night, and we returned to the zoo on Sunday to watch the papier-mâché Thanksgiving Turkey enrichment events. The lions were first, and were the most spectacular. There were two turkeys in front of the viewing glass; when the lions were released, the two lionesses fought over the turkeys. They finally each got a turkey and went to work ripping them apart and eating the ground horse meat out of them. The male lion stood back and watched the lionesses eat; I do not believe he got any of the treats.

We spent three more hours at the zoo. We were able to see everything at a semi-leisurely pace, and also watch the Thanksgiving Turkeys being given to the Sun Bears, Orangutans, and Bobcats.

Our ‘new’ oven (maybe)

We picked up a new oven this evening. It is a glass top Whirlpool, and was on Craigslist for free. The outside was not too dirty, and cleaned up well, but the inside of the oven is filthy. The previous owner says she did not know whether it is a self-clean oven, even though it says SELF-CLEANING OVEN in large letters next to the oven display. The cook top works well, but the people giving it away say that the oven controller stops working intermittently. They say that once the oven turns on it works well, but about 10% of the time it gives an error code instead of turning on.

We brought the oven home and cleaned it up, then I took it apart and looked at the controller circuit board. I found new ones online for about $230, a used one on eBay for $150, and an online service that will repair the controller for $100. I do not want to pay $230 to fix a "free" oven, but the $100 repair may be in line with what I am willing to pay to fix this up. In fact, we may even be able to sell our old oven and recover much of this $100 repair cost. (There's nothing wrong with the old oven except that it does not have a glass top). The controller circuit board was a little dirty, and looks as though it may have tin whiskers; I wiped it down with alcohol, reassembled the oven, then installed it.

Immediately, the oven worked. I preheated it, then turned it on, then turned on autoclean, then turned autoclean off. I could not figure out how to latch the door for the autoclean cycle. Then I tried turning the oven back on and got an error – E1 and F5. I did a little more research and found two things . . . I could not latch the door because it is an automatic latch, and these two error codes appear to have something to do with the door latch being jammed. Going back to the oven, I cleared the code, wiggled the latch by hand, then was able to turn the oven on and preheat it. Finally, I set the oven for an autoclean cycle; it is currently auto-cleaning.

My hope is that the latch is jammed because the inside of the oven is so dirty, and running the autoclean cycle will fix it. This is, of course, the best thing that can happen at this point. The worst thing that can happen is that I'll have to reinstall the old oven and haul this new one off to an appliance recycler.

Toothache

That temporary cap I got last Thursday still hurts. The gums are extremely sore, as though they're inflamed, although they do not look inflamed. In addition, I have not been able to chew ANYTHING on that side of my mouth, no matter HOW soft.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Because Alex was a Zombie Night for Halloween, I thought it would be appropriate for him to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail – specifically, I thought he would get a kick out of The Black Knight, a valiant but stubborn knight who refuses to admit defeat, even after losing both arms and both legs. I believe I have seen every scene in the movie, but have never actually watched it from beginning to end, so I was equally excited about seeing it myself.

During Alex's Martial Arts school Halloween party Friday evening, I stole off to Fred Meyer to check out the movie's rating. The movie is rated PG, and was on sale for $7.99; thinking that it would cost $4 to rent at Blockbuster, if we could find it, I bought it.

Late Friday night we curled up in the bedroom and put on the Holy Grail. As the movie was starting, Alex was a little leery about the film . . . we explained that it is an old film (almost as old as Tiffany and I), so he thought there was no WAY it could be good. Tiffany and I quickly fell asleep, but Alex persevered. I briefly woke up a few times, and each time I did, Alex was rolling on the bed laughing. I saw the Black Knight, and Alex loved that scene. I also saw the guards who did not understand the simple command "stay here and make sure he does not leave". Alex loved that, too.

Saturday morning, I asked Alex how he liked the movie. He said it's one of the best movies he's ever seen.

Les Miserables – Great Job, CYT!

This afternoon I got a call from Roger Castro offering two tickets to the 3:00 showing of CYT's Les Miserables. This would be the final performance in the two week run. I was so excited that I completely forgot the reason I had not bought tickets ahead of time . . . Tiffany can still bear no weight on her injured foot, and would have a hard time getting into the theater. I remembered this as we were trying to get her into the van, but decided to give it a go, anyway. We shuttled Alex to Grandma Kennedy's house and headed to the theater.

Boy was I thankful for that call from Roger! I knew Les Mis was going to be impressive. I had seen some rehearsal videos showcasing some very impressive vocal work. I knew that Luanne was going to pull off a great musical feat, and that Laura, Terri, and Roger were going to play their hearts out. Still, the show had a few hurdles to overcome, and I was curious to see how they played out. In fact, months ago, I had wondered whether CYT had bitten off more than they could chew with this show. Of course, this incredible group not only pulled it off . . . they nailed it!

This is the most serious show I believe CYT has ever done. Their shows are generally lighthearted and always abound with humor. Many of the actors are very good at injecting humor into an otherwise ho-hum scene. This is the first show CYT has done in which humor is not only lacking – it would be irreverent and distasteful. This may be the first CYT show to draw a large number of tears.

This show had continuous music. In all past shows, the music has started, the actors have sung, then the music has stopped. Dialogue between songs is delivered without music. One of the most difficult things about putting these shows together (from my musician's point of view) is keeping the actors with the music and the music with the actors. Hitting the cues and listening to each other is extremely important, and it seems like there is never enough rehearsal time with the orchestra and the cast together to really work out every cue. Because of the continuous music in Les Miserables, I was very nervous about the cast and the orchestra staying together.

Finally, recent CYT press has been less than flattering. CYT has undertaken a great challenge in staging Les Mis, and has obviously worked hard to make it a successful show. However, all the buzz surrounding CYT lately seems to have centered on their recently announced financial woes. The Columbian recently printed an article on CYT, and instead of talking about this latest artistic undertaking, they wrote mostly about the group's finances. I had to wonder how these obviously troubling times might manifest themselves onstage.

Upon arrival, it was a little difficult getting Tiffany and her electric scooter situated in the sold-out theater; we had to exchange tickets twice, and caused a rearrangement of some of the show's sound and recording equipment. While we were waiting to be seated, Tiffany commented that it is a good thing this is a Christian production . . . everyone is extremely polite and helpful. Although fitting us into the packed house caused quite some rearranging on the part of the House Crew, we never got so much as a cross look from any of the Ushers.

Soon after being seated, the curtain warmer began, and any lingering doubt I may have had about this show vaporized immediately. The show began with an extremely powerful and touching Prologue; this was highlighted by a strong opening number featuring the two lead Tenors, Nathan Robe and Casey Pitel, as archrivals Jean Valjean and Javert, followed by a powerful solo performance of What Have I Done by Nathan. The story had been rooted; more importantly, the bar had just been set extremely high for the rest of the show.

Although the entire show was outstanding, with excellent performances by the entire cast, there were a few performances that stand out and cannot go unmentioned.

Nathan Robe delivered a remarkable vocal performance as Jean Valjean. Nathan has an incredible voice, and this show offered him the opportunity to shine. He did some outstanding solo and ensemble work, but the pinnacle of his performance came in the second act when he showed us the extent of his range with Bring Him Home.

Caleb Adderley was masterfully cast as Thernardier and, along with Lina Rodriguez as Madame Thernardier, delivered just the right amount of levity to an otherwise heavy show. Caleb's impromptu sense of humor has stolen CYT's stage on many occasions, injecting bucketfuls of humor into characters that, played by anyone else, may have been bland and boring. Most recently, he was able to turn The Wizard of Oz's Professor Marvel into an entertaining sideshow, and was even able to pull in a few laughs as the Wizard himself. As the bumbling innkeepers in Les Mis, Caleb and Lina were able to strike a very good balance . . . they were able to lighten the atmosphere nearly every time they came onstage – most notably during their introductory number, Master of the House – but they never went so far as to completely break the dark emotional atmosphere of the show.

Calvin Whitney, playing the children's leader Gavroche, delivered an outstanding performance for a boy his age. His acting was great. My only complaint was that his number Little People was not very long . . . perhaps it had been shortened for timing reasons? When I think of Les Mis, I think of Little People. To me, this is the most recognizable song in the show. I was disappointed that there was not more of it.

The orchestra did an outstanding job. It was a rather large orchestra, and as I mentioned, it played without stopping. It could have very easily overpowered the actors, but it did not. The oboe underscored some of the most powerful onstage moments very nicely. Whether it was due to a great performance by Michael Maher, or an arrangement with powerful oboe lines, or (most likely) some combination of both, I do believe that if there was not a dry eye in the house, it was in large part due to the oboe. Also, I would like to thank the orchestra for putting up with the rapid-fire key changes – it seems that three lines were never delivered in the same key during this show, and yet, the key changes greatly enhanced the strong emotional tensions.

I could go on and on . . . Kaity Jellison as Cosette and Rachel Warren as Eponine (incredibly emotional deliveries of musical numbers), Casey Pitel as Javert (gosh . . . the only reason this performance didn't stand out more is that his performances ALWAYS stand out – his Wizard of Oz Lion is a really hard act to beat, and I still chuckle when I think that 'the sparrows will take wiiing'!) . . . and all the rest.

In addition, I was impressed with the excellent delivery of the numerous recitative passages.  This is a type of delivery that is fairly new to CYT, and yet a large number of cast members had recitative lines in this show that they pulled off without a hitch!

BRAVO to the entire CYT cast and crew . . . despite the hurdles that had to be overcome, this show will go down as one of the best yet!

Halloween

Halloween was a fun, busy day.

Hailey's 8^th birthday party was at Lewisville Park early in the afternoon. With Alex in his Zombie Knight costume and me in my all-blue makeup, we trekked to Lewisville Park in the rain. The party was a really good one, and everybody had fun. The only problem was the rain. Because we were in the large Central Shelter with two fires going, the adults were not bothered by the weather too much. The kids, though, could not go play as much as they would have liked.

After the party we went home and relaxed for a while before trick-or-treating; I put a towel behind my neck so my blue makeup didn't come off on the bed, then fell asleep for a short nap.

We met up with the Thuns (Aaron and Maddie, along with their parents Jason and Kendra) and went trick-or-treating with them. We hit a couple blocks in our neighborhood, then drove to a neighborhood by York Elementary that Jason said had very good trick-or-treating. We walked quite a way, and Alex got very tired. Maddie was leading the way, with Aaron following closely behind, but Alex was lagging. I believe we went about ½ mile before Alex was done.

We headed back to the cars and drove to another neighborhood by 164^th and Ward Road. We parked at a house that does their front porch up like a haunted house. Alex got scared walking up to the porch and refused to enter. Even after the people took off their masks and talked nicely, he refused. Aaron went through, and even Maddie, the Kindergartner, braved the porch. Not Alex. I picked him up to carry him through, and he grabbed the posts, screaming and yelling "NO!!!" I went through the porch, and it really was done up good. There were tarp walls dividing the porch into several areas. The whole thing was dark, with strobe lights and fog. There were several Halloween props and people in good costumes ready to deliver just the right amount of fear.

We went back to the car and went to Grandma Kennedy's house. Alex got a bunch of candy from Grandma Kennedy, and then went trick-or-treating around the cul-de-sac with Madeline (Bumblebee from Transformers) and Everett (a Ninja). We finished the night by going to Grandma Wiser's house where we trick-or-treated at Great-Grandma Thompson's house, then Grandma Wiser's house. We visited Grandma Wiser, and ended up getting home about 1 AM.

Very Disturbing News

We got very disturbing news today.

Rachel, a woman in Tiffany's Myotonic Dystrophy support group, died suddenly this week from complications relating to her Myotonic Dystrophy. Over the weekend she began getting weak from lack of Oxygen in her blood until Tuesday she finally went to the hospital, where she died Tuesday evening. Lack of Oxygen in the blood is a complication of Myotonic Dystrophy.

Tiffany does have low Oxygen in her blood – she sighs a lot, as if to catch her breath, and has sleep apnea, which is related. However, it sounds like Rachel's low Oxygen was worse than Tiffany's.

This has come to a shock to us because Myotonic Dystrophy is supposed to be a very slowly progressing condition which does not generally cause life-threatening issues until old age, and even then the issues are generally manageable. (A pacemaker may be required at some point, for instance)

Rachel is the first person we have know to die of complications from Myotonic Dystrophy.

Alex’s Parent-Teacher Conference & Excel Testing

Tiffany and I went to Alex's Parent-Teacher conference on Tuesday evening with his teacher, Mrs. Gallo. We were pleasantly surprised. Alex's behavior is steadily improving, and he is participating very well in class. He received 94/100 on his end-of-chapter math test; the average score in the class was about 90. The questions Alex DID miss were ones that he had either skipped or rushed through. The teacher gave him a beginning-of-third-grade reading test, and he passed it very well. Although his penmanship is atrocious, the writing is very good when he has a story that he wants to tell and he applies himself. When he is given a topic, however, he seems to have trouble deciding what to write. Mrs. Gallo suggested that we have him draw pictures before beginning the writing – this seems like a very good idea to me.

Although our primary reason for testing him for Excel has been as a gateway out of Sifton, we decided with Mrs. Gallo that, because he has been sooooo close for two years, and because he says he enjoys the test, we will have him tested again this year.

In the past, we have taken the school district at their word that the Excel test is one that cannot be studied for. However, we have since spoken with psychologists who have told us that the standard test Evergreen uses for Excel is not very well accepted professionally specifically because it CAN be studied for. Because our boundary exception to Fisher's Landing is only guaranteed for one year, and because we are TERRIFIED about sending Alex back to Sifton, we WILL be studying for the Excel test this year.

Unscheduled Dentist Visit

Today I went to Parkrose Hardware to pick up some socket adapters for work and helped myself to a bag of their popcorn. In fact, the popcorn is why I went to Parkrose Hardware instead of Baxter's! Just after leaving, I was chomping away at the popcorn when I heard and felt a SNAP . . . I broke a molar in two! This was surprising because I was not chewing unpopped kernels, and I was not chewing hard.

I called our dentist, and was able to get an appointment in less than 30 minutes. I rushed to work to let them know I was going to be out for a while, then to the dentist office. Because Tiffany was at her Myotonic Dystrophy support group in Beaverton, and Alex had a half day of school, I had to call Grandma Kennedy and ask her to pick up Alex.

The dentist told me that I needed a crown, and that he suggested that we do it today. I decided to get it over with, but that this was NOT what I had in mind when I woke up this morning. He told me that this IS what he had in mind . . . he had woken up and thought "I hope I can do a crown today". He must have a boat payment coming due.

Within 2 ½ hours of the break, I was out of the office and driving back to work. I had not eaten lunch, so I was hungry, and decided that I deserved Burger King. I went through the drive-through and ordered a Whopper, medium fries, and a large Diet Pepsi (or do they have Coke?) Unfortunately, because I had so much Novocain, the fries tasted very similar to cardboard, but not quite as moist. The Whopper was only marginally better.

A Long Saturday

Yesterday ended up being a long day, activity-filled from beginning to end.

Our first activity was going to the Camp Lewis Day Camp preview with the Cub Scout pack. We were to meet at York at 8 AM; we slept in until about 7:30, so we were really rushing to get out of the house, but we did make it. We arrived at Camp Lewis by 8:30, registered, and started going around to the activities. First was BB gun shooting, then archery, then (as Alex did some crafts and such) standing around the outdoor fireplace. It was a cold morning! Again, Alex asked if he can have a bow and arrow. I'm pretty sure he's going to get one for Christmas.

About 11:00 we left Camp Lewis and went to Pomeroy Farms to get our pumpkin. We had never been to Pomeroy Farms, and Alex wanted to go to Bi-Zi Farms again instead, but we forced him to try something new. We had fun at Pomeroy Farms. It is quite different from Bi-Zi Farms . . . better in some ways, lot as good in others. First, Pomeroy does not have a corn maze or pumpkin catapult. Alex was not happy about the catapult, but we appeased him about the Corn Maze by promising that we would take him to one in November. Another good thing about Bi-Zi is that they might charge more for admission, but everything is included – the maze, any pumpkin you can carry out of the field, even a warm drink. Admission to Pomeroy is a little less, but they charge extra for a pumpkin ($1 - $8, depending on the size), a warm drink ($1 for a smallish paper cup), and making a scarecrow ($8). Although Bi-Zi has a larger pumpkin patch, Pomeroy has a better pumpkin patch. When wandering through the Bi-Zi field, there is no doubt that you are looking at pumpkins that grew right there . . . many are rotted or otherwise unfit, so that you have to walk around quite a bit to find a really good pumpkin. At Pomeroy, every pumpkin is good, and there are a lot of pumpkins. In fact, I wonder if Pomeroy doesn't have a stock of pumpkins that they scatter through their field. The Pomeroy hay ride is more interesting. The road wanders for ½ mile or more through woods and fields, with scarecrow scenes around every corner. Pomeroy has a few animals, and had a country band and magician for entertainment. The magician, Professor Bamboozle, was quite good. After watching his ½ hour show one time, Alex decided to stick around and watch part of it again; we finally had to MAKE him leave!

After leaving Pomeroy Farms, we stopped at Izzy's for lunch and visited the Parrot Perch in Hazel Dell. The parrots there are quite interesting . . . there are about a dozen of them that are free to roam the store. Many of them talk. In the back, they have some baby parrots, still with their grey baby feathers.

Finally, we began looking for Alex's Halloween Costume. He wanted to be a skeleton when we began. His problem with that is the Karate school's Halloween party on Friday, where no scary costumes are allowed, so he would have to forgo the mask. We offered to paint his face like a skeleton for that party. After looking at quite a few skeleton costumes, he changed his mind and wanted to be a Star Wars Clone Trooper. Again, he tried on many costumes – they all either did not fit, or were pretty cheesy. Finally, he decided he wanted to be a Zombie Knight. It took a LOT of looking and coaxing, but we finally decided on a Crusader Knight costume, added a sword (of course), and bought some makeup to make his face into a green zombie face. Now we need to alter the costume (the face of the chain mail does not fit around his head) and figure out how to paint his face as a zombie. My first try this morning had him looking more like the Wicked Witch of the West.

A Missed Opportunity – Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Alex has spent the past week reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books nonstop – some of them more than once; he is now nearly finished with the latest book, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days". I just found out that the author, Jeff Kinney, is on the release tour for this book, and was at a Powell's in Beaverton on Monday evening! He has a full-time job and does not tour much; this was a whirlwind trip down the West Coast with only about 5 stops, then he goes home. I can't believe we missed this opportunity! I'm sure it would have been a madhouse, with a LONG line, but I wish I would have known about this.

Alex is treating these books with extra care, and has given them a shelf of their own – taking care that they are always placed neatly and in the correct order. He would have LOVED to have them signed!

Also, I really like the idea of him meeting an author to show him that REAL people write books. I think it's important to show him that authors, actors, athletes, politicians, firemen . . . whatever . . . are REAL people. That way, he is aware of the opportunities, and that HE can do any of those things.

Chess Club

Tuesday night was our first PTO meeting at Fisher's Landing – it was quite long (2 ½ hours) and interesting.

I met with Julie Williams after the meeting to discuss the Chess Club. She showed me the equipment that has been purchased – 10 vinyl boards with large weighted pieces and storage bags, a bunch of chess pencils and wrist bands, and notebooks for recording games. It's all stored in a large plastic tote. Although we are limiting the first 6-week session to 20 students, we already had more than 40 forms turned in as of Tuesday; this despite them just going home on Friday!

I will be looking for some good "How to teach chess" books. Also, we will have a meeting with all of the volunteers next Thursday to come up with our game plan. In addition to me, there is one grandfather who seems excellent for this undertaking – he has run tournaments for years, and writes for a chess magazine – but he does not want to commit to organizing the club on a full-time bases; I believe there were at least two other parents who are willing to help – but again, not full-time, and we are looking for more adult help, even if they do not know how to play chess.

I also found out why Julie looks familiar to me (and I to her, evidently) . . . her daughter was in CYT's 'Sound of Music' and Julie worked backstage for the show. I happened to be wearing my CYT t-shirt to the PTO meeting!

Family Game Night – Star Wars Monopoly

After Karate today I offered to play a game with Alex tonight. I suggested Yahtzee – Alex countered with Star Wars Monopoly. Tiffany, Alex and I played Star Wars Monopoly from about 6:00 until 8:00. The agreement was that at 8:00 whoever was playing would finish their turn, and then we would count the money to see who won.

About 7:30, all but one piece of property had been bought, but nobody had a set to put houses on. Tiffany was trying to trade with Alex to give them both complete sets, but he would not do it. Finally, against Tiffany's protests, Alex gave me a property that completed a low-rent set for me and I gave him Boardwalk to match his Park Place (they have different names in Star Wars Monopoly, of course), but I had to agree that I would not charge him rent on the set he gave me. Deal! Of course, this was a pretty bad deal for me and a very good deal for Alex, but it was even worse for Tiffany. I just wanted Alex to win. I immediately bought hotels (spaceports) for my properties and Alex started putting houses (cities) on his two. Not long after, Tiffany landed on the last piece of vacant property and finished herself a set.

At 8:00, we sent Alex off to take a shower while Tiffany and I cleaned up the game. We sold all the houses and mortgaged all the properties to liquidate everybody, and then put everybody's money in piles for Alex to count. The final net worths were: Jeff - $2402; Alex - $3815; Tiffany - $3860, putting Tiffany ahead of Alex by $35. While he was in the shower, Tiffany took a $100 bill out of her money and gave it to Alex. When he did the final count, the score was, as far as he knows:

Jeff - $2402

Tiffany - $3760

Alex - $3915

We then asked him how much he was ahead of Tiffany, and he very easily set up and solved the subtraction problem. Then he was off to bed.

Bowling (on a Bum Wrist) at Big Al’s and the Lost Mouse

Last night my right wrist suddenly started hurting fiercely. If I hold it still, it is okay, but I cannot bend it forward or backward. I have had heat on it all last night and this morning – it seems to be better when the heat is on it.

This morning I had a three hour seminar at Big Al's bowling alley – the seminar was followed by a free lunch and free bowling. I was bummed that I was not going to be able to bowl, but accepted it.

Upon arrival at the seminar I learned that the door prize was going to be a top-of-the-line 3D Space mouse with a $300 value. I wanted that mouse bad. With about 20 engineers in attendance, my odds of winning the mouse were not too bad. At the end of the seminar, however, I was heartbroken when we were informed that the mouse would go to the person bowling the highest score! Not willing to give my mouse up so easily, I found a 13 pound ball that I could get my fingers into . . . I could lift it with not much of an issue. I ended up bowling 2 games on my damaged wrist. I scored an 82 and a 96. But I bowled. Being a group of 20 engineers, the winner of the mouse only bowled in the 150s, I believe.

My wrist still hurts. I think the activity actually helped; it's better than it was this morning, but it still hurts.

Alex’s new schedule

Sometimes I feel bad for Alex – he's such a trooper.

Because of his transfer to Fisher's Landing, we are responsible for providing transportation both to and from school; there is no bussing available to us. It's a 10 mile, 30 minute trip each way. Tiffany has been taking him to school in the morning. We have split the pickup – she has been picking him up 2-3 days a week, and I have been leaving work a little early 2-3 days a week to pick him up.

We consider this a very small price to pay for getting him into such a great school. After all, we decided years ago to be a single-income family specifically so Tiffany could stay home with him and give him every opportunity available. It's a decision that we have never second-guessed.

What it means for Alex is that he has to be ready for school a few minutes earlier . . . he's leaving about 10-15 minutes before the local school bus comes. Also, he gets home later. It would be just a few minutes later, but I often have errands that I run on the way home with him. I try to minimize the errands and shopping, because it obviously bothers him, but it's convenient – I'm off work early, I'm driving by the grocery store, and . . . we get home late.

I've felt a little bad for Alex because of this, but c'est la vie.

Now that Tiffany has hurt her right foot again, all has changed. She can't drive. Hopefully we'll know how long when she visits our doctor later this week – last time she broke it, she didn't drive for 6 or 8 weeks, I believe.

I will be going in to work early enough that I can pick Alex up every day after school; I will be dropping him off at Grandma Kennedy's house on my way to work, and she will take him to school (she lives about halfway to Fisher's Landing, and very close to Micropump). This means that Alex will now have to get up about 6:00. This morning wasn't too bad – he begrudgingly got out of bed, but was not grumpy. He wasn't happy to learn that this is our new morning schedule, though. In fact, he was horrified when he saw that we were out of the house before dawn. His comment was "You're not supposed to go to work when the street lights are still on!" Oh, if that were only true!

Like I said, he's a trooper. The first time Tiffany broke her ankle, he was on the cusp of needing potty trained . . . when he saw that she couldn't walk, he immediately potty trained himself. He just up and started doing it. And since then, he's always been extremely helpful every time she's been down.

He'll get through this 'early morning' period just fine. I just wish he didn't have to.

Last Races of the Year

Last weekend was the last Soap Box Derby race of the year.

Saturday was a long day of racing. We had to arrive at the track in Salem at 7 AM because there were two races that day – there was a normal double-elimination race, then there was a single-elimination race to make up for the race about a month ago when the timer was broken.

Grandpa and Grandma Wiser came to the race on Saturday – this was the first race they have watched.

In the double-elimination race, we did not place. In the single-elimination race that followed, we placed 7^th. Also, in the single-elimination, there were a lot of runoffs for places, so we ended up doing more racing there than in the double-elimination. We had two heats in the double-elimination race (and lost them both). In the single-elimination, we had four heats. This was the most racing we have done in a single day, and it was exhausting. Also, because of all this racing, everything was a little more fast-paced than normal . . . people were moving just a little faster and doing things with just a little more purpose and urgency, in order to finish the racing before dusk.

Saturday evening we went to Old Country Buffet for dinner, and then Dacota Boucher, a competing driver who is also from Vancouver, came to our hotel and swam with Alex for a couple hours.

We stayed at the Rodeway Inn in North Salem. In the past, we have stayed at Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, and Shilo Inn; we were a little nervous about staying in a $44 hotel room, especially since Alex has started getting used to the more expensive places. However, we could not find anything to complain about. The rooms were nice and clean; the pool was nice and clean; the lobby and breakfast area were nice and . . . well, you get the idea. The breakfast selection was not as big as the other hotels, but for the price difference, I can live with that.

Sunday was another regular double-elimination race. Again, Alex did not place. Grandpa and Grandma Kennedy were at this race, as well as my cousin John, and his family. After Alex was eliminated from the race, we gave Maddie and Ryan driving lessons and a trip down the track in Alex's car. Maddie was pretty scared, but she did great. Ryan could have used a bigger car! Hopefully next year John will be able to bring them out and enter a race.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Yesterday Alex took the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Brown's Camp. He read it all the way there; on the way back I realized that he had started over. When questioned, he admitted that he has read the book three times! He didn't know the book was the first in a whole series, and he was very excited to hear about it.

Last night we went to the bookstore and investigated the series – there are a total of four books, not including the blank journal ('Do it Yourself' book). We bought Alex the second book in the series. He stayed up reading in bed. Before going to sleep he had read 112 pages of the 217 page book; he is now on page 144, and is sitting in his bedroom at his desk with the book and a cup of hot chocolate.

Tonight we took him to Barnes & Noble to get the last two books in the series. He had a couple Barnes & Noble gift cards that he had acquired, including one that Avery gave him for his birthday. He used his gift cards to buy the last two books.

Alex loves to read, and reads books like this nonstop when he finds one he particularly enjoys. I told him that this series had better last him until at least Wednesday!

Tiffany’s fall

Today was pretty trying – Tiffany has fallen again, and once again could not get up.

This morning Shelly was looking for my parents' loading ramps for their quads. She needed them to load my parents' quads so she can go riding with me tomorrow. These ramps are very big, and not very easy to lose; Shelly could not find them. I had borrowed them a couple years ago, but was certain I returned them.
After receiving several calls from Shelly, I finally called Tiffany to see if she remembered where they were. Tiffany thought that we still had them, and that they were leaning against the side of the garage. I asked Tiffany to walk outside and look to see if they were there; Tiffany didn't want to go. She said she would fall. I told her that was ridiculous – all she had to do was walk down the driveway and onto the sidewalk. She never had to leave the pavement. Finally, she agreed to look for the ramps.

I left my desk and went down into the shop. While I was discussing some necessary rework with a couple machinists, my phone started ringing off the hook. At first it was Shelly, and then Tiffany . . . I told the machinist the story about how they just wouldn't leave me alone about those ramps, and continued discussing technical stuff, ignoring the phone.

After four or five minutes of receiving nonstop calls and texts, I finally got a chance to duck into a lab; only then did I see Tiffany's latest text message: "911 CALL ME". Of course, I called, then ran out the back door, jumped in my truck, and started flying home. On the way home I called my boss and told him what had happened, and that I might be out for the rest of the day. I then turned my fifteen minute commute into a ten minute drive.

When I got home I found Tiffany sitting in the house with blood all over her face, hands and shirt. There was a lot of blood. Most of it appeared to be coming from her nose, but there was a large abrasion under her nose. Both lips were cut. There was a lot of blood on her hands, so I did not know whether or not they were bleeding. She said her teeth hurt, but I did not immediately see any obvious dental damage. Her glasses were sitting next to her, and the lenses had been ground away by the concrete. She said she was certain that her foot was broken, her nose was bleeding and swollen up several times its normal size, and her left pinky hurt.

Our neighbor had seen her fall and come to help her. Somehow he got her electric scooter out of the van then helped her on it and into the house. From there, she said she was fine and that I was on my way, so he went home. Without cleaning her up, I rushed Tiffany to the van to go to the Urgent Care Clinic. She was asking for pain medicine and cloths to clean up the blood – I didn't give her pain medicine because I wanted the doctor to be able to give her something good, and I didn't want to waste time on cleaning up the blood.. Before we left, my mother and a couple of my sisters showed up; I think one of them gave Tiffany a damp cloth for the blood as we were pulling out of the driveway.

Because we had been there in the past, we went straight to the Urgent Care Clinic on Fourth Plain, next to Bi-Mart. The office was empty, with a sign saying they had moved to Vancouver Mall. We drove to the new clinic at Vancouver Mall and wheeled Tiffany inside. To my surprise, the Urgent Care Clinic said that they would not treat her. Here she was, in pain and bleeding all over their office . . . insurance card in hand, and they would not treat her because I had not grabbed her purse on the way out the door, so she did not have photo ID. I had our insurance card, I had my ID, I had membership cards with both our names on them, but nothing with her photo. And they refused service – they said that I should go home and come back with her ID, and that they would treat her when I returned. When I made an empty threat to call an ambulance and sue them for the bill, the receptionist offered to "ask her supervisor"; finally, they "made an exception this time".

While waiting to see the doctor, Tiffany noticed that she had a couple huge bumps on the top of her foot.

When we finally got to see the doctor, the service improved only marginally. The medical staff did nothing to clean or dress any of the flesh wounds. They X-Rayed Tiffany's foot and hand, and found nothing broken. As I was looking over the doctor's shoulder, I saw a giant diagonal crack across Tiffany's fibula and asked about it. The doctor asked Tiffany if her leg hurt – Tiffany said no, and the doctor said that it must just be a blood vessel or something. The clinic did not X-Ray her nose because they said they lacked the expertise; based on a physical exam, they do not believe her nose is broken.

The final recommendation was for us to see what her nose looks like after the swelling goes down, and to follow up with an appointment in a week. We plan to see Dr. Hughes, Tiffany's general practitioner, in a week, and will probably ask for a new set of X-Rays.

When we got back to the van, we realized that Tiffany's nose was still bleeding (not bleeding again . . . STILL bleeding), and that the clinic had done absolutely nothing to dress any of the flesh wounds. I started to go back in to get a Band-Aid, but then stopped . . . there was a long line in the reception area. We ended up stopping at a pharmacy on the way home to buy big Band-Aids. Ridiculous!

Tiffany took her prescription pain medicine, changed her shirt, and we dressed her still-open wounds. I stopped by work for a few minutes, and then we picked up Alex at school together. Before he saw Tiffany, I explained to him that she had fallen again and hurt her face this time. At first he was upset that we had to go to the hospital. When I explained that we had already taken care of that, he was fine. As long as HE didn't have to go with us.

After we went to the Optometrist to order a new pair of glasses, Tiffany said she wanted to eat something fattening, so we all went to Red Robin for dinner.

Wiring . . . wiring . . . wiring

I just finished my two wiring projects this evening. I started as soon as I got home from work, and spent about three hours; this is about two hours longer than I had planned.

Project number one was to fix the trailer plug wiring in my truck (a 1989 Ford Ranger). I will be taking Alex ATV riding at Brown's Camp on Saturday, so I will need to pull the trailer and ATV with the truck. A few days ago I hooked the truck up to the Soap Box Derby trailer and saw that the tail lights weren't working. I did enough troubleshooting to figure out that it was in the truck, and left it at that.

I was expecting to have to replace a single bad wire and nothing more. I discovered that it was SO MUCH more! I discovered that both the taillight wire and the ground wire were bad. I'm not sure why the trailer turn signals were working. It looked like each turn signal was grounding back through the other; I didn't spend much time trying to figure THAT one out. It also became quite apparent that I was going to need a new trailer plug; the one on the truck was quite corroded inside. In fact, I think that's where the ground was interrupted. Also, when I started troubleshooting the tail lights and pulling on the truck's wiring harness, the wires started literally crumbling in my hands. Before I had decided what to do, neither the trailer lights NOR the truck's tail lights were working; I needed to replace the trailer plug AND do some patching on the truck's wiring harness.

Trip number one to Schucks was a quick one. I took the truck, and was frantically hurrying to get home before dark (because I didn't have tail lights). Intending to buy a $3.99 splice-in trailer plug, I found a plug-in kit for $15.99. Instead of splicing wires, this kit just plugs into the truck's existing wiring harness. I had already spent more time that I wanted, so the extra $12 didn't seem bad. The kit said it fit 1989 F-150s, but did not list Rangers. I crawled under my truck in the parking lot and determined that I had the same plug as the kit, then bought it. I got home and found out that I did NOT have the same plug. It looks very similar, but has a small clocking tab in the wrong position.

For trip number two to Schucks, I took the van (it was dark) and took my time. I returned the plug-in kit and, after determining that they do not have a plug-in kit for my Ranger, bought the $3.99 splice-in plug. Once I got home with everything I needed, the splicing and wiring went fairly quickly. I plugged the truck into the Soap Box Derby trailer, and . . . voila . . . it worked.

Project number two was to wire in an electric outlet on my ATV. I've been meaning to do this for a while. With a 12V outlet, I can mount a GPS on the handlebars and (theoretically) never get lost in the woods again. Don't laugh – it's happened. One time after dark. It's too cold this time of year to spend the night in the woods, and Saturday I plan on riding pretty far out – past the places that I know well – so I figured a GPS would be a required piece of equipment.

I purchased an outlet at Baxters today during lunch. I pulled the ATV out of the shed and into the garage and started looking at how I wanted to mount it. I ended up not really mounting the outlet. There is a little empty pocket under the seat and next to the battery; it is a perfect size to place the outlet. I put ring terminals on the outlet pigtails and hooked it straight into the battery. The cord on the GPS is long enough to reach from the handlebars, under the seat, and back to the outlet. This is really a nice setup, and did not require me to drill any holes or physically mount anything. In addition, I did not have to splice into any wiring on the ATV. My fear now is that the GPS will drain the battery because it is hooked into non-keyed power. I've got it hooked up right now, so I'll find out before I get out in the woods. If it does drain the battery, I'll just have to lift the seat and unplug the GPS when I shut off the ATV.

Alex’s Egg Juice

This morning I was cracking one of Alex's chicken eggs to make scrambled eggs. These eggs have very thick shells, and this particular one had a thick inner membrane (just under the shell). I shattered the shell, but the inner membrane just would not break. After wrestling with it for several seconds over the bowl, "POP"! Most of the egg went into the bowl, and the scrambled egg was good. But a good bit of 'egg juice' also went all over my shirt. Alex loved this, and it evidently gave him more than enough entertainment for the morning. He was still giggling about it when I left for work (in a different shirt).

Chickens in the Mall???

A few years ago, we took Jake, our German Shepherd, into the mall and had his picture taken with Alex at Picture People. We've also taken Sunshine, our cat. Alex has seen those pictures, and for about a week now has wanted to take his chickens into the mall to have his picture taken with them at Picture People. He doesn't seem to see the difference between taking a dog and cat through the mall and taking a couple chickens through the mall.

Terraplane Purchase

My dad finally bought the Terraplane he has been wanting for years.

Racing has run in my family for years. Back in the '50s my grandpa had an Essex Terraplane that he raced. I have been teaching Alex that you have to take enough parts to make a spare car to the race; using this same logic, my grandpa had bought a spare Terraplane for parts or as a backup car.

Then he had his accident. One night in 1959, as he was driving Westbound along Highway 30 near the Sauvie Island bridge, a drunk stumbled out of a tavern and into the road in front of my grandpa's car. He swerved and missed the drunk (who stumbled away, never to be heard from again). Unfortunately, at that time, the road was only two lanes, with a retaining wall against the hill on the SW side of the road; he hit the retaining wall. In the days before air bags, crumple zones, and even seat belts, this was a devastating occurrence. The 1954 Plymouth was, of course, totaled. Worse, my grandpa's head was shoved into his chest cavity and he was assumed to be dead at the scene by the emergency crew. Fortunately, he was NOT dead, and had nearly 50 years ahead of him. However, he never raced again.

That spare Terraplane sat in his garage. It sat . . . and sat . . . and sat. Even when he didn't have much garage to put it in, the Terraplane was always there, inside the garage. Today it is really in good shape, considering that it is nearly 80 years old, hasn't ran in at least 50 years, and has never been rebuilt. To people who do not often see un-rebuilt cars from the '30s, the Terraplane would look like a pile of rusted steel. To an old car aficionado, however, the Terraplane is in very good condition – very restorable would be a little more accurate.

That restoration is a project that my dad has put quite a bit of time and money into. Over the past several years, he has searched exhaustively for all the parts it would take to restore the Terraplane, and has bought many of them. Because this car is so rare, however, the problem with parts is not just the expense . . . it is the existence. There are a handful of collectors throughout the country, and they have snatched up all of the Terraplanes and Terraplane parts in existence. Occasionally he will find a part or two for sale – he once had a bumper shipped from Pennsylvania – but in general the only way to get the parts is to make them from scratch.

Then, last week, he found a Terraplane for sale on eBay. A complete, fully restored Terraplane. A 1933 Hudson Essex Terraplane 5-window coupe, restored as a Street Rod, but with generally original lines – it hasn't been drastically altered by chopping, etc. Through the small world of Terraplane collectors, he was able to figure out who owns the car; it belongs to a collector in Ohio who has an entire heated shop full of Terraplanes – he has spent years (and a sizable fortune) buying every Terraplane that has come on the market. My dad called the collector, and got the story behind the car. This particular car was rebuilt for a wealthy Canadian rancher who later developed MS, so he had to sell the car. As part of the deal, the collector agreed to let the rancher visit the car and take him on rides whenever he is in Ohio. Basically, the Canadian rancher has visitation rights. The collector is now forced to liquidate some of his collection, but is not willing to allow the Canadian's visitation rights to expire. For this reason, he does not want to sell the car to any of the numerous dealers who have inquired about the car. Instead, he gave my dad an offer he could not refuse . . . and he did not. He bought the car, and agreed to give the Canadian rancher a ride anytime he happens to be in town.

Now he is trying to figure out how best to ship the car from Ohio. He had considered flying back and driving the car (it is fully restored, and is mechanically capable of a long-distance road trip), but I believe he is leaning toward shipping it.

Fisher’s Landing Volunteer Work – Math Facts & Chess Club

Yesterday was my first stint at doing Math Facts with the 3^rd graders in Alex's class. I'm going in once a week for an hour and administering what used to be 'timed tests' back in the day. They no longer rely on a set time goal, but rather on observation of the student's pacing to ensure that they are recalling facts, rather than counting on their fingers. The odd thing is that I still count when I recall some math facts. 5 + 8 = 13. But I have to count. I can count as fast as I can say the problem, but still . . . I count. Always have, always will. I'm also helping kids out one-on-one with whatever the teacher may have written in their file. Basically, I'm tutoring math one hour a week.

Also, the Chess Club is looking more and more like a 'go'. Several weeks ago, I responded to a request for parents who are experienced chess players and willing to 'help out' with the Chess Club and Fisher's Landing. I replied that I had played quite a bit back in the day, including tournaments, but that I haven't played in quite a while, and would be willing to 'help'. The response was basically, "GREAT! We've been looking for someone to start a Chess Club for several years!" There were a couple other 'volunteers' – at least one much more advanced than me, and some who do not know how to play chess – but all of them were smart enough to say they will not commit to organizing, or even making it to every weekly meeting. I alone did not take a big step back.

Plans have been made; equipment has been purchased; flyers are going out in next week's bulletin. Despite not yet having an official announcement, there are already 14 kids who want to join Chess Club, and most of them have never played. Our first meeting is on November 5, and we're limiting it to 20 kids to start out with, although I think the program has the potential to grow much larger. I would like to reach out to all kids, all the way from kindergartners who have never played, all the way up to 5^th graders who want to prepare for tournament competition. My immediate goals are twofold: First, do not look like an incompetent fool. Second, I would like the beginners to know the fundamentals and be able to sit down and play a game at home within 6 weeks.

I have less than 4 weeks to prepare. I'm going to be reading a lot of "How to teach chess" books, as well as trying to put together a 6-part lesson plan that will bring a non-player up to speed.

School Skate Night

Tonight we went to our first Fisher's Landing school skate night, and we had a lot of fun. There were a lot of people at Golden Skate; the roller rink was a little crowded at times. It's hard to tell, but I would say there were about 150 people in the building. There were at least three or four other boys from Alex's class, and I was happy to meet some of his classmates. There were door prizes drawings for Fisher's Landing items (water bottles, pencils, etc); Alex did not win a door prize, but he did FINALLY win the dice game. In this game you stand under a number and they roll a giant die to eliminate people until only one person was left. Alex has wanted to win this game for a couple years, and tonight he FINALLY did it. The prize was a free small soda. I also convinced Alex to play Lazer Tag. This is played with 10 people at a time, and they said that they normally have one game per night; tonight there were three games. I discovered as I entered that I was the only adult playing – this made me a favorite target. My gun was not working, but I had fun running and hiding from the kids, then making a big deal when they shot me.

One of the very interesting things about the place was Michael Jackson.  Golden Skate's heyday was during (or even before!) Michael Jackson's reign as the king of pop.  Now, there are a couple posters on the stage beside the skating floor memorializing Jackson.  Near the end of the night they played 'Beat It'.  It was incredible to watch the 8 and 9 year olds, whos parents were probably 8 or 9 when the song came out, scream 'Michael Jackson' during the unique opening, then sing the entire song word-for-word.

Aunt Flossie is Home

My Aunt Flossie came home from the hospital today. She had a minor heart attack. Quite a bit of fluid was extracted from around her lungs, and they checked her out for a stroke; in addition, she had an angiogram yesterday to survey heart damage.

It appears that there is nothing wrong with her except that she had a minor heart attack – no major blockages or heart damage, and no other underlying conditions.

Now if we can just get her to implement the lifestyle changes that the doctor has prescribed . . .

Our First Two-Egg Day

Yesterday, the chickens laid two eggs. Since getting good eggs, we have been seeing a few soft-shelled eggs here and there. Because I do not believe that our chickens will lay more than one egg per day, I have been waiting for this day as confirmation that both chickens are laying. Both eggs looked good. We may be getting at least enough eggs now that we don't have to buy any, and may be able to give some away. (Alex has been hoarding the eggs to give them away – he wants a dozen so he can give them away. I've finally convinced him that you can also give away 6 eggs, by cutting a carton in half.)

Show and Tell

This morning, I took Alex's Soap Box Derby car in for show and tell. I parked the trailer in the covered outdoor basketball court and set the car up behind it – with three trophies and a plaque leaning against the wall. Alex's class came out single-file (with Alex in the lead), then he came up front by his car in front of the entire class, including three teachers and said, "This is my Soap Box Derby car".

We have been trying to prep Alex for this show and tell. Every night this week, we have asked him what he is going to say about his car. We made sure he knew all the stats . . . the track is ¼ mile long, the cars weight 200 pounds and go 35 miles per, we have raced everywhere from Salem to the Canadian border, etc . . . etc . . . etc. And all he could think of to say was "This is my Soap Box Derby car". Then he clammed up. After a few seconds, I started quizzing and prodding him – he responded well. The kids (and teachers) had lots of questions . . . "How many races have you been in?" (Nearly every weekend this summer); "Are you a fan of the Oregon Ducks?" (because the car is green and yellow . . . no, he is a fan of the color green); "Who came up with the car's name, Green Slime?" (Alex did); "Why did you think of that name?" (because the car is green and looks like slime); "Is it a foot brake or a hand brake?" (a foot brake, but Masters Cars have a hand brake); and, of course, "How can I get into racing these?" (by giving your parents a Salem Soap Box Derby Association business card to your parents . . . here, we'll leave a stack with Mrs. Gallo).

Alex then got into the car to demonstrate the racing position; I lifted the back end to demonstrate the slope of the hill. I exaggerated slightly and lifted the wheels to waist level. Alex told me that is how steep Poulsbo is, but not the rest of the tracks. He would know. Then I gave the car a strong push and Alex demonstrated the brake.

With the help of the teachers, Alex paraded the trophies in front of the class, and then they asked if they could touch the car. I said absolutely – I would have let them sit in the car, but there was no way to let all of them sit in it, and not enough time for the entire class to sit in it.

Finally, after 5-10 minutes, we were done. The kids went back to class; I packed the car up and went back to work.

Home from the Hospital (and IKEA)

After picking Alex up at school today and having our Parent-Teacher conference, we went straight to the hospital to see Aunt Flossie. As we arrived, they were wheeling her out of her room for a procedure. She was a little drugged up – what I got out of her and the nurse wheeling her out was that she may not have had a heart attack, but that there is a bunch of fluid on her lungs. They decided to drain the fluid, and then do a stress test tomorrow to find out about a heart attack. She would be out for about an hour.

We then went to IKEA, which was our original evening plan, to buy Alex a Küllen wardrobe and have dinner. This is the first time we've had the meatballs at IKEA in a long time . . . We all three had the meatballs, and they were very good. Our weekend plans (in addition to going to the Forestry Center with the scouts) revolve around taking EVERYTHING out of Alex's room, including his bed and all the shelves, then putting up his new bed, this wardrobe, and possibly a large bookshelf (in addition to the closet organizer he's already got), then put stuff back in . . . but ONLY what he can put away somewhere.

Right now, Alex generally is not allowed to watch television or play after school until his homework is done and he has cared for his chickens, duck, and dog. He doesn't know it yet, but starting next week that list is going to grow to include his room being clean. If it's a daily thing . . .

From IKEA, we went back to the hospital. Aunt Flossie was much less drugged, and seemed to have much more energy. We found out that she did, indeed, have a heart attack, and that the stress test tomorrow will show just how bad it was. The water on her lungs is something ELSE that is wrong with her . . . she says they removed about 2 quarts of fluid from around her lungs. We visited her at the hospital for about 45 minutes, and then had to head home to get Alex in bed.

On the way home, we forgot that my truck was still parked at work (Tiffany picked me up at work for the conference). A couple more trips across town, and we finally made it home for the evening.