What's with Christmas in the Stores?

I can't believe I am seeing Christmas decorations and displays in the stores already and it is still SEPTEMBER!!!! They are right up there next to the Halloween displays. What's with that? Are retailers so desperate for our money that they take three months or one fourth of the year to devote to the commercial aspects of this holiday? It really makes me angry.

About Christmas---since we are so far in debt that Dad, at the age of 68, had to go back to work, please understand that the amount we can give everyone at Christmas will be drastically reduced. It doesn't look like I will get my inheritance from Esther and Floyd before Christmas, so I will be using my Social Security money, so be forewarned. Sorry. I thought we had enough saved to carry us through our retirement, but didn't expect that we would need to give so much financial help to kids and grandkids.

I hate that he has to work. It is hard for me to get by without DeWayne's help for four days each week, and it isn't fair for him to have to work so hard. He has pain in his wrist and suspects carpal tunnel syndrome. If that is the case, he won't be ABLE to work. And I am kind of jealous that he gets to escape all the noise and commotion here and go see new things, places and people. Do I sound frustrated? He will have to buy a trailer, get a camper shell, or rent a room if Michelle gets the teaching job she is hoping for since he has been staying with them! I will be having a shoulder replacement in November or December so he will take off a month then to help me.

A Sunny Day in Astoria

Josh (one of the lifeguards Tiffany works with), Tiffany, Rhiannon, Racer, and Ryder in front of Tiffany's car and the Columbia River.


The market has 200 vendors up and down four blocks. The Columbia River is visible at the bottom of the hill.


Dad waiting in line for some kettle korn.


Close-up of Celebrity cruise ship.


Astoria, Oregon from the Young's River Bridge.


Cruise ship on the Columbia River

DeWayne and I had a fun day in Astoria today. For one thing it was SUNNY, and coolish-warm with a slight breeze off the Columbia River. The air smelled so good. We went to the outdoor market and ate our way through it with our favorites. We started with grilled Italian sausages on buns and ended with Humdinger karamelkorn (still hot) and home-made fudge. They sold out of their white Pina Colada "fudge" because a cruise ship was in town and several buses full of tourists came to the market. Afterwards we drove to where we thought the sea lions were and heard MOM, MOM, GRANDMA, GRANDMA, GRANDMA!!! We were surprised to see Tiffany, the kids and their friend Josh. Tiffany said she thought this was where we were. We decided to look for the sea lions next time and went and looked at the cruise ship instead.

Energizer Bunny

Do you remember that TV commercial for Energizer batteries and it would show a bunny that was powered by Energizer batteries and it would keep going and going and going? We joke that that is DeWayne. He got home from his office in Lincoln City last night and in less that 24 hours has done all the dishes, washed several loads of laundry, fed me meals and gave me my insulin shots, fixed my pills for the next week, taken all the recycling to the center in Seaside, been to the library, gone to Radio Shack, shopped for groceries at Safeway and put them all away, swept and mopped all the floors, made my bed and is now making his famous vegetable soup to share with his coworkers. His nickname at the office in Las Vegas was Soupman and they even gave him a gift one year of a ladle engraved with the word Soupman. He has lost a lot of weight since he went back on his soup diet. It is nice to have him back even if it is just for the weekend.

Wheelchair Lift

I have a new wheelchair lift on the back of my suburban. It runs off the car battery like the old one. The old lift quit working--the motor died. First the platform was bent toward the ground so it scraped every time we went up a steep hill, into an inclined driveway or over a bump. Sometimes it wouldn't go up or down unless DeWayne handcranked it about 200 times. Finally it gave up the ghost and just stopped. I was stuck at home for five days waiting for the new one to get here from Pittsburg. This new one can be driven onto from either direction and has three retractable tie downs. It can also hold a 3 or 4-wheel electric scooter.


This is what it looks like loaded. It is still pretty close to the ground but it doesn't scrape.


This is what it looks like unloaded. You can see the yellow cartridges that hold the tie-downs.

Visitors

This week we had company. Michelle came from Newport and we enjoyed going to church, doing arts and crafts, playing beauty shop (doing makeup, hair and nails), shopping at Fred Meyer, eating at Dairy Queen and driving on the beach. My step-cousin Kay (her mother and my stepfather Eino Mickelson were sister and brother) and her husband Ed Cook stopped in on their way to their beach house in Rockaway Beach about an hour south of here. We had a lovely visit. They brought several varieties of tomatoes from their garden as well as a head of cabbage. We used to stay at their house in Clatskanie for Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, summer vacation, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. and then they would come stay with us in Garibaldi where we would always go clam digging. This went on from about age 7 to 17--lots of fun memories!

Cuddles

I have had Cuddles, the cat, for a few years. She has spent the last year with Michelle and Barry because when my shoulder was bad I couldn't take care of her. I had my right shoulder joint replaced last October so I do pretty well now, and since Michelle anticipates being pregnant she brought Cuddles back yesterday. Pregnant women aren't supposed to change a cat's litter box and Barry said he wasn't going to do it. My cat was so glad to be back. She has been purring non-stop and found her favorite spot on my bed where she is in this picture. I will probably have my left shoulder replaced in November or December though. I guess DeWayne will have to take over caring for her. Tiffany owns Lightning and Kato who are cuddles sister and brother, but Cuddles fights with them. Cuddles is very defensive of her territory which is my bedroom and bathroom.

Church

Kathy Bowman in front of the Seaside Ward Chapel

Michelle came up from Newport for a four night visit. We are all so glad to see her and the kids are having a great time doing art projects with Aunt Shelly. We ALL went to church today and I taught the Relief Society lesson on marriage (I guess being married for 47 years gives me some experience on the subject). This picture was taken outside after church and I am holding the flowers we brought to decorate the Relief Society room. We were going to put them in the chapel too, but we forgot them and Tiffany brought them when she came late with Racer.

Dad's New Truck

DeWayne Bowman and his new red 4-door Silverado truck

Dad and his new car parked in front of our house.

Dad bought a 2005 4-door Chevy Silverado. I took this picture of him today. He drives it back and forth each week to his dental office near Devil's Lake which is in Lincoln City 2 hours south of here. He leaves here at 5:30 am on Monday morning, and works Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Next week he will start working Thursday also. He stays over with Michelle and Barry in Newport which is 45 minutes further south along the coast in Newport. Then he drives home after work on Wednesday (or Thursday in the future). He leaves at 5 pm and gets here at 7 pm. That will be hard when the storms set in and he has to drive that narrow two-lane highway when it gets dark at 4 pm and it is raining and and the wind is blowing!!



Near the summit of the beautiful coast range.

THE COAST RANGE AND A VISIT TO AN ORAL SURGEON

Today we drove to McMinnville which is a small city on the other side of the coast range. I took this picture up in the mountains. I hate the fact that there is so much logging going on. We went to McMinnville so I could see an Oral Surgeon about the lesion on my tongue. He is going to biopsy it on October 19 and also remove eight teeth at the same time all done under general anesthesia. It will cost $2000 so Dad has to work 4 days just to pay for that! People with diabetes that isn't perfectly controlled can have high blood sugar which promotes the development of dental decay (caries).

The year of the Flea

Yes--We have fleas! The person at the pet supply store said the fleas are bad this year. That is an understatement. Racer especially has a big reaction to the bites. Tiffany has two cats and they live mainly in her room and Rhiannon's room which have carpets. So far the cats have had baths with flea shampoo, got special drops put on them which interrupt the life cycle of the flea, and wear flea collars. In addition everything got vacuumed and borateam sprinkled on the carpets (it is supposed to kill the larvae) and we got flea bombs for those two rooms. For the last three days Kato (the white cat) has sneaked into my room and settled on my new bedspread!!! I saw on tv that cats don't like vinegar, so I sprayed the stairs with it. That kept him away for one day. Now I just throw whatever is handy at him when he jumps on my bed--books, cd's, etc Are cats worth all this trouble is the big question and in this house it depends on who you ask!