Seeing

Sometimes while I'm taking my daily walk up to JC's house I find myself sleepwalking, day dreaming along, not paying attention to anything but the gravel under my feet. I'm sure I've plodded right by a lot of wildlife and scenery that I would have enjoyed seeing if I had only opened my eyes and paid attention.

I find however, if I take my camera along I start looking around and seeing things, like the Blue Heron trying to catch a minnow and keep an eye on me at the same time. Like the Otters watching me from the lake and the Wood Ducks paddling and quacking along in the bay on the north side of the road.

Yesterday, which was sunny, but one of the coldest days of this winter, I bundled up in a down jacket, pulled on some wool gloves, and as an afterthought slipped my camera into a pocket.

Even though the temperature was in the thirties there was a fisherman trying his luck from the bank next to the highway.

Just east of the lake is a meadow where Elk come to browse quite often, but almost always at night. I see their fresh tracks several times a week as I walk by, but I've only seen the Elk three or four times. Yesterday they were calmly grazing in the cold sunshine.

I wonder how many times I've walked right past them.

What day is it?

Despite having an atomic clock next to my computer that tells me the date, day of the week, phase of the moon and even the time, and despite the day, date and time being displayed in the lower right hand corner on my computer monitor, I very seldom know what day it is.

I get a clue from my pill minder, a plastic compartmentalized gizmo that helps me keep track of the colorful array of pills and capsules that I'm supposed to take every day. It's clearly marked M T W T F S S, but usually I ignore that information and just take the pills in the compartment next to the empty one.

I also get a clue when I walk out to the mailbox, (usually in the rain,) and there isn't even any junk mail. That's likely Sunday, but not always.

Doctor's appointments are carefully marked on our desk calendar but when I ask Carol about them she usually says, “I don't know, what day is it today?” This causes me to go in the den to check the computer and find out.

Paying bills by check also makes me ask, “What's the date today?”

Most of the time though, I really don't care!

Dog Training

When Taz was a little puppy, every night he'd come into my bedroom, jump up on the bed, and curl up on top of the covers, behind the crook of my bent legs to sleep. When he got older, he decided that sleeping on a dog bed under the bedside table was more grown up and dignified.

Squeak started out the same way, but being short haired, she liked to be covered up. It didn't take long until she figured out that when I laid on my side she could crawl down under the covers and snuggle up against my back. I let her get away with it because it was cute and after all, she was still a puppy.

We were always worried that I might hurt her if I rolled over on one of her little skinny legs, so recently Carol bought her a nice dog bed and put it on top of the bed in her bedroom.

I always go to bed first, and the two dogs and Carol stay up and watch TV. When she gets sleepy she tells the dogs, “OK, time to go to bed!”

Taz goes straight into my bedroom, gets on his bed under the table, spins around two or three times and settles down for a good nights sleep.

Squeak goes into Carol's bedroom, jumps up on the bed, gets on the new dog bed and lets Carol cover her up.

Every morning around 4 am, when Taz wakes me up with his “It's time to get up!” growl, I realize that I have a little doggy curled up against my back. She very seldom wakes me up when she slides under the covers during the night, and when I turn the bedside lamp on in the morning, she lays there behind me with her head on the pillow, and gives a little squeak of displeasure at the sudden light.

Slowly but surely, if they keep at it and don't get discouraged, the dogs will have us completely trained.

Kelly

Well, JC's son Kelly is on his way to Alaska!

He'll be working at a sea food processing plant called Unisea. It's located at Dutch Harbor, Unilaska, one of the Aleutian Islands. The Bering Sea is to the north and the Pacific is to the south. I hope he packed his long underwear!

The Unisea website is at http://www.unisea.com

Captains Log

The Captains Log

Looking back on the countless dumb things I've done in my 74 years on this earth, one thing that I'll never regret is writing “The Captain's Log” and taking the trip it describes.

We pulled our four boys, Brad, Don, Fred and Rick out of grade school early in May of 1972, loaded them and our Saint Bernard, Grande into our Chrysler station wagon and went on a trip around the western United States.

Hooked to the rear of the Chrysler was a brand new 20' Great Divide travel trailer. I had never pulled a trailer before, but I learned from experience and by the time the trip was over I could even back it up like a pro. The kids became experts at setting it up in the various campgrounds we stayed in. They looked like an Indy pit crew unhooking the hitch and spring bars, leveling the trailer, and hooking up the water, electric and sewer. It usually only took them a few minutes.

I got the idea of keeping a log of our trip on the first night in Mancos Colorado at the Navajo Trail Trailer Park. ($3.00 a night!) I scribbled an account of our day on the road and the kids came up with the idea of calling it “The Captains Log” from Captain Kirk's opening statement in “Star Trek.” I faithfully kept it up for the rest of the trip.

We had no real agenda, if we saw something interesting like the “Prehistoric Gardens” or the “Mystery Spot” we pulled over and the six of us (seven, counting Grande) swarmed into the place like an invading army. We stopped at the “Montana Vortex” and “The Trap” (a roadside zoo) among other roadside attractions on our way to more famous places Like Disney Land, the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Las Vegas, Catalina Island, San Francisco, Yellowstone, Redwoods and Sequoia National Parks.

We visited family in Las Vegas, and friends on Catalina Island, in Vallejo, California and Kalispell, Montana.

The trailer was loaded down with souvenirs and keepsakes when we finally pulled up in front of our house in Colorado on the 5^th of July. Among other assorted treasure there was Don's horse statue collection, Rick's pine cone collection, Brad's antique car models, Fred's seashells and my rock and mineral collection. Also we had a sprouting Redwood burl, a live tadpole, two quilted maple gun stock blanks from Coquille, Oregon and Carol was starting her gray hair collection.

Many times Carol and I have pulled the old Captains Log out and refreshed our memories of that trip. The pages are getting yellowed and and worn but it still remains a testament to one of the best ideas we ever had.

Skinny Bob

I knew when I went to see my general practitioner, Dr. Vogleman that I'd be in for a giant barrage of tests, and I was right.

My main reason for seeing him was the weight loss I've experienced since last summer. In late July I weighed in at my normal 150 pounds, and yesterday at the clinic I weighed 136.

My neurologist said that some people with Parkinson's do lose quite a bit of weight but that I should see my G.P. to make sure there wasn't another reason for the weight loss.

Dr. Vogleman scheduled me for a chest x ray, a cat scan, a fasting blood draw, and a colonoscopy. I also have to go in for a couple of shots for the Bursitis in my hips.

The clinic called yesterday evening and said I should go to the hospital for the blood draw and the chest x ray and not to forget to fast for 12 hours beforehand.

This morning I got up and ate my usual bacon, sausage, eggs, toast and milk before it sunk in that fast is not the same as breakfast.

Oh well! I'll try again tomorrow.