At Home - December 2014

12-4-14

For Thanksgiving dinner we went to Doris’s son and daughter in law’s house. Clay made sushi and BBQ’d pork. It was not a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but very good.

The next day we had them, plus Claudia and family at the house. Doris had prepared roast beef.

We had our turkey dinner, a few days before, at the Senior Center.

My life has changed the last few months. I am very happy. Doris spoils me. She is a 130 pound Energizer Bunny. Five days a week she spends thirty minutes on the tread mill. She programs it and the machine goes through different cycles. She gets a good workout.

I walk for an hour in the morning. This way I get familiar with the neighborhood. I like the old, Victorian homes.

Sometimes I walk all the way to down town.

 

Some buildings have large murals on the walls.

Doris has a large property. There is some garden work and work around the house. She belongs to several organizations and does volunteer work. Since she had her own accountant business she knows a lot of people in town.

We are not bored. Every Monday evening we dance at the Moose Lodge. Every second Saturday we dance at the Labor Temple.

Twice a month we go to the theater.

Doris likes to cook and I am her helper. We cook together. She makes everything from scratch, no short cuts. She baked three different pies and buns for Thanksgiving.

Now we are getting ready for Christmas. I am not very excited about this but I go along. I decorated the sun room with small lights.

  

I miss my traveling days with the WINs, but I enjoy my new life very much. I was lucky to find a woman like Doris. We have a lot in common and try to have some good times at this stage of our life.

Doris drove yesterday to Portland, Oregon. She has two daughters there. Today, one of her daughters and she flew to New York City to help another daughter and her husband move to another house.

I will be bachelor for a while and will take care of the house and Mr. Big, the cat. I am allergic to cats and have a problem with Mr. Big. I take pills but they are not very effective. I have breathing problems and I talk like I have a cold.

Doris lived the last thirty years on her own and Mr. Big was her companion for some of that time. I can’t   say much and have to experiment with other pills. That big cat likes me and when he is not with Doris he hangs around me.

 

January the 17^th Doris has one of her groups over for a pot luck dinner. The next day we are heading, in my motorhome, for Quartzsite, Arizona. The trip with her friend to San Diego got post phoned until April.

We will be able to spend time with my WIN and Escapee friends, and go to the RV Show. February we will be touring Arizona.

12-6-2014

Today I attended a mast gluing party.

The Veterans For Peace, who are refurbishing the Golden Rule sailboat, were gluing the mast.

The mast will be about forty foot long and is constructed with 2.5 inch thick by ten inch wide, and about 16 foot long boards. The boards were offset and the joints were angled. The boards were clamped together without glue and marked. We did a dry run to familiarize us with the procedure.

We were waiting for the start signal. The smaller forward mast was completed already and is hanging from the ceiling of the building.

  

Four people were mixing the epoxy. We started applying the epoxy to the angles of the first center board.

  

Then the bottom and top of all the middle boards were covered with epoxy and stacked together. First we attached the side clamps and then the top clamps. We had thirty minutes from starting applying epoxy to finishing the clamping. 

  

Chuck is happy with the results. Everything worked out fine. After the epoxy sets the mast has to be shaped.

Not everybody got their hands dirty. Some people were watching and giving advice.

Everybody ate pizza and drank beer though.  

  

12-7-2014

This was a fun day. The Humboldt Swiss Club had their Merry Swissmas at their hall in Loleta.

A few people came in costume.

The turkey dinner was outstanding.

Many people from the Friendship Circle Dance Club were there.

After the meal the tables were removed and the dancing started.

Santa Claus appeared.

Santa was leading a group around the dance floor.

Of course, the chicken dance had to be danced too.

Loleta has a cheese factory and there are milk cows all over the valley.

 

 

12-13-14

Doris and I took Nicolette and Jacob to see the Truckers Parade. Lit-up trucks meandered through some of Eureka’s streets. I found it interesting but the kids saw it many times before and they were not that excited.

There were several tow trucks.

Logging trucks were really lit up.

  

There was also a city bus.

From the parade route we hurried to get to down town before the trucks arrived there. We had pizza next to the Eureka Theater. After eating we went to the theater and saw Pippi Longstocking, the play about the rambunctious girl.  
Last week Doris and I went to the theater and saw: How to succeed in Business without trying. It was very funny.