Ohmah, waiting for a call from Obama

Really now. Must we ALL have cell phones?

Peter, Peter, where art thou??????

Since Peter didn't show up to help split the wood, I had to ask Andrew to give me my birthday present early. He came over and we split some wood with the splitter that the neighbor had rented. The good news, there were plenty of endorphins to go around. And, the best news? There's still more wood left!!!

Ben,
That Peterson Fire looks pretty close to you guys! 8,000 acres!!
Jim

Fog through the redwoods.

Low news day or how not to make clam 'chowdah.'

Think about it, in most areas other than CC most families have higher utility bills in the hotter months than in the cooler months. Brownouts happen much more often in the summer than the winter. Why? Well, most people have to be concerned with cooling a house off using their AC (except for CC). If people were to install a solar panel that could put out enough power to run their AC during the times it's really needed they could save money. Granted, this is only a small solar panel only able to run a smaller fan, but I think there's merit in testing it on a larger scale. Did I mention this and the Pacific Ocean are our only air conditioners?

We had some steamed clams last week that I had gathered with a neighbor of ours. I saved a few so I could make some chowder. I looked up a recipe on the internet and found out that we didn't quite have all the ingredients. In fact, all I had were the clams, potatoes, and black pepper. I went ahead and made it, but it didn't quite look like the picture or taste like chowder is supposed to taste. Lesson learned? Make sure you have all the ingredients prior to making 'chowdah.'

Jim

She's married!!!!!

A good time was had by all. We just returned from a very joyous occasion!



Jim

WATCH OUT FOR DESPERATE SINGLES

Like a photographer in a war zone, here I am taking a photo of Suzie throwing her bouquet. Since I've seen many episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos, I knew enough to snap and RUN! Not to be confused with the guy holding the camera, I'm the guy behind the girls.

Suzie and Darryl looked real happy. We have great hopes for their union. God Bless Them. PnK

Chuck's RETIRED!!!!!

Well, we got Chuck's paperwork filed. He will be officially retired June 26th, on his birthday. So now he will get some income starting hopefully August 1st. We left him a list of things to do before we talk to him again. We will see him again July 15-16. All in all he is doing pretty good. He is really getting into this taking the train everywhere. Good if you got the time or energy. It wasn't a bad trip into town from his house. I enjoyed it. Ben was hurting and the stopping and going was getting to him. That and the heat. 104 in Sac on Friday. Ben and Illa

food

what to bring to the reunion? I think ill bring smores stuff. But, man can mot live on smores alone. or can he ? could be some interesting research.
Dick

What are YOU going to do?

Since I'm on AARPs "over 50" mailing list these days I get a bunch of offers on a regular basis. Also, since I'm really an OK guy at heart I'm going to pass on something for you to think about. What are you going to do with the next chapter of your life?
It made me pause for a minute to think about it. Well, actually it was more than a minute, but I did think about it and submitted my entry. I hope that you do too.
Click on the title.
Jim

Suzi's Wedding 6/21-

Remember! Suzie is getting married June 21st. 7pm, with reception following. Don't know where yet, but I think info is coming. I'll post it, or she will, when I know. Peter

So, where did everyone go???

Is everyone tired or just taking their time?? Has been really quiet here lately. Going to see Chuck on the 19th to help him with his stuff on the 20th. He sounds really good when talking to him on the phone. Glad things are better for him. Illa

Retiring??

We had a brunch at my school today for those that are retiring. I wrote a few words to share during the brunch. Rick's been at my school about 3 years, and he's only one of three men on staff where there are about 22 women. His room was right next to mine. We're out-manned and under-gunned.

Click on the title for the rest of the story.

Jim

Where are those pickled herring???

Click on the above title.

I was taking a photo of our creek when.....

Our place in on the right. PnK

I must confess.

I feel my character has been maligned. Actually, this is how it really happened.

After Sandi dropped me off at the hospital I slowly walked in the hospital admittance surgery room and started the process of everyone asking me my name and birthdate. I really wasn’t too concerned until the doctor walked up to me holding a surgical knife in one hand and a Styrofoam coffee cup with a stir stick ready to slosh out in the other while I was waiting in the bed, attired in the backless hospital gown, and said, “I think we may have a problem with you today,” all the while gesturing wildly with his knife.

Of course my mind raced to all the hernia operation horror stories that I had read about on the internet. I remember seeing this one picture of these natives on some island near Indonesia and these guys were standing and posing with their huge hernias. Spear in one hand, hernia in the other. They looked like they had 20 pound appendages protruding from their where their bellybuttons should be. Disgusting picture, right?

You get the picture where my mind went when the doctor said that there may be a problem. He followed it up with, “but, no worries, we have a solution, it seems that we’ve double-booked our surgeries today.”

All the while he was waving his knife in my face with a slightly crazed look on his face. I tried to sneak a peak at his nametag to reassure myself that he was indeed a doctor, but he wasn’t wearing one.

“So, we’re releasing you to go home. Here’s what you’re supposed to do, listen carefully. We’re going to be doing a little hernia procedure on this person in the next room over, and you, since you’re older and more expendable, we’re going to let you be a hero to your insurance company. I’m going to give you this really sharp knife and an ear piece and you can take follow along at home while I do the procedure here at the hospital. Any questions?”

Just one, do I get any pain pills or anything?

“Nah, pain pills are for wimps. This is a simple procedure, just take this stir stick with you and bite on it next week when you take the bandages off. Oh, by the way, here are some Steri-Strips that you can use instead of having to stitch the incision up yourself. No need to thank me, just looking out for you.”

So, I hope that I’ve convinced you of the absurdity of the last post and that I’m really not a sissy when it comes to pain. Don’t worry, it was a successful procedure, the doctor did just fine. Does anyone have any donuts?

Now, let's talk about ANYTHING except me.
Jim

btw. Jim........

Sandi's right.

The drugs in the hospital work better than what you’re sent home with. They have quite a system in the hospital. Everyone from the janitor to the doctor comes in while you’re laying there in one of those backless gowns and introduces themselves, even the anesthesiologist came in. I was just hoping there wasn’t a pop quiz over all of their names before the surgery. Those guys are really tricky. He hooked up a vial of anesthesia in the IV drip and said that he was going to give me just “a little shot” to relax me, “just a shot over the bow.” Actually, he sunk the whole the entire ship! He never even got the words out of his mouth telling me to count from 100 to zero backwards. The next thing I knew a nurse was telling me my ride was here. I was amazed how good I felt! Of course I was under the influence of their pain-altering drugs, but at the time I didn’t fully comprehend it. Sandi and I were comparing incision lengths yesterday, and I must say, mine is just a ‘junior’ incision compared to her scar, so I can’t complain too much. For my procedure they just added some recycled plastic, for hers they actually took parts out.

By the way, Chuck called last night. He sounded much better then the last time. He was very grateful to Ben and Illa for walking him through the retirement application process. He sounded very optimistic about his pending retirement. Good on ‘ya both!

Dick, here's a link to my second choice of EV. I'm saving up for it as I type. They're going to cost around $30,000. I'm only about $29,998.63 short.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2008/06/05/washburn.230.mpg.car.kfmb

Jim

I'm back!!!!!

Well, the good news; I awoke after the surgery and I wasn't looking down from the corner of the surgery room. I take that to mean I didn't have a NDE.
That's a good thing. Slightly rummy, but not a top-down view. Sandi dropped me off about 6:45 am and picked me up about 9:30.
So, no problems. I'm not to pick up anything heavier than a fishing pole for 2 weeks. Doctor's orders. The doctor's a genius!
The nursing staff was the same as the colonoscopy staff; they asked me my name and birth date about 10 times. I guess
they don't want people cutting in line for procedures like this. The last time just before they gave me the drip for the anesthesia.
Anyway, I'm at home watching history being made. No, not my hernia repair, but rather, the presumed nomination of Obama. We
live in an amazing time, medically and politically.

Jim

Compared to cats!

Tonight, a not-too-different thing happened at the Hooper house tonight. Sandi made a really good roast for dinner, and I thoroughly and immensely enjoyed it. She's a great cook and it's a wonder I don't weigh about 300 lbs. The trouble is I appeared to evidently not enjoy it enough. See, she also spooned out some fish for the cats, who also enjoyed their fish a lot. In fact, they appeared to enjoy their dinner more than me, but that’s not really true. Just because they can lick their rear toes and preen the hair on the back of their legs after they finish eating and I can’t doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy my dinner too. Does anyone still have the address for the Yoga class?

By the way, do you know where the electric car capital of the world is? Hint: it’s in sight of Mt. Everest. Gas is $4.55 9/10 per gallon in CC today.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2008/06/02/rivers.nepal.electric.cars.cnn

Donuts: Donuts, Powdered, Assorted Package

thought this was interseting

Package
Hostess
Serving Size: 1 or 1.7oz

Nutrition Facts
Calories 190
(Kilojoules 794)
% DV**
Total Fat 9 g 14%
Sat. Fat 4 g 20%
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 10 mg 3%
Sodium 230 mg 10%
Total Carbs. 25 g 8%
Dietary Fiber 0 g 0%
Sugars 13 g
Protein 2 g
Calcium 20 mg
Note: A dash indicates no data is available.


Fat 81 cals (43%)
Carbs. 100 cals (53%)
Protein 8 cals (4%)

Calorie Density:
** Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values maybe higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. These values are recommended by a government body. They are not CalorieKing.com recommendations.

EXERCISE REQUIRED
To burn the calories in this food you could do any of the following:
52 mins of walking
22 mins of jogging
16 mins of swimming
29 mins of cycling
# Based off a 35 year old female that's 5.74ft tall and weighs 144lbs.

Dick

Why your going to make it............

What to do about fuel prices and your life:

1. Add up your real costs of eating expensive pastries, cookies, lattes and espressos, cigarettes, alcohol, pop and potato chip type stuff. Got an amount? OK, on to next.

2. Go to your refrigerator, you were going to clean it out today anyway -right? Now throw away anything that is not fit for human consumption. It got old because you keep eating all that junk food above. Add up the costs of your wasted items.
Side note here; real food cost more money than junk food, however, if you eat real food you'll become healthier, and feel better, and probably spend less on meds, quack diets, quack remedies; quack exercise equipment, quack doctors. Overall there is a net savings.

3. Add up the cost of your toys. Adults are just like kids; the difference is, adults don't have anyone to say "no". I just bought a GPS, I seldom use it. I could've gotten by without it. Take an honest look at your toys, if you haven't used it is several months, or it's just a more expensive one than you actually need, figure the difference and come up with a real figure.

4. Hair, nails, clothes; sorry girls, your much more guilty of this than us guys, who're generally slobs. Develop inner beauty, which is much better anyway, and more enduring than outer beauty; this'll save you lots of money. Both sexes can save money with deleting appointments for massage, tattoos, piercings, salons and barbers, gyms. Add the savings in your column.

5. Finally, a reality check. When I started driving, gas was 25cents a gallon (yes, I'm old). Before taxes I made $1.25 and hours. My wages were then five times what a gallon of gas cost! For the moment, fuel is at $5.00 a gallon. Five times $5.00 is $25.00. I still make more money than that, so I figure I'm ahead. This formula works for all dispensations.

We really shouldn't complain about fuel prices, except for Venezuela and a few Arab and Persian countries, ours are still lower than most. With a lot of Americans, the real complaint is this is changing our luxurious life style. Most are only having to sacrifice toys and non-essentials; but the reality, this isn't a sacrifice. I don't think the word actually applies.

I should say, there are many who are deeply affected by rising fuel costs. For instance, people who have no other option for their commute. There are many of these.

OK, got all your figures in the column added up? Apply those saving to your fuel budget, see, you can now afford to make it to the reunion!

One last note: On average, I get 18mpg. Let's say last years fuel cost me $2.50 per gallon. If I had to drive 1200 miles to the reunion round trip, last years cost would have been $170. Now it's doubled. So, that $340 for fuel. $170, I spend more on donuts than that! I gotta tell you, your more important to me than donuts.