Helena

As we were coming down a pass into the city of Helena, we we're accompanied by intense thunder and lightning. A bolt shot by us to the right 100 feet and left a smokey imprint in the dirt. I asked Joy if she'd ever heard of someone actually getting killed in a car from a lightning strike, and we both thought we hadn't. These things get reported on the news after all. That capped our 650 mile trek down the gorge, up through the Tri-Cities, into Spokane and over to Helena. Our first night in Pasco on Wednesday was spent in a half-star motel that scared me a little. We got an early start today and got into Helena at 5pm.

Paddy

Another chapter has closed at Gilford's. Our beloved cat, Paddy, was put to sleep today after months of fighting something that made her lose weight and finally the energy to remain the happy cat she once was. Lab results showed liver problems and the jaundice she had over the last few days was a testament to that theory. We thought it was the humane thing to do. She had been with us for twelve years and when I'm feeling a little more like it, I might share some more pictures and what she meant to us.

The 90s Feel Better

We're only supposed to get into the 90s today after a couple 100 degree, record-breaking days. Does anyone like it this hot? Wednesday evening we're off to Helena to hang out with Joy's family. Joy's Mom was recently moved into an assisted living home there after living decades on her own in Palm Springs. She's 88 and going through a lot of what people her age go through with memory problems. We'll be driving and I'm going to keep this blog going while we're away if I can find some wireless hot spots along the way. Do they have Starbucks in Montana?

BEAVERS WIN!

Congratulations to the OSU Beavers baseball team for their great victory tonight and their first college championship ever.

I Thought I Was the Only One

A USA Today article citing a study from the American Sociological Review reports 25% of Americans have no one to confide in. It seems we Americans are becoming more isolated from each other and that reality is not necessarily a good thing. Here's a link to the article.

Shaky

What's that earthquake-like shaking going on in the building? Why am I having trouble concentrating between the phone ringing and the pavement pounding? Oh yeah, they're tearing up our sidewalk...
Our day arrived Monday. We've been watching them creep closer and closer over the last few weeks. It's all part of the year-long Powell Boulevard improvement project which will give us fancy new sidewalks, crosswalks, safety islands to navigate around, pretty new trees and shrubs, etc. If you want the City of Gresham's perspective on all this, here's a link. We were surprised Tuesday to have one of our busiest days in the shop in a long time. We thought store traffic would be down with all the obstacle courses for our customers, but they seem to thrive on the disruption. Who would have thought?

Who could ask for more?

Back in 1991 when Joy and I were married on my parents' front lawn in their gazebo, I had hired a string quartet from the Mt. Hood Pops to provide the music and an air of formality to the day. They did a great job as I recall, even with one planned request of mine that took a little practice on their part. They played "When I'm Sixty-Four." The Beatles tune written by Paul McCartney was a sweet little song on their revolutionary album Sgt. Peppers about a young man visualizing growing older with his wife. Significant this Father's Day because McCartney turns 64 today.

When I get older losing my hair
many years from now
will you still be sending me a valentine
birthday greeting, bottle of wine
If I'd been out till quarter to three
would you lock the door
Will you still need me
Will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

You'll be older too
And if you say the word
I could stay with you

I could be handy mending a fuse
when your light have gone
You can knit a sweater by the fireside
Sunday mornings, go for a ride
Doing the garden, digging the weeds
Who could ask for more
Will you still need me
Will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

Every summer we can rent a cottage on the
Isle of Wight, if it's not too dear
We shall scrimp and save
Grandchildren on your knee
Vera, Chuck, and Dave

Send me a postcard, drop me a line
stating point of view
indicate precisely what you mean to say
yours sincerely wasting away
Give me your answer fill in a form
mine forever more
Will you still need me
Will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four

Lincoln

I'm reading Team of Rivals - The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Pulitzer Prize winning author, Doris Kearns Goodwin. It's my second Lincoln book in as many months. I don't know what my fascination with Lincoln is at the moment. I just find him an appealing character who rose from nothing to the highest office in the land during a tumultuous time in our country's history. The other book, Lincoln's Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness, by Joshua Wolf Shenk, does as the title suggests and illuminates how this unlikely figure fought through his naturally blue nature and steered the country through the Civil War. Highly recommended.

Getting Together

We had our biggest group yet over Saturday afternoon. Joy put on a great dinner and desert. The house continues to pass the tests for entertaining. Mt. Hood even made an appearance into the evening.

Bubbler

We worked our tails off over the weekend creating our rock yard. The focus is this deceptively small looking piece of granite that weighed around 200 pounds. When we got all the little rocks around it and got the pump going it spewed out bloody red water. This must be coming off the red rock. We're hoping this settles somehow and doesn't kill the pump. Anyway, our goal is to have a low to no maintenance yard and I think we achieved it.

Today in History

1944 - World War II: More than 1000 British bombers drop 5000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
1956 - Elvis Presley introduces his new single, Hound Dog, on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.
1968 - U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Sirhan Sirhan. (He dies on June 6).
1981 - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that five homosexual men in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems (these were the first recognized cases of AIDS).
2006 - Doug turns 41.

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