Phun Photo Phriday

Thanks to the opiates I’ve been having some vivid dreams. Last night I learned to time travel via the oven. Better yet I learned I could return to a fully cooked meal of chicken, roast potatoes, and asparagus.

I wasn’t fortunate enough to retain where I travelled but I do have this picture of Mac in my Flickr account which may offer some insight.

Judy, Take a Pill!

I just returned from the doctor who prescribed:

a) Flexeril – for the spasms that keep shooting across my lower back and up my spine making it impossible to sit or stand comfortably.

b) Ibuprofen – for the inflammation, 600 mg. (this makes me groggy)

c) Percocet – In case the ibuprofen doesn’t knock me out and I still feel something…anything…at all.

Please take notes so I’ll know what Christmas was like when I return from this drug induced stupor.

In Response to Your Comments

It’s easier to respond to comments from many days past in a post so here goes:

Our power came up late Saturday but then a transformer blew in Beaverton and the power was out again for a couple more hours. How a transformer in Beaverton affects us is anyone’s guess. A power station once went down in Hillsborough and we lost power then too. Go figure.

When the power goes out here we’re well prepared. We have a gas water heater so we can still take warm showers. The cooktop is also gas so we can heat up some chili or soup or better yet, make hot chocolate, mmm. We have a woodstove that keeps the house nice and toasty warm and a lantern for playing games or reading. Scrabble is a favorite time killer when the power is out and less strain on the eyes than reading.

Except when the storm is tropical such as this one, the food in the fridge can usually be stored in the garage or outside in an ice chest. When it’s warm, we must venture out for ice after the first day.

We usually only lose power for a couple hours and only during heavy snow or ice storms or the rare windstorm.

Regardless of what the picture above shows, I don’t live out in the sticks but actually within the city limits. I do live in the hills above town but not in the expensive hills just above town with the lovely views of the city and the river. No…I live another ridge back above the beautiful Forest Park, 5000+ acres of protected forest full deer, elk, racoons, skunks, opossums, lynx, birds, bugs and the occasional bear. I even have a neighbor that swears he saw a kangaroo once but that’s another story. I love the view from here…nothing but trees!

Yes, the weather has been rough the past couple weeks, in fact the weather forecaster last night was talking about which day would be “the bad day this week”. It now look like Wednesday as we should get some freezing rain when the next storm arrives. We haven’t been above freezing since the windstorm blew through. We don’t usually have weather this extreme but we get freezing rain every couple years and a little snow every year at our altitude. We sit at just over 1000 feet.

I’m glad I don’t live in Seattle!

When the trees come down on the roads or in our yards we do cut them for firewood but if they fall in the Environmental Overlay, or the park itself, we leave them to decay for that is the law. Yep, let the trees provide shelter, food and nutrients for the critters and the flora. We like it that way.

I should be more careful about moving large tree stumps and branches. They’re awfully heavy when they’re wet. Duh!

I prefer my muscle relaxants recreationally. I don’t usually like muscle relaxants but I try to forget that I’m getting older and my body doesn’t recover as easily as it used to. They become necessary if I want to continue to be a functioning member of society…or bring home a paycheck.

It’s Up…It’s Down…It’s UP!

Yes…the power was restored late Saturday only to go down again…but lo and behold they had it back up within a few hours.  Now I’m nursing a sore back having spent too much time with the chainsaw clearing the road. You see the city doesn’t feel it’s worth sending a crew out this way so we have to fend for ourselves.

I hope to give more info tomorrow when the muscle relaxants wear off.

Please Stand By

Due to Thursday’s windstorm I am still without power.  I will resume posting as soon as power is restored and my fingers have thawed.  I’m told I’ll be back online Monday but I’m hoping that is the worst case scenario.

Must Post…Must Post…

Must post!

Must wrap…must  package…must mail…

You get the idea…I will definitely be posting on Friday though because I’m doing this tomorrow which is why I may not post tomorrow.

Phun Photo Phriday

Stayton, Oregon. Summer 2005

Last Evening

It was a delightful evening chatting over pints with me rockin’ mate Toni.

Now say that with a nice Irish Brogue and you’ll get an idea of the mood last night. Toni and I were finally able to find time in our schedules to hook up for drinks and it’s been far too long! We’ve been trying to get together since her return from Burning Man in early September and when we finally do I get absolutely no stories about The Burn. Nope. None!

Okay, it’s been so long, we didn’t have time to talk about a lot of things including my trip to NYC on which she commented that she couldn’t believe I was seeing so many shows. Well hello girl! I’m a faggot…with a musical theatre degree…What. Did. You. Expect? But I digress.

We hooked up at this quaint little restaurant in SW Portland, Leaky Roof. It is owned by an Irishman and since Toni hails from Dublin I thought it only right she meet some of her peeps here in town. (Well…truth be told I had eaten there just two days earlier and after chatting with the owner’s brother who waits tables there decided this was where we should meet for drinks.) It turned out to be the perfect spot and she and the waiter, Connor, and his brother Seamus (the owner) had great conversations about the homeland while I sat quietly sipping my Guinness interjecting the occasional mention of my Irish ancestry. I jest!

It was a great evening with good beer, better food and even better company. I realized it’s been too long since we last hooked up and we really need to get together soon, very soon, like just after the holidays so I can get the scoop on Burning Man. I hear there’s a video!

Let’s not wait so long this time…okay girl?

New Digs

One of the ‘readers’ of NaBloPoMo liked my site but wasn’t very fond of my design because the past posts reduce to a smaller font making them hard to read. I’ve also heard from a couple friends that they have trouble reading white text on a black background. On my MAC the background is actually a very dark brown which plays well off the brown titles heading the posts.

Tonight I was on the PC in our office and decided to jump over to my blog and was stunned to see the background is BLACK. Not only was it black…it was FUGLY! Those Burnt Sienna titles look awful on the black background and the text appears stark white. So it’s time to find some new digs for this here blog. I hate the thought of changing it all again but better to do it now while my aging brain remembers where and how to use code in the WordPress templates.

Any tips or suggestions?

Tree’s Up!

I spent the weekend running around getting food ordered and supplies purchased for the Holiday Party at work this coming Friday. I guess I’ve been doing this long enough that it comes together rather easily. I was able to get most everything done by mid-afternoon Saturday which left time to go get the Christmas tree.

The tree requires a bit of rearranging in the family room but we were able to get that done quickly and then we zipped down the hill for the tree. Surprisingly we liked the very first tree we looked at and had it home and in the house in less than an hour. I felt so good about it that I started putting the lights on that evening. I would have finished but the tree is so tall and full it needed more lights than we had available. We made a run to the store but they didn’t have what we were looking for and by then it was 9:00 so we gave up.

Sunday was even more surprising because not only did we purchase the lights but we were able to completely decorate the tree. Around here the tree trimming usually takes about a week. For some reason we spend a lot of time placing and moving the ornaments…but not this year. I guess we’re just filled with the spirit…or is that filled with spirits? Yes, some alcohol was involved but not enough to regret the next morning.

It feels nice to have the tree up and the boxes put away. I feel kind of lost, like I don’t know what I’m going to do for the next few weeks. A feeling I’m sure won’t last beyond NOW since typing it has made me feel guilty sitting here blogging.  I’d better go…