Three Beautiful Things 10-30-2025: New York News, Playing with Soup, Classic Rock

 1. I don't know why, but I stayed home and didn't do much today. Debbie updated me on what's happening in New York over the next week. I don't know when she'll return to Kellogg. That's no problem. I'm happy she'll spend some time in Manhattan, see her cousin Sally, be a part of Adrienne's birthday celebration on Saturday, and continue to spend time with Misty. 

2. I made another small pot of chicken soup, almost identical to the one I made on Tuesday. I increased the amount of tarragon and I added some liquid aminos. I thought, and chuckled while I thought it, that this combination might not work in a restaurant, might work at family dinner, but definitely worked for me. 

3. Do you ever suddenly get in a mood to listen to Steely Dan, Deep Purple, and AC/DC? I did this evening, not long before I went to bed, and it was thrilling. If only I could still drink alcohol! Steely Dan moved to want to "drink Scotch whiskey all night long" and keep playing music from about fifty years ago and forward. 

I didn't do that. 

Thunderstruck, I took my blood pressure, scooped Copper's litter box, took care of my teeth, and put on SiriusXM's channel called Classical for Sleep, and Copper and I visited the Land of Nod. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-29-2025: Clean Bill of Dental Health, Breakfast and Winning Wednesday, Toronto Wins Game 5

 1. My day started off with an 8:00 dental cleaning and assurance that my home care of my teeth and gums is working. My dental health is solid. In addition, the tissue in the area of the recent implant looks very healthy and the implant itself is firmly in place, working as it should.  

2. I came home and took care of Gibbs and Copper and then I launched the Camry rocket over the 4th of July Pass and into Coeur d'Alene. I enjoyed a hearty breakfast at the Breakfast Nook and then re-launched the Camry rocket down Hiway 95 to the CdA Casino.

I enjoyed another Winning Wednesday. 

I had a great time trying out machines I'd never played and going back to several old favorites. 

For me, as a player, it was not a Winning Wednesday, but I shrugged it off. I had fun, saw Terry and Jane Lennon a couple of times, and added quite a few points to my player's card. 

3. I returned to Kellogg after a quick shopping stop at Trader Joe's. 

I collapsed. 

I took a long late afternoon/early evening coma nap and woke up to the news that Toronto had jumped out to an immediate lead over the Dodgers, a lead they added to and never surrendered. 

The World Series returns to Toronto and if the Blue Jays can win one game at home, I'll be able to cash in my wager on them and even recover the money I spent today with more dollars left over.   

That would be fun because Ed would win his wager, too, and we'd make a trip together to the Spokane Tribe Casino, cash in, and spin reels. 

But I'm not seeing this as a done deal. The Dodgers are formidable and, even at home, it will be a very challenging task for Toronto to win one game and win this World Series. 

I sure hope Toronto succeeds. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-28-2025: Do Dogs Make Decisions?, Sprinkling System Winterized, Warming Chicken Soup

1. After Debbie had been gone for about three or four days, Gibbs realized that my chair (with me in it) and my lap are available for him. The last time Debbie left, Gibbs came up into my chair and shared it with me and often jumped off after a short period of time. 

That's changed. 

Do dogs make decisions? 

Do dogs go through a thought process that leads them to conclusions? 

I don't know. 

So I can't say that Gibbs has decided to not only jump on my chair, but on my lap, and, well, decided(?) to nap on my lap while there. I can say it's what he does. 

It's awesome.

Fortunately, while he takes a nap on my lap, I can use my laptop and can write, solve puzzles, read emails, and do whatever I need to while Gibbs softly snores. 

2. This isn't a complaint.

When I need sprinkler service done, I text the guy who does that job. He doesn't respond, but I trust him, knowing that before too long -- maybe a couple of weeks -- I'll get a text from him asking if a certain day and time will work all right for him to come. 

It ALWAYS works out. 

Today, it had been a while since I texted him and I had on my list of things to remember to do that I should drop him another text, just to make sure I was on his schedule. 

Well, I didn't need to write that text because right as rain, he texted me and wondered if it would work for him to come by today. 

My response: "Absolutely."

Not much time passed. 

His truck pulled up. 

He blew out our sprinklers.

He'll send me an electronic bill. 

I'll pay. 

And I will continue to trust his good work and his reliability, even if his approach is a bit unorthodox. 

3. I was in the mood for soup tonight and I poured about a half a box of chicken stock into a pot and added about three frozen chicken tenders with some fresh tarragon. 

Once the stock had boiled and thawed the chicken, I chopped and added green onion, celery, zucchini, and a carrot, and also added spinach leaves and frozen green beans and corn. 

While the vegetables cooked, I made a simple salad of greens and radishes, ate it, and by then the soup was ready to eat. 

On this chilly evening, this soup worked. Especially the tarragon. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-27-2025: Chipping Away, Crosswords, WOW! Freddie Freeman

 1. All day today I just kept chipping away at tasks: pick up Copper's meds, mail Debbie her EZ Pass transponder, finish doing my laundry, get the kitchen cleaned up, and so on. My list(s) helped me not forget anything major, but I have a whole other list of more things to take care of on Tuesday. 

2. Last week I fell behind working New York Times crossword puzzles and tonight I stayed up until after midnight working away and I got caught up. As happens from time to time, the Thursday puzzle frustrated me because I couldn't insert the rebus answers once I figured out it was part of the puzzle, so I bagged it. I sometimes wonder if I should work Thursday's puzzles on a hard copy with a pencil and eraser so if I discover a rebus I can edit my wrong work. 

If this rebus stuff doesn't make sense, don't sweat it. I don't know how to explain it cogently or efficiently. 

3. So, not even money at stake moves me to be very partisan about the outcome of the World Series. I placed a bet last Wednesday on the Blue Jays because I think it's fun to bet on underdogs. 

I admire several players on the Dodgers -- Ohtani, Betts, Muncy, Kershaw, and, above all Freddie Freeman. My admiration of him reaches back to his years with Atlanta. Last night he did the very thing I've admired him for over the years. He delivered a dramatic home run. he blasted a game winner in the bottom of the 18th inning. It was his second walk off home run in a World Series game in the last two seasons. He's a great player, especially in big situations. 

So, yes, my chances of winning my wager diminished, but even though I wasn't watching the game, I got to feel the thrill of a player I admire prevail. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-26-2025: Success, Comforting Family Dinner, Nashville and Beyond

 1. Making lists is helping my focus and memory. I think I took care of everything I needed to today: I fed Gibbs and Copper twice, including Copper's medication; I fed Gibbs his probiotic pills and his enzyme pill; I remembered to put ointment on Gibbs where he needs it;I bought the right items at Yoke's; I fixed a Strawberry Balsamic salad for family dinner (I forgot to put "include green onions in the salad" on a list and, wouldn't you know it, I forgot to put green onions in the salad); I started a regimen of moisturizing creams, one cream for my feet, another for my lower legs and arms and other skin that might be dry; I did laundry; I remembered to take both rounds of my medications; I scooped clumps out of Copper's litter box. There might be more. 

My point is that I need the daily list or lists to keep myself focused and to help out my memory which is slower and duller than when I was younger. 

2. Paul, Carol, Christy, and I met at Christy's house late this afternoon and enjoyed a comforting family dinner together. Carol and Paul brought cracker, fruit, cheese, and pickled asparagus plates and I brought the Strawberry Balsamic salad. Christy mixed pear cocktails and before long we plunged into Christy's pot of vegetable chowder soup, a most reliable recipe she secured from the sisters working the kitchen at Mount St. Michael north and east of Spokane. I don't know what Christy called the toasty tasty bread she served, but it was sure good. We capped off dinner with a spider trifle for dessert thanks to Carol. 

3. We had plenty to talk about during dinner. Discussing a documentary Carol saw on the world of songwriting and making music in Nashville delighted me as we talked about great musicians and songwriters in the worlds of Nashville country music and branched out a bit to the world of outlaw country -- definitely one of my favorite genres of music. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-25-2025: Elmer's Fountain, Touring Mullan and Pottsville, Burgers at the Outlaw

 1. At about 9:30 this morning, Carol picked up Christy and me and we piled into her car for our October Sibling Outing. 

We headed to East Shoshone County. I still don't quite understand Elmer's Fountain, even after Carol read me a history of it. We took the Gold Creek exit and very near it loomed two tall fountains constructed from steel pipe and metal parts salvaged from mining operations. They're yellow. The website Atlas Obscura describes them as folk art. Atlas Obscura also posted pictures of three fountains, two tall ones and drinking fountain-sized one. Did we miss the smaller fountain? 

2. After gawking at the fountains and poking around the immediate area surrounding them, we piled back into the car and Carol limoed us to the city of Mullan. We drove up and down the hills and streets of this historic mining town and looked at different landmarks and drove by Mullan's two schools and its football field. (The football field reminded me of a painful moment when Mullan's Frank Reed [Reid?] ignored that we were playing flag football and crushed me as hard as I've ever been hit!) I got over it but  never forgot it. 

We had planned to go bowling at 11 at the Morning Club, but our reservation went haywire and the reservation guy told us we could come back in the afternoon. 

We shrugged and headed further east to East Shoshone Park, a place we always called Pottsville growing up in Kellogg. Rain falling kept us pretty much in the car, but we were able to admire the beauty of the park, see the structures still standing where a fish hatchery once operated, and talk about various picnics, outings, and gatherings we enjoyed at Pottsville over the years. 

3. Back in Mullan, we snagged a table at the Outlaw Bar and Grill. The Outlaw is famous, at least locally, for their delicious burgers and we all enjoyed our cheeseburgers and fries. Li.z M. and Becky J., close friends forever, were at the next table over, so Kellogg was well represented at the Outlaw! 

We decided not to go bowling after our hearty lunch and headed back to Kellogg. 

Somehow, this outing left me very tired and I went to sleep soon after walking in the door and wasn't really active doing much of anything until around 5:00. 

Our lunch filled me up enough that I didn't need to fix myself dinner. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-24-2025: Remembering Responsibilities, The Lounge, The Blue Jays Shock Me

1. The one challenge I always face when I am living by myself is to stay on top of the things that need to be done around the house with Debbie gone. Gibbs is taking supplements. Gibbs as been prescribed an ointment to be applied to his hind end. I'm responsible again for measuring out Gibbs' food -- it comes to us in frozen packets. Can I remember to take my medicine? My blood pressure twice a day? To feed Copper and give him his medicine with each meal? It's not that Debbie reminds me to do these things. 

She doesn't. 

That's not my point. 

My point is my aging brain. 

Remembering to do things day to day, especially when I take on added responsibilities, requires me to write things down, put the list (or lists) in plain sight so I don't forget I wrote it/them, and to concentrate, to focus on the fact that I have these responsibilities. 

You see, to quote Jimmie Dale Gilmore, "My mind's got a mind of its own" and if I don't focus or concentrate on what's at hand, my mind wanders off to memories of hot lunch at Sunnyside Elementary or a session of reprimands for which ever of my many, many blunders in life float to the surface or to snapping pictures at Delta Ponds in North Eugene and on and on. 

I did forget a medicine dose once this week. First time since the transplant. 

I forgot to take my blood pressure, too.  

These lapses serve as reminders to get my head back in the game and do what I need to do every single day. 

2. In fact, today, as I was getting laundry done and probably writing out my fourth or fifth list of the day, I forgot it was Friday. 

Ed texted me wondering if I wanted to meet at The Lounge around 4 o'clock.

I snapped back into the present out of whatever fanciful imaginings my wandering mind was indulging and said I would like to do that. 

My Bud Zeros were refreshing. Talking about our trip to the sports book was fun as was having Cas tell me that one of our fantasy baseball league members wagered 4500 dollars on the Dodgers to win the World Series. He made his bet in Las Vegas. 

3. I returned home, fixed myself a vegetarian stir fry with rice and suddenly remembered that I have a wager of my own on the Blue Jays and wondered how tonight's game came out. 

My knees turned into mashed potatoes. 

My heart raced. 

I went into a state of mild shock. 

The underdog Blue Jays flattened the Dodgers in Game #1, 11-4. 

And to think that I walked into the sports book on Wednesday thinking I might place a wager on the Dodgers to sweep the series. 

Fortunately, by the time I went to the counter to make my bet on Toronto, the idea of second bet had floated away. 

I forgot it. 

I'm glad I didn't write myself a note reminding me to make that bet! 

Three Beautiful Things 10-23-2025: Debbie Flies to Chicago, Free Play and the Davenport Hotel, In Search of Pear Juice

1. It was a big day today. 

I drove Debbie to the Spokane airport so she could catch her 11:30 flight to Chicago. She met up with Misty at O'Hare and together they motored north to Roscoe, IL where a weekend family get together is happening, giving Misty more time to get acquainted with her half siblings, cousins, Aunt Debbie, and whoever else might arrive. 

2. Last night, I downloaded the Spokane Tribe Casino app on my cell phone and, as a reward, the casino comped me 20 bucks of free play on the machines. I figured as long as I was just a hop, skip, and a jump from the casino, I'd hop over, have a latte and banana bread, play the money I was comped, and play with a little of my own. After less than an hour of play, I was ahead a modest amount and decided to head to Spokane. It was a short and very enjoyable session. 

I beelined straight to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture where last Saturday an exhibition entitled, "The Davenport Legacy" opened. It's a two gallery show examining the history and the elegance of the Davenport Hotel. It's a graceful exhibition, providing pictures, artifacts, and information about the history of the hotel and the architectural vision that inspired its construction. It also delves into the restoration project that took place about twenty-five years ago. 

I look forward to reading more about the Davenport Hotel in the exhibition book I purchased and will definitely return to this wonderful show. 

I also want to go back to the exhibition entitled, "Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight" before it closes on January 4th. Debbie and I immersed ourselves in it a few weeks ago. Today, though, time traveling back to turn of the century Spokane and taking in the significance of the Davenport was all I had the energy for. 

3. I stopped in CdA to go in search of pear juice. 

Christy wants some for the cocktail she's making for family dinner on Sunday. I bought grocery supplies at both Pilgrim's and Trader Joe's, but neither story had pear juice. Then I buzzed up to Safeway. No luck. 

Then I had a bright idea. Doesn't Fred Meyer have EVERYTHING? 

Well, it may not have EVERYTHING, but the store on Kathleen carries pear juice and so I completed Christy's request and headed back home to get a few things done and keep Gibbs and Copper company after they'd been alone all day. 

Three Beautiful Things 10=22-2025: Positive Dermatology Visit, Wagering on the Blue Jays, Ed Makes an Excellent Spin

1. I buzzed out to Ed's this morning and picked him up. We had fun planned for later, but first I had an appointment at North Idaho Dermatology. For now, I see the dermatologist every six months to make sure that in my immno-suppressed condition, I'm don't have any cancerous growths appearing on my skin. The dermatologist found no problems -- my many hours indoors out of the sun and my time in the sun with long sleeves and long pants paid off. My skin is dry, though, and he recommended lotions for me to purchase to moisturize my feet and lower legs, in particular, but the rest of my skin, too. 

2. Finished with that appointment, I limoed Ed and me over to the Spokane Tribe Casino. He and I go to the sportsbook there three times a year. We wager on the Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournaments, and the World Series. The Dodgers are huge favorites to win this year's World Series, so if our wagers were going to return us any fun money at all, we needed to bet on the underdog Blue Jays. 

And we did. 

It was quick, easy, and fun. 

3. We spun reels after that. 

I never exhausted the bank I started with and ended up forty bucks ahead and got to play all kinds of machines. That made for a fun day. 

Ed hit a jackpot! I happened to be nearby when it happened. Ed mouthed the words, "I hit a jackpot", so I closed out of the machine I was on and dashed over to see what he'd spun to win this great pot.  I can't really explain cogently what he did but suffice it to say that Ed made a superbly lucky spin and his good luck rewarded him handsomely.  

Neither one of us felt like making a quick exit since I was hanging in there and Ed had prevailed, but around 4:00 we decided we'd assure ourselves getting back to the Silver Valley before dark and called it a day. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-21-2025: Rich Brock Sends Me a Packet, I Listen to *Deadish*, I Read *Emergency Horse*

 *** In my 10-20-2025 blog post, until I corrected it, I had written that there was very little ENEMA in my lower legs. Now it says l have very little EDEMA, bringing the blog post back into the real world. 

1. I dedicated today to catching up on reading writing or listening to music and poetry that friends have sent to me and I'm far from finished. 

To begin, my Whitworth roommate from the spring of 1975, Rich Brock, and I have been in electronic contact with each other for many years via email and Facebook. He collects automobile license plates. I sent him our Oregon plates when we moved to Maryland and sent him the Idaho plates that belonged to the Subaru until we donated it recently. 

Rich wondered, when he thanked me for the Idaho plates, if I'd be interested in writing snail mail back and forth. I loved the idea. Last week I received his first contribution, a several page account of his new life in Middle Tennessee and a great story recounting when he was fired at KZUN radio of Opportunity, WA back in 1979. 

It was great material and I enjoyed slowly working my way though both pieces and getting to know Rich in ways that were new to me. 

2. Jeff Harrison hosts the radio show Deadish on Thursday nights at KEPW FM in Eugene. Back in late August he sent me a sound file of a show he wanted my response to and for some reason I didn't get to that show until today. The show featured all music from the Grateful Dead playing live on August 28th through the years, starting in 1967 though a show I went to with Jeff at Autzen Stadium in 1988. 

He played excerpts from these shows chronologically, giving listeners a chance to hear how the Grateful Dead's sound matured over the years and how it changed with changes in the band's personnel. 

I enjoyed Jeff's two and half hours of Deadish and thought the idea of developing his radio show chronologically worked beautifully. 

3. I then read almost the entirety of the publication Emergency Horse a stimulating compilation of interviews, poetry, remembrance, satire, current events, and more.  The emergence of Emergency Horse in 2025 is especially cool because it's the revival of a magazine that was first published in Eugene in 1991, became defunct, and is mow enjoying a resurrection. 

My connection to this magazine is through Scott Taylor. We met in the spring of 1982 when he was a student in a section of WR 121 I taught. He was among the original founders of Emergency Horse, is now a member of the editorial board, a contributing writer, and the designer of the magazine. 

Scott mailed me copies of Emergency Horse and today I read his witty and sardonic contribution. 

I read an interview that Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter gave the magazine on Feb. 2, 1992 before he gave a spoken work performance at the University of Oregon's Beall Hall, joined by Beat poet and playwright Michael McClure and The Doors' keyboardist, Ray Manzarek.  Jeff Harrison and I attended this 1992 performance together. The interview with Robert Hunter didn't appear in Emergency Horse in 1992 because Hunter withdrew his permission for the magazine to publish it, but said they could do whatever they wanted with it after he died. Hunter died in 2019 and Emergency Horse secured permission from Robert Hunter's widow, Maureen Hunter, to feature this interview, conducted by the magazine's poetry editor and member of the editorial board, Darrin Daniel. 

There's more. David Weddle wrote about conducting writing seminars at Ken Kesey's farm. There's a ProPublica article on how China feeds the USA's fentanyl market. The late Curt Hopkins, an Emergency Horse founder draws upon his experience growing up the son of a Navy lifer to write about the power of social diversity. 

I haven't finished reading the whole magazine yet. I'm close. It's stimulating me, sobering me, making me laugh, and, in many ways, taking me back to the Eugene I experienced when I was much younger and I'm enjoying that a lot. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-20-2025: Good News at the Transplant Clinic, Lunch at the Grain Shed, Monster Cookies!

 1. When I looked over my lab results last week, I thought they looked stable and strong. Today, when I met with Dr. Poudyal at Sacred Heart, she agreed. In fact, she lowered my dosage of magnesium pills and I will no longer take pepcid. We agreed that I do not tolerate Jardiance. It's gone. (With the team's permission, I quit taking Jardiance about a month ago and Dr. Poudyal could see that my going off of it had no negative impact.) 

Dr. Poudyal also told me that after she read and analyzed my records and the biopsy report from June, she doesn't think my system was starting to reject my new kidney. So, why was there inflammation in my new organ? 

That's a mystery. 

I'm used to hearing that. 

No problem. 

She repeated what three other doctors have said to me: "no need to worry". My new organ is functioning very well. My heart sounds great. My lungs sound great. There's very little edema in my lower legs, if any at all. 

The only prescription Dr. Poudyal gave me was to exercise (walk) regularly. 

I have two specialty labs drawn every three months at Sacred Heart that test whether there are problems with my new organ and whether a risk of rejection exists. I strolled over to the hospital and had those labs drawn when I was finished at the clinic.

I will not return for a visit to the Sacred Heart transplant clinic until May for an anniversary (my two year) examination. 

I will continue to have once a month labs drawn at Kootenai. If any problems surface, they might want to see me again at Sacred Heart. 

I will see Dr. Bieber in Smelterville every three months. 

I welcomed all of this news. 

2. After my post-appointment blood draw, I decided to give the Grain Shed a try for lunch. 

It's located on Newark Street, just off Arthur, on the lower South Hill. 

I knew a little bit about the Grain Shed because way back in the weeks immediately following the transplant when I couldn't drive to my frequent labs and clinics at Sacred Heart, Carol went to the Grain Shed while I was occupied at the medical center. 

She enjoyed it and now I know why! 

It's a hybrid business, actually. It's a combination craft beer taproom and a bakery -- so it combines Grain Shed (the brewery) with Culture Bread Bakery, all under one roof. 

I would have loved to have ordered a Grain Shed beer, but I ordered their non-alcoholic hop water instead. 

I also ordered a turkey, avocado, coleslaw, and red onion sandwich made on superbly baked artisanal wheat bread. 

This isn't a shiny establishment, rather a somewhat rustic one, creating just the sort of atmosphere I really enjoy -- for any Eugene readers, I'd use similar words to describe Sam Bond's, High Street, and The Hideaway. 

3. I had thought about visiting the newly opened Davenport Hotel exhibit at the MAC today, but I'll be taking Debbie to the airport on Thursday morning, and I'll go to the museum then. 

I did decide, however, that a trip to Sacred Heart would seem incomplete if I didn't drop in at Great Harvest. So I motored on Southeast Blvd up to 29th and when I walked into the bakery I immediately saw small bags of Monster Cookies. 

Ah! I came to Great Harvest to enjoy a cookie and now, as a bonus, I could enjoy one here with a cup of coffee and take the rest home for Debbie and me to enjoy at our leisure. 

That's what I did and then I returned to Kellogg for a late afternoon and evening of catching up on the puzzles I didn't work this morning. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-19-2025: Bucky's First Family Dinner, Jambalaya Dinner, Mariners at The Lounge

 1. Debbie and I hosted this week's family dinner, but not at our house. Taylor, Cosette, and Bucky came up to Carol and Paul's for the weekend and we agreed that it would be much more comfortable for all of us to gather at Carol and Paul's. 

How cognizant was Bucky that this was his first family dinner? Ha! His happiness being at the table and being lovingly attended to didn't seem to depend much on his awareness of what a big day this was, but, no doubt, one day when he is older, he'll get to see pictures of what was happening on October 19, 2025 when he was at the table at one of our family dinners for the first time in his young life. 

2. Our dinner was awesome. Tonight's cocktail was a simple rum and coke. Debbie made a couple of terrific appetizers. One was a Triscuit cracker topped with pumpkin hummus and a cucumber slice. The other was a Mexican corn pinwheel. 

Debbie also made a terrific pot of jambalaya. We'd never had jambalaya before at family dinner and some at the table were eating it for the first time ever. Christy brought back her sweet and delicious cornbread and Carol fixed coleslaw that combined flavors from the New Orleans area. We finished this remarkable meal with Christy's delicious Creole bread pudding, a perfect way to top off this Louisiana-y dinner. 

3. After dinner, I drove Debbie home and joined Cas, Aaron, and Doug at The Lounge for an exclusive once-in-a-lifetime private viewing of Game 6 of the ALCS. We were all pulling for the Mariners, but tonight was a tough night for them at the plate and in the field and they lost the game, 6-2.

That was disappointing, but not the yakkin'. We talked about a lot of fun stuff and had some great laughs and left hoping the Mariners could come back and win the series in Game 7.

Three Beautiful Things 10-18-2025: Garage Cleared Out, WOW Hall/Nine Days Wonder Memories, Christy's Soup

1. With the help of Christy, Paul, Carol, and Taylor, our garage is now clear of nearly everything that was in it. Christy, Carol, and Paul took some items home with them. Paul and Taylor took other things to the transfer station to be dumped or recycled or, in the case of paint, disposed of whatever way the county does that. All that was left was our city garbage can, a few yard implements, and some miscellaneous tools hanging on the wall. We have a loft in our garage and our winter tires fit up there. 

I'm very grateful to Christy, Carol, Paul, and Taylor for their help and have been indulging the feeling of relief, of ease, of relaxation I feel when we free ourselves of material things and open up space in our residence, whether in the garage, basement, or rooms in the house. 

2. As satisfying as our minimizing project continues to be, today was also bittersweet. 

It's been around thirty-five years since I started going to Nine Days Wonder shows at the WOW Hall in Eugene. It was a golden age in Eugene for jam bands like Zero, Little Women, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and others.  

I listened. I danced. I felt nearly pure joy at these shows. 

Well, tonight, Eugene's own Nine Days Wonder returned to the WOW Hall for their second 40 year anniversary reunion show, having played at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland on Friday night. 

Earlier this year, the band released an announcement of these shows and I thought at the time come hell or high water, I was going to go to both of them. 

The timing turned out to be lousy. Labs last week. Oct. 20th appt. at Sacred Heart. Dermatology appt on Wed. the 22nd. Debbie taking off for Chicago on the 23rd. 

I decided to stay home, take care of business, and I hope to go to Eugene/Portland in the not too distant future when I wouldn't have to rush back and could do what I love to do and stick around for several days. 

So, this afternoon, I indulged in some nostalgia. 

Nine Days Wonder's album, Left of Center, is on Spotify and my favorite song on that album is "On a Corner". 

I dialed it up.

I lay flat on my back and stared at the ceiling. 

I let the song wash over me along with memories and I smiled and felt old thrills as I thought about how I used to whistle or hum/sing the song's featured guitar riff as I drove or walked home after a show. 

It was a deeply satisfying several minutes and I decided to leave it at that. 

My longing to be in Eugene tonight wasn't going to go away and I decided to be economic with my nostalgia and just let "On a Corner" live with me for the rest of the day and evening. 

3. Christy made a batch of Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup and brought Debbie and me a quart of it. It's cooled off this week in Kellogg, making it a perfect time for a delicious hot soup. 

Christy's soup was awesome. 

I enjoy ham and any legume together in a soup and this ham and split pea soup was deeply satisfying. 

That's a lot of satisfaction for one day: a cleared out garage, WOW Hall and "On a Corner", and comforting, warming ham and pea soup. 

Yes! 

Three Beautiful Things 10-17-2025: Solid Lab Results, Minimizing, Bucky and The Lounge

 1. Nurse Jenn of Sacred Heart messaged me today with the good news that my lab results were stable, I'll stay the course with the medications and dosages I'm taking now, and I remain on a once a month schedule for labs. 

My labs always include tests for the BK and CMV viruses and both came up the same: none detected.

I think that means that my suppressed immune system is doing its job -- but not doing it too well. If it goes after my transplanted organ again, we'll know it's doing its job too well! 

2. Debbie and I continue to make solid progress on minimizing what material things we have in our house. Saturday (Oct. 18) we, along with Christy, will get help from Paul and Taylor. They'll use Taylor's pickup and go to the dump for us. 

3. Debbie and I stopped in at Carol and Paul's house where Taylor and Cosette's son, Bucky, was charming his grandparents, Christy, and the rest of us. It's uplifting to see Bucky growing up as a healthy dude, alert and happy with the world of love, care, nutrition, and attention he lives in. 

We went from seeing family to some socializing at The Lounge where we had fun yakkin' with different people and enjoying the good vibes of a Friday early evening in uptown Kellogg. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-16-2025: Unloading Cans of Paint, *Lonesome Dove* on Audible, No Wonder They Call Him Mad Max

1. I helped chip away a little bit more at reducing the stuff in our house. Christy has arranged to have Taylor and Paul help her with a trip (or two?) to the dump on Saturday and she invited us to add to the effort. My chief goal will be to get old containers of paint out of the basement. 

2. When I started reading Lonesome Dove a few months ago, I wanted an Audible version of the book to help move me forward -- this had to do with the loopy sensations I was feeling in my head until about three weeks ago. When I first looked, the book was not available on Audible, but this evening I found out that's changed and so I downloaded it and I think this will spur me to return to reading it. 

3. Ever since he was a Washington National, I've known Max Scherzer was a fiery competitor and this evening I got a kick out of watching Blue Jay manager John Schneider's visit to the mound with two outs in the fifth inning fire him up. Scherzer locked eyes, each a different color, with Schneider. He screamed a crazed stream of profanities that made it clear he was going to stay in the game. 

He did stay. 

He retired Randy Arozarena for the third out.  He even came back out and pitched two thirds of the sixth inning. 

When Schneider came to the mound to remove Scherzer in the sixth, Scherzer complied, walked quietly to the dugout, apparently realizing that he had emptied his tank and that he needed relief. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-15-2025: Blood Draw (with Ed!), Winning Wednesday, Minimizing Our Belongings

 1. I blasted the Camry out of Kellogg and arrived at Ed's house shortly after 7:00 this morning. We barreled over the 4th of July Pass, eased on over to Kootenai Health to Lab Services. Stephanie immediately invited me to her station, checked me in, told me we have a mutual birthday, initiated some more friendly and fun banter, and drew my blood. She came out front and wished Ed and me good luck. 

2. Why did she wish us good luck? Why was Ed with me at the lab? 

It's Wednesday. 

Make that WINNING WEDNESDAY at the Coeur d'Alene Casino.

I suppose I've made it obvious in this blog that it brightens me up to go spin some reels on Winning Wednesday, especially after I go in for labs or other appointments in CdA.

So Ed and I rocketed down to the CdA Casino for the rest of the morning, ate a late breakfast just before 11:00, spun reels for a little while longer and stormed back to the Silver Valley. 

I enjoy going playing machines that are 15-20 years old as well as the newer ones. I've been playing a game called Hoot Loot for nearly as long as I can remember going to the Coeur d'Alene Casino. It's a fun -- and kind of funny -- old style game and today I had a pretty good spin on it and guaranteed myself that I'd leave the casino with more bank that I walked in with. 

3. I arrived home to discover Debbie had been very productive, especially around the house and in the garage, cleaning, rearranging, and sorting. We discussed how we could continue the work she began today and I think I'll have some tasks to complete while Debbie is away, starting next week, in Illinois and New York. We like to minimize the stuff we have around the house as much as possible and it looks like we'll be giving that goal of ours more attention over the next several days. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-14-2025: Walking and Sleeping, Fresh Salad, *Emergency Horse* and *ghosts and all*

1. I have had some bouts of insomnia lately. Today, I strolled down to the State Farm office with a simple and easy question and then walked to the ATM a little ways on down Cameron. I walked home. 

Miraculously, this very modest amount of walking helped me sleep through the night, interrupted only by occasional trips to the loo or by Copper talking to me periodically through the night more than he usually does. 

2.  Fresh, not garden fresh, but fresh, crisp, flavor packed vegetables tossed together in our largest bowl are the foundation for a salad that we can keep adding more vegetables to and right now this salad is ready for additions after I enjoyed two heaping and satisfying bowls of it for dinner. 

3. Scott Taylor, a U of Oregon student of mine from back in the spring of 1982, has joined with other friends to revive a literary magazine they put out many years ago in Eugene entitled, Emergency Horse. Through Facebook, Scott and I have been in contact, and a while back, Scott asked me for my mailing address so that he could send me a couple copies of Emergency Horse and his book of poetry, ghosts and all. I look forward to reading both publications, especially because starting when he was in the writing class I taught on through reading pieces and looking at photography he's posted online,  I've  enjoyed and admired Scott's artistic sensibilities and his sense of humor. His wit is satiric, sarcastic, and I'd say absurdist. It works for me. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-13-2025: Sleeping In, Angel Hair, Debbie Subbed

 1. For years, I've enjoyed a fairly reliable sleep pattern and that's no longer true right now. Luckily, I'm retired so that when I have, as I did overnight, a longish awake period, I can sleep in. I wasn't up and around this morning until nearly 10 a.m. I don't remember the last time I slept in that long. 

2. I made Cincinatti chili for dinner, using cans of Skyline's sauce. Debbie asked me to use angel hair pasta and that worked really well. It was fun to change things up a little. 

3. Debbie subbed at Pinehurst Elementary School today. She had a good day in the classroom and it was kind of fun for me to listen to her talk about her day which went pretty well. She's going to sub for a half day on Tuesday of this week. She doesn't have any other sub jobs that I know of coming up before she flies to Chicago on Oct. 23. 

Three Beautiful Things 10-12-2025: Adrienne's Perfect Words in Church Today, An Admiring Farewell to Jane King, Superb Family Dinner

 1. The fall is the time of year when every Episcopal church I've ever attended or was a member of mounts its pledge drive. Church members and others are urged to commit themselves to how much money they will contribute to the parish's operations over the upcoming year. 

Adrienne is a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Nyack, NY and yesterday she gave an eloquent and insightful talk on behalf of the parish's Social Committee outlining what kind of work Grace Episcopal Church does to alleviate hardship in the local community and how such social work is a vital expression of and an acting out of one's faith. 

Fortunately, this service is preserved on YouTube, so Debbie and I got to hear Adrienne's thoughtful and inspiring and, I should add, very persuasive appeal to the congregation. 

I was blown away, not because I didn't know Adrienne was capable of such deep thought and eloquence, but because her message about the connectedness between faith and action is so central to living a Christian life and being of service to those in need. 

2. One of the most enthusiastic and generous supporters of the work Rita Hennessy did with learning communities at Lane Community College was Jane King, a Eugene citizen energetically committed to lifelong and interdisciplinary learning, among many other things. Rita's first foray into learning communities at LCC was a project called Alternative Visions and Jane was a student in this undertaking. Jane also enrolled in the Shakespeare course I taught for several years -- it was a three term course and I don't remember how many terms Jane participated in it, but she was a stellar presence in the classroom and especially loved learning through interaction with the students in class young enough to be her great grandchildren! 

Rita, Jane, and I remained friends for years after Rita and I finished our co-teaching work at LCC.  Rita and I visited her when she lived at the Eugene Hotel and we went on cultural/educational outings together.

On one of my visits to Eugene after Debbie and I moved away, well, July 17th, 2017, to be exact, Nate, Margaret, Jeff, Michael, and I were sitting at a sidewalk table outside Perugino, a coffee shop, and Jane strolled up to our table. She'd just been shopping at Down to Earth and was on her way back to the Eugene Hotel. We all had a wonderful visit with her. 

That was the last time I saw Jane King. 

She died this past week on Oct 10th, just a few days shy of her 102nd birthday. 

I've been enjoying having wonderful memories of being at Jane's home, working with her in the classroom, discussing books and movies with her, and relishing all the encouragement and gratitude she gave me every time we saw each other. 

Jane King possessed the rare gift of brightening and bringing goodness to every encounter she and I had and every encounter I ever saw her be a part of. 

She brought peace to the world around her and now, surely, she is resting in that very peace. 

3. Carol organized a fall themed family dinner tonight. We started in the living room and Debbie provided both the appetizers and the cocktail. She brought a batch of maple syrup sweetened Old Fashions and served pumpkin hummus with naan bread and provided a chunk of cranberry goat cheese.  

For dinner, Christy prepared a terrific fall salad and a vinaigrette on the side and Carol fixed a superb beef shoulder pot roast with bowl brimming with roasted root vegetables and served awesome pumpkin dinner rolls. Carol also baked a pear walnut cake for dessert. 

Week after week, it seems, I write each dinner we have was one of the best! Maybe they almost always are one of the best! 

And, tonight, yes, this family dinner was one of the best.

 

Three Beautiful Things 10-11-2025: Birthday Party Reptiles, Pork and Apples, A Touch of AC/DC

 1. In my years working at Lane Community College, on two separate occasions, students brought huge snakes to class. One woman brought her snake in fulfillment of an assignment I gave to illustrate the essay she, like everyone else, read aloud in class. The other student? Well, she just showed up with this huge snake wrapped around her shoulders. It wasn't a part of anything we were doing in class. 

I know in the second instance, one student in the class ran out of the room shaking, nearly sobbing, panicked. She had a profound fear of snakes. (The day's snake handler took her snake away.) I don't remember if anyone had a similar reaction in the first instance. 

These two instances played out in my mind's eye today because our granddaughter, Ellie, turns six on Tuesday, and she and a friend celebrated with a shared party today. 

A big hit at the party turned out to be reptiles, including huge snakes! 

An outfit that brings reptiles to birthday parties and other situations was hired for today's party to educate the children and adults about reptiles and provide some unique fun. 

I repeat. 

The children loved it! 

Adrienne sent us a terrific video of a huge snake wrapped around Ellie and I immediately hoped that her experience would help her think of snakes in a positive way -- in other words, I hope her birthday party experience has more influence on her than all those scary scenes from movies and myths that present snakes as evil and aggressive. (I know there are also snakes to be cautious of.)

Adrienne also sent a picture of herself enfolded by a snake. 

Yes! 

2. It's cooled of splendidly here in the Silver Valley. 

It's raining some.

Debbie and I settled in for the day and were so comfortable that we decided we'd like to stay home rather than attend this evening's Pork and Apple Feed at the Elks. 

Suddenly, however, Debbie changed her mind.

She wanted to go to The Lounge and see about getting two pork and apple dinners to go at the Elks. 

I was really comfortable and content indoors and I declined.

This also meant that it was likely I would not be preparing Cincinatti Chili for dinner, as originally planned. 

Debbie returned home with two dinners.

The pork was tender, the apples complimented the meat perfectly, and I really enjoyed the baked beans, cole slaw, and dinner roll. 

It made me very happy to contribute to this Elks fundraiser and that Debbie contributed a little more by buying tickets for the several drawings that took place during dinner. 

Ed called me later to report that Debbie had won a basket and she gave it to Ed and Nancy.

It was all good. 

3. Until late this evening, I had never seen AC/DC's official video of the song "It's a Long Way to the Top", but I took a break from Brahm's 4th symphony and other similar music and watched it.

The band plays on the back of a truck on a street in Melbourne and when Bon Scott plays his bagpipe, he's joined by other bagpipers to give added strength and volume to the bagpipe sections of the song. 

It's thrilling. 

Watching AC/DC perform in the 1970s prior to Bon Scott's death, I understand in a way I never did before what a daunting challenge the band faced when they decided to keep going with a new front man. 

I gotta say: the rock gods looked down on AC/DC with favor when Brian Johnson auditioned and turned out to be their guy. 

Bon Scott was awesome. 

So is Brian Johnson.

And, by the way, Angus Young is 70. Brian Johnson is 78. 

And, for AC/DC, 2025 has been and continues to be a year of international touring and rockin' live performances. 

Here's a link to the official video of "It's a Long Way to the Top": AC/DC - It's A Long Way To The Top (Official Video Ver.2), Full HD (AI Remastered and Upscaled)