Where am I, how did I get there?

Actually, I know I am at Blogger. I don't come often anymore. My energies are divided by more pressing matters and writing about my daily life while I am trying to live it is more than I can handle at this time.

I did attend a social function last night in Portland I want to share a little about.It was put on by the anti-racist action network. I can't link, to digitally challenged for that now.
My friends went outside to wait for another person and while I was at the information table a guy came up to me and said I had to leave. No I don't and he yes I did. I said, no very passively, but I was getting a feeling that his energy was very aggressive. I told him he was mistaking me for someone else and sure enough his associate came and said, not him, that guy pointing a finger at another aging gentleman who was sitting nearby. Apparently, that other aging gentleman had brought some Neo-Nazi's to Portland last year to speak to people at a public event. This is quite likely why the anti racist people were meeting last night. This is an important issue and can be found out about what you can do to report activity by Neo Nazi groups. Just go to the Anti-Racism Action Netork and find out more info. I am into info and the local press doesn't do justice to the news because of whatever reasons they are driven by, perhaps the almighty $$$$

Your Yearly Test

Your yearly
dementia test


It's that time of year to take our annual senior citizen test.
Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles.
As we grow older, it's important to keep mentally
alert.. If you don't use it, you lose it!

Take the
test presented here to determine if you're losing it or
not. The spaces below are so you don't see the answers
until you've made your answer.
OK,
relax, clear your mind and begin.


1. What do you put in a
toaster?

















Answer:
"bread." If you said "toast," give up now and do
something else. Try not to hurt yourself. If you said
bread, go to Question 2




2. Say "silk"
five times. Now spell "silk." What do cows
drink?














Answer:
Cows drink water. If you said "milk," don't attempt the
next question. Your brain is over-stressed and may even
overheat. Content yourself with reading more appropriate
literature such as Auto World. However, if you said
"water", proceed to question 3..




3. If a red
house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made
from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink
bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what
is a green house made from?





















Answer:
Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said "green
bricks," why the hell are you still reading these?? If
you said "glass," go on to Question
4.









4. It's
twenty years ago, and a plane crashes from 20,000 feet
over Germany (If you will recall, Germany at the time
was politically divided into East and West Germany .)
Where would you bury the survivors? East Germany, West
Germany, or "no man's land"?






















Answer: You
don't bury survivors, dipstick. If you said ANYTHING
else, you're a dunce and you must stop. If you said,
"You don't bury survivors", proceed to the next
question.



5. Without
using a calculator - You are driving a bus from London
to Milford Haven in Wales . In London , 17 people
get on, in Milford , 16 get off. Name the
driver..



























Answer: Oh,
for crying out loud! Don't you remember your own name?
It was YOU!!


Now pass this
along to all your friends and pray they do better than
you..


PS: 95% of
people fail most of the
questions.

It has been longer than I intended, but that's life

Lot's has happened since I posted last. I went on a road trip, took my cat Jerky and she liked it. she road up front in the passenger seat occasionally getting up to put her front paws on the window sill to look at the passing scenery. I let her out at the destination in Sacramento CA where we intentionally ended up to visit with a woman that I once knew and am getting to know very well again. We were there for a week. I had couple of medical emergencies concerning my prostate gland blocking the urine from exiting my bladder and the result is me following that up with a visit to the doctor. Urinary doctors. It was difficult to get an appointment,not having a primary care physician. I am hoping I can get the follow up care and medication to keep my prostate from shutting off my urine again, since I am wearing a catheter. It is somewhat uncomfortable and the second I had installed on my trip kind of putting a big dent in the good things that happened, the reason for the whole trip. To many people have access to this blog now and I have to keep most of my business to myself. I of course, linked it to my face book page and I am diverting my writing energies to nothing on line.

There is something I want to comment on today about my driving job. I take a different route home to get to NW 24 AVE. from NW Lovejoy down NW 25 to NW Northrup and left on NW 24th because the turn at NW 24th from Lovejoy is tight and there is to much traffic. When I come down Northrup there is a fire hydrant on the opposite corner that I turn into making a left and that allows me space the turn. Today there was a truck parked there making my turn uncomfortable along with a guy talking on a cell phone wanting to take my right of way, I have no stop sign and he has one. He was on my right. Then a car shows up on the left stopping in the cross walk that is not painted on the ground effectively taking my right of way. So both of these vehicles took my right of way and forced me to give it to them. It happens all the time in the bus, people just think that because we are a bus, they don't want to be behind us for any reason. It is frustrating and then there was the illegal park. If that wasn't there I would have just made the turn, but instead let all them first, but not without honking my horn to express my displeasure. I am working on an article I want to publish in the local press tell about my job from my stand point because there are so many times that people take advantage of school bus operators not realizingt whom we are often carrying!

Great place to eat food!

I got up early this Sat. morning for a field trip. I like to sleep in until about 0600 on Saturday mornings, but it was 0430 again. Drove to NE and picked up my bus, drover Lincoln HS, then to Cleveland HS, then to Clackamas HS and dropped off the very sleepy wrestlers for a regional bout with 14 other High School. I'm waiting for a call to return to Clackamas. The scheduled pickup time was 2030 this evening, but they said more 1400. They are supposed to call me an hour before so I can stop what I am doing, head to the bus yard, get bus and head to Sunnyside Rd down 205. Oh boy, short weekend.

It's not raining and I am just doing things around the cave, the one I moved into the first of the year, that is below ground level. I got my air purifier from FEDEX. Said signature required on the instructions and since I didn't see it anywhere checked on it's delivery. Delivered it said. After checking with a couple of neighbors I happened to notice it over by the garbage cans in plain sight. Oh, boy FedEx!

It is on and good for 500 sq. ft and it is working. It has a timer and several cleaning mechanisms. It has a pre filter which is just crappy foam, a charcoal filter, a reusable Hepa filter, a photo catalyst filter and a UV light to kill anything else. I've had it on now about an hour and the air is so different. I had been loaned a small 85 sq ft unit from friends and it worked reasonably well, but it is over worked. The one I purchased is really good and I had to squeeze Ben out of my bank account to get. Well worth it.

On a final note that is actually what I started to write about is The Little Red Bike Cafe that my sister and I ate at on Monday the 1st of Feb. I have been back I think twice. I am incredibly impressed by the quality of the food. It is probably the most delightful out dining I can recollect ever experiencing.I guess I better back that up with something. I don't dine out much because I can't read the labels and most of the food that is good or excellent I can't afford, to pricey. The menu at the LRBC is pretty well fixed with posted specials on the board. The breakfast sandwich I had this morning zoobomb was a combo of some kind of Italian bread I am to lazy to look up and can't pronounce with these caramelized onions, egg, an aoli sauce, some white cheese that when cooking or heated the aroma comes drifting out of the kitchen stirring ones imagination to the culinary delights that are coming after it and making my mouth water just writing about them. Just like love, the food at the LRBC is just to precious and delicious to write about, there are not enough words in my vocabulary that are attainable. Well, that's the best. The best for last except of course my spelling is in the tank. Just to distracted thinking about trying to rationalize going then again before the weekend is over.

Well, twice now Blogger is not accepting my html tags

Has to be my execution. I am so inconsistent, not coming around etc. it doesn't really surprise me that much. I'm living in this basement and it I had a lot of low energy. My friends loaned me an air filtration system with Ionization and it has made a difference. I'm going to purchase a unit that has Ionization, UV, washable HEPA filter, charcoal filter and something else, plus it will filter more air, enough for 500 square feet as opposed to the 100 square foot unit I am using now. I spent the whole day hanging my TV set from my ceiling with chains. Not as low as I had planned on, actually 1 inch higher than when it was sitting on my roll away tool box. I'm considering constructing another shelf with two pieces of 1/2 inch plywood like the first one I constructed for the TV that it is sitting on. Since it is already hanging, I will be able to concentrate on other matters. The 1 inch sheet I glued and screwed together is pretty nice and certainly strong enough to hold the TV. The load is distributed of course by the four suspension points. I built it strong because I don't want the TV to come crashing down for any reason. It is more likely that I will leave it up high as opposed to constructing another strong shelf. I will hang another shelf to hold the stereo receiver and am working on some shelves for the small speakers I have. I am going to put eye bolts in the speaker shelves and strap them down so they don't jump to the floor for some reason. I am planning on staying here for about 3-5 years at which time I will purchase a class B motor home in which I plan on living as long as I am capable of driving. I sure hope I keep my faculties long enough to drive across the country a few times. I'm turning 60 on the 31st and still find it hard to believe I have lived this long. What is it about us baby boomers? Did we think we would stay babies all our lives? It sure has taken me a long time to mature. I am finally realizing I am maturing, but still have a lot of mirth left. One week left and then the new decade. I may look older, but that is just the outside. The inside is a mixture of youth and age. Wow, it is amazing to me still!

My new living situation

My new landlord is a good guy, easy to talk to, no pretension. This is his first house, he was raised in Hood River up the Columbia River Gorge in North Mid Oregon, 70 miles East of Portland. Hood River is one of the first places I took a road trip to when i first moved here in 2007. I"m living out of the basement, meaning that my main room is the bassement, semi finished, concrete floor that is painted brown, a small set tothe side room. What I find interesting in this basement is the house heating system. In order to install it years before my landlord considered purchasing a house, a couple of someones removed some main supporting members ot the existing main house supporting members, beams and floor joists. Upstairs you can sense this with the creaking of the floor as one walks through the house. The current owner has owned this relic for 4 years. Like he said it is the first one he's owned. It makes me wonder if he consulted anyone who knows anything about construction when he was considering purchasing it. Oh well. I asked him if he was planning on putting insulation and sheet rock on the ceiling down here and he said no, thought that it would severely limit the head room. He painted the basement ceiling black, perhaps to mask the missing supporting members of the main house floor. Covering the ceiling in sheet rock would require any conscientious builder to also add extensive supporting members and blocking nailers to the existing structure. I think the plan is to live here maybe ten years, fix up the yard and the outside, make a pleasant visual experience for the next buyer and now knowing more of what to look for in a house, purchase something that has not been gerry mandered by the previous owner and his pals.

The basement is sound and water tight and I plan on staying here at least 2 or perhaps 3 years hoping that my landlord is planning on staying beyond that. I am putting some effort into making it more comfortable and will post some pictures. I hope that this experience doesn't turn me into a bear in a cave. I am already looking like one. Work is calling!

Never mind, I am rusty on my html and can't post my link

go to You tube, watch General Larry Platt and our friend Neil Young perform Pants on the Ground. who else other than Neil Young could cover pants on the ground