Razors, lasers and tasers.

.....ok, there weren't any tasers--I just like rhymes in threes.


Friday  I took a Sick Leave day to accompany Judd.  Physicians where I work are "day employees" i.e. not hourly, so to take time to go to the doctor or dentist, you are docked an entire day. So heck, I'll take the entire day for family medical leave.

We had time for Judd to stop at the J'ville Barber on Main Street for a hair and beard trim.  He comes to discover that the barber is a section hiker such as himself and the barber's books on hiking in southern Oregon and the Pacific Coast Trail are for sale in the shop. They chat through the entire cut while I play my five different "Words with Friends"-Scrabble on line games--four of which are with Carol. This is about the only time when I get a ping that she is playing in real time.  It usually takes a day or two to bridge the 3 hour time zone gap.  We generally play asynchronously, usually days apart. It was almost like being there.

The appointment for Judd was his second eye date in two days.  On our Hot Springs-Crater Lake hike last weekend, he developed sudden onset floaters in his left eye.  I poo-poohed it as I've had a gnat-size floater in one eye for a few years.  Yeah, I say, it sucks to get old.  But he describes his floater as a crescent moon taking up a quarter of his visual field.  Of course Monday was a holiday, so by the time he calls his PCP Tuesday and gets an eye appointment, now I'm freaked he'll be blind from a retinal detachment. Indeed, it turned out he had a retinal tear which needed to be laser-ed to prevent the 50% chance that it would detach. The retinal specialist fits him in saying to come back at noon.  We had 28 minutes to run and get lunch and the closet place was a Dairy Queen.  We haven't done that in about 20 years but there we were with grill and chill. We had greasy chicken nuggets and a wrap and they gave us an unsolicited "fudge sundae."  Apparently no one buys ice cream there anymore and they have to give it away.

The laser-ing only took about  5 minutes. I drove home, Judd's eyes mostly uncomfortable from being dilated for 3 hours and the sun shining brightly.  He did require a big nap when we got home and when he woke up feeling better, we spontaneously decided to go to the opening night of Singing in the Rain at our local Randall Theater. It was very well done and I made a point of getting every actor to sign my playbill.  I always like the joy it seems to bring them when I ask for their autograph, even though I come home and throw the playbill in paper recycling. The managing artistic director, and in this case, the lead actor, is a Downward (brother to Randall Joseph Downward for whom the theater is named. Another Downward topped the cast, Deborah, but not sure her connection.  It's a great family theater with many talented actors. It's pretty convenient that it's a 10 min walk home from the theater. 

And still, we had time to start our protest posters for  the Jan 20 march.......

Crater Lake in the winter

Last Sunday we awoke to a massive feast  prepared by our Inn keeper: eggs to order, sausage, grits, fruit salad, yogurt, pastries. We drove the varied landscape out of the flat, mountain-circled, sunny valley, into the thick forests with just snowy patches on the ground and within 30 minutes were at elevation  6,178 ft at Crater Lake with 4 feet of snow everywhere. Where last summer we took pics behind a guard rail, we now stood above the height of the guard rail with no protection from the rim except your own good judgement. Rangers told us that about 50% of the time in the winter, the lake is obscured by clouds, but we had a wonderful clear sunny morning and minimally cloudy afternoon.

In the distance across the lake the craggy point is Mount Thielsen.  We'd seen the back side of it the day before on our drive to the springs.  It looks like the mountain the Grinch slides down to Whoville. (bottom picture) This week was even busier!  Just wait.

Mt. Thielsen

"You look happy. Judd looks happier." Umpqua Hot Springs

Mandy, Peggy, Amanda

We did it!  We found new friends in Oregon. Actually, they found us. We researched "soakoregeon.com" -- SO many natural hot springs in the state.  For our weekend to Crater Lake we found the closest springs we could hike into: Umpqua Hot Springs. Since the snow is so scarce this year, the hike was only .25 miles not 2.5miles. The 8 cars in the parking lot should have been a herald that it would not be a quiet/yoga/mystical soak.  We arrived awkwardly to scope out who was already clothing-optional, who was soaked into a prune from a sunrise-to-brunch soak, who was hoarding the best-temperatured tubs, who knew where to drape boots and gloves while getting undressed, etc. We rocked our Phil hat and Pussy Hat in our underwear and found enough warm water in which to sit and enjoy nature.  Some springs were shallow and cool, some so hot you could only stay 10 minutes.  We were rescued by the trio in the "best pool" who invited us over to get out of the hottest water: new friends Mandy, Peggy and Amanda. They were gracious hostesses and invited us to hang with them, took our picture, tried to convince me to get a nose ring, and we all bashed the attempted-ukulele musician who thought we all wanted to see his ding-dong bouncing in the breeze. (We didn't.)

 Aprés the hot spring-ing, Judd and I had a short 1 hour drive to our Inn: Crater Lake Bed and Breakfast in Fort Klamath. Janet, the Inn keeper, welcomed us with her dog Remi and we were allowed to microwave our soup we brought.  Some bizarre rules allow Janet to make us breakfast, but not dinner.
 Our evening included a walk into town, (which looked like a ghost town,) and not playing cribbage while Judd read Fort Klamath history to me.

  We were apparently in the "Asian Room" --  it cheered me exceedingly, to move Janet's chachkes to different shelves: Budda, here, geisha, there. We made photo ops with Clyde, our Ryley-made sock monkey, and the Asian maiden...... Judd's cell-phone-in-a-dish playing Pandora favorites.

  It was  especially nice to meet  new people in Oregon today, with shared visions (i.e. too many ding-dongs at hot springs; appreciating pussy hats)  

Go see: 

manda2strong.wordpress.com

How to break a NY resolution in 6 days

Co-Resolutions:  Only eat out once a week
                            Only do a hotel vacation once a month 
                            Walk every day
                            Only 1 after-dinner drink

Well, that went well.  Guess which one we broke first. We're redoubling our efforts to be healthy in 2018, so we do walk every day.  We walk to breakfast restaurants, to bars, to cemeteries, to dog parks, around the blocks to local tree-libraries--it's been 39 to 59 degrees every day--no shoveling--so haven't broken that one yet.

In 7 days we broke it 7 ways--Eating "out"
Sunday - J'ville Tavern  (home of "Husband Day Care")  drinks and live music for NYE
Monday- spontaneous lunch at tiny Siam Cafe (cuz you shouldn't grocery shop hungry)
Tuesday- Lemongrass Thai restaurant take out (so there'd be leftovers for Wed lunches)
Wednesday - ribs from Ray's Supermarket which you have to drive by on the way home
Thursday - artichoke dip from Ray's because roasting the big chicken will take so long
Friday - BBQ'd Tritips and cheese from Ray's Supermarket (well, cuz it's Friday Happy Hour)
Saturday- Mustard Seed for breakfast before we hit The Last JEDI at TInseltown Movies--me trying to tell Judd, yes, that is the REAL Carrie Fisher, her last movie, not digitally imagined, but not able to prove it until we power-up the phones after the movie. It's exhausting being right so often.

Really?? Does it count as eating out if you bring home restaurant food and eat it in ?  Does it count as eating out if you *just* get an appetizer from the grocery store because no one feels like the Iron Chef when you get home in the pea-soup-thick-fog-work-all-day-and-now-it's-dark?

Tomorrow, we're signed up for a new yoga class.  But we can't walk to it!!!  Might have to break a second resolution......  What were yours?

HaPPy NeW YeaR!

Is mistletoe symbiosis or a parasite?

Jacksonville is well lit for Christmas. During our Halloween volunteerism, the organizer from the Chamber of Commerce mentioned it took some doing to get all the businesses in downtown historic Jacksonville to chip in to get their holiday garlands and lights to match.   Seriously! It started the weekend after Thanksgiving and one by one, the shops got up tiny white lights framing all the shop windows with cedar-looking garlands bedecking the pillars and frames.  We missed the Christmas tree lighting as we were at the coast that weekend, but on several subsequent forays downtown we pass heavily decorated shop windows, passers-by in Victorian garb and people on the side walks giving away hot apple cider.

Last weekend we did our chores early Saturday and went on a wine tour of Upper Rogue Valley.  Didn't mean to hit 3 wineries before camping, but they were so co-located!
Agate Ridge Vineyard has a spectacular view of (much of the year) snow-covered Mount Mcloughlin.  In the summer they have live music and bond fires and giant games:  (life size Jenga and other stuff I guess.)  We just threw a slimy tennis ball for the owner's energetic dog, Syrah, and tasted some good wines.  We ended up with a free coupon for a tasting flight at the neighboring winery: Cliff Creek Cellar.  It happened to be their members' pick up day so they were having food and festivities.  We're not members but they let us eat their prime rib and chocolate and had generous portions on their tastings.  We imagined going back in the summer (since they're also 22 min from Jacksonville.)  Their grapes abut grapes at Folin Vineyard's, so we had to stop there too.   It sounded like they were closing after this weekend and we still aren't sure if they meant for the season or forever. We ended up with two beautiful wine glasses and the phone number of a dude who teaches fly-tying  (in case Judd needs a 6-8th grade project.)  

All we had to do at "camp" was open the yurt and turn on the heat.  (We had stopped at India Palace and picked up Indian food to warm up for dinner. It didn't even make it to the warmer.)  I did lose soundly at cribbage. Only drawback to Valley of the Rogue State Camp Ground:  it seems to be 20ft from Freeway  5 (they're free here) and apparently they don't turn off traffic at night. Zooming sounds woke us up all night.  We had a nice, brisk morning walk along the Rogue River and went home to prep for Sunday/Monday.  DId I mention these chores involved buying 9 pound boxes of spaghetti and 18 bags of mini marshmallows for Judd's "tower challenge?"  (i.e. have 6-8 graders spend the last day before holiday break seeing who can make the tallest tower out of spaghetti and marshmallows.) Doesn't sound lethal or messy, right?

On the way home, the fog was thick but the sunrise promised to break through.  It made stunning black and white snaps of the trees full of mistletoe balls. 

I refer you to this awesome Prezi by Wade Sumner and Elize Perez, if you can click through it with your arrow button:
https://prezi.com/ql1hdfrsyuqc/symbiosis-between-mistletoe-and-a-tree/

And, in an unrelated note:  Hotel at work conference in Seattle, The Edgewater (famous for  4 Beatles fishing out a window)  uses antlers in all of their decorating....

Jacksonville Victorian Judd's Birthday and Big FOOT

Bagpipers !

Judd's Birthday Parade in Jacksonville!!  They called it "a Victorian Christmas Parade" but it was heavy on antique cars spewing diesel fumes and low on Carolers in Victorian garb.  We had gone to breakfast at the Jacksonville Inn (hearing that it was classy, but pricey for dinner.)  It was pricey for breakfast.  And we were still too early for the parade so we walked downtown and had tea at Pony Espresso.  While we were perusing the local paper, we overheard a woman squeal a greeting to the barista, "It's MY birthday too!"  So, Judd went over and squealed, "It's MY birthday TOO!"  The three of them congratulating each other was adorable. The predicted rain held off and we cruised the main street (3 blocks) to find an acceptable curb. We didn't know until the start whether the parade was going up or down California St. (It went down.) 

It was a cute, small town parade and cuter still to see the families and tourists lined up to watch. Because it was wet/cold everyone had hats or mittens or were  wrapped in blankees. Best ugly sweater was blue and yellow and said Oh Vey!  with dreidels all over it. We did our Saturday laundry and shopping chores and met a work friend for dinner at the BackPorch Bar and Grill. Serious BBQ.  Judd and I had just discussed at breakfast that we really should share a meal when we go out because the portions everywhere are so American. But then he ordered his own beef brisket and I ordered my own seared ahi tacos. We invoked the birthday exception-to-any rule.

 On Sunday we had a great breakfast at the Honeysuckle Cafe in Ruch on our way to Applegate Lake.  Two breakfasts but justified this time because we were taking leftovers for lunch after a hike. We had been told the World's only Big Foot trap was in those woods up the Applegate.  We found the trail head sign and it has a foot logo on the trail marker.  That made it official.  The website said the trap was baited for several years but all they caught were bears.  (They didn't say who went up to free the bears.)  So now the trap is locked open "for your safety."  We had forgotten the directions I printed out and lost cell signal so we were hiking by memory.  It was purported to be 3/4 mile into the trail.  After we hiked about 45 min, I said we must be beyond 3/4 mile.  (I'm not THAT out of shape.) There had been a slight turn off and we figured that must have been it. So we hiked back and there it was a few feet off the main trail.  It looks like an oversized outhouse where some big foot has painted "Big Foot was Here."  We hiked through a dreary green forest--so many colors of green, drippy from the frozen fog, which cleared by the time we emerged from the forest. Ferns grew out of tree trunks. Lichen drizzled along branches.  Holly-like, pokey plants lined the trail and we started to worry it was the poison oak which was reported along the path. (We googled it later and decided it wasn't poison oak.) We cam across some deep holes but chose not to find out if they were bat caves or big foot hide outs. Judd declared it a spectacular start to his birthweek.

"Sleepless in Seattle"

I'm  in Seattle, not sleeping. I left work at noon and it took two flights to get to Seattle. I did have that delay at TSA security.  After they xrayed my backpack, "Do you have anything sharp or dangerous?"  I reply, "knitting needles."  While I put my boots back on, I see the dude frisk through my knitting, bag of almonds, reading glasses.  I told Judd I made a point of removing my 1.5 inch knife-- I call it my "Swiss Princess knife" because I don't like armies.  It's pink and comes with a plastic "ivory" toothpick, mini-tweezers and knife/scissors.  I'm confident my "Swiss Princess knife" is in my car.   The TSA dude rifles through the backpack and finds Judd's jackknife.  (Set up again!!!)   I ask the agent if I can mail it home and he says that I can go put it in my car.  Happily, I've allowed enough time, and the Medford airport is so small that I can walk to my car in  minutes.   SO, I return Judd's, did I say, engraved , pocket knife, to my car and get to do (boots off/xray etc) security clearance a second time and still make the flight on time. 

Our contingency got to the hotel at 6:00 pm and went out for dinner at 6:30. Fabulous Indian/Nepalese food at Kastoori Grill.  Most of us got 3 out of 6 spicy. One colleague got 6/6!  We didn't share that one. We walked back along the Public Market and very near crossing the road to our hotel, a very long train went by. We stood stamping our feet in the cold. I got myself all tucked into the hotel room: work clothes shaking out on hangars next to the luxurious robes, left-overs in the hotel fridge, phone and computer charging. And then I tried to start the fireplace (the room's source of heat.)  I ended up needing to have an engineer sent up.  I hear him say, "Oh, Sh...!"  So, my valve doesn't work and now, at 8 dark 30 bedtime, I'm being offered "a new room with heat."   SO, I repack all my crap which has exuded across the beautiful room; I schlepp my stuff, which now includes an already poured glass of wine, up and over a floor, and end up, EXACTLY over that train crossing........ but with a fabulous fireplace and ottoman-shaped-like-a-bear.   And a note from the hotel:  "Should the sounds of the passing trains disturb your sleep, please take a pair of earplugs , on the house."

Not sleeping yet......

Beecher's Handmade Cheese