"When I was a boy I was told anybody could become President. I'm beginning to believe it." - Clarence Darrow

We had a big storm system move through late yesterday afternoon. Winds here topped 60 mph and we got somewhere between .5" and 1" of rain in the space of about 2 hours. I don't remember seeing that much rain in the ditches since we moved here.

I guess that was good preparation for what I'll have in Costa Rica next week. Here's a screen shot of the 10-day forecast for San Jose, CR.

Look at the rain totals for each afternoon's thunderstorms!
I've been looking at this chart for a couple of weeks now and it's always the same.
I'm gonna get wet.

Trump proved he doesn't wear a toupee. That's his real hair, which strikes me as unfortunate.

One of my Facebook friends posted a quote from Henry David Thoreau about living in the woods to see what they have to teach. Thoreau was off center in more than one area of life but we understand and identify with his sentiment as we look forward to three acres in the woods west of Eugene. Live in nature as it sits instead of transforming it to look like an idealized environment. That shift in thinking was apparent as I offered the wood of the truck bed dolly to my neighbor. He'll use the 2x4's for various projects around his house and/or burn it in his outdoor fireplace. I told him he could also keep the heavy casters it rolled on since they'd be of no use to me in Oregon. There isn't a square inch of cement slab on the property, and casters don't roll well across the forest floor.
We plan to keep it that way.

I had an email exchange this morning with Alonso, my host in Costa Rica, about some of the details of my trip. In one of his messages he mentioned that they've scheduled two "tours" - excursions.
We're spending the second Thursday at a mountain cabin and overnight Friday at a beach cabin.
Shhh. Pam thinks I'm going to be teaching the whole time.

I understand that the insurance market is very competitive as is evidenced by the amount of money some of them throw at (really annoying) TV ads. Today I got an email from my agent with a preview and analysis of the coming college football season. Huh? Am I more likely to stay with his company because they told me Washington State will suck again this year?

It's 7:40 p.m. and I just dozed off mid-sentence. This isn't good.
A cup of coffee, a couple of cookies, and horizontal sleep.

"If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes." - Charles Lindbergh

Marriage

I was out in the garage at 4:30 getting things ready for paint. That process did not go smoothly and there are some blemishes that bug me. I have zero paint left of both colors so I can't go back and fix them unless I buy another quart, and this paint ain't cheap. I won't know for sure how it all looks until tomorrow morning when I take the masking off and get a look at things in good light after they've dried fully.

The photographer was supposed to show up at 11:22 (yeah, the odd specificity of that time struck me, too) but he pulled up at 10:45 as I was about to put on the second of three layers of clear coat. Aaargh. Pam had the inside all ready so he started with interior shots, went from there to the back, and by the time he was ready to shoot the front I had all three coats on and everything pulled inside.

I also had a guy stop by who told me he and his agent are going through the house Monday. So he's the second of the two who want to see it before it goes on the market. I was mixing paint at the time and couldn't stop to talk to him, which in retrospect was a good thing. We're better off letting our realtor do the talking; she's the professional. I'd likely say something she'd regret.

Donald Trump is crazy like a fox. (But not FOX.) I saw him interviewed on MSNBC this morning and he was even, considered, and, while thoughtful overstates it by a factor of 10 he didn't take the bait and spout one of his Trumpisms.
I think he's shifted gears. Having sewed up the ... I can't think of a charitable word to go here ... he's adopting a persona designed to appeal to a more centrist part of the party.
He didn't get where he is in life by not knowing how to play people.
And if that is what he's doing it scares me even more.

I saw one of the new Miatas this afternoon. I like it.

We are new fans of the HGTV show Fixer Upper and highly recommend it. You should watch three or four episodes, otherwise you might think the couple, Chip and Joanna Gaines, are campy, playing to the camera. You'll soon realize that's who they really are. I won't tell you anything more about them; you should discover it for yourself.
OK, one thing: we like that there's none of the faux conflict built in to so many shows of this sort. This couple (their family with four kids shows up occasionally) gets along, has fun, and doesn't take themselves too seriously.
Yeah, go watch it.

A couple of hours watching evening TV will convince anyone that our society is obsessed with the power of prescription medication to fix anything - including ailments I didn't know I had -  and the great evil that lurks on every doorknob and countertop. Germs are out to get us and it's critical that we kill them before they kill us. Sprays, wipes, soaps and cleansers, the only thing standing between me and a life-threatening disease.
I read an article the other day in which someone, I think it was a pediatrician, said the best thing a new parent can do for their kid is roll them on the floor of a New York subway.
Hyperbole, but I like his thinking.

"A pair of powerful spectacles has sometimes sufficed to cure a person in love." - Friedrich Nietzsche

I told Pam one of the things I'm most looking forward to in Oregon is the absence of deadlines. The last few months have included a constant sense of pressure to meet deadlines - get the house ready, finish the truck, and prep for Costa Rica as the biggies. Sitting in my chair has been guilt inducing with so many things on the to-do list. Unless something unexpected comes up the only deadline on Baker Rd. will be getting a chicken coop built by early spring. I think I can handle that.

Do I feel like working on Fred's rehab? Walk on down there, pick up a hammer, and have at it. Want to sit and read? The stack of books awaits. Have a hankering to visit the coast and see the Pacific? It's an hour away. To quote the Bard, "As you like it."

I read the Wiki article about the distinguishing features of Craftsman architecture and was interested to see which were present in our two old homes. Though both were clearly in that category neither had a hipped roof or especially broad eaves. Both had dormers and squared porch posts. Inside they had quarter-sawn oak, paneled doors, and clean lines. That article had a link to the subset of Craftsman homes known as Foursquare and it described our Perry home perfectly. It really was a piece of architectural art, and though it was the antithesis of a tiny house we look back on that restoration as a very worthwhile effort.

We met with Chad this morning for almost two hours. Brain overload.
While there we filed for SSI. Now we wait for them to call us and schedule an appointment at their offices to...I'm not sure what.
While there we got a call from our realtor who said there's a second person who wants to see the house before it hits the market, so we'll have back-to-back showings Monday morning.
The photographer is coming late morning tomorrow to take pics for the listing, so everything has to be off the counters, put away, etc.
And I've got the truck all masked so I can paint tomorrow morning. The plan is to have that done by 10:00 so I can be ready for the photographer at 11:00.
In the afternoon I'll take the Kia to get the brakes checked. I don't like the noise they're making and while I could do it myself I just don't have the time.

This is a pic I saw on a sports site this morning. It's from the Little League World Series being played right now and shows a kid from Taiwan and Uganda. (Guess which one is which.) The big kid just slid hard into second base and upended the little guy. He was tagged out, and this shows what happened next. Concerned that he'd hurt the little guy he checked to see he was OK, walking halfway toward the Taiwan dugout to make sure he wasn't hurt and communicate his concern.
That's what sports at any age should be.

"Modesty is my best quality." - Jack Benny

Whew!

I have both truck doors and fenders ready for paint. It will take me several hours to get everything masked off well - I do NOT want to accidentally paint the front seat! - so I'm thinking I'll paint Thursday morning, with tomorrow morning for masking.

We meet mid-morning tomorrow with Chad, our financial guy, to get signed up for SSI and plot our Oregon financial picture. We were supposed to meet last week but his pregnant wife needed some minor surgery. Since that postponed meeting the stock market has tanked, so I'm pretty sure he's expecting to meet with two anxious clients. Nope. God's got our future and we plan to live on the cheap. Worst case: I get a part time job to supplement our income.

Today's big news was the meeting early this afternoon with Tausha, our realtor. Interesting lady; no nonsense, cut to the chase, tell it like she sees it, and get 'er done! We signed the reams of paperwork required to list the house. Friday a photographer will come in to take pictures and we'll "go live" on MLS sometime Tuesday. In the meantime a sign went up in front.

Tasha said she likes to put that "coming soon" sign out to generate interest in the neighborhood so that if someone has a friend or family member who might be interested they can pass the word along.
It works.
Thirty minutes after Tausha left we got a phone call from her. An older woman who lives four doors down has a daughter who would like to move into Sun City, and being this close to her mother would be ideal. She and her realtor will go through it Monday, and if they want to make an offer Tausha will add a premium to our price as the cost of getting it before it hits the market. Tausha called buying it early a "sweep." Wouldn't that be interesting! (And an answer to prayer.)

Lots of today's news has been about the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, including interviews with survivors who have returned and started over.
I admire their determination and resilience. I also question the wisdom of returning to a city that sits below sea level, is dependent on levees and giant pumps, and sits in the path of seasonal hurricanes. Those who don't learn from the mistakes of the past....

"I haven't spoken to my wife in years. I didn't want to interrupt her." - Rodney Dangerfield

My next door neighbor got a letter from the HOA and he, too, is in trouble. He has a golf cart, and it seems you're not allowed to park them "on landscaping." Apparently the gravel we all have in our back "yards" (front, too) counts as landscaping, and the two wheels that weren't on his patio slab constitute a violation.
The HOA board only acts when they've rec'd a complaint from someone in the neighborhood. His egregious flaunting of the regulations is not visible from the street, making it fairly easy to figure out who called the board. Only six houses have a view of his back yard. Two of those are empty because the owners are seasonal residents, and two wouldn't think of calling the HOA on such a silly matter. The fifth house has a back yard surrounded by a 6' block wall.
Number six is our neighbor on the other side, the same folks we've suspected complained about me having derelict vehicles parked in the driveway and running a business out of our home.

The average age in Sun City is 83. I don't know if the grumps have always been thus or if old age moved them toward a generally disagreeable disposition. It does seem that there are two kinds of old people - those who are fun, easy folk with interesting life stories to tell, and those who were hall monitors in fourth grade and never outgrew that mindset.

I've looked to see what kind of weather I should expect for the 12 days I'm in Costa Rica.
Fascinating.
For the next 10 days the high every day is going to be 83, the low every night is going to be between 66 and 68, and they will have thunderstorms every day that begin around noon and end by 6 p.m. We're not talking showers, but real rain that drops 1/2" in the matter of a couple of hours.
Sunrise is at 5:30 a.m. and sunset is at 5:50 p.m.
Welcome to the tropics.

The garage walls are cleared of all the tools I had hanging there and dressed up with a fresh coat of paint. I went to Home Depot and asked for the cheapest paint they had suitable for garage walls and the gal pointed me to a Behr product at $13.50 a gallon that's labeled "Dead White." In this case that adjective apparently refers to the fact it has no sheen, but the term struck me funny.

I have the driver side door and fender sanded and ready for paint and the passenger fender sanded. It will take me about another hour to sand that door, and then a couple of hours to thoroughly mask all the surrounding areas. I'd hoped to paint tomorrow but it will probably be Wednesday. It has to happen early in the day - after sunrise but before mid-morning and triple digit temps. Our realtor comes at 1:00 tomorrow to do the paperwork for listing the house and we have some things we want to get done before she arrives. And they've included a decent chance of rain tomorrow.

I got the second of the two sermons for Costa Rica done this afternoon. That felt good.
Went from there to the gym where, for no reason that I can come up with, I did a double workout. That didn't feel good.

"Indecision may or may not be my problem." - Jimmy Buffet

Justice

This may be the longest I've gone without posting, including the occasion of my hospitalization three years ago. Sorry. I've been scrambling from the predawn hours until bedtime each day and still don't feel like I'm keeping up. There hasn't been time for writing during the day and by the time I get to the post-dinner stretch I'm wasted, with more to do.

Thursday evening we went to watch Jason at his 30-minute swimming class. I spent some of that time in the pool area watching him and his dad work through the night's activities and some of it out in the family viewing area with Pam, Michelle, and Emily.

I leave for Costa Rica a week from this Wednesday. I've made good progress on my preps but there's still lots to do.

I had the Traditional Gospel (that's PC-speak for Black gospel) station streaming through Pandora while working in the garage and had to stop what I was doing to go see who was singing that version of O Mary Don't You Weep.
Aretha Franklin.
You gotta go listen to it here. It is quintessential Black gospel, including the narrative story line. Yeah, it's just over 7 minutes long, but it's the build through that time that will grab you by the gut and drag you along to a place only that genre can take you. I would love to experience something like this in person.

In the process of cleaning and sorting the garage, a prerequisite to painting the walls, I came across some of the things I used while restoring VW's - tools and manuals that are worth more than a little money. They're now listed on eBay, but so far no takers.

Episodes of Tiny House Nation usually involve the builders asking the clients what style of house they prefer, then the guys turn out something with that design. We've seen everything from steam punk to Victorian to industrial.
Pam and I talked about the options we'll have because we're starting with a blank slate. We could go entirely eclectic, or choose different styles for the exterior and interior, or pick one style and stick with it.
Steam punk was easily eliminated, as was Victorian. The three we put on a list of options were:

• Craftsman - horizontal siding, simple squared features, mullioned windows, natural wood finishes, earth tones...
• Rural Cabin - cedar shake siding (Hardiboard, not real cedar), very simple design features, lots of texture
• Rustic - reclaimed barn wood siding in a board & batten layout, architectural salvage interior elements, repurposed ____ (anything that can be)

Our tentative choice is Craftsman, at least as the base. Both our century-old homes were Craftsman and we liked living in that. Plus, the bed I just made, though painted, has a Craftsman design. 

I've got the driver side door and fender sanded. I'm going to do some repair on one spot and then it's ready to paint. Tomorrow morning I'll sand the other side, and maybe paint before the realtor comes Tuesday at 1 pm. 

Yeah, lots to do.