"To different minds the same world is a hell, and a heaven." - J.B. Priestly

Never give up.

It's been a long time since I posted here, maybe a record absence. And if it is the longest absence that's likely to be bested soon.

Monday was a scramble to get chores done so I could leave at 3 a.m. for Seattle. But first a stop at Marta's to pick up the weanling that I delivered to Jody, who met me in Tacoma. Because she was almost 90 minutes late I missed lunch with my mom, but the PB&J Pam packed for me did the trick at my end and mom got her meal without me.

I spent the next 2+ days hanging out with mom, my younger brother, and a cup of coffee at a shop on Aurora working on Brazil prep. I left Seattle yesterday morning (Thurs.) at 4 a.m. for the drive south. That went fine until I hit south Vancouver, WA and traffic locked up. I figured it was morning rush but eventually discovered a stalled car in one of the three lanes of the bridge across the river was responsible. Alas, downtown Portland was also stop/go/stop. By the time I'd napped at a rest stop about 30 miles into OR and finished the last 100 miles it was right at noon when I got home.
Lunch, chores, more prep, and on to Countryside for our Thursday night pizza "date."

I was pleasantly surprised how well mom seems to be doing. Her health problems persist - and they are legion - but her attitude was good and her mind is remarkably sharp for someone who's 96. I don't think I'll have another opportunity to see her before December, so I'm glad I took the time to get up there.

I had some fun conversations with people while on my trip. One of the servers at Crista is 18 and from Eritrea and a resident who stopped into mom's room is 92 and from New Zealand. She's a war bride who married a GI stationed there and then moved back with him to the States soon after. She's got macular degeneration and will be totally blind soon.
Everybody has a story.

The truck got 16 mpg and I think slightly better on the way home. I'll find out when I fill it up this morning. It's very comfortable to drive and moves on down the road easily. I like it.

My cell phone has all but died. The mic stopped working sometime on the drive up. I can still use it if I use the earbuds with the in-line mic but who wants to plug those in every time a call comes in? So today we'll go to the Verizon store to see about a cheap replacement phone Ours were the free phones to new customers.
BTW, shopping for a cell phone carrier (should we switch?) rates right up there with visiting car dealerships.

They should have made a movie of Richard Wagner's life. The lead role should have been played by John Wayne. That's no going to happen, is it?!
(That really doesn't come out of left field. I am listening to classical music as I go back and forth between here and prep. They just played the prelude to Tannhauser, one of my top three, and they had Wagner's pic up while it played. Don't you also see the resemblance?)

We went to Verizon and I came home with a new phone. They only had one of these cheapest phones so Pam's is shipping. It will come in the mail soon and then she'll go in to have everything transferred over.
I'm feeling very old. I canNOT figure this phone out. Nothing is intuitive (or I'm an idiot, a real possibility). I can't even find where the keypad is to make calls. All the apps I try to download show as "download pending." And it's showing me the weather in Arizona instead of here. I'm sure there's a way to change that but I sure can't find it.
AAAAARGH!!

I may not be the most skilled mechanic but I might be the most determined. I put the rear apron and back bumper on a few days ago and realized today that I should have installed the backup lights in that apron first. Take OFF the bumper and the apron, install the backup lights, reinstall the apron, install the bumper guards, and then reinstall the bumper.
Sally's rear end is now done! I'll move forward next and adjust the doors. The gaps on the driver door are all wrong and the only way to make those adjustments is with the fenders off. I removed them to do the painting so now is the time to work on door gaps. That's a fiddling job; lots of back and forth until it's right in all planes and perfectly even where it meets all other panels. Set my mind on "hours," not "minutes" and keep calm while going back and forth.

Time to walk Buddy, feed goats, and take a shower. I'll work more on prep after dinner, we'll watch the next episode of "Remember Me," and then I'll turn in. Tomorrow will be 91 degrees and we're going to Steam Up.
Pics of the coolness when I post late tomorrow...assuming I can get this phone's camera figured out.