BOOK: DOGS OF BABEL

I just finished this book given to me by my recent house guest. She didn't say much about it, just "Read it." O-k-a-a-a-y. It is written in the first person from the man's point of view which is interesting since the author is a woman and has a way out there experiment that he is trying to pull off. Most interesting is his perspective of the relationship he has with his wife.

ANNIVERSARY OF ANOTHER SORT

This is an anniversary that probably only I care about, but it was one year ago today that my life changed so dramatically. It was one year ago today that we thought we were living a normal life. Then at 6:30 in the morning, I had that first seizure in my foot. That was the beginning of it all. The first symptom that something was wrong. The first trip to the emergency room. The first stay in the hospital. The first tests to be done. The phone wires started lighting up but there was no news to report because no one knew what was wrong. Today is the anniversary of the beginning of it all.

One year later where are we now? So much has happened and it is all so positive. Most importantly from my perspective... I'm feeling great and we are all living on the west coast. The rest of the details are insignificant. I'm starting on a new career path and trying to live life to the fullest each day which is all any of us can do.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY PETER & DAFNA

Happy Anniversary to you both as you celebrate 32 years together! Hope you have a great celebration and a wonderful and productive trip.

NEW START

I am officially registered for the fall quarter of classes with 12 units and best of all.....IT IS ALL ONLINE!! I am so excited to be getting a new start. When all is said and done, I will have an Associate's degree as a Registered Health Information Technician (RHIT) as well as a Coding Specialist Certificate. Who could ask for more? The program does take two years to complete, but I think it will be well worth it in the end as this appears to be a growing field. Why didn't I do this 20 years ago?

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

Just finished this second book by the author of 'The Kite Runner' and really enjoyed it too. It was difficult to get through certain parts as the author's descriptions make you feel like you are right there with Miriam and Laila as they walk the difficult journey of their lives.
Another great read.

PORT TOWNSEND

Spent a glorious day in Port Townsend with my friend Mary Jane, Abbie and Kol and shopped and shopped and shopped.

FUN VISITOR

We have had a great visit with Mary Jane here. We have explored most of Kitsap County and especially the shopping in Old Town Silverdale and Poulsbo. It's been fun just hanging out and catching up on all the gossip from Rohnert Park and of course, some things never change.

Mary Jane loved Button!!!!

BUTTON TURNS 3

Button is so happy to get a new toy
for her birthday. Such a GREAT dog!!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Happy Anniversary
Iris and Rick
37 years
Congratulations!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRIS

Happy, Happy Birthday
Wish we were there to
help you celebrate!

'WIN' AT BOWLING

Jennifer, the Director of Able Opportunities and one of
the masterminds of the WIN program is chatting with
Reid's dad on the left and showing her best bowling form

on the right. Kol and Donna were on their best bowling games too.

BEST PLACE TO LIVE

I was hoping you all could
read the article, but
obviously you can't. Money
Magazine named Silverdale
in the top 100 Best Places
to Live and we could not
agree more.

WHALING DAYS

Silverdale's annual Whaling Days are happening this weekend and we decided to participate. I volunteered to help with the "Whale of a Run" which has over 800 participants between a 4 mile run, 1 mile run and kid's dashes.









I was originally assigned to the "chute crew" and more specifically given the task of being a 'people pusher'. I thought it sounded quite distinguished. At the last minute, someone came up to the chute crew and said they needed one person for a different task and I volunteered and soon became a 'tag taker' a job that I relished and will volunteer to do again next year. This was my view from my designated position looking down the chutes waiting for runners to return.



Immediately after the Whale of a Run, the parade begins and this is one of the Central Kitsap Fire trucks at the beginning of the parade.






Here comes Harrison Medical Center with Abbie and Kol walking along and waving.

ASTORIA

It's Sunday morning and we are supposed to be waking up in Astoria, however we are at home. We got up bright and early Saturday morning. packed up the car and off we went just as planned. We drove down taking the inland scenic route as opposed to the I-5 faster route and arrived in Astoria around noon and decided to head down to Seaside and wander around there since we would have all day Sunday to see Astoria. So that is what we did. We went to Seaside and had lunch and went to the beach for a few minutes and went into a few stores. Then we went a little farther south to Cannon Beach and wandered around a little bit. I really liked it there, not quite as many tourists as Seaside and seemed to have more B & B's and cottages than hotels. We then thought it was time to head back up to Astoria.

I go inside to check-in and the clerk says, "You were supposed to be here last week-end." I told him I had changed the reservation to this week-end.
He says, "Oh, yes, I see you changed the reservation. The following day after you changed it, the corporate office changed it back. I have 1 room available with a King bed."
I asked him if 3 adults and a dog would fit into the King bed. Then I asked if I had been charged for not showing up last week-end and he avoided my question and said to call the manager on Monday. I think he knew I had been charged, but didn't want a ranting customer in his lobby with no manager on duty to bail him out. He was nice enough to call a couple of other places to look for a room for us that would take the dog. We could have driven back to Warrenton which actually isn't that far away, but we decided to save the $200 and drive home. We drove around Astoria for a little bit and could have gone to the maritime museum, but at that point, we were pissed and tired and didn't want to have anything more to do with Astoria for the moment so we left and drove home. It's about 60 miles along the river on the WA side to get to Longview and Kelso on I-5 and then once on the freeway it goes real fast and so we just drove home and slept in our own beds. When we got home, I checked online and sure enough I was charged for not showing up. I can hardly wait to make that phone call tomorrow morning to the manager of that hotel.

OH NO! NOT A TREE!

This was the scene on our street as our neighbor apparently lost his mind and decided to cut a beautiful and huge pine tree with the help of this tall, tall crane and lots of men sawing and doing whatever they had to in order to bring it down. The noise was deafening as they shoved branches into their machine and quite honestly the noise combined with the image of this beautiful tree being cut down just turned my stomach. I went to my back door and looked at my trees that aren't going anywhere if I have anything to say about it.

ROOT CANAL DONE AHHHHHH

It was Friday the 13th and off I marched to Dr. Root Canal's comfy dental chair one more time, but wait this time we turned left into the 'Disney' room. The walls were covered with framed pictures of Disney characters and the right ledge had stuffed Disney animals hanging over to cheer up the saddest root canal patient. As he was working on my tooth, I found myself staring at the pictures of Snow White and each of her seven dwarves, Dopey in particular for some reason and thinking how ironic it was for me to be surrounded by these Disney characters while my son is currently in Orlando and maybe seeing parts of Disney World.

The rest of the root canal work went quite easily as it appeared he did most of the job the first day. He gave me a prescription for more antibiotics "just in case" any swelling came back, but this time my mouth was not even sore. Next week I get to go back for the next chapter which is a visit to my regular dentist for a new crown!

BAD RAP

Quite honestly, I think root canals get a bad rap in life. They really aren't so bad. You don't feel anything. You just sit in the chair, hold your mouth open, well, you do hold your mouth open for a really long time, but you don't feel a thing. I'm done now with the root canal phase and have parted with a large chunk of cash in order to end the pain I was in two weeks ago. Today went very smoothly and I left with another prescription for antibiotics, just in case my chipmunk cheek returns. Next phase together with another chunk of cash will be to replace the crown. Hmmmm, I wonder if it's too late to get fluoride treatment.

ROOT CANAL - THE DAY BEFORE

So, I've finished two antibiotics and almost two weeks have passed and tomorrow is the big day. (I was given an extra week's reprieve for good behavior!) Friday the 13th is root canal day. My expectation is that my last visit to Dr. Root Canal was much worse than tomorrow will be and hopefully he won't let me down. As my cousin told me, I was toxic with infection last time I was there, which is why I came home, took the antibiotic and Aleve and slept all afternoon. I felt horrible all weekend, and on Sunday had a chipmunk cheek as a war wound. That swelling lasted most of the week. Now that I have all these drugs in my system, I'm sure that tomorrow's procedure will go smoothly and the worse of it will be an achiness from holding my mouth open for an hour or however long it takes him to work his magic.

THE KITE RUNNER

This book has been around since 2004 I think, but I just read it and IT IS GREAT. The author just came out with his second book called 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' and they are making a movie based on this book. I had a little trouble at the beginning getting into it, but then I was hooked and couldn't put it down. Loved it! Loved it!

TOOTHACHE

I think it's a generational thing...bad teeth. My parents had bad teeth and my best friend was the dentist since I was a little kid because I always spent so much time in his office. Luckily for my kids they invented FLUORIDE and so far they have escaped sitting for hours in a dental chair for anything other than cleaning. Last Thursday I was trying to deny that I had a toothache, but when it kept me up that night I knew I had to make the call to my dentist, who by the way, doesn't work on Friday. He kindly calls the Endodontist for me and I get an appointment for mid-day. I can hardly wait for the moment to arrive to be put out of my misery. I will sit in the chair for 2 hours and yes, my mouth will be sore for the afternoon, but the pain will be gone once they give me the shot of novacaine and work their magic with the root canal. NO SUCH LUCK! New scenario this time. They said I have an infection in the root which must be cleared up first BEFORE they can do the root canal. ACK!!!! I did get the massive dose of novacaine I craved and he "opened up the tooth" whatever that means, because there's no big hole there.

He sent me home with the same sore tooth, numb at the moment; prescriptions for TWO antibiotics and ONE painkiller (not a good omen at all for the week ahead) and said see you in a week. Right now my left cheek is swollen like a chipmunk and while the tooth feels better, my ear hurts every time I swallow. I'll be glad when this is over and somehow I don't think the Endodontist has such good treasures in his treasure chest, just a big bill at the end of the road.