My earliest memory

When your family has home movies of when you were a child it can be difficult to separate real memories from what you have seen in the movies. I'm not sure which of my foggy memories would be the earliest but I can at least pinpoint the timeframe of one.

I was born in California but moved to Germany when I was about 6 months old as my father was stationed there in the Air Force. About a year later we moved to England, then when I was about 3 we moved back to the states. My parents tell me I was very concerned about leaving England because I was worried there wouldn't be Grape Nuts Flakes breakfast cereal in the USA.

My memory is of being in some public place, and running up and down a gradual ramp or incline. The consensus is that this was at a restaurant or airport during our trip back to the USA. It is a happy memory, and an activity that is characteristic of a small child.

What is your earliest memory, and is it a pleasant one?

By the way, the picture above is of Wendie and Barry, my two older siblings, and me, presumably around 3 or 4 years old.

Roxorg

Daniel wanted a dog. Daniel always wanted a dog. Dad (me) didn't want a dog, and would never get one. But in late 1990 somehow we bought a black Lab puppy at the pet store (Daniel used to love going in that store all the time). I guess it was Daniel's Christmas present, but it ended up being a family project. Daniel named her Roxie. We sometimes referred to her as Roxorg--I believe some variation of a comic book monster--I don't recall the exact origin. We would sing "Roxanne...Roxanne".

Roxie did all the usual puppy things, like chewing up everything in sight, pooping on the floor, jumping all over visitors, and barking all night. But we all loved her. We would go to the pet store and buy her toys, food, and other things.

Roxie was an exceptionally stupid dog, if good natured and hyper. We wondered why we bothered buying her the premium dog food when she didn't mind eating her own feces in the back yard. When we had the choke chain around her neck she never seemed to figure out that obedience and restraint would avoid the choking sensation. We tried and tried to train her (sit, heel, stay), with very little success. We would try to play fetch with a ball, but she would play keep-away after bringing the ball back to you so you had trouble getting it back to throw again. Someone told me that's why you don't buy just any dog at a pet store.

I (mostly) enjoyed taking Roxie on runs with me (with a leash, of course--otherwise she would run wild). At the beginning she would run ahead of me, straining on the leash in all her enthusiasm, then tire at the end and I would be dragging her to keep up. One night I took a risk and let her run with me without a leash. She mostly stayed in the general area with me, but upon arriving back home she would not go into our fenced backyard where she normally stayed. I commanded and coaxed and bribed and tricked -- nothing worked. In exasperation I finally gave up and went to bed. Roxie must have had a wild night, because the next morning she had gathered up a number of random shoes from the neighborhood. How embarrassing. We placed them on the curb so the neighbors would find them. Roxie slept all the next day.

After three or four years we finally decided to find a new home for Roxie. Ironically, the very day the prospective new owners were going to check her out Roxie got loose in the front yard, and, in her trademark unruly fashion, would not come back when we called or coaxed. She ran out into the busy street near our home and was struck by a car. What a sad day that was, as we took her to the vet and, due to severe injuries, they put her to sleep. Daniel and I were by Roxie's side as she breathed her last, and I confess I shed a few tears, as much for Daniel as for her.

Wild ride to the hospital

Taking Suzanne to surgery Friday morning and hanging out at the hospital reminded me of another trip we made earlier this year.

During our kitchen remodel Suzanne was working hard painting and staining the cabinets. We brought in some Chinese food for dinner and worked on into the evening (or at least she did--I was downstairs on the computer). About 9PM I heard a soft voice call "Craig, can you come up here?". I sat bolt upright. There was something alarming about the voice. I came upstairs and Suzanne was lying on the floor in significant discomfort. Her face was ashen colored, she had pains in her chest and arms, was clammy, and I don't remember what else. Her mother died of a heart attack in her 60's and this had all the classical symptoms. I asked if I should call 911 and she said let's just drive to the emergency room.

I quickly helped her into the car and drove very fast the 5 miles to the hospital. I only had to run one red light. I pulled up to the emergency room curb, jumped out, announced to the staff I thought my wife was having a heart attack, and rushed back out with a wheelchair.

They took her right into a cell and hooked her up to machines and a doctor checked her out. Her skin still had no color and symptoms persisted. They gave her oxygen and ran the usual tests. Gradually her color returned and the symptoms subsided.

To make a long story short, she spent the night at the hospital as a precaution but her heart tested out just fine. One theory was that the Chinese food caused it (acid reflux), another that the paint fumes did. But for a few hours there we were quite alarmed, and we count our blessings more readily these days.

Just snip snip

This morning I took Suzanne to the hospital for scheduled elective surgery on her foot. So she will be on crutches for a few weeks, and today I am pampering her. This reminds me of an experience I had with elective surgery.

A few years ago I was sitting in Sunday School class when a man near me was dozing off. I teased him after class saying he might have snored out loud and embarrassed himself. He laughed and said that was no problem, as he had a simple operation (uvulectomy) that took care of any snoring problem. I asked more about it and he said it was a simple procedure, just snip snip, and a sore throat for a couple of weeks.

Wow, I wanted to pursue this! As I've aged I've become more self-conscious about my snoring. I had some medical savings account money to use or lose so about Dec. 30 I went to the doctor and had it done. I told Suzanne it was her Christmas present.

For starters, the doctor gave me a prescription for pain killers, and I thought I was manly enough not to need that. I could handle a little sore throat for a week or so. I was wrong. That night or the next day I picked up the pills. It was so painful to eat for two weeks or more I lost a bunch of weight. I used this over the counter sore throat spray to temporarily deaden the pain so I could get some food down, or when the pain just got too bad. (I ate lots of brown rice during this period, so whenever I eat brown rice I associate it with this time period.)

About two weeks or so later I was sill in great discomfort and getting discouraged. I asked the same man about it and he said "yeah, the pain was awful for a few weeks, and now my snoring is coming back." What!!?? I wanted to strangle him.

Well, eventually it healed, and the snoring is improved, though not eliminated. One side effect is that food and drink can more easily slip down my throat and gag me if I'm not careful. Was it worth it? I don't know. Perhaps. I should let Suzanne answer that. The snoring never bothered me. :-)

Jack and Lee Rock Band

I was going to write a post about "where were you when when such and such famous event happened", like when Pres. Kennedy was shot (grade school lunch room), or man first walked on the moon (working at McDonald's), or when the World Trade Center collapsed (still in bed). I may still write that post someday, but today I'm taking a fun little detour.

You may recall that Lee Harvey Oswald (who most people believe shot JFK, though not the conspiracy theorists) was fatally shot himself by Jack Ruby while in police custody. Here is the famous photograph of that event.



I hope this isn't too disrespectful, but here is another perspective on that famous event. Enjoy.



The end.

More frugality

I used to marvel at my mother for the effort she expended to save coupons and buy Raisin Nut Bran cereal for 25 or 50 cents per box. She had so many boxes stored in her closet, and I recall eating a bowl while visiting once and sensing they might be a little stale. Indeed, the expiration date on the box was just about due. Still, that was my favorite cereal at the time, but was a rare treat since I had to pay upwards of $4 for a box in my store.

I evolved to liking Wheat Chex cereal the best, and was really proud of myself once when finding the Safeway brand clone of Wheat Chex on sale for $1 per box (I think Wheat Chex was about $4). We stocked up and bought 20 boxes, as I recall, and thought that was a huge haul.

But they were consumed quickly enough, then earlier this year we stumbled upon Wheat Chex on sale for about $1.80 at Winco. Then we discovered that some boxes included a coupon for $3 off when buying 3 boxes. Needless to say, I made two or three trips to Winco and sorted through the boxes to make sure I bought ones with the coupon attached. The net result was over 50 boxes purchased at 80 cents each, and 20 or so extra coupons for future use.

I thought this supply would last a year. But when you eat a bowl and a half each morning it is surprising how quickly you go through a box. A month ago we were running out, and our coupons were about to expire. Each trip to Winco we would check the Chex for sales, but no luck. Finally, we just used most of our coupons and bought a bunch more at $3.42 (net $2.42).

Then last week we saw them on sale for $2.38 so I rounded up about 10 coupons we hadn't used and hoped Winco wouldn't mind if they were a couple of weeks beyond expiration. And they accepted them!

But here is the real bonus--I hadn't noticed that a few of the new boxes had a new $3 coupon that expires a year from now! So, another trip back to Winco to buy more boxes with more coupons. What fun!! So now we have a stash of a dozen coupons for the next sale after we use up this supply.

Okay, so am I pathetic or what?

Climbing Mt. Hood

Sorry for the third hiking/climbing post in recent days, but I'm on a roll.

I already told about my inspiration to climb mountains in a previous post. Perhaps the most ambitious climbing adventure was ten years ago when my oldest son, Blair, and I decided to climb Mt. Hood, the highest peak in Oregon. While a number of people have perished on Mt. Hood in climbing accidents over the years, I figured that thousands climb it each year, and if we did our research and preparations, and were careful, we would be okay (even without a guide or going with an experienced group).

We rented ice axes, crampons, and boots from REI and headed to Timberline at around 4500 ft. elevation to start our climb to 11,249 ft. just after midnight. It is recommended to climb at night so you can summit soon after dawn while the snow is still firm and debris won't fall on you. I found the hardest thing about the climb was mental--specifically climbing all night in the dark. Even though it was July and pleasant weather, there was a breeze blowing down the mountain off the snow and it was quite cold. We rested perhaps an hour about half way up and we felt rather discouraged and tired. But we kept going.

It got steeper and more precarious towards the top, but once we started seeing light in the eastern sky our spirits rose and we were doing fine. Just below the summit is the Hogsback, and the Bergschrund (a deep crevasse you have to hike around and jump over).

We used the ice axe to plant with each step so we always had stable footing on the very steep final section. Just don't look down, keep moving, and don't think about it too much (I'm very afraid of heights!). Then, the exhilaration of reaching the summit!

We could see all the prominent NW Cascade peaks up and down the range. We could see Portland to the west. Then there was the long slog back down the mountain, and the tiredness from no sleep and hard climbing settled in.

Ever since I have not looked at Mt. Hood the same. I see the majestic peak towering in the eastern horizon and contemplate standing there on the top.