So it is Christmas Morning!

Here are a couple of pictures of Christmas morning. We will have more to follow and perhaps a

video for you to watch.

This is a picture of our tree,........ Duh!

Picture from above, like you couldn't figure it out.?

Sam and Kenny playing with one of the many excellent gifts.

And of course they deserve a kiss for figuring out how to escape from the dreaded finger torture holder thing-a-ma-jig!

This will be the last living room tree picture, I figure you have it down now and pretty much know what the tree looks like. Should you have additional questions let me know and I will send more pictures to you.

This is how I spent my Christmas, out on the deck with shovel clearing the deck of snow. Everyone else was inside with food, drink and enjoying each other's company while I was outside working by myself until the deck was clear. It's ok with me though I got to wear my new Christmas socks!

An update for you

Well I made it home on Christmas Eve. I was trapped in Hillsboro for several days and we weren't sure if we would be able to get togetherfor Christmas. As it turned out a local store got a

supply of snow chains and I was able to dig my car out of the snow (with a small piece of wood and a sheet tray from the restaurant) and make my way carefully to that store and purchase the chains. I then made it home.

The house across the street looks cool!

So as it turned out everyone was able to get here.

Looking out from the front door of our house!

By the way Natalie also was stranded and after her dad shoveled for two hours they were able to move her car into the curb where it sits to this very minute waiting for the thaw.

One of the shots Rosy took looking out of the dining room window. Although cold and snowy it is pretty, don't you think?

Sam is a snow shoveling expert now. She actually shoveled snow. Actually for about ten minutes. Can you believe it?

So the reason I show these pictures for you to see is, as you know, I am a Southern California kind of guy. This Oregon snow storm is unusual but I didn't like it too much. I prefer the beach in Jamaica, or Hawaii, or Cabo. Just so you know.

Merry Christmas to all.

Today 12-21-08

I am stranded in Hillsboro Oregon and staying at the Holiday Inn Express. I had a nice breakfast of bacon, cereal and two cups of coffee (1/2 & 12, and sugar added)
I took these pictures with my Phone Camera from the window of the room and have posted them here for your viewing enjoyment. Feel free to click on any of the pictures to get the Big Picture!

I couldn't get home because of the storm that kept the roads covered with snow and ice.

I had some difficulty walking to the hotel and finally opted to walk in the road in the tire tracks to make the trek to the hotel easier.

I am gathering up my "stuff" and will head to the restaurant where the car is buried and survey the situation to see if I can get out of here. It doesn't look like it will happen now but it is early and perhaps the Sun will come out and melt the snow. "right"!

These last two images are actually two separate pictures but the look remarkably similar? Hmmmmmmm!

This might not be as exciting a blog as dancing elves but it has some of the elements to be a "made for TV movie", don't you think?

Thanksgiving 2008

I guess that I may have the only blog about a family Thanksgiving Dinner.

I just want to be sure that everyone in the world is as thankful for the good things in their lives as we are. Stop for a moment and suck in all the good from your family and friends. Hold it for a while and never forget.

Natalie Cooks Pears!

Although Steve forgot the carving knife he was able to use an ordinary knife to do a good job on the big bird.

We had a twelve people here this year. Not a big group but a nice sized dinner gathering. Our thanksgiving dinner was missing a few important people this year. Teri, Shawn, Cole, Jennifer, Brenden, Jordan, Autumn, Mathew, Pauls' Mom and Dad, Jeremy and Karen, Hermoine, Carl, Ron, Janet, Gina and were not here and we missed them. It was a good group however and we had about the same amount of food so without the extra people there was more to share.

We were able to keep Rosy awake and even if you think she is falling asleep here she isn't. She has just completed her third serving and is contemplating her next move. "Should I go for fourth, or should I stop now?"

This is a photo out of sequence. I put it here without checking but it's OK with me.

I only had a very small piece of turkey and a few mashed potatoes with gravy. I never really got too much to eat because I was at the end of the table where the food wasn't. Everyone else was so busy feeding their faces I was completely forgotten, ignored and practically cast aside for the turkey, ham, potatoes, vegtables and all the othe good stuff. Later after dinner I was able to find a small and somewhat insignificant piece of Pumpkin pie. It was probably a piece that fell off someones plate and was mostly crust but I topped it with whipped cream and ate it.

So I did get a little pie, just a very little, small couple of bites, wee thing it was.

Later while everyone watched movies and slept, probably because of all the food they had eaten. I was able to wash all the dishes, pots and pans and clean up the entire kitchen, dining room and living room. It was during the cleaning that I forged for left over food that wasn't eaten by everyone else. You probably notice that my picture isn't here. That is because I am to busy cleaning and too weak from lack of food to force my way in. It's fine with me about this no picture situation too as I can make a Blog entry anytime I want and maybe just maybe I'll do one with pictures just of me.

Later in the evening we hung out and talked and just enjoyed the end of a nice day. The weather was good, the meal was good, the people gathered here were especially good.

I hope each of you had a good day as well. We miss all of you and our thoughts are of you.

A couple More

I didn't have any pictures of me at the Halloween affair and someone
was kind enough to e-mail these. I am especially happy that my
long lost Twin was found and I've included a picture with him for you
admire and to swoon over.


With the camera, How do you like my custom Costume?




This would be be me and Minnie Mouse,
Surprisingly Minnie looks like Rosy?


My Twin wore a costume just like Rosy. Interesting!

Some Halloween Pictures

Sure, like no one had a Halloween party where normal adults take a evening to pretend to be something or someone the aren't but probably want to be?

Of the 343 pictures I have, these are the ones I feel I can display here.

Here are a few pictures from our party.

Sara and Hilary stopped in, isn't that nice!

Minnie, Sue "The Conservative Pirate" and A nice little old lady

(Without her clever in this picture) got along just swell!

Looks kind of sad doesn't he.

You probably can't see him but the invisible man is in this picture.

Music could have been provided by ZZ and the band

Rosy and Sue before the "Wine Incident"

Shane wasn't Joking around!! No Sir, Nope No fooling around!

Everyone loves a naked cowboy

Amanda wore her dancing shoes.

Well I actually never realized that Frankenstein was so tall?

Happy to have another drink served to the "Bar Fly"

Police were here to keep everyone in line.

Sue the Conservative Pirate says "only one more jello shot"

It was great that the Banana People finally arrived to add some fruit to the party.

Well that is some of the photo's and I think everyone had a great time. I may post some others but I am not sure yet. Check in and you'll see. I think you can click on the photos and they will give you a larger picture.

ME

Me on January 10, 1944

Another Me on October 10, 1944
I was a fast grower and a fast learner, I am off to my new job.

I've always worked to support myself.

I moved out from my parents home sometime oh let's say around the middle to late part of sometime early in 1945 or 1946, I don't remember.

My job involved some traveling so it was a small problem keeping diapers and formula but somehow I managed.

I was a pretty good sales kid and won a trip to Disneyland. All expenses paid which was good since I don't and didn't carry a wallet and at that young age I wasn't using a purse yet.

I think you'll admit I was quite the stunning figure at that young age. What 'm trying to find out is what happened? When did all this change occur. I don't look anything like I used too??

That's It!!!

Oh By the way, Happy Halloween, Here are three of the restaurant customers after last friday's Halloween Party.

My Illness

Well, I think one of the things someone with cancer can do is to enjoy the humor of the whole situation. Although there are times when, let just say a cancer person may not be feeling as good as he or she would like, and that can be frequent, we cancer people can laugh at things related to our own particular illness.

From time to time I go to the hospital or to the doctor or even to a clinic for tests and for testing and for probing and for samples of various fluids or skin or some other body part. Fascinating as it may seem to be there is some intrusion and some aggravation associated with the visits to the Doctor.

These pictures show some of the humor (in my opinion) of one kind of testing.

I decided to have some fun.

I was going to be observed during my nights sleep and my sleeping was being monitored as I slept with the attachments of several probes and wires and whatever those things are called.

Once I got past the horrible pain and intense electrical shocks I think I actually felt pretty good. I was only kidding about the electrical shocks and also the pain. Actually the only pain would have been the removal of the tape. That part really made me cringe. There is something about removing tape the gives me the willies.

So what I did was to photograph a picture of my eyes. I cut the picture of each eye to match the rim of a pair of glasses. I attached the picture on the inside of the glasses so that it looked like my eyes were open. These glasses I wore during the night when I was supposed to be sleeping. The camera's in the room, on the ceiling, would be aimed on me during the night so that the technician could monitor what was going on with me during the night while I was suppose to be asleep.

I thought it was pretty funny! I thought it might brighten the technicians evening, after all he needs to stay awake all night watching two or three people sleep! I thought we might all get a good laugh.

Hey, They will be talking about this for some time I think!

Why do we have to take sickness so seriously. I got what I got and it isn't going to get me down.

I just need to be sure not to loose my sense of humor and you shouldn't loose yours either.

OK That's it.