We’ve decided our date ritual during this pandemic will be that we buy a frozen pizza at Fred Meyer on Saturday nights. While we were there, I also picked up some lime for the garden.
I picked it up and then Matt carried it home!
You’ll notice the pandemic hair is waving at you.
Look at that snow fall! As you can see, it’s not sticking to the roads, but snow in March is not a Portland thing!
Matt and I took a drive to check out Battleground Lake, which a coworker had recommended as a potential summer swimming hole.
After a pleasant drive we found a small little lake with some nice hiking trails.
We walked around the inner hiking path and then longer the longer path that doesn’t have lakeside views.
The lake didn’t seem to have a lot of places to hang out when not swimming, but did seem like a fun place to swim, once swimming season happens. Until then, these birds reign supreme.
It was a fun excursion and I look forward to coming back when it’s swimming weather.
Matt introduced me to Watergate, where one of us worked to expose the scandal, while the other was Nixon trying to stay in office and avoid resignation.
I enjoyed the historical connection and the game didn’t take very long to explain, which is always a good sign.
I realized the day of the ceremony that my antenna doesn’t pull in the television station that was broadcasting the ceremony, but I figured I would use one of the streaming options. My friends were watching it at the Kennedy School and I could have gone to that, but I had planned for the ceremony to coincide with a block of time for cooking. If I skipped the cooking, I would have no food for the week.
It turned out all the ways I could stream the ceremony involved paying $50 for “live TV” in conjunction with YouTube, Hulu and other services. We had already blown through our free trials.
There were a few hours where I wished I could listen to a radio broadcast. But that was not an option either. Eventually I realized that while Matt had used his LiveTV free trail on YouTube, that I had not. So I signed up and watched the ceremony on my phone in the kitchen.
It was a tough nut to crack, but I did it.
I was awake and reading in bed when I heard a hubbub at the Oregon Motel. Such hubbubs aren’t unusual for that property, so I didn’t investigate. But then I smelled something. Looking out my window told me what was burning.
I woke up Matt and had him make sure the fire trucks were coming while I grabbed the cats’ carriers.
Then we watched from my bedroom window as the firefighters arrived and went to work.
Using their powerful flashlights and a chainsaw, they cut a few holes in the roof.
It was interesting to see how they used the ladder to move around on the roof. They also popped all the covers off the vents.
After that it was time to pack up and drive away.
It was early, but not so early the MAX wasn’t running.
Everyone made it safely out of their motel rooms. Two units caught fire, but the fire did not spread past those units.
I feel lucky that this was as close as we came to fire and I’m glad that no one was harmed.
I took some time over the Thanksgiving weekend to add shelves to the catio.
And now we can call that project done!
Except not, because the shelves aren’t wide enough for the cats to sit comfortably on. So I might get some boards and add them to the top. Or I might not, because the don’t seem to like to climb when out on the catio.
During the warm months, the winter quilt is folded and stored between the matress and the box spring. But once the temperature dives, I’m ready for the chilly weather.
While this quilt was the quilt I learned that I don’t like to quilt, it’s warm and heavy and will probably serve me for many more years to come. It’s already about 15 years old.
A quick check in with the cats who live at the Orange Door.
Antares is quite good at hiding his nose. It’s very cute.
Sentinel is looking more and more like an old kitty every day.
Matt’s mom offered him a great deal. He could sell his 2015 Honda Civic and keep the money, and then have her 2017 Honda Civic which she no longer drives.
Here his is with all his documents in order.
This was a great deal as his 2015 Civic was just under the 75,000-mile threshold. (Which works out to about 18,750 miles per year owned). His mom’s 2017 Civic had just under 10,000 miles on it. (Less than 5,000 miles per year.)
“Ten-thousand miles!” Matt exclaimed more than once.
The other good news is that Matt’s job that caused him to put so many miles on his car has ended. So hopefully this can stay a low-mileage car.
