Wow, it's been a really long time since I have been here,I guess that shows how absolutely boring my life is. Stuck in a house in a state I don't want to be in, a real estate market in the dumper and no improvement in sight. Christmas has come and gone and it was better because it was scaled down.  I want to scale down my life. The first thing I am going to do is put all my balances on one credit card and then I will send them all of my money every month until it is paid off. Of course, I have said this many times before.I have actually paid them all off before so I know I can do it.
My latest weird idea is to move to Costa Rica, Panama or Equador. I hear you can live life very well there for  under a k a month for 2 people. Too bad we are always going to be 3 people. If I can't go foreward with the big move, I guess I want to redo the laundry room and install a backsplash in the kitchen. Redoing the laundry room consists of 14 knobs for the cupboards there. The kitchen backsplash is simple, wash down the walls and use 4mm stone tiles  that are peel and stick, that can't be too hard, can it? Might as well make the place look decent just in case the real estate market comes back sometime this century!
I am tired of cold and rain, I was born to be in the sun,I am a freaking fire sign for Gods sake! Ok this is a good tho pathetic start to getting back to blogging.
Today we stopped by an Elk reserve on our way home from "the big city". We had a camera to take pictures if they were close. They were close alright, one stepped over the fence and was just waking along eating the grass, about 8 feet away from us. I decided the best thing to do was to hide in the car, so if he thought of charging I woud have metal between us. He must have weighed about 1000 pounds,so  he was pretty huge. I do not want a thing with giant pointy horns that weighs half a ton coming at me! Well that was my boring day in my boring life. I will try to think up a good story to tell soon.:)

Hey...

Happy New Year, everyone!

Back home

Well, Dave gave it a good shot, but he just wasn't able to function on his own. He needed move suppervision and I think he got lonely, so he asked to come back home. He got 3 months to test it out and did okay/not okay. He is gullible, he picks bad peope for friends, His credit card ( which he took without permission) was run up to almost 1200.00, his cable bill was 130.00 due to a guy buying porn, which he has no idea how to do, same as people going to the library and buying things he has no use for and didn't even know what it was used for ( a capo). A lot of the charges were his but not all, cab rides ( he has 150.00 a month free cab rides) He decided trhat he didn't like working late at night after some guys called him a "retard". So now he is back into the system, trying to go to work for a different place doing yardwork. They also have group homes, which he will hopefully get into, as he has lived in that situation before and done well...not so much mom and dad and enough supervision to stay out of trouble. It was a very nice break for us even though he spent most of his week here "visiting us".

The New Apartment Dweller

My baby has finally flown the coop, a major fete for him. We moved him into his own apartment on Sunday.  He is completely ecstatic. Now all he needs is to start working. He is going to work for a man that has jobs  all over town,mostly janitorial, which David has done before. He has contracts with the hospital, the Court, the library and also has contracts for cleaning apartments when people move out. He pays minimum wage, which most companies who hire the mentally disabled don't do. They do get a break from the government, at least that is how it worked when we  lived in California.
So David moved out on Sunday, then he invited us over for dinner on Monday night, he cooked us hamburgers and veggies. ( OK, so I did the veggies) it was tasty. This morning he got fancy and made himself home fried potatoes with bell peppers, onions and eggs with Italian seasoning. That was really good! He can cook a few things  and he will learn others as he goes along. Today I taught him how to make hard boiled eggs because he wanted them to put in tuna salad.
He had been on a list to move into a made over old hotel that has studio apartments that was about 2 miles from us, we all liked that idea because it is a secure building. Unfortunately, there is a very long waiting list so we looked around and found him a one bedroom ( better than anything I ever had starting out) The rent is affordable for him and he got cable t.v. hooked up yesterday, which was why we were there, so we could write the check.  last night I got a collect call from him because he said his cell phone wouldn't work, he kept saying it wouldn't charge. I had to take his dad to the oral surgeon this morning ,and David had an appointment with his state worker this afternoon so I parked at the dentist , left hunnyboy meting in the chair , he said the drug he took before he went in was about the equivalent of 4-5 scotches. Then I walked the block to the apartment and took looked at his phone, the screen was on but it said emergency calls only. What had happened was that he got a screen freeze and took the battery out and put it back in, but the sim card fell out and he put it back in backwards so the phone thought there wasn't one and so it would only allow  911 calls.He is also excited about getting a job soon... he hasn't worked since we moved and that has been 6 1/2 years ago. That is our fault because we live out of town and there is no bus service out here, but now if I have to, I will take him to work and pick him up, just so he can do it. The state is giving him $150.00 a month in cab fees, so he will have that option and he will be getting 20 hours a month of one on one  service thru another agency...they will take him shopping or to appointments if we arn not available, or just out for the day for a hike, go to the mall, etc.There is also limited in town bus lines which are cheap enough, and he used to ride the bus all over Southern Calif. so I know that is doable. Since he can't afford internet service and because he is afraid someone will break in and steal his laptop he has decided to leave it here with us and use it when he comes over. Since he is within walking distance of the library I will take him there and show him how to use their computers. That's all for now. I am sure exciting days are ahead, and I hope , rewarding for him.

Holding our collective breaths

Finally, our youngest son has been accepted into a program that will help him live a more independant life.He is now on a waiting list for his own little studio apartment. It is in a converted hotel and is a secure building. It is about 2 miles from where we live, and 1/2 mile to the mall, and grocery store.He will get bus passes and taxi vouchers, so he will have transportation, and since I don't work I am also available to take him places. He will also have a P.A., sort of an aid to help him do things, shop, cook, whatever he needs.This will be very interesting, D will be 40 on his birthday and has never been  able to live on his own before, not so sure that he will be abe to handle it, but he certainly deserves the chance to see if he is capible of it.. He has many meetings schedualed so that his case worker can get to know him well, and what level of help he will need, they will also help get him a job, so even if he doesn't move out right away he can at least get out of the house for part of the day. That is the ony problem with living in the boonies, nothing to do,nowhere to go, and no way to get there except for us. It is not an area condusive to him riding his bike, the roads are narrow and there are no bike paths it is also very hilly.
Anyway, we are all waiting with our fingers crossed, but with the budget problems in this country right now, we expect to have a  several month wait before he can move. At least we are in the system now!

Tsunami Alert

We have been under a tsunami alert since 3 a.m., no damage so far and probably won't be, but they have blocked all the roads with beach access, which kinda chaps my hide, because the one I wanted to go to has cliffs that are very far above the ocean, more than 50 feet at least. But since the waves won't be big enough, I guess that the photo op just isn't there. A friend of mine was called and told to stay home from work. Where she works is right on the water, it is a ship building/refitting business. She is hoping it's stil there tomorrow. Ah, life in the great north west!

Cats

I wonder why cats choose the places they like to sleep.This cat , Fuzzball, loves to sleep in the washing machine. I wonder if they just feel more secure that way, since they have something against their back, or if it just a leftover from kittenhood when they all slept together in a big furry pile?

This guy and the alpha male , love to sleep in our bed with us, but this one will go out about midnight and come back in in the morning around 6:30, he is one of 2 that really want to spend most of the time outside, the other 2 have decided that they are really house cats and go out, but come back in in a few minutes.   Every night,  or very early morning, the alpha male gets on my nightstand and starts pushing things off to the floor, then he starts playing with the lamp cord, and the controls to my electric blanket.  He used to play with the pull on chains to my lamp and turn it on in the middle of the night. He can't do it now because I have wrapped them around the  globes so he can't reach them . If I ignore him, he will start clawing on my sheets, anything he can do to make noise so I will get up and feed him, this is fine anytime after 5:30 a.m. but not appreciated at say, 3:30 a.m. Everyone says that is odd because they are both feral cats. I dunno, cats just always find me. We are down to 4 1/2 cats now. I say 1/2 because one comes around for a bite to eat, and craves massive amounts of pets. He belongs to the people next door, but I think he is lonely because he had a dog to play with his entire life, until a few months ago when they had him put down. All I know is that cat is craving attention and affection, good thing he gets along with all my cats!

oh well

forget the previous post, he has now decided that Las Vegas would be better. I told him I don't really care where we go because he is my home.

One dry day...we head north

Sunday was actually a very nice day, it was a little overcast and a bit foggy in the morning, but the sky was dry .We drove north to a little beach town called Yachats( yaa hotz) it is very small and the beaches are beautiful. However lately we have been talking about moving to Belize. Of course we would need to vacation there several times, in different areas and different seasons. Belize is a tiny country at the south eastern end of Mexico, next to Guatamala and north of Honduras. It was part of the British commonwealth and the official language is English, law is based on English law, so it wouldn't be such a huge transition as it would be moving to Costa Rica which was another place we thought of. Moving  there you fill out a form to move there as a retired person and you don't pay taxes , not even to import your things from the U.S. The rate of exchange is currently 2;1, so our money would go twice as far. It is also pretty close to the States, a couple of hours by air. I am having a great time researching this. If we move, I will demand a guest room so people can come and visit. We are pretty friendly, even if I am very shy, once I know you I get over it. I have had people from a chat room  come and stay with us before, and it worked out well. Just think, you could get free digs for vacation in a tropical paradise! I am not sure how far above the equator it is, I will put that in after I look it up.



looking at Yachats



driving back south



looking north to town



Damn you rainy weather!

I realise that rain is not neary as terrible as floods, hurricanes,blizzards,mudslides, earthquakes or tsunamis, but it certainly can ruin a day you are going out to shoot some scenery. Saturday morning we drove from our house all the way down to California, it rained every inch of the way, I took a grand total of 2 pictures, well the same picture twice, once in color and once in black and white . It makes me feel just like this:
click on picture to see  all of it.

some pictures

these are elks at the local elk preserve...I have only met the kind of elks that drink a lot before this.

 

                           

it is kinda cool to live in the forest, when you are only 5 or so minutes from the ocean.

just to prove that every once in a while we have actual blue in the sky!

this river was running really fast( it was very noisy,too)

                                    

Contgrats are in order...

...for my cousin Rachel, and her lady Katherine, who just got married!

But wait...

It isn't supposed to look like this at sea level, unless you are at some pole or another. It isn't even winter yet!

Happy Halloween

This picture is a little blurry, I guess the person taking the picture had had a couple of drinks too many? Mr. Punxxi has white hair because I sprayed it that color. Halloween is my favorite day. We had a party that worked out well, and was a lot of fun.Especially since it was kind of a last minute deal. Next year we will plan ahead then I will be able to get more decorations, I really want a fog machine!

What goes around comes around

Just when I got the new laptop all set up and  the old one packed and ready to mail off to Ms J, I was running an update on mr punxxis desktop and it crashed  and not a crash I can fix...well it has been behaving badly, I was going to run the BIOS update then check for virii and other crapola. It got to the part where it was going to  reboot, it just blacked out and wouldn't even POST. I spent the next several hours on the phone, first with the extended warranty people who have set up an inhome repair ( I hope) and then online with Dell, New Delhi division so that I could have a cd of the drivers sent to me since they don't ship them with new computers anymore .
The point is that how fun is a new,mega wonderful, amazing  and speedy laptop when you have to actually (gasp!) share it? All I can say is thank god we use carbonite to back all of  our files/pictures  etc . It made it so easy to transfer everything over here to the new kid . Don't worry, I share everything with mr.punxxi, even tho he lies and says oh i have to check my email or i have to do some banking, mostly he is playing hearts or slingo.  Me, I do important stuff, I read all of your blogs!

ya hoooooooeyyyyyyyyyyy

The new lappy will be here tomorrow...2 days early! I can't wait. Then the data transfer begins and when it is set up you will get to see it. The Amazing Gracealien. What? you don't name yer toys?

I have gone insane

Today I ordered a new laptop, and no one will know until it shows up.  But look at it, much better than this one memorywise...I will probably give this one to my grandaughter. She has just started college and if Mr. Punxxi  doesn't want this Toshiba, it's all hers ( she never asks for anything!!!) Here's what the new baby will have ( it is being built as I type, should be here on the 20th)

1 224-8107 Space Black - Anodized Aluminum 


1 317-5661 Intel Core i7 740QM Quad Core Processor, 1.73GHz (2.93GHz Turbo Mode, 6M Cache) $0.00

1 317-3664 6GB Memory (1x 2GB, 1x 4GB DDR3) $0.00

1 330-8812 Alienware M17x 150W A/C Adapter $0.00

1 320-8856 17-inch WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 RGB LED (1200p) $0.00

1 320-8987 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon Mobility HD 5870 $0.00

1 342-0671 256GB SSD - Samsung Solid State Drive $0.00

1 313-8796 AlienFX Color, Plasma Purple $0.00

1 421-2261 Alienware Command Center, M17x $0.00

1 421-1400 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English $0.00

1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp $0.00

1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp $0.00

1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language $0.00

1 313-8569 Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW) $0.00

1 421-1304 CyberLink PowerDVD 8.0 Software $0.00

1 421-1305 Nero 9 Media Burning Software $0.00

1 313-8944 5.1 Channel Audio $0.00

1 430-3739 Intel Ultimate N WiFi Link 6300 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO Technology $0.00

1 330-6348 Automatic Updates: On $0.00

1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty $0.00

1 908-2207 Dell Hardware Warranty Plus On-Site Service, Initial Year $0.00

1 922-3410 Third Party At Home Service, 24x7 Technical Support, Initial Year $0.00

1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3 $0.00

1 421-1721 Soft Contracts,Banktec Care,Alienware $0.00

1 994-3730 Warranty Support,Initial Year $0.00

1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks $0.00

1 421-1360 Steam and Portal Factory Installed $0.00

1 421-2611 AlienGUIse Theme Manager with Breed Theme $0.00

1 421-1573 Alienhead 3D $0.00

1 421-1591 Alienhead 3D $0.00

1 430-0628 Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR $0.00

1 330-6175 Standard Nameplate $0.00
 I honestly don't know why I bought it, I already have 2 pc's and a laptop and a netbook..I guess that is why I have an iPhone and an iTouch which is the same as the phone but no phone or camera ...of course the new ones will have the same camera dealie as the iPhone .Oh toys, how we all love them.wth he buys golf stuff i buy technology.

So long summer.

That means its time for boots again! Yay.It also means that I better clean my dusty bedroom now that the windows aren't open  24/7.  It has been raining all week, just the usual Oregon weather. Bah, as in humbug.

nice new shoes

This is what mr. punxxi bought me for our "original" anniversary...he said, they are so you!

Summer, finally

It has not rained for at least 2 weeks! I am stunned by this, last year it rained most of the summer and all my plants died, because it got too cold at night.
I just heard the most awful  noise outside the window, I thought that one of the cats had caught a bluejay, but when I turned around and looked out, I saw that it was a baby raccoon doing it's (very loud) distress call for it's mama. Mama was there in a couple of seconds. They are just starting to bring the babies out, they are so cute, and little enough that if they bite you they don't hurt because their mouths are too small. The last few years I have had babies eating out of my hand, a couple used to run up my arm, these are now the parents but are still wild animals so I am very careful with them..when they bite it hurts and breaks the skin . Since they are rabies carriers I try to be careful...so far I'm not rabid  :o)