A Response to Charlie's Post

Well, I thank Charlie for giving me a nudge -- he’s good at that. He did leave out a few things, of course.

I had the fundraiser for John’s scholarship a couple weeks ago and that kept me very busy. It turned out to be a great event. I was worried we might not even make our costs (we had the dinner catered and paid a DJ to come in and do some line dancing lessons) but we managed to sell enough in our auction to make about $3,500 profit. Not as much as I would have preferred but at least we made some money and, best of all, the people who did come seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed the evening. I think because of the amount of time and energy and effort this event requires, for a very small return, this will be the last year I do it. Over the past 5 years we have raised about $45,000, I think. That is a good memorial for John, a man who loved the school and always liked to have a good time with his friends.

I’ve had the luxury this year of having enough time to pay lots of attention to the campaigns and have enjoyed following the primaries, the conventions, and the debates. I am voting a mixed ticket this year. I’ve come to the conclusion that Barack Obama is the person who can best lead our country out of this negative spiral we’re caught up in -- not only the financial situation but our place in the world. Of course, I am also support ing my former boss and my friend, Gordon Smith. It pains me deeply to see the negative, hateful and untrue ads that are being run against him. I have been to the campaign office once to help with some mailings and will probably be going there at least a couple more times in the next two weeks.

I have also been taking several classes: two on the mystics and contemplative living at the Franciscan Spiritual Center, and a water color painting class through Clackamas Community College. In addition, I am continuing to do bits of work on the house. I have my bedroom half-painted and will finish that up probably this week. There is still lots of flooring work to do. Next week I will do an energy performance evaluation and subsequently have some insulation work done, among other efforts to make the home more snug and energy efficient. Thankfully there are financial incentives to do this, but it still is more money out the door.

I continue to clean up leaves from the yard and gutter about once a week, and I no sooner get that done than it rains or the wind blows and the leaves come tumbling down again. But it’s part of the price you pay for having a big, beautiful tree to shade your yard and house all summer. I bought and stacked a cord of alder wood -- my brother helped me do some of the stacking. So I’ve had a couple fires in my fireplace. So cozy! It would be more fun, though, to have someone to snuggle with, besides Charlie.

I’ve had a couple people who seemed interested in the motor home but nothing yet. I’m waiting for the darn diesel prices to drop. They have dropped some, but not nearly as much as gas prices. I really don’t want to have to winterize it but I will have to be looking at doing that soon, I’m afraid.

Of course, I continue to be busy at church with meetings, singing in the choir, attending spiritual programs and groups whenever I can, doing my centering prayer and Mass on Friday mornings.

But the truth is, I haven’t been diligent about posting to the blog and I haven’t been at all proactive about my book. I know I need to get that done and I will. In defense of myself, I AM doing some research reading of books similar to mine: personal travelogues of the US as seen from a motor home. I also need to start going to the gym on a regular basis. Walking Charlie is great but it’s not enough. I am getting so flabby and lazy. I have gotten into the habit of eating in front of the television -- not a good thing -- and having a glass or two or three of wine. And Charlie’s right: sometimes my meals are as simple as peanut butter on crackers. Not very healthy. These are bad habits I need to work on and replace with more positive activities. There’s really not much point in continually checking what’s happening with the stock market and my IRA, because I can’t do anything about it anyway, besides get depressed.

So although I have found my place to land, at least for the time being, I am still struggling to find a fulfilling life, a routine that meets my needs.

A Note From Charlie

Hello
This is me, Charlie. I’m “channeling” through Mom cause she’s in a stuck place. She has lots to say but is finding it difficult to motivate herself to sit down and start writing. Well, typing. Of course, I can’t type -- I’d actually rather carry that cute little computer around in my mouth -- but I can invade her thoughts. Bet you didn’t know dogs could channel. I’ve done it a little before: take the dog for a walk; feed the dog a treat; pet the dog; it’s time to go for a ride to the park with the dog. You know, those kinds of simple tasks. This is a little more challenging. But I’m a smart and capable golden retriever and she is fairly teachable and easy to manipulate so, here we go.

First, I want you all to know how much I love my new home. There is a big yard and sometimes neighbors to bark at, or our neighbor’s daughter brings her dobermans to visit and we get to bark at each other and sniff noses. There are squirrels in the yard, running on the fence, or climbing the trees behind the fence. I’ve almost caught a couple of them. I’m not sure what I’d do with it. Last time I caught a squirrel it didn’t like it. It bit me on the nose. I didn’t like that so I shook it like one of my stuffed animals and it stopped moving. Mom says I must have snapped its neck.

The bad thing about my new home is it’s all hardwoods or other hard surfaces and they’re all very slippery. I like the way my toenails click on the floors but sometimes it’s hard to keep my footing. When I sit, my hind legs sometimes slip back and I end of lying down. The only thing that would make my home better is if Nick, my buddy, came to visit. Mom said something about him being in doggy heaven but I’m not sure I understand that. I just know I miss him and all the lovely romps we used to have together. Tom, Nick’s owner, and my uncle by virtue of being Mom’s brother, comes to visit a couple times a week. He misses Nick, too. I like it when Tom comes because he’s good at petting me and throwing the ball for me. Oh, and feeding me little bites of his dinner. (“Feed the dog a bite.” Works with him, too.)

Our days usually start out with Mom making coffee and feeding me. I have a doggy door but it’s getting colder so we’ll probably have to take that out soon. Then I’ll have to wait for her to let me out. She checks her email and then we often go for a walk. Sometimes we just walk around the neighborhood but sometimes she takes me to a park. I love to go to the park; so many other dogs, so many smells. Then she checks her email again -- I’m not sure what she’s looking for but she doesn’t seem to find it very often -- and thinks about working on her book or writing a post for her blog. But then she just plays solitaire for awhile.

She often goes to some meeting or class or something and leaves me alone to guard the house. She’s sometimes goes out with girlfriends to movies or lunch or just for visits. It’s like she’s kind of searching. I can tell she is lonely and sad often, and I try to cheer her up as only a golden retriever can do. Sometimes she laughs and plays with me, throws the ball for me, or just pets me and holds me. Those are good times. I give her as much love and companionship as I can. But while I can channel, I can’t talk. I can listen, but not respond. I think she misses having a human companion.

To be truthful, I hardly remember Dad. I was just a young puppy when he left. I remember he loved to take me for long walks at Powell Butte Nature Park. Mom and I have been back there a couple times, and we used to go with Nick and Tom before. Now we mostly go to a park nearby or to Mt. Tabor in Portland.

Sometimes my life is boring, especially when Mom is off doing other things. But she reminds me how lucky I am. There aren’t many dogs who get to spend so much time with their humans, and especially to travel around in that great big moving house we lived in and pee in almost every single state. That is something I can always be proud of.

For now, though, my job is to try to motivate Mom to take me for walks -- it’s good for her and for me, to write our story, to fix us healthy meals. While I like peanut butter, a bite or two of real meat or steamed vegetables is a treat! I try to help her stay positive and let her know that not only do I love her like crazy, God loves her like crazy too. She’s starting to realize that dogs are gifts from God, and God’s messengers, in our own way. We -- especially golden retrievers -- know about love and that’s the most important message there is or can ever be. So keep my Mom in your prayers that she can find her way when she’s feeling lost. I can’t always do it alone, even though goldens make great search and rescue dogs. And I promise to nudge her with my nose until she gets back to writing on a regular basis. That’s really good for her, too.

Charlie