Friday, December 15, 2006

Weird weather

Close to two inches of rain and high winds marked December 14 in the Valley. Our addition got loaded with water, our materials are soaked, but the contractor is positive everything will be ok going forward. I wish I shared his optimism. Aleene and I stayed hunkered down inside most of the day after a flourish at the start.

I attended my men's breakfast this morning with the six or seven of us who get together each Thursday. This is a very interesting and wise group that meets for breakfast, study and prayer at a local restaurant. I am enjoying this group more and more each week. Included in is our friend Ed who is a retired Mennonite pastor and John our pastor's husband. John is the guy who took me rafting this fall. I have come to appreciate both of these guys. John, by the way, is retired (at 57) from the County in social work. He was a counselor at the youth home (kind of a Ted R-type person.) He also is seminary trained (Univ. of Edinburgh (Scotland) which makes three (the other being Jane, our pastor) at the table with some sort of TH expertise. Interesting group.

I beat it back home at 8:30, changed clothes and went to the gym since we could not walk this morning. Aleene had been on the floor doing Yoga in my absence. She uses her designer mat on the hardwood floor, so she can do all sorts of moves in seeming comfort.

I had some administrative things to do and by noon it was too miserable to be outside. The temp was in the mid to upper fifties, however. It wasn't the temps. It was the driving rain that kept us inside. It gave us time to reflect on being snug inside the house while a mere 75 miles away three souls are still missing on Mt. Hood. The conditions there remind me of stories of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire...100 mph winds and driving snow above 7,000 feet. Mt. Hood is 11,225 feet and one of them is in a snow cave near the summit. They are not sure where his two buddies are. They know where one is from a cell phone call on Sunday and a few "pings" they picked up in the past couple of days. They think that Friday or Saturday things will improve enough to continue the search.

I went to Portland yesterday for the HR Assn luncheon. I joined up to make some contacts. It was a good group...about 200, roughly four times as big as LHRMA, my old group from Michigan. I got there in 30 minutes, but it took longer coming back. Even though Portland is just 25 miles from here, it depends on the time of day as to how long it takes to traverse the distance. Some times it takes an hour or more.

A friend from church had a kidney transplant on Tuesday. His wife was the donor...strange that they matched, but the operation was successful. They should be home this weekend. She teaches at Truman's school (4th grade) and sings in the choir. Bill is the food service mgr at Friends View which is a retirement home much like Asbury (Meem's final digs.) Bill is in the men's group, the larger one, not the Thursday gathering of retirees. He will require daily trips to OHSU (Oregon Health & Sciences University) the pre-eminent medical school here to keep an eye on his kidney and everything that entails. I signed up to take him there several times over a two week period. So I am sure I will get to know Bill even better than I now do.

They were very brave, but very concerned going into this thing. I talked to Bill Sunday morning and didn't know what to say to him...I was too emotional. He has been on dialysis 3x a week for several years. It was good news to hear the procedures went well. The new kidney was working like a charm...just have to be concerned about rejection. Marilyn is recovering well, too. Our pastor handles these situations well and she and John (hubby referred to above) are well accepted as individuals, so people enjoy her visits and expressions. Jane is an amazing lady.

That's it for now...

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