Category: CREATURE FEATURES (Page 7 of 37)

After meeting my two great nephews yesterday, I found myself with a new nickname – GUM – Great Uncle Mike. The youngest of the two took right to me, sticking to me like gum and comfortably crawling into my arms. This is not usually the case for me with young children. I’m usually more scared of them than they are of me. However, Carter is my new buddy. Maybe, when I get settled in Florida in a few weeks, I can become a good grandfather? It was a step in the right direction – double bubble delight. 

Yesterday was a welcome day of rest for all of us weary travelers. My wife had to cancel her lunch plans with friends because of a doctor appointment, but other than that the day was all about dogs and children for her. I got all our new home utilities in order and enjoyed the outside weather. Today, we’re getting some Indiana rain, reminiscent of Portland. Tally and I will spend the afternoon in our favorite bar, waiting for my wife’s surgery to be completed. Hopefully, a couple friends will join me at our outside table. Poor Tally is afraid of little kids and has to deal with a cantankerous cousin pup at my wife’s sister’s house. She has spent most of her time on a leash, but surely better than being stuck in the car all day. She’ll hopefully be right at home in the bar with me.

My list of things to do for the move is growing shorter. The next big step is to change my credit card billing addresses now that we officially have a home. The remainder of the cross-country drive is on hold depending on any complications from the surgery. We still plan to meet with more of my wife’s relatives in Atlanta and hear all about my twin great nieces in Jacksonville, Florida who will someday also call me GUM. I have great nephews and nieces in both Indiana and Florida, as well those on the Ban(n)ister sides of my double life as an adoptee. Come to GUM!

I’m feeling a sense of relief while moving from one crisis to another. Moving is the key word here as one of the biggest, most stressful hassles in life. We just spent three long days in the car getting from Portland to Indianapolis. Fortunately, we are not racing the North American Van Lines driver to Florida since our stuff is still sitting in the warehouse awaiting transit. I received our fully signed closing documents on our new house this morning and am in the process of setting up all our utilities. In the meantime, my wife has now been to two ER facilities and a urologist with Kidney Stone concerns. It looks like tomorrow will be the out-patient surgery, but if they need to add a stint we could be staying in Indy longer than expected. Fortunately, she gets to spend time with her sister and family while recovering. 

As I was waiting for her to get checked-out at the hospital yesterday, I met a good friend at a nearby restaurant, TD Alibis. It’s been the sight of many gatherings through the years, once close to my house and an advertising agency that I worked closely with. It was like stepping back in time, although I’ve never shared my bar stool with a dog before. Our schnauzer Tally has been cramped in the car along with us in route to Florida. She’s been upset, seeing her “mom” go in and out of these strange buildings and not sure where she’s headed. My friend and I got an outside table and Tally joined us for a beer. She got some ice water, several bites of my ham and cheese sandwich, and many treats from our server. I had her bed set up in the shade and fed her dinner while we waited for word from my wife. We were both glad to not be sitting in the car on another beautiful day.

We’re also no longer homeless as of today. The apartment is now 2200 miles in the rear view mirror, as are our possessions. We may need to stay a week in Indy before we can start the leg to Atlanta. This means that all plans are on hold, including some other family get togethers. We have our fingers crossed that our load of furniture we be delayed just as long, so we don’t have to rush to meet the unloading crew. Tally and I may return to Alibis again tomorrow to wait out the surgery. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it. Man and beast deserve a break from all the stress of moving. At least, we survived all the inconveniences of notarized paperwork, wire transfers, spousal discomfort, dog duty, and packing. Hooray, we’ve Closed!

We made it to Burlington, Colorado just in time to take my wife to the ER with severe kidney stone pain. She was at Kit Carson Memorial Hospital for nearly four hours, treated by Dr. Quinn, Frontier Medicine Woman. While she waited, I checked us in at the Best Western Plus Carousel after prying poor faithful Tally from the door my wife last entered. A dog is woman’s best friend and she proved it true, worried that she might never see her again. However, food soon became a priority and she hopped in the car. This was not the only trauma of the day, because I soon discovered that a computer wire transfer of our home closing funds was not possible and the nearest  Chase Bank was 6 hours away in Kansas City with another time change between. We would need to get an early start.

The drugs knocked my wife out for the night, but I slept restlessly. After getting up at 3:30 a.m. and running the minimum mile, I packed the car and walked Tally. Fortunately, my wife felt well enough to drive the first shift, while I relaxed by writing this post. The sun was just coming up as we traveled the flat, uneventful highways of Kansas. I checked in with the bank, moving people, and title company as they all reported to work for Monday morning duty. Tomorrow is Closing Day on our new Florida home so everything has to be in order – money and paperwork! It’s exciting but exhausting as I fight off a headache.

We missed dinner last night, so a sugary pastry, Nature’s Valley peanut bar, banana, and bottle of Sunny D orange juice served as nourishment on the go. The rising sun is in our eyes and Tally sleeps in the back seat, finding the once exciting “ride in the car” to be undesirably boring. Hopefully, closing details will go smoothly and my wife  will have a pain free day, avoiding another trip to the ER.

We’re surrounded by packed boxes and a moving crew. Everything we own has a sticker, as we spend the last few hours in our Portland apartment. The final things to be packed will be my printer, computer, and office TV. It’s stuck on the Food Channel since the Xfinity service has been transferred to our new Florida home. Tonight, we’ll stay at the Waterfront Residence Inn for my farewell run past the cherry blossoms in the morning. Tally will rejoin us for the night with take-out from DeNicola’s. After the run, we’ll begin our 10-hour drive to Ogden, Utah, the first stop on our journey back to Indiana – more than halfway to our new Florida home.

While I thought my streak of finding dimes ended yesterday, one turned up by chance in my suitcase to make it four straight dime days. I’ve yet to come across one yet today, but Portland is giving me more than just pennies as we say goodbye as residents. We’ll certainly be back to visit family, but the last few days have been nostalgic as I followed the running route that was part of my mornings for the last year-and-a-half. Along the way I counted blinking security lights on parked cars, waved at the familiar Blanchet House volunteers along the stretch of homeless camps, observed the activity along the Willamette River, shook my head at all the boarded-up businesses, and played the silly alphabet game to ease the strain of the third mile.

Tomorrow on the riverfront, I won’t have to worry about crossing streets and rail lines. Tally’s walk will be much more peaceful without the traffic noise. She’ll be wondering what’s going on? We’ll be back at the hotel where she spent her first nights in the city. Then, it was a high-rise glass apartment, followed by a house on a steep hill, and finally this unit that we’re moving out of today. We further confused her with a couple nights with my wife’s daughter, her husband, and Falco. She’ll have very little space in the car for the next four days before we arrive in Indianapolis for a short break. It will be a long haul for her, filled with concern, as we all say, “Farewell Portland.”

Yesterday was almost “normal,” highlighted with dinner at a friend’s house. There was no sitting around watching TV all evening, just wine and conversation – like the old days. Our schnauzer Tally stayed home, brooding about abandonment. She’s seen all the packing going on and was confused by a farewell visit from her pet sitter, expecting us to leave without her. It will be even tougher next week when we send her to Falco’s house while the packers prepare our load for the cross-country haul. I wish we could tell her what’s going on and that everything will be all right. 

Today, the normalcy continues with the final Portland “Leadership Meeting” at Buffalo Wild Wings. I may be back someday to lead another one, but I don’t know when that will happen with one friend in Netarts, another in Sheridan, and the third amigo in Tualatin. It’s been a good seven-year run here in Portland, with the hometown Elkhart duo to support me while meeting other friends through work and baseball card collecting. I will miss the comradery, but will get to spend more time with my son, his wife’s family, and my grandkids.  We’ll also get involved in the new IslandWalk Community and the quaint town of Venice.

The only thing that wasn’t normal about yesterday was the afternoon time I spent watching the John Wayne Gacy – Devil in Disguise documentary on the Peacock network. It’s the bizarre story of the renowned serial killer and the families of his victims. He shows absolutely no remorse in the interviews, acting like it’s no big deal that there were 30-bodies buried in the crawl space under his home, while his wife and child innocently complained about the smell. The police and city officials apparently dismissed much of the evidence that might have shorted his killing spree, viewing it as consensual gay behavior. He was not a homosexual, but this was how his relationships were portrayed, discounting the credibility of the victims. It was another sad example of where “Gay Lives Didn’t Matter” because they weren’t considered normal human beings. 

I hope to have another normal day with good friends today. It will involve wings, beer, and basketball. I will read a poem (See Post #1616), as has always been my traditional way of saying goodbye, dating back to work relationships. I will probably write another to honor my Elkhart friends that I will save for my return trips to Portland. We’ll be back many times in the future to see friends and family. Hopefully, they will come to visit and see what normal is like for us in Florida. 

Thanks to the help of a friend I was able to get a vaccine appointment at a Salem, Oregon pharmacy about 50 miles away. It’s a little out of the way, but time was running out on scheduling both doses before we head to Florida. My wife is three months short of 65, so not yet eligible. She will have to get hers once we get settled in our new home. We’ll make another road trip adventure out of our drive down to the State Capital. Next Friday, we go to the coast for the day, and a week from Monday some wine tasting is on the calendar. 

It’s stacking up to be a very busy month of March. My wife’s daughter and her husband are coming to dinner tonight as we start to say our goodbyes to friends and family. Tuesday the car gets serviced. March Madness will lead to some additional Leadership Meetings. The last week is filled with document signing, doctor/dentist appointments, packing, loading, and hopefully getting my second vaccine shot. In the meantime, Tally will have her annual physical and shots. It’s shots all around, followed our April Fools Day move.  No pranks please. 

The sun has appropriately made an appearance on this Sunday. My run was relatively dry and double-dog duty went smoothly this morning. Tally’s doggy niece Falco spent the night. They can be pretty rowdy together, but scaredy-cats apart. Falco will go home after our family dinner tonight, so my responsibilities of evening and morning outings are complete. We’re not sure how often the two of them will get together before we start our drive. It’s sad that these two best buddies may never see each other again with 2,500 miles of geographic separation. Tally is too big to ride with us on a plane, while the smaller Falco probably won’t. We’ll do everything we can to let them romp together in these final weeks between my Covid-19 vaccine shots.