:: Scuff Productions ::

After 8 months of trying to recover from a broken fibula, and hopefully, all the problems discovered, removed, and healing, I can begin some physical therapy today! 11:30! Yes. I KNOW this will probably cause more aches than I want, but it will be welcome. Some strength built up in the knee will be sorely, ha, welcome……….

The dog is getting tired of NOT getting to the hour SWIM fests in the river….More and more, I’m getting these bored looks….

Those are inbetween the moments he gets TOO excited because fabulous Arnie drives up at 0830 and gives him a walk……. I can only hope I’ll be going on these walks VERY soon.

WHAT A gigantic change in the year today. Our long dry summer just ended abruptly ……….it was 80+ sunday, and is 48 this morning with a high of 60 forecast. GRAY and wet…. I believe summer is truly over. Glad I cleaned out the garden yesterday.

Hm. Sometimes you just can’t write a blurb about your hometown any better than the news article. ANYTIME someone dies my age, I first of all want to know how, why?

So……A guy I grew up with in that tiny cowtown of Vale, OR was killed in a car………….and here’s the story. No more details, please:
============================

Vale man dead after car flips over cow carcass in E. Oregon

Troopers: Wandering cow hit by 5 vehicles
04:02 PM PDT on Sunday, September 27, 2009

Associated Press

BAKER CITY, Ore. — Oregon State Troopers say at least four vehicles hit a cow that wandered onto Interstate 84 Friday night, killing it. Then a Lincoln Continental struck the carcass and rolled, killing a passenger.

Troopers said Saturday they’re investigating how the cow got onto the highway.

They identified the victim as 62-year-old Gary Glascock of Vale.

Troopers say the cars that hit the cow initially were able to pull off the highway. The crash was about 30 miles east of Baker City.

They say Glascock wore a seat belt.
============

hm………..

I have shown a picture of the teddy bear sunflower in the house. The plants themselves are producing dozens of blossoms……I grow more impressed with them as days go by. Here’s ONE plant in the garden AFTER trimming off several for ourselves and neighbors:

Individually, they’re showstoppers:

Some of the giant sunflowers are beginning to “cure”, and since one got broken in the wind last w/e, I cut that drying bloom off and placed it on the squirrel feeder yesterday. Today it’s gone:

A few other giant blooms out there have already been discovered “on the plant”, and are being devoured…..NICE fun end we get to watch with these gorgeous FALL bloomers.

I had ONE last dark dahlia I love:

And Rodger’s deck plants have survived heat, summer, and still lookin’ nice:

Poor Rodger has had to do some yard “extra” projects while waiting for my knee recovery…..He’s beginning a beautiful stacking job in the woodshed:

Obviously, lots-o-wood to move yet…………..
And he took up re-roofing the old shed since we have enough “kindling” of the pear wood to need extra space. Somehow, these projects become more than planned over time…..So far, 2 trips to Lowe’s, and 3-4 nights to get done. BUT, it’s going to give us extra storage for winter. Rodger’s exhausted at night:

I think this may be the last rose of summer:

Successful surgery was performed on the meniscus damage in Mark’s left knee last Thursday.

Things have gone swimmingly well since then, i.e., the recovery’s coming along well! It DID seem a little strange….the knee was bruised, of course, with the arthroscopy, but SOME discomfort and pain I’d felt for months was gone immediately, and is now. Hurray.

I haven’t had a pain “cutie” since yesterday morning, and am finally walking slowly, and regularly without crutches. Post-Op appt is Thursday morning, after which physical therapy will mean beginning of muscle rebuilding….the HARD part of this whole thing.

Oddly….the surgeon reported seeing an ACL Tear while in there removing meniscus chips. WHY wasn’t that seen during the MRI that was done to find out exactly WHY I’d been having knee pain.

Oh well, I’m overjoyed about how I’m feeling at the moment…..the last three days have been quiet: sleep, read, TV, eat, repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Now, I feel life back in the bones! Ah!

The kindness of friends here will never be forgotten. We’ve been eating delicious food delivered to our door since Thursday! I am humbled about the effort fabulous people extended to us making all this much easier. It worked! I know there’s NO way to proper thank everyone. I’m just GLAD they weren’t bringing food over for the “funeral” instead of just recovery, eh? Hah.

An Indian Summer is in high session here! Two more days of it are expected. I’m hoping by Wednesday I actually just MIGHT be moving enough to make one more batch of Salsa….maybe ROAST some tomatillos.

Things are beautiful here except there’s ONE BIG sign it’s NOT a JUNE heat wave: MANY MANY Maple leaves are simply dried out after this warm summer, and with the East wind today, it looks like fall rather than a late summer warm spell. Isn’t it odd how falling leaves gives one a completely different feeling than quiet summer skies?

THANKS TO EVERYONE who has wished us well, I am lucky so far, it kind of looks like I’ll be out there soon, being as obnoxious as ever to everyone I know and love.

Looking back for a second, can you guess which one of these would turn out to be the gay one? If you miss THIS guess, I don’t think you HAVE any gaydar sensibilities in you……………..hah. Yep, that was me…………………

Well, I have a few minutes since the dastardly “scheduler” at the surgeons office screwed up………. We were supposed to be in at 0630 for prep, surgery at 0715, and out by 0900 at the latest. THAT is the hour I requested…

But NO, without boring anyone how the blonde airhead “scheduler” messed that up, we’ll just say that the “arthroscopy” will now be done at: 12:30 show up, 1:30 operation, out by 3:00.

Some last summer “things” got done, and some will now await work next month after healing. Some things will get done by Rodger in the next week or so (yep, a bit-o-wood-stacking). Hopefully the weather will still be in the “pre-rain” season:

WE GOT wood!!! Still a load to go up at Parkdale, but we have wood on hand. THIS pile was donated by Peter/Jeanne down the street:

THIS is some of the wood we’ve brought from Parkdale:

ALL of that needs to be moved to the woodshed and “stacked”. I DID get the last from the woodshed from last year moved and ready in the garage:

Whew! Moving wood shows me why I need the knee fixed.

Oh, the fun memory of cleaning up the corn! LAST of the plants are gone and corn in the freezer. I almost wanted simply to boil it ALL and eat it right at the moment it was picked:

NO, I cut it off, par-boiled, and froze this:

Then, the cobs were off to the compost:

LAST of fresh corn, darn. BUT, the tomatoes are STILL producing, I can’t believe it:

UP to yesterday, we’d kept up using/eating every fresh tomato. Rodger’s making a great sauce from America’s Test Kitchen with a bunch of those great ‘maters above.

The first apple tree is ripe….Gravensteins are early, and they need to be used…..they’re perfect right now:

BUT….the “preferable” Granny Smiths will be getting ripe after I’m back up and ready for making Ina’s famous Apple Crisp…..last October. Yum.

Oh yes, I DID cut myself a few dahlias to encourage quick recovery……I LOVE ‘em………(I can’t believe there’s still a gladiola or two out there blooming….in September!)

And more will await next week:

Well, now, I’ll go shower, write “NO” on the knee to leave alone in ink, and WAIT the countdown. Oh yeah, and begin thinking of WHAT I will WANT to eat by 3:00….I haven’t had a thing since yesterday, so WILL be hungry. Hm…….what should it be? I’ll be groggy……hm…….

(While I was typing the above, dear Karen just dropped off her famous apple/chicken salad……looks like we HAVE dinner ready! THANKS, Karen).

SO I guess I get ONE more chance at trying to get somebody to give me a sponge bath……

I wanted to share a couple of very favorite new treasures I enjoyed this summer in the arts.

1) IF YOU LIVE in Portland, you MUST get tickets to Artist Rep Theatre’s new version of Arthur Miller’s “ALL MY SONS“. It is a fabulous production on a simple stage, and ALL Arthur Miller. Written in the McCarthy era, this thing is as timely as the nitwits protesting “Govvm’t run health care, but don’t take away my medicare.” We sat there 2 hrs, 45 minutes without leaving our seats. Beautifully done, depressing, a bit, yes, since MIller wants to remind you some things are debatable. The show just started and runs through Oct 11. **Remember, get season tickets and GO WITH US!!! Almost every play we see at this small intimate Portland theater is excellent.

2) Book of the era: “THE FAMILY” by Jeff Sharlett. **easily found on-line, OR….currently at Costco, you can nab it for $10. THIS expose’ didn’t “teach” me completely “New” information as much as FRAME all the horrors I’ve been seeing in the corrupted government increasingly falling into fundamentalist hands. You think Dobson’s Focus on the Family is just scary? He’s MUCH MORE than that. THIS book is SO well documented, you can spend a few days just reading the reference footnotes. Sharlett has written it in such an engaging style you can’t put it down. PLEASE LEARN about Fundamentalist Politics….they want your constitution done away with and replaced with a Theocracy …… they are every bit as frightening as those they call terrorists. READ THIS BOOK.

3) IF you have any leaning toward some classical piano music, try out a rather unfamiliar concerto or two of Camille Saint-Saens, my favorite atheist composer.

Sure, everyone knows his famous Organ Symphony No. 3
**that is a “sound” link for a 40 second sample of the piece**
that EVERY Stereofile nut loads onto his turntable (hah) for guests, cranks up his speaker to 1100 DB’s, and makes you listen to, BUT……………. he wrote many piano concertos throughout his life (1st at 23)… FIND a sampling of Concerto #3….a FUN romantic piece. Then listen to Concerto #5….called the Egyptian because he wrote it after traveling, and the sounds show it. It’s feel good music……….so you “could” be doing housework in a GOOD mood if listening to this. Or, better yet, sit back, and let your mind travel to Cairo!

Well, those were on my mind………….I hope someone gets to enjoy ONE of these great experiences.

Mark

I’ve tried to be as productive as I can counting down to surgery hour on Thursday. The garden’s getting thinned and cleaned up, with many tomatoes STILL awaiting the tummy……… the border is sure beautiful with sunflowers, and my favorite is always the Teddy Bear Sunflower:

The last TWO weekends, we spent in Parkdale at the fabulous Double-Wide Ranch with hosts John & Toni….and the first w/e included Linda & Gary. Just being with these friends is reward enough, but there WAS a purpose… 2-3 cords of Pear Wood were needing to be cleared off the property, and WE were the buyers. We borrowed Nancy M’s trailer, and we’re off for Columbia Gorge on a rather damp Saturday morning:

Parkdale is such a gorgeous place. Sitting on the North/East side of Oregon’s most famous volcanic mountain, Mt Hood. It’s part of the Mt Hood Forest Region. It’s beauty catches your gaze from any direction you can see it. This one’s from the front window of Toni & John’s living room:

THIS day, the rain was barely clearing, showing some of the first snow on the lower slopes.

We weren’t there long before the group wanted to do some hiking. We had Mr. Mac with us and gimpy Mark, so chose an easier trail that led to Tamanawas Falls…..

That’s another fabulous part of the forested Oregon regions, they’re full of trails……. Within 15 minutes, we would begin the hike by crossing Cold Creek, a cold stream hosting migrations of Coho & Steelhead:

And in the two mile climb/hike, MAC found PLENTY of deeper watering holes to find his life’s most exotic pleasures, swimming in fast currents:

ALWAYS exciting to watch (and anyone on the trail who passed would stop and watch), THIS dog gets SO excited in rapids, he howls, spins, jumps, swims….without stopping. Occasionally he lets himself drift to the side so he can jump excitedly BACk into the fray… these moments, are unarguably pure ecstasy for him:

With Mac, our climb was slower and that’s okay with Mark…we were surprised to find our group catch up with us on the trail:

They’d changed their minds about which trail to go on, so joined us for awhile before they took a fork to the right which stretched the hike for another 3-4 miles.

Almost every turn seemed to be a rich beautiful wondrous photo op:

It was a lovely trail following along this beautiful small river.

We all soon arrived at the destination falls, just one of hundreds in the Oregon rain forests:

After the hike back, we met back at the cabin where wood was loaded, we prepared a “family” meal, settled into an evening of puzzle mysteries:

Followed by “movie of the night”……….

What a memorable weekend………………… repeated again THIS weekend where we moved another small load of wood to our front driveway…..it’s “dumped” there and will await spare moments for Rodger to move into a woodshed and stack, and after 3-4 weeks, Mark will be stacking his share.

So Thursday begins at a surgeon’s office 0630 for prep, surgery at 0800, and out by 0930. Then 4-6 weeks recovery, therapy, and hopefully, “indian summer” so we get everything winterized early.

Ah, what memories that hiking day was.

I used to wonder what we’d talk about after the last election.

Just today I see, with some amazement, but no surprises…………really……….

1) The Mexican Plane Hijacker is a born-again Christian, convinced God, or someone “close” to God, was instructing him on this “hijacking” plan…

2) Republicans have SO little respect for the office of the president, there’s broad discussion today about how many were “texting” during his speech last night, i.e., Eric Kantor…….the BIG Republican in Congress.

3) The So. Carolina Congressman who screamed out, “You Lie” to the American President in a joint session of congress happens to be, believe it or not, the LARGEST recipient of campaign moneys from the Health Insurance Industry.

4) Glenn Beck is SO insane, SOMEONE in his own CHURCH, the Mormons ought to be interested in having him sushed. His anger full of explosive hallucinations DO need therapy………. calling for a revolution.

5) TX Recessionists are NOT VERY mad at Gov Perry after HE said TEXAS should secede from the UNION because of Obama doctrine….that TX shouldn’t pay anymore taxes. That was shortly before HE accepted a few hundred thousand for some work on TX gov’t buildlings. He’s being called to put up or shut up….. Be careful what you ask for, Mr. Perry and ALL you Republicans who have no concept of what this government has done for you.

6) Sarah Palin was called out for creating the “DEATH PANELS” lingo that all the Repubs jumped on…….NOT last night. NOT ONE has since dared bring THAT big lie up again.

7) IT SEEMS to me, EVERY insane blather these people blither, tweet, or put on the airwaves is eventually exposed as lies, if not ignorance. WHEN will their own “smart” members finally get embarrassed and demand change in their OWN party?

8) Rupert Murdoch continues to play Beck on the air despite the dozens of sponsor cancellations. Why? Beck has viewership. I guess it shows “MONEY” is all that matters to Mr. M, one of the wealthiest men on earth who, to this very moment, is still trying to acquire MORE media control so he can eventually silence all of us, any opposition to Corporate Control.

9) I’m concerned the Supreme Court is going to reverse the regulations that kept limits on Corporation Contributions to Political Campaigns. I have a very STRONG feeling where MOST of that money would go.

10) I have NEW respect for Obama….great speech last night, well timed, and I’ve decided he knows exactly what he’s doing and is patient enough to wait them out. I think the same will be true of other campaign promises we haven’t seen accomplished yet. After all, he is STILL in his first year of office trying to fight off an opposing party who will do ANYTHING to get their absolute power back.

I have graduated from my mmmmmmmmm favorite high summer lunch meal: BACON, TOMATOES out of the garden, Lettuce out of the garden Sandwiches………on home-made sourdough bread.

TO my favorite LATE summer lunch meal…………

FRESH picked Creamed Corn, a bunch of salted sliced fresh picked tomatoes, a slice of home-made bread.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..