The Doctor is in.

April 2019

Grandma Ginger is Remembered at Acacia

On Friday, April 12, 2019, Grace Virginia Rutherford was laid to rest at Acacia Memorial Park in northeast Seattle next to her husband, Robert V. E. Rutherford and near her sister Eleanor ("Ellie") Manning and her brother-in-law Anthony ("Tony") Manning.

At the informal service, the twelve of us sat in an oval under a canopy and shared memories of Ginger. At Susan's request, I opened with prayer, and Nathanael prayed at the conclusion. The fact that there were exactly twelve chairs set up in advance was a small miracle. The Acacia staff provided a Navy flag.

We sang many hymns and interspersed them with stories and happy memories. The actual burial followed our small family service. All of Ginger's children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were there, as were Don, Judy, and Randy Sleight, as well as church friend Georgia Kumor.

Jonathan's Parents Become Homeowners

Nathanael and Cynthia bid on two homes recently, and closed on the second and nicer of the two. The rambler is 960 Sq. Ft., with three bedrooms and one bath. But it is much larger than their apartment, with significantly lower monthly payments due to a large down payment and the lowest possible interest rate. It also has a flat, fenced, yard with lots of potential. And we are delighted that they are only moving south from Renton to Auburn rather than to some place like Centralia or further south. The Sleight clan will continue to flourish in the Puget Sound area. Due to issues with their apartment lease, the move 14 miles south-southeast will not be rushed.

The house faces west toward 177th Pl. SE. It has no garage.

Entering the front door brings one into the living room. To the left is the hallway to the bedrooms, two small ones on the west side (front), and the single bathroom on the east side and the master bedroom in the northeast corner. Charis (left) earned the title of the first one to sleep in the new home!

A small laundry room is accessed through the generous kitchen.

It's about a 30 minute drive from our house in Bellevue to the new home.

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I shot these pictures with an 18-55mm DX lens on the D750 FX body. I observed that the camera adjusted to the DX format I was used to shooting on my old D300 bodies. So I wound up with smaller images, but the low-light capabilities of the D750 still produced great shots on the grey Saturday afternoon of April 27th.

Easter at Susan's Entertains a Full House

Twenty-four folks enjoyed a lamb Easter dinner at Susan's. Dining tables were setup in three rooms. Jean made five serving bowls of her special stuffing and some of the guests brought other items. Julie Adams brought the elegant Easter cake, and Randy brought ham. Nancy and I did a lot of COSTCO shopping the day before, and Jean had me out later to Safeway and QFC for more ingredients.

We're pretty sure there may be more eggs in the yard than the 80+ found. Charis got the hang of finding eggs and then placing them in her basket. Jonathan had fun searching.

With so many young folks, the party lasted well into the evening.

The Seattle Mariners Off to Hot 13-2 Start

The Seattle Mariners returned to town after a great 6-1 road trip and a sweep of the Kansas City Royals. Randy wanted to catch their first game back and Don joined him. So I purchased three tickets in section 319.

Each of the brothers had their own troubles on April 12th. Don was late getting back home to Renton after the Ginger service at Acacia, while Randy and I waited in Renton for him. And in my case, at the last moment, I realized I'd directed Randy to drive to the parking garage south of T-Mobile Park instead of on the north side at CenturyLink Field. And Randy had to trudge back to his car to deposit contraband that wasn't allowed through the metal detectors at the stadium. But in the end, we reached our seats in good time and stayed for the whole game.

The Seattle Mariners were leading the league with a 13-2 record, and their American League West rivals the Huston Astros were in second place at 8-5. This game itself was a disappointing 10-6 loss to the Astros, as 8 of their 10 runs came on grand-slam home runs. But the evening was redeemed when backup catcher Tom Murphy hit his first home run of the season in the bottom of the 9th to extend the Mariners' record breaking home run streak to 16 games, the longest number of games with a home run to start a season in major league history.

It was a cool evening, and Don was grateful for the loan of my parka for the second half of the game. And I was grateful that he paid for my dinner, a 1/3^rd pound Kidd Valley cheeseburger "with the works." I usually forego stadium food because of the high price, but Don insisted on paying. Randy got by on snack I had brought into the stadium in my "secret" pocket in the back of my coat! Alas, the cool evening in the top level of the stadium helped me catch a miserable cold that held on through the entire month.

The Mariners ended up opening their 2019 season with 20 strait games with at least one home run, a record which should last for years to come.

Love Me,
Love My Dog

Saturday, April 20th, found us at the Marymoor Dog Park to meet Luna, Joel Sitte's English Mastiff.

Jean, Joel, and Luna were joined by Annie, Thomas, Charis, Nancy, and myself.

Luna seems to have accepted Jean as a member of Joel's pack, but it will take some time for the rest of us to achieve that valued status since Luna is shy around strangers.

Charis showed interest in being friends with big Luna, just as she had done earlier with Shadow. But Luna (like Shadow) was even shy with little Charis.

This was Nancy and my first trip to the Marymoor Dog Park. It is the ultimate petting zoo for dog lovers.

So many of the dogs would run and play with each other when first let off-leash. Then they would calm down and follow their humans on the long walk around the park, politely sniffing passing posteriors.

And despite the fact that I was there to make the acquaintance of Luna, Charis demanded, by her mere cuteness, this photographer's attention.

Bits and Pieces

On the 26th, neighbor and friend Lori Smith came by to introduce Lexi, Ken and Lori's new Golden Retriever puppy. Saddie passed away a few years ago, but now Lexi fills that void in their family. She is a wiggly, playful pup at this point, with sharp teeth. No doubt in future years, I'll likely get to care for her as I once did Saddie. Like Luna, she will act as stand-in for the dog I wish I had.

As the secretary to all three business school honor societies, it's a relief each April when all the students who have been nominated are invited, and then a few weeks later, those who accept their nomination have their names sent to their respective national offices. These tasks were completed on April 25th, and now I only need to prepare for the actual honors event on May 16th.

My study on Acts 16-22 for this summer's class has only just begun. Time to hit the books again.

Was the international story of the month the fire at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on April 15th, or the deadly church and hotel bombings by Islamist militants in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, April 21st?

             And because lawlessness will abound,
             the love of many will grow cold.
                                                               Matt 24:12 NKJV

Nancy and I took an exciting break from reality at the end of the month. On Monday night the 29th, we went to the AMC Factoria 8 movie theater and watched the Captain Marvel movie. Then the next morning, we took in Avengers: Endgame at the nearby Cinemark Lincoln Square Cinemas. (It was their $5.75 discount day, and I had nothing scheduled at work.) Like nearly everyone, and especially everyone in our family, we love the Marvel movies. Both movies were amazing, but it was Endgame that brought tears to my eyes more than once.

My Quote from April

Remembering happy days at Camp Parsons.

Big Iron
Written and sung by Marty Robbins

To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day
Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say,
No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip
The stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip,
Big iron on his hip

It was early in the morning when he rode into the town
He came riding from the south side, slowly lookin' all around
"He's an outlaw loose and runnin'", came a whisper from each lip
"And he's here to do some business with a big iron on his hip,
Big iron on his hip"

In this town there lived an outlaw by the name of Texas Red
Many men had tried to take him and that many men were dead
He was vicious and a killer, though a youth of twenty four
And the notches on his pistol numbered one and nineteen more,
One and nineteen more

Now the stranger started talkin' made it plain to folks around
Was an Arizona ranger, wouldn't be too long in town
He was here to take an outlaw back alive or maybe dead
And he said it didn't matter that he was after Texas Red,
After Texas Red

Wasn't long before this story was relayed to Texas Red
But the outlaw didn't worry, men who tried before were dead
Twenty men had tried to take him, twenty men had made a slip,
Twenty one would be the ranger with the big iron on his hip,
Big iron on his hip

Now the morning passed so quickly and it was time for them to meet
It was twenty past eleven when they rode out in the street
Folks were watchin' from their windows, Every body held their breath,
They knew this handsome ranger was about to meet his death,
About to meet his death

There was twenty feet between them when they stopped to make their play
And the swiftness of the Ranger still talked about today
Texas Red had not cleared leather when a bullet fairly ripped
And the ranger's aim was deadly, with the big iron on his hip,
Big iron on his hip

It was over in a moment and the crowd all gathered 'round
There before them lay the body of the outlaw on the ground
Oh, he might have went on livin' but he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip,

Big iron on his hip
Big iron, big iron,
Oh he tried to match the ranger with the big iron on his hip,
Big iron on his hip

The summers of 1973, 1974, and 1975 found me on the staff of Camp Parsons, BSA, widely recognized as one of the top ten scout camps in the country. By my third summer, at the age of 20, I'd become one of those staffers that scouts and fellow staff members held in especially high regard. I was voted Staff Man of the Year.

Occasionally, I was joined on my Baritone Ukulele by "Wild" Bill Walker from the kitchen crew on his banjo and we'd sing Three Jolly Coachmen by the Kingston Trio. But our finest performance was a lunch one day in the mess hall when we were joined by Camp Chaplain Norm Lund on his guitar, and we belted out an amazingly accurate cover of Tom Dooley. It was magical.

Throughout history there have been many songs
written about the eternal triangle.
This next one tells the story of a Mr. Grayson,
a beautiful woman, and a condemned man named
Tom Dooley. When the sun rises tomorrow,
Tom Dooley must hang . . .

The Ballad of Ira Hayes
As sung by Bob Dylan

Gather round me people, and a story I will tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the tribe of Pima Indians, a proud and a peaceful band
They farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land
Down their ditches for a thousand years the sparkling water rushed
Till the white man stole their water rights and the running water hushed
Now Ira's folks were hungry, and their farms grew crops of weeds
But when war came, he volunteered and forgot the white man's greed

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian
Or the Marine who went to war
Yes, call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian
Or the Marine who went to war

They started up Iwo Jima hill, two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down that hill again
And when the fight was over and Old Glory raised
One of the men who held it high was the Indian, Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian
Or the Marine who went to war
Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey-drinking Indian
Or the Marine who went to war

Ira returned a hero, celebrated throughout the land
He was wined and speeched and honored, everybody shook his hand
But he was just a Pima Indian - no money, no crops, no chance
And at home nobody cared what Ira'd done, and when do the Indians dance?

Then Ira started drinking hard, jail was often his home
They let him raise the flag there and lower it like you'd throw a dog a bone
He died drunk early one morning, alone in the land he'd fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch was the grave for Ira Hayes

Yes, call him drunken Ira Hayes, but his land is still as dry
And his ghost is lying thirsty in the ditch where Ira died

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