The Doctor is in.

February 2021

The Obligatory February
Snow Event

Valentine's Day weekend we enjoyed our 2021 snow days. I found I only ventured out to take pictures or measure the snow depth. Six-and-a-half inches on Saturday ended up being 12" on Valentine's Day Sunday morning.

Click on this "picture of the month" at the left.

Charis looked like a model in her fur-lined hood on Saturday, and fit in her mother's snow suit on Sunday.

Annie did the heavy lifting as she crafted the Disher snow family. Even the snow-momma had a snow-baby to match Annie and Valerie.

Nancy always loves snow. It encourages her to move, but there was no sledding for her this year.

A Tea Party at the Pastricks

Alicia and Richard Pastrick invited the clan up to Lake Stevens this month to a dessert tea. Alicia especially likes to party with special attention on our youngest set. And I enjoy keeping an eye on my "other" two grandsons, especially when they are in focus through my Nikon D750.

The big news this month was that Alicia is expecting again in the fall. Of course, a girl would be nice, but it's always best when God chooses whom He will.

In contrast to the imperceptible daily changes we see in Charis and Valerie, visits with the Pastricks reintroduce us to Rowen and Corvin, bigger and more capable at each meeting.

Dr. Dick at Sixty-Six

Jean baked me another spice cake, this time with ALL the penuche frosting on just half of it. Awesome!

Annie and Thomas got me a game that imitates the action of major sea battle in the Age of Sail. And Annie splurged, getting me my first bottle of whiskey-based Baileys Irish Cream (17% alcohol). I've occasionally enjoyed the wine-based Kirkland (COSTCO) brand of Irish Cream with its 13.5% alcohol.

I got myself Rock Phosphate for my tomatoes and peppers and ten six-foot Polyethylene coated steel rods to stake ten tomato plants. I'd bought ten more tomato cages online earlier.

I now have six varieties of tomatoes, four varieties of peppers (hot, sweet (2), and bell), two kinds of onions, and two types of strawberries started in the dining room.

I harvested and germinated the orange bell pepper seeds just as I did the other peppers last month — on the warm spot atop the freezer. It worked just as I had expected.

The biggest gardening victory will come if the strawberry seeds I gleaned from just four ripe COSTCO strawberries take off. I also ordered another 200 strawberry seeds from eBay. The plastic containers in which COSTCO sells their big pumpkin pies make excellent large low terrariums.

During the snow, I kept a roaring fire going in our living room woodstove. The piles of firewood we sawed up last year are getting used. The maul spits the big pieces far better than the axe.

And, while my mind plays with scenarios which might include some continued teaching, when I am holding Valerie or playing with Charis, I know that my retirement decision has been the right one.

On January 31st, I emailed birthday greetings to Kathy (Finney) Hildebrand. I haven't done that in ages. My first girlfriend enjoyed being older than me — six days older. In 2018, she admitted to being depressed, especially when she read about so many successes in my life. Kathy was intelligent and spirited in her way, but non-athletic to the extreme. We were an odd couple. I would love to also send birthday greetings to the young Kim Sanders/Conrad, girlfriend number two, with a birthday one month after mine. But I have not been in contact with her for the last nine years. Perhaps she has retired from Boeing. One wonders.

Year #66 is a big transition one for me. So much is happening that I'm glad I chronicle each month in these web pages. Just cleaning out my office at SPU, which began this month, will take through June.

Our Little COVID-19 Pod Gets Together

Dick, Nancy, Annie, Thomas, Charis, Valerie, Nathanael, Cynthia, Jonathan, Reuben, Susan, Randy, and the Pastrick family comprise our COVID-19 pod. We rarely stray outside this circle. That is, until Annie goes back to work on March 1st.

Jean and Joel would be part of this group, except they keep to themselves and are usually off house-hunting.

Again this month, Bob and Kim Disher joined us from Dallas, Oregon. Bob is as playful with granddaughters as I am. And Kim does more than her share of taking care of the whole family when she is here. This visit was only four days long, but as welcome as ever.

Bob showed me his iPhone music playlists and we sat in the "Great Room" and sang along with Johnny Horton, the Kingston Trio, and others.

They brought more toys and furniture for the girl's room, and a dog-shaped cake pan. Annie and Charis used the pan to bake Annie's 34th-year birthday cake.

Hunting George

For most of this month, "George" was a worrisome resident in our home. He (or she) first signaled his presence by getting into some of the snacks we had for Charis. We secured what we could in ice chests and other containers. Eventually, I put out my two rat traps that I’d deployed outside. I’d only caught one large rat earlier this year. Night after night, George raided my traps for whatever goodies I’d baited them.

Finally, Annie bought Thomas a live-trap cage at Home Depot. It was now deemed a competition between the new trap and my traditional ones. I admit that when I saw where Thomas placed his trap, I placed my second one a little closer to where I expected George to hang out.

On his last night, George cleaned out my trap in the living room around midnight. Then at 4:30 AM, Nancy told me that she’d heard the rat get captured in Thomas’s trap. Nancy is the only one who had actually seen George dash through the house a few days earlier. My competitive spirit was a bit hurt when I heard that Thomas had won the contest, but I went over to look at his catch. To my surprise and guilty joy, I found that it was my second trap that had dispatched George.

Add rat disposal to the list of my normal household duties.

Rush Limbaugh, Dead at Age 70

I did not cry or feel especially sad when I heard the sudden news read by his wife Kathryn on his radio program. I knew that this hero of the Conservative side of the political gulf had stage-four lung cancer, and he had prepared his millions of listeners well for his passing.

For at least thirty years I had often listened to Rush from 9:00 AM to Noon on KVI radio and later on KTTH AM. He was more than a conservative radio host. He was a showman, a provocateur, a gadfly to the Left which he dissected on this program every weekday. And he was a friend to every freedom-loving American.

Those who listened to Rush without first being corrupted by the propaganda of the mainstream and left-leaning media that maligned him at every opportunity, heard logic and reason wrapped in humor and common sense. He was both dearly loved and deeply hated by millions.

"Rush Hudson Limbaugh III was an American radio personality, conservative political commentator, author, and television show host. He was best known as the host of The Rush Limbaugh Show, which was nationally syndicated on AM and FM radio stations." (Wikipedia)

Saturday Morning at the Park

On the 27th, we joined Nathanael's family at the Lake Wilderness Arboretum, steps away from the Lake Wilderness Lodge where Joel and Jean were wed a year ago this month. Joel and Jean spent yet another Saturday house-hunting, during this hottest housing market on record. Charis and Jonnie were again the happy pair they have always been together. Getting to see her cousin Jonathan motivates Charis to do whatever it takes to get ready and get out of the house.

Charis wore her first ponytail.

Annie could not resist her masked hero in a cape.

Cynthia brought books and bread she'd baked.

Cynthia and Nathanael have had more success getting out and about during this
COVID-19 year. It was good to get out into nature.

Bits and Pieces

If you ever asked how any good alcohol is made, you know that answers from brewers and distillers will range from,
“Very carefully” to, “None of your business.” (From the web.)

This month, Randy received this Certificate of Appreciation from the Professional Consultants of Snohomish County.
And it seems that his county can't quite do without him. He'd returned to work one day each week, and that will double to Thursdays and Fridays each week beginning in March.

The basement stairway got a visual upgrade with the addition of five framed photographs that the Dishers brought up from Oregon. These artistic photographs of stage coaches were part of the Wells Fargo Bank advertising campaign that featured them.

Dr. Ross Stewart mentioned at my monthly meeting with him that the Provost had approved my elevation to Instructor Emeritus as mentioned earlier. I look forward to that being made public in May or June. Alas, there will be no in-person event to celebrate my retirement and that of Professor of Political Science Reed Davis.

My Quote from February

"Right now, the Mariners looking for the tie. They would take a fly ball. They would love a base hit into the gap and they could win it with Junior's speed. The stretch... and the 0-1 pitch on the way to Edgar Martínez, swung on and LINED DOWN THE LEFT FIELD LINE FOR A BASE HIT! HERE COMES JOEY! HERE IS JUNIOR TO THIRD BASE, THEY'RE GOING TO WAVE HIM IN! THE THROW TO THE PLATE WILL BE...LATE! THE MARINERS ARE GOING TO PLAY FOR THE AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! IT JUST CONTINUES! MY OH MY! EDGAR MARTÍNEZ WITH A DOUBLE RIPPED DOWN THE LEFT FIELD LINE AND THEY ARE GOING CRAZY AT THE KINGDOME!"

— Dave Niehaus' call of "The Double", hit by Edgar Martínez, which scored Joey Cora and
Ken Griffey, Jr. to win the 1995 American League Division Series in the 5th and final game.

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