Father's Day

Father's Day was a lot of work until it wasn't.  Nathanael and Cynthia brought the boys, and I had my first extended time with Reuben.  He's really moved past the baby stage to the toddler one.  He looks more like brother Jonny now. (In this photo [left], I was surprised to see how my 1992 Melanoma scar is still so visible.)

Joel and Jean joined via Zoom.  We opened Father's Day cards, and Julie brought another tasty cake.  Reuben actually helped me cut it.  I'd forgotten that Uncle Jack's big leather chair was a rocker.  Reu was happy to nap while I rocked, just as Jonny had done a few years earlier.

When they played in the wagon, Charis held onto Reuben, since he had fallen out the last time these three played with it.

There'll be few babysitters for these kids while grandparents are available.  A few days later, I spent the morning with the boys in Auburn.  Jonny was giddy to see me, and finally Reuben seems to like me too. 

The Aquarium Hobby Grows

Guppy Grass and small Mystery snails were purchase off of eBay and were added to my three tanks in the basement toward the end of this month.  I wanted this plant because it, like the Java Moss purchased originally, should be just right if and when I try to breed my White Clouds, Endler's, or other fish. 

Joel drove me to the Aquarium Co-Op in Edmonds the day he picked up his new Tesla and bought me ten Cherry Barbs (except they gave me 11).  The two smaller males are especially interested in the nine larger and less colorful females (left).  I like those odds, even if the males will become the bright red ones in time.  I moved the large goldfish back outside to his 25 gallon hexagonal tank to make room for these new fish in the 29 gallon tank.  (Then I brought him back downstairs and put him in the 20 gallon due to the heat wave.)

Later, I added a single male Dwarf Gourami (right) from PetSmart to join the Cherry Barbs.  I named him Frank after Frank Sinatra.  (I've been listening to KIXI 880AM recently.)  Alas, Frank must have brought a bug with him from the store.  He did not last the month.  Even so, photographing fish is fun and a unique challenge that's an added bonus.

A Surprise Retirement Party

The 104 degree day on Sunday the 27th encouraged us all to go up to Susan's air-conditioned house.  Little did I know that this was the perfect ploy to get me up there without suspecting a thing.  The Sleights, Dishers, Sittes, and Pastricks were all there with my grandchildren (and two pending grandchildren.)  Julie Adams, Susan, Randy, and David and Heidi James also enjoyed lunch and cake.  The spice cake with Penuche frosting, my favorite made by Jean, was a hit.  Many had not had that combination which is a long-time Sleight family favorite.

Rueben Sleight has been walking for a while, and I was delighted to see Corvin Pastrick also walking.

Every family event and holiday now is a happy baby and toddler party.

Jean is justifiably proud of her baby bump. 

I had too much of the cake, but still, when offered the final piece, I gave it to Thomas.  My summer 2021 diet will be successful just as my diet in autumn 1999 was, because the discipline comes from different motivations.  And my duties at SPU have ended so my daily stress roller-coaster should glide to a stop.

Grandchildren are the crown of old men,
And the glory of sons is their fathers.

 — Proverbs 17:6 NASB

Bits and Pieces 

Joel and Jean picked up their new Tesla.  They plan to take Luna with them on a drive across the country in July. 
I have to admit, I've never seen anything like it.  It looks and feels, "like something out of the 21st century," (and you can quote me!)

When Gramy and Grampy Disher came for a visit on the 23rd, Charis greeted her other grandma with glee, running to jump into her arms.  Having them visit gave me a break from my share of Charis-care.  We were baking cookies together just as they arrived.  I had two big data projects to wrap up once spring grades had been posted.  The Dishers  started out on a trip east to visit son Tim in Wisconsin in their RV just as the northwest record heat wave hit.  They brought Kim's younger sister Norma on this trip.  She's a Kindergarten teacher and considering retirement herself.  Kim brought matching outfits for the girls from their recent trip to Hawaii.

Along with gardens and grandchildren, I have at least a year of house cleaning and de-cluttering along with serious yard work ahead of me.  I have fences to rebuild, trees to cut down, and brush and branches to shred or turn into firewood.  I expect to be more physically active and busy in this next year than in this COVID-19 year just ending.

The record temperature in Bellevue before this week was 105°.  On Monday, the 28th (as I type this), we've shattered that record at 109°.  Other local communities were even warmer.  Nathanael drove his family to Aloha, OR where it got to 114°.

I got signed up for Medicare Part B which starts on July 1st, as does the Aetna Medicare Advantage Select Plan.  Nancy is working on these transitions too.

I got my first edition of the Emeri-Times Newsletter which lets us emeriti faculty keep up with one another.  My brief bio was on the back page as one of the four new emeriti faculty.

I need to chat with all my siblings about their athletic histories as I prepare my talk for the West Seattle Monogram Club which may come August 5th after a year of COVID-19 postponements.  I always felt myself to be the athletic runt of the family, mostly due to my lazy right eye — but when I began to focus on a single sport, 6,000 miles of training paid off.  I've always loved the line about distance runners, "Our sport is your sport's punishment."

This hot weather at the end of June should benefit my many pepper plants.  And my forest of tomato plants are just beginning to set fruit.  Every-other-day watering changed to everyday during this heat wave.  And on Monday the 28th, I had to water in the morning and the afternoon.  For each watering, I fill 24 gallons of plastic containers in the south yard from a long hose from the northeast corner of the house.  The four 4-gallon containers give me a workout as I empty them.  I'll have time in July for some serious gardening called "weeding."

"Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys." — Anonymous
Shared by cousin Bob Hollis on Father's Day.

Late this month, I came across the Linkedin page of my friend Kim Sanders who retired from Boeing near the start of the pandemic last year and lives in Kent.  I had not heard from her since my parents passed in 2011.  (Although she sent a brief note after the shooting at SPU on June 5, 2014, and her sister Robin caught me up on her family in 2012.)  I was surprised three times by what I discovered.  First, her new name indicated that she had remarried.  Kim Sanders-Wolthuis had married Willem Johannes Wolthuis.  Alas, I learned that their 10-year marriage had ended when he passed last August 22nd at the age of 71. Willem was, "a truly Great Soul," to use her words.  My third surprise came when I zoomed out on a map showing her home.  It is just southwest of Lake Meridian and we pass just north of it every time we drive to Jean and Joel's. 

My weight on this last day in June is 179.5.  It has not been this low in many years.  Conscious portion control, not being at SPU to snack, and having my thoughts elsewhere, have moved the scale in my favor.  I named my summer weight loss chart The "Titanic" Challenge 2021.  My Endochrinologist, Dr. Farideh Eskandari, closed her office in Kirkland today.  So this is yet another strong motivator to my weight loss efforts.  Weight loss is the most important thing I can do to fight Diabetes.  Now, what exercise program will I begin in July now that I will be retired?  Check back next month.

I managed to limit myself to two cookies at the outdoor farewell reception for nine SPU staff on the 30th.  I got to hug the ladies in SAS who I've worked with for 32 years.  Ruth Adams, six years my junior but who started at SPU a year before I did, rose to be the University Registrar and is now heading off to become the head of Enrollment Services at Peninsula College.  Debbie Crouch, Senior Associate Registrar, was a good friend for years.  Folks in my school would inevitably come to me with their administrative problems.  Those few I couldn't solve I passed on to Debbie.  She says she'll retire next year.

I guess I've been thinking of this day since my first student assistant at SPU, the gorgeous (and loyal) Becca Sjolund (1991-1994), introduced me to Country music.  I'm sure I first heard the 1988 Kathy Mattea song Eighteen Wheels And A Dozen Roses during those first four years in the business school.

Eighteen wheels and a dozen roses
Ten more miles on his four day run
A few more songs from the all night radio
And he'll spend the rest of his life
With the one that he loves